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Emilia Pérez (2024)
Jack of all trades, master of none
Rita (Zoe Saldana) is a lawyer struggling with her conscience after a defense case who receives a mysterious call for a lucrative opportunity that leads her to drug lord Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón). His desire to undergo sex reassignment surgery and fake his death is the reason for Rita's involvement, a job that will make her rich and let Manitas reborn as Emilia Pérez.
Directed by Jacques Audiard, the movie thematically illustrates gender and redemption. Following a life that made it difficult for Manitas to be her true self, she is more willing than ever to make her dream a reality, "La vida que la propia vida se encargó de no darme" (The life that life itself took care not to give me). By undergoing gender-affirming surgery, she faces significant implications, as Rita puts it in the song 'Lady', "Changing the body changes society. Changing society changes the soul. Changing the soul changes society. Changing society changes it all." The movie's take on gender avoids biological determinism and treats it as performative and, therefore, offers a look that does not judge and invites reflection upon a topic that is still controversial.
As a way to amend her wrongs and redeem herself, Emilia creates a nonprofit to identify bodies of cartel victims, La lucecita. This opens up the door to explore the sociocultural reality in Mexico and the prevalence cartels have. It also provides the story for more songs to be included. Songs that differ in terms of quality, where on one end of the spectrum we have "Todo y nada" and on the other "Para." The reasons are simple: despite one song being better than the other, Zoe Saldana can sing, while some of the singers in that choral song cannot. One song during the gala stands out but not by reason of it being good; on the contrary, it promotes violence and sexual abuse because Rita is unmasking corrupt donors of the nonprofit, but instead of leading by example, she reproduces violence as a way to "fight" against what she deems repudiable.
Ultimately, Emilia Pérez has an interesting concept that is lost in its far-reaching aspirations, leading to unsatisfying results where not even the songs can save it since, besides "Todo y nada," its soundtrack is not precisely one that you would like to listen to again. To aggravate things further, an uneven execution renders it a dense and boring experience devoid of much value. It has its moments, mostly due to Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofía Gascón, whose performances standout, but those moments never justify a film as such. You know the movie is not good when looking at your phone or going to make yourself a coffee are tempting activities to avoid watching what is onscreen.
Fascination (1979)
Death sometimes takes the form of seduction
Marc (Jean-Marie Lemaire) is a runaway criminal who meets Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) and Elisabeth (Franka Mai) in an isolated château where he finds harbor from those who are after him and a place where fantasy seamlessly blends with reality.
Written and directed by Jean Rollin, Fascination traces its author's distinction where everything is draped under a dreamlike atmospheric aura. Castles have always been recipients where horrors ignite, but in Rollin's horror, like danger, it dons a cloak of seduction. It isn't because of the situation the protagonist is in that fear, but mostly intrigue and suspense take form, but mainly due to how the progression of events led to scenarios that could be described as nightmarish and beguiling at the same time. An eerie château occupied only by two young ladies could be seen as strange. As the sole two occupants of the big castle, Eva, the lady-in-waiting to the Marchioness, and Elisabeth, the Marchioness's companion, promise Marc to disclose their secret at midnight, that is, tell him why they have sent all the staff away from the Château.
Brigitte Lahaie and Franka Mai capture Jean Rollin's sensibilities. Like danger, they are attractive and illustrate, like the title of the movie, the fascination that can bloom upon the discovery of the object of desire that beckons its subjects into uncharted lands. Because Marc is not only stranded in the castle waiting for his opportunity to escape, he is also in a position of stillness between the known and the unknown, before myriad possible outcomes where a mercurial temperament might offer the possibility of life.
Panda Bear in Africa (2024)
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Pang (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) is a black and white and fluffy panda bear who goes on an adventure to Africa to rescue his friend Jielong (Georgina Verbaan) after she is kidnapped from the land of Asia where they live.
Directed by Richard Claus and Karsten Kiilerich, Panda Bear in Africa seems to take from other sources to construct its story. From a Panda land reminiscent of Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), an adventure across the ocean to an unknown continent as in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), balloon modelling like in Shrek (2001), to many elements resembling The Lion King (1994), e.g., a setting in 'Lion Rock' where an orphan and young lion prince has an evil uncle craving power, and the bad blood between lions and hyenas, the movie is full of derivative elements.
The story progresses in the predicable paths where our fluffy and inexperienced hero will find different difficulties and new characters in his journey to Asia. One of those characters is a little monkey named Jojo (Maurits Delchot) whose mercurial personality will prove many assumptions wrong. He will accompany Pang to Lion Rock where his friend is held against her will as the pet of lion prince Ade (Namisa Mdalose).
Despite that it could be considered an exercise in unoriginality and its more than desired use of conveniences to further the plot is testament to bad writing, Panda Bear in Africa manages to elicit some laughs and provide entertainment for the most part. Its cute little characters make the movie watchable and it certainly could be much more appreciated by a younger audience.
Terrifier 3 (2024)
It's a Terrifier Christmas
It has been five years since the last massacre at Miles County, and Art the Clown, deemed "The most famous serial killer since Jack the Ripper," as a crime enthusiast put it, is back in town determined to wreak havoc again. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) were the sole survivors of that nightmarish night, and after all these years they still find it hard to cope with what they experienced. When it comes to Sienna, her erratic visits to psychiatric facilities speak of traumas beyond her visible scars. Jonathan, on the other hand, considers himself to be doing better, but that soon proves to be a masquerade. If the memories of that traumatic night weren't enough, they face the very insistent Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson), whose intention to "know what it's like to be in the presence of that kind of evil." leads her to insist on interviewing the only survivors of the manic clown for her True Crime Podcast and make them revisit those troublesome memories.
