January started out pretty good for my cinematic resolutions. I watched a handful of silent films each week and it really did make me happier! I also sought out a few films directed by women that I kept missing (and they were worth the wait!) and saw probably the best film of 2018 so the rest of the year can just take a big break. As always, you can see all the films I watched last month after the cut as well as a few favorites.

1. Les chiens savants
2. Une histoire roulante
3. L’enfant de la barricade
4. Making an American Citizen
5. The Girl in the Arm-Chair
6. Marketa Lazarová
7. The Wedding Night (1935)
8. Sabah
9. Inescapable (2012)
10. Ditya bolshogo goroda (Child of the Big City)
11. Zhizn za zhizn (Her Sister’s Rival)
12. The Sheik
13. The Son of the Sheik
14. Phantom Thread
15. Proud Mary
16. Anna Karenina (1935)
17. David and Lisa
18. Paddington 2
19. Country Strong
20. Anna Lucasta (1958)
21. Don’t Make Waves
22. It’s a Date (1940)
23. À peine j’ouvre les yeux (As I Open My Eyes)
24. La voix du rossignol (Voice of the Nightingale)
25. The Flying Fleet
26. Sukkar banat (Caramel)
27. Our Daily Bread (1934)
28. Millie
29. Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me
30. Before I Fall
31. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
32. The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
33. The North Star
34. Tomorrow Is Another Day
35. The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché
36. The Blue Bird (1918)
37. Mickey (1918)
38. Of Human Bondage (1964)

1880s: 0
1890s: 0
1900s: 3
1910s: 6
1920s: 3
1930s: 6
1940s: 2
1950s: 2
1960s: 4
1970s: 0
1980s: 0
1990s: 1
2000s: 3
2010s: 8

I saw so many good films in January it’s hard to pick just a few to highlight! I’m going to group a few together so I can cheat a little!

Films Directed By Women:

• Sabah, 2005 (dir. Ruba Nadda) – A wonderful film from Canadian filmmaker Ruba Nadda about a muslim woman who falls in love with a man outside her faith and navigates how this will fit into her family’s dynamic.
• Country Strong, 2010 (dir. Shana Feste) – I have so enjoyed every single one of Shana Feste’s films. I hope she makes another one soon! This one follows a country singer played by Gwyneth Paltrow through a downward spiral. It also features a g-r-e-a-t performance from Garrett Hedlund.
• Caramel, 2007 (dir. Nadine Labaki) – This is the film pictured above, which had managed to escape my viewing for years. It is a delightful Lebanese film that follows a group of women through everyday struggles with life, love, family, sex, work, and everything in between.
• Before I Fall, 2017 (dir. Ry Russo-Young) – I wish I had managed to see this last year so I could have sung its praises! If I had been a teen girl when this was released I would have been obsessed with it! Sam (played by Zoey Deutch) has to relive the same day over and over until she figures out the best possible outcome. It’s a bit melodramatic (I dig that, man!), but it’s a great look at teen girlhood and high school dynamics. 

Silent Films:

• Child of the Big City, 1914 (dir. Yvegeni Bauer) – A woman literally steps over a dead man as she climbs her way up society. Delightful.
• The Voice of the Nightingale, 1925 (dir. Wladyslaw Starewicz) – A lovely stop motion fairytale.
• The Blue Bird, 1918 (dir. Maurice Tourneur) – A lovely live action fairytale (pictured above). Possibly one of the most beautiful, strange, enchanting films I have ever seen.

Films Watched on TCM:

• David and Lisa, 1962 (dir. Frank Perry) – So glad I finally watched this film. Absolutely knock out performances from Keir Dullea and ‎Janet Margolin as the titular teens who find themselves, and each other, in a mental institution. A heartfelt, honest look at mental illness.
• Anna Lucasta, 1958 (dir. Arnold Laven) – Wow wow wow. Eartha Kitt burns up the screen in this film about a young woman shunned by her family until they try to use her to scam a friend’s son out of an inheritance. Also featured Sammy Davis, Jr. in his feature film debut. They sizzle.

Films Watched in Theaters:

• Phantom Thread, 2017 (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) – This definitely would have made my end of the year list if it had actually opened in Atlanta before the end of the year. A sick, twisted, and absolutely brilliant romantic comedy. Possibly PTA’s most precisely directed film.
• Paddington 2, 2018 (dir. Paul King) – This is the best film of 2018. All the other movies can stop trying.
• Sammy Davis, Jr.: I Gotta Be Me, 2017 (dir. Sam Pollard) – A great documentary about Sammy Davis, Jr. that fills in a lot of gaps I had in my knowledge of the rat packer. What an immensely talented man!

I’m headed to San Francisco this week for the tail end of Noir City so I look forward to seeing some great film noir and 31 Days of Oscar starts on TCM. I have about 64 out of the 312 or so films we’re showing that I’ve never seen before so I’m gonna see how many of those I can watch!