It notably shows the impulse of youth, but also the need to fit into a society that pushes towards the most superficial representations of personal satisfaction. The third act is downright disturbing, and the way the camera zooms in on Tara's face is more expressive than any explanatory dialogue. It is an intelligent film that knows how to set the pace and develop events in such a way that there is always a certain suspense due to what has happened or what is about to happen. Concern is built from the apparent normality.
[Netflix] It's difficult to call this sequel/reboot disappointing when the previous one was an exercise in suspense that didn't really work either. The attempt to offer an explanation, however, seems too lazy, with no clear justification for the protagonist's actions. It surprises a cast of wasted actors with some flat and cliché secondary characters, and despite the different context it ends up being extremely boring. It is interesting to broaden our gaze towards other scenarios, but it's a mistake to ask the Pastor brothers to do "The last days" (2013) again.
[Sheffield '23] The director manages to create a political thriller that has moments of almost unbearable tension, through the journey of a family that tries to defect from North Korea through China, Vietnam and Laos. The film offers a reflection perhaps less deep and complex than "Defectors" (Hyun Kyung Kim, 2023), but manages to show clandestine recordings of hermetic North Korea and reflect how the North Korean regime offers an image of utopian perfection to citizens who However, they seem destined to live in a prison where they can only escape by risking their lives.
[Netflix] Following the fashion of rich filmmakers parodying the rich people, from Mike White to Ruben Östlund, in the end it seems that these stories don't have much to say beyond the sarcastic tone and some of that hypocrisy that consists of showing the luxury to subvert it and reassure the viewer: being rich sucks. But at least the first film was fun with its references to Agatha Christie and its tone of crazy comedy that in this boring and poorly performed sequel are replaced by disruptive fireworks in which not even Benoit Blanc has the leading role it deserves.
There's a subtle construction that is sustained in two long sequences during the first part: the interview and the class. They are the two springs that raise the main themes of the film, and for this reason the structure proposed by Todd Field is exquisite and intelligent. The secrets are the inner demons, the symbolic representation of a persecution that is more psychological. Supported by a superb Cate Blanchett, the film has that Kubrickian film planning that at times can be too obvious, but feels comfortable in the construction of spaces that suffocate and imprison, despite their breadth.
With so many visual references, from Ritchie to Tarantino, you have to take as much risk as Kwan/Scheinert in their crazy "Everything everywhere..." to offer something that doesn't sound like you've already seen it or simply copied it. There is good comic timing between some of the actors, but the film ends up being a festival of empty action scenes where there is little (or almost nothing) to find any brilliant ideas, even if it is given the benefit of the doubt for being the adaptation of a novel with manga aesthetics.
It achieves an impressive formal appearance and a suitably disturbing dystopia although it does not avoid falling into commonplaces. It achieves an impressive visual texture that turns the Lithuanian forests into the perfect setting for an apocalyptic world, and Dan Levy's music shines especially in creating an unsettling atmosphere that at the same time has a certain epic undertone. Camera movement is somewhat constrained by visual effects rather than enriched by them, but at times it's a film with good ideas about family and survival.
[Netflix] It is interesting how Sebastián Lelio manages to turn a story about the confrontation between the spiritual and the rational into a proposal about the viewer's gaze, identifying Lib as "the watcher", the one who observes without being able to get involved, but asking at the beginning of the film that we are spectators that we do get involved in the story. And thus changing the way we face the film.
[Strike Media] Although less successful than their previous films, this is an interesting reflection on the obsessions in conspiracy theories. A kind of game full of absurd humor that leads to clues that lead to others, like an endless matryoshka that defines the structure of a story from points of view: the narrative, the documentary filmed by the protagonists and that of reality that is shown through real videos.
[Prime Video] Santiago Mitre brings humor to the chronicle of the trial against the militaries of the Argentine dictatorship, but this doesn't make the film superficial. And although it reflects historical facts, it ends up being an intelligent reflection on how a gray prosecutor becomes a national hero, and how justice becomes an instrument of balance in a country in which turning the page was synonymous with impunity against heinous crimes.
[Disney+] Rescuing a dying franchise by setting it in the middle of Comanche territory is original, but ultimately reveals itself as an excuse to do more of the same. Either Disney has failed to sell this movie as the B series that it is, or someone has eaten those blood-chilling mushrooms. Because the CGi in the parts that aren't hidden by darkness is as mediocre as you'd expect from a low-budget production. "Alien vs. Predator" (2004) already had a racialized heroine, so there is not much new, but the empowerment goes through incoherence again, and the resolution is a new version of the ending of "Predator" (1987 ), in which the mud prevented the alien from visualizing the protagonist's temperature.
[AtlàntidaFF '22] Perhaps a step towards a different way of understanding cinema, but obviously a consequence of the stroke he suffered in 2020, Gaspar Noé dialogues with death, tired and frustrated old age, in the shadow of dementia, in one of his calmest but also darkest films. There are echoes of "Amour" (Michael Haneke, 2012), but also of the split screen of "Forty deuce" (Paul Morrissey, 1982), there are two performances/improvisations that recreate decrepitude without being ashamed, which ends up being the best part of the film .
[Netflix] Russo Bros. make "arthouse" films in the same tone as Captain America and clones of "Mission: Impossible" with the same apathy as their Avengers. There's so much abuse of drone shots that it seems that some character is going to fly away. And while second-unit directors do an amazing job, this overpriced Netflix toy (from when they hadn't already kicked out hundreds of workers) is boring 200 million times.
[Sheffield/Doc '22] There are some problems in the documentary, but it offers an accurate portrait of the activism and rebellion of a singer marked by domestic abuse and disappointment with Catholicism. More focused on the controversial aspects than on the music itself, it draws a clever parallel between personal experience and the religious oppression of a country, which in the end enriches the film.
