dromasca Reviews

Le Beau Serge (1958)

the beautiful Serge and the good François

[8/10 · 23 May 2024]

'Le beau Serge' (1958) is Claude Chabrol's first film, considered by many film historians to be the first film of the French New Wave. There are enough arguments in favor of this categorization. Chabrol was the first of the directors of the group associated with 'Cahiers du cinéma' to sit behind the camera in the winter of 1957 and 1958 to make a feature film. He is the screenwriter, producer and director and films on location in Sardent, the place where he spent part of his childhood, including the war years, using the houses, streets and surrounding nature as a setting and as actors in secondary roles and as extras the inhabitants of the village. The music of the film (composed by Émile Delpierre) and the cinematography (signed by Henri Decaë) stylistically anticipate the innovations of the New Wave. On the other side, the story in the film is told linearly, and the plot has a moralistic line that belongs more to classic French cinema than to the New Wave. The heroes of 'Le Beau Serge' are rather reminiscent of the 'angry young men' movies that were dominating American and British cinema in the mid-50s. Chabrol returned, moreover, to this debut of his with a documentary signed by Francis Girod in 2003, which unfortunately I have not seen yet.

François returns to his native village, which he left more than a decade ago, to recover from a lung disease. He had traveled to the big world, to Paris and Switzerland, and the village seems frozen in time as mentalities, with aging people and morals falling apart. Even the village priest has resigned and no longer believes in the mission of bringing his believers to the right path. Serge, his best friend, falls into alcoholism and is unhappy in his marriage with Yvonne. Paul aims to save him, and through him, perhaps, to revive the whole village. In parallel, he has a love affair with Marie, the beautiful and capricious sister of Yvonne, who is probably looking for a way to escape from the status environment in which he lives and from the tyranny of his father, who is also addicted to alcohol. We shall meet the character, reaching the Big City, in future New Wave films. Is recovery possible?

The story seems moralistic but, viewed a little in perspective, I think that when Claude Chabrol wrote it, the intention was to say something more general about France after the war, about its people - especially the young - who were fighting to do something else than the previous generations, in order to change for the better a society frozen in concepts and rituals without a horizon. The expressive power of the two actors who play the lead roles (Jean-Claude Brialy - François and Gérard Blain - Serge) supports the central thread of the story. The film had a duration of almost two and a half hours in its initial form. Chabrol cut about 50 minutes of it to bring it to the standard format of a cinematographic representation at that time. He later regretted this decision, especially since the sequences left out mostly presented documentary aspects about the life of the French village in the years after the war. I haven't seen the initial version and I don't know if it still exists somewhere. I regret. I think that if the full version had been released, both 'Le Beau Serge', and, perhaps, other films of the New Wave and of Chabrol would have looked different.

Ismael's Ghosts (2017)

the impossible return

[8/10 · 22 May 2024]

Arnaud Desplechin does not make light movies. His characters seem to have been born and live permanently among dilemmas and crises, and the director's cinematic visions transport his viewers into the troubled worlds of his heroes. This is also the case with 'Les fantomes d' Ismaël', his 2017 film which takes a classic 'love triangle' formula to confront his heros with painful questions about the ages of love, about presence and absence in relationships, about reality, fantasy and nightmares in artistic creation. The result in this case is a quite chaotic film, but also full of essence, with a charm amplified by an exceptional cast.

The scene that opens the action in 'Les fantomes d' Ismaël' (although it is not the first scene of the film) seems to mirror the key scene in 'Sous le sable', the 2000 film by Francois Ozon. Both take place on a beach and are shot from similar angles, as if it were the same beach. In Francois Ozon's film, the manleaves his wife on the beach and goes swimming in the ocean. He will disappear and the rest of the film will be about the search for him. In Arnaud Desplechin's film, one of the heroines, Carlotta, aseems to appear from the sea, retracing the route in reverse. The woman is the 21-year-old missing wife of Ismaël, a screenwriter and film director. 'Les fantomes d' Ismaël' will be about the consequences of the absence and reappearance in the man's life of the woman who had left him suddenly and without trace or explanation long time before. After many years of waiting and searching, he had declared her officially missing. He had begun a new relationship with Sylvia, a shy astrophysicist, also past her prime youth. He had kept in touch with Henri, Carlotta's father, a Holocaust survivor and famous director. In the middle of creating a new film based on the figure of his brother Ivan - a diplomat and maybe a spy -, Ismaël sees his whole life called into question by the appearance of his missing wife, with his identity, biographical and sentimental landmarks overturned or annihilated.

The narrative style chosen by the screenwriters (including the director) is non-linear and creates the impression of intentional disorder. Looking closely, it seemed to me that it reflects the feelings of the main character, even if he does not appear in all scenes. At the beginning we look at a life that seems to have stabilized, with flashbacks that recall the trauma of the disappearance of the young wife 21 years ago, but also the episodes of meeting and beginning the relationship with Sylvia, that happened two years before. As the story progresses, and especially after Carlotta appears, events multiply and accelerate in the pace of the hero's experiences: memories, nightmares, creative crisis, images from the future film. The finale surprises with a total change of tone. Mathieu Amalric is probably one of the most suitable film actors to bring to the screen the image of a man in deep crisis, overwhelmed by the events of life. Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg are two of my favorite actresses and the joy of seeing them together (and even confronting each other) in the same film was immense. Two more secondary roles caught my attention, giving László Szabó and Hippolyte Girardot consistent creations despite their short screen time. To me, 'Les fantomes d' Ismaël' seems to be an unfairly little watched, discussed and appreciated film.

Sunflower (1970)

war and love

[6/10 · 20 May 2024]

'I girasoli' ('Sunflower' in the English release), Vittorio De Sica's 1970 film, is a film that is impossible to judge outside of its historical context. Actually I should say its historical contexts. The film is a war melodrama, the story of an interrupted love and of the search beyond all hope for an Italian soldier who disappeared in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The fate of Italian prisoners of war at that time was a lesser known and rather less convenient episode for all parties involved, so tackling it in 1970 can be considered an act of courage. However, the way the story is told is very problematic and certain details are completely implausible. It is very likely that many compromises were made by the screenwriters and by the producer Carlo Ponti who, after making 'Doctor Zhivago' in 1965, wanted very much to make a film in co-production with the USSR studios. He achieved his goal, but the result is debatable. The love story related in the film is powerful and emotional, but the falseness of the reflection of the historical context shadows it. 'I girasoli' remains in the categories of cinematic curiosities and of the films made in the last decade of De Sica's life and career that - for the most part - failed to repeat the success and freshness of the post-war neo-realist masterpieces.

The first part of 'I girasoli' is the one that I liked most. At least a decade after the end of World War II, Giovanna has not come to terms with the disappearance of her husband, Antonio, who has gone off to fight on the Eastern Front. The two had had a short and passionate love story, one of those that happen especially in times of war, and they had married rather spontaneously to earn the extra 12 days of leave given to freshly married soldiers before departing to the battlefields. Antonio's tracks were lost in the terrible battle of Stalingrad, and since his body was never discovered, the woman fiercely believes that he is still alive. From here begins the part that seems more than implausible, not to say false, of the story. Giovanna will go on a journey to great Russia to find Antonio. I will not tell too much in order to avoid spoilers. I will only say that nothing is being said about prison camps or the Gulag, nor about the atrocities of the war or about the punishments that in Soviet Russia were applied to those who 'made pacts 'sympathized' with the enemies. A second love story is being added to the first, much less interesting or believable (despite the presence on the screen of the beautiful Soviet actress Lyudmila Saveleva, whose talent I admired in other films).

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni starred in 17 films together. 'I girasoli' is one of them, and seeing the two in the roles of lovers on screen is one of the great pleasures that this film offers to its viewers. The rather complicated connection between the two works perfectly and their magnetism (combined with humor) as actors and as lovers is formidable. The film also has special visual qualities, with some memorable scenes such as the one with the sunflower field that gives the film its title (although the metaphor is a bit forced), but also or especially the scenes shot in the train stations. Arguably, all the key scenes - breakups and reunions - in this film take place in train stations. Also included are documentary sequences using Soviet propaganda films against the backdrop of a red flag - a likely homage to Sergei Eisenstein. Unfortunately, the feeling of falsity - both in the historical account and in the scenes that take place in the USSR after the war - dominates the second part of 'I girasoli'. Vittorio De Sica seems to have forgotten the very lesson he had passed on to generations of filmmakers influenced by Italian neorealism. For a film dealing with political or historical themes to succeed, artistic truth must be anchored in historical and social truth.