If Terrifier 2 elevated the violence from its predecessors, it could be said this one is on the same level of gruesomeness. Damien Leone, writer and director of the franchise, does not hold back and stages the most violent killings in a long time. By reason of this, he indicated that independently funding his movies is the only available path since big studios, even after being interested in funding Terrifier 3 following the success of its predecessor, were uncomfortable with the extreme violence Leone wanted to include and would never allow such brutal depictions of horror. A decision that seems to be working outstandingly well considering this last installment of the franchise became the highest-grossing unrated movie of all time. There is something the movie efficiently does, and it is never stopping in terms of graphicness since when you thought it was too much, it manages to go beyond that. From a chainsaw, broken glass, and hammers to liquid nitrogen, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) seems to be more inventive than ever in his weapons of choice. He makes of every murder the equivalent to a canvas where an artist deploys all the best tricks and techniques to enhance the desired effect. The chainsaw scene in the bathroom could be thought of as the new bedroom scene from Terrifier 2.
The silent film approach to Art the Clown makes his cartoonish physicality shine like never before in terms of humor, something the movie excels at. David Howard Thornton gives his character a mocking persona whose playfulness before the butchering starts puts Clowny in the serial killer's hall of fame for his uniqueness. We know since All Hallows' Eve (2013) that the pantomime killer is quite a character unlike any other, but it is nice to be reminded of it in another experience that combines stomach-churning scenes with humor that outlives its time onscreen. Terrifier 3 is arguably the best one of the slasher saga and one of the funniest horror movies of the last years.
Terrifier 2 (2022)
For a guy who doesn't speak, he sure makes a lot of noise
Art the Clown is back to hunt in Miles County on Halloween night. This time he is after a brother and sister. Sienna (Lauren LaVera) is waiting for Halloween night to display the, in the words of her mother, "revealing" costume she made based on a sketch from her deceased father. She is also worried about her younger brother, Jonathan (Elliott Fullam), who she considers peculiar given his recent interest in serial killers and national socialism, something that goes beyond what she considers tasteful by choosing to dress as the clown of the Miles County massacre, that is, Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). From that moment on, strange things start to happen to the siblings. Unexplainable dreams and visions of the infamous clown haunt them.
Damien Leone directed and wrote the movie as its predecessors, and it shows since it ups what the last one offered in terms of graphic violence. Terrifier 2 is full of gruesome killings where Art manages to torture his victims in new ways, although his preference for mauling faces still stands. His disfigured victims, like Victoria Heyes (Samantha Scaffidi), have the effect of wanting to avert your eyes from the screen. It is a movie that spares no violence and where mangled individuals with mutilated limbs and marred skin abound. The bedroom scene has to be one of the best kills seen onscreen; it elevates violence to all-time highs. One of the victims from years before is a 10-year-old girl mutilated by him at a local carnival. She is going to make the clown company in this sequel.
And even though with a runtime of 2h 18m, it definitely overstays its welcome, rendering the last part tiresome, it does something the last one did not: an improved story and character development. This makes the pacing better, and we can see the clown tormenting his soon-to-be victims by stalking or making fun of them, let alone killing them, but also being invested in the story and caring about the protagonists. The fact that more time is used for this foreplay enhances the movie since Art is quite a character. He seems to derive as much pleasure from killing his victims as from stalking and making them afraid of him. From laughing at his mutilated victims to mimicking crying when they are in pain, it is nice how the movie utilizes his body language and histrionic persona to make him speak in volumes without saying a single word. Another reason for its better pacing is that there isn't a clear division between the foreplay and the killing spree since the killings are intersected with the main narrative and dialogue abounds, as well as different locations.
Terrifier (2016)
Great build up but not much more
Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) go out on Halloween night and begin to get stalked by a bizarre individual in a black-and-white clown costume. Unbeknownst to them, that will be the start of a nightmarish experience where escaping will pose the difference between life and death.
Written and directed by Damien Leone, Terrifier is the first installment of the saga of Art the Clown, a character that made his debut in "The 9th Circle" from 2008. Art was the start of the horror anthology "All Hallows' Eve" from 2013 and it should be no surprise he deserved a movie of his own. He is a peculiar character when it comes to killers in slashers. Previously interpreted by Mike Giannelli and now by David Howard Thornton, the famous clown combines an eeriness and uncomfortable quality with comedy pertinent to the costume he is wearing: for instance, the way he playfully moves his fingers to say hello as if he were a timid child waving someone, when he gives his middle finger after being stabbed or the way he utilizes his clown horn in the most unexpected situation. All of these idiosyncrasies are testaments that he is not only mocking his soon-to-be victims, but also that he enjoys the foreplay.
By reason of this, Leone's feature finds its most effective asset in the first minutes when Art the Clown is haunting the two friends in that restaurant. His sitting there not taking his eyes off Tara without ordering anything is really disturbing because situations like this could happen to anyone given how strange some people behave, let alone on Halloween. Terrifier proceeds in the expected path where victims of the maniac clown start to pile up while some manage to escape leading to the classic cat and mouse play where the villain goes hunting and the preys hide and try to find the way out while still alive.
Terrifier offers gruesome deaths where violence is not spared, although the camera would seem to find in the graphicness something untasteful to show and more than once opts to depart from it or show it very rapidly as if it was unsure of what it is doing. The downside of the movie is it lacking in story and character development. It offers little to what is already known and the lack of change in setting and the absence of dialogues renders it tiresome and sometimes boring. It never departs from the formulaic and doesn't take advantage to the utmost of its star by prolonging the build-up. It is not a bad movie, just average.
All Hallows' Eve (2013)
Art the Clown shines. The others? Not so much
Written and directed by Damien Leone, the horror anthology tells the story of Sarah (Katie Maguire), a babysitter on the night of Halloween, watching a VHS tape someone put into one of the candy bags of Timmy (Cole Mathewson) and Tia (Sydney Freihofer), the children she is babysitting.
All Hallows' Eve takes its now famous killer Art the Clown from the 2008 short "The 9th Circle," the first segment of the anthology, in which a woman finds herself in a true hell with monsters, demons, and witches after being harassed and kidnapped by an eerie clown. In the second segment, unlike the previous and last one, made specially for the movie, a woman is alone in an isolated house at night and starts to hear noises of a possible intruder. In "Terrifier," the last segment, a short from 2011, a woman is being hunted by a clown after witnessing it commit a gruesome murder at a gas station.
