One of the best and most interesting film weeks in recent months starts tonight, due to the overflow of remarkable films. A crush, which as expected, will “burn out” some of the nine films that will be screened, and it's a shame for both the films and the cinephiles. The films not to be missed by fans of good cinema are: Finland's subversive emotional drama by Finland's Juho Koussmann, ’Wagon Number 6“ (Grand Special Prize at Cannes), acclaimed Paul Schroeder's dramatic thriller, ”Card Counter“, the film adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's book, ”Lost Illusions“, by Xavier Gianoli and the unconventional erotic drama ”Paris, 13th Arrondissement“, while adventure fans can have fun with the dinosaurs, brought to life by Spielberg 30 years ago, and complete their cinematic journey with the decent ”Jurassic World: Domination“. For fans of classic cinema, there's also Billy Wilder's immortal romantic comedy The Garden Room.
Wagon Number 6 (Compartment No. 6).
Sensual drama, Finnish, German and Russian production of 2021, directed by Juho Kuosmanen, starring Yuri Borisov, Sadie Haarla, Dinara Draganova, Tommy Alatalo and others.
The recommendations for Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen's latest film (“The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mackie”) may be encouraging, as it carries the Grand Special Prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, but those who see it will likely be even more excited by its fresh take, subversive fun, witty dialogue, character building, wry atmosphere, and performances by the lead pair.
The meeting of a Finnish girl, an archaeology student with a love disappointment in her luggage, and a Russian miner, who drinks constantly, on the long journey from Moscow to the Arctic port of Murmansk by train, will change their perspective on life and bring them together, even though everything at first seems to indicate that nothing connects them.
Character film, based on a popular book in Finland, imaginatively plays with the different and seemingly opposite personalities of the main couple - even with the language, Finnish and Russian. It makes use of the witty dialogue without selling wit, the atmosphere on the train, where almost the whole story takes place, recalling something of the madness of films of the past, keeps the rhythms alive from the first minute to the last and, most importantly, never loses its essence - the need for two people to be in touch, for compassion and hope.
The performances of the coarse and animalistic outwardly but so psychotic and emotionally vulnerable Yuri Borisov and Sadie Haarla, who reminds us of Renee Zellweger in her youth, when she was still a regular actress, are also excellent, promising a bright future.
In a few words... A young woman, an archaeology student from Finland, leaves an enigmatic love affair in Moscow and takes the train to the Arctic port of Murmansk in search of the famous petroglyphs discovered there. Forced to share the long journey and small compartment with a Russian miner, as the train makes its way to the Arctic Circle, the two realize they share a journey that will change the way they view life.
The card counter (The Card Counter).
Dramatic thriller, American production of 2021, directed by Paul Schroeder, starring Oscar Isaac, Willem Dafoe, Ty Sheridan, Tiffany Haddis and others.
A heavy dramatic thriller, from acclaimed writer and director Paul Schroeder, about guilt, revenge and redemption. With Martin Scorsese behind him in production, Schroeder, who loves anti-heroes, will create another one, this time in Oscar Isaac, a tortured man who wants to forget what he experienced in his youth as a torturer in Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison.
The story begins with William Tell (Isaac) earning small change in the casinos he hangs around, as during his eight years in prison, he has developed a talent for counting cards. He lives in various motels, in whose rooms he wraps all the furniture with white sheets, showing the mental wounds he has acquired from his past. When, by coincidence, he sees a lecture in one of the hotel-casinos by a “security consultant” who was responsible for the torture in Abu Ghraib, the nightmares from the past return and even intensify when he meets a young man whose father was also a torturer in Iraq, was imprisoned and committed suicide out of remorse. There Tel's grim past will be revealed, with some brilliant flashbacks of his nightmarish torture for which he was sentenced to prison. But those who were not punished, as he says, were all those high up in the project, as they hid behind private companies that had taken on the ’project“ as subcontractors! Incredible as it may seem, it is reality. Here comes Schroeder, once again, to censure the incomparable hypocrisy, the generalized and useful amnesia, for something that did not happen 50 or 100 years ago, but only yesterday. The young man will ask Tel to team up to avenge the ”security consultant,“ while at the same time a lonely exuberant woman will suggest a trick to make money in a poker tournament - his comment on the ”American dream“ - with an immigrant, Eastern European, poker player who keeps winning, and whose followers rhythmically shout ”U-S-A“ when he wins the crucial hand.
