Almost Linear

By Jack Davis

“Hit close to home.”  

Is that the best way I could describe it? When I hear that phrase, I often think people mean something that reminded them of past events in their lives, something more tangible and direct, and that is the case for some of the films I’ll touch on. But I’m also talking about a movie that affected you deeply, reignited something, whether that manifested as a sense of motivation or a reminder of something you used to like doing. Maybe it made you want to do something new. Maybe it’s not even as specific as that. Movies like these for you may fit all the criteria I listed, some of them, or none at all. 

These are films I’ve seen this year, maybe even rewatched, but not ones that necessarily came out this year. The list isn’t in any particular order; it’d be hard for me to rank an already whittled down list of movies in order of “how hard” they hit close to home.  

I also thought that “hit close to home” sounded better for a list than “affected me deeply,” but I’ll let you all be the judge of that.  

Here are four movies I watched this year that hit close to home: 

1. The Way Back (2020) – Directed by Gavin O’Connor, Starring Ben Affleck 

This is one I watched recently. It’s a movie that – from what I can tell – wasn’t seen by too many people, it came out right in the beginning of quarantine and, if I’m remembering correctly, went straight to HBO Max (sorry, now it’s just Max).  

Sometimes the story behind a movie also plays into how it impacts me. Affleck had someone driving him from rehab to set during a chunk of the film’s production, for a film where he was playing a basketball coach struggling with alcoholism. Another touching part of the story is that his ex-wife Jennifer Garner actually played a pivotal role in making sure the movie happened; they were prepping to film right when Affleck relapsed, and the studio was thinking about pulling the plug on the movie.  

The story within the film feels just as authentic, even though it wasn’t necessarily based on Affleck’s life (O’Connor did have him in mind for the part, they’d previously made The Accountant in 2016). At the beginning of the film, Affleck’s Jack Cunningham isn’t a coach (what’s with all these alcoholics in movies from the past few years named Jack?). He’s a former high school basketball all-star who decades later is a recent divorcee. He works a construction job, drinks before, during, and after, and consistently needs to be carried from the bar to his dingy house near said bar, which – no coincidence – is within walking distance. He can flip his emotions on a dime, quickly turning nasty on his sister when she reveals his ex-wife called her to ask how he was doing.  

Seeing yourself in the characters you watch is really a wild thing. I, like this fictional Jack, am an alcoholic. I’m happy to say I have nine months sober at the time of writing this, but you never quite forget how bad things got. I do, nowadays, think that’s for the best. 

 I’ve constantly been way too drunk around friends and family, been drunk at inappropriate times, and have had to be driven home on nights that I’d already driven to the place. Deeper than that, I’ve had almost all my relationships be touched by my addiction. Certain idiosyncrasies Affleck’s Jack has, or even just his routine, is drawn out painfully well. How he’ll take a beer he recently put in the freezer out to drink, immediately replacing it with one from the fridge. Him bringing a beer to the shower every morning. Him having a used paper coffee cup for the beer he drinks driving home, or the thermal cup he keeps in the cupholder when he’s bringing vodka to practice.  

When the assistant coach (politely) confronts him about there being beer cans in his office, I could literally feel how deeply I related to Jack shrugging it off, making up a lie quicker than a normal person should be able to. He gets defensive, then sort of writes the coach off, then says he’ll take care of it. Even in sobriety, I can relate to shrugging of the advice of people who want the best for you and are coming from a place of much more experience. I can relate to seeing someone who wants what’s best for you or just needs you to show up as the enemy because you don’t want what’s best for you.  

Some might say The Way Back is a sort of cookie-cutter redemption story – with a former basketball star cliche to boot – but as someone who’s struggled with addiction, it’s one I was happy to see on the screen. It’s not overly negative, but it deftly illustrates how ugly someone deep in their addiction can act. At the same time it’s not damning. I’d like to think it’s a little smarter than your average underdog movie.  

2. To Catch A Thief (1955) – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly 

Don’t be mad, I told y’all this list was going to be a bit eclectic. 

