Films That I Saw: May 2025

 

I never thought I would live in a country where Fascism is in front of my face. It is embarrassing to realize that you are among a small percentage of people who are rational in a world where everyone is starting to act irrationally. It is embarrassing to be an American right now when the whole world knows that we are a country that has lost the plot as our dumbass dictator gets a free plane from Qatar as a bribe right in front of everyone. It is not just him that this country is dealing with but also people of Congress and who are heading the many departments in the cabinet as they are all a bunch of fucking imbeciles. Yes, this is the world we live in now, and I am waiting for when everything falls apart. Fortunately, we do have a new pope in an American in Pope Leo. At first, I was not happy about the idea of an American pope but Pope Leo has managed to piss off the MAGA crowd and those dumb overly-religious folk so there is some hope at least for the time being.

Last month, I mentioned getting tickets to see Nine Inch Nails this coming September but given how things are economically. I will be sitting out this time around mainly because tickets are too expensive and I feel like I would be overspending on not just for one ticket but also for the merchandise, gas, parking, and other things. It is bad that it is going to be at the Gas South Arena in Duluth as I do not like driving to Duluth as I went through that in 2008 as I just do like driving on the highway. Especially on Spaghetti Junction as I get very anxious about driving on one of those tall bridges as well as the awful traffic there. Plus, I get lost easily in getting out of Duluth as that is another reason I will not go. Honestly, it sucks that I will not be going as I was not only hoping to see NIN again but also get some t-shirts and merchandise for myself as well as my niece and nephew to show my love for the band to them. Plus, I wanted to freak people out in their reaction to a six-year-old and a four-year-old wearing NIN t-shirts.

This year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival I felt was lackluster in comparison to previous editions. The person I blame for this is its head programmer in Thierry Fremeaux as he is a fucking asshole who really loves to kiss Hollywood’s ass. Based on the coverage of the festival thanks in part to Indiewire and the Film Experience, this year’s festival lacked something that I noticed during all the coverage. Then I realized that it was the lack of booing and dramatic reactions to films which made Cannes in the past so fun to read about. This year’s festival had none of that as I read reports over long standing ovations as that felt odd and unnatural. It has me thinking about Wim Wenders’ experience back in the mid-2000s when he premiered one of his films at the festival where he got this long-standing ovation but after a few minutes. He got overwhelmed as he felt it was overkill. Personally, I would have rather gotten booed than get a standing ovation as I want to gain notoriety is more of an accomplishment than being praised.

Still, the festival did get me excited for a lot of the films that played at the festival such as Ari Aster’s Eddington, Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love, and Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater. The directorial debuts from Scarlett Johansson, Harris Dickinson, and Kristen Stewart also got good notices as I hope to see them soon, yet it was the films that won the major prizes that has me elated as none of those films are American. This year’s Palme d’Or winner in It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi as Panahi is now the fourth filmmaker to win the Triple Crown of the 3 major European film festivals that includes Berlin and Venice. The Dardenne Brothers continue to be favorites at Cannes with their newest film Young Mothers as it won the Best Screenplay Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize while Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize. Oliver Laxe’s Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling shared the festival’s third-place Jury Prize. Nadia Melliti won the Best Actress prize for her performance in Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister which also won the festival’s Queer Palm award.

Finally, Kleber Mendonca Filho won the festival’s Best Director Prize for his film The Secret Agent which also won Best Actor for Wagner Moura, the AFCAE Art House Cinema Award, and the festival’s FIPRESCI prize. Another thing that happened at Cannes that has me excited is a sequel to the Dogme 95 movement in Dogme 25 founded by May el-Thouky, Milad Alami, Isabella Eklof, Annika Berg, and Jesper Just with the blessing of Dogme 95 co-founders Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg that include a new set of rules that can be seen here. With the lack of originality in cinema where everyone is making sequels and remakes of old movies. This is what the film movement needs even though it will not last like Dogme 95 did before but at least it is a step in the right direction in making original ideas.

In the month of May 2025, I saw a total of 20 films in 10 first-timers and 20 re-watches with one film directed by a woman as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge. An improvement over the last month although it has not been easy trying to find the time and energy to watch a lot of feature films. One of highlights of the month has been my Blind Spot film in Limite. Here are the top 5 first-timers that I saw for May 2025:

1. Close Your Eyes

2. Aqua

3. The Keys to Freedom

4. Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet-Lifeline

5. Inaudible

Monthly Mini-Reviews/What Else I Am Watching

Ana, tres minutos

One of two shorts from omnibus films that featured the work of Victor Erice is a three-minute short film starring Ana Torrent from Erice’s first film The Spirit of the Beehive as his segment for the 2012 omnibus film 3.11 Sense of Home in which filmmakers make a 3 minute and 11 second short about the Tohoku earthquake and the tsunami that followed on March 11, 2011. Erice’s short has Torrent talking about humanity as she records her monologue on a laptop as she is about to get ready for a stage performance. It is a simple yet effective short that is about the power of solidarity and the human spirit.

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet-Lifeline



From the 2002 anthology film series Ten Minutes Older for The Trumpet section of the two-part film series is a rich 10-minute short film by Erice set during the Spanish Civil War. Shot in a small town, the short follows a family during a quiet day as children play outside while a woman sleeps while her baby is also sleeping until he cries. Originally shot in color, the film would be presented in black-and-white as it plays into the simplicity of a life as well as the things that bring a family together during the darkest of times.

