First-run movies: The dynamic return of Isabelle Ieper

The return of the stalwart Isabelle Ieper with the powerful French political drama ”Promises” and seven more new films, three of which are Greek documentaries, premiere tonight in cinemas across the country. In addition to ’Promises”, the films ”Saint Emmy” by Araseli Lemos, ”X” by T. West and ”16 Fours of Spring” by Suzanne Linton stand out, while the Greek documentaries ”The City and the City”, ”Dionysus the Return” and ”Sotos, Zo-graphist of the Unpredictable” have their own interest.

Promises (Les Promesses). Political drama, French production of 2021, directed by Toma Kruitoff, with Isabelle Ieper, Reda Candeb, Soufiane Gerab, Nadria Ayadi, Jean-Paul Borde, Hervé Pierre and others.

A well-crafted political drama, with the solid directorial guidance of Toma Kruytov (”The Shadow Conspiracy”), and the dynamic return of the stalwart Isabelle Ieper, despite her 69 years, are a guarantee for fans of good French cinema.

The story shows us exactly what lies behind the City of Light, in the notoriously degraded Parisian suburbs, the effort of a mayor to stand by her poor citizens, against the powerful and the phenomena of corruption, and her dilemma when she is offered to take over a ministry, leaving at the mercy of interests the people with whom she fought alongside.

Kruytov aptly comments on the political games on the backs of citizens, but also on the issue of responsibility and integrity of those who assume public office, delving deep into the characters and the importance of what is at stake, and the huge distance that separates ordinary people from those who decide for them.

The film may lack the fuse to catch fire, the audacity to penetrate the darkest parts of political power and intertwined interests, but it has a well-written script, well-tuned pacing, with interesting twists and turns, a well-directed production, which highlights good performances overall.

Kruytov attempts and largely succeeds in balancing between political theatrics, satire and drama, with small doses of subliminal humour, while also highlighting the dirty role always played by the intermediaries, the political stooges.

Isabelle Ieper, who for 17 years has been collecting honors for her entire career, shows once again her acting talent, her commanding energy, renewed and dynamic, while next to her, Reda Cateb fits in perfectly as an extremely well-worked carater.

In so many words... Clemence, a fearless mayor of a town near Paris, completes her term of office. Together with her right-hand man, the loyal Yazid, she has fought against poverty, unemployment and corruption. When she is offered a ministry, her ambition flares and her loyalty to the people is at stake. Will her political integrity survive or will ambition prevail?;

Saint Emmy. Greek dramatic film, Greek and French production of 2022, directed by Araselis Lemos, with Abigail Loma, Asmine Kilip, Michalis Syriopoulos, Angeli Bayani, Irini Iglesi etc.

A particularly encouraging debut of Araseli Lemos, in a feature film, which leaves clear promises for the future. The young director, screenwriter and editor offers us an evocative, moving film that combines fiction and documentary cinema in an apt and inspiring way. After all, Limoux has experience in documentary filmmaking.

Here, through two sisters, we discover the world of the Catholic Filipinos of Piraeus, who preserve the language, religion and customs of the distant country. She takes us to a universe we ignore, with a documentary-like eye, but remaining faithful to fiction and harmoniously blending the magical element with realism. With the editing, by the director herself, being of particular importance and helping to create a layered, at last, narrative, Limoux's camera follows the two heroines in their everyday moments - work at home and work again, church, and an unexpected pregnancy. Authentic social cinema and magical realism at the same time, without embellishments, with an effective cinematic language, without sensationalism, pomposity and the well-known pathologies of domestic cinema, an honest language that we look for in Greek cinema.

A little cinematic gem, which shines despite its imperfections, touches us and draws us into the world of a community of people in whom we trust our homes, even our children or our parents, but we probably need to understand the distance we have to cover in order to get even closer.

IN SOFT WORDS... Emmy feels like a stranger in the closed community of Filipino Charismatic Catholics in Piraeus, who have warmly welcomed her sister Teresa. When Teresa becomes pregnant, Emmy is drawn to mysterious forces that dwell within her.

X. Horror film, American production of 2022, directed by T. West, starring Jenna Ortega, Mia Goth, Kid Candy, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Scott Mescanti and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_67iqeUPfB0

A horror film, in fact a splatter film from the well-known independent studio A24, which has all the characteristics to join at once the cult films of the genre, as it features psychopathic killers, horrific images, a lot of blood, decadent atmosphere and black humor, especially in the ”porn” scenes, as the title implies.

T. West, who directs and has a background in cinematic horror, takes us back to the 1970s, when a group of young people want to make a porn film and go to a decadent house in the Texas countryside owned by an overgrown and bizarre couple for the shoot. After the first shoot, the owners of the house find out exactly what kind of movie the young men are making and the carnage begins.

The film, which is full of cinematic references, is clearly influenced by films such as ”The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974), “Alligator” and ”The Shining” (the last two from 1980), while the appearance of the mentally disturbed old woman reminds one of Norman Bates” mother in Hitchcock's ”Psycho”.

The film is sure to entertain fans of the genre to some extent, especially in the first part before the massacres begin, just in time, with its well-hidden humorous treatment of the situations (the TV that constantly plays a -bordering on insanity- televangelist, the scenes from the porn shootings and the acting... the acting skills of the protagonists) but also the atmosphere of the time, the Texan American countryside, which seems cut off from the rest of the world. From there on, the splatter gets to work and everything seems predictable, as does the finale to a large extent.

