Favorite First Time Watches of May 2024
Here we are again! I watch many movies a year and every month. So once a month I like to write about my favorite first-time watches of each month. I would recommend these movies to anyone and everyone.
Perfect Blue (1997) – Satoshi Kon
A career cut way too short. Satoshi Kon only made four films before his premature death due to pancreatic cancer. His animated films have permeated throughout Hollywood since his first film, Perfect Blue.
The film follows a young woman (Mima) who is part of an up-and-coming girl pop group. She wants to break into movies, so she quits the group and attempts to shed her “good girl, kid” image. Mima has a stalker who begins attempting to kill the ones closest to her; all while Mima losing herself through self-doubt.
It sounds like the track that many Disney celebrities have gone through, attempting to shed their child image. Some don’t come through ok. It’s a terrifying film because of how honest it is. Being a celebrity, especially female, must be an insane way to live. At least the larger conscience seems to be getting better at protecting these young celebrities.
Satoshi has inspired filmmakers like Darren Aronofsky and Unofficially Christopher Nolan. But if you watch Kon’s final film Paprika (also worth a watch) you’ll see similarities between that and Inception. Darren used shots from Perfect Blue right into Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan.
The Heartbreak Kid (1972) – Elaine May
Actor, writer, and director Elaine May has unfortunately not directed a film since the unfairly maligned Ishtar. One of her two masterpieces The Heartbreak Kid was remade in 2007. I saw the remake when it was released but never saw the original.
No surprise, the original is miles better than the remake. The 2007 Ben Stiller version takes out all the layers. It’s written and directed by a man because the whole film centers on how terrible Ben Stiller’s new bride is and we root for him to leave her.
Here, Charles Grodin’s Lenny marries Lila (Jeannie Berlin), mainly because that’s the only way she will sleep with him. During the honeymoon, he becomes increasingly annoyed with Lila’s mere existence. At the same time, he meets the younger and more conventionally pretty Kelly (Cybill Shepard).
It’s a portrait of a man who will never be satisfied in life, it’s uncomfortable in all of the worst ways. Watching Charles squirm through every lie to poor Lila. The remake takes out all of this in place of some cheap laughs.
The Safdie brothers have cited Elaine May as an inspiration. If you watch this and Uncut Gems back-to-back that inspiration is clear.
Princess Mononoke (1997) – Hayao Miyazaki
To attempt to run through the linear plot of this film might take a few pages. The very short cliff notes version is: Ashitaka, a warrior prince of a small village, kills a demon and is struck with a curse. He is forced to travel to a far-off village to meet the Deer God, the only creature to reverse the curse.
The Deer God looks over all of nature. Nature is having a continuous war with Iron Town led by Eboshi in this area. They leveled part of the forest and are destroying it to produce Iron for weapons.
It’s a clear allegory for environmentalism, but it’s not as black and white as you’d expect. Miyazaki’s message is all about harmony between humans and nature. We can work together so as not to destroy one another.
Some scenes directly translate to Avatar. Interestingly, everyone compares Avatar to Dances with Wolves. Watching Princess Mononoke it’s clear this was an inspiration. It’s not Miyazaki’s most fun film, but maybe his most necessary.
Blood Games (1989) – Tanya Rosenberg
Once the Hays Code came into play in the mid-1930s women’s directing opportunities vanished. Men all but pushed women out of filmmaking roles from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. When they finally got to start making films again it was B-Noirs and exploitation films. Not getting big-budget films.
By the late 80’s we had some prominent female filmmakers, but these exploitation and cheap horror films were a way to cut their teeth in filmmaking, horror is still a way to do that. Tanya Rosenberg made her first film in horror/exploitation with Blood Games.
A softball team travels south to face a team of men who think beer is the most important element of softball. The women beat the men and in a series of escalations, the men take their inadequacies on these poor women who have to use the baseball bats as weapons.
At face value, this is a cheap exploitation film made to show violence and nudity. But if you pay attention Tanya is trying to say something about the fragility of men’s ego and toxic masculinity.
Not to mention Tanya has some real visual flare. There are some beautiful shots in this film. After watching this film I wanted to see what Tanya did next and it was nothing. She didn’t make another film.
If you google search “Tanya Rosenberg” the filmmaker is suggested but she has no Wiki and her IMDB is blank. If I had more time and was tech savvy I’d love to do a podcast series or Documentary attempting to find Tanya Rosenberg. I fear the answer as to why she stopped making movies. She deserved to make as many as she wanted, her raw talent is clear within this film.
Toni Erdmann (2016) – Maren Ade
A woman (Ines Conradi) who is so deep into her career that she doesn’t have time for anyone, including her own father. Winfried Conradi is divorced; he is a music teacher with an affinity for pranks involving fake personas.
After the death of his dog, he decides to reconnect with daughter Ines who is working in Bucharest. Slowly, Ines and Winfried reconnect and Ines begins to remember that life doesn’t have to be taken so seriously.
This is a long film 163 minutes. But its pacing is perfect and if you stick with the film you’ll get to some truly memorable moments that will live rent-free in your head forever. This film could be a simple Dad Reminds Daughter to be fun, but it’s layered far deeper thanks to the performances of Peter Simonischeck and Sandra Huller.
There were rumors of a Hollywood remake for several years after its release and they probably still want an American version. However, I already know it’ll be much broader and missing this film's fine-tuned, toned-down elements.
