My Letterboxd Top 4

In honor of the Oscars tonight (which I unfortunately did not watch) and me, having just watched Anora for the first time tonight, I'm going to be sharing my top 4 favorite movies at the current moment. These are in no particular order, by the way, and I'm doing my best not to include any spoilers, but there's always a chance, so heed my warning.

***

1. La La Land (2016)

"Here's to all the fools who dream" a wonderful movie following the stories of an aspiring actress and a jazz pianist and how their lives intersect each other in a beautiful tangle of love, art, and music. This movie has so many of my favorite things all wrapped up into one cinematic, perfect film. In my humble opinion, it's quite difficult to find a movie without at least one critique. La La Land, however, is simply just that movie. Beautiful and heart wrenching story with a bittersweet ending (my favorite genre). I think the colors are amazing, and the music is obviously peak, although it can seem a little silly to those who aren't really into musical theatre. Amazing movie all around, and I will add, it never fails to make me cry.

***

2. Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

An incredibly chaotic sci-fi reality adventure that explores deep themes of familial connections. I'm usually one for romantic movies and don't know a lot of heartfelt family movies, however I think this movie is perfectly beautiful. Watching a heavily mother-daughter relationship film in the theater with my mom for the first time when this movie came out was honestly a terrifying and yet healing experience. We were both in tears during several parts of this masterpiece. I will say this movie genuinely did make me nauseous due to some scenes being so chaotic and busy, I'm someone who can get severely motion sick though, but I will put it on here as a warning. My take is that it's well worth it though, trust me bro. The cinematography and effects are so incredibly complex and unique that they make for a rollercoaster of silly-goofy, terrifying, loving, sad, and happy emotion inducing moments all in one movie.

***

3. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Another movie about family connections. Following an apparent dysfunctional family as they go through challenges while traveling together for the youngest girl. We follow their travel from New Mexico all the way to California so she can compete in a beauty pageant. There are so many intimate and special family moments depicted in this serene and fascinatingly strange feeling movie. We see into their personal failures and healing along with bonding and listening to one another as they have never done before. The colors are again something to note in this movie as they're very bright and depictive. Not only does this movie address familial bonds, but it also stresses how damaging and constrictive society and its expectations can be. Shattering expectations and not always pretending like everything is okay all the time, especially when it isn't are important themes that I've taken away from this movie. There's a plethora of fantastic quotes and inspiring words that I've gained from this movie that I recommend be everyone's' experiment.

***

4. Garden State (2004)

This incredibly charming indie drama came straight out of left field for me thanks to a recommendation from my local Disc Replay worker. It's highly unlikely for a movie a I watch for the first and only time to get 5 stars let alone end up on my top 4 immediately. I hold such a special place for this movie in my heart. It's a deep cut focusing on a depressed and medicated young aspiring actors' journey home for his mom's funeral. Exploring once again themes of family, but heavier topics such as drug abuse, deep depression, grief, and how to go about finding one's "spark" again. The main guy goes on a healing journey of acceptance and trying to pass through the numbness into feelings to process. He's joined by friends and unexpectedly finds love in what seems to be the darkest of times. My original Letterboxd review says that this movie is, "perfectly weird and awkward and makes just barely the right amount of perfect sense." Again, amazing cinematography and just a beautiful and raw portrayal of so much emotion and grief and happiness. Ten thousand percent recommend watching, especially if you're going through really tough times right now. I know because watching this helped me personally.

"GOOD LUCK EXPLORING THE INFINITE ABYSS!!"

***

Well, that's all I got so, thank you for reading and I hope you guys will watch all of these especially if you haven't already.

Follow my Letterboxd: hlinley, and my radio show if you feel so inclined: @mythsandmuses.music

-Hannah Linley