The cast, fully in line with the film's cult character, as they look like semi-professional actors or rather porn actors acting in a ”real” film, while the music has been given a lot of attention, with the incorporation of several hits from the 60s and 70s.

In a word... 1979: A group of young men decide to shoot a porn film in the Texas countryside, but when their reclusive old hosts discover their plans, the cast members end up fighting for their lives.

16 Spring Forums (Seize Printemps). Comedy, French production of 2020, directed by Suzanne Linton, starring Suzanne Linton, Arnaud Valois, Rebecca Mardère, Frederic Pierrot and others.

Another directorial debut, this time by 20-year-old Frenchwoman Suzanne Linton, daughter of the famous actor Vincent Linton, is this young dramatic comedy, selected for the official programme of the Cannes Film Festival.

A film, influenced by French cinema of the previous decades, with plenty of symbolism and ingenious inventions, but maintaining a nice light-heartedness, a light-hearted look. The 20-year-old Linton, who also holds the central role, plays a 16-year-old who is bored with everyday life, school, her peers, will meet a 35-year-old actor and find herself abruptly confronted with the adulthood she has so longed for.

Thus, the initial shot with the diluted pink crimson gradually turning into deep red, is the symbol for the heroine's plunge into the depths of adulthood, which she so longed for, but wants to combine with the youthful spontaneity, the joy of her age.

However, the most interesting aspect of the film lies in the heroine's decisive need to become a woman without losing her childhood, and of course that the embrace of her lover is good, but a mother's embrace is better.

A charming dramedy, pleasant to watch because of the lightness with which it deals with the problems of a difficult age and with the heroine remaining a child who can dream and live her youth at the same time.

Lyndon, who writes, directs, stars and sings, is likable, writes for the camera and we await her next step with interest.

In so many words... 16-year-old Suzanne, who doesn't look like her peers and is unbearably bored by them, meets a 35-year-old actor outside a theatre and falls in love with him. But even love fails to be the answer to everything.

Copshop. Police thriller, American production of 2021, directed by Joe Carnahad, starring Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Lunder, Toby Hass and others.

It's a film that wants to be an entertaining, uninspired thriller, with excessive doses of violence and a dirty sense of humor, but quickly descends into nonsense, with a rudimentary script, full of clichés and grotesque scenes. But Joe Carnahad's (”The Grey”) film is not limited to all that, as it also crudely gets into the issues of women's empowerment and rights, having a black policewoman as the only overtly positive person in the film, unlike the rest of the characters who seem like caricatures, with no understanding of where they come from and where they want to go.

The pre-written script has a con man hiding as a prisoner in a deserted Nevada police station to escape from a hired assassin, who in turn finds a way to get himself arrested and into the next cell.

At this point, toiling with Carpenter's cult film ”Station 13 Under Attack,” except that the attack takes place from the bowels of the police station, it is shot, except for the initial car chase shots, inside the station, exhausting every square foot and ultimately the viewer's patience.

The performances of Butler, Grillo and Alexis Lunder are laughs and tears, and Toby Hass as a crazed killer stands out somewhat.

IN LOW VOICE... Crossing the Nevada desert, cunning con man Teddy Muretto hatches a desperate plan to hide from dangerous hit man Bob Viddick, beat the crap out of rookie cop Valerie Young, and get himself arrested and held in a small-town police station. Prison can't protect Murreto for long, and Viddick prepares his own detention, spending time in a nearby cell until he completes his mission. But the arrival of another hit man will cause frantic chaos...

The films are still being shown:

The City and the City. This year must be the year of the documentary - including the dramatic documentary - and this not only because of the oversupply, but also because of the interest in all these productions, domestic or not. With this dramatized documentary, Christos Passalis and Sulla Tzoumerkas narrate seven decades of the history of Thessaloniki and the almost unknown and bitter experience of the Jewish community. The two directors, inspired by their hometown of Thessaloniki and with a strong sense of redressing traumatic history, shed light on a series of dramatic events before World War II, which culminated violently in the German occupation, followed by an attempt to silence the powerful community that lived harmoniously for years in Thessaloniki, a crossroads of cultures in the last century. Shot in six chapters in just 14 days, the film takes a courageous look at largely unknown facts, while the contribution of well-known and emerging actors is crucial to the emergence of a film that seamlessly blends fiction with documentary and essay.

Sotos, Life-literate Unrefined. Interesting documentary by Yannis Fragoulis, about Sotos Zachariadis, a ”multi-faceted” unconventional artist, who, with an authentic popularity, besides painting, is involved in music, engraving, writing essays, literary works and poetry. Thessaloniki resident Sotos Zachariadis, who exhibits all over Greece and abroad, but not in Thessaloniki, talks to researcher Athanasios Athanatos about his life, his thoughts and his artistic expressions, while several friends and companions of the artist also testify about him and the artistic movement in Thessaloniki since the mid-80s.

Dionysus, the Return. Documentary, by Spyros Tsiftsis, about Theo Terzopoulos, a key representative of the theatrical avant-garde, almost 35 years after the famous staging of ”Bacchae”. The film follows Terzopoulos all the way, from his village in Makrigialos, Pieria, where he was born, to the Berliner Ensemble, Russia, China, America, the Attis Theatre, Metaxourgeioion, where he was based, and Delphi, where it all began. Exclusively for theatre lovers.