Law of Tehran (2019)

'film noir' in Tehran

[8/10 · 18 May 2024]

We are used to Iranian films that are different. Many of them feature plots inspired by everyday and family life, and their beauty lies in the combination of subtle subjects and dialogues and the presentation of the life in a country dominated by tradition and ruled by a regime that inspires fear within and without. 'Law of Tehran' (also known as 'Just 6.5', the original title being 'Metri sheh va nim'), written and directed in 2019 by Saeed Roustayi, surprises at first sight with its almost Hollywoodian structure. It is a crime movie that follows the violent confrontation between a policeman and a drug lord, between the world of law and the world of crime and a realistic presentation of a judicial and prison system dominated by cruelty and corruption. Many of the American or French films with violent gangsters (always however dedicated to their own families) and police officers who do not hesitate to put their careers in danger and use any methods to bring them to justice have similar themes and plots. And yet, we also find in this film the deep characters and the outstanding acting that have made Iranian cinema one of the most interesting recent phenomena in the art of film.

Samad Majidi is the head of an anti-drug squad in the Tehran police. The system he is part of is waging a seemingly hopeless battle with the drug gangs. The police and judicial system is violent and corrupt. Majidi himself is constantly the target of intrigue and his methods of action often put himself in danger. A single mistake, a denunciation by a colleague or a libel can throw him on the other side of the law. The police decide to move their investigations up the hierarchy of organized crime, ending up arresting Naser, one of the bosses at or near the top of the pyramid of drug gangs. From the moment he appears, most of the astory moves from the city streets to the overcrowded prisons, depicting the gradual downfall of the drug ring leader.

'Law of Tehran' has undeniable cinematic qualities. The film's opening scene, the final scene, the police raid on the junkie neighborhood, and the prison scenes have visual power and emotional impact. The acting is flawless, with Payman Maadi and Navid Mohammadzadeh shining in the lead roles. With this film, Saeed Roustayi proves not only that he is a talented screenwriter and director, who has assimilated the lessons of American action films and European 'film noir', but also that he is a courageous artist. His rendering of the police, justice and penitentiary system in his country is critical and realistic. A name to watch.

Challengers (2024)

second tier

[5/10 · 24 April 2024]

I am a big fan of tennis and of a few other sports. I also love the art of film. Their meeting should be one in heaven for me, and yet, so far, I haven't seen a sports fiction movie that I actually liked. The competition is tough. The sports tournaments themselves, when they are of a good level and when you like the sport, are entertainment of the highest quality, suspenseful shows with interesting characters (many of whom we know well) and - we like to hope - honest. Sports broadcasts with today's technological means bring them to our living room. I have yet to see a sports movie that captivates me like a good tennis or soccer match or an athletic competition or a world-class figure skating competition. I haven't seen any movie that made me get fired up or at least understand something about those sports that leave me indifferent. 'Challengers' (2024) was promising, especially since it is directed by Luca Guadagnino. The promises were not fulfilled. 'Challengers' didn't change my opinion at all. But maybe it's not a movie where sports is the main subject, but just another romantic comedy?

The story is quite simple, although it is not told chronologically. Art and Patrick are teenage friends, good ones, the kind of friendship that lasts either a lifetime or until they meet the girl they both fall in love with. They are also tennis players, they team up in the doubles matches, but all tennis fans know that what matters are the singles competitions. Tashi appears in their lives and on the tennis courts, she's that gorgeous 'you can't help but fall in love with' kind of girl, and as soon as they see her (on the court, where else?) they both fall in love with her. She is also an exceptional tennis player, maybe even better than them. The boys invite the girl to their room. This is where takes place the first of the few scenes in the film that some will consider brilliant, others questionable. Who will the girl choose? She decides it will be the winner of the next day's match when the two play against each other! The rivalry between the two would continue throughout their careers. On the ground and emotionally. Art, who will apparently win in the long run, will not be able to erase Patrick from the girl's mind. 13 years later, Tashi - forced to give up her career due to an accident - is the coach but also the wife of Art and the mother of their daughter. But she did not forget Patrick, her first choice, and when the two men will face each other - at the end of their careers - in a second tier tournament , there will be much more than a tennis match at stack on the court.

For Luca Guadagnino, 'Challengers' is the second film made in the United States. If he intended to direct like an American, he succeeded, but not in the good sense of the expression. Nothing reminds of the subtlety and complexity of some of his earlier films (I really enjoyed the ones with Tilda Swinton). He is not helped by Justin Kuritzkes' original screenplay, which fails to avoid clichés and which, when it proposes more interesting conflicts resolves them conventionally. The only aspect that I thought was well addressed was that of the end-of-career crises of great athletes - an interesting topic that deserved a separate development. The footage of the tennis matches in the movie did not excite me either, including the slow-motion effects or the 'ball-in-flight' angles. I am probably too spoiled with the games of the great champions that I see in abundance on TV. Additionally, the tennis in the film is mediocre, as only Zendaya of the cast seems to have made the effort to take some serious tennis lessons. The role of Tashi is complex and interesting, and the young actress did quite well, although for me she did not manage to fully elucidate the character of the woman who is loved and who loves two men who fight for her (on the tennis court, but not only). If Zendaya's intention is to build a career in JLo's footsteps, she's on the right track. But if she has other ambitions, she starts having problems. Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor do honorably as the teenagers who become men on the tennis courts, with a plus for Josh perhaps benefiting from the fact that it's easier to play 'bad boys'. 'Challengers' tries to be much more than just another tennis movie or another coming-of-age romance, but it doesn't quite succeed. Me, I'm waiting for the 'Nasty' documentary and for the big tennis tournaments of the year.

Machine (2024– )

Machine fights for the working class

[7/10 · 23 April 2024]

French television studios have recently provided us with several series with female protagonists endowed with exceptional qualities. 'HPI' that I saw and wrote about two months ago, was dealing with a woman with an exceptionally high intellectual potential, which made her extremely competent in solving the most complicated murder cases, but also totally emotionally inadequate and socially unadaptable. The heroine of the 'Machine' series whose first (and for now only) season I finished watching has other qualities. She went through military training that included the martial arts of Kung Fu and gained a fighting experience that made her a formidable beating and - when needed - killing machine. Do the authors of the scenarios want to tell us - at the extreme, of course - that in order to succeed or just survive in today's world, women must not only be much better than men, but sometimes be downright superheroes? If we are to go by what we see in these two series, their special qualities do not bring them happiness and do not help them avoid the loneliness to which they seem condemned. What is certain, however, is that they make interesting heroines for TV series.

The story takes place in an area of France remote enough for the access roads to be at best two-way roads. A rather young but visibly scarred by life woman is assigned by the Human Resources Bureau to work temporarily as a mechanician at a factory of household electrical products. She is single and spends her time listening to fairly old rap and punk music tapes inherited from her mother, who had died a short time ago. Among his co-workers, those who lend her a helping hand are a maintenance technician named P. J. who turns out to be a staunch Marxist and Leila, a young accountant. The factory is about to be sold to a Korean concern. Workers resist, knowing that such transitions lead to worsening conditions and job losses, but economic and political interests go far beyond the local context. As the conflict becomes more and more violent (workers go on strike, the authorities call for the intervention of the police and other "maintaining of order" forces), the young woman whom those around her call Machine reveals her qualities as a fighter and puts them at the service of her fellow workers. At the same time we learn that the military authorities and a mysterious man who has personal reasons for revenge are on her trail.

The script is very well written, combining action films with films with social and political themes. It's snappy, well-paced, with episode endings that make viewers look forward to the next episode or start watching it immediately if they're watching on streaming. The actors' performances are very good, but two roles stand out. The role of Machine is played by Margot Bancilhon, an actress that I confess I have not noticed before, who is excellent, including in the scenes that demand physical qualities and talent for martial arts (or miming them). The role of the Marxist is played by JoeyStarr who is also a singer and producer of rap music, but who in this film does not sing but quotes Karl Marx copiously instead. I also liked the social part of the plot, but less so the political part. For someone who was born and who lived in Eastern Europe for quite some time like myself, the writings of Karl Marx and the concept of 'class struggle' have dark connotations. The jokes and the necessary detachment cannot erase the sensation of 'rehabilitation' of Marxism, whose harmfulness I experienced firsthand. It's the main reason this series gets a 7 from me and not a 9.

