I watched many films in 2016. I can't remember the titles of most of them. They light up my retina for their run-time, then slide onto the pile of images stored in my brain like old vegetables in a fridge bin. They merge plotlines until they begin to seem meaningless. I'm beginning to wonder if movies are anything more than amusing propaganda, something to keep actors busy, oxycontin for the masses. Lucky for me I'm fed a diet of intriguing independents and stylish oldies by local curators via a dedicated publicity firm.
Of the independents I see, the documentaries have the most scintillating narratives. Fiction films, often from other countries, lean so heavily on classic movie tropes that they induce a sense of déjá vu. I find myself fast-forwarding because I can, because distributors no longer rent a screening room, so it's between me and my laptop. Documentary storylines, on the other hand, are refreshed by startling new realities, revealed through twisted intrigue, rendered compelling by innovative visuals.
Zero Days stands out as a gripping suspense tale of espionage at the heart of Iran's nuclear program. Stuxnet the Worm had appeared in headlines, but I couldn't wrap my head around the reality of a centrifuge, let alone a worm that could bring down a centrifuge by messing with its rotational speed and feedback loop. Zero Days provided images that transported me to Iran's nuclear enrichment lab and inside the mechanism of a centrifuge. The detailed forensic reenactment was riveting. I recommend the film to anyone who thinks the NSA can be trusted.
Theo Who Lived, a documentary about a U.S. journalist taken hostage by Al Qaeda, sequestered and tortured for nearly two years, puts a unique spin on the collateral damage of our endless "war on terror." Theo Padnos is a kind of secular saint or self-designated sacrificial lamb who accepts his fate in the interest of both mental health and ultimate release. He's driven not only by the drive to survive, but also by a fascination with what makes his captors tick. This sort of fellow, or fool, so rare in America's current war culture, is a sublime agent of subversion. Must see.
Author: the J.T. Leroy Story is worth seeing for its subject matter, but only with a healthy dose of skepticism. Laura Albert is a local scallywag who turned the tables on the so-called avant-garde literary establishment by beating them at their own game of fake news, otherwise known as P.R. She invented an alter ego who charmed, nagged and terrified key members of the gay cognoscenti like Dennis Cooper, who greased her path to temporary stardom. Too bad she didn't claim the whole glorious deception as an extended performance piece. Nevertheless, her personal saga of sexual abuse, drugs, and subterfuge lays bare the hollow nature of celebrity.
My favorite fiction film this year was made in 1925. Woman of the World, whose title describes a lifestyle no longer in vogue, shows what happens when a lady of means loses her boy toy to a younger woman on the French Riviera. She ships herself off to Middle America, where she's embroiled in a moral showdown with a small-town DA bent on outlawing the public dance hall. Poor sap, he's smitten by Pola Negri's command of erotic insinuation and ends up on the wrong side of a whip. The wit and wisdom of this unpretentious yet sublime comedy feel forever young.