Sans Soleil (1982)

Sans Soleil was a slog for me, ngl. I get why people call it a landmark essay film, but sitting through it felt like being lectured by someone who won't stop cutting away right when it gets interesting. The voiceover is trying so hard to be profound about memory and time and Japan and Africa all at once that it ends up saying very little with a lot of words. Visually there are moments, sure, but they're buried under so much meandering narration that I stopped caring what image was coming next. It's the kind of film that people praise because it's "important" for the essay-film genre, not because it's actually enjoyable to watch. I respect what Marker was doing conceptually, I just didn't feel anything.