WATCH DOCS 2023
SZWEDY. INNEGO LOSU NIE MAMY (THE SWEDES. THE ONLY FATE WE HAVE) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR ROBERT KOWALSKI
Watchable. Daily life of fighting soldiers: shaky camera and ground in battle, sleeping and eating in an abandoned house in a village in between. And they're highly motivated, feel responsible for the rest of the society. That's it. Skippable.
The director says their duty is to sleep and eat as much as they can just to be ready.
20 ДНІВ У МАРІУПОЛІ (20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL) AND Q&A WITH SOME OF PROTAGONISTS
By the time of the December 2023 screening 60% of Ukrainians lost a close one in the war, among Mariupolans most likely 100%. 90% buildings in Mariupol were destroyed, only some one-family houses were left. A bomb pit could be 7 meters deep, 70 meters wide. Somebody in a cellar of an 8-storey building was killed by a bomb which pierced it.
Recommended. An unflinching look at and the truth about the first 20 days of constant bombings of Mariupol: killed babies, a saved newborn, bodies thrown into mass graves - at least 25 thousand killed. But also a dog trembling, terrified even when cuddled to his owner. Despair, fear, but also lack of information.
WATCH DOCS 2023 ONLINE
VERGISS MEYN NICHT (LONELY OAKS)
I only managed to see the first 25 minutes before midnight (the end of the festival online) but I doubted I would continue much longer. While the laudation when the film won the Green Dog Award said it was investigative journalism, all I saw was a presentation of how tree-dwelling activists spend their time. Boring. Other than the necessity to abseil, nothing I wouldn't have known already.
AKADEMIA PANA KLEKSA (KLEKS ACADEMY)
Walked out. It takes one trope from each: "The Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "Avatar" and turns into junk. The contrived plot, cinematography hazing backgrounds, theatrical acting style of Tomasz Kot, Piotr Fronczewski, Sebastian Stankiewicz and wooden by Antonina Litwiniuk as Ada Niezgódka, tacky costumes and decor are just pathetic. Repeating fecal jokes doesn't help. Ah, and it looks and sounds archaic. Plenty of outdated child songs from the 1984 original with only occasional modern techno bits render it not only old-fashioned but also quite odd. And why have they hired Sebastian Stankiewicz at all if the non-human shape of the bird is actually fine? And the girl supposedly brought up in New York City can't pronounce "Saturday" correctly. Probably the first movie I didn't stick out till the end even half-lying in a Dream screening room.
MAESTRO
Walked out. Leonard Bernstein had a perfect life. He was successful from the start, both professionally and with his crush. He continued being immensely popular and loved by his own wife and kids years later. What a bore! His troubled childhood doesn't ring true in the slightest.
ARGENTINA 1985
Recommended. A gripping courtroom drama with some funny situations - all based on facts. Also a chance to learn more about the 1976-1983 junta rule. Leaves you upbeat since it's a case which started sentencing over a thousand torturers.
IL COLIBRI (HUMMINGBIRD)
Switched off. Very ordinary people: a family and their friends. Nothing unusual.
Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.
AFRYKAMERA 2023
KADDU BEYKAT (LETTER FROM MY VILLAGE)
Walked out. A black and white 1975 etnographic documentary created when Africans discovered they could make movies too. The sort of films I watched in childhood when few people knew anything about Africa. Pointless nowadays.
ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER
Watchable. Two worlds clash in this documentary where Malawi women try to persuade men to help with women's chores on the one hand and to persuade Americans to change their lifestyles because of the climate change already palpably hitting Africa. The realities of haves and have-nots are worlds apart and that's more striking. The economic gap is tear-jerking. A smart documentary. And depressing, though quite etnographic.
BLESSED BY SUNLIGHT
Watchable. This 14-minute story is just a pretext to show the problem of albino people whose bodies, believed to have magic properties, can be sold for up to $75 000 for the whole or individual body parts for less. Very simple moral preaching.
SINGELI MOVEMENT: GREED FOR SPEED
Watchable. The music sounds all the same, though surrounding at some point. The twerk danced to it is the main attraction. But bizarre visual and sound effects and peculiar editing - no story, an accidental arrangement of the material, no ending - ruin the documentary.
FERRARI
Watchable. It's more like "Marriage Story" (reviewed here in the past) than "Le Mans'66". The racing and funding aspects are certainly more engaging than the protracted unfaithful husband story. I seriously considered walking out. The infidelity resulting in a son out of wedlock matters business-wise but the proportions of marital issues to car racing are just skewed. About half an hour towards the end comes one graphic sequence of a racing accident - shocking in such a bland movie. No adrenaline though.