The Third Man (1949)

from Casablanca to Vienna

[9/10 · 21 April 2024]

Were the 1940s the best years in cinema history? The top three films on my personal list were made at the beginning of that decade. One of them is - you guessed it! - 'Casablanca'. If we can say that 'Casablanca' opens the cinematic decade, this is masterfully closed by 'The Third Man', the 1949 film by Carol Reed. In many ways these are mirror films. Both take place in the shadow of the terrible world war that is not seen on the screen. In one the fighting takes place in Europe, far from Casablanca, in the other the war has been over for several years and has left Vienna occupied, divided, in ruins. The locations are 'exotic', but in a very different way. Both films are about friendships at test and love stories, with love triangles between two men and a woman. In none of them does the 'good guy' end up with the woman he falls in love with. The actors, the cinematography, the soundtrack are formidable in both films.

The script of 'The Third Man' was written by Graham Greene. The screenwriter, the director, the producers all knew the war from personal experiences. Today we look at this film as a historical story, and the formidable images of Vienna bombed and divided into occupation sectors are also a document. Robert Krasker's cinematography also received an Academy Award, the only one won by this film and the first ever won by an Australian. For the filmmakers, however, it was about a realistic film in contemporary landscapes. This is the scene of a drama in which Holly Martins, an American writer of cheap novels, comes to meet Harry Lime, a childhood friend, to find that he has just died. Instead of a meeting, he arrives at the funeral. Accident? Crime? Or maybe none of these? Holly will try to solve the mystery of Harry's disappearance. He will find out that he was involved in criminal business. He will meet Anna, his lover, an actress who was hiding under a false identity to avoid being sent beyond the Iron Curtain. The plot has subterranean ramifications - literally and figuratively.

'The Third Man' is one of those films that can be pinpointed in geography and historical moment, and yet manages to be universal. One of the secrets is filming in the city that was experiencing the scars of the war and the consequences of the occupation. Filming on the streets of Vienna and using local extras, everything feels authentic. 'Dutch angles', i.e. Shots with the tilted camera amplify the tension and uncertainty surrounding the fate of the characters. A special quality is given to the film by the music performed on the zither and composed by Anton Karas. The use of a single instrument recreated the atmosphere of musical accompaniments from the silent film era, where the piano musically accompanied the images seen on the screen. Orson Welles only appears halfway through the film - but what an appearance! This is one of his best roles, even if today it would be considered only a supporting role. Welles is said to have contributed much more - dialogue, direction suggestions - but today his degree of involvement in the production is disputed. I liked Joseph Cotten less in the lead role and think that if Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant had played Holly (as other rumors claim it was considered) the film would have been better. I'm not a big fan of Trevor Howard either and this movie didn't change my mind. Alida Valli on the other hand, as Anna, is fascinating. She radiates an exotic beauty and reflects an inner drama that makes her attachment at any cost to the man who doesn't deserve her love seem painfully poignant. The final scene is masterful and seems to conclude not only the film but an entire cinematic decade.

When Evil Lurks (2023)

evil movie

[4/10 · 20 April 2024]

It's rare for me to recommend a movie not to be seen, but with 'When Evil Lurks' (original title is 'Cuando acecha la mandad') by Argentinian director and screenwriter Demián Rugna, I'm very close to doing so. I think this movie resonates with the word 'evil' in the title. It is a horror movie in the category of movies with demons taking over people, animals, entire cities, etc. I love horror movies, and while the demon and exorcism genre isn't my favorite sub-genre, I'm okay with them as long as they either stick to the level of metaphor or treat the subject matter with enough humor. Horror effects don't scare me. This film, however, has absolutely none of the elements that allow horror to become entertainment for the fans of the genre. First of all, there is a complete lack of humor and of any attempt at detachment. The film has as its heroes two brothers who live in a remote rural region, but neither they nor any other characters have a minimum of qualities that could make the audience care about them or identify with them in any way. Horror scenes seem to aim to break as many taboos as possible, including avoiding graphic violence when it comes to children or pregnant women. The 'demonic' part is also taken very seriously, at some point even, one of the characters recites a full manual of behavior about what one is supposed to do when Evil lurks. From a technical point of view the film is well made and shot with expressiveness, but even these qualities seem to be put entirely at the service of the viewers' disgust. This kind of film probably has its audience who appreciate it enough, but I deeply disliked it. There are good movies, bad movies and evil movies. 'When Evil Lurks' belongs to the latest category. Avoid it!

Hidden Assets (2021– )

international investigations

[8/10 · 20 April 2024]

A few weeks ago I was writing about the Irish series 'Acceptable Risk' (2017) and I noticed Angeline Ball, the actress who played the role of a competent and brave detective, whom I would have liked to see again in other films, maybe even in a series to span several seasons. Well, my wish was granted sooner than I had hoped. In fact, it had already been fulfilled since 2021, when the first season of 'Hidden Assets' had been filmed, another Irish detective series, created by Peter McKenna, again dealing with a complex case, an international investigation with ramifications in the world of terrorism, big economic business and politics. Detective Emer Byrne from the first series has now become Emer Berry, although we have no explanation or clue as to the reasons of the name change. Unlike many other series of this kind, 'Hidden Assets' does not go into the private lives of the detective heroes at all, which does not mean that we do not notice that the main heroine is suspiciously lonely. This, of course, allows her to devote her days and nights to investigations, but it does not make her insensitive to the presence of men around her. In the new series there is also a partner who may arouse her more than professional interest in the person of the Belgian police inspector Christian De Jong with whom she will form a team from a moment on. However, despite some hints, their relationship does not develop romantically.

The story is engaging, well-written, and the six episodes will be enjoyed greatly by most viewers. Emer Berry is now head of a Dublin police department that deals with economic crimes such as bank fraud, tax evasion and money laundering. De Jong investigates a terrorist bomb attack in Antwerp in which about 15 people lost their lives. Both investigations lead to the same character, an Irish businessman suspected of tax fraud, who is also the owner of the apartment in Antwerp where the suicide bomber hid and where the body of a woman had been found. In addition, the suspect's sister, a wealthy woman based in Belgium with connections in the world of finance and politics in that country, is the owner of a shipping company where the victim was employed. How are the two businesses related? Irish and Belgian police begin to collaborate and the two investigations merge into one complex and interesting case.

'Hidden Assets' has everything it needs to satisfy fans of detective series. The format of six episodes with a length of almost an hour each allows the development of a complex plot and for viewers enough time to know the main characters - policemen, suspects and those around them. The script is written by two woman screenwriters - which shows in the creation of interesting and believable female characters - and by Wouter Hendrickx, the actor who plays the Belgian policeman. The pace of the action is alert, the characters well defined, the solutions to the various problems that arise throughout the investigation believable. Apart from the roles of the two detectives, there is another character - the one played by the actress Cathy Belton - who deserves a series of his own. She a financial analyst who untangles the most difficult threads of global, complicated and suspicious financial affairs on the whiteboard and laptop screens. The finale leaves some issues only half resolved, which sets the stage for the second season. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm quite disappointed as I read that Angeline Ball is no longer the lead. I can only hope that Emer Berry has been promoted to an even more interesting position, because that's the life of a cop.

Project Wolf Hunting (2022)

bloody horror

[7/10 · 19 April 2024]

Those who will dare to watch 'Project Wolf Hunting' (the original title is 'Neugdaesnyang'), the 2022 film written and directed by Korean director Kim Hong Sun will have a good chance to see the bloodiest movie or one of the bloodiest movie that they have ever seen them. And yet it is not just a film aimed at fans of violent action and/or horror. 'Project Wolf Hunting' is also a film that confirms the boldness and creativity of South Korean filmmakers, their ability to combine and transcend genres and make interesting films that are not shy of being extreme or bizarre.

Several dozen male and female prisoners, handcuffed and guarded by a detachment of guards and policemen armed to the teeth, are extradited from the Philippines to South Korea aboard a cargo ship. The inmates plan and execute a spectacular escape and take control of the ship. They are among the cruelest criminals and murderers, so that the revolt is violent from the beginning and the fights between the guards and the prisoners cause many victims. Before long, however, they will all realize that they face a common danger, even more deadly than their rivalries. The ship carries a secret passenger of a very special kind, a killing machine with seemingly supernatural powers. It will break free and go on a rampage, killing everything in its path. Meanwhile, a remote command center watches over the ship until all communications are cut.

'Project Wolf Hunting' navigates (to use an appropriate expression) between cinematic genres. In the first half hour, which is about a quarter of the film's duration, we get to know the characters - the policemen, the prisoners, the crew, the people in the command center. Then we start losing them one by one in the violence that ensues. What started out as a psychological thriller turns into an action film about a prison uprising, only to end in pure horror. There is also an explanation of what is happening, a combination of facts from the violent history of Asia during the Second World War with experiences of prisoners that are taken over in our era by big pharma concerns and by armies. Everything makes sense and is well filmed. Those who do not reject violence as cinematic entertainment have a good chance of enjoying this film. The finale opens the premises of some sequels, so we may hear more about 'Project Wolf Hunting'.

