CAST: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston and Dominic Sessa
Let’s start with a confession. I went to see this movie mainly because of Paul Giamatti as well as Da’Vine’s acceptance speeches. It was obvious that she was special and that’s not even on screen!
Halfway through the film, I sat back with the thought in my head that this was a comfortable movie and it was strange to get that word foremost in my mind with an Alexander Payne movie. He’s someone who deals mainly in characters and relationships and these are never comfortable.
Sideways, Nebraska, Citizen Ruth and About Schmidt are some of his best and when you look at the casting, he is obviously an actor’s director. His choices are always smart and often quirky, like Carrie Preston who one feels should now be given a starring role. She’s got the chops and has done her bit as character actor.
Boys having fun: Michael Provost, Dominic Sessa and Brady Hepner.
But back to the movie. After a rather sluggish start, it suddenly gets life. It’s not that Payne goes into overdrive but he shows why he chose these specific actors to tell this rather subtle and slow-paced film.
It’s a story about three oddball characters thrown together and how they move backwards, forwards and sideway to see how it can work. There aren’t any surprises. You know from the start that things will turn out well. It’s the way they get there and the how Payne softly nudges his actors to tell this story.
If you hear that Giamatti’s tough-toffee character is given a wandering eye as well as a lingering body odour, it already gets a smile but it also explains many of his character traits.
Paul Giamatti (centre) with a few schoolboys including Sessa (left).
While Da’Vine’s award season has been quite dramatic, her character is a much gentler yet really wise woman. As a large black woman living in a country where colour is barely tolerated, you know she knows how to make herself invisible and how to survive without compromise. She’s that gal. She knows she has to look out for herself, no one else will.
But she also has a heart that is large enough to keep a watchful eye over all the broken-winged creatures in her vicinity.
Giamatti plays true to form. He isn’t capable of a bad performance that’s why I try never to miss a movie. His films are always all about the characters and he knows how to fill those out delicately but with kick when needed.
The newcomer also does a fine star turn. He has strong competition but youth is on his side and he holds back and gives when the story or character demands.
Payne says he wanted to make a good, old-fashioned 70’s film with no CGI razzmatazz and that’s exactly what he achieved. Catch it at the one off cinemas that are still screening it.
In Gauteng you can catch it at Ster Kinekor’s Rosebank Nouveau and in Cape Town at The Labia Theatre
For film fanatics, this is the time to catch up with the Oscar-nominated films with the winners to be announced on March 10. It will add some extra fun to the whole movie experience. DIANE DE BEER opted for Poor Things andThe Zone of Interest from the current crop on the Ster Kinekor circuit and, apart from excellence and originality, the appeal was that the two films could not be more different.
Let’s first have a look at their Oscar nominations: both for Best Picture; Emma Stone from Poor Things for Best Actress; Mark Ruffalo from Poor Things for Best Supporting Actor; Best Adapted Screenplay for both Poor Thingsand The Zone of Interest; Best Production Design for Poor Things; Best International Film for The Zone of Interest; Best Editing for Poor Things; Best Cinematography for Poor Things; Best Costume Design for Poor Things; Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Poor Things; Best Sound for The Zone of Interest; Best Original Score for Poor Things.
And these are a strong indication of the kind of movies we’re dealing with. Let’s start with the fun, energy and exuberance of Poor Things. Emma Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos are forming a powerful partnership following their first encounter The Favourite and it is as if this second creative endeavour was given permission by the success of the first to go all out – and they do.
Apart from the obvious deliciousness of the story depicting steam-punk retelling of a female Frankenstein, its also the landscape that Lanthimos picks and paints in which to tell the story.
With the emergence of our weird and wild scientist Dr Godwin Baxter’s (Willem Defoe) Bella (Stone), colour plays an important emotional role. As she grows into what she believes her role to be, everything becomes brighter and more visible and there’s also a quality of wonderment that runs from start to finish – both for the characters and for the audience.
Much of that can be attributed to Stone and her director, who have obviously taken the plunge and permitted themselves to tell the story that’s important to their minds – a woman with a mind of her own unfettered by the rules and morals of a society (read: men) that knows it knows best. In their world (and still today), they decide about a woman’s mind and body and the way she has to live.
