[Docsbarna] A conversation between present and past. Thoughts about a Brazilian teenager in the most conservative America. The documentary goes deep in that feeling of pride and patriotism. With the contradictions: "Being conservative is meaning to have an openmind". Pessoa returns to the USA fifteen years later to discover that nothing has changed. "Aliens". Weapons. Sexism "American culture comes from the desert."
[MUBI] The great virtue of this film is in what it doesn't show. In the use of the off-camera, for instance. But also in the representation of the invisible (the load). It's a film about war that we don't see. Besides "not a real war, but a viodegame war". All this is surrounding a curt, distant, silent character, who symbolizes a gray, arid, sad country. This is one of the best representations of the Balkan war.
[Docsbarna] Monalisa's journey is not easy. It's a journey through the world of prostitution and drugs. "A whore without cocaine is not a whore." But this is not a sordid look. It is a journey of hope to find identity, "two-spirits, masculine and feminine", and a space of its own, "I am my own conquest". The fragmented editing is also an intelligent representation of vital chaos.
[Docsbarna] An Israeli lawyer who only defends Palestinians. A history of occupation that lasts fifty years. Widescreen has rarely been used more effectively in a documentary. It is obviously a partial documentary. But it is mainly the portrait of a lawyer who tries to achieve equal rights in an unjust justice system. "We always lose". A phrase that describes a lifetime of struggle.
[Docsbarna] This documentary presents an interesting way to rethink documentaries. It is documentary but, at the same time, it is a fiction movie. The story is told on footage and fictional scenes that works with the mechanism of a Swiss watch. And with the exciting performance of a great Swiss actor.
[Docsbarna] Nature against man. The Colombian Amazon refuses to be invaded by a highway. The director tells this story of resistance through the protagonists. They explain the unreason of a project that will never end. In some way, the director's job is to let the events flow. And contemplate, with admiration, an imposing jungle that struggles to survive.
A celebration of faith. At least, faith when it is all that remains. The mystery of Lourdes shown in detail. There are no judgments. But this group of people trying to find meaning in their lives, some with an expiration date, is respectable. There are moving moments, even if you are not Catholic. It is a carefully filmed documentary that offers a complex vision of religion.
[MUBI] Louis Malle creates a perfect movie. A story of friendship that is touching and tragic at the same time. This is one of those movies that deserve to be seen from time to time. Memories become exceptional images. There are no manichaeism, no emotional tricks. It has an extraordinary subtlety.
[Docsbarna] Archive images to tell us a particular story. Or the summary of several true stories. Fascist Italy in the Nazi invasion of Russia. The hypnotic power of images. Directors achieve a hypnotic effect with these film. The young soldier experiences the horror of war. He will no longer be the same. We will no longer be the same.
[Docsbarna] 43 students disappear in a small Mexican town. Years later, the government presents a "historical truth" that families don't believe. "Vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos." Ai Weiwei and his team of filmmakers create a chronicle of mournfulness. The portrait of the families is more attractive than the political context. Because Wewei doesn't go too deep, despite the unnecessary almost two hours.
[Docsbarna] Hypnosis or scam. Politics or fraud. What the director achieves with this documentary about a mysterious Finnish hypnotist is to create a kind of hypnosis game that catches from the beginning. What it does not achieve is that as spectators we have more knowledge of the character. In the end, the film is so ambiguous that it lacks interest. "Not everything you see is real."
[Docsbarna] This is not a film about Laika. In fact, the connection between Laika and the main story is weak. There is an ironic contrast between the fairy tale voice-over of Russian actor Aleksey Serebryakov, and the terrible situation he describes. This is a survival story with all its consequences. But the cold Austrian, almost Hanekian look, provokes a devastating effect in the viewers.
[Docsbarna] The director is always present. It is a position of solidarity with the victims. A religious German community in Chile lives with a conscience tainted by abuse, violence and repression. The documentary talks about terrible things but told with sobriety. There are smiles that hide suffering. Perfect example of narration that uncovers hidden memories of violence.
[Docsbarna] Families accusing their own elder relatives of witchcraft. Old people killed for alleged religious reasons (in fact, economic reasons). A surprising story that brings us closer to modern Kenya. The documentary has narrative problems and some technical deficiencies. But it benefits from the scenes between the two main characters, grandmother and grandson, emotional and clever at the same time.
[Docsbarna] An outstanding musician suffers a mental collapse that takes him to a psychiatric hospital. Posthumous film by Artemio Benki, this documentary talks about feeling alone in the middle of the crowd. "This music means accepting my loneliness." Is loneliness the necessary mood for creation? Honest, respectful portrait.