Revenge (II) (2017)

much more than a revenge movie

[7/10 · 19 April 2024]

'Revenge' is the feature debut of French director Coralie Fargeat, a director who doesn't seem to be in a hurry. She was already 40+ years in 2017 when this film was made, and only this year, as she approaches the age of 50, her second film will premiere in the official competition at Cannes. Even from the title it is suggested that it is a revenge movie, although, perhaps, if I had to choose the closest genre I would rather include it among survival movies. However, 'Revenge' does not sit comfortably within the limits of any of these genres. It has a quality of its own and manages to be more than just a movie in one genre or another, although the amount of action and gore will please fans of those genres. It is also a feminist film, the main heroine being a woman and the director approaching two very 'masculine' cinematic genres without any complex. If anyone was in doubt, everything a man can do a woman can do as well, and often much better.

The film has four characters - three men and one woman. The action takes place in a desert hunting area. Richard, who is rich and married, brings Jen, his young and beautiful mistress, to the pool villa in the middle of the desert for two days of intimacy before his two other friends arrive. However, they appear earlier than expected. After a night of partying, Richard leaves to get hunting licenses, and in his absence, one of the friends rapes Jen, while the third man hesitates and decides not to help her. When Richard returns, he tries to appease and cover up the story, but Jen, perhaps shocked, doesn't seem willing to cooperate. Richard decides to kill her and throws her into a precipice in the desert. Convinced that the young woman is dead, the three men attempt to continue their hunting program as if nothing had happened. But Jen survives. Or perhaps the more accurate term is that she is reborn. And she will take her revenge.

In many ways the movie is predictable and the characters do pretty much what we expect them to do in movies of this kind. And yet 'Revenge' surpasses in quality just about everything we've seen in these categories. First of all, the story is very well written (Coralie Fargeat is also the author of the original screenplay) and the action never drags. A few well-placed symbols (the apple the heroine bites into at the beginning of the story, the Phoenix bird as rebirth and healing by fire) add meaning without being excessive. The cinematography is special - both in the way the desert is shot and in the alternation of fast action shots with long shots. For example, the final confrontation in the villa is preluded by a multi-minute single shot frame from Richard's perspective, which helps build the tension. Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz is the ideal actress for the role, and being directed by a woman adds to the psychological veracity of the character, who transforms from an object of attraction for the men in the film to a machine of survival and revenge. The amount of blood and scenes of cruelty that are the main source of horror place the film among the most violent in an already very violent genre. But 'Revenge' is one of those films where the violence is motivated by the characters, and that's why it looks credible despite the fact that the amount of blood that flows is much greater than can fit in the bodies of the four characters of the film.

Un homme heureux (2023)

too nice to be true

[6/10 · 18 April 2024]

I am a big fan of Fabrice Luchini. The joy of seeing one of his latest films was immense. I was quite surprised that Tristan Séguéla's 'Un homme hereux' (2023) seems to have been seen by very few people. The theme of acceptance of different LGBT+ communities always risks generating controversy, and there are viewers who shun films that set or touch on this space. On the other hand, the cinematography of the world in general and the French one in particular has recorded numerous successes - including blockbusters, including comedies - with films of this kind. The common denominator of the successful films, however, was audacity. Addressing sensitive subjects requires courage on the part of screenwriters and directors, and if it is a comedy, taking the risk of offending, within the limits of good taste and avoiding cheap humor. This is exactly what is unfortunately missing in 'Un homme hereux', but the film is still worth seeing. Not just for Fabrice Luchini.

The story takes place in a city in the north of France. Mayor Jean Leroy, a rather conservative 63 years old politician who opportunistically keeps his homophobic views to himself, decides to run for another term. Just then, his wife, Édith, informs him that ... she has felt like a man all her life, that she is tired of hiding her sexual identity and that she has begun the process of physical transition from woman to man. The two decide to postpone the public announcement of the transition until after the election, so as not to disturb Jean's image in the eyes of the town's conservative electorate. As you might suspect, such a plan cannot be kept a secret for too long, neither from the couple's three adult children, nor from residents and voters, in a world where everyone has eyes, ears, and especially cameras and mobile phones. The revelation will blow up the electoral plans and transform the mayor and those around him. Meanwhile Édith continues her transition to becoming Édy.

Need I mention that Fabrice Luchini is formidable and his every moment on screen is a delight? The same can be said about Catherine Frot who plays the role of Édith - Édy. The two practically support the film along with Philippe Katerine, a formidable actor himself who I've seen perform well in so many supporting roles that I can't help but wait for the moment when a brave director gives him a big leading role. The problem is the script. Trying not to upset anyone, the story avoids any violent confrontation (like those that happen in reality) and blunts all the arrows of satire. The most successful scenes are those in the LGBT+ support group, where the 'politically correct' language of the community is ironized, but here too the excessive restraint is obvious. The feeling of missing out is amplified by the ending. The last 15 minutes seem to belong to the American remake and not the original film, with a very predictable breakup and reunion and a completely missed opportunity to generate more fun and satire based on the opposites of gender cross-dressing at the carnival. We are left with the image of Luchini's sad and lonely clown face at the end, but I have already praised him enough. 'Un homme hereux' is a film too nice to be genuine.

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)

the daemon of motherhood

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

'Huesera' (2022) is the debut feature film of Mexican director Michelle Garza Cervera. And what a debut! The director, who is also a co-writer, has imagined a story that combines psychological thriller with elements of horror, tackles feminist themes and explores female psychology during pregnancy and the immediate post-natal period with an intensity worthy of the great masters of cinematic art. Not everything works in this film, but what we saw in the 93 minutes that the film lasts is the promise that this is a significant first film by a female filmmaker who can become a name in the world of cinema.

Valeria and Raúl are an ordinary Mexican couple. They have wanted a child for a long time and for this Valeria will travel with her mother on a pilgrimage to a huge golden statue of the Holy Virgin. She seems to answer prayers and Valeria becomes pregnant. The two spouses begin to plan and prepare for the baby's arrival, she builds a wonderful bed and transforms her carpentry workshop into the baby's future room. One night something happens. Valeria sees a woman throwing herself from the second floor of the building across the street and breaking her legs. Until she calles Raúl, the woman had disappeared. Nightmare? Hallucination? Other visions also happen. Memories also return - of an incident in the past when she had fallen with the child of neighbors in the arms, of the adventurous youth in which she had had an affair with another woman. In the eyes of those around her, even Raúl's, her ability to be a good mother starts to be questioned. The birth of the baby girl should bring things back to normal, but not only is that not happening, the crisis is deepening.

What happens to Valeria is an open question. Is it mental disorders, natural to some point during pregnancy or after birth? Or maybe the young woman represses her sexuality and desire for freedom under social and family pressure? Or maybe it's about something deeper and stranger. Mexico is a country that lives between tradition and modernity, between reality and magic. Valeria finds herself also between the two worlds. The solution to her problems will also belong to the world of magic. The ending is a variation on a legend that gives the film its name, but what we see is in terms of reality an abandonment, in terms of magic a liberation. The performer of the main role - Natalia Solián - is extraordinary. It can be seen that she worked on the role for a long time together with the director. The cinematography is also of very good quality, with the symbolism of the cobweb trap returning in different visual forms. Not everything works in this film, the horror scenes do not always manage to create the expected effects, but the minuses in the effects are compensated by the eyes and the face of the actress who shouts her feelings beyond the screen. 'Huesera' is a special and impressive film, a spectacular debut.

Back to Black (2024)

a softer Amy Winehouse

[7/10 · 16 April 2024]

Amy Winehouse is the latest personality in a select and tragic list that includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones. They were all extraordinarily talented musicians. They all led intense lives marked by phenomenal creativity but also personal crises and substance abuse. All died at the age of 27 of lifestyle-related deaths. All left behind millions of grieving fans and musical legacies as sizable as they are focused, leaving us to guess what their careers and music history would have looked like without these tragic early deaths. An acclaimed and award-winning documentary has already been made about Amy Winehouse. Now, director Sam Taylor-Johnson offers us 'Back to Black' - a biopic that proposes a somewhat 'sweetened' vision of the singer who not only lived and created intensely, but also never avoided controversy. It is possible that the original screenplay written by Matt Greenhalgh may have sinned in this very way.