Unlike other horror anthologies, including the many sequels of this franchise, the three episodes and the one linking them were directed by Damien Leone. The reason for the second one being made for the movie and with the least time on screen of Art the Clown was, according to Leone, done on purpose to further the impact of the third one. An understandable decision since the last segment is at the end of the spectrum in terms of quality. "Terrifier" from 2011 offers a gruesome delivery of horror that the first one had in short supply and the second one lacked. It isn't the reason to limit the on-screen appearance of the clown in the second segment that undermines the movie, but rather its subpar quality compared to the first one and mostly to the final chapter. The creature from the second one, an alien that is, could only be described as the result when a low budget does not meet creativity, leaving a monster with symbiotic lacks, i.e., horror and humor. Even the wrap-around story was of sufficient quality to be expanded and leave out the mistake of the second one.
The Room Next Door (2024)
Inviting exploration of euthanasia by Almodóvar
There is something special in thematically exploring death, a dreadful and concerning idea for those who cannot conciliate their present situation as living beings with the idea of their life coming to an end. An idea that sooner or later, as finite beings, will become a reality and will find us unprepared, although little will matter after it because we will no longer be here to experience it. Pedro Almodóvar first film in English follows Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), two writers whose friendship dates many decades since they were young and now a strange situation reunites them again like never before. A situation that will make their relationship stronger but also question their beliefs about life and death.
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar and co-written with Sigrid Nunez, The Room Next Door is based on the novel by Nunez, What Are You Going Through, from 2020 in which a woman helps her terminally ill friend to end her life by accompanying her in her last days. This is a movie that could be seen as a synthesis of Almodóvar's oeuvre given how many elements in it resemble different movies of him. It gives Almodóvar the possibility to explore the fear of death, his love for movies, and partying.
The story is honest in its aim and simple in its form, but thematically long-reaching. Ingrid is a renowned author that by a chance encounter in one of her signing events is told a friend of her has cancer. This leads her to reconnect with Martha after many years of not seeing each other. Martha, like Ingrid, is a writer, but while Ingrid writes fiction, Martha is a war correspondent for the New York Times. Almodóvar's lyricism traces symmetries with past and present in the lives of the two friends but also with many world-known authors like Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, creating a constant back and forth that seamlessly weaves its continuity. It does not take long for Martha to tell her friend her prospects with cancer. The disease that is consuming her without any reasonable hope other than to prolong her days since it is inoperable.
Fear of death is explored in such a profound way that, even if you are not in Martha's situation, it is easy to find oneself not only emphasizing with her but also ruminating about the subject in many different ways. At its core, dying with dignity is what interests the story to illustrate. This is examined in Martha's experience, for instance, with the cancer community that feels like the best battle against the disease is to never lose hope, something Swinton's character sees as wrong since she considers that said war can be won by dying on her own terms without letting cancer reach her. It is also interesting how, besides the physical manifestation of the disease taking more power over the body, the process is experienced in terms of identity and psychology. According to Martha, her head is spinning, and she is losing enjoyment of what previously made her happy, like listening to music, reading, etc. The narrowing of interests is not exclusive to her because other character also experiences this as he grew older. Damian (John Turturro) is someone who connects Ingrid and Martha by having dated each of them. He is convinced climate change will be the doom of the world, and the lack of attention to it by both politicians and society is alarming, to say the least. By incorporating Damian, Almodóvar changes, if only momentarily, the thematic axis of the film and introduces us to another very contemporary political issue. His dexterity in doing so is such that it never feels like a departure but rather a further exploration of the microcosm he created. One where politics is equally important to the story itself.
My Old Ass (2024)
Average yet entertaining coming-of-age
Coming-of-age that follows Elliott (Maisy Stella) meeting her older self, referred to her as "my old ass" (Aubrey Plaza), after a mushroom-induced hallucination.
Written and directed by Megan Park, the movie thematically explores self-discovery in a way that might not be entirely original but is nonetheless entertaining. Upon meeting her older self by the bonfire and realizing she is far from the idealized image Elliott has for herself in the future, a conversation ensues. Elliott's thought of her being happier at nearly 40 triggers ruminations about life's purpose where each one of them exposes her ideas and preoccupations: the younger one more than eager to know how her life is at 39 and the older self willing to help the other by giving her advice. Conversations like these aim at profundity and emotion but rarely rise to that level. Like the many attempts at comedy that do not manage to evoke many laughs, something surprising considering Aubrey Plaza has always been funny, the emotions the movie wants to produce fall short of the themes treated.
Megan Park's feature progresses in the expected direction where we learn more about the advice and the younger version experiencing different things in her life. The addition of Chad (Percy Hynes White) gives the narrative tension and drama due to his important role in Elliott's life, and his scenes have to be the most interesting ones owing to the question pertaining to the future. Stella and White have the onscreen chemistry, and they are convincing in every scene. The movie doesn't have the profundity a concept like this could offer, and it feels like much more could have been done instead. Nonetheless, it has relatable dialogues about the passing of time, like this one: "I just really wish that time would just stop for a second so I could enjoy it for a little bit longer." Ultimately, My Old Ass is an entertaining watch but not much more than that.
L'isola delle svedesi (1969)
Escapade where desire looms large
Manuela (Eva Green) is determined to leave her fiancée Maurizio (Nino Segurini) in the past after a quarrel and decides to go to the isolated island in the Mediterranean Sea where her friend Eleonora (Catherine Diamant) resides, L'isola delle svedesi.
Silvio Amadio is the director and one of the writers of the movie and is interested in depicting Manuela's escapade as idyllic as possible: the sun always bathing the beach and the beautiful vista of the Mediterranean. A setting that serves as a canvas for Manuela and Eleonora to portray their sexual desires in usual outings to the beach where they film one another in a friendly but also sensual way. Their often nakedness illustrates not only a search for the object of desire by the camera lens but also their vulnerability as to the flowering of previously unknown feelings towards each other. A relationship that is not a simple one since it morphs from friendship to one where sexual tension blooms, turning them slaves to what cannot be enacted in words of certainty.