From Stone’s elaborate wardrobe, her acting mobility and scope, the language in which they depict this adult fable-lesque adventure, the almost romp- and rakish elements enhanced by the beautifully bizarre yet unusual performance from the usually more affable and straight-down-the-middle Mark Ruffalo, all of these take you along on this madcap Alice-in-Wonderland – but a much more specifically driven – trip.
As the title suggests, Stone as Bella is the one in command and the one driving the process of her emancipation. In fact, she isn’t even aware she needs guidance or permission for anything in her life. She is prompted by her senses, her joy in experiencing life without any guardrails and completely unaware of the fact that the men who enter her sphere expect compliance and a dogged determination to adhere to their every command.
There’s so much more going on, but this is a film that should overwhelm, be allowed to enter your imagination and take you on their flight of fantasy. Enjoy – and then meditate on the radical directions they explore: a woman with a mind of her own!
And then for something completely different. Think World War 2, the Holocaust and the many stories told from every which way to explore the nightmarish horrors of that time. The Zone of Interest adapted from a Martin Amis novel by the same name, had to give us something new, something different to have any impact with one of the most gruesome acts in recent memory and one familiar to most of the world.
How to put the viewer into that space of horror in a different way? That was director/writer Jonathan Glazer’s task and mission. And the word that grips you from start to finish is chilling.
Glazer understood that he could tell the story without showing the victims which has been the focus of so many magnificent depictions previously. There’s Schindler’s List and The Pianist, to mention the obvious.
Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) is the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. With his wife Hedwig (Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller) and their houseful of children, they are living the ideal family life in what is sketched vividly as a bucolic idyll.
Yet looming in the background of their comfortable home is the camp. The smoke never stops rising, soldiers are spotted on occasion, the mistress of the house reprimands one of the staff with a warning of what her husband could do with her ashes, and Rudolf leaves every morning for work in his smartly pressed Nazi uniform on top of a magnificent steed.
This carefully choreographed, painfully pristine world of the Höss family does not miss the tiniest detail to deny the horrors that lie just beyond their perfectly crafted home life. Denial is a powerful tool that is deftly applied in many situations to deal with something happening to everyone’s knowledge, yet, by turning their heads, the all-powerful reality is completely dismissed and ignored.
Thát is chilling. How often in these scary situations do we hear that explanatory phrase: we didn’t know? That is why this film knocks you sideways while watching, impacts brutally and then lingers.
Hüller, arguably Europe’s hottest actress of the moment, apparently didn’t want to participate in this film. She’s magnificent and I’m thrilled she did. But it is easy to see why you wouldn’t want to immerse yourself in that dark period of Germany’s life. These kind of suppressions, oppressions and killings constantly repeat themselves across the world in many different yet no less intolerable fashions. Look at our current situation in the world. That’s why this is such an important and impactful cinematic experience. It’s smart in the way it tells a story of the past with what is happening in our world today, as cleverly injected as the camp was in the lives of the determinedly optimistic Nazi family.
Cast: Hiran Abeysekera and the magnificent puppets
Set and Costume Designer: Tom Hatley
Puppet and Movement Director: Finn Caldwell
Puppetry Designers: Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell
Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin
Sound Design: Carolyn Downing
Composer: Andrew T Mackay
Scheduled screenings on 27 August at 2.30, and on 30 and 31 August at 5.30, but check your area for loadshedding, when screening times might change.
Halfway through the filmed version of this spectacular West End play, the director, designer and writer (who adapted the book) have a short chat about the play and how it all began. For the writer it was about the story, finding all the important bits and pulling them together for the stage version. For the director, it was about what could work on stage and how to do it. And for the designer it all began with the Richard Parker, the tiger.
Life of Pi imagined in spectacular style. Credit: Johan Persson
Anyone who has read the book and now sees the filmed play will know that this is where the struggle on every level is centred and, once they got that right, it was all systems go. And that’s no small thing. I counted seven puppeteers just for the tiger. It’s simply spectacular – the design, the puppets, the lighting, the video and the sound. That’s why I listed all the names in the credits. It’s a production with all the bells and whistles and yet it holds the heart of the story with the performances by Abeysekera and the animals that come to life.
Seven puppeteers are listed in the credits just for the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson
It’s clear that imagination was the key requirement for this fantastic book, which tells the story of a 16-year-old boy named Pi who is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger.
We know he has made it because he is telling the story to two scientific types, the one sympathetic, the other a sceptic.
