january

• marriage story (2019)
  • director: noah baumbach
  • ★★★★★; what a great way to start off the year right? so intriguing and so new to me, the emotions in this picture were, as said, unknown by me yet seemed so possible and real for me to feel. the main characters' relationship is so deep and complex that it is so fun to try to put them in tiny boxes of character stereotype and failing miserably. liked it!
• re-watched: the devil wears prada (2006)
  • watched this with my boyfriend! i love this film so much but i hate how she gets back with nate. he’s such a dick! all she ever wanted was to have a shot at her dream job but she couldn’t do it without putting all her effort on working for miranda! love the film, hate nate.

february

• little women (2019)
  • director: greta gerwig
  • ★★★★★; if this film doesn’t win the oscar for best picture... i loved it! i knew i’d like this because it is a greta gerwig film. her vision for "little women" is so different from the other adaptations that it really does bring new life to this old story. the film flows effortlessly between the two main time periods and everything is beautifully done: costumes, frames, acting... et cetera. loved it.
• parasite (2019)
  • director: bong joon-ho
  • ★★★★★; this film manages to be so cultural and unique to south korean society yet completely universal too. the economic differences between the characters are always remembering the viewer that besides cunning nature and smartness, this couldn’t save the family. loved this very much.
• re-watched: lady bird (2017)
  • the greatest film ever made. i love this so much! i’m eager to make eighteen and do the same as her. i really want to move away from my hometown and do university. love this film!

march

• castle in the sky (1986)
  • director: hayao miyazaki
  • ★★★☆☆; i sincerely loved the film though i felt like it had so much more potential with its story and mythology. the pirates are one of the greatest and cutest parts of the whole entire film. it’s beautifully animated and the landscapes ate amazingly constructed! however, as is said, i think it had more potential when talking about storyline.
• trixie mattel: moving parts (2019)
  • director: nick zeig-owens
  • ★★★★☆; i think i have an uncanny ability to only watch documentaries about queer people. this one in particular have such a sad feel to it! i know the end is very positive and trixie is only rising as artist but i see now what he’s been through as both brian and trixie... truly an inspiration! love this to bits and would most definitely recommend!

april

• the virgin suicides (1999)
  • director: sofia coppola
  • ★★★★☆; i loved this film so much! the colours are amazing, the way it is shot is beautiful and the jumps in time and the dreamy vibe when the girls were just memories is outstanding. sofia really did a great job on this film though i thought it lacked something more between the girls and the so protagonist boys. but i guess that’s the point, the missing puzzle part. the final part is superb.

may

• the half of it (2020)
  • director: alice wu
  • ★★★☆☆; i was so hyped to see this film that i thought this possibly could've spoiled the experience by expecting a lot from a teen rom-com made by netflix. the story leave many interesting points not explained although having many beautiful shots of landscape, characters and the relation between those two. the film is cute and this movie is very important to my friend and i only watched because of it. liked it, but i wish more was explained and shown.
• dead poets society (1989)
  • director: peter weir
  • ★★★½☆; i built many expectations about this film and it didn’t made up to them for me. i get why so many people like this film, it’s not bad. it’s emotional and it’s filled with if not relatable, good characters. i just didn’t get wowed by this film, unfortunately. but it isn’t bad at all. i just don’t get why it’s such a “good movie”.
• moonlight (2016)
  • director: barry jenkins
  • ★★★½☆; just like the film above, i think i've put many expectations on this one. it's not bad, dont get me wrong, but i just couldn't feel attached to it as i did with "anne with an e". i see why many people love this movie, it's beautiful, the characters have depth, the photography is amazingly well-done and the first and last part of chiron is just perfect. i just didn't get attached to the film, unfortunately.
• booksmart (2019)
  • director: olivia wilde
  • ★★★☆☆; why teen, fairly bad written and with weird sense of humor/message is not getting to me that well anymore? it's so frustrating not liking a "bad movie". it has so much potential in the first minutes but it just keeps getting more and more weird and with bad problem solving that i just assumed i was all intentional (even the plot holes) but i just found it average.
• re-watched: the tale of princess kaguya (2014)
  • presented this to my friend and boyfriend and they really liked it! also, it gave me a rememberance session of how good of a movie this is. i still remember ***** a lot because i cried like a baby the first time because of that and i still felt a kinda sad. in conclusion, great film.

