The Wex's Film/Video curators have watched a lot in the past year. Here are their thoughts on what rose above the rest. If a title is available to stream or coming soon to the Wex, we've linked to more info.
David Filipi, Director, Film/Video
I decided I can’t bring myself to rank films from a given year any longer. Here are 10 films that either moved me, surprised me, stuck with me, confounded me, delighted me…or, for a few of them, all that and more.
In alphabetical order...
- American Factory (Julia Reichert & Steve Bognar)
- Atlantics (Mati Diop, screening at the Wex in March)
- The Chambermaid (Lila Aviles)
- For Sama (Waad Al-Kateab & Edward Watts, image above courtesy of PBS Films)
- Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold)
- A Hidden Life (Terrence Malick)
- The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, image above courtesy of Netflix)
- Long Day’s Journey into Night (Bi Gan)
- Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)
- Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
Other Memorable Moments in the Dark
- Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbors (Med Hondo, 1974)
- Christ Stopped at Eboli (Francesco Rosi, 1979)
- Everything Barbara Hammer at the Wex
- Hands (John Canemaker)
- Inquiring Nuns (Gordon Quinn & Gerald Temaner, 1968)
- Janie Geiser’s Double Vision program at the Wex – a cinematic concept album
- Muna Moto (Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa, 1975, screening at the Wex February 28)
- O Pao (Manoel de Oliveira, 1959-63)
- Restoration of Moulin Rouge (John Huston, 1952, screening at the Wex February 29)
- Struggle in the Valley (Youssef Chahine, 1954)
- Watchmen (Damon Lindelof, 2019)
- When They See Us (Ava DuVernay, 2019)
Chris Stults, Associate Curator, Film/Video
Movies I Couldn't Stop Talking About
- American Factory (Julia Reichert, Steve Bognar)
- Atlantics (Mati Diop)
- The Edge of Democracy (Petra Costa)
- For Sama (Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts)
- Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan, image above courtesy of Kino Lorber Films)
- The Souvenir (Joanna Hogg)
- Transit (Christian Petzold)
Woefully Underseen
- America to Me (Steve James)
- The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn)
- Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
- Gloria Bell (Sebastian Lelio)
- Midnight Family (Luke Lorentzen)
Most Welcome Reemergence
- Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodovar)
Well Deserved Hits
- Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack, Alan Elliott)
- Apollo 11 (Todd Douglas Miller)
- Hail Satan? (Penny Lane)
- Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov)
- Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
- Midsommar (Ari Aster)
- Parasite (Bong Joon-ho)
Wonderful Whatsits
- Greater Columbus installation at Columbus Museum of Art (Cameron Granger)
- Double Vision program (Janie Geiser)
- My First Film (Zia Anger)
- The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack)
- Walled Unwalled (Lawrence Abu-Hamdan)
Favorite Older Films Seen for the First Time
- Celebration (Olivier Meyrou, 2007)
- Devil In a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin, 1995)
- The Disenchantment (El desencanto) (Jaime Chavarri, 1976)
- Entranced Earth (Glauber Rocha, 1967)
- It’s Always Fair Weather (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1955)
- My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)
- Uptight (Jules Dassin, 1968)
- The War at Home (Barry Alexander Brown, Glenn Silber, 1979)
- Women I Love (Barbara Hammer, 1976)