Movies I liked—2020

Blindspotting

A poor white man in Oakland struggles with his identity as the city gets gentrified. David Diggs weaves gracefully weaves hiphop into the story. I enjoy movies set in San Francisco bay area but Most movies set here are caricatures (internship). This is a movie captures a bit of the zeitgeist.

Women at War (Icelandic)

It is the story of an eco warrior who brings down electric lines to rebel against the system and how she gets help form an anti establishment sheep farmer. Watch it as an adventure drama with a unique setting rather than a movie about ecology or saving the planet. Crisp and sharp—not a single bit of overacting; very not American.

Vast of Night

It is a Science fiction movie about aliens set in Cayuga, New Mexico, yes near Roswell, in the 1950s with two high school students as the leading characters. The movie was very very very stylistically shot. I do not much about America before the 2010s and Vast of Night I feel gave me a little glimpse of post war booming USA. My write up here does a poor job of telling how great the movie is—just go watch it.

The Trial of the Chicago 7

A movie about the famous trial of some protesters during the Democratic convention in the late 1960s. It was mostly entertaining and I learnt some history.

Nothing Fancy—a documentary about Diana Kennedy

I browse, read and buy a lot of cookbooks and in that process learnt that Diana Kennedy was the mother of Mexican food writing. In the documentary a ninety plus year old Diana tells her life story. At that age she drives around, cares immensely about food and runs cooking classes. She is a force of nature. Diana’s life was full of decisive action—getting out of boring Britain, coming to Latin America, not having kids, exploring food and understanding the culture. She did not plan a career around Mexican food but that’s where her interests led her. She is a template for how to not lead a cookie cutter life.

Also posted at https://www.sheki.in/post/movies_i_like_2020/