Sudden-ly, See More Hamaguchi

I will do a round-up of my New York Film Festival reviews some time this week now that the fest has ended -- it was one of the best years I've had at the fest in the decades I've been going, with so many incredible movies that I couldn't even get to writing about, so I actually have a second post in mind as well; we'll see if I have time what with both NewFest and Brooklyn Horror Fest starting in a couple of days, but I hope I do so I can give all the great movies their due credit. But for now I've finally written up a few, deeply inadequate thoughts on what is my favorite movie coming out of the fest (and I don't just mean NYFF, I mean "the year" at this point), Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden -- read my review right here. Even after I named his previous movie Evil Does Not Exist my favorite film of 2024 I somehow keep underestimating Hamaguchi (I almost missed seeing this new one entirely) but that ends now -- what an absolute thing of beauty, this film. I haven't stopped thinking about it for weeks. Neon is releasing it on November 25th and you have to go; here is the trailer:

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

Sister Liesl: When I pray no one answers. 

I only pretend he does. Then I do whatever 

I think god probably would've suggested. 

Usually, it's obvious.

A happy birthday to actor Mia Threapleton today -- yes yes she's high-nepo being Kate Winslet's daughter but she was so wonderful in this wonderful movie that I can't hold it against her. Actually it's kind of weird that Kate Winslet has never been in a Wes Anderson project isn't it? I could see her excelling with his tone -- whenever she leans into comedy she's grand at it. (The Regime had a semi-Andersonian tone to it actually.) Maybe this was Wes trying to get at Kate. I could picture an entire film by Wes Anderson starring nepo-babies though -- they'd all have that slightly familiar air of their parents but a little off-kilter, which is what Wes Anderson Movies are in a nutshell basically. They always feel like things that previously existed, unearthed tchotchkes from the past made new through his weird and wonderful sensibility. Anyway this is just reminding me how deeply underappreciated The Phoenician Scheme was in 2025 -- how the Oscars keep existing when Wes Anderson movies don't get nominated for at the very least Best Production Design every single time he has a new movie out is to their eternal shame. I did my part, it was in my Top 20 movies of last year!

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Since nobody guessed here are five more!

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Irish actor Fra Fee (and yes we just did a post last week debating the whole "openly gay" thing with our self re: him) just got done doing a theatrical show called I'll Be Seeing You in Scotland, and our laddy was kind enough to share a few photos from... well from his time getting dressed and undressed in the dressing room for the most part. This is why we need gay stars! They are like us! And they know what the people want. So let's enjoy these photos whilst I re-settle myself into my seat for this post-NYFF week, shall we? We shall, after the jump...

Stan in the Place Where You Live

I literally just reviewed Fjord earlier this week for the New York Film Fest -- read that here -- but for once I was not speaking from an ivory tower! No you, the common people, can go see Fjord this very weekend yourselves! Well you can if you're a "common person" in New York or Los Angeles anyway. Fuck you, Maryland. Sit and spin, Idaho! Ahem. Anyway you should see Fjord whenever you have the chance because, like everything director Cristian Mungiu makes, it's very good. As for me, well, I've got one more NYFF movie to see tomorrow and at least one more NYFF review to write (see all my NYFF coverage to date here and then it's on to the Brooklyn Horror Fest and NewFest which both kick off next week. This is a mad time of year, as ever. But mostly I have a quiet weekend ahead and I plan to take full advantage, zone the fuck out, and watch that dumb monster show starring Josh Hartnett on Netflix. Tis the season! 

Okay well obviously I'll be binging BELOW this weekend

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— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) October 9, 2026 at 3:53 PM

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Widows (2018)

Veronica: We have a lot of work to do,

crying is not on the list.

Happy birthday to the great Steve McQueen today.

Good Morning From Last Night, World

I sure hope the world doesn't explode in the next twelve hours because golly I will look like a fool, posting this post from Thursday evening to go up in the theoretical postapocalyptic world of this Friday A.M. I have posited. That's the danger of pre-planning posts in 2026! Anyway I've got my final press screening of the NYFF this morning -- for the Closing Night film, Ava Duvernay's follow-up to her documentary 13th called you guessed it 14th -- so I'll be in a little late. This isn't my final screening of NYFF -- I'm catching at least one more over this final weekend -- but it's the last one you people have to worry about keeping me from you. Even through a possible apocalypse! The theoretical things I do for the movies. Anyway look -- it's George MacKay! More MacKay (via) even after we've gotten such a fine and hefty bunch as of late thanks to next week's new Sense and Sensibility movie, in which as I have already said he is delivering a real swooner of a turn. Feel free to enjoy these new photos after the jump in any manner you like til I'm back in my seat again... 

