Movie reviews

KING RICHARD

Recommended. The incredible true story of Venus and Serena Williams, who went from neglected by the tennis world black area dwellers to sports superstars, is brought to the big screen in an engaging family biopic. Sport tension is there. But it's years of hard work and planning ("If you fail to plan, you plan to fail") and the incredibly (I'm using the word on purpose) strong Richard's motivation not to have his daughters junked-up on the streets of gang-ridden Compton that make an impact. His viewpoint not to mind others but to make others mind you as well as tactics in career planning prove the best bet for success. Will Smith adopted original Richard Williams' stance, posture and speech manner (with the help of a dialect coach).

1970

Watchable. The first half of this Polish documentary is tedious, you need to listen hard to the 1970 phone conversations recordings, with no clue of who is who in the authorities and no certainty of what they're talking about. Doll animation doesn't show much - just people on the phone.  Archive footage is not that clear to a modern viewer either. But mid-way through the film you realize how dispassionately they're discussing the use of chemicals, firearms, letting people burn alive, their only concern being how Western media will show it. The archive footage doesn't reveal much of the massacre. The written information at the very end describes the full scope of the cold-blooded pacification.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.

WATCH DOCS

THE TROUBLEMAKER

Recommended. A video manual on how to organize a rebellion. Sadly, it's only going to work in a democratic country. Air view images make it visually attractive as well.

Seen online, cinematic reception might differ.

GDY KWIATY NIE MILCZA (WHEN FLOWERS ARE NOT SILENT)

Watchable. Frightening stories of torture in imprisonment and violence at protests. Very informative and down to earth. Incredible how supportive of each other people are in Belarussian prisons. Only babies crying in one of the homes mar the film. It's black and white but that's perfectly sufficient. Shot in 2020-2021.

Director Andrei Kutsila says now shooting with a normal big camera in the street would be impossible. The protests are over too, out of fear of violence or jail - 5, 7, 10 years for nothing. But the determination is still there. No one will forget it now. People feel Lukashenko's over. Only uniformed forces support him. Sometimes OMON or the police refuse to obey an order.

AFRYKAMERA

أميرة (AMIRA)

Watchable. Shot in Jordan, set in Palestine, scripted and directed by an Egyptian, it's a rare take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The storyline offers all possible reactions and solutions to the presented identity drama within one movie which is engaging but feels over the top all the time. At the same time the guard's motivation remains unknown.

NOFINOFY (DREAM)

Watchable. It drags awfully and is all over the shop. The main story revolves round a barber and his dream to own a salon - like anywhere in the world. What stopped me from walking out were occasional bits of Malagasy life reaching the viewer from the backdrop: music - mostly Arabic rhythms, news broadcasts - the piece about 400 workers dismissed for an industrial action and made take off their uniforms and walk home naked is so outrageous it deserves its own documentary, climate: frequent rain and a flash flood from a swollen ocean, police brutality, prisons serving as money-making machines, a lesson on bringing up an unruly child. What should be in the front is in the back of this film. Pathetic.

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EN ROUTE POUR LE MILLIARD (DOWNSTREAM TO KINSHASA)

Recommended. The Kisangani's Six-Day War of 2000 was fought by Rwanda and Uganda over Congolese resources. More than 1000 locals were killed and 300 maimed. The disabled are fully functional - just watch the lady pounding food with the trunks of her arms, wear beautiful, colourful clothes, sing, dance - joie de vivre. Clear cinematography by director Dieudo Hamadi is stunning. The first half shows their inner strength against adversity, the second wrenches your heart at the indifference of those in power. 

AFRYKAMERA

ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA

Recommended. I want Polish movie makers to travel to Wakaliwood and learn how to shoot action comedies for $200. They look more like computer games rather than films from a Kampala ghetto. The presented actors' movie scenes are tongue-in-cheek, just like the documentary itself. It blends genres, it's almost a documentary comedy. Top entertainment and proof that true talent knows no limitations - penye nia pana njia, as a Swahili proverb says. The film plays with cinematography, e.g. makes use of human silhouettes against spectacular landscapes and awe-inspiring light, "Coming soon" is written on two goats and Isaac Nabwana shoots "Bruce U" in China.

UN FILS (A SON)

Recommended. Curiously shot in area of Tataouine. This time it's not "Star Wars" but the story focuses round fatherhood too. It's not Tunesian law that shocks you in the film.

LE DERNIER REFUGE (THE LAST SHELTER)

Watchable. The last shelter is the Caritas centre in Mali. The title pertains to the fact only 1% migrants cross the Sahara successfully. The documentary is slow, though that reflects the slow pace of life in the centre and occasionally you're rewarded with picture-perfect shots of the desert at day or night. The migrants are between 16 and 48 years old and, especially the young ones, are so naive some go on to traverse the desert, though some return home, instead of risking being robbed, whipped or raped in Algeria or getting lost in the vast sands.