The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

I read the reviews and poor scores for this film so my expectations were low. But somewhere after the first couple stories, I asked myself the same question as these filmmakers did: "Tell me how you really feel about 2020 in 20 minutes?" I myself would've been at a loss. The question yields another perspective and appreciation for these stories. Even Lowery's it-takes-a-pandemic-to-get-me-to-dig-up-my-dead-brother wasn't bad. Chen's comment on the dramatic pandemic-related increase of domestic violence was spot on. Panahi's biopic of how our elders suffer differently than us was touching. Vitthal's heartwarming personal story just reminds us of the continuing class difference even in how the pandemic affected us. The pièce de résistance was, of course, the duality of Weerasethakul's Buddhist world-view that insects don't give a shit about your pandemic ego, dude. And Poitras? Well, I'm in the business. It's worse, and way more dangerous, than she says.