14. LGBT+ FILM FESTIVAL
SPLENDID ISOLATION
Watchable. By Urszula Antoniak so it's artsy: from songs composed by Górecki, Purcell, حليم الضبع (Halim El-Dabh), through images of vast grassy dunes or sea bottom at ebb tide, to superimposed shots of two women. Unfortunately the set decor looks fake which renders the idea behind it contrived. There's also little story as such: just two women's inexplicable relationship behaviour. When the third one arrives, it becomes clear the deserted Dutch island where they survive eating crabs is splendid to one of them as she has complete power over the other. The rest is highly ambiguous which leaves a field for imagination as vast as the island. The thing is, it drags.
FRAMING AGNES
Watchable. As informative as it is confusing. Reenactments mix with comments of the actors - are they all trans themselves? And the directors - are they both trans? Not sure who has transitioned. Also, is the Agnes interview original footage or a reenactment like all other?
The form is just too confounding. And most of all overtalked - an American documentary where, as usual, the freedom of speech matters more than whether people have got much to say so they go round in circles. The most interesting is the mention of a 1950s Hollywood star who transitioned - that interviewee never revealed the person's identity but Christine Jorgensen is to be assumed.
BEAU IS AFRAID
Recommended. The opening is a birth from the point of view of the human being born: flashing colours, lots of red, ear-splitting noise surrounding the person (and the viewer). What he hears is probably the mother's anxiety but it creates that feeling in him years on. Beau's life accumulates Americans' all fears which is quite understandable, it all happens in real life but not to one man in a few days: drug addicts plundering your apartment, being shot at, run over by a car, controlled by your mother or powerful corporations, letting down your loved ones, dying of various accidental causes, a war veteran running amok, your card declined, name it - all is there. Plenty of the stuff and each represents things that actually happen to people. Overwhelming, isn't it? Top-notch acting of Joaquin Phoenix in multiple roles, accompanied by fine performances of literally all other cast, cinematography by Paweł Pogorzelski rendering the plot frighteningly real and, last but not least, Ari Aster's masterful juggling of the form and the content make the 3 hours totally engaging, scary and thought-provoking.
CREED III
Recommended. Based on characters created by and produced by Sylvester Stallone but directed by Michael B. Jordan, who stars in it, it's a thoroughly black movie. A number of boxing referees and TV presenters make cameos as themselves. It's got a story. The fights are shot superbly. Not only do camera angles and editing attract even the most dispassionate viewer, visual images enhance the impression of being inside the boxers' heads. Atmos sound at some point, early on, puts you in the middle of a car with the protagonists put in the front and the radio playing from the back and the music surrounding you. Even the pictures at early end credits look fabulous.
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