Nothing Artificial About That Guy!

There, a photo of the handsome and talented Yura Borisov to ease you into something much more volatile -- aka my review of Luca Guadagnino's Artificial, which just dropped at Pajiba after its world premiere at the NYFF. Go forth and read! (Also I'm a little sad I had to cut a bit mentioning how two characters in the movie poorly quote Radiohead's song "Paranoid Android" -- just know that moment pierced my deepest soul.)

Today's Fanboy Delusion

Today I'd rather be...

... taking Alexander Ludwig out for a spin. (via)

Father Sister Brother Mann

Apparently I was in such a daze yesterday from the dentist jackhammering my face for two hours that I got back to my desk and completely forgot to post again after Noon -- whoopsie, but especially whoopsie because I should have linked to another review of mine from the New York Film Fest that dropped. I wrote up my thoughts on Paweł "Cold War" Pawlikowski's latest Fatherland, which stars the one and only Sandra Hüller (yes her again) as writer Thomas Mann's daughter Erika, right here -- read it! I didn't mention the fact that this movie is a mere seventy minutes long and yet it left such an impression on me -- far more than some bloated nonsense like oh say The Odyssey, for example. You heard me! Although it might be more apt to take a dig at Digger in this context given that movie also stars Hüller and somehow managed to get a bad performance out of her. Now that that movie flopped I've seen a lot of people trying to play devil's advocate and come out in support of it and... can we just not? Let's let that one rot on the vine. 

I just find it interesting that people are able to write about Tom Cruise movies without mentioning the fact that the man HAS SLAVES is all. Interesting!

— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 10:48 AM

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Who's up for an early walk in the woods with Brett Goldstein?

Pics of the Day

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While I recover from the dentist's chair this morning here, enjoy these photos and videos that I took at the Q&A that followed yesterday's NYFF screening of Luca Guadagnino's latest film Artificial. Twasn't just Luca as advertised -- actors Yura Borisov, Ike Barinholtz, and (eventually, he was late) Cooper Hoffman were all there as well! Obviously I will have more to say on the movie soon. Right now I'm just waiting for feeling to return to the right side of my head. 

Posted some more photos and videos from today’s ARTIFICIAL screening at #NYFF this afternoon! Here: www.instagram.com/p/DeLQcJCjtp... — and here for you Cooper Hoffman lovers a quick video of him scampering onto stage late:

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— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 10:16 PM

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

Do I have any The Gentlemen fans in the house? I know I posted a few times about the first season on here but I think with NYFF gobbling up all my time I forgot to say much of anything about the second season. Anyway I'm not really going to do that right now either as I forgot I have a dentist appointment this morning to re-fill in the fallen filling (say that four times fast) that I know I bitched about a couple of weeks ago on here. I just had this photo of Theo James from the second season on hand fast enough to fill this post which, much like the hole in my face, needed filling. (No comment.) Enjoy, and we'll talk soon. If the dentist doesn't kill me. Hey I've watched Final Destination 2 a dozen times, I know what can happen in there. 

They're Real and Spectacular

It doesn't seem right that this photo of Drew Starkey on the set of Luca Guadagnino's Queer only made itself known to me now, in 2026, two whole years after the movie came out -- actually you know what I just checked and it's been exactly two years and two days since I saw that movie at the NYFF for the first time! (Here is my review.) As I mentioned on Friday that was the 9th anniversary of when I saw Call My By Your Name at the same fest -- it's become a semi-annual tradition then, seeing the new Luca movie at NYFF. Which brings me to yesterday's bitch-fest by yours truly about how I didn't get into NYFF's World Premiere of Luca's latest Artificial -- and yes since that post is still up that is clearly how it ended up playing out. I didn't see the movie last night. But don't worry -- a whole bunch of straight dudes sure did! Everybody clear the way, straight dudes coming through. They'll all be dropping their super primo heterosexual reviews of the movie about a gay man that was directed by a gay man today, so make sure you go read the straight men's very important opinions on such. 