But here is the problem with Schroeder's film, which tries to balance not only on two boats, but on a boat and an acrobatic bicycle. What began as a film about the poker world becomes a drama about personal and collective trauma. Essentially, it tries to fuse two completely different films into one and there it rather confuses them, loses the measure, since the risk, the psychology of the gambler is almost impossible to stick with the political denunciation of what inhumanly happened in Abu Ghraib and other prisons scattered around the world, with Iraqis and other “suspects” who... threatened the security of the United States.
The film, however, does not lose its interest, but it is obvious that it loses its momentum, loses its centre of gravity, easily slips from the major to the minor, despite its weighty subject matter, superb photography, well thought out characters and some brilliant scenes.
Oscar Isaac, embodies in the best way, a complex character, who hides his psychological problems, his subterranean tension, his nightmares and at the same time lives for a forgiveness, a redemption for what he has committed. Excellent performances by Willem Dafoe (of course as the chief torturer and later “security consultant”) and Tiffany Haddis as the lonely woman.
In so many words... A gambler and ex-military man, who, haunted by the decisions of his past, all he wants to do now is play cards. When he is approached by a young man, Kirk, who asks for help to avenge a common enemy of both, Tel sees an opportunity for redemption. Financed by the mysterious La Linda, Tel takes Kirk with him and they go from casino to casino until they set their sights on winning the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. But it turns out that Kirk is incapable of behaving honorably, and this drags Tel back into the darkness of his past.
Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues).
French and Belgian period drama film, produced in 2021, directed by Xavier Gianoli, starring Benjamin Vouchsain, Cécile de France, Vançan Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Jean Balibar, Gerard Departier and others.
An epic adaptation of the classic novel of the same name by Honoré de Balzac by Xavier Gianoli, which was nominated for 15 Cesar Awards and won seven of them, while it also made a very positive impression at the Venice Festival, where it was screened.
A period drama, which cauterizes socio-political problems that remain even after the two centuries that separate the present from de Balzac's book (written in the first half of the 19th century), highlighting the generalized rot that exists in the upper circles of the bourgeoisie.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the young Lucien, an obscure poet, leaves the countryside where he lives to seek recognition in Paris. His plans are thwarted and he finds himself writing directed theatre reviews for hire. In doing so he will earn enough money and recognition, but at the same time he realizes the loss of his dreams, and even of himself.
Gianoli, without any pretensions, hence some provocative scenes that may shock some people, will touch upon the widespread corruption of the press, which is not interested in facts or truth, but only in the interests of the owners and those who influence public opinion, suggesting that if this is happening for a theatrical performance, we can easily infer what is happening for much more serious issues. At the same time, it does not leave unaddressed either the bourgeois hypocrisy that is taking on epidemic proportions as it moves towards the upper class, which finds itself cornered as the monarchy has returned and opposition is mounting. The parallels between yesterday and today are... eye-opening.
A well-made film, with some impressive shots, but also some chatter, which contributes to the long duration of the film, 2.5 hours, which may tire viewers. However, this is an extremely interesting film that will compensate for patient viewers, as will the performance of newcomer Benjamin Vouchassan, who won the appropriate award, while older viewers will also be pleased with the brief appearance of Departier.
WITH LITTLE WORDS... Lucien is a young and unknown poet of 19th century France. He has high hopes and wants to challenge his fate. So he leaves his family home in the countryside to pursue his dreams in Paris. Soon he finds himself lost in a big city where the law of profit and hypocrisy reigns supreme.
Paris, 13th arrondissement (Les Olympiades, Paris, 13th Distric).
French romantic drama, produced in 2021, directed by Jacques Odier, starring Lucy Zhang, Makita Champa, Noemi Merlant, Jenny Beth and others.
After a series of remarkable French social cinema films about the labour, economic, human, economic and other essential problems of Europe, came the latest creation of veteran Jacques Odier about the problems of the new generation of alienation, addicted to technology, intense love life, and the burden of the previous generations and those who affect their daily lives.