The problem with a biography like Amy's is that most of the viewers were her contemporaries, we each have our own memories of her person and career, and we can't avoid comparing them to what we see on screen. From the biography of the musician, the script chose the few years between 2002 when she signed the collaboration with '19 Management' for her first album and 2008 when at the 50th edition of the Grammy Awards she received five awards in the same night. Connoisseurs will note the absence from Amy's career story of Mark Ronson, the producer of the blockbuster album that also gives the film its title. From her private life, the focus is on her relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. This is on the one hand presented as the only true love story of Amy's life. On the other hand, the same relationship is blamed for the singer's personal crises and heavy drugs addiction. The family also plays an important and largely positive role. Both Amy's father and grandmother appear as luminouse characters, who support her in her career and try (unsuccessfully) to guide her in her personal life as well.

The writer and the director chose to present a somewhat embellished version of Amy. The final years of the artist's life, her relapse into alcoholism, the missed concerts and the conflicts with the audiences are omitted. This vision seemed incomplete to me. Could those around her have saved her? Unanswered question. I really enjoyed the recreation of the atmosphere of London clubs and the north of the British capital in the first decade of the century. Marisa Abela's performance is overwhelming - she manages to get completely into character and does very well with the music also, coming close in sound but without touching the emotion and quality of the original. Eddie Marsan and Lesley Manville play the roles of Amy's father and grandmother very well. I am not sure whether in real life the family came that close to the ideal, but that's how it appears to have been in the movie, and the emotion crosses the screen. 'Back to Black' is a film worth seeing for both the music and the story, but viewers should keep in mind that this is still fiction and not an official biography. And now, I'm going to listen to Amy Winehouse - the real one.

Cries & Whispers (1972)

elegy in red

[10/10 · 15 April 2024]

If we really want to place 'Cries and Whispers' (the original Swedish title is 'Viskningar och rop'), the film made in 1972 by Ingmar Bergman, in a category or genre of films, the most appropriate categorization would be 'family drama' with the addition of 'period', the story taking place sometime at the beginning of the 20th century, the period in which the action of August Strinberg's plays also takes place. However, it is one of those films that refuses to be categorized and which, over time, we realize is itself a separate category and genre. Or in other words - a masterpiece.

The story takes place in the mansion of a rich family from the Swedish province. The three sisters who grew up here are together again, but the circumstances are not happy. Agnes, the unmarried sister and permanent tenant of the villa, is sick with cancer and lives her last days in suffering. Karin and Maria come to be with her in her last moments, but the one who really supports her in her suffering before her death, and perhaps after, is the faithful servant Anna. Each of the four women carries a baggage of sufferings, frustrations, unhappiness. Agnes's suffering is physical, but her memories are not very happy either, she experiences the feeling that she was their mother's least loved daughter. Karin cannot stand physical contact, primarily with her much older husband. Maria, the youngest sister and the most beautiful of the three, also has an unsuccessful marriage marked by infidelities. Karin and Maria each carry the memories of traumatic events that happened in the past in the same villa. Finally, Anna, a simple woman with a round face, carries with her the memory of her dead little girl. She is the only one of the four women who is faithful. After the death of their sick sister, Karin and Maria will try to reconnect, but the accumulation of frustrations and hatred is difficult to overcome.

Cinematography plays an essential role in this film. Some scenes make direct references to the Bible. The dominant color is red - "the color of the interior of the soul". The walls of the villa are painted red, the transition between scenes is done using the color red rather than the usual black, and blood appears in some dramatic scenes. For contrast, white is used quite a lot, the color of the heroines' clothing, which will be replaced by black after Agnes' death. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography - the only Academy Award won by this film (out of 5 nominations, including Best Picture). The acting performances are overwhelming. The performances of the four actresses are all the more remarkable as Ingmar Bergman was a fanatic of close-ups and did not hesitate to use them copiously in this film as well. Agnes is Harriet Andersson - dramatic and emotional, experiencing physical suffering but also a coming to life hinting at the Resurrection. Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann play Karin and Maria and their scenes together are anthological. Finally, Kari Sylwan is Anna, managing to create a deeply human but also symbolic character, the social and moral opposite of the three sisters. 'Cries and whispers' is a deeply human film, loaded with moral and religious references, a film about death, pain, hatred and compassion, about the power of empathy and about the priceless value of small moments of happiness. Sensitive and symbolic. Not to be missed.

Road to Perdition (2002)

Paul Newman's Farewell

[8/10 · 14 April 2024]

The tradition of big Hollywood actors playing the roles of crime family bosses is well entrenched in the history of American cinema. About halfway between Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro we have Paul Newman, one of the most impressive and popular actors of his generation, playing the role of Irish clan boss John Rooney in 'Road to Perdition'. If only this 2002 film, directed by Sam Mendes, had given Newman one last big screen role and given him a chance to meet in the cast some of the important actors of the generations after him, that would have been enough to the film to remain in the history of American cinema. 'Road to Perdition', however, has many other cinematic qualities that make it a memorable film, beyond the exceptional cast. And yes, it is also the farewell film of a great cinematographer, Conrad L. Hall.

The year is 1931. Michael Sullivan is seemingly an ordinary family man. He lives in a beautiful Chicago house with his wife and two boys, who have no idea what he's up to. One evening, Michael Jr., the older boy, about 12 years old, happens to see his father take a gun out of his pocket. The next evening he hides in the car that takes his father to a meeting that ends in an assassination. Thus he learns that the father is the Rooney family's confidant and cold-blooded killer. When Michael discovers that young Connor Rooney is conning his father, Michael tries to get his attention, but Connor kills his wife and young son. The two Michaels, father and son, set out on a road strewn with armed robbers and corpses. The attempt to prove his loyalty to the head of the clan collides with the solidarity of the criminal family. The boy will be getting some early life lessons in a few weeks. Will he follow in his father's footsteps on the path of murder?

The bonds between fathers and sons form the axis of the film. The role of Michael Sullivan is played by Tom Hanks in one of the first roles in which he does not play a 'nice guy' character. He is the true spiritual son of John Rooney, who is played with restraint and dignity by Paul Newman. Mob laws take precedence over feelings, however, and they dictate to the Mob boss to favor and protect his own son, Connor, even at the cost of ruining his own business and losing his faithful Michael. Connor is played by Daniel Craig, unexpectedly nuanced here, before donning the mask of James Bond. Jude Law as the hitman to kill the hitman who was Michael also has an excellent composition role. The moral thread of the action is emphasized by Michael Sullivan's dilemmas. On the one hand, he has no choice but to take his son (played by Tyler Hoechlin) on a journey of initiation where he has to share with him survival techniques from the criminals' arsenal. On the other hand, he would like Michael Jr. To grow up differently and to be able to choose a path other than that of crime. How he will succeed in this you will see in that part of the film which is a 'road movie' with a father and a son, very different from the similar ones in other films. Conrad L. Hall's cinematography is exceptional, with gunfights and scenes shot in the rain providing reference frames. The story takes place entirely in the world of gangsters, where - says John Rooney - none of the characters will sit at the right hand of God. Sam Mendes tries to prove, however, that moral salvation is still, even here, possible.

Paula (I) (2016)

opening new roads

[7/10 · 12 April 2024]

Paula Modersohn-Becker seems to have lived several lives. The first was, of course, her life on this planet, between 1876 and 1907 - a short, tumultuous life, a constant struggle with the world around her, but primarily with herself, as a woman and as an artist. She left behind more than 700 paintings and 1000 drawings. The German Expressionists gave her a second life, considering her as one of the representative artists of the current and dedicating to her, in 1927, the first museum of a female artist in the history of art. The Nazi regime removed her works from museums and declared them to belong to 'degenerate art'. The third life seems to be happening in the last few decades. Paula Modersohn-Becker is reconsidered not only as one of the important artists of the beginning of the 20th century, but also as a model of struggle for female affirmation and breaking of artistic and social conventions and prejudices. The film 'Paula' (2016) by the German director Christian Schwochow is part of this revival of interest and artistic and media recovery of the painter, along with important exhibitions and documentary films.

