Updated RankingsPut me down for Don't Like Any. Seems like the number of acclaimed Directors I don't care for is pretty high. A combination of my narrow, mainstream tastes and the volume of directors I'll give multiple chances to.
Cold Water is one of those films where there's what happens on screen and then there's Assayas overall design, like
La Cérémonie. However that film had great performances that kept me on the hook while Water had pretty faces and a lot less going on. Still, my hat to the review I found that related the scenes to the stages of being a teenager. That helped me at least understand what I think Assayas was aiming to do.
★ ★If only I could be bothered to find something similar for
Demonlover, which was like a puzzle box movie I didn't care to solve because there's nothing to interest me. Seems poorly made too.
★ ½ Carlos (and I watched the 3 Part miniseries) was pretty good for two-thirds. Easily the most skillfully made of the three I watched (and on par with his other recent work). It manages to evoke Paul Greengrass and Battle of Algiers without needing to film it like a documentary cameraman running for his life. Edgar Ramírez is outstanding, but for all the dynamic events it never gets thrilling. I took that to be the limitations of a Television production, but Susanne Bier didn't have such issues with The Night Manager. Eventually the length of the project wore me down, but the first three hours is probably my favorite work by Assayas, even though it's also his least personal.
★ ★ ½