2022 Was A Great Year For First Features

Movies I Dig #1

Movies I Dig (MID) 1: I don’t do film reviews. This isn’t that, but will seem like it to some I suspect, so don’t go and get in the habit of expecting me to tell you about every movie I love. That’s not going to happen. Admitedly, I am deviating a bit from my regular style post this week, and frankly twice so: first because it is close to a review post, and secondly because it is going to be one of two posts this week. I had said at the start only 1 real post a week. If you like this double trouble concept, let me know and I will try to up my game, but for now consider it a treat (or is it the opposite)

To me, this is an observation: 2022 has been a great year for first features. And I wonder why. What are the systemic factors that have led to this I wonder…

In looking at first work, I can better see what I do NOT like in many “more mature” work. Whereas as when filmmakers start thinking of their legacy or brand or status, they often grow guilty of arrogance, self-satisfaction, grandiosity, and deliberate demonstrations of their “mastery”, first features are mercifully devoid of that. 2022 has not been a great year for cinema, and I wonder why. Yet, first features are the exception for some reason.

My favorite debut works are infused with a real sense of discovery, risk taking, commitment, & truth. You can feel the joy in doing within. It is risky in a good way. And it pulls me in, and precisely the opposite manner that often more mature work pushes me out.

In this era of peak content, the proven masters and flavors of the month often have enjoyed very little oversight. In the days of theatrical exhibition, such self-discipling was okay because all the filmmakers (90%) were aware you still had to please a paying audience if you wanted your film to work. They were concerned about running time, pace, and criticism of self-indulgence. But that was then. I think those that have the free reign are now more than ever guilty of such vices, and it is only those starting out, who self-discipline to make sure they can get the start. Thank you first time filmmakers, and I hope you teach your older siblings some restraint.

What follows is an overview of some of the first features that caught my eye and ear this year.

Charlotte Wells’ AFTERSUN is heartbreakingly beautiful. Incredibly touching and brave, subtle yet devastating, honest and fresh but still capable or resonating with all of us.  I watched it Thanksgiving Day before gathering with friends and it was the perfect recalibration for me. We have to be present for such moments of connection and meaning and allow them to carry us far in this life. The film pops with the urgency of an artist who has been eager to tell this tale in this specific way (even if they may not have know it) their entire life — well, since they were eleven or so. In many ways it is this film that has required me to move up my post, as it has been winning awards after award: The British Indies and The Gotham most recently.

Another one of 2022’s great first features was Owen Kline’s courageous/outrageous & entirely refreshing FUNNY PAGES. I am already looking forward to a second viewing, happily taking me back to that mid ‘90’s indie flavor. Kline crafts scene after scene where I couldn’t believe it was going where it was going — even when it felt so honest, so painfully honest and accurate. I was howling in laughter. It’s still cruel out there for those that have a passion outside the mainstream and dare to chase it. Kline gives us many of my favorite lines of the year as well as the sort of precise performances that we so rarely get these days.

Jamie Dack’s first feature PALM TREES AND POWER LINES was the best directed film at Sundance 2022; every choice furthered the narrative. Brave, unflinching, devastating, & heartbreaking, revealing so much of what only cinema can accomplish. I would also award it the breakthrough performance of the year, in a great year for breakout performances. It too just won a festival, in this case Torino.

Andrew Legge’s time traveling Zelig-esque inventive & fascinating tale of Do-Not-Meddle-With-The-Time-Space-Continuum, LOLA, is pure fun from start2finish, mixing archive, home video, & mockdoc —it is nothing short of WOW! It is a crime that no US Film Festival has yet to feature it (Thank you Locarno!) nor any US distributor or platform yet to offer it.

Colm Bairead’s THE QUIET GIRL is further proof that 2022 Is A Great Year for #FirstFeatures , with fantastic & subtle performances from young & old, the tension & power of learning to listen & speak w/out just accepting is used to reveal how mysterious & riveting observation truly is.

What have I missed? Any other first features you care to recommend?

We often strive to maintain a “Beginner’s Eye” in life and practice in general, but it is an overall aesthetic I’d like to see more of.

#FirstFeatures #Filmmaking #IndieFilm