Amadio's feature has an uneven pacing where at the beginning of the movie the expository sequences tend to be slower, which should not be equated to bad, and towards the end the pacing is rushed and lacks explanatory aspects that render L'isola delle svedesi one lacking in profundity. Something that was hinted at the beginning, where upon getting to the island one asks the other why it is called like that, and the response she gets is, "It's an old story that goes back years." The matter is never touched again, and we are left out like in the finale.
My Penguin Friend (2024)
A beautiful friendship that gives hope
Inspired by a true story, My Penguin Friend follows a fisherman named João (Jean Reno) making friends with a penguin he rescued from an oil spill. An unlikely bond that will know no boundaries and will catch attention worldwide.
Directed by David Schurmann and written by Kristen Lazarian and Paulina Lagudi Ulrich, the movie explores the theme of friendship in an honest and beautiful way. A friendship that illustrates the lengths we can go for someone we love. Jean Reno and the penguin, most of the time a real one instead of CGI, possess a chemistry that transcends the screen, rendering an endearing and charming experience. Like the reporter told João, this is a unique friendship that gives hope. It is like they found in the other what they needed, the missing part in their lives, something that can be seen from the moment they met and the strong connection they manifested. After the reluctance of Maria (Adriana Barraza) to have a penguin in their house and João assuring her it will only be a matter of days till he is healthy and prepared again, the penguin found in João someone he could trust. From making him a special attire, building him the equivalent of a penguin's nest outside of his house, to making sure he is well fed by buying him fish, it is clear João considers the penguin as an important new part of his life. In his own words, when asked if he was his pet: "Not my pet. He's my friend." The same can be said about Dindim, named like that by the daughter of a local friend of João. Dindim's unwillingness in abandoning his new friend is seen from the moment when João takes him to the island so, now healthy again, he can be free to go anywhere he wants to. The penguin cooing as a way to tell him he wants to be with him is simply too cute, like those moments where he is seen cuddling in João's lap.
The aspect epitomizing how special this relation is is Dindim swimming over five thousand miles between Valdés Peninsula, Argentina, and Ilha Grande, Brazil, to visit his friend. The yearly routine consists of his coming back in June and departing by December, a fact exemplifying the nature of their bond as one between friends, pairs, and not owner and pet. As João indicated in a TV interview, "He comes and goes as he pleases." Treating animals as equals in a world where they are still traded like assets, harmed, and utilized for questionable experiments that regard their whole existence not as something intrinsically worthy but at the service of their masters, us humans, is something radically important and beautiful in its expansiveness of respect and love towards other species besides one's own.
The journey Dindim undertakes every year could be equated to the journey traveled by João, if only metaphorically. Owing to a traumatic event in the fisherman's life, an aspect the movie utilizes to add expressiveness to more dramatic layers, he will find in Dindim not only a new best friend but also an answer to appease the hunting voices of the past and find solace and happiness again.
La nuit des traquées (1980)
The only thing left for us to do is to touch our bodies
While driving home, Robert (Alain Duclos) sees Elysabeth (Brigitte Lahaie) in a state of distress and asking for help in the driveway in the middle of the night. He soon discovers she has amnesia and offers her help since she does not have anywhere to go nor anyone else to ask for help. While Robert leaves, Elysabeth is confronted by two strangers who claim to know her and ask her to follow them in order to help her. These two strangers are Le docteur Francis (Bernard Papineau) and Solange (Rachel Mhas), specialists in charge of a facility.
Written and directed by Jean Rollin, La nuit des traquées is engaging at the beginning owing to the thrill and suspenseful atmosphere of the situation of Brigitte Lahaie's character. A pacing that is uneven since it starts to slow down in the second act where the action takes place in the Black Tower. In this place Elysabeth is introduced to her room, where Catherine (Catherine Greiner) is also staying. The latter seems to have the same memory loss as our protagonist, and that creates a bond between them, most of the time consisting of a friendship, although with sexual tension enlivening others. In true Rollin fashion, amnesia is utilized as a vehicle to explore the desires of the flesh, giving expression to erotic feelings that find reification in the many naked bodies shown throughout, especially Brigitte Lahaie's. It is also exemplified, for instance, when Catherine tells her roommate, "The only thing left for us to do is to touch our bodies. It's our only pleasure. The only one we don't forget."
When it comes to its cinematography, although by no means it is lacking in quality, it certainly isn't as good as other films by Rollin. There are some outside takes whose erratic movement is distant from the stylish static. One of Rollins distinctive qualities is his use of castles and beautiful settings that always help to convey a dreamlike sensation, something that is lacking in La nuit des traquées, where instead of the aforementioned we are before minimalistic white-paneled rooms and an industrial side of the city where elegance is missing. Furthermore, the writer-director seems to use elements to convey the state of mind of the characters, e.g., hectic waves in the outdoor fountains to illustrate anxiety. This gives unanimated objects an expressionism, creating a dialogue with the story itself.
Ultimately, La nuit des traquées is definitely not the best Rollin movie, but neither the worse. It is an average movie with good and bad aspects.
MadS (2024)
Infection
There is something terrifying about getting infected and witnessing the myriad alterations that can proceed. MadS problematizes the irreversible metamorphosis taking place in an individual when the new host claims vast areas in its reach and leaves what once was there inexistent.
Written and directed by David Moreau, the movie has the genre tropes from the beginning when we follow Romain (Milton Riche) on his way to his house, stopping and picking up a strange girl covered in bandages that came out of nowhere in the middle of the road. Strange things happen, and he then proceeds to a night of partying with his friends. The movie focuses on the changes Romain is experiencing that tell him something wrong is happening with him. From hearing voices, head spinning, to being drawn to the light, the symptoms progress rendering a process of depersonalization slowly accentuating more and more in him. And while not a found footage, for this reason, MadS bears a close resemblance to Afflicted from 2013.