When people say “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” this is a movie that I think of. I watched it on New Year’s Eve (technically this year) with my mom, and at first, I didn’t know it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It’s a low-key story about a former cat-burglar who must prove his innocence when someone begins to mimic his famous robberies.  

When people think of a typical thief movie, I think what comes to mind is elaborate set pieces, and often a pretty hefty budget. With Hitchcock, I think what comes to mind is something unnerving like Psycho or The Birds. I love so much that this movie is neither of them. It’s so unlike what you’d think of as Hitchcock. What surprises me is that it’s also seen by a lot of film buffs as “lesser Hitchcock,” one of his less consequential movies. That blows my mind. The setting of the movie is beautiful, the cars so sleek and of that time; it’s a cat burglar rom com set on the French Riviera.  

There’s still a mystery at the center, so I don’t know what Hitchcock fans are complaining about, but it’s almost analogous to the Manson murders in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. It’s a throughline with all the events, but in both cases more attention is given to the relationship at the center, a great banter shared by Grant and Kelly. It’s so cool to me that you can have a story where a cat burglar is the main character, yet the story isn’t all about him being a cat burglar. Again, a cat burglar rom com! How can you not be excited? 

Where it really hit me in this case was as a writer. My specialty, between story and dialogue, is dialogue. While that’s invaluable as a screenwriter, it led me to shift into a comfortable position where I was writing stories that often were fully composed of two people talking. The dialogue and conversation could be heart pounding, venomous even, but there wasn’t much of a story to speak of. And sometimes that does work. There are a ton of stellar movies, even classics, that take place in one room or house and consist mostly of conversations. Knives Out is a great recent example, a great mystery film with unique imagery that’s driven mostly by dialogue. But even that film has greater aspirations than being a one setting drama; it’s driven by a murder. I guess what I mean is it would be good for me to try to add some story to my stories, as redundant as that sounds. I wish that it didn’t still feel like a challenge at this stage, but if nothing else it’s an opportunity to try something new, to improve. To Catch A Thief got me excited about that.  

3. Pig (2021) – Directed by Michael Sarnoski, Starring Nicolas Cage 

I recently rewatched this one because I wanted to show it to a friend. I’m a very big proponent of the rewatch. The famous film critic Pauline Kael remarked that she refused to watch a movie twice; maybe you get an attitude like that when watching movies is your very profession, but I think that’s bullshit.  

Rewatching movies is one of my great joys, whether it’s with a friend or alone. Obviously with a friend it’s extra special because you can take in their reaction while they watch, but for me it’s equally intimate going back to a movie that you remember made you feel something.  

On paper, I don’t have a lot in common with Cage’s formerly renowned chef Robin Feld. He’s a recluse who lives in a quiet shack in the woods with a loyal truffle pig as his only companion, he makes his money from selling those truffles (to a buyer played by Alex Wolff, doing a great performance). So why is this one of my favorite movies of all time?  

There’s just something about watching it. Not just Robin as a character, which is a large chunk of the draw for me, but the atmosphere. As corny as it sounds, Robin hanging out with his truffle pig are some of the sweetest scenes. And you feel such despair when his truffle pig gets kidnapped, as the movie follows his attempts to find it. I think some of it for me is the fact that he had a craft he left behind for some reason or another; even though I’ve yet to build a career of any note – which is something I’ll try hard to do – I wonder what I’ll do with my time if I decide to stop writing altogether. Will I be dissatisfied, or will I find / have built a new life that I’m equally as content with? Would I be leaving the craft behind on a happy note, or despairing that I have nothing new to say?  

Although I can’t necessarily fathom going without cable – I need TV and Internet, consuming media and art is actually something that keeps me going – there’s something alluring about the life Cage’s character has built. In a way he’s turned his back on society as a reaction to tragedy – which is not great – but he seems content to be living on his own resources with a cherished pet as his only company. Maybe it’s that I long to get to a place where I’m content with being alone, and that I have the inner peace I’m assuming Feld has. That’s not to say all of my relationships have to be severed for this to be a possibility, and I still need my AA meetings, but there are so many nights where I need to – or think I need to – be surrounded by someone. I want to be in a place where I feel whole enough on the inside to enjoy a trip like this; I feel like if I got a shack in the woods right now I’d go a little insane.  

