WATCH DOCS 2023
HONG KONG MIXTAPE AND Q&A
Recommended. The documentary shows on the one hand the richness of artistic responses, whether tear gas flavour icecream or plentiful rebel gestures and slang, on the other hand how Hong Kong has fallen since many people have moved to Taiwan to be free again. It charts its history from the mass immigration at the time of the Cultural Revolution, through its rapid economic development, to the mass exodus now. The songs in English and Chinese show both the duality of the culture and the reaction to China imposing its regime
Explanations from the debate afterwards: The disappeared would often be washed out later. Archers were shot at. The "po po" T-shirts are Western Hong Kong police's.
THE DMITRIEV AFFAIR AND Q&A WITH DUTCH DIRECTOR JESSICA GORTER
Recommended. The protagonist tirelessly identifies victims of mass executions conducted under Stalin's regime. He says that "everyone needs to be buried", regardless of what they were in life, and that once buried the authorities will be unable to disprove their existence. The scale of arrests and killings convinced him: hundreds of thousands can't be guilty. Russian authorities immediately came up with the tall tale of Finnish concentration camps.
The adoption agency asked him to document the girl's development for doctors. The accusation of him possessing pornographic images of her is a high profile case. There's a document stating he's not harming her. The brave judge was downgraded afterwards. The director has been shooting documentaries on Russia for 20 years. In her previous, "The Red Soul", Юрий (Yuri) was one of six protagonists. Юрий (Yuri) was an orphan, Наташа (Natasha) wasn't. Наташа (Natasha) went back to live with her grandmother, the one who had given her up for adoption. National TV Memorial blackens the history of Russia. That's why Memorial got branded "foreign agents" and the director found her colleague's name on the foreign agent list. That was her local cameraman - no one knows why him so it's an effective way to keep people in fear. In Russia, once accused, 0,01% are acquitted. Дмитриев (Dmitriev) loves getting letters from the outside world, most get to him. She was observed during this and her previous film. Until now there have been no convictions for the millions of people killed or put in camps.
DREAM SCENARIO
Watchable. Ari Aster and Nicolas Cage are among the producers. As for the plot, average people make for average movies, even if that average protagonist is an immensely popular person and the story's weird. The end credits song is "City of Dreams" by Talking Heads, a song recounting the history of the US, claiming it's past inhabitants' and conquerors' dreams that have created the present country, which gets you thinking both of dreams turning into nightmares and of modern dreams of being popular.
JEDNA DUSZA (ONE SOUL)
Watchable. Much more dynamic than your average Polish drama, with fine performances all around and my favourite Silesian dialect. The "Sexy bomba" disco polo song is great but features twice only briefly. The problem with this drama is that one family illustrates a range of social issues: alcoholism, marital rape, abortion, bringing up sons, attitude to the disabled, sexism. Overdone.
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