Films That I Saw: December 2020

 

This horrible year is about to end and this was a tiring year that I think early on that we all wished it was over. So many people have died from COVID and I’m sure there’s a lot of us here in the U.S. waiting for that stimulus check that we all need and hope Mitch McConnell can go fuck himself. This has been a fucked-up year and let’s just take a shit on this horrible year.

In the month of December 2020, I saw a total of 24 films in 11 first-timers and 13 re-watches with two films directed by women as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge. A nice number to end the year as the highlight of the month has been Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy as the final entries of my Blind Spot Series. Here are my top 5 first-timers of December 2020:

1. A Hidden Life

2. Her Smell

3. Cameraperson

4. Song to Song

5. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Monthly Mini-Reviews

Depeche Mode: Devotional



From longtime collaborator Anton Corbijn is a concert film for Depeche Mode during their tour for their 1993 album Songs of Faith & Devotion. It is a typical concert film but with some amazing images and stage design by Corbijn that had its principle members on top of the platform while vocalist Dave Gahan on the stage floor singing while the band’s songwriter Martin Gore would come down on stage to sing a few or longtime keyboardist/programmer Alan Wilder would come down to the stage playing live drums. It’s something that fans have seen before though it is more of a reflection of a tumultuous period for the band due to Gahan’s growing drug use but also the fact that this 18-month tour would gain notoriety for a lot that happened where keyboardist Andrew Fletcher sat out part of the tour due to clinical depression and when the tour ended. Many thought the future of the band was done when Wilder left the group in 1995 but Gahan would clean himself up and the band returned with a new album in 1997.

The Life & Trials of Oscar Pistorius

From 30 to 30 is an abridged episode about the Paralympian Oscar Pistorius and how he was this revered athlete who had his legs amputated when he was a kid and then become this inspiration athlete who brought joy to the world. Then a horrific event in which he shot his girlfriend to death claiming to believe that he mistook her for a robber adds to a lot of turmoil. It’s an intriguing film in this classic rise-and-fall tale but it also play into this world that is South Africa and the horrendous rise of violence against women and why Pistorius became this unlikely poster child. Even as no one knows what really happened and did Pistorius kill this woman out of rage or was it really an accident?

Top 10 Re-watches:

1. Die Hard

2. The Beguiled

3. Tootsie

4. The Blues Brothers

5. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

6. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

7. Real Genius

8. Billy Madison

9. Legally Blonde

10. Mo’ Money

Well, that is all for December as a new year is to begin within hours and let’s hope this upcoming year doesn’t suck. For January, I hope to catch up on some 2020 releases including films such as Mank, On the Rocks, Soul, and many others as well as films in my never-ending DVR list and in my new watchlist of extras in A Little Something Extra list. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off…

© thevoid99 2020