Jacques Odier, after the interesting western “The Sisters Brothers”, which was not very well received, with the background of the 13th arrondissement in Paris, also known as “Les Olympiades”, with high-rise apartment buildings, a multicultural area, also known as the largest Chinatown in Europe, sets up an unconventional love story with four central characters. A black man, a Chinese woman and two French women. Their relationships develop sometimes romantically, sometimes amicably or hostilely, and despite the madness of everyday speed, eventually the time for love arrives.
Odihar, who cautions, sometimes in passing, the intense social problems facing young people, with the contempt, disdain, disregard by employers, underpaid work, inhumane demands, the competitively abhorrent climate, the studies that lead to construction, will lay a carpet of charming unconventional characters, but who have probably begun to dominate among the youth. Sex does not necessarily mean love and love does not necessarily mean sex. Concrete beasts are carving up their souls, their jobs their dreams, technology trapping them in a virtual world.
Odiar directs in soft black and white (except for a small love episode), trying to color his story through the quests of his heroes, he often rambles, he seems to be carried away by ideas that can't be tied to reality, but in the end he delivers a sufficiently interesting film and a wonderful finale, with the real “I love you” coming from a telephone set that our grandmothers used to use...
Satisfying performances by the leading quartet, of which Noemi Merland stands out, with her inner expressiveness, the emergence of her wounded soul.
IN LITTLE WORDS... Somewhere in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, an area known as the “Olympiads” because of the eight high-rise buildings named after cities that have hosted the Games, Emily meets Camille, who is attracted to the South, who meets Amber on her way... Three girls and a boy give their own definition of what love means today, in a metropolis that is constantly losing its light...
Today We Make the World (Hoy se arregla el mundo).
Comedy, Argentinean production of 2021, directed by Ariel Vinograd, with Leonardo Scbaraglia, Benjamin Otero, Luis Luque and others.
Cute, tender, digestible, but not indifferent, comedy from Argentina and the director of the recent big hit “The Gulf of Century”, Ariel Vinograd.
Vinograd, taking a fairly conventional script, will tie together a particularly well-crafted family comedy drama, with a TV star of Greek descent, known as “Griego”, whose personal life is a mess and the only one he cares about is his son. When his ex-wife and mother of his child reveals that he may not be his and soon after he is killed in a car accident, he finds himself in the insecurity of real life.
As even an ignorant person can understand, Vinograd could easily fall into an “Americanization” of the kind that overwhelms the screens, but with skill and by putting the human element above all else, he will bring out the problems of human relations, but also the unbearable yellowing of television programs, since his character presents a show where everyday people are supposed to confess their love problem to the audience, when in fact everything is fake, even the ’guests’ who are actors!
A light-hearted film, with melodramatic elements, which don't really reduce the interest and gives two pleasant hours, while the relationship between father and son, the excellent Leonardo Scbaraglia and the cute and talented beaver Benjamin Otero, stands out.
In so many words... David Samaras, also known as “Griego”, i.e. “the Greek«, is the undisputed star of Argentine television! His show ”Today we make the world“, with confessions of everyday people, has huge ratings, ”Griego“ makes a lot of money and his popularity is enormous, but in his private life he has made a mess of it: women come and go from his life. The most stable relationship he has is with his young son, not so much because he loves and cares for him, but because he is court-ordered to do so. But no matter how irresponsibly he lives, without really caring about anyone but himself, the more abruptly he will land: just before his nine-year-old son's mother dies in an accident, she will reveal to him that Benito is not his own child. Overcoming himself, he decides to reveal the truth...
Jurassic World: Domination (Jurassic World Dominion).
Adventure, American production of 2022, directed by Colin Trevorrow, starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neal and others.
It's been thirty years since Steven Spielberg's original film Jurassic Park, which impressed with its digital representation of dinosaurs, but also with its commentary on human intervention in the natural environment and, of course, its apotheosis of agonising adventure. A particularly successful adventure, it became a cinematic franchise that grossed over $5 billion and is now completing its run. At least, that's how it has been officially announced.
A fantasy adventure of epic proportions and production, bringing together the characters of the first era (Laura Dern, Sam Neal, Jeff Goldblum) with those of the latter (Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard) and the return of the experienced Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley to the production.