Hiran Abeysekera as Pi with one of his companions, a zebra. Credit: Johan Persson
But the wizardry of the play is all achieved by the magical approach and manner of telling and showing the marvellous Mantel story with no missteps. And although just the set is enough as it moves and rises and changes form to overwhelm the story, everything holds together in the way it should with Pi and his animal friends taking centre stage.
The experience is mesmerising and the two and a half hours flies by as Pi cajoles and cunningly sweet talks and outsmarts his sometimes ferocious and reluctant companions. It’s a kind of Alice-in- Wonderland adventure yet perhaps with a touch more reality than wonder, even if that is always present.
The determination of Pi to achieve his destiny draws you into both his pain and pleasure and this journey, keeping in mind that is after all a stage play, is all about the overwhelming power of theatre when done this magnificently.
Pi in conversation with Richard Parker, the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson
I have to admit, I think Pi and his friend Richard Parker and their struggle for survival have everything to do with it!
The NT Live experience is an expensive exercise but you are seeing some of the best theatre experiences the world has to offer. If that’s your gig, don’t think twice.
Bookings at Ster Kinekor: Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg, Ster-Kinekor Brooklyn in Pretoria, Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and Ster-Kinekor Gateway in Umhlanga.
Two very different heroes: Margo Robbie as Barbie and Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission Impossible
BARBIE
DIRECTOR: Greta Gerwig
CAST: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken
Barbie dolls were not my thing as a little girl. What got me wanting to see the film was the choice of director Greta Gerwig. She was first approached by Margot Robbie to write the script
And it wasn’t that I was such a fan of her most recent movie, the latest version of Little Women (which I thought had more appeal for a younger generation not yet familiar with a filmed version), it was because I thought (with Lady Bird in mind) that her take on the Barbie phenomenon would be sassy and smart.
The Perfect Pair
As a modern woman/filmmaker/scriptwriter, she would have to perform quite a dance to get this one right. With her and her partner, filmmaker/scriptwriter Noah Baumbach writing the script together about something which has become a painfully idealistic pinup of a doll, it would be intriguing.
Also, she has been vocal about accepting Robbie’s invitation to direct and that she wouldn’t have become involved with any other version.
She doesn’t disappoint. Starting with the script, the approach was incredibly inventive as they deconstruct the imposed vision to illustrate the unsustainability of that Barbie if the original version was the course you would keep following.
It might have worked in its time (and they did make concessions like a space Barbie before real women were allowed to have their own credit cards, as Gerwig notes in another interview), but today’s young Barbie’s potential followers would need a different take – and that’s exactly what Gerwig has given them.
It’s a smart, good-looking, entertaining and educational film with the only perfection they go for in the genius casting of its two lead actors, Robbie and Gosling.
Anyone who has seen Gosling’s Lars and the Real Girl will know that he has comedic chops and Robbie is a no-brainer who not only looks the part but also saw the possibilities of Barbie. She made all the right moves both on the production and the performance sides.
If anything, they could have pushed it even more in every aspect, but that’s just me. It is a perfect vehicle to set Barbie on the fast track with the latest target generation. And that is probably why Martell is happy to take any criticism of the original Barbie.
She’s been set up to take on the world once again.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE:
DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie
CAST: Tom Cruise as the hero; Esai Morales as evil personified; and a list of fabulous women all holding their own
It was evident very soon into the film that my partner and I had come to the cinema with very different expectations: he was looking for content and substance that has never been part of the series even though he was the better target for the movie; and I had no expectations but to have fun, giggle at the silliness of the script, and hang on to my seat during all the fast-paced action, which we have all seen in some form or another before, yet heightened here to the nth degree.
And this was only Part One. Apparently, the filmmakers say Part Two will be better.
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt who is always on the run … to or from danger.
Is Tom Cruise ageing? Of course he is, like all our action heroes. I mention Harrison Ford as another example. And the list goes on. But as long as they still draw the crowds, they will keep reprising the roles.
And once you get beyond the age-defying make-overs, it’s all systems go. Cruise is long past having to prove his acting skills. This is not the focus here. This is where he jumps on a motorbike and races to the edge of a majestic mountain cliff where he takes off and safely lands on a fast moving train with the help of a parachute. If you haven’t heard yet, he does his own stunts.
One of the many impressive stunt sequences.
And these are truly magnificent. It’s hair raising and huge fun to watch if you’re willing to let go and embrace this for what it is. If not, it’s not your movie. The plot can become laborious and the dialogue often incomprehensible, but it doesn’t matter.