'Paula' is a fairly detailed biopic, that focuses on the last seven years of the artist's life. We find her at the beginning of the film attending the (segregated, for women) painting lessons at the artists' colony at Worpswede. Her artistic talent and ambitions exceed the artistic and ideological limits imposed by the realism and naturalism promoted by the school and the social conventions that wanted to reduce her to the role of wife and mother, prohibiting her career as a professional artist, considered suitable only for men. Paula will quickly get into conflict with her teachers, but it is here that she will meet Paul Modersohn, a less talented painter who, however, enjoyed success and financial stability, and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who opens her horizons and a encourages her to continue her path as an artist. The film's script offers a slightly different point of view than other biographies regarding Paula and Albert's marriage and relationship. The man, it is claimed, did not understand modern art or his wife's talent, at least at first, but he financially supported her trip and stay in Paris. The crisis of the marriage and the absence of children during the first five years of marriage are resolved by the script in a dramatic manner with the scenes that take place in 1906, when Albert arrives in Paris. It seems to be, for a short time, a happy love story. The man's fears, due to the loss of his first wife, will be however confirmed by the death of Paula, a year later, a few weeks after the birth of their only daughter.

The fate of Paula Modersohn-Becker can be compared to that of several other contemporary artists, who could hardly survive in the environment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was as revolutionary in art as it was misogynistic in the attitude of most artists, collectors and art critics towards women. Like Camille Claudel in sculpture, Paula Modersohn-Becker had a short active life, but left a significant body of work. In Christian Schwochow's film, Paula's struggle with the artistic and social environment is well highlighted, although the atmosphere is not gloomy. This is largely due to the acting creation of Carla Juri, an actress I do not remember having seen before, who brings to the screen a luminous and optimistic character, sure of her talent, determined to realize herself both as an artist and as a woman. Her belief that it is possible for a woman to fulfill both roles - in art and in society - captivates viewers, even if the ending is not a happy one. Visually, the film is very well designed, with many excellently filmed studio or nature painting scenes. The image of the painter carrying her easel like a cross in the fields or on the streets of the village will remain in the memory of those who saw the film. Art history recovered Paula Modersohn-Becker with her pioneering talent, courage and ability to understand people and represent their humanity in her portraits. 'Paula' - the film pays her a fitting tribute.

Crooks in Clover (1963)

cinema of the uncles

[8/10 · 11 April 2024]

Almost every reference to 'Les tontons flinguers' includes the phrase 'cult film'. To be honest, I don't know exactly what this expression means, but I suspect that what is meant in this case is that director Georges Lautner's film has gained a loyal audience, who enjoy watching it again every time they get the chance, and that it includes some scenes that fans know by heart and several lines that have entered popular folklore, even if not everyone knows their source. But this film also has an interesting positioning. It was released in 1963, in the midst of the 'Nouvelle Vague' revolution in French cinema. A series of "cinema du papa" filmmakers - to use the expression attributed, it seems wrongly, to Truffaut - reacted by making films in the tradition of the 40s and 50s. Some of them were really good, and 'Les tontons flinguers' was one of them. In addition, it is also a parody of 'film noir' in the American style, the genre they were in love with and which the young 'Nouvelle Vague' directors imitated. Gaumont studios initially did not believe in the success of this film and to secure financing they allied themselves with German and Italian studios for a co-production. They were wrong both on the short term, with the film having over 3 million viewers in the year of its release, and of course in the long term, 'Les tontons flinguers' becoming, deservedly, a cinematic landmark.

'Les tontons flinguers' is the last film in a trilogy of adaptations of Albert Simonin's novels that have Max le Menteur (The Liar) as their hero. Unlike the previous films in which the main role was played by Jean Gabin, here the hero, renamed Fernand Naudin, is played by Lino Ventura. Withdrawn from the business of crime for 15 years, 'Uncle Fernand' is called to Paris by his friend Louis le Mexicain (the Mexican), who is on his deathbed, to take over his small illegal business empire and especially to take care of his daughter Patricia. The heads of the different 'branches of activity' of the Mexican, who hoped to inherit and administer them as they pleased, do not come to terms with the situation. What follows is the outbreak of an underworld gangs war parallel to young Patricia's adventures that prove as difficult to control as the crime empire.

Lino Ventura fits perfectly into the role of Uncle Fernand. His comic talent is evident today, but that was not the case at that point in his career, with the actor specialized in 'tough' gangster or cop roles almost turning down the role in this film. He is surrounded by a group of lesser-known actors, although you probably know many of their figures from supporting roles in many other films. I'll give special mention to Bernard Blier, Robert Dalban, Francis Blanche and German actor Horst Frank with an icy stare that makes him look like a Daniel Craig replica (just that Craig was not born yet). Jean Lefebvre, who would later become famous in comedies, had yet to demonstrate his full talent. The story is simple and therefore can be easily followed, and Michel Audiard's dialogues, combining jargon with the language of the rich, make us constantly wait for the next memorable line. Michel Magne's music is also worth paying attention to. It is about a single theme (composed of four notes!) that is repeated throughout the film in about 13 different styles, from baroque to twist. Maurice Fellous' cinematography also serves the comedy well and helps create some memorable scenes. Watched today, 'Les tontons flinguers' seems uneven and many of the jokes have lost their effect, but those few scenes of situation and language comedy that are very successful place it among the most memorable films of the period. The actors are said to have had a blast during the shooting. This can be seen, and we, the viewers, share the feeling even after 60 years.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

a self parody

[6/10 · 9 April 2024]

The intention of parody is visible from the title. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' directed by Tom Gormican is inspired by 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', the 1988 screen adaptation of a novel by Milan Kundera directed by Philip Kaufman. Nothing is too 'heavy' in this 2022 film, just as nothing was too 'light' in the 1988 film. If it's a parody, then we're dealing with a Nicolas Cage self-parody. No one doubts that he is an actor with 'massive talent'. But his career seems to have come to a standstill about two decades ago. His memorable roles - and they weren't few - were all created in the 90s and early 00s. The pace of work has not slowed down at all, with the actor being forced to act in just about anything to pay off debts related to taxes and expensive divorces. These roles were mostly in action movies, some bizare, some boring, far from the level of the films of his peak years. In recent years, perhaps with the remediation of its financial situation, we can notice a qualitative recovery trend. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' is part of this artistic return of Nicolas Cage. What could be more suitable for this purpose than an action film (with a good chance of being liked by fans audience of the genre) in which the main hero is himself ... Nicolas Cage? We can also look at it as a kind of comic meditation on his own artistic path. Or simply as a likable comedy that reuses fun elements from his previous films.

The hero of the film, the actor Nick Cage is experiencing a life and career crisis. He is divorced and when he is meeting his teenage daughter he exasperates her by forcing her to watch the movies that made him famous or that he likes ('oldies movies' as we all teenage parents or grandparents know). His friend and advisor is an imaginary, younger alter-ego with whom he occasionally has dialogues. His agent is struggling to find him more meaningful roles than the B-movie action movies he's been stuck in for the past few years (any resemblance is no coincidence) but to no avail. He is denied a much-desired role, which would have relaunched his career in another direction. Desperate and in debt, he accepts an offer to attend a Spanish millionaire's birthday party for a million dollars. Upon landing in the picturesque island of Mallorca, however, a surprise awaits him. The Spanish millionaire is suspected of being the head of a mobster gang involved in the politics of Catalonia, who had just kidnapped, before the elections, the daughter of a candidate for the presidency of the province. The American secret services ask for his help to penetrate the suspect's entourage. But the millionaire turns out to be a great cinema lover, an admirer of Cage and willing to make ... a film together with him. The premise of an action comedy is there.

I'm having a hard time deciding if Nicholas Cage the actor is playing Nick Cage the actor in this movie or Nick Cage the character who happens to be an actor but is more of an adventure comedy hero. Perhaps both director and co-writer Tom Gormican and the actor himself left that dilemma up to the viewers. The character in the film borrows many elements from the actor's biography, but the atmosphere is that of parody, or self-parody if you will. We can't take some of the jokes too seriously, such as the use of prop guns in mob fights, but on the other hand, the script seems quite serious in its homage to Cage's previous films, or other films that he loves. Self-parody and self-homage at the same time? Movies of this type are the more successful the less they take themselves seriously. 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' doesn't relaunch Nicolas Cage's career into stellar orbit, but it does provide viewers with over 100 minutes of reasonable entertainment. This is no small thing either.

The Animal Kingdom (2023)

humans and creatures

[8/10 · 8 April 2024]

'Le règne animal' (2023), the second feature film of the French director Thomas Cailley, is a film that may confuse or disturb many of those who dare to see it. It is not recommended for those who do not like 'horror' films, but it is not a classic film in this genre either. It is an ecological and philosophical parable, but it is delivered in a package that is very different from that of art films. It's also a coming-of-age film and a father-son relationship, but these take place under extreme conditions that challenge conventions and overturn generally accepted principles. It is a disturbing, powerful and original film that aims to stay in the memory of those who have seen it without ever trying to be likeable.

