ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN (Jesny, 1968)

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(Written and directed by Vojtēch Jesny; starring Radoslav Brzohaty, Vera Galatíková, Vlastimil Brodsky, Vladimír Menšik, Waldemar Matuška, and Drahomíra Hofmanová. Released 1968; watched 2023w10 via Criterion Channel)

The first of my Tycherion-chosen Criterion watches and a winner: deeply moving, often hallucinatory (the animal carnival among them) vignettes spanning+/-15 years in one Czech village as it and the wonderful characters inside it transform and reveal their true natures from post-WWII elation to the ruin of Communist dictatorship, a case study in the raw power of using deeply drawn humans occupying few locations and multiple eras. While Jesny's film may be my first exposure to the Czech New Wave, it most certainly won't be my last. Still processing it – and will be for awhile.

THE WOMAN KING (Prince-Bythewood, 2022)

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(Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood from a script by Dana Stevens; starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, and John Boyega. Released 16 September 2022; watched 2023w10 via Netflix)

Action-packed and featuring one of the best film debuts in years in Thuso Mbedu's turn as Nawi, a career-best turn from Lashana Lynch, and a near-best from Viola Davis (her best being, for me, in Steve McQueen's WIDOWS – I really want to see that again), all wrapped in a propulsive and emotional narrative backed by one of Terence Blanchard's best scores, THE WOMAN KING is a hell of a movie.

As brilliant and profoundly thrilling as THE WOMAN KING is, I can't help but wonder if, had the film delved deeper into the historical reality of its milleux (as explored in Lupita Nyong'o's WARRIOR WOMEN documentary, the making of which is surmised to have led to her dropping out of a starring role in this film), beyond subtextual broadstrokes would the film have been more or less effective? As a rousing two-hour piece of mythology probably the latter – even the best don't always / easily allow for circumspection and the exploration of nuance, particularly when it comes to their heroes; as a multifaceted cinematic epic, I don't see how the film wouldn't have benefitted from the exploration of these harsher truths.

That being said, what we're left with is an awesome mythological story that needed to be told that deserves both its detractions and its accolades. Highly recommended.