The story continues, and other characters take the main spot, although never departing from the long take that makes it feel like a nightmarish choreography with no pauses. What the movie does right, above all, is in portraying such a dread infection that slowly consumes its host. Something possible by its good performances that capture in a nuanced fashion these manifestations in details. Along with Milton Riche, we have Laurie Pavy playing Anais and being responsible for some of the most horrifying scenes. The bike ride has to be one of the best moments since it captures an unbridled bestial and savage identity taking place while riding in the middle of the French night.
The Beach Girls (1982)
Is that a salami in your pocket? Or you're just glad to see me?
"I wanna go to paradise. Where the girls all look so nice." the lyrics of the song '(I want to go to) Paradise' by Arsenal at the beginning of the movie encapsulates what it is all about. The movie revolves around Sarah (Debra Blee) receiving her friends Ginger (Val Kline) and Ducky (Jeana Keough) at her uncle's beach house in order to have the best party ever. Unbeknownst to Sarah, they invite Scott (James Daughton) and from the moment he and Sarah met they will start to have feelings for each other, something the movie makes plain by the often-exaggerated smiles and gazes.
Directed by Bud Townsend, The Beach Girls is an honest movie in its unpretentious approach that ultimately undermines any attempt at quality. The characters in the movie are exactly what you would expect: unidimensional sex-and-party driven and lacking any profundity. An exchange between two of them exemplifies this lack: both trying to impress the other, he flexing "How do you like these pecks?" while she unzips her top "How do you like these bushels?" Nonetheless, the movie wants to portray at least two of them in a different fashion, that is, Sarah and Scott, who, unlike their attire-adverse friends prefer to spend at least some of their time alone by the beach trying to have deep ruminations about their future.
When it comes to Sarah, deemed a "fifty-year-old teenager" by her friends, she is not entirely convinced of the idea of turning her uncle's house into a sanctuary of hedonism. Neither is her uncle Carl (Adam Roarke), and his reluctance will make Sarah's topless friends brainstorm ideas about changing his mind. It is not difficult to imagine the nature of their ideas. The beautiful Val Kline will utilize her talents to captivate Carl in ways that would make Leonardo DiCaprio jealous. It might be said a story like this takes you back to a simpler time, one where its simplicity might not exhaust its purpose although it surely risks any artistic merit. To think that the script was written by three people is testament that cinema as an art form has definitely improved.
Bud Townsend's feature is one where voyeurs abound. From the gardener (Bert Rosario) to their neighbors, they all want to fulfill their curiosity and explore the many naked bodies. Bare-breasted girls is something the movie shows repeatedly, most of the times being Val Kline and Jeana Keough responsible for this. By reason of said voyeuristic practices, the movie, unsuccessfully, aims at some laughs. Unsuccessfully because the humor, like the plot, suffers from its simplicity: full of bad slapstick, silly jokes, anything that a teen might find funny but an adult with developed taste don't. There is a moment when it breaks the fourth wall, bad choreographed attempts of a fight, a group of coast officials who do not stand out for their brightness, evidences that amount to failed attempts at comedy. Even the dog with proclivities of depriving the ladies at the beach of their tops is not funny. If it is true that the nakedness in the movie abounds, then it is also true that in terms of comedy it is in short supply.
However, despite all its flaws, which are many, The Beach Girls manages to be somewhat entertaining. Light entertainment that does not asks much of its audience. The number of subplots manage to provide a story where something is happening all the time. And the sight of Val Kline will keep you watching, but there is not much more than that.
Der Spatz im Kamin (2024)
Families as sites of oppression
It is always interesting when a film illustrates something in an indirect manner where instead of words as a vehicle for the telling of a story, it opts for the surreal and the realm of dreams.
Written and directed by Ramon Zurcher, Der Spatz im Kamin follows Karen (Maren Eggert) receiving her sister Jule (Britta Hammelstein) for the celebration of Markus's birthday (Andreas Döhler), Karen's husband. The idyllic scene of an isolated old house in the country that we are introduced to is soon contrasted to what is happening inside its walls. Secrets, lies, and unhealed wounds of childhood render family dynamics to be anything but ideal. Despite the occasional dialogues of a past that is better, at least to them, left unheeded, Zurcher manages to portray the characters psyche and what cannot be enacted in a direct manner because it would be too hurtful and risk chaos, that is, more than it is at present, through dream-like sequences, music, and allegory.
When families are thought to be harbors of love, the pinnacle and most important value of societies, in Zurcher's feature, they are unveiled and depicted as fertile soil for hatred, lies, anger, and anything but love. They are nothing short of sites of oppression that slowly stifle their members and deprive them of the joy they could have found if it wasn't for them.
Las hermanas fantásticas (2024)
Dios está en todas partes, pero atiende en Puerto Madero
Jésica (Sofía Morandi) and Ángela (Leticia Siciliani) are estranged sisters who, after their father's death, find a hidden fortune in his luxury apartment and now have to decide if they keep it or not.
Las hermanas fantásticas explores something that most people had, at least once, dreamt about: What if I inherit or stumble upon a lot of money? The sisters are not only strangers to each other but also to their recently deceased father, who they barely knew. Hell, neither of them could recognize him at the funeral house. This opens up a door for information to be infused or learned across the way, adding to the narrative continuity and engagement. Jésica and Ángela do not get along, but they will have to spend time together, even if it is purely by mistrust, by reason of their finding those stashes of Euros that could change their lives. This renders dynamics that are humorous due to their different personalities. Jésica's wayward and sometimes unbridled honesty is hilarious, she really can't stop saying what goes through her mind, even if it's perceived as socially questionable by her sister.