[Docsbarna] The Sanzu River separates the dead from the living. The tsunami that hit the japanese Sundai region in 2011 broke the dividing line between life and death. Years later, a gigantic breakwater is built as a defense. Ghosts walk over the area. This is a spiritual documentary, a ghostly poem that talks about corporeal survivors and spiritual survivors. Memories blend with nightmares. Death visits life.
[Docsbarna] Robots are the newest members of the family. The A.I. in our home. The present of a fantasy that produces fascination and scary. In the end, it all comes down to communication. Humans trying to communicate with robots. The documentary seems, sometimes, like a mystery film. It doesn't deal with new issues different to other documentaries about A.I., but it brings a feeling of unase that is interesting.
[Docsbarna] A letter. A story behind it. Persecution. Falun Gong. A powerful story. The plot on the marriage stands out. And it makes the documentary a personal portrait of pain and survival. But the directing is unimaginative. Some elements, like animation scenes, are underused. The story is more powerful than the way of telling it.
[Filmin] Sketches. Life is a mix of sketches. This defines the latest Roy Andersson movies. Minimalist cinema. Especially smart in the first two parts of the Trilogy of Life. Afterward, it has become boring, repetitive, useless. This is a representation of the defeat of man. The bunker, the soldiers, the sad man, the priest who doesn't believe in God... But Roy Andersson's cinema also seems defeated.
[Netflix] This is Scorsese. Impeccable cinema. A way of telling a story that is entertaining and shocking. It is one of those movies that remains images in our memory. One of the best mob movies ever made. Great dialogues: "No one goes to jail if they don't want to go." Great editing. Perfect actings. This is Cinema. Great Cinema.
[Amazon] The John Wick saga goes to the extreme. It is difficult to find an argument among so many action scenes. There are more kicks than words. That's fine. Some locations (the glass building) are spectacular. Some fight sequences are astonishing. Other action sequences (Morocco) are video game fireworks.
[MUBI] Cuba. Dreams are always sought beyond. Jennifer wants to be an athlete. Doubts. Her brother goes to Chile, beyond, where dreams are sought. This is a story about how to find the path. The relationship between mother and daughter is interesting. That tenderness. Those words of comfort. A real concretion is missing in what this documentary wants to tell us. Life is lacking in the portrait of life.
[Filmin] Another story of coming-of-age starring two children over 24 hours. There is something of "The Florida project" (here Pullman apartments) in this story. The best is the different portrait of Mallorca, far from the beaches and tourism. The worst is the choice of actors (adults and children) who don't convey anything. This is a kind of amateur movie. But for inability, not for low budget.
[Netflix] Shiv'ah. Mourning in Judaism. This movie is some kind of Shiv'ah. The mourning for the survivors of Treblinka. The coming-of-age of a virtuous Polish violinist who avoids the Nazi barbarism. There are exciting moments in the childhood flashbacks. The present, a kind of detective investigation, is less convincing. The film remains as a failed effort to tell a thousand times told story in a different way.
[MUBI] Cinema is not what it was. Billy Wilder revisits, again, the old Hollywood. Is this a revenge to modern Hollywood that didn't let him make movies in his last years? "The legend must go on". Fedora is another withered star, like Norma Desmond. Beautiful film, perhaps not as brilliant as others from the director. There is nostalgia in this critical, melancholic vision of the glamour in movies.
[Filmin] A story about workaholics. Olivier Gourmet plays a minimalist character. The movie is also minimalist. Maybe too much. It needs more consistency is. The third act unbalances the achievements of the first part. Silence. Looks that are more expressive than words. We are all guilty. Or not?
A fisherman without a boat. A fishing boat for tourists. Brexit. Class conflicts. Outstanding B/W. Deep close-ups. Off-sync dialogues. There is an anachronistic tone that is both surprising and fascinating. "I'm talkin 'about fishing, not fucking hospitality". An excellent editing job. Intriguing use of sound. An experimental exploration of handmade cinema.
[Filmin] Barcelona. Boy meets boy. It starts as a regular "brief encounter" story. With more suggestive dialogues than usual. The temporary twist makes the narration surprising. And the themes about relationship, fleeting love or that end of the world that never comes, end up being deeper.
[Filmin] A "brief encounter" film that talks about personal relationships. Small film with good B/W cinematography. Indoor shooting. Storm outside. Unbalanced script and almost amateur performances. It promises more than it gives.
[Filmin] The eighties produces creatures like this one. An audiovisual proposal that refers to popular cinema with a sense of humor. Homage or appropriation of the icons of an era? The look is creative, the background is less deep than it is intended. Or perhaps it's not. The worst thing about making a kitsch product is adorning it with "cultural" elements. Troma understood better what to do.
