Movie reviews

LA NUIT DU 12 (THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH)

Recommended. The crime never gets resolved which you can expect from the beginning. Nevertheless it's a gripping investigation of a shocking murder - fictitious yet inspired by real cases. A rare case of a movie where the French penchant for philosophy works. Those musings on crime and gender create the atmosphere. It's also an unusual example where the crime remaining unsolved doesn't frustrate the viewer. Director Dominik Moll wrote the lyrics of the song "Angel in the Night". 

ГЕРОЙ МОГО ЧАСУ (HERO OF MY TIME) (2018) AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR

Watchable again. The subtitles look as if the translator was poor at English which is disconcerting if you don't know the actual reason behind it, i.e. to preserve the original quality of the language. The background plays too, e.g. a "Ukraine's in Europe" poster falling down, let alone the rubbish heap art installation - "Shall I clean it?" I loved the end credits put on scraps of paper looking like little service ads people post in the street. 

The protagonists speak a mix of Ukrainian, Russian and Kyiv local dialect which is reflected in the English subtitles. They ordered 6 or 7 versions of the translation into English to pick the dialect best reflecting the Ukrainian with Russian insertions and some words only spoken in Kyiv. So "the importantest" is not a mistake. "It's a documentary", it depicts her experiences, both with the lift and waste problem in the block and ignorance at art galleries, including the mid-credit - "that was me!" The costumes come from second-hands aka "vintage" markets, it took a few months to gather them. The tiger shirt was found online - the DoP is wearing it now. All the art installations were real. In both her movies actors are non-professionals, casting is the most important. The DoP had to have a visual sense of humour. As for her directing methods, she sometimes offers them a bit of alcohol so they can relax on set. It's "controlled improvisation". Roy Anderson was her inspiration. The lead is not an actor, he's a director too.

She escaped from Ukraine in early March last year and stayed with her Georgian editor, working on her coming-of-age story, "not a comedy" but "not depressive" either, "Do You Love Me?" which premiered at Berlinale in late February. Now she's developing a new film in Poland, with all non-pros again - a tragicomedy on refugees trying to adapt to life in various countries - titled "Ukraine is the Capital of Everything!"