[HBO Max] Few films have achieved the balance between science fiction with a visual design that has marked the genre, with philosophical approaches about what is real and what is fictional (a premonition of fake news) and about destiny of the human being. Even today its messages work (including the transsexuality metaphor) and its structure is just as strong as a stand-alone film as it is as part of a trilogy.
[Netflix] Robert Greene completes the process of exploring the documentary through the representation of fictional scenes that we saw in "Kate plays Christine" (2016). This powerful formula for reconstructing reality has its highest expression in the best film ever made about the trauma of sexual abuse. Men faced with the darkness of manipulation and the injustice of the complicity of the Catholic Church. Surviving heroes who address trauma by establishing a deep bond of solidarity.
War as a trip to Hell. A hyper-realistic vision that step by step is becoming more and more allegorical. The Nazis ride through the fog, like horsemen of the apocalypse. Hitler portrayed, Hitler dead. The child turned into a man, the innocent gaze turned into horror. Requiem for the dead peasants. Hell taken to the movies like few times.
There is in this film a look towards death that is sustained in the androgynous symbolism of Tadzio and the decay of the environment (Venice) and of artistic failure (Gustav). It is the idealization of beauty and youth, the fantasy seen from reality (the gaze hidden behind the newspaper). Death that looks at life, the mask that melts in the city of masks. The hope of reaching the unattainable.
The Nordic countries are the ones that most control the sale of alcohol, but also the ones that have the most problems with it. This searching (and finding) of de-inhibition is a very sarcastic look. The film also works better on its uninhibited side than on the dark side. The courage of the proposal seems subjected to a certain moralistic reading. For the dance scene alone, Mads Mikkelsen deserves three Oscars. "What a life, what a night. What a beautiful, beautiful ride".
A clever adaptation in which the author / director uses the camera to construct a family drama like a ghost movie, the vision of these "intruders" from a distance, the structure of the dark and sinister apartment always in view. But the secrets are not behind the noises and moldy walls, but inside the family. Karam creates a kind of ironic ghost-story in which the truth, like the apartment, has two levels.
[Göteborg FF] The justification for the animation is based on the concealment of the protagonist's face. Amin is an "unreliable narrator", who has based his life on lies to be accepted, as homosexual and refugee. A therapeutic journey to which we are invited to share Amin's memories (and some lies). At the end, we are moved and grateful for the courage of a man who didn't want to show his face but shared his soul.
It captures horror through a horrifying everyday life, using the viewer's cinematic memory to reflect the perversion of the Holocaust off-screen. The invisible look at the daily life of a family that has achieved their aspirations as human beings, at the same time dehumanizes them, and the introduction of expressive overhead shots breaks that invisibility to show the most direct reality. The director takes risky decisions that manage to integrate perfectly, and an ending that places us directly in the horror of the denials of the reality that we constantly live.
[IFFR] The opening of Rotterdam FF is a fascinating film, built on a solid script with brilliantly developed characters. Between the dark comedy and the thriller, it has characteristics of other ATJ titles, but in some moments, in the game of coincidences and the weird tone, it is reminiscent of the Coen brothers. Addressing topics such as grief and the consequences of our actions, this film is full of surprises.
"How is a baker like a beggar? They both need bread". This is a story of bakers and beggars. Rich and poor. From those who can buy a cow and who have to steal her milk. A western with a feminine look. Kelly Reichardt's cinema is quiet but deep. She constructs the characters with patience but complexity. The last one is a radical film that talks about the roots of capitalism through a story of friendship.
[RTVE Play] Fragments of love with 3D animated paintings. Unattainable loves, lost loves, loves recovered through a shop window, permanent loves and traveling loves. Alberto Mariego shows different kind of loving expressions, passionate, wrapped in colors (blue, red...), almost impossible definitions, but enveloping and hypnotic. Get love back before it's too late. Soko sings: "We might be dead tomorrow."
[Netflix] The film masterfully handles subtext, it has an emotional background that is expressed without the need for dialogue. The filming in New Zealand gives an almost dreamlike aspect to the landscapes of this anti-western, a kind of reverse of the genre. There is a constant tension that is shown in the distorted strings and sepulchral winds of Jonny Greenwood's music.
Music is the message. Questlove chooses the recorded (and unwatched) edition of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, and builds a complex portrait of an era, the contrast between the man conquering the moon and the heroine conquering Harlem streets. Each performance expands as a narrative line, a vindication of the community. And furthermore, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples...