The scene that opens the film takes place in a huge traffic jam, something quite common on French roads. A father, François, and his son, Émile, are stuck in a car. However, the reason for the blockage is not at all common. A strange creature, half man - half bird, had escaped from an ambulance. In the world where the story takes place, strange phenomena occur. Some people, touched by a mysterious disease, begin to turn into animals. The process is gradual, at first there are signs, then they become hybrids, they can end up looking like monsters. Those untouched by the disease call them 'creatures' and intern them in special 'centres' surrounded by prison walls and barbed wire. François's wife and Émile's mother is one of those ill. On the way to the south of France, where she had been assigned to such a 'centre', a car accident occurs. We don't know for sure if she survives. Father and son start looking for her in a forest populated by escaped 'creatures'. The teenage son, going through the crises of age and the inherent conflicts with his father, begins to show the first signs of the disease.

We can watch 'Le règne animal' as a horror film, but we can't help but wonder whose behavior is monstrous. Of 'creatures' who aspire to freedom or of people who behave with them as human social groups have often behaved in history with those considered 'foreigners 'aliens': with immigrants, with the natives of newly discovered territories, with those considered as belonging to 'the lower races', with the sick suffering from diseases that inspire fear. The directorial vision accentuates the sense of fantastical dystopia. The scenes that take place in the 'human kingdom' start with an appearance of normality thanks to the settings that are familiar to us (cars, a holiday village, a classroom, a supermarket) but each time a strange element appears that breaks the balance. Paradoxically, the scenes in a natural setting that represent the 'animal kingdom' are the ones that start from the fantastic to insert the emotions. Visually, some of these reminded me of James Cameron's 'Avatar', although the investment was probably several orders of magnitude lower in the French film. Romain Duris and Paul Kircher create a permanent dynamic in the relationship between father and son, presenting us with a family cell that faces the hostile unknown and manages to stay together and understand each other even when words no longer can express feelings. Tom Mercier, whom I noticed in 'Synonyms', also appears in the film in a supporting but important role. 'Le règne animal' is a special movie from many points of view. Many viewers will drop out somewhere in the middle. Those who will remain will be, in my opinion, the winers.

The Ladykillers (1955)

the original equals the remake

[8/10 · 6 April 2024]

'The Ladykillers' reopens the endless discussion with no conclusions about original films and remakes. 20 years ago, the Coen brothers were making an American remake starring Tom Hanks, which I saw then and liked (much more than other) . Now I got to see the original version made in 1955 and directed by Alexander Mackendrick. I enjoyed the movie made 69 years ago at least as much. Not only has the comedy and action remained fresh, but the visual quality and performances of the actors make 'The Ladykillers' 1955 edition one of the best films of the British Ealing film studios and a reference film for productions realized exclusively on the sets, precisely at the time when filmmakers and their film crews were discovering the virtues and advantages of natural light and filming in nature or in the urban environment, on the streets.

The sets, made entirely in the studio, are formidable. In an English one-story house at the end of a cul-de-sac, lives old Mrs. Wilberforce. The house looks like a prelude to the motel in 'Psycho' with two important additional details. It is on a hill near a large railway station and trains to and from all directions pass under that hill. The house had been damaged in the bombings of the war that had ended a decade ago, and the bizarre architecture was supplemented by sloping floors and walls. Precisely the strategic position makes this house the ideal home where the gang of thieves led by Professor Marcus plans to rob a mail train stopped at the station and hide the loot immediately after the hit. To camouflage the gatherings of bandits, they disguise themselves as baroque musicians in rehearsals. Mrs. Wilberforce is delighted with the company, but when the thieves use her to recover the money stolen from the station and when she realizes that the musicians were not musicians and the instrument cases hide different treasures, things get complicated. The old peaceful woman is both shrewd and stubborn, and has a sense of justice and a vitality that will blow up all the bandits' plans.

The set design is terrific, one of the best studio sets I've seen in movies. The intense and contrasting colors, with the few nuances of the early years of color film, also play an important role in the charm and special visual atmosphere of this film. The comedy of situations is enhanced by the savory lines of text. The role of the invincible old woman is played by Katie Johnson, a veteran actress of the English stage and screen, who was 78 years old and over 60 years into her career when the film was made. The head of the band of robbers is played by Alec Guinness, to whom I was able to get to know another facet of a formidable talent that also developed in many decades of activity. Among the thugs we can see Peter Sellers in one of his first major comedic roles in a feature film. 'The Ladykillers' model 1955 is a film that remains worth seeing today and that I recommend to all viewers, not just those who love classic cinematheque movies.

Bonnard: Pierre & Marthe (2023)

love and colors

[6/10 · 5 April 2024]

'Bonnard: Pierre & Marthe' (2023) is a film I would have had many reasons to like. It is the biopic of an artist from a revolutionary period of fine arts. It's a love story that takes place over half a century. It's a well-written and beautifully shot film, made by a film director who has already proven that he knows how to make excellent films about artists. And yet, something is missing. In 2008, Martin Provost directed and wrote 'Séraphine', a film about a very special artist with a spectacular biography. He then managed to enter her soul and bring to the screen a damned destiny of a female artist who suffered a lot in life. Unlike Séraphine Louis, Pierre Bonnard, considered the 'painter of happiness', had a relatively easy life, the support of his protectors launched his career and his commercial success ensured a life without material problems. Even the love story depicted in the film, with its ups, downs and dramas, is, at least seen from afar, a happy one, almost unique in the world of artists. Like it or not, traumatized lives and unhappy love stories are better filmed than long lives and long-surviving relationships.

The scene that opens the film takes place in 1893 in the Parisian studio of the young painter Pierre Bonnard. The artist had just met Marthe, noticing her on the street and inviting her to pose for him. What the French call a 'coup de foudre' takes place. In a few hours the two end up in bed and a few days later Pierre proposes to the young woman to spend their lives together. Marthe comes from a modest background, she is a worker in an artificial flower factory, she is intelligent and does not seem to lack education, but she is intimidated by the social environment and by Pierre's friends, a mixture of artists and rich people (including women) who support them. She knows that if she says yes and is lucky, she'll devote her life to supporting an artist with his eccentricities who is also a man with the specific manly egoism. If she says yes and is not lucky, the risk is that she will be very unhappy. She says Yes. The two move outside the city to a house on the banks of the Seine, a boat trip from the Givenchy of Claude Monet, who is Bonnard's friend and mentor, in a natural setting with the waters and lights that cradled Impressionism . The relationship is not without its ups and downs. Bonnard gives Marthe enough reasons to be jealous. At least two other women play an important role in his life: the pianist Misia Sert who became a patron of the arts and artists using the wealth of her successive husbands and the young artist Renée Monchaty, a late love that puts their relationship in danger. Only after this last affair fails, the two will marry, after more than 30 years of cohabitation. The First World War had marked the middle of their lives and their love story, the Second World War the end.

'Bonnard: Pierre & Marthe' lasts two hours. Martin Provost tells the story in detail, includes a lot of anecdotes gathered from the artists' memoirs or from the press of the time. It is not about the painter's biopic but about telling a love story. If there is no love, there is no art. The emphasis doesn't always seem to be on the most significant details. Some of the scenes that take place in the house on the banks of the Seine seem repetitive, while the dramatic episode of the relationship with Renée and her suicide in parallel with Martha's transformation into an artist seems superficially addressed. The most successful scenes seemed to me to be the ones where we see Bonnard (played by the excellent Vincent Macaigne) painting. In collaboration with the director of cinematography Guillaume Schiffman, film director Martin Provost manages here something that I also liked in 'Séraphine' - he harmonizes the color palette of the artist with the description of the environment that surrounded him, indicating the influence and creating an aesthetic vibration between the two visual universes. Psychologically, however, the characters cannot be deciphered until the end, despite all the efforts of Vincent Macaigne and Cécile de France in the role of the woman who dedicates her life to the artist.

I confess that I am not a big fan of Pierre Bonnard's paintings. I admire his technique, I respect his courage, I recognize his contribution to the history of art, but I cannot immerse myself in his art. My relationship with his paintings is one of aesthetic appreciation and not emotional vibration. I had about the same feeling when watching this movie.

