Tuesday 22 February 2022

TRANSATLANTYK FILM FESTIVAL 

NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Watchable. Set in sunny No Ho but the coming of age issues and dilemmas the boys face are the same as anywhere else in the world. The film presents a very masculine world but the life choices necessary to take at such an early stage: career, friendships, love interests, family objections are versatile. Only the fracases and altercations aren't everyone's norm. At the same time I was impressed by how maturely the boy speaks to his father in one scene. Altogether it's an intimate look, sometimes annoying, sometimes touching, always understandable. 

TOUT S'EST BIEN PASSE (EVERYTHING WENT FINE)

Watchable. Not as emotional as it would seem. Factual rather. If you're a rich French person willing to commit an assisted suicide, you'll learn what to do. It doesn't sound exciting and it isn't, even with the father's dry sense of humour.

L'EVENEMENT (HAPPENING)

Recommended. What suspense! Keeps you on the edge of the seat as you follow Anne for 12 weeks during which she's trying to get an abortion in France of the early 1960s when it's illegal. She's impeccably organized and determined. The film's quite graphic: from female nudity to the umbilical cord but never crossing the barrier of good taste. I nearly closed my eyes at one point and had tears in them a few times, so intense it was. 

PIG

Watchable. It's like having haute cuisine served by a chef with a beard with dried up blood on it. Literally. It's in the movie. Sophisticated dining, illegal fights in the basement of an old hotel and exchanges about power and hierarchy - masculine cinema for sure but also a serving of a clashing mixture of ingredients. The music is also a peculiar combination of nostalgic songs and classical bits. Yet the whole dish is surprisingly palatable. Nicholas Cage endears you to his character: mentally stable, determined, devoted. The picture's dark but his personality brightens it.

STILLWATER

Recommended. Whether you followed the case of Amanda Knox or not you're going to understand this gripping crime drama. It's inspired by the case but the action takes place in Marseilles, France, not Italy. 

Sunday 20 February 2022

WEST SIDE STORY (2021)

Watchable. Dance movies have gone a long way since the 1961 original which Spielberg hasn't noticed. Only innocent-looking cutie Ansel Elgort as Tony kept me through this antiquated musical. Leonard Bernstein's original music, Janusz Kamiński's cinematography provides such texture as if it had been shot in 1957 when the action takes place. By the look of the film you won't tell the movie versions apart. Costumes, including browns with pastels, look like designed by Paolo Gucci. Outdated dance routines, aged music - Atmos doesn't help, though makes dialogues crystal clear. The Polish translation where Jets become jets like those sewn on clothes also appears like from a few decades ago when Poles didn't know English. Speaking of language, the movie's half-Spanish with no translation, half-English, often with the Puerto Rican accent. The story's old-fashioned too, though I admit the trans boy's recognition touched me and I shed some tears at the finale.


TRANSATLANTYK FILM FESTIVAL 

MASCHILE SINGOLARE (MASCARPONE)

Recommended. A saucy gay flick with serious undertones of finding your true self  professionally and your true love. Anyone who has tried to find their feet after a break-up can relate to it, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. All characters are amiable even if the first encounters take you aback. It's an engaging, touching story without sappiness.

Monday 14 February 2022

TRANSATLANTYK FILM FESTIVAL 

MASS

Watchable. The title may refer to the mass murder or to a church service or both. Also, the structure of the meeting and the planning may reflect a mass with its specific order. The ultracareful preparations indicate the meeting is going to hang on the edge. The thing's superbly shot and acted. The only problem is it's neither unheard of nor relatable. Mass shootings happen in the US but are such rare incidents it's hard to put yourself in the shoes of the family of either party.

ICH BIN DEIN MENSCH (I'M YOUR MAN)

Recommended. Top-notch science-fiction: plausible, thought-provoking, clever and entertaining. Dan Stevens as Tom is so hot I had to watch from the shadow. Relationships with machines always serve manifesting the human condition and what makes us human in the first place - these topics are explored here with a surprising conclusion. The career subplot is also far from trivial. It offers a different idea of what constitutes an achievement - a machine represents a broader, historical approach, hence renders human ambitions petite and mercenary. Yet what you love this movie for is the fact Tom is any woman's ideal partner. Worth seeing one. At least at the cinema.

A FELESEGEM TORTENETE (THE STORY OF MY WIFE)

Watchable. It could do with cutting since the same situations repeat and for nearly 3 hours you go round in circles. At least Léa Seydoux and Gijs Naber are convincing in the leading roles.

Wednesday 9 February 2022

TRANSATLANTYK FILM FESTIVAL 

MY SON

Watchable. Scottish remake of "Mon garçon" set in grim, misty Highlands. The mountains physically close, appear permanently distant and unscalable through the foggy haze. Their unreachable beauty, though dark, gives respite from the heavy action. While the plot of the thriller is not very original, you follow the action without batting an eyelid because of the atmosphere: solitude, a riddle to solve, the feeling of entrapment. In this respect the remake is better than the French original which, most importantly, failed to thrill and was more like a budget drama, without the vistas. 

A curious fact from the distributor is James Mc Avoy didn't know the script and ad-libbed.

ليكن صباحا (LET IT BE MORNING)

Watchable. The Israeli Oscar candidate is a Palestinian drama based on the novel by Sayed Kashua. It successfully conveys the helplessness of the occupied nation but doesn't bring much to the subject matter, especially now that the whole world has learnt how a lockdown turns your life around. No wonder it didn't even make it to the short list. Both Jews and Palestinians are presented as ordinary folk, with the Arabs sometimes being worse to their compatriots than the occupiers. Arabic music is a plus in the film.

VORTEX

Walked out. Like Haneke in "Amour", this time Gaspar Noé bores you to death with old people, suffering from Alzheimer's in addition, in this snail-paced drama. It's Gaspar Noé like I have never seen before: dull.

LES CHOSES HUMAINES (THE ACCUSATION)

Watchable. The pedestrian pace and philosophical analysis typical for French dramas actually work here as a rape accusation is looked at at all angles. I felt envy seeing the amount of understanding and compassion for the victim in the French society and institutions. But even that much progressive and liberal country is not free from prejudice. Film-wise, it drags and overphilosophises minutia the French way.


PER TUTTA LA VITA

Recommended. Paolo Costella's new drama follows his tried and tested formula: a few couples - in theory 4 but depends how you count - with secrets that come to play in an extraordinary situation. His previous "Perfetti sconosciuti" ("Perfect Strangers") had many remakes. This one is a perfect remake material too. My Polish association was that the events could take place a few years on from "Boże ciało" ("Corpus Christi"), had the false priest not been caught, with the difference Costella's film has the flavour of frivolity of a romantic comedy and ends so cheerfully you leave the cinema with a broad smile. Perfected formula, new movie.

MAYA THE BEE: THE GOLDEN ORB

Watchable. Maya and Willi embark on a quest in this run-of-the-mill adventure in the insect world created from basic colours and a handful of forgettable songs.