Movie reviews

NOWE HORYZONTY FESTIVAL

This year the festival took place in cinemas between 21-31 July and till 7 August online. Below is what the organizers said about the content and guests. The jury comprised of 5 people, including Radu Jude, Michel Franco, Agata Buzek, "Synonymes" ("Synonyms") director נדב לפיד (Nadav Lapid). While the first two are superb directors, the actress and the latter director bore viewers to death. As for film makers showing their movies, those who started off as Odkrycia (Discoveries) now grace the Mistrzowie, Mistrzynie (Masters) section. A retrospective of Agnieszka Holland took place for the first time in Poland. Since not all her films were shot in Poland, getting screening rights took time, e.g. the rights to "Zabić księdza" ("To Kill a Priest") took 2 months to obtain. Between 21-25 July the director was at 3 Q&As daily. More than 10 films of hers were shown. Over 400 guests came in total. Jonas Mekas's retrospective - the director died 3 years ago at the age of 97 - included a 5-hour long movie. Another one was Lucile Hadžihalilović's retrospective - the director is known for metaphors of body, spatial, architectural thinking, closed worlds, water present, e.g. "Earwig" - the girls' ice teeth melt during the day, Gothic brutality features too. Another retrospective was Joanna Hogg's - Tilda Swinton's friend, who discovered Tom Hiddleston. She used to work on UK TV series and documentaries and at 47 created her first cinema movie. She's sensitive to class issues and fills her films with subtleties and humour. Intriguing festival offerings were: "Peter von Kant" by François Ozon, artist Roee Rosen's "Kafka for Kids" - for naughty adults rather, "Answering the Sun" which was in fact hypnosis, all audience is hypnotised through the film. Female debuts appeared in 'Focus on Kosovo'. The Trzecie Oko (Third Eye) section was on female servants: contemporary court workers or maids, precariat, the Białe Noce (White Nights) section saw the far North, where half a year is dark, half a year intensive sunshine. For that reason it was accompanied by midnight or break of dawn concerts. 朱声仄 (Shengze Zhu)'s "河流，奔跑着，倒映着" ("A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces") constituted of letters to Covid victims read by close ones - in section Lost Lost Lost. A section for the hard of hearing was there too.

One of the films presented at the festival was:

CLOSE

Recommended. Convincingly acted by everyone, but it's the big-eyed lead boys Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav de Waele) who deserve a special mention as promising future stars. They perfectly express everything with their eyes, faces and bodies. The movie's psychologically true. When Remi starts to cry and you think Leo may embrace him, he attacks with his fists - a physical contact is maintained but one socially accepted. While the peer pressure at school teaches both boys, especially Leo, a level of aggression, it makes you wonder what our whole society would be like if boys could cuddle in public. The first act, about half an hour long, is the two boys' closeness, next comes social separation and the brief, about a quarter of an hour long, finale is the guilt confession. At least the culprit is embraced. 

QU'EST-CE QU'ON A TOUS FAIT AU BON DIEU? (SERIAL (BAD) WEDDINGS 3)

Recommended. Christian Clavier is still the driving force for the franchise but a German character plays a vital role and at some point an Indian family member arrives. They mock veganism too, as well as inept workers. Most importantly, I burst out laughing a few times and I was still giggling at the end remembering "Find some Chinese people in Paris, maybe Vietnamese. He won't tell the difference". Undeniably hilarious. And I loved paying the international family another visit at the cinema.

JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION 

Recommended. Top visual effects enhance this science fiction flick which is primarily about dinosaurs but with serious undertones regarding humans' attitude to animals. The opening scene, similar to the one ending "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", only means equally awesome images are yet to come. The introduction recaps the events of earlier movies from the franchise. And the new movie is also perfectly clear, without compromising complexity. This part comes up with a complete science fiction idea which actually makes sense. "We're only 3 meals away from anarchy" and other smart one-liners get you thinking. World famine because of corporate greed is another bite of food for thought. Perfect cast makes both the serious undertones and the numerous adventure sequences, with western elements, convincing. All the prehistoric animals look fabulously real. The movie offers some iconic images, e.g. a small velociraptor strapped to Owen's back. John Williams's theme features within Michael Giacchino's score. The film is long (148 minutes) but that means you get your fill of the dinosaurs. The ending is beautiful: in its message and the pictures. No mid- or post-credit.