Marguerite's Theorem (2023)

numbers and love

[6/10 · 3 April 2024]

Here is a movie that will interest my mathematician friends. I look forward to them watching it and sharing their impressions. 'Le théorème de Marguerite' (2023) is a variation on the classic formula 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back', with a few changes. First of all, the lead character is a woman, a young and brilliant mathematician who will meet a boy, so it's more like 'girl meets boy'. And yes, both the girl and the boy are mathematicians, so 'a mathematician girl meets a mathematician boy'. Otherwise, the formula applies - in cinema and in mathematics. The film by director Anna Novion is a film about the passion for mathematics. There aren't many movies that bring math heroes to the screen, but a few of them are memorable. 'Good Will Hunting' and 'A Beautiful Mind', for example, also offered us heroes whose life and passion are consumed in front of blackboards filled with mathematical equations. 'Le théorème de Marguerite' aims to join this select club.

The heroine of the film is called Marguerite Hoffman. She is a brilliant PhD student at one of the most prestigious colleges in France and mathematics is her whole life. The doctoral thesis supervised by Professor Werner is a demonstration of one of the most famous problems that mathematicians have faced for centuries: the Goldbach conjuncture. (for the curious: 'Any even number is the sum of two prime numbers'). The proposition was verified by numerical computers until they ran out of power, but it was never proved. On the day of the thesis presentation, however, a catastrophe occurs. Julien, another brilliant young mathematician who had joined Wener's team a few days before, points out a fatal flaw in the proof. Marguerite has a total mental breakdown and decides to abandon mathematics and the teacher whom she blames for betraying her by associating with the new student. She will try to work as a saleswoman, she will meet Noa, a dancer with whom she shares a rented apartment and who will try to bring her back to life. Marguerite, however, may leave mathematics, but mathematics does not leave her. The talent will help her become a brilliant mahjong player (a complex Chinese game with stones) and her orderly mathematical mind will struggle with feelings for the rival she associates with in solving the impossible problem.

Can love be rationalized? Can human mind function in the absence of feelings? You will receive answers to these questions in the story Anna Novion co-wrote. The main problem with the film is, in my opinion, the fact that these answers are kind of what we expected. Focus is on mathematics and love. Social aspects that might have been interesting - the position of women in academia, the life of the Chinese community in Paris - are touched upon only tangentially. The plot is also quite predictable. A bit more boldness and a story with more surprises wouldn't hurt. Fortunately, much of these weaker parts are offset by Ella Rumpf's formidable acting performance. The actress is no longer very young, she is more than ten years older than the heroine she plays in this film and has a filmography of almost 20 films behind her. And yet, with this role she won the Lumiere award for 'best female revelation' and four other awards - completely deserved. Her Marguerite Hoffman is intelligent and vulnerable, passionate to the point of obsession when it comes to the mathematics she has known since childhood and when it comes to the love she discovers late. With any luck for her and us viewers, 'Le théorème de Marguerite' is the first major film of a great actress. Among the other actors in the cast, I cannot skip Jean-Pierre Darroussin in the role of the teacher who guides the heroine's steps in mathematics even when their paths diverge, alongside the girl's mother played by Clotilde Courau. Goldbach's conjuncture is still waiting for its demo, and we, the viewers, are waiting for the future films of director Anna Novion and actress Ella Rumpf.

Bitter Flowers (2017)

alone, between two worlds

[7/10 · 2 April 2024]

'Les fleurs amères' (the title in the English distribution is 'Bitter Flowers') is the debut feature film of Belgian director Olivier Meys. It's also his only film so far, but I sincerely hope there will be more, because Meys demonstrates here both courage in tackling difficult themes, competence in assembling an unusual international team and talent in creating believable characters and situations on screen, which reflect real problems of the world in which we live. The director lived for many years in China and has experience as a documentary filmmaker with films made there during the period of great transformations that this country went through after the year 2000. 'Les fleurs amères' uses this life experience and decants it into a film also located at the intersection of the two cultures (Chinese and Western), with a story in which the often difficult experience of Chinese economic emigrants who came to work illegally in Europe is presented from the opposite point of view to that which European viewers are used to. Avoiding the pitfalls of melodrama and propaganda, Meys brings dramatic and believable characters and events to the screen.

The main heroine of the film, Lina, is an intelligent and hard-working woman, married and the mother of a ten-year-old boy, who decides to go to work for a few years in France as a nanny to get out of the economic impasse of the family, which lives in an area of China where industry has fallen into ruin. Once she arrives in Paris she will discover, as many other economic immigrants did, that the European reality is very different from expectations. In addition, the language and appearance barrier and the illegal status isolate her in the Chinese-speaking community. She finds support only in a group of immigrant women like her, forced to prostitute themselves to survive. Lina, after many tentatives and hesitations, joins them, and manages to recover financially. The price paid by this compromise, however, is huge and endangers not only her social status and her family life when she returns to China, but also her self-respect.

The relationship between the West and China is very complex these days, and 'Les fleurs amères' addresses a facet not explored (as far as I know) in films. We know the theme of immigration, including illegal immigration and its sordid and violent aspects from other films, but most of them are about immigrants from Eastern Europe or Africa. Although Olivier Meys is Belgian, the film is made from the Chinese perspective, addressing aspects related to the complex issues of the huge population migration (part internal, but also external as we can see in the film) that has taken place in China for the last four decades. Meys probably has the freedom to explore aspects and say things that Chinese filmmakers could not express. What impressed me though is the style and atmosphere, which retains the human empathy and solidarity of the characters in many Chinese films. The lead role is played by Xi Qi, a formidable actress, whose emotions transcend the screen and impress with dignity and sensitivity. Wang Xi plays her friend, in whom she finds moral support in the worst moments of trouble. Finally, the trio of strong female characters is completed by the younger Chloe Maayan who plays the role of Lina's sister-in-law, arrived later in Paris, attracted by the mirage of the heroine's supposed success. The cinematography belongs to Benoît Dervaux, an experienced Belgian filmmaker, who contributes to the special atmosphere of the film, whose action takes place partly in Paris, partly in China. Even when filming in Paris, the camera seems closed in the social bubble in which the heroine lives, that of the Chinese community in the French capital. We see, sometimes in the background, monuments and landscapes that we know, but it is as if they are seen from the inside through a glass wall. Scenes filmed in China add to the picture of a changing world and capture the moral and social implications of the events that had taken place in France. Both Meys and Dervaux have backgrounds and experience as documentarians, and it shows. The camera is mobile, part of the actors are amateur. Although the characters and the plot are imaginary, 'Les fleurs amères' looks like a docu-drama. A powerful and impressive one.

The Crime Is Mine (2023)

a me-too story in 1935's Paris

[8/10 · 1 April 2024]

'Mon crime' is the funniest and most entertaining film I have seen in the first three months of this year. Don't get me wrong, I've already seen some very good films, with deep topics, interesting cinematography and with great acting, but none of them made me laugh so heartily and none of them left me with smile on my face at the end as it happened with this 2023 film by François Ozon. This is one of his more relaxed films for the French director as well. Others tackle more 'serious' themes and do not hesitate to engage their viewers in original cinematic experiences. 'Mon crime' is an adaptation of a play written in 1934, the story takes place in 1935 and represents a kind of retro-me-too film, written (also by Ozon) and made in the spirit of French theatrical farces. The cast brings to the screen some fresh figures from among the young generation of French actors alongside stars whose presences make any film an unmissable event. The result is excellent.

Madeleine and Pauline are two young women trying their luck in Paris in 1935. Madeleine is a beautiful and talented actress, Pauline is a novice lawyer, brilliant but without clients. The two girls are on the verge of being evicted from the small and unheated rented apartment because they have not been able to pay their rent for many months. Madeleine shows up for an interview with a theater producer and goes through a me-too trauma, being assaulted and rejecting his advances. Unfortunately for her, an hour later the producer is found dead and Madeleine becomes the prime suspect. And then, the two girls decide to turn bad luck into opportunity by plotting to be involved in a trial that will make them famous. Madeleine confesses to the crime she did not commit and Pauline defends her and gets her acquitted. The luck gained through this ruse is in danger, however, when the real killer appears.

The true assassin is played by Isabelle Huppert in one of her best and funniest roles in this millennium, a role very different from the grim and doom-and-gloom characters she's taken on serially for quite some time. A formidable comedian is also Fabrice Luchini, another one of my favorite actors, relishing in the role of the investigating judge who manipulates justice to his own whims. Dany Boon, Olivier Broche and André Dussollier also have savory supporting roles. However, the main merits go, of course, to the two young actresses - Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder - who each of them and especially together radiate talent and beauty. The satire of the misogynistic morals of 1930s France, unfortunately, still rings terribly relevant today. With slight changes, the story in the film could take place in 2024. But we would have lost the period fragrance and the pleasure of recreating a gallant Paris, with morals that are eternal despite toilets and hats that change their shapes and colors. I recommend that you don't miss 'Mon crime' for a healthy dose of charming entertainment.