Constructing this list felt like constructing a house of cards- it could all topple at any moment. So I decided to section it off as the season moves into the frosty throes of winter.
Autumn Sonata
A strained mother-daughter relationship. Unflinching and brutal truths. Sven Nykvist's use of burnished harvest colors relay the autumn vibes.
In Cold Blood
I associate the novel with winter because that is when I first read it. The movie fits right on the cusp of the season. My father introduced me to this movie around middle school and Robert Blake's monologue amidst the rain pouring outside the jail always stuck with me.
The Double Life of Veronique
Kieslowski's post- Dekalog career is one I associate with colors. The Colors trilogy for obvious reasions. Veronique has a unique green/yellowish hue to it pallette that I haven't seen any movie use as effectively.
Phantom Thread
Alma retelling her story next to a fireplace makes me want to wrap myself in the blankets with a plate full of asparagus with oil and salt. Not too much butter though.
Last of the Mohicans
Like so many of these picks, the score belongs to the season as much as the movie does. Mann's best films don't even feel like films. They feel like mood pieces. Mohicans isn't as abstract as Miami Vice in that sense. It's more linear. This isn't a bad thing as his style is all over the finished product.
Addams Family Values
A sequel that stands up to and just about surpasses the original. The post Halloween hangover coming into Thanksgiving isn't better exemplified by the morbid fun in this movie.
Planes, Train and Automobiles
"I'd like ya to meet a friend of mine."
OK, this one is obvious. John Hughes mastered the X-mas vibe with his scripts for Christmas Vacation and Home Alone. Martin and Candy dynamic odd couple duo is seldom matched.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Brown, Yellow, Red. What more do you need? A dance number? Well you're in luck. Anderson has a knack for making films that are so damn charming and it peaks with his adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic.
Blood Rage
Slasher films manage to hit all the major holidays: Christmas (Black Christmas, Silent Night Deadly Night, Christmas Evil), Valentine's Day (My Blood Valentine), Halloween (duh). Thanksgiving remained a blindspot. With the exception of Eli Roth's Thanksgiving trailer for Grindhouse (the best thing he's done, seriously), there wasn't one to sink our teeth into. Joe Bob Briggs changed that for me when he features Blood Rage on Joe Bob's Drive-In special on Shudder. The Arrow release is chock full of good stuff.
Krisha
Trey Edward Shults catapulted to the top of "New Directors to Watch" after I saw It Comes At Night. I immediately sought out Krisha. Shults channels Cassavetes for a look at a dysfunctional family drama set during Thanksgiving. The turkey scene set to Nina Simone's Just In Time is unforgettable. Just watch it. You'll know it when it comes.
American Movie
This movie's timeline lasts longer than the fall and into winter; helping it create a catch-all vibe for the end of October thru Thanksgiving and into February. The scene that always reminds me of the season is when Mark and Mike are crammed into Mark's mom's kitchen watching the Super Bowl on a small television set.
A perfect post-Halloween movie. Jesus told me so.
Wonder Boys
The movie that introduced me to my favorite Dylan song: Not Dark Yet. Hanson nails the feeling of the Chabon book in the same way he nailed Ellroy's LA Confidential. Melancholic yet hopeful.
Foxcatcher
The command of tone by Bennett Miller here is extraordinary. Haunting is a term used to excessive amounts in reviews. This movie actually earns it. Like gliding over glass.
Tatum turns in one of the best performances of the 10's.
Birth
The turn from November to December. The leaves falling on the ground. The snow starting to fall. Even though the films is about rebirth, the opening of this movie with the help of Alexandre Desplat's score expertly captures this feeling of moving into winter.
Manchester By the Sea
You Can Count On Me. Margaret. Manchester By the Sea. A perfect 3-0 record if you ask me. Few films portray grief as realistically as this one. It's genuine and lived in.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Some artists are so specifically tuned to a season. Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen are staples in the winter season for me. The latter being used liberally throughout this picture. Altman helps us out with some stunning imagery along the way.
Inside Llewyn Davis
Coens tapped Bruno Delbonnel to lense this film. The announcement gave me pause since the Deakins collaboration offered so many sumptuously photographed films. I needn't worry. The soundtrack is an integral part to the season.
The Revenant
The wilderness. Survival. Man's primal instincts. It's no wonder Mann went ga-ga over this.
The Hateful Eight
"I ain't ever going out in that shit...ever, ever again!"
There's an essay I can pen to this movie. Exalting it among QT's best since Pulp Fiction. How it's the closest he has gotten with the horror genre. How it's the ugly, bruised, toothless brother of Django Unchained. For now I'll just say that it's an immediate go-to when the snow is so bad I am unable to go anywhere. Roads are closed. Schools are closed. They draw straws to see who will go outside. And OB loses once again.
