Flashback: Luca Guadagnino Pans ‘La La Land,' ‘The Revenant,' ‘The Lobster' and More

Luca Guadagnino released two acclaimed films this year (“Challengers” and “Queer”). He also keeps piling up the projects, having already shot “After the Hunt,” and potentially embarking on “Separate Rooms,” starring Lea Seydoux and Josh O’Connor, in Italy next year.

I recently stumbled upon an amusing 2017 interview with Guadagnino, who at the time was about to release “Call Me By Your Name.” He sat down for an honest and rather no-holds-barred chat with fringe outlet Fantastic Man. This is Guadagnino right before he would hit it big and become one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood.

When asked in the interview, Guadagnino admits that he doesn’t watch a lot of current-day cinema since “the pattern of filmmaking has become so repetitive: I understand a movie after five minutes.” He adds that he’d rather “skip new films” and “see old” ones instead.

Guadagnino goes on to ask the interviewer about his best of 2016 list, and that’s when the filmmaker starts to criticize almost every one of the journalist’s picks.

‘Hail, Caesar!’.
Hated it.

‘The Revenant’.
Hated it. It’s so bad.

‘Youth’
Michael Caine in the Swiss sanatorium. Horrendous.

‘The Hateful Eight’
I liked it.

‘The Lobster’
Hated! Ter-ri-ble. Such a cynical attitude. Hated it.

‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’
Meh.

‘Captain Fantastic’.
No, no, no, no, no!

‘Nocturnal Animals’.
Too much in your face. Also, I don’t buy the turmoil of Amy Adams. Why is she in despair when she reads her husband’s fantasy? There’s no harm in that, I find. I kind of like the last scene, when he doesn’t show up in the restaurant. Very cruel.

‘La La Land’
Ugh, so bad. Cheesy.

‘Moonlight’.
I cried. A very impassioned film.