For at least twenty years I’ve been putting forth Darrel’s Dozen with my top films of the year. Rarely (if ever) has a dozen been defined as twelve. Yet, I’ve always had a numbered list—being very inexact about which is my very favorite or which may make the top twelve or the also rans. This year: NO NUMBERS! Rather I’m going to create a bunch of double features (which will, of course, not number twelve).

Double features are from times past, when going to a movie meant two movies, plus a cartoon, maybe a newsreel. My double features have some sort of thematic connection (even if you think I’m straining.)  The films in each may not be quite of equal quality, but all of them are worthing of inclusion in my Dozen.

  • Russia/Ukraine War. We’ll start with one that is obvious. When I saw these two films during Sundance, I knew they were destined to share a billing. As it turns out, both were shortlistted for Best Documentary Feature Oscar®
    • 2000 Meters to Andriivka. Mstyslav Chernov, who won an Oscar® for 20 Days in Mariupol, brings us another harrowing experience of the Russia-Ukraine War. He embeds with a Ukrainian army unit trying to retake what is left of the town of Andriivka two kilometers away. Over the course of several weeks, they inch up a bit each day—but at terrible costs. Real life battle footage which could well be a PTSD trigger for some. 2000 Meters to Andriivka is available to rent on Prime Video.
    • Nobody Against Putin. Pavel Talankin was a young, unconventional teacher at the elementary school in Karabash. It is the same school he attended as a child. He serves as the school’s event coordinator and videographer, recording the day to day happenings. He loved his job. And then the war started. For two years, Pavel records the increasingly chauvinistic and militaristic environment of the school. An inspiring story of one man standing against authoritarianism. Mr. Nobody Against Putin was Denmark’s submission for Best Foreign Feature consideration.
  • A Pair of Classics. Some stories just keep getting better, the more you know of them.
    • Frankenstein. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s gothic horror story was meant to be made into a film by Gillermo del Toro. This is the one of the truest recreations of Shelley’s original story. Del Toro’s visual sense takes us deeper into the wonder of the story of the creation of a living being. It should be noted that the original story grew out of the technological advances of the day (Industrial Revolution) and still plays well as we consider the current advancement in digital and AI technology. Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix.
    • Hamnet. My thought of “classic” here isn’t just Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, but also the Bard himself. This is the story of Will and Agnes Shakespeare, their happy (if challenging) marriage, and the grief that cuts to their very souls at the loss of their young son to the plague. While Agnes (Jessie Buckley in an outstanding performance) struggle to keep going and care for their remaining children, Will pours his grief into creating a new play that is all about life and death. Hamnet is currently in theaters.
  • More Gothic, If we have Frankenstein, we probably need other monsters too. I’m not usually a fan of horror, but this pair is worth it.
    • Sinners. Brothers open a juke joint for the Black community in the Jim Crow South. A place were people can feel free. But a roving band of vampires threaten it even more than the White boss that seeks their ruin. This is not Twilight. The seduction of these vampires is a color-blind society—it just comes at the loss of your soul. A story of a community finding empowerment. Look for Sinners on Prime Video and HBO Max.
    • The Black Comb. I’m pairing Sinners with a live action short (shortlisted for an Oscar® nod). This is a period piece blending horror and fantasy. A young doctor comes to visit his distant relative who is said to have healed a case of tuberculosis. She says it is a gift that was given to her late husband, a fisherman who encounted a mermaid. No one would believe that a woman could do such things. Yet everyone for miles around comes to be cured of everything. But there was a price to pay.  A curse follows this gift. The young doctor knows there must be a scientific explanation. Soon, he will discover just how real the curse is.
  • The Meaning of a Single Life. Even if that single life happens eighteen times.
    • Train Dreams. If I were numbering the list this year, this would probably have been #1. This pensive, philosophical treatise looks at the life of someone that would seem to be totally unimportant. Yet, we see all that happens in his life—joy, tragedy, connections, work. This is the kind of film that we can be enveloped in and come away with a new appreciation of the little and big things in life. Train Dreams is streaming on Netflix.
    • Mickey 17. Mickey is an “expendable”. If he dies (as he frequently does), they just reprint a new version of him with updated memories. It not only makes the point that no one is “expendable”, it also provides reflections on colonialism and the current political climate. (That reflective importance has only grown since the film came out early in the year.) Mickey 17 can be seen on Prime Video and HBO Max,
  • Voices of the Dying. After looking at the meaning of life, let’s also listen to people who are dying.
    • The Voice of Hind Rajab. A Red Crescent emergency call center in Palestine gets a call from a 6 year old girl trapped in a car with her dead family as the Israeli Defense Forces are shooting all around her. Based on a true story, this reenactment includes the actual recordings of the voices on the phone. The frustration with the situation wears on the workers who just want to save this young life. We feel their frustration and their pain. The Voice of Hind Rajab in in select theaters and has been shortlisted for a Best Foreign Feature nomination.
    • Come See Me in the Good Light. Andrea Gibson, Colorado’s Poet Laureate, is the focus, (along with their wife Megan Falley) of this intimate portrait of someone living (note that word) with terminal cancer. For Andrea, the certainness of death’s approach gave them an appreciation of the importance of each moment. In a scene near the end, Andrea reflects “I remember thinking, in the beginning, right, two years to live. I thought that’s so little. And now, I feel like ‘Holy shit, that’s so much.’ Like a second is so much. Come See Me in the Good Light is short listed for a nomination for Best Documentary Feature and is streaming on Apple TV.
  • For Adrenaline Junkies Who Love Chaos. These two films may well have been the best time I had watching movies this year. Outlandish characters and plots.
    • One Battle After Another. A former revolutionary father living in a haze of weed (and probably other things) must try to save his daughter from a vengeful military officer. Yeah, that’s not a good description of the plot, which is just too much fun to even care about describing. Each new character brings a new twist and contortion to the story. Just go with it. One Battle After Another streams on HBO Max.
    • Marty Supreme. Set in the 1950s a table tennis hustler has a plan to become world champion. But that will take money. He has more ways of hustling than just with a ping pong paddle. He believes in himself far more than we do, but he will not stop until all the hustles he’s running pay off. Marty Supreme in in theaters now.
  • Consequences. The two films above involve dealing with the consequences of choices. These last two films build on that idea. Maybe we become the consequences of our choices.
    • It Was Just an Accident. Palme d’Or winner for Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, this is the story of how a minor event snowballs into a night that is balanced on the edge of life and death. The real consequence we are to consider is how the choice of vengeance or mercy will play out. It Was Just an Accident is shortlisted for a Best Foreign Feature nomination. It’s playing in select theaters and is available to rent on Prime Video.
    • Rental Family. An American actor struggling to work in Japan finds a job playing roles as substitute family members. One of the roles is as a long absent father who has returned to his child. He discovers it’s hard to walk away from the end of some of the jobs. If you invest yourself in someone’s life, there will inevitably be consequences. Rental Family can be rented on Prime Video.

And just in parting, I want to award myself an “I Told You So” prize. I’ve noticed that Eephus is making some critics’ yearend lists this year. I didn’t include it this year because I had it as #5 in LAST YEAR’S DOZEN!