Some like it, others don’t. The approach of the viewer matters. Cartoon by Dries de Beer aka Fatman as part of A Man and his Dog series.
It’s also a movie of which one doesn’t want to reveal any of the laughs or the high-voltage action. You need to go in cold, sit back, exhale and have a blast. That’s all this is about.
It’s no more than a caper. That’s all you get, escapism deluxe.
The stars of Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy in the title role
OPPENHEIMER
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey JR, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, with Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh
VENUES: Check the IMAX cinemas in your vicinity
It’s been quite a happening at cinemas around the country (and I think the rest of the world.) It’s even been given a name – Barbenheimer. That refers to the two new movies recently opening on circuit, Oppenheimer and Barbie.
And yes, they couldn’t be more different but for some reason they have both gripped the imagination of cinema goers. Having just seen Oppenheimer, I can see why. Barbie is a more obvious box office hit because apart from a particular phenomenon, the producers have embraced a huge audience with the choice of Greta Gerwig who is regarded as one of the smartest young directors around.
Cillian Murphy is brilliant as Robert Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer is the one that interested me first and perhaps as much because of the hype but also the director Christopher Nolan. And this was to me the biggest surprise.
In short, the film focusses on physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the man leading, cajoling, inspiring the scientists taking part in the top-secret Manhattan Project where years were spent developing and designing the first atomic bomb. What makes this so fascinating is that the film deals with the man who lead the team rather than spotlighting the bomb and how that was developed.
But also, Nolan’s approach caught me by surprise. There are challenges which includes the length of the movie which is three hours. That’s quite an investment – but take it.
Cillian Murphy and Frances Pugh in the roles of Robert Oppenheimer and his passion Jean Tatlock
More even than the facts surrounding the film, it is the film itself and how it was made that truly knocked me sideways. Sometimes the frames move so fast that one conversation moves to a few destinations in one sentence. And it happens seamlessly.
Nolan must have done a ton of work before filming even started. Every frame is a small artwork and the whole rushes by without time being an issue. It’s magnificent.
It’s also a huge bonus if you could see it in an IMAX because of the way it plays with the enormity of the first atom bomb , the explosion and the sound that all of that will produce. But everything with the emphasis on the enormity of the event and how it will reverberate through time. Robert Oppenheimer was always aware that once the first atom bomb was exploded you couldn’t turn back. That would be the start of the biggest arms race …
Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife
And think of current atomic threats in the hands of leaders many take seriously.
But also what draws the crowd I think is a spectacular cast starting with Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer. Not only does he look like the real man, he embodies him in every nuance of his movements and thoughts. It has Oscar written all over it as he holds you in the palm of his hand throughout. Oppenheimer was a maverick, an outsider but also someone who initially liked the celebrity that came with his success of exploding the first bomb – until he didn’t. And that’s where the performance holds sway, a man with many sides and shades. Murphy captures all of that.
Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer watching the first explosion
The supporting cast is no less impressive. Robert Downey Jr plays the protagonist Lewis Strauss, Matt Damon the general, Leslie Groves (and I was again reminded of his strong acting ability) and there’s Rami Malek, Jack Quaid and Josh Hartnett, as well as Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife and Florence Pugh as his passion Jean Tatlock. Tom Conti does a glorious turn as Einstein, an inspired choice, but then all of them are. And the film needed that.
I could go on and on but rather see it. It was a wonderful unexpected magnificent experience because of a director who told the story with such a good hold on all the larger themes and did it in a way that was so deliciously creative.
Each year, The European Film Festival is one of the movie highlights of the year – and this time is no different running between October 13 and 23. Here is a short review by DIANE DE BEER on one of the films:
THE GOOD BOSS
SPAIN
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa
Cast: Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, Almudena Amor
Genre: Comedy Drama
Time: 116 minutes
Spanish with English subtitles – 2021
Javier Bardem is one of those actors always worth watching. Not only does he pick his projects well, but his acting prowess is astonishing.
It’s especially when he is not the hero that all his instincts seem to kick in as he taps into even the darkest soul he has to portray.
The look says it all.
As the title of this one suggests, he is anything but The Good Boss and again, few of us as employees would not recognise this manipulating, truly wily, yet awful human being. He is only concerned with his own well-being and whatever serves his personal needs.