Tram

As part of MUBI’s animation special is a short by Michaela Pavlatova about a trolley conductor who drives many men to their stops as she thinks about their penises. It is an 8-minute animated short that is not for children. Still, it has a lot of imagination as it plays into a woman’s desire and imagination in wanting to get laid.

Aqua



One of four short films by Gints Zilbalodis that I saw on YouTube as this one from 2012 is a 7-minute short that follows a cat boarding a boat during a flood. The short is a test-run for his 2024-award winning film Flow as it carries the same sense of raw computer animation and hand-drawn animation. The short is a showcase of what Zilbalodis can do with the limited resources he has as it is a must-watch for anyone that loves Flow.

The Keys to Freedom



From Wim Wenders is this four-minute and 19-second documentary short film that has Wenders travel to Reims, France at a place that is now a school. Inside the school is a museum where World War II ended in Europe where 2 German officers signed the surrender with 2 keys being the centerpiece of this short. The keys belonged to the mayor of the time as he lent them to the leaders of the Allies at the time and after the treaty was signed. The keys were returned to its mayor. Wenders comments on the symbolism of the keys as it relates to what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean here hoping that these dark times would end.

Inaudible



The second of four short films by Zilbalodis that I saw on YouTube is about a musician who lost his hearing after being struck by lightning. It is a short told in a non-linear presentation where it plays into a man who is a street cleaner that is unable to hear other locals play music as well as express himself through his trumpet. It is a touching short that shows Zilbalodis who knows what to do to tell a story. Not through dialogue but through music where it plays into this man’s despair as well as his own sense of longing to play.

Rush



The third of four shorts by Zilbalodis is a one-minute and twenty-five second short about a young man trying to cross the street during the Xmas holidays. It plays into the idea of patience and this man’s lack of patience where he nearly gets himself killed. There is an element of humor that Zilbalodis does while he also plays into the idea of why everyone should look at the crosswalk signals.

Followers



The fourth short by Zilbalodis that I saw from his YouTube channel is a 7-minute short about a thief who gets caught as he escapes from prison where he finds a young schoolboy pickpocketing a passenger on a bus. The short plays into the parallel journey these two take part in as they come together to escape from the authorities and those they stole from. It is an incredible short by Zilbalodis who knows about the complexities of human beings and behaviors that includes the difficulty of wanting to do the right thing.

Andor (season 2, episodes 5-12)

What Tony Gilroy and the writers and filmmakers of this series has created is something that I doubt will ever be topped in terms of what Stars Wars could be as it is the best TV program that the franchise has created. Notably in the third block of three episodes in episodes 7 through 9 as it relates to the events at the planet of Ghorman including its massacre and the aftermath in which Mon Montha denounces Emperor Palpatine for what had happened. Genevieve Reilly brings a lot of weight to Montha as a woman stuck between a world of materialism and the political turmoil that would eventually lead to her exile from the Senate and become a leader of the Rebellion. Diego Luna continues to be the drive of the series as the titular character while highlighting what made Andor into the fearsome yet complicated character that audiences would see in Rogue One. Reilly and Luna are not just the standouts in the series that has made the show great with Stellan Skargard’s Luthen, Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, Faye Marsay’s Vel, Adria Arjona’s Bix, and Kyle Soller’s Syril continuing to deliver great performances.

The show also feature some breakout performances in Elizabeth Dulau as Luthen’s longtime assistant Kleya who is tremendous in the second season with the last 3 block of episodes displaying her willingness to survive as well as be a key player in the Rebellion. Even in making uneasy decisions where the 10th episode learn how she and Luthen met and what she would do for the Rebellion. Another actor who stood out is Anton Lesser as the ISB leader Lio Partagaz as he is a rare villain that does not seek glory or ambition but rather to ensure a job is completed. A man who is rational in an organization filled with irrational people such as Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic and other figures in the Empire. Lesser’s final scene as Partagaz is one of the best as he plays a man who has a revelation about the Rebellion based on Nemik’s manifesto from the first season where he realizes what is to come. It is a show that has raised the bar of what a TV series could be like as well as in playing a role in one of the most popular film franchises ever.

Top 9 Re-Watches

1. La Dolce Vita

2. Rogue One

3. The Florida Project

4. Kung Fu Panda

5. La Luna

6. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

7. Small Fry

8. Out of Scale

9. All in a Nutshell

10. Huh?

That is all for May. Next month, I will do a review of The Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson with my Auteurs essay on Ryan Coogler coming in June as it is more than half-finished. While I am unsure which film I will make next for my Blind Spot film as well as whatever films I will review as it has not been easy to find the time to watch films. Especially as there are projects that I still want to do including something in July to celebrate my 25th anniversary in writing as I had done a decade ago with a list of my favorite films of the 21st Century so far.

Before I go, I want to express my condolences towards those who passed away this month such as Valerie Mahaffey, Loretta Swit, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Alan Yentob, Rick Derringer, Ed Gale, Peter Kwong, violinist Simon House, Michael Sumler of Kool & the Gang, Marcel Ophuls, musician Kenny Marco, James Lowe of the Electric Prunes, Michael Roemer, production designer Leslie Dilley, George Wendt, musician Chris Hager, songwriter Roger Nichols, Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, filmmaker Robert Benton, musician Larry Lee, Johnny Rodriguez, Jiri Bartoska, Joe Don Baker, filmmaker James Foley, makeup artist Greg Cannom, Jill Sobule, and the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Sabu! One of the greatest pro wrestlers that ever lived and is the embodiment of ECW. We will miss you all. This is thevoid99 signing off…

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