[DOK.fest '22] A beautiful, spectacular and passionate love letter to science, through the images filmed by two lovers, the volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft. But the strength of the film is its condition of narration in which the tragedy always underlies, the one towards the scientists seemed to be heading without fear. There is an extraordinary editing with the material filmed and an outstanding use of music.
If the 2000 documentary underlined the caricature, this film wants to redeem her, giving the impression that neither of them manages to adequately reveal the character, with her contradictions (an evangelist turned gay icon) and its merits (the visibility of AIDS in the 1985 interview). Jessica Chastain's work is remarkable because she manages to shed the physical appearance to convey Tammy's inner instability.
[Netflix] One of the most controversial choices of the directors is the use of aerial shots, perspective photography and time lapse, but it is an interesting idea as a panoramic view of poverty within cities, and dignifies their stories. The contrast between the massive construction of housing and the inability of the authorities to offer decent housing counts more than any voice-over. It is this grandiose vision that offers a different perspective.
It uses horror to build a reflection of the passage of time, of the immediacy of beauty (Vera Valdez, the grandmother, was a model for Coco Chanel), wrapped in a story of witchcraft and decrepitude. It makes clever use of sounds, of the creaks of the old apartment, and has a soundtrack that sets a dark atmosphere rather than simply highlighting the tense moments. But it is a simple horror, low risk, whose references to "Repulsion" (Roman Polanski, 1975) works against him.
A reflection on appearances that little by little becomes a kind of romantic story that has enough charm to capture the viewer. And although the train slows down as it approaches its destination, it is a pleasant journey, with much more depth than it appears, which includes a nostalgic look at the traces of the past in our present.
Paul Verhoeven out of control, dedicated to the sexualization of religious devotion, but also to the exposure of ecclesiastical corruption. There is no heaven in this story, only a hell that is represented in the daydreams of a Jesus who saves by cutting off heads. "Suffering is the only way to know Christ." Burns the stake of damnation and oozes the pus of the black plague. "Your worst enemy is your body".
It has an ironic beginning that raises the evolution of viewers in the perception of scary movies, now more in line with "elevated horror" films. Although this reflection is soon forgotten in a film that no longer uses horror movies as a reference, but feeds back by quoting its predecessors, which is limited and frankly boring. It gives the impression that this "recuel" returns to the origin, but only to erase it.
The director finally returns to the places where he feels most comfortable, building a comedy that seems to be reflected in Luis García Berlanga, and that manages to portray the idiosyncrasies of an entire country in a particular story. Impressive Javier Bardem in a character that balances perfectly between cartoon and reality, supported by a script that is precise in timing and structure.
A risky, tough film about reconciliation and forgiveness that Icíar Bollaín shows with deep respect for the characters (the real people), who avoids speeches and provokes all kinds of emotions. It's a film that transforms the viewer, so sure of our own opinions, to launch arguments that are difficult to understand but are moving. The point of view of forgiveness in the face of terror, of peace in the face of death.
[Netflix] The director clearly shows his influences, mixing the spaghetti western with the visual effervescence of Tarantino (another Leone disciple), but he can't find his own way. There are some successful humorous winks (the white town), but the script is bland and conservative (it is surprising that the actresses are willing to get involved in characters so submissive to their "machos").
[Cuatro] Spielberg uses an excellent calligraphy that reflects double realities: the painting, the mirrors, the wall that separates and the bridge that unites, East and West, two for one... The sense of patriotism depends on the point of view, while Tom Hanks uses the Constitution to demonstrate that being an American is not a matter of origin, but of integrity. There are also many scenes that are repeated, but showing two results: the looks on the train, the jump over the fence... Life is full of double meanings
In some scenes, Elmer Bernstein's main theme for "Ghostbusters" (1984) sounds, but it doesn't fit, it seems isolated and anachronistic. Something like this is what happens with the whole film, despite the intended nostalgia. It's an attempt to fix the mess of the 2016 version, but that one at least wanted to keep, unsuccessfully, the funky tone of the original, while this kind of dark (literally) "Stranger things" is lacking in it. Although the tribute to Harold Ramis as one of the creators of a film that, today, maintains its effectiveness as a funny prank, is really emotional.
[Netflix] It's smart that the director chose the Jonathan Larson musical as a biopic that wasn't actually a biopic of the author. Based solely on his own aspirations, the monologue was turned into a musical after his death and the success of "Rent" (1996), and spoke of the desire to transcend in life and dreams that seem unattainable. Lin-Manuel Miranda makes for a moving tribute to Larson (a sensational Andrew Garfield) and Broadway, especially with the musical number "Sunday," featuring numerous gentlemen and dames of the theater. "Sunday" was, in fact, Jonathan Larson's tribute to Stephen Sondheim and his musical "Sunday in the park with George" (1984).
[Filmin] Tyrone Power's attempt to get more dramatic characters led him to produce films like this one, with an amoral character whose rise and fall (much harder than death) is told in a fatalistic story, which tells of life predestined, and that moves in a difficult balance between melodrama and noir. And it makes the fate of the protagonist disturbing, despite his immorality.
[Netflix] A gorgeous film that has remarkable technical quality, a beautiful music by Amine Bouhafa, and outstanding visual ideas. But it also contains difficult-to-answer questions about man's need to overcome his limits, the superhuman effort of wanting to reach the highest peaks. An exciting metaphor about the human being and the responsibility of achieving his dreams.
Almodóvar builds a political melodrama in which the past is represented in those who have died, but also in those who are born. It's the Spain in conflict, the one that opts for oblivion and the one that wants to recover memory. The apolitical actress in the face of the idea that all actors "are left-wing." More than about parallel mothers, the film is about orphaned, abandoned daughters adopted by fake mothers.
