The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
I'm a Cassavetes neophyte. I saw that The Last Picture Show, which I don't always listen to because I usually haven't seen both films, discussed it along with Uncut Gems, and since I like Uncut Gems, I figured this is where I'd start with Cassavetes. I loved it. Ben Gazzara as Cosmo is excellent. He sets you up to underestimate him, but also doesn't overdo it when his big moment comes. I bought into his character 100%. I dig Cassavetes style, like I figured I would, there is nothing false in it. I will generally take the trade-off of a lower quality of picture (in the objective means of fidelity) if it yields a higher level of intimacy and truth. That trade-off definitely helps explain the success of this film.
I finally feel like I'm discovering some films from further back that I can dig into, enjoy rather than appreciate, in De Sica and at least this first (for me) Cassavetes.
Incendies
If you say you know where those two narratives were heading before the big reveal, either you're a liar or kind of warped. It's a difficult film to pin down because it deals in heavy subject matter via quasi-allegory (Fuad as Lebanon), and it likely requires more knowledge of Lebanon's civil war and the rift between Muslims and Christians in the country than I possess. It's incredible to look at, and I think the road sign transitions, with the big, bold, red letters are very effective guides. The use of Radiohead's You and Whose Army is weird. Maybe its use shows an ambition for the film to be more than a film about a war in a specific place, hence also calling the country Fuad, but ultimately I don't think Villeneuve succeeds in making it what one site called a Greek tragedy. Of the five Villeneuve pictures I've seen, it probably sits at the bottom.