Movie reviews

GLI ANNI PIU BELLI (THE BEST YEARS)

Watchable. An engaging and touching story of a friendship, and fall-outs with mates, spanning a few decades. It depicts also the highs and lows of life, career, fulfillment. Only the romantic plot is a bit far-fetched. The movie set mostly in Rome and partly in Naples reflects the Italian lifestyle: camaraderie, joy, passion. It's just pleasant to watch. Pierfrancesco Favino, unlike in "Il traditore" ("The traitor), here impersonates a lawyer, though also of an ambiguous type. Micaela Ramazzotti is suitably cast as everone's love interest. The 80s sound particularly well due to an outstanding performance of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (originally by Simple Minds).

The mojeekino.pl screening was fluent, subtitles legible and the dialogue and music audible.

OBJAZDOWY WATCH DOCS TORUN (WATCH DOCS ON A TOUR) - ONLINE

КАК Я МОГУ ТЕБЕ ПОМОЧЬ?

Watchable. The short film proves it's perpetrators' impunity that hurts victims the most. But most of the conversation excerpts deal with abstract ideas so you don't get to sympathise with the battered protesters in Belarus.

ERASE UNA VEZ IN VENEZUELA, CONGO MIRADOR (ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA)

Switched off. It's going nowhere. You just witness day-to-day life in a village in Venezuela. The subject may have something to do with the lake being polluted with oil but it's mentioned only once in the first half an hour after which I couldn't be bothered any longer.

БУДЕТ АПРЕЛЬ (FORCED RETIREMENT)

Watchable. A short documentary about a TV journalist beaten up during protests in Belarus. The title refers to their cult comedy so doesn't carry connotations to foreigners. The protesters' injuries are presented, scars shown to the camera close-up. But what's most harrowing is when you hear that "they beat you for one minute more, till the body doesn't move"

ЧТО МЫ БУДЕМ ДЕЛАТЬ ЗАВТРА?

Watchable. The title question asked during the protests in Belarus is silly, just as is his looking for a protagonist. The chat between the director and someone else commenting who's in the image is needless too. The only point of interst in this short documentary is that you learn what it was like to be arrested for a few days when the riots started.

The subtitles were on light backgrounds and too small to read from a distance.