[MUBI, 4K] Neon lights. Romantic Neo Noir. Run to avoid tears. Undying love. Never leave your apartment key on the Midnight Express. Hong Kong colonized by music. Can an apartment cry when its owner abandons it? Two stories that are two road-movies of feelings. "Where do you want to go?. Wherever you want to take me."
[Apple TV +] Overwhelming animated film that's full of brilliant ideas, beautiful designs and old-school animation. This story of growth (perhaps also coming out), confronts freedom with oppression, religion with paganism. The dark, squared village faces the colorful, infinite forest. The own identity (the wolf) that must be found and, above all, accepted, is a theme that respects the intelligence of the viewers.
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.
[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.
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.
[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
A story about the small details of life, when it has an expiration date. John prepares for death and prepares his son for absence in scenes that are overflowing with emotion. James Norton supports the weight of his character and supports the child Daniel Lemont by interpreting his gazes, of a moving expressiveness. A wonderful film of a precise economy of resources that nevertheless slowly breaks our hearts.
A look at the fragility of the world from the point of view of a girl who doesn't need big events to build a subtle narrative of looks and gestures. In fact, sometimes it can be somewhat explanatory, as if the director wasn't sure of conveying the sensitivity that he manages to convey without difficulty. Rarely have relationships between adults and children been shown with this ability to find the right balance between sensitivity and distance. It is a beautiful film in all its senses, which has Carrey Crowley and especially Catherine Clinch as its best allies.
The film practices the exercise of increasing tension in which the director feels comfortable, but makes a brave turn in which the point of view is broken, causing less physical but more suffocating anguish. There are great moments in sequence shots that allow the actors to demonstrate their commitment to their characters, and an intelligent reflection on utopias and realities, on empty Spain and irrational hatred. Which places it along with "Speak no evil" as the two most disturbing representations about the human being that have been made this year.
A stark, heartbreaking look at a closed world that is shown in shots at the height of children (great performances by Maya Vanderbeque and Günter Duret). It is a world of school where a primal, visceral cruelty is shown, intrinsic to the human being ("I have not taught her that," says an adult). That is why the film addresses in a deeper way, beyond the harassment, a system that is damaged from its foundations.
[Human IDFF] The simplest is sometimes the most difficult. As simple as transmitting sensations through the contemplation of life in the countryside. In animal sanctuaries or organic farms. But the end is inevitable. Those final fifteen minutes so expressive, so heartbreaking. The expression of life (and death) in hypnotic images. The poetry of survival.
A beautiful film about loss and resistance that has ramifications for the impact that the 2011 earthquake had on Japanese society, but is so rich in themes and representations that it provides different layers of readings. It is an attractive story with excellently executed animation, typical of director Makoto Shinkai, which has a depth in the characters and plot that elevates it above the good level of animated cinema. And it is already part of a trilogy of great films directed by Shinkai that demonstrate his abilities, not only formal, but also narrative.
[Tivify] An extraordinary example of creating tension and suspense with minimal elements, especially in the masterful first part that takes place exclusively in Gondo's apartment. There are all the elements of Akira Kurosawa's cinema brought together in one of the most intense thrillers, with a description of Japan divided into impoverished classes that look up the top of the hill at the arrogant splendor of economic success. Splendid actors, an excellent script and a masterful sense of pacing serve to enrich the film.
It builds a narrative and visual language that is impressive in the creation of images that have an emotional background in which the affection between father and daughter sustains a good part of the story. The use of reflections and objects that stand in front of the image of the characters, that delimit and break it, is particularly significant in those idyllic vacations that have a melancholic background. And the point of view from the fragmentation, when we really discover where it comes from, is one of the most fascinating narrative devices that have been seen this year.
One of the most enjoyable adaptations of the vampire universe, to which the years has only improved. It achieves the balance between terror and black humor, especially in the Grand Guignol of the last act, and almost poetically reflects the contradictions of its protagonist, the vampire who does not want to be a vampire, and the confusion about his own identity, with actors generously given to an LGBT party.
[VdR'22] A painful documentary about the abandonment of a home whose atmosphere is unbreathable. The physicality provided by Chaylle's close-ups, with his interlocutors out of shot, shows sadness, regret, even the shame of running away, providing a deep look at the issue of domestic violence. A vicious circle whose final hope is only moderate, impossible to offer a definitive resolution.
