POMO

A subtle narrative covering two social themes – the absurd situation of a school system in which children have more rights than teachers, and queer issues in the form of a frightened child starting to become aware of his own sexuality. And all of this in observing several key moments in the academic setting from the multiple perspectives of those involved, whose personal and professional lives are affected the events depicted. Monster is a superbly written dialogue film with quiet, powerful moments. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

An intimately off-kilter but likeably original idea rendered into a rather traditional melodramatic cliché about society’s inability to accept otherness in its ranks. And about a couple who find kinship as they struggle with provincial obtuseness. The French are not afraid of anything. If the courage of the director/screenwriter had been applied also to the unexpected and appropriately shocking conclusion of the story, the film would have left a more substantial mark on the festival scene. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

This dark pathological thriller descends into horror not through scares or a sense of dread, but through a chillingly realistic rendering of a disturbing subject. With its atmospherically appropriate setting in gloomy New York, the film features a creepy lead character superbly stylised by Marin Ireland. The film is psychologically balanced, as the motivations of the two doctor characters are understandable despite the definite crossing of ethical boundaries. Only the directorial guidance of the child actress is weak, and the film’s conclusion lazily avoids the escalation of tension that the viewer expected.

Maika Monroe is the only one who sort of holds together this pretty dysfunctional drama about the search for an abducted daughter / thriller about a struggle between mortals and a gang of crackpot goons / unexpected romance between two emotional castaways. God Is a Bullet is quite inept in terms of its use of emotion and suspense, not to mention the comically inappropriate brutality and unsuccessful effort to shock with eccentric bad guys, among which only Karl Glusman hands in an impressive performance. And Jamie Foxx is surprising in a supporting role. Otherwise, there’s not much of value here. The dialogue is superficial, the directing is disjointed and the main character played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is lifeless.

A DreamWorks/Universal cinema release at the same level of quality as a below-average Netflix B-movie. The film starts promisingly with nice production design and the well-rendered and well-lighted gloomy interiors of the ship. Dracula’s first appearance and the atmospheric murders of the initial victims are spectacular. However, the film starts to fall apart in the second half, as the escalating tension is replaced by badly edited dramatic scenes, the nice CGI is supplanted by tacky dawn combustion and, thanks to the hopelessly deteriorating screenplay, the characters lose the contours of meaning that they possessed at the beginning. The self-assured Van Helsing-esque epilogue is then nothing more than laughable.

It’s a shame that The Equalizer 3 has less action and, in particular, a formalistically sloppy settling of accounts with the main bad guy. Denzel Washington’s charisma and the excellent stylisation of his character as the alpha purveyor of justice from the conflict with the Italian Camorra offered a bigger and longer slaughter with a higher body count. We have been spoiled by John Wick... That said, The Equalizer 3 is still entertaining even in the quiet passages with its fine characters, Italian atmosphere and, mainly, escalating tension leading up to the clash between the brutal local underworld and the ultimate American hero. The epilogue is needlessly theatrical (Italy) and naïve (San Francisco).

With its original story and characters, Pacification is an alternative, interestingly atmospheric “quiet drama” in the attractive tropical setting of the rainy Tahitian islands. Only the filmmaker’s need to make political statements can come across as annoying. And the slow pace of the nearly three-hour plot with occasionally insipid dialogue can be yawn-inducing. This casualness, however, reflects the lifestyle of the characters and complements the film's unique island nature. The surprising scenes with mega-wave surfing and great sound are nicely refreshing.

Woody Harrelson is great, Kaitlin Olson is edgy and there is one joke and an apt one-liner that (of course) I had never heard in any American film before. The rest of Champions is made up only of the most hackneyed clichés of feel-good sports movies delivered in an average screenplay. But could I have expected anything more from Farrelly?

In his most mature and least audience-friendly film, Christopher Nolan draws in and astonishes viewers of all levels of intelligence and education with three hours of talk about nuclear physics and politics. I bow down before him. Filming such a focused, perfectly acted, informationally rich and thoughtfully assembled mosaic of events that remains interesting and historically accurate throughout its runtime in just 57 days is a display of filmmaking mastery. The fact that Nolan was aided in this by a subject that concerns and terrifies each of us is not a crutch. Which other director could bring such verve to this subject matter? The intensity and urgency of the film’s narrative are again boosted by the clamorously mixed soundtrack by the wizard Ludwig Göransson (Tenet), which is worthy of admiration in its own right due to its originality and the creativity in the details. Brilliant stylisation of the characters, editing and casting of actors that you wouldn’t expect and who fit perfectly (Benny Safdie rules!). A those two crucial scenes built on essential filmmaking elements without digital aids are absolutely fantastic. Immediately after the film ended, I had mixed feelings, as I had expected something different, as perhaps each of us did. But as time passed, Oppenheimer grew on me and I’m glad that Nolan did it his way.

The exploration of the real world by people coming from Barbie Land is stimulating and original and hints at the promise of a clever, fresh and original satire reflecting the pseudo-problems of contemporary (western) society. But the potential inherent in that is cut dead by the subsequent “gender conflict” and its childish resolution to which the film resorts. And that’s a shame. Even the balance of entertainment for children and adults doesn’t work here, since the movie is not for kids at all. But let’s be glad that audiences are returning in large numbers to cinemas now that the pandemic is over. Barbie deserves thanks for that. And special praise goes to the originator of the brilliant “Barbenheimer” marketing concept, though the hardworking crew around Tom Cruise didn’t deserve to have M:I-7 overshadowed.