Okay so real talk, petty bitching aside -- I did manage to score, all on my own, a ticket to this afternoon's second screening of Artificial. What's new -- gays gotta look out for themselves. If I'd have known there wasn't going to be a press screening, for whatever bizarre reason that decision happened, I would have been online the second tickets went on sale to buy one anyway -- thankfully, in an absolute panic, I managed to eke this shit out on my own at the absolute last minute. I should try to be a little less pissy since I am seeing the movie now -- and there will be a Q&A with Luca himself at this screening, although unlike last night's World Premiere it won't include the entire cast as well as a live performance by the great Damon Albarn, who did the film's score. But I will calm down and situate my brain once I'm sitting there in the theater in a few -- I'm a damn professional (ish) and I won't hold this sordid ordeal against the movie itself. Indeed this is the last you'll hear from me whining about this, I promise -- I can feel the poison leaving my system as I finish this rant. Good to get it out so it doesn't fester! Okay anyway my ultimate point being -- that's where I'm gone to this afternoon! I am going to watch Artificial now, thank goodness. Surely stay tuned for my review to come. Oh and to bring us back to the start, in related Drew Starkey's Beautiful Tits news:

ONSLAUGHT is out on VOD today: link.amazon/B0arfO3I2 My review: www.pajiba.com/film_reviews... The best thing about it:

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— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) October 6, 2026 at 11:06 AM

Five Frames From ?

What movie is this?

Good Morning, World

When I go out of my way to make sure and mention that an actor is gay or "openly gay" even, it's really just for we homos' benefit -- it allows us a, what's the phrase from the Botox commercials? A freedom of expression, if you will. Oh he is one of us, I am now free to picture him in likely scenarios. If an actor's not "openly gay" I will probably still picture such scenarios but when they're out it gives it a thrill of genuine possibility, thereby making me feel a little less like the troll in my mother's basement that I so clearly am. Anyway on that note here are some images that out homosexual Fra Fee was kind enough to share on his Instagram this week -- the word on his Zach Snyder movie was very bad indeed out of TIFF but we're not holding that against him. Not that anyway. We'd hold plenty against him though, given the opportunity! See? Gay shit.

Fjorders

Time for yes yet another NYFF review -- this time we're talking Cristian Mungiu's Cannes-winner Fjord, which played my hometown fest this past weekend, and you can read my thoughts right here. It re-teams A Different Man duo Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as ultra-religious parents who find themselves targeted for their parenting techniques in Norway -- the film's been seen as conservative by some but I think that's a nonsensical superficial read, personally. Which is to say:

We love a movie that believes lesbians have magical powers

— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) September 22, 2026 at 9:26 AM

The Word is Fake

Luca Guadagnino's Artificial is having its World Premiere at NYFF tonight and Neon just dropped that, the first poster -- i don't really like that poster very much. I get the gist but it's kind of ugly? They should have brightened up the crowd, I think. Anyway as I mentioned on Friday (and as remains true still as I type this) I am unsure if I'll be able to see the film tonight, so I am needless to say, as the saying goes and such, tender to the touch right this moment. Since the axe hasn't entirely fallen on my head just yet I'm keeping my feelings bottled up until 5:01pm, after the screening starts -- after that I pre-apoogize to anyone who happens to be standing near me because my wrath will be quick and oh let's say outsized. For real though. It feels homophobic at this point. And no I am not kidding. I didn't get invited to the party for Club Kid either, and only learned about it from a straight dude -- I really feel like I need to have a talk with my LGBTQ critic's guild about the pressure that's being exerted upon PR people re: prioritizing queer critics for queer media. But see -- I'm airing exactly the dirty laundry I said I wouldn't haha. I cannot help myself. I literally have this one pulsing stress-vein pushing at my left eyeball right now that is screaming No More. (And yes I'm aware that part of this is an ego-trip but I'm allowed once in awhile -- I'm so non-aggressive in real life just let me mouth out my damned id here in this safe space, at least.) Anyway! Point being I can't wait to see all the straight critics from bigger outlets who did indeed get invited to the Luca Guadagnino Movie tonight before I did. That will be fun. (And yes I will delete all of this if a ticket happens to pop up in my inbox in the next three hours. What of it!)

Me watching my inbox as the Artificial screening barrels towards us and I still don't have a ticket

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— Jason Takes Man-Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) October 5, 2026 at 1:10 PM