That’s why his downfall is so delightful to experience especially in the capable hands of Bardem, who plays the smarmy owner of a family-run factory. If you need further persuasion, the film scooped a record-breaking 20 nominations at the 36th Spanish Goya Film Awards, winning 6 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score and Best Editing).
It was also the Spanish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
Each year, The European Film Festival is one of the movie highlights of the year – and this time is no different running between October 13 and 23. Here is a short review by DIANE DE BEER on one of the films:
PLAYGROUND
BELGIUM
Director: Laura Wandel
Cast: Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Lena Girard Voss, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden
Genre: Drama Time: 72 minutes
French with English subtitles – 2021
Even if you were never bullied in school, all of us have been witness to something like that in our lives. Take Donald Trump for example, his whole existence is thanks to bullying, not an easy thing to watch even from afar.
But the title of this one says it all, and again, it is the way the young people deal with what is given to them that is captured so brilliantly.
We all know and understand the impact of abuse during your younger years, on the rest of your life. When seven-year-old Nora witnesses the bullying her older brother Abel has to endure at school, she rushes to help out. But he persuades her not to tell anyone.
She is still trying to adapt to school herself and this is something that she finds quite unbearable – that and the subtle bullying that is happening amongst her own circle of new acquaintances.
It’s a hugely emotional film with the camera rigged at Nora’s height so that we are really pulled into the centre of her storm.
It’s also the inability of doing the right thing on every level. The sensitive teacher isn’t always around at the right time, and when they are, the problem is much easier to deal with – and yet when away from the adults, is when the pressure comes into play.
This is a fantastic opportunity to catch up on many of the best movies from Europe of the past year. For details on all the films and how to watch visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za
Each year, The European Film Festival is one of the movie highlights of the year – and this time is no different running between October 13 and 23. Here is a short review by DIANE DE BEER on one of the films:
Children feature strongly in this haunting, beautifully told story about a child’s perception of loss. Nelly has lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clear out her mother’s childhood home. She explores and discovers both the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built a treehouse Nelly has often heard about.
Then suddenly, out of the blue, her mother leaves and that is when Nelly meets a girl her own age building her own treehouse and named Marion.
It’s a film that explores specifically the world of children, how they are affected by what is happening in the world around them, how adults deal with them and how they cope with feelings that are way beyond their tender years.
The two young actresses are superb and add another dimension to the film, which is tenderly made and sensitively unfolds.
It is not a children’s movie, but it is very much about their lives, they way they digest what is given to them by the adults who run their little lives and how they make sense of things they don’t understand.
This is a fantastic opportunity to catch up on many of the best movies from Europe of the past year. For details on all the films and how to watch visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za
Each year, The European Film Festival is one of the movie highlights of the year – and this time is no different running between October 13 and 23. Here is a short review by DIANE DE BEER on one of the films:
OLGA
(SWITZERLAND)
Director: Elie Grappe
Cast: Nastya Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Jérôme Martin
Genre: Drama, Coming of Age
Time: 85 minutes
French, Russian, Ukrainian with English subtitles – 2021
Anything that comes from Ukraine has added appeal because of its harrowing circumstances for almost a decade now, resulting in the most recent horrors inflicted by Putin.
But this is not a story about that, even though there are signs of things to come. What it does capture is how these catastrophic events impact the lives of children. What should have been relatively carefree times in their young lives are clouded by what is happening on the periphery.
Olga is a teenage gymnast living in exile in Switzerland where she dreams of Olympic gold as she battles to fit in with her new team.
Her mom, who is a journalist, is suffering the hardship of what that means with a sudden uprising in Kiev, the forerunner of what that brave country is facing right now.
Olga is heartbroken and scared, feeling she has deserted those she cares most about while fighting for her own freedom.
It is by no means a perfect movie, but it does have added impact because of the lives it captures almost in a bubble as we know now and with hindsight. It also throws a light on these young athletes and the pressures they face as we have recently been made much more aware of with gymnasts like Simone Biles and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
This is a fantastic opportunity to catch up on many of the best movies from Europe of the past year. For details on all the films and how to watch visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za
Each year, The European Film Festival is one of the movie highlights of the year – and this time is no different running between October 13 and 23. DIANE DE BEER picks a few to highlight and expands on everything available to watch – for free:
SMALL BODY
Festival co-director Magdalene Reddy explains that they will continue to cater for viewers and followers who have become accustomed to watching films at home, while also providing for those who long to return to the cinema.