june

• weathering with you (2019)
  • director: makoto shinkai
  • ★★★★★; at first i was really confused if this film was a four or five star movie but after taking some time to reflect on it, it’s absolutely a five star. all shinkai’s works are gorgeous in animation and this game one doesn’t fall flat: everything is beautiful! besides, the references of “the catcher in the rye” plus the veiled discussion about climate change is just amazing. really love this mundane surrealism of the director.

july

• the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring (2001)
  • director: peter jackson
  • ★★★☆☆; i didn't like this fil so much... it has good music and sound effects but i don't know how it got so much good critiques... sometimes everything happening seems super confusing and fast like the elves society and how the council works. the worldbuilding was so odd to me.

august

• the lord of the rings: the two towers (2002)
  • director: peter jackson
  • ★★★☆☆; is it heresy if i said i found it boring? i didn't get hooked at almost any part of the film and even looking back i don't rember any grand moment of the film. i'ts a bummer that i didn't like it because everyone does and so the academy. still, i found it so boring and slow sometimes and so quick where it was not good to be fast story-telling. it's pretty looking, at least.
• the lord of the rings: the return of the king (2003)
  • director: peter jackson
  • ★★★★☆; this last film is not as disappointing as the other two. the story flows just in the correct pace and the battle scenes are just marvellous to watch. the music is awesome, also. but i still don't like this trilogy very much! i think i went in with so much expectations... anyways, it's a spetacle visually speaking so it gets a four-star rating from me.

september

• lost in translation (2003)
  • director: sofia coppola
  • ★★★★★; it's weird how can a movie mess up with your head so much. when i started to personally relate to charlotte i got worried because i didn't want to. i got so many worries out of the blue after seeing this film but i guess that's point. it made me question and answer myself for days and looking back to some scenes... i really loved it. it's a portrait of a person struggling with self-discovery and acceptance and even though it is painful to watch if you too is struggling with this issues, it's beautiful and contemplating. loved it.

october

• blackpink: light up the sky (2020)
  • director: caroline suh
  • ★★★☆☆; this is an ok movie. i don't have a lot to say other than that... it's not beuatifully shot but not badly also. it's not very interesting but it's not boring and all of that. however, one thing i highly disliked was the fact that they've put the girls to talk about the hardships of being a trainee and completely turned the whole k-pop industry into this hellhole of doom for young girls.
• halloween (2018)
  • director david gordon green
  • ★★★½☆; i was so hyped to see this on halloween day and to watch it with my friends since the first film of the saga is one of my favourites films ever. however, it felt dumb apart from some good scenes and amy-lee's presence. laurie's daughter acting like she was defenseless and couldn't kill michael was the peak of this movie.

november

• emma (2020)
  • director: autumn de wilde
  • ★★★★★; this is one of the most visually stunning films i have ever watched. being de wilde's first film as a director — and given that autumn is a photographer — it’s an outstanding adaptation for one of austen’s most referred works in pop culture (when you look at tropes and eve ‘clueless’). loved the film and it’s humorous way of telling the story.
• the new mutants (2020)
  • director: josh boone
  • ★★☆☆☆; is it mean to say that the only good thing about this movie is anya-taylor joy (and that roberto actor; he’s hella cute)? the dialogues are bad, the vfx are weird and misused sometimes in the film and the story is not that great either. nothing really great, besides those two actors. two stars for them.
• central station (1998)
  • director: walter salles
  • ★★★★★; one of the greatest films i have ever watched. everything about it is just amazing. the not (at all) manichaeist personalities of the characters, the building of a difficult yet sweet relationship between dora and josué. the infinite interpretations and meanings of dora's work as a writer of others' letters and her attachment to each story. the importance of this film is undescribable. it shows off one of many brazilian stories. absolutely loved it.

december

• 思い出のマーニー (2014)
  • director: hiromasa yonebayashi
  • ★★★★★; this is the -- at least i think -- my favourite studio ghibli film. the day i watched this i was so worried and anxious about my mom being ill with covid and getting worse day by day. gratefully, she got better. so, this film made me cry like a newborn baby (and i'm tough to cry on films and such) and i loved it every piece of this. i saw my relationship with my family (specially with my two aunts, mother and grandmother) within anna's own relationships with the townspeople and own family. i can't describe how important this film is for me. the ending is perfect, the soundtrack is perfect and i don't need to say this about the art because it was as expected. marvelous movie.