Who wouldn't like to find a life-changing fortune hidden in an apartment you're about to inherit? When it comes to the sisters, the money could definitely change their lives for the better. As a fast-food cashier and as a kindergarten teacher, their lives are far from the ideal. The dream life where money is no longer a necessity, a problem that gives you headaches once the end of the month is approaching, but only a means to an end because you are loaded and can spend it as you wish without looking at the price tag. Directed by Fabiana Tiscornia and written by Mariano Vera, the movie utilizes the sister's reality as working-class people to showcase the reality of a country, in this case, Argentina, where inflation runs rampant, the economy is always on the brink of collapse, corruption is everywhere, and it would seem that people have a penchant for stealing in one way or another. Something explicitly articulated by Jésica: "Acá roban todos, hermano. Las únicas dos bo***as que encuentran una montaña de guita y no se la llevan somos nosotras."
With a runtime of 82 minutes, Las hermanas fantásticas is a light investment that manages to be entertaining, funny, and produce some laughs.
Requiem pour un vampire (1972)
You cannot be both virgin and vampire
There seems to be a constant in Jean Rollin films: castles, naked women, and vampires. Written and directed by him in what, according to the trivia section on IMDB, he claimed to be an "impromptu burst" with little regard to connection between the events and their plausibility, Requiem pour un vampire checks all of the previously mentioned marks.
It begins with a car chase of two girls in clown makeup and costumes shooting at the people who are after them. One thing leads to another, and they find themselves in a Château, unbeknownst to them, inhabited by vampires who soon go after them and hold them captive. "You have been blessed with the divine bite of the vampire."
Jean Rollin is very comfortable with silence. A decision that renders many moments atmospheric, enhanced, of course, by the beautiful setting in the woods and the castle, and that has to be the best quality about this movie. Nonetheless, it is lost in its own auto indulgence where more time than otherwise would be welcomed is utilized in sex scenes and attempts at eroticism that most of the time fail owing to their nature and, no less important, its two leads. It is simply a movie with not much in the horror department and neither in the erotic one. Not even the vampires as elements with more importance than in other of his films are interesting. Only in the last minutes do we get only in glimpses traces of dialogue from the ancient vampire that could have been better explored to provide the narrative with more content and profundity.
Julie Darling (1982)
Electra complex
Julie (Isabelle Mejias) is a young girl with a profound love for her father Harold (Anthony Franciosa) and a strained relationship with her mother Irene (Cindy Girling). From chocolate milk, a snake as a pet, to boarding school, Julie and Irene have different opinions, and their relationship is far from being ideal. They argue about everything, and mischievous Julie likes to make her mother angry, for instance, letting her snake loose so Irene scares herself to death. The arguing ends when Weston (Paul Hubbard), a delivery man with problems with the law, murders Irene while Julie watches with a rifle in her hands without shooting, just standing there letting him finish what he started.
Directed by Paul Nicholas and co-written with Maurice Smith, Julie Darling is an interesting concept owing to how provocative it is. Children supposed to be pure little angels would not be conniving with murderers, let alone if said plan is to rid themselves of members of their family. It is a movie, as usual in the 80's when it came to genre, aiming to produce shock by any possible means, e.g., Julie feeding her snake with a rat. It has references to Giallo, for instance, in the use of gloves, something commonly seen in the killers. Conveyed in the nudity it has and also in the always present incestuous desire of its protagonist, Paul Nicholas's feature is also lascivious. Julie embodies an extreme case of what psychologists refer to as the Electra complex, that is, the psychosexual development in girls where they feel a special affection for their fathers and a rivalry with their mothers. From kisses on the lips, sleeping on the same bed, to imagining herself being physically possessed by her father, the movie's portrayal of love exemplifies mores most would find questionable. It also exemplifies possessiveness with no boundaries, even if it means committing matricide.
As a low budget movie, some of its performances could definitely be better. It is not clear if they purposely wanted to be humorous, but that is certainly the effect they produce more than once. Also responsible for this, sometimes, unintentional comedy, is the use of its overly dramatic and expressive non-diegetic music.
Ultimately, Julie Darling is many things, but never uneventful, and for this reason it overcomes its flaws and makes us be attentive to its unstoppable fast-pacing rhythm that manages to be engaging and entertaining from the start. It has a certain charm because it is not what you see every day. Julie Darling is a hidden gem of the genre, making it worth watching.
XXL (2024)
Stereoscopic imagery
Spaces inhabited as extensions of their experiences and reality and dreams blurring the shores of its reach make XXL the journey of Magdalena (Astrid Drettner) and Enzo (Georgios Giokotos) one where the audience is implicitly invited to participate in.
Written and directed by Kim Ekberg and Sawandi Groskind, it follows an estranged brother and sister trying to reconnect by spending a weekend in Helsinki. In the course of the weekend, they will face situations that trigger ruminations about life, art, and existentialism. The title of the movie seems to infer its aim at covering vast areas of meaning and significance. A maximalist experience juxtaposes with its uneventful travel diary feel and traces the ground for what thought furthers by embodying each of the characters introspective thoughts, ideas, and idiosyncrasies. Idiosyncrasies underscored by its cinematography and its often close-ups of the pair enhancing their different profiles as sites for profundity but also of drama.
The use of stereoscopic imagery containing rapid flashes has to be the best moment in the movie. The unexpectedness of it, along with the beauty and fascinating effect they produce, is something rarely seen in cinema.
Une langue universelle (2024)
Demographically blind new reality and absurdist humor
From its cinematography and its usual search for symmetry, static or in traveling shots, and pleasant aesthetics with a dreamlike atmosphere enhancing the settings universality, to its story revolving around different characters, how their lives intersect and enliven a dialogue sometimes polite, other times not so much, a Wes Anderson influence crosses Matthew Rankin's feature from beginning to end.
