January's favourite films

[photography by Timothy Eberly]

This year I really started strong on films. Last year I managed to watch 100 films, and I know that because I have a Letterboxd account where I log my films almost religiously. This year I thought I'd watch some more, and I really went to town in January. I don't know if I'll keep this up, I actually didn't think I would manage to watch one every day for the whole month, but here we are, 38 films later. 

I'm not going to list all of the films I watched, for that there is this, but I am going to write about my three favourite films I watched in January, and two least favourite watched in the same month.

✔   The White Tiger directed by Ramin Bahrani, 2021
Drama, Crime

    With no doubt this film is at the top of my list so far. I was not expecting to have a favourite just yet, but here we are. 
    The White Tiger takes us on a journey, shows us the struggle of a driver trying to rise up and escape poverty. It shows and tells us about the caste system in India, about how women are perceived, about how the poor are being seen by the rich and how hard it is to basically make a living. I liked everything about this film, it was realistic, I loved the narration, and the cast was fabulous. Definitely a must watch. 

✔   Your Name Engraved Herein directed by Kuang-Hui Liu, 2020
Drama, History, Romance

    This one is actually my first watch of 2021, and I loved it so much. Your Name Engraved Herein is a historical film first of all, it revolves around the year 1987 when martial law ended in Taiwan. I have a soft spot for historical films so I loved watching this one. 
    The film follows Jia-han and Birdy, two teenage boys who fall in love in such dangerous times. It shows their turmoil and their dealing with society and homophobia. I absolutely loved Jia-han, especially his dialogue with Father Oliver, it was intense. 

✔   New Trial directed by Kim Tae-yun, 2017
Drama, Crime, Based on a Real Story

    I first watched this film in 2017, but I decided I wanted to watch it again, so that's what I did. I loved it on the first watch, and I loved it on the second one as well. I also have a soft spot for films based on real events, knowing that makes it so much more intense for me. 
    In New Trial we see a lawyer struggling to make justice for a wrongfully convicted man. His only crime: being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course the film exaggerates real facts, but that's what makes it a film and not a documentary. I liked watching everything from trying to uncover the truth, gathering evidence, to trying to finally, after ten long years, make justice. 

✘   Happiness Adjacent directed by Rob Williams, 2017
Drama

    Ugh. This one will contain a few spoilers, proceed with caution. 
    While I liked the acting in Happiness Adjacent and I thought it was pretty hot, I did not like what was happening. During a cruise two men meet and start a relationship. The only problem is that one of them is a cheating bastard, the other one is a prick who does not care he's helping this guy cheat on his wife who is a few rooms away. I never understood what's with the appeal on cheating and I'm not going to understand any time soon. Just no, don't do it. It's gross.
    The cheating is not the only issue I have with this film. The prick is seeing a therapist, and the bastard at some point tells him something along the lines 'you don't need a therapist to tell you how great you are' and the prick actually proceeds to call his therapist and tell him to fuck off. What? A rando comes and tells you you don't need a therapist and you actually listen? No, no, no. Not good. So yeah, this film is not worth it, unless you want to go ahead and simply enjoy the sexy scenes. 

✘   Blind Truth directed by Adrianna Buckner, 2020
Drama, Crime

    There are going to be some mild spoilers here too. This film is a disaster. 
    While there is potential to the plot, the film is all over the place. I don't even know why I watched it, I knew from the opening scene I was not going to like it. The dialogue is not good. There are unnecessary pauses in the middle of it, it sounds like something a kid might have written and the supposedly FBI agents are all so bad! There is no procedures to be followed, there are no measures taken at the crime scenes, everyone does as they please.
    Right, the plot. The film follows an FBI agent obsessed with a serial killer who resurfaces after 25 years of inactivity. As I said, it has potential, but it's just so bad, I literally cringed, physically cringed, while watching it. Don't bother with this one. 

And these are my top liked and disliked films in January. I definitely recommend the three liked ones, and if you're looking for more recommendations, I might also mention Big Bad Wolves (2013), The Post (2017), Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018), The Guard (2011), and The Half of It (2020). I definitely watched some films I liked more than some of these, but I don't want to mention well known films that you might have already watched or are already planning on watching, and I wanted to cover a wider range of genres, in order: Crime/Thriller, History/Based on a Real Story, Drama/Based on a Real Story, Comedy/Action, and RomCom.