“This is our transitional approach of coming back to theatres gradually,” she says – and I will hold thumbs that it stays this way especially for those of us not in cities where the screenings happen.
The online screenings are free while a ticket price will be charged for the theatre screenings. Each film will have a single screening at both Ster-Kinekor’s The Zone in Johannesburg and at The Labia in Cape Town.
PLAYGROUNDPETITE MAMAN
Sixteen award-winning films, eight of them by women directors, will be screened. This year’s theme, Innocence and Beyond, explores innocence not just as a legal concept, but also as a human quality. This includes two stand-out perspectives through the eyes of children in Petite Maman and Playground (see reviews below) with fantastic performances by the young stars.
OLGA
There is no set age for when loss of innocence can occur and a number of films focus on youth as they navigate the often turbulent process of growing into adults. From the Netherlands, Shariff Korver’s slow-burning psychological thriller Do Not Hesitate depicts unprepared Dutch youths thrown into the crucible of war, while Swiss film Olga, by Elie Grappe, is a tense but sensitively handled tale of exile (see review below). The riveting women-driven film Small Body is an adventure story infused with a wonderful mythological sensibility that earned Laura Samani the best new director prize at Italy’s David d’Donatello awards.
AS FAR AS I CAN WALK
How much does innocence inform a young woman’s quest for love and meaning? This is the question in Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, a Norwegian/French/Danish/Swedish co-production that earned two Oscar nominations this year. Stefan Arsenijević’s Serbian/French/Luxembourgian/Bulgarian/Lithuanian co-production As Far As I Can Walk highlights that it’s not just securing a roof over one’s head but also the challenges of emotional and intellectual deprivation that young migrants face today.
THE EMIGRANTS
Is innocence solely about what’s right and what’s wrong? Sometimes it’s about what we don’t do. Silent Land, by Poland’s Aga Woszczyńska, is a case of what the protagonists didn’t do (see review), and Erik Poppe’s Swedish film The Emigrants is an epic period drama about a poverty-stricken family who emigrate to the United States in the 1800s, told from a woman’s perspective, in a search for a second chance in life. From the Republic of Georgia, Levan Koguashvili’s comedic Brighton 4th is a portrait of parental sacrifice and the love of a father for his son that also shows the elusiveness of the American Dream.
THE GOOD BOSS
Ali and Ava, written and directed by one of the UK’s most distinctive cinematic voices, Clio Barnard, is about a couple from different cultural backgrounds beginning a relationship while The Good Boss, directed by Fernando León de Aranoa, is a satire about the indignities of working life, with Javier Bardem in the spotlight (see review).
Austrian Sebastian Meise’s Cannes-winner Great Freedom explores tenderness, love, lost time, and the tenacity of the human spirit while Portuguese director Catarina Vasconcelos’s unorthodox film The Metamorphosis of Birds sifts through the memories and dreams of her ancestors. The German film I’m Your Man by Maria Schrader is a spunky sci-fi dramedy that asks what humans want in relationships, and if AI beings should have rights.
Finally, the world is again witnessing and affected by a terrible war, and innocence is an unfortunate casualty. Director/screenwriter/editor Maryna Er Gorbach’s Ukrainian-set drama Klondike deals with the travails of parents-to-be living near the Russian border exposing the absurdity of war and how it affects those who aren’t directly involved.
This is a fantastic opportunity to catch up on many of the best movies from Europe of the past year. For details on all the films and how to watch visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za
OLGA
(SWITZERLAND)
Director: Elie Grappe Cast: Nastya Budiashkina, Sabrina Rubtsova, Jérôme Martin Genre: Drama, Coming of Age Time: 85 minutes
French, Russian, Ukrainian with English subtitles – 2021
Anything that comes from Ukraine has added appeal because of its harrowing circumstances for almost a decade now, resulting in the most recent horrors inflicted by Putin.
But this is not a story about that, even though there are signs of things to come. What it does capture is how these catastrophic events impact the lives of children. What should have been relatively carefree times in their young lives are clouded by what is happening on the periphery.
Olga is a teenage gymnast living in exile in Switzerland where she dreams of Olympic gold as she battles to fit in with her new team.
Her mom, who is a journalist, is suffering the hardship of what that means with a sudden uprising in Kiev, the forerunner of what that brave country is facing right now.
