Movie reviews

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.