Richard Brody in New Yorker
To read critic Richard Brody is always a pleasure. In this article – link below – he brings forward his Best Films of the year, 35, whereas 11 of them have NOT been theatrically released, which brings him to reflect on the streaming services changing the whole situation for the artistic film: „…What’s different is that streaming is taking over, and, as a result, theatrical releases are declining—not numerically but qualitatively. We’re seeing a return to the bad old days of the nineteen-nineties, when many of the best international and independent films weren’t released at all…”
Brody starts his article in this way:
„It’s the year of apocalyptic cinema of the highest order, the year in which three of our best filmmakers have responded with vast ambition, invention, and inspiration to the crises at hand, including the threats to American democracy from a wannabe tyrant, the catastrophic menaces arising from global warming, the corrosive cruelty of ethnic hatreds and nationalist prejudices, and the poisonous overconcentration of money and power. The sheer enormity of the times has contributed to a sense of existential fury—of a challenge to modern life as a whole—in the year’s best movies…“
Agnès Varda is on the list (Photo).
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2019-in-review/the-best-movies-of-2019
