Movie reviews

BONES AND ALL

Watchable. It's predominantly a horror and the final scene with the drooling old creep only confirms it. While romance and drama are mixed in, the weird protagonists, each of them, are creatures of nightmares. The idea behind the story is sick but the world is internally consistent. Even within this peculiar set-up, some scenes, e.g. the mother, are shocking. Hard to believe it's Luca Guadagnino's. Mark Rylance as creepy Sully is revortingly convincing. The backdrop forms another layer showcasing what people listen to: talks on fraud, religion, sex can be heard from the media. 

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OVERTIJD (OVERDUE)

Watchable. A short documentary in which three women's testimonies take a surprising turn - each of them regrets having had to abort. Talking heads only but it's just 24-minute long.

HOLY MOTORS

Watchable. Viewers sleep at the cinema so actors have 9 'meetings' (in monsieur Oscar's case 11 roles) in a day and night performing different roles. Everything lives, including inanimate objects and ideas. It's Leos Carax's movie, preceding "Annette" by 9 years, yet you can spot common tropes. The movie gets you thinking how many roles people play in their lives and why those. Cinematography is superb. The only problem is that some parts - since the movie can be divided into individual roles - are protracted, dull, especially the dying in a hotel but also the reunion after years. But on the whole it's full of surprises, the biggest one is Holy Motors in the finale. 

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I GIGANTI (THE GIANTS)

Switched off. The Italian offering is a cheap drama about a bunch of drug users spending time together in a dark lit house. Nothing special about them. They are as depraved as you might imagine. Why get into their den at all?

HEROJI RADNICKE KLASE (WORKING CLASS HEROES)

Watchable. The Serbian film is not your run-of-the-mill moral tale about evil developers. Jasna Đuričić, known from "Quo Vadis, Aida?", here appears as a villain, the PR person for a construction company employing illegally, in arrears with pay, neglecting security, corrupt. Realistic, even standing up to the baddies - playing footie instead of working waiting to be paid. The finale, while far-fetched, meets your sense of justice.

MAMMA MU HITTAR HEM (MAMMA MOO FINDS HER WAY HOME)

Watchable. The Swedish cartoon is weird at first: a cow "has learnt to swim" and other zoological nonsense. But in time you realize the animals represent people types, the stork being a refugee, so the tale does teach children some life lessons. Sailing frogs in just one little scene are wonderful. The rest is odd but with just 3 protagonists it's consistent at least. 

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

SLON (ELEPHANT)

Switched off. A typical Polish drama, this one slow-paced. Ordinary countryside life. Nothing to look forward to.

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

KONIEC SWIATA W DOLINIE LEZ (THE END OF THE VALLEY OF TEARS)

Watchable. Quiet life in a secluded hamlet in Romania. Dogs roam freely, play together as a pack. The houses are neat, all white - idyllic. Everyday chores and here and there the elderly inhabitants sharing information about their families and the onset of leprosy which drove them to the village. You get to know a handful of facts but mostly, tediously, follow their daily routine. This typically Polish slow-paced observational documentary by Jarosław Wszędybył, consulted with Maciej Cuske, the director of "Wieloryb z Lorino" ("Whale from Lorino") is just like Cuske's film - little will you learn on the topic, while clearly the director knows much more, just fails to share. No statistics, no medical background on leprosy. I ended up googling so scarcely informative the documentary was. While tranquility dominates the picture, I shed some tears when a woman visited her parents' grave. If you want to see what the few remaining leper' lives look like, you get it. Nothing more. 

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

STRIJDER (BIGMAN)

Recommended. Most importantly, you don't need to be into football to enjoy this Dutch family drama about an avid young footballer who needs to reconsider his sports future after an accident. It's eventful and engaging throughout. You learn what it's like to be paraplegic. But even more about how to be a team player. It's inspirational to see the boy strive for athletic excellence against all odds and to accept his shortcomings, his little achievements and numerous setbacks, including a rigid father. It shows how disabled people are just like us. Cheerful on the whole. The boy's story continues for a while along the end credits.

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

LE NOUVEAU JOUET (THE NEW TOY)

Watchable. Starts with a funeral and later the boy bursts out crying - in a comedy. The movie is sometimes tear-jerking (the boy actor is great). In fact, both Etiennes are finely acted by adult Daniel Auteuil and teenage Simon Faliu. The comedy actor, Jamel Debbouze, is not funny either, even if something amusing happens. And why is his right hand always in the pocket? The boy's bedroom decor looks fantastic. The whole story is predictable. Brief spoken wishes are uttered at the end of the credits. 