As in Anderson's films, Rankin's is interested in exploring the reality of his film, a reality full of idiosyncrasies that serve as fertile ground for comedy. An angry teacher in a class shouting at the students, one of whom claims a turkey stole his glasses; another one is dressed up as a Groucho Marx as he wants to be a comedian; and another as a fashionista. A freelance tourist guide with strange choices for his tour, etc. With a comedy consisting of wry, deadpan, and dark humor, Une langue universelle manages to be hilarious every time it wants to. There are many times when its happenings border absurdism or surrealism, furthering the comedy that bathes it yet never undermining its aim at thought-provoking profundity. Rankin's dexterity manages to evoke a surrealist dreamlike fable but also an expressive introspective melancholy. Elements and sentiments that coalesce and give life to a special experience between places and times, realities and dreams. For instance, in the reality of the movie, even if we are in Canada, French, let alone English, seems to be a second language, and in its place there is Persian. They all speak it, and signs and billboards are written in it, rendering its result as something close yet distant, known and unknown intermingle in a culturally and demographically blind new reality.
In terms of cinematography, many times resembling that of Anderson, more in framing and movement than in color palette, there is a constant will to inhabit the spaces where the characters are in. The camera is sometimes static from a distance, observing their movement and how it affects the surroundings instead of focusing on their faces and expressions with close-ups. It is as if the place is as important as the characters for the telling of the story, and Rankin wants to make sure we delve into it as tourists from a foreign land. And while in terms of names we may know these cities, in the framework of the movie and its demographic profile unmatching our knowledge, there may be reasons to delve into these spaces.
Contes immoraux (1973)
Morality is the monopoly of no one
An intriguing and provocative series of erotic tales that challenge traditional notions of arthouse cinema by blending erotica with drama and poignant social commentary.
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk and co-written with André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Contes immoraux is an anthology consisting of five episodes in its original version: "La marée" is based on a story by André Pieyre de Mandiargues and follows twenty-year-old André (Fabrice Luchini) taking his sixteen-year-old cousin Julie (Lise Danvers) to educate her about "the mysteries of the tides."; "Thérèse Philosophe" is based on the novel of the same name from 1748 and takes place in 1890, where Thérèse (Charlotte Alexandra), a pious sexually precocious teenage, finds in her surrounding religious artifacts vehicles to express her sexual desire after being locked in her room at the convent where she lives; In "La bête," set in 1765, Romilda (Sirpa Lane), an aristocratic lady, tries to escape from a monster, the beast of Gevaudan, that, unbeknownst to her, does not want to kill her; "Erzsébet Báthory" follows the notorious Hungarian countess, played by Paloma Picasso, in 1610, who was thought to have murdered hundreds of girls with her servants; An intimate reveal of affection set in 1498 between "Lucrezia Borgia," played by Florence Bellamy, her father, Pope Alexander VI (Jacopo Berinizi), and her brother, Caesar Borgia (Lorenzo Berinizi).
Walerian Borowczyk's feature starts with a quote about love from François de La Rochefoucauld in his Maximes: "Love, with all its pleasure, becomes even more blissful through the way it is expressed." The film effectively conceptualizes the idea of said words in its search for the physicality of love and its expression in various manners. By channeling a constant lascivious gaze, it is easy to find sexual symbolism in everything, from cucumbers to the waves of the ocean. A decision that sometimes renders the experience a dense one by its prevailing interest in nudity and sex over storytelling. Due to their iconoclast nature and depiction of teratophilia, incest, blasphemy, and unlawful ways, these reifications of love could be broadly considered to be immoral. An immorality that is never depicted in a light fashion, on the contrary, it is shown in its most provocative way throughout the five segments. Its juxtaposition with the progression of the film and its regression through the centuries is also seen in the nature of each episode, as it furthers its provocative message as it progresses. When you think it is shocking enough, Borowczyk manages to surprise you by going much further, many times reaching the grotesque with a lax concept of eroticism that sometimes also borders pornography, especially in La bête, where the close-ups of the phallus and the fluids render that segment something that can be seen but not unseen. Nonetheless, it could also be said that the word "immoraux" is used not as a value judgment but as the depiction of mores pertaining to the private life. In this sense, by illustrating what constitutes a relativistic morality, the most provoking aspect of Walerian Borowczyk's anthology is not its depiction of homosexuality, rape, mass murder, incest, and polyamorousness, but its bold commentary about morality and how it is the monopoly of no one.
Contes immoraux offers the possibility to see the only time Paloma Picasso, daughter of artists Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, acted in a film. This should say enough as to why it is considered to be an art film. Despite its outright erotic nature, it is a movie with beautiful cinematography, one evoking the grace and luxury of bygone eras. A dream-like atmosphere bathes each of the stories as the product of its cinematography, the enchanting sets, and mostly by reason of the musique originale by Maurice Le Roux that successfully captivates the aura.
Una vita difficile (1961)
Echoes of a post-war Italy in the life of a writer
Written by Rodolfo Sonego, who, like the protagonist, was a partisan during the war, i.e., an antifascist resistance fighter, and directed by Dino Risi, Una vita difficile follows Silvio Magnozzi and the struggles he faces in his personal and professional life as a journalist and aspiring novelist. A movie that, at its core, could be influenced by Italian Neorealism considering the realistic depictions of the social problems in post-war Italy. Nonetheless, Risi's approach is, most of the time, humorous, never ceasing to find comedy in struggles. Alberto Sordi's sensibility combines an expertise in comedy and drama to give Silvio a mixture of idealism and cynicism in a story that takes place between the end of World War II and post-war Italy. The movie is interested in portraying the changes Italy went through and the difficulties that blossomed as a consequence. There's a dichotomy between what is happening in the life of Silvio, misadventures that render many moments humorous, and what is happening at a macro level: Italy's emergence as a republic after a referendum that put an end to fascism. Dino Risi portrays the political changes of an era not only through the eyes of our protagonist but also in an objective documentary-like fashion, taking actual footage of the events and including them in the movie, rendering his filmmaking an exercise in fictional realism.
