This week, I’ve found myself undergoing a fairly taxing period, perhaps to be expected with grieving within the family. It’s not something that I think anyone should have to experience at such a fast rate, but there’s at least some relief in knowing it’s all over. After all, there’s cinema around to keep you company in these moments, isn’t there?
Without further ado, these are Friday’s Five Films. If you like what you’re seeing here, remember to subscribe for a whole lot more.
#1: Adaptation. (2002, Spike Jonze)
A decidedly self-conscious work for writers who always feel insecurity. Only seemed appropriate that someone like Charlie Kaufman can make a self-insert into a poignant exploration of the limited experiences that screenwriters filter their world through, to inform their art. That’s only part of the brilliance felt in a movie like Adaptation. at the very least, because we’re seeing that a writer working to adapt to another form – in this case, a book adaptation, would have to change up the rules set in place for themselves. That’s what Charlie Kaufman did here, after all.
#2: Drive My Car (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Feel like it goes without saying this is one of the best films of the 2020s, because it explores how art’s healing power has its limitations. After all, we can’t make ourselves understand what we’re going through in life without seeing someone else experience that same pain – yet Hamaguchi finds a way of making it linger. It’s all done through the fashion of a multilingual performance of Uncle Vanya, because we see people from all over the world sharing the same experiences and the same story. I think that’s quite beautiful, especially when Drive My Car is built around this feeling of universality.
#3: Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
What else is there to say? This is one of the greatest films ever made. David Lean isn’t really making any ordinary spectacle out of this story, but he’s delving right into the complicated portions that make up one of history’s most confounding figures in T. E. Lawrence. He’s not one to waste much time, either, especially when we’re seeing so much beauty in the desert scenes alone. Though this film becomes all about what more can a man like Lawrence do as an outsider to this land. Everything about this film is just brilliant.
#4: Little Odessa (1994, James Gray)
Maybe not the most refined James Gray production, but it is certainly the one that I find to be the most indicative of his sensibility. I’d underrated this film when I saw it approximately ten years ago, then coming back to it now, I think that Gray’s aspirations to make a Godfather-esque tragedy for the world of Russian Jewish gangsters is felt. And it tells you everything about how Gray sees the world, especially when Brighton Beach is filtered through a Dostoevskian template. And it may be my favourite of Gray’s films.
#5: Mikey and Nicky (1974, Elaine May)
In my eyes, this is Elaine May’s best film – even while its foundation has evidently been broken. Peter Falk and John Cassavetes are incredible to watch as they bounce off one another, but Elaine May knows there’s great vulnerability to these titular characters as they’re always fighting. The volatile nature of this relationship perhaps adds another sense of interiority to the popular gangster genre of the time; though May makes a case for Mikey and Nicky by letting Falk and Cassavetes lay it all out. In this world, even a friendship would quickly turn violent, but it’s the perfect template for deconstructing male vulnerability like she had done in The Heartbreak Kid and A New Leaf prior.
The Complete Day-by-Day Log
First time watches are denoted with bold text. Scores are on a ½ to ✯✯✯✯✯ basis.
Friday
The Code (2024, Eugene Kotlyarenko) - ✯✯✯✯
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (2026, James Cameron and Billie Eilish) - ✯✯✯✯
Saturday
Caveat (2020, Damian McCarthy) - ✯✯✯½
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Giant (1956, George Stevens) - ✯✯✯✯
Desert Rose (1989, António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Samurai Cop (1991, Amir Shervan) - ✯✯✯✯
Sunday
Body Heat (1981, Lawrence Kasdan) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Sentimental Value (2025, Joachim Trier) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Obsession (2025, Curry Barker) - ✯✯✯✯½
Ossos (1997, Pedro Costa) - ✯✯✯½
Change of Life (1966, Paulo Rocha) - ✯✯✯✯
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal (1999, Kazuhiro Furuhashi and Akira Shimizu) - ✯✯✯✯
Monday
Dr. Giggles (1992, Manny Soto) - ✯✯✯½
Adaptation. (2002, Spike Jonze) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Captain Blood (1935, Michael Curtiz) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Lemonade Blessing (2025, Chris Merola) - ✯✯✯✯
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021, Wes Anderson) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Tuesday
Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003, Bob Odenkirk) - ✯✯✯
Is God Is (2026, Aleshea Harris) - ✯✯✯✯
Mikey and Nicky (1976, Elaine May) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Peking Opera Blues (1986, Tsui Hark) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Wednesday
Dangerous Animals (2025, Sean Byrne) - ✯✯½
Two Lovers (2008, James Gray) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Little Odessa (1994, James Gray) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, Wes Anderson) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Drive My Car (2021, Ryusuke Hamaguchi) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Thursday
Land of the Dead (2005, George A. Romero) - ✯✯✯½
Classe tous risques (1960, Claude Sautet) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Free Fall (2014, György Pálfi) - ✯✯✯
I Love Boosters (2026, Boots Riley) - ✯✯✯✯
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