SWIETA INACZEJ

Watchable. This Christmas is certainly different: the mother goes away, gets mugged and spends the night in a place resembling the hotel from "The Shining", the son parties with his bullies and the daughter goes searching for her with a Ukrainian taxi driver pretending to be a medicine student. Additionally a weird photographer mourns his deceased wife while his house is being refurbished by drunks from Silesia. And that oddity is supposed to be a comedy. It is occasionally funny, the Silesians speak in their amusing dialect and even silence each other saying: "Zawrzyj pysk!" ("Close your snout!"). Fake aurora on the Polish sky, stuffed animals in the middle of nowhere complete this peculiar romantic comedy.

TERRIFIER 2

Watchable. A newbie-friendly sequel in whose first 20 minutes you gradually learn what happened a year earlier. Later come gore, guts, maggots. Torture porn. Sienna's costume is a cross between Wonder Woman and an angel. The final girl has an intriguing back story. But the whole thing is a protracted slasher. Adrenaline-pumping yet tedious at the same time. Great soundtrack. The last piece is called "Surviving 3 a.m." - it was right past 3 a.m. when I finished watching. A long mid-credit ends this part and pretty much tells you what to expect in "Terrifier 3".

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

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HYPERLAND

Switched off. The German movie being sci-fi set my hopes high. But the presented reality looks fake and feels abstract. 

DESTELLO BRAVIO (MIGHTY FLASH)

Watchable. The Spanish offering depicts a quiet village where nothing much happens. It gives you an opportunity of insight into the dwellers' preoccupations, little traumas, everyday dramas, pastimes, eating habits, dreams. Pleasant music, traditional and modern, occasionally features. I couldn't quite make out individual stories in the plot. But with a group protagonist it doesn't matter much. It feels Hispanic, being so slow and mundane.

CRAI NOU (BLUE MOON)

Switched off. In the Romanian movie family or acquaintances gather in a handful of cheap locations and argue, often violently. About everything. There's no normal conversation in the film.

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SVET PODLE DALIBORKA (THE WHITE WORLD ACCORDING TO DALIBOREK)

Watchable. The documentary about a rightist extremist is entertaining and the finale provocative. The protagonists: Dalibor himself, his mother, her new partner, Dalibor's girlfriend and his mates and colleagues are quite peculiar. Apart from one colleague friendly to non-whites, they form a kind of sect: Nazi symbols, ridiculous videos watched and shot by Dalibor himself, manual work, beer and lots of cigarettes. The opinions they express are peculiar, their yarns outrageous. They're harmless, luckily, just pathetic. They, especially Dalibor, believe Internet propaganda and distrust mass media. They're simple minds who either have been thoroughly brainwashed or play along to make friends - their ignorance and hypocrisy can't stand the reality check.

Small subtitles made it impossible to watch from a distance but player.pl did play the documentaries smoothly.

PUNKT ZAPALNY (THE FLASHPOINT)

Watchable. The rainbow first signified a human covenant with God, next co-operatives, including famous Społem created in communist Poland, and only recently the LGBT movement. But, like Terlikowski remarks in the documentary, swastika had a few meanings before the Nazi one it's primarily associated with nowadays. It's bizarre that the symbol of co-existence was burnt over and over again in Warsaw in the years 2013-19. Not everything from the demonstrations is audible clearly enough. I recognised a former freelance rightist film journalist in the film, standing next to Krzysztof Bosak. An artwork is not bound by the meaning given to it by its creator, as someone remarks in the film. Lots of theoretical background on art and symbolism is given but it's necessary as the input and enlightening. Like a rainbow. Not shocking like fire. But I personally have never understood why Polish people get so ignited by symbols. 

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LINHAS TORTAS (CROOKED LINES)

Watchable. The Portuguese entry astonishes with professional production among the festival ones. The story's engaging, many lines smart, e.g. "social networks don't improve people's lives", "technology is a new way and a new reason to get away from what could give satisfaction". But you need to watch our for - listen rather, since the movie doesn't show the nicknames - who is saying what. That'll matter in the major twist. Smart yet not easy to detect taken the way the Internet communication is presented.

HEAVY METAL DANCERS

Recommended. This German documentary about Finnish pole dancers doesn't stop surprising: a 55-year-old male pole dancer, the nausea beginners feel when spinning, pole dancing being a life-threatening discipline, the fact there's a technique in which you slide 4 meters down and do a stop, a single father who put his autistic son in a group home and "was making up for the lost time" and for who spending time with youngsters is a way to see what his children's lives could be like: abroad or had the son been healthy. Other life notions are food for thought as well, e.g. the idea we all have inner resources to survive adversity and it's not those with more of them that are steered into harder situations, we're all equal in this respect, or the notion that confidence and attitude as well as how you carry yourself make you sexy, regardless of your size or colour, not clothes, make-up or sumptuous hair. On the other hand, the film mentions ageism in the performance business. There's also prejudice among the pole dancing community, e.g. competing is off-limits for those wearing heels. At the same time it's inspiring how stretched, strong - the muscles can be seen, and flexible they are. You can admire them along with the end credits too. Amazing.