Aside from those tangents, the biggest takeaway is that the movie itself gives out vibes of peace. Some movies you feel more awake after watching. The few times I’ve seen this movie I’ve always felt calmer after finishing it, like I’ve forgotten a few of my worries. It’s not a story without sadness, there is a lot of loss throughout, but it’s gotta be some of the best ninety minutes I’ve ever spent.  

4. Drive-Away Dolls (2024) – Directed by Ethan Coen, Starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan 

It’s weird to have this movie on here because it wasn’t one of my “favorite” movies from this year, not by a long shot. At only 84 minutes, it definitely should’ve been longer – something I almost never say – because given this truncated runtime we were given an intriguing cast of characters with only enough time to get to know a few of them.  

The story follows two groups; Marian and Jamie, two old friends eager to get out of town (in Jamie’s case, hook up with a lot of women along the way), and the two henchmen assigned to find them. You know, because they were accidentally given a rental that had precious goods in the trunk (I learned watching this that a “drive-away” is like a rental, except you drop the car off at a specific destination near where you’re going instead of returning it to the rental agency). Marian and Jamie make for a great team and epitomize the yin-yang; Jamie is a very free – and promiscuous spirit who has just been kicked out for cheating on her girlfriend, while Marian is relatively more repressed and originally just wanted to visit her grandmother to do some bird watching. This makes for a pretty entertaining adventure, with some sexual discovery along the way.  

I gripe about the runtime because it almost feels like Coen and his writing partner (and wife) Tricia Cooke felt obligated to make it an ultra-short B-Movie. That doesn’t stop it from being funny, and there aren’t any throwaway scenes, but at the end of the day we only get to know Jamie. In what’s supposed to be a two hander (it succeeds in this at points) the short runtime only allows them to spotlight one. The end result feels more like an elongated TV season premiere than a full-length feature.  

Why am I even putting this movie on the list, then? I’ll tell you.  

Even though the runtime is something I will always complain about when mentioning the movie, it was a) the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in a very long time and b) the type of movie we need to see more often. To explain the former, the movie knows exactly how corny it is. That allows it to be flat out hilarious, because it’s not posturing itself to be some nuanced dramady. There are a lot of recurring bits that made people laugh out loud in the theater, and the dialogue paired with the imagery are both so brazenly comedic that it was hard to be bored. Any movie that makes me laugh out loud tends to make my day and earn some cred in my book.  

For the latter, we’ve seen a lot of movies since the early 2000’s about straight (nine out of ten times white) men going on debaucherous road trips, hooking up with a lot of women along the way. Many of these movies have also justly come under fire in more recent years for their shady undertones. If there’s a woman in the cast you can bet she’s not a primary character; at best she’s some sort of device for some sort of epiphany within one of the male characters, at worst she’s a dimensionless, stereotypical stripper or prostitute character (or as they probably referred to them in these films, “hookers”). In contrast, this is a movie populated almost entirely by women, mostly gay women, co-written by a woman, where one of the main characters isn’t white. And I saw it in an AMC theater, not an independent theater (granted it was showing under AMC Artisan films, but it’s a start). Acknowledging my sexuality has been a bumpy journey, but whether you’re a part of the LGBTQ+ community or still questioning, these are the types of movies that tend to give you some permission to be okay with wherever you’re at in that journey, not ones that perpetuate harmful stereotypes or use outdated slurs.  

I know this list may not have been the most focused, but I wanted to put together something that showed movies can affect you in a lot of different ways, often for the better. They can inspire you, make you laugh, or reawaken old ideas that may provide some useful clarity or closure in the present. That’s why I watch an ungodly amount of them, and that’s why writing movies is what I want to do for a living.  

I have so enjoyed writing for you all, and I’ll continue to do so. If you have any thoughts on this piece, want to share some films that had a similar impact on you, or have suggestions for new lists, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me through my contact page. Rock on people, and keep watching movies.