Almost Favorites

I really like these films, a lot. They’re juuuuust a wee bit below my absolute favorites, for reasons I can’t really explain in most cases.

The cases I can explain:

THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE all affected me on a level commensurate with my favorites. What separates them is that they aren’t films I will want to revisit multiple times, which in these cases is a compliment: these movies are too distressing and painful for me to want to re-experience. I value them, I greatly admire them, but I don’t really want to...