TOBI SZINEI (COLORS OF TOBI)

Watchable. The Hungarian documentary about a transgender teenager makes you question whether Tobias is a male, non-binary (in between genders, gender-fluid) or a woman re-inventing herself. A smart quote appealing to me more is that "as an adult you get to know your parents again". Still, it's an observational documentary which isn't particularly engaging.

EL PLANETA

Recommended. This Spanish black and white drama is a peculiar tale in which everybody lies. The finale is tongue-in-cheek and turns the whole story around. Truly original.

L'ANIMOGRAPHE OU JE SUIS NE DANS UNE BOITE A CHAUSSURES (THE ANIMOGRAPH, OR I WAS BORN IN A SHOEBOX)

Switched off. The French documentary is a detailed story of just one device. You need to be into machines, animation and recognise the vast number of historical names from the field, otherwise it's extremely difficult to watch, feels like reading a scientific paper.

ISGYVENTI VASARA (SUMMER SURVIVORS)

Watchable. The Lithuanian feature is a psychological road movie and boasts wonderful music. A scene sees hands next to each other in the car - another movie reference to "Drive My Car", those abound recently. The open ending of the 3 stories: Juste, Indre and Paulius' disappointed me. 

All festival movies stuttered when played, while when I tried to clear memory, it would turn out 19 or 6 cookies only had blocked the fluency.

I saw 327 movies (counting full-length ones or short film sets) in 2022 in total.

LISTY DO M. 5 (LETTERS TO SANTA 5)

Watchable. Curly hairstyles?! Those looked better in the 80s when they were in fashion. Just one funny scene where someone gets accidentally hit by a ladder. Parts of the movie are quite sappy - a typical Polish 'comedy'. But the comedy of errors together with a Christi-like mystery was fun, sadly unimaginatively concluded. At least the multi-character plot is clear-cut. Łukasz Targosz's music was fun as were Christmas songs, most in English. Not a bad movie for Christmas.

NIEBEZPIECZNI DZENTELMENI (DANGEROUS MEN)

Watchable. It's a very Polish movie, one every schoolchild in Poland will understand and no outsider will. Luckily American "I Wanna Get High" by Cypress Hill was used only in the trailer. Łukasz Targosz is responsible for the more appropriate soundtrack. Unfortunately, the plot is a copy of "Hangover" mixed with class B American flicks in which renowned historical or literary characters turn out to be some fantasy creatures. At least the Polish offering is not as ludicrous as Abraham Lincoln hunting vampires. Witkacy, Boy-Żeleński, Piłsudski, Bronisław Malinowski, Joseph Conrad, Lenin and Krupska, poetess Pawlikowska are among historical characters appearing here in situations that could have happened, if they all had come together, but didn't. One piece I loved was the speech at the theatre asking: "why would God favour the rich?" and pointing out the clergy shouting "Stop!" whenever progress is possible. Characters' make-up is fine, they look like real but these fine comedy actors don't amuse in this hotchpotch of ideas high and low. Yes, the movie was supposed to be a comedy but I didn't even smile once. Pictures of historically original protagonists are displayed along with the end credits

I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY

Recommended. Another superb biopic of the singer who died at 48 (similarly to Judy Garland who had passed away at 47). This film shows everything that "Whitney" omitted. Superbly directed by Kasi Lemmons - a specialist in black movies, scripted by white guy Anthony McCarten, who's given us "Bohemian Rhapsody". No wonder the opening and closing are similar to "Bohemian Rhapsody". Never a fan, even I felt deeply moved by her songs from the very first in the picture. You get to hear all the readily recognizable greatest hits, enjoying Atmos sound quality. Her first conversation with Robyn Crawford is particularly skillfully written. Naomi Ackie gives an Oscar-worthy performance. She truly embodies her. She's also made look entirely like her. Her costumes amaze. Clive Davies is also a faithful semblance of the producer. In one witty scene he says to her: "And get off my chair". Expectedly, real Whitney and family and friends' pictures appear along with the end credits.

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ROZKOLYS (SWELL)

Watchable. This documentary focuses on surfing in Poland. Overcast sky, constant search for waves, discomfort endured only to get a chance to surf. The weather means it doesn't look pretty, the surfers use foul language a lot, one of them finds an old bottle in a canal and dumps it back in the water - yuck! - and it gets a bit repetitive. But it presents extensively what it's like to do this sport on the Baltic Sea.