The echoes of these changes manifest in Silvio's life. From posing ethical questions to existential ruminations. The movie raises the question of whether it is possible to live on one's own terms when they're challenged by the articulation of normative restrictions by translating Silvio's love for Elena (Lea Massari) but also for his profession as a writer and novelist into a dilemma where the options are postulated as mutually exclusive possibilities. The hegemonic desirability of what one has to do or be is never posed by the "I," but by societal norms whose authorship is never singular and cannot be pointed at. Has dignity a price? Can it be bought? Silvio's existential dilemmas, where his ethics as an idealist contest economic livability and what is deemed as "normal," will find resistance in different ways, e.g., his mother-in-law wants him to study architecture to better provide for his family. This is the reason why its humor is effective, but also the tragedy behind it. Una vita difficile exposes that we are nothing but cogs in the capitalist power structure machine incentivized to pursue superficiality and vapid consumerism. A society obsessed with material consumption.
Equally a character and historic study, Dino Risi's Una vita difficile is an entertaining commedia all'italiana that successfully achieves humor and profundity at the same time. An invitation to indulge in the charm of romance with music so beautiful as to be, once again, evidence of how important it can be in changing the feel of a movie.
Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue (2024)
Appreciating similarities and respecting differences
Gracie and Pedro are two beloved pets who are not precisely friends, and they will need to put their differences aside to get back to their two-legged friends in Salt Lake City after an airline mistake left them stranded.
Going into an unexpected adventure across the country through uncharted and unfamiliar lands in order to get back home and reunite with your loved ones is a theme explored since many decades ago in movies like The Incredible Journey from 1963 and more recently A Dog's Way Home from 2019. It is an interesting concept, allowing the characters to explore unknown territories and situations and see how they react to all of this. Gracie (Claire Alan), a pure-bred and refined little dog, and Pedro (Cory Doran), a stray cat rescued from a trashcan, are opposites in many aspects. From their origin to their species, they are different inside and out. Reasons that keep them occupied pulling pranks on each other, fighting, and so on. Gracie and Pedro literally embody the saying "Like cats and dogs," and this adds to the adventure since they are an unlikely pair that will have to collaborate if they want to be back home.
A story that leans on the differences and the characters interactions to produce comedy, but there is also a lot of slapstick, e.g., when going at high speed and different elements collide with someone's face again and again, or bodies defying physics in a Looney Tunes fashion. This, even if overused, renders many scenes humorous. When the pair share some laughs, they are really cute and hilarious, and the movie is funnier than ever, especially considering that, many times, the object of said laughs is standing right before them. Other characters are also funny in their own way; for instance, the rats, whose avarice-driven personalities are seen in little details. It is not clear if this was intentional or not. Its cinematography is good, and there are some POV takes in action scenes that enhance the adrenaline and also offer an interesting vehicle to put oneself in their shoes.
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue! Finds its weakest aspects when the companions are not on the screen since the rest of the characters are not precisely fun or interesting, let alone the unnecessary musical numbers, thankfully only two, slowing the narrative and evoking a burgeoning desire for them to end. Something similar to Leo (2023), a movie with unnecessary songs, not because the inclusion of songs necessarily lowers a film's quality, but because they are simply not good and, therefore, in no way their inclusion is justified. Gracie & Pedro is a movie that is better when it is completely focused on its protagonists since they are what brought us here in the first place, an interesting and funny duo who share a special bond that develops as the story progresses, and one, as part of the audience, wants to see more of that.
Tú me abrasas (2024)
Content subordinated to form
Written and directed by Matías Piñeiro, the film traces an interwoven relationship between literature as its central core and cinematic language, where texts of Greek poet Sappho and the chapter Schiuma d'onda of Dialoghi con Leucò by Cesare Pavese are in constant dialogue with the format.
Tú me abrasas aims to translate said texts into different languages from their original ancient Greek, as is the case with Sappho's. Texts embodying a script that could be seen as much as a poem in its own as an experiment with the medium. By reason of this, a play between image and sound is taking place from the start, something resembling a remix if we were talking about music, owing to the constant repetition of words in different rhythms and places. As a result, this circumlocution is the strongest asset of the movie because, even if repetitive, there can be found a charm in it, and mostly, artistic stimulation. Nonetheless, the movie fails in everything else due to it not being interesting enough. The passages of the texts chosen are anything but engaging or something that would justify their inclusion in a film. This makes the final product a dense experience even with its short duration of 64 minutes.
Matías Piñeiro's feature is more interesting if looked at as an experimental work since it contains elements and artistic choices that, together, formulate a different approach to the cinematic medium, albeit the price it pays is sacrificing its narrative. Ultimately, even if it is guilty of being esoteric, it is an honest work in its aim and approach, but it never ceases to be another case of content subordinated to form.
Le meraviglie (2014)
Memories from Alice Rohrwacher's childhood
Il paese delle meraviglie, a televised contest where local producers can compete with their product, gives Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu) the idea of participating and solving their beekeeper family economic problems.
Le meraviglie is the sophomore film from Alice Rohrwacher and, like her previous one, Corpo Celeste from 2011, is a coming of age whose naturalistic approach could be said to have its roots in Italian Neorealism, a style characterized for its depiction of the poor and working class. While at its foundations this is the case, Rohrwacher filmmaking departs from that style and finds a blending of elements that converge to make her films something different; La Chimera, her latest film from 2023, epitomizes this. In this sense, like in Corpo Celeste, we find her voice being formed throughout Le meraviglie.
According to Alice Rohrwacher, the movie is based on memories from her childhood working in the beekeeping business like her parents. A movie thematically crossed by topics such as control, emancipation, and the future. Wolfgang, played by Sam Louwyck, is the father of the family whose desire for her daughters to keep in the same line of work is contested by an ever-growing, unstoppable force of change. This is an illusion of control at play, an illusion he knows of but, whether out of fear or love, constitutes no more than an impossibility in disguise. For instance, his reluctance to be involved in said contest is paid no heed by his daughter, who, unbeknownst to him, applies to participate and win the cash prize. Tension looms stronger as the days go by, and the director's penchant for insinuation goes hand in hand with it.
It could be said there are enough hints to understand some of the artistic choices as signifiers of that emancipation appearing closer in reach yet not articulating the desired and expected effects. By the cave lay those who, after observing and experiencing enough of the outside, find between its walls a site of comfort.