Quite a better film than the previous two in the second series, closer to the spirit of author Michael Crichton, as the thunderous action, suspense and horror are combined with the human concerns, fears and relationships that develop between the two generations.
Dinosaurs now live and hunt with humans across the globe, a fragile balance as humans want to remain the top predators on a planet they share with the most fearsome creatures in history. But come what may, it seems, there are even scarier creatures behind a powerful biotech company, ostensibly a beneficent organization to solve world hunger by creating mutated crops and products. A company that is targeting dinosaurs as well as humans.
And this is where Colin Trevorrow's film wins the day, as the special effects and technological goodies recede to a certain extent in order to highlight the human dramas, the characters and the anguish for the future of the planet.
Okay, don't expect a great movie, but it's certainly a decent adventure, with the over-the-top spectacle not overshadowing everything and the dizzying action overshadowing the characters. On the plus side, there's a sympathetic and nostalgic return of Sam Neal, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum.
In so many words... “Domination” is set four years after the destruction of Nublar Island. Dinosaurs now live and hunt with humans around the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine once and for all whether human beings will remain the top predators on a planet they now share with the most fearsome creatures in history.
The donkey, my lover and I (Antoinette dans les Cévennes).
Sensual comedy, French and Belgian production of 2020, directed by Caroline Vignal, starring Laurie Calamy, Benjamin Laverne, Olivia Cot, Jean-Pierre Martin and others.
The Greek title of this French romantic comedy, along with two or three other moments, may be the funniest thing the film by writer and director Caroline Vignal, which also passed the Cannes Film Festival - for some unknown reason.
Not that it's a bad film, but as a comedy it rarely works, it makes you laugh, and the romance seems to be only in the mind of the heroine. A teacher, who is starting to grow up, seems repressed and in love, with the married father of one of her students, who arranges, something she's been waiting for a long time, to go with him to the Cheven Mountains in central France for a hike with a donkey. When he doesn't show up, she is initially left alone with the amiable quadruped, who seems more compassionate than many humans, and then discovers her lover's unpleasant pursuits...
The film has a lightness to it, but it feels more like a tourist tour for more than half its running time, as it doesn't even exploit the relationship between the girl and the donkey Patrick, and the laughs falter even with the misunderstandings or farcical elements.
So, everything will go relatively predictably, except for the revelation that her lover's wife will make, the clichés of the genre will develop and indifference will glaze over the eye of the viewer, who will only be awakened by Patrick's guffaws.
Lore Kalami, who will win the César for Best Actress, is convincing as a fragile yet trusting woman, just before her mid-life crisis, but that's about it. The other characters are completely uninteresting, and it's clearly Patrick, with his patient gaze, who wins sympathy for what he sees.
In so many words... For months now Antoinette has been waiting for the summer for a romantic week with her lover Vladimir. At the last minute he cancels: his wife has arranged a family trip to the Cévennes mountains with a donkey! Abandoned, Antoinette decides to follow the «Stevenson trail» herself. When she arrives, Vladimir is nowhere to be found, only a certain Patrick - a disobedient donkey - to accompany her on her strange journey...
The films are still being shown:
The Blurred River of Baasim. Touching awareness documentary, Greek production 2020, directed by Thomas Sideris. A film documenting the ten-year journey of the minor Kurdish refugee from Syria, Rafik Dagod, who is searching for his brother Baasim all the way to Hungary, following the silent and heartbreaking path of refugees. Rafik will cross nine countries, defenseless, under the strict surveillance of police, military and thermal cameras, living the nightmare and at the same time coming of age between human suffering and brutality.
The Studio (The Apartment).
Billy Wilder's immortal romantic comedy, with the unsurpassed lead pair of Jack Lemon and Shirley McLaine, giving it their all. Wilder, along with the brilliant screenwriter Diamond, a year after the legendary “Some Prefer It Hot”, will set up an unprecedented comedy, criticizing also what happens in the inner sanctums of corporations and their bigwigs, who exploit their position for amorous adventures, but also to secure an inexpensive studio apartment. The film, which won five Oscars in 1960 (including Best Picture, Best Director and Original Screenplay) out of ten nominated, is being shown in brand new digital prints. Perfect for a warm evening at a summer cinema, but also a golden opportunity for younger people to discover great cinema.