Olga is heartbroken and scared, feeling she has deserted those she cares most about while fighting for her own freedom.
It is by no means a perfect movie, but it does have added impact because of the lives it captures almost in a bubble as we know now and with hindsight. It also throws a light on these young athletes and the pressures they face as we have recently been made much more aware of with gymnasts like Simone Biles and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Children feature strongly in this haunting, beautifully told story about a child’s perception of loss. Nelly has lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clear out her mother’s childhood home. She explores and discovers both the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built a treehouse Nelly has often heard about.
Then suddenly, out of the blue, her mother leaves and that is when Nelly meets a girl her own age building her own treehouse and named Marion.
It’s a film that explores specifically the world of children, how they are affected by what is happening in the world around them, how adults deal with them and how they cope with feelings that are way beyond their tender years.
The two young actresses are superb and add another dimension to the film, which is tenderly made and sensitively unfolds.
It is not a children’s movie, but it is very much about their lives, they way they digest what is given to them by the adults who run their little lives and how they make sense of things they don’t understand.
PLAYGROUND
BELGIUM
Director: Laura Wandel Cast: Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Lena Girard Voss, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden Genre: Drama Time: 72 minutes
French with English subtitles – 2021
Even if you were never bullied in school, all of us have been witness to something like that in our lives. Take Donald Trump for example, his whole existence is thanks to bullying, not an easy thing to watch even from afar.
But the title of this one says it all, and again, it is the way the young people deal with what is given to them that is captured so brilliantly.
We all know and understand the impact of abuse during your younger years, on the rest of your life. When seven-year-old Nora witnesses the bullying her older brother Abel has to endure at school, she rushes to help out. But he persuades her not to tell anyone.
She is still trying to adapt to school herself and this is something that she finds quite unbearable – that and the subtle bullying that is happening amongst her own circle of new acquaintances.
It’s a hugely emotional film with the camera rigged at Nora’s height so that we are really pulled into the centre of her storm.
It’s also the inability of doing the right thing on every level. The sensitive teacher isn’t always around at the right time, and when they are, the problem is much easier to deal with – and yet when away from the adults, is when the pressure comes into play.
It is their lives that become the playground as Nora starts acting out because of the way she has been messed up by all these raging emotions around the problems of protecting her brother.
Astonishing acting from all the children in a story that can impact so many lives everywhere. It’s also a directorial debut for Laura Wandel and shows great promise for the future. Her filmmaking is already faultless.
SILENT LAND
POLAND
Director: Agnieszka Woszczyńska Cast: Dobromir Dymecki, Agnieszka Żulewska, Jean Marc Barr, Alma Jodorowsky, Marcello Romolo Genre: Drama Time: 113 minutes
Polish, English, French, Italian with English subtitles – 2021
Everything about this film screams art movie in the best sense of the word. It’s the setting up of the story, the young couple playing the leads, the pace or sometimes lack thereof as well as the unfolding and slightly mysterious tone of film that adds to the quality of the viewing.
I was reminded throughout of European movies seen in the past presenting a similar atmosphere and handling of character and content. There’s no spoon feeding and the substance is serious yet accessible.
Director Agnieszka Woszczyńska says it best: ‘Silent Land is not only about the collapse of a relationship, but also about the collapse of the value system in the modern world, the general indifference to reality, and social lethargy. Ultimately, it is a tale about alienation, not only from each other, but also from the world. It’s about conformity and passivity, where the need for safety and convenience is a strategy for survival.’
THE GOOD BOSS
SPAIN
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa Cast: Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, Almudena Amor Genre: Comedy Drama Time: 116 minutes
Spanish with English subtitles – 2021
Javier Bardem is one of those actors always worth watching. Not only does he pick his projects well, but his acting prowess is astonishing.
It’s especially when he is not the hero that all his instincts seem to kick in as he taps into even the darkest soul he has to portray.
As the title of this one suggests, he is anything but The Good Boss and again, few of us as employees would not recognise this manipulating, truly wily, yet awful human being. He is only concerned with his own well-being and whatever serves his personal needs.
That’s why his downfall is so delightful to experience especially in the capable hands of Bardem, who plays the smarmy owner of a family-run factory. If you need further persuasion, the film scooped a record-breaking 20 nominations at the 36th Spanish Goya Film Awards, winning 6 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score and Best Editing). It was also the Spanish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards
De Beer Necessities 