Help support our work and independent journalism by contributing to our GoFundMe as we enter our non profit era! Help us build DIASPORA into the media organization our culture deserves!
Of all the movies I saw this year, there is one that fascinated me to no end. The Testament of Ann Lee made me obsessed with the titular founder of the Shakers.
Directed by Mona Fastvold, co-written by her partner in crime Brady Corbet, The Testament of Ann Lee is one helluva romp — and it’s a musical! To be more specific, the film lands in a genre of its own: the rare historical musical.
At first, it was quite jarring to see Amanda Seyfried as the titular religious leader leading her followers in a barrage of Martha Graham-esque contemporary dance routines. Their limbs are flailing, they’re beating their chest, and hootin’ and hollerin’. All while dressed in Goodie Proctor colonizer garb. It’s quite a sight.
Ann Lee stands out amongst other contenders for its boldness in spotlighting a divisive figure in history for her radical religious rigamarole. It’s nothing as I’ve seen before, and it’s just a wild story. Although it’s a different kind of movie musical, it’s still exactly that… and dare I say, I enjoyed it more than the other movie musical that came out this year? (That’s Wicked: For Good for those keeping score.
And if you really want to be utterly devastated, watch the drama Rosemead starring Lucy Liu. Based on a Los Angeles Times article by Frank Shyong titled: “A dying mother’s plan: Buy a gun. Rent a hotel room. Kill her son.”
And that’s the movie.
Marking Eric Lin’s feature directorial debut, Rosemead is based on the true story of single mother Lai “Eva” Hang and her son George — but in the movie their names are Irene and Joe. Liu’s capital A-acting soars quietly but with emotional impact that hits you like a freight train. Newcomer Lawrence Shou portrays the troubled teen with empathy, and the performance feels both fragile and captivating at once.
Rosemead is nicely crafted, but don’t watch this if you’re looking to feel good. Although this is capital D-depressing, it puts a glaring spotlight on the friction that often occurs between mental health (or sometimes lack thereof) and the Asian community.
Watching Good Boy might be a good chaser to Rosemead if you’re into dogs seeing ghosts. An incredible watch with a deflated ending, Good Boy is original enough. Now, It Was Just an Accident — that is an original.
The riveting Jafar Panahi-directed pic is on the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature and has been a buzzy title since its premiere at Cannes earlier this year. The film follows a group of former Iranian political prisoners who come face to face with the man who tortured them… but it might not be him.
Panahi is known as a revolutionary Iranian filmmaker and for shaking up the status quo. A slow, deliberate burn, It Was Just an Accident challenged the Iranian regime. First, Panahi secretly filmed the movie without a filming permit from the Islamic Republic. Second, the two female leads, Hadis Pakbaten and Mariam Afshari (they definitely were the standout performers), are not always wearing a hijab — and that’s a no-no.
It Was Just an Accident was an odd balance of a thriller and a dark comedy. I found myself asking, “Was I supposed to laugh at that?” at many moments in the film. There’s a painful humor about the film that grounds it and doesn’t make everything so… devastating. But there is an incredible moment with Afshari as her character confronts her tormentor that will absolutely gut you.
The film cleaned up at the Gotham Awards, scoring wins for best best original screenplay, best original screenplay, and best international feature. Shortly after the awards, his lawyer told him that he was sentenced to a year in prison in Iran. He was charged with “propaganda activities against the system”.
Panahi doesn’t play. He makes art that he actually goes to prison for. These Hollywood girlies could ne-VER.
When screenings for The Chronology of Water and If I Had Legs I Would Kick You landed in my inbox, I was floored with how pretentious the titles were — and I am all about pretension now and again.
The Chronology of Water marks Kristen Stewart’s feature directorial debut — you can tell she was having fun stretching her creative muscles to the max, guiding star Imogen Poots through a web of avant-garde cinema. Did it make sense? Not really. But Imogen Poots puts her all into the role — as does Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I Would Kick You.
The psychological dramedy also stars a motley crew of actors, including Conan O’Brien, A$AP Rocky, Danielle Macdonald, and Christian Slater. Byrne delivers a phenomenal performance that feels emotionally draining as well as emotionally engaging. And I think I liked it more than I initially thought.
And finally, there’s Magellan, the Philippines’ horse at the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Directed by the legendary Lav Diaz, the film spotlights one of the world’s most famous colonizers.
Known for the five-hour Batang West Side and Evolution of a Filipino Family, which clocks in at nearly 11 hours, Diaz was modest with Magellan’s 160-minute runtime but challenged cinematic norms by using affordable Panasonic Lumix GH7 digital cameras and shot an epic film in a 4:3 aspect ratio, confining the lushness of a culture being erased.
Normally, we see colonizers framed as the hero in films like these, but Diaz intentionally paints a sordid portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, played with phenomenally gravitas by Gael Garcia Bernal. Diaz’s stagnant shots are like frames of a graphic novel, and the film moves at an intentional glacial pace, allowing you to ingest the history that is often untold.
