Reviews (2,766)
Borders of Love (2022)
Borders of Love is banality that’s precise in dialogue and authentic in acting, with one casting surprise. From the first moment, you figure out where it will go and that’s exactly where it goes and ends up.
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
“The only place socialism works is hell – and they don't need it there.” Triangle of Sadness is a satirical ode to the inevitable inequality in society. Balance is utopia. In terms of entertainment value, this dinner tasting from The Square colossally developed into a concert of absurdity on a luxury yacht trumps anything we have seen in the comedy genre in recent years. And it’s not even a comedy genre film. I also enjoyed the hard shocks of the panning camera. When you have something to say, you can repeatedly remind yourself that form is only a means of saying it. Just as all of the whimsical glamour propriety of the passengers on this grand voyage is unnecessary... I’m not giving the film a fifth star because the last, “island” third of the film falls short of the “boat” part in terms of both humor and the effectiveness of capping off the scenes. But the ending is excellent!
Flux Gourmet (2022)
If Strickland had applied all of the feminine sensuality, feel for production design and mystical poetics to subject matter that is more accessible to viewers, we would have revelled in a cinema connosieur’s idea of heaven. But no, he enjoys messing around with obscure ideas torn from reality and evoking a dreamlike phantasmagoria in which it is impossible to find a connection with real fantasies and desires. And he needs to lubricate the lead actress in the theatrical act with shit from the gassy documentarian’s bowels. Why?? In Flux Gourment, you will find, if you want, parallels with Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, which was released the same year. Alternative forms of artistic acts. But Cronenberg's opus, though also very much outside of the mainstream, is a more complexly thoughtful reflection on the existing themes. [KVIFF]
Crimes of the Future (2022)
Crimes of the Future is a bizarre, visually polished movie with an interesting dystopian vision of society compelling music from Howard Shore, a charismatic Mortensen in a black martyr’s cowl and a sexually and irresistibly unique Kristen Stewart. Every second with her was entrancing for me. It’s just a shame that the film didn’t culminate in her delightful, loud orgasm on the operating table while surgically connecting her open wounds with the tumor-ridden Mortensen. When I was a young boy, the message of Hellraiser that “pain is pleasure” was instrumental in helping me overcome getting stitches for my busted head and other injuries from doing what boys do. Crimes of the Future gave me the idea that having something unwelcome and malignant growing in your body is not only a natural genetic process of life, but also a unique work of art created by our bodies. This is a strange, fascinating film that is difficult to understand, and I will definitely watch it again. [KVIFF]
The Woodcutter Story (2022)
This meta-nonsense from the Finnish backwoods is funny at times and has good minimalist music. The inspiration taken from the humor of national classics is obvious; the first third of the film even comes across as a black comedy, like a Finnish take on Fargo. But by veering into sci-fi with extraterrestrial motifs and a screenplay that can’t even begin to make sense to absolutely anyone, Myllylahti totally went too far. [KVIFF]
Les Huit Montagnes (2022)
The most boring characters, dialogue and, in general, story that you can see in a movie from the mountains. In a movie from the mountains emasculatingly shot in 4:3 format.
Superheroes (2021)
Superheroes is yet another clichéd relationship flick, but it’s carefully and sensitively told and acted, and it has a nice epilogue. It won’t receive any awards like The Worst Person in the World, as it is less sophisticated in terms of screenwriting and more sentimental, but it reliably touches the viewer’s heart. [KVIFF]
Godland (2022)
Godland is an aptly depicted journey through the Icelandic wilderness without Gore-Tex. Meditative and very slow, but atmospherically engaging and with a supporting plot premise, it is a bit reminiscent of Scorsese’s Silence. The very idea of basing a story on real historical photographs taken by a vanished priest is interesting. And with his careful composition in the “photographic” 4:3 format, Pálmason gives it remarkable content. Thought it’s only philosophically suggestive, it is interesting and valuable. Edit: The filmmakers revealed in discussions that the photographs weren't real. Hmm. I just didn't expect such a creative approach with this film... [KVIFF]
Beautiful Beings (2022)
This is nothing for lovers of the Icelandic countryside, which goes practically unseen here. The story could have been set in a similar slum/industrial area on the outskirts of Manchester. The friendship between teenagers at a time of rising violence and bullying among young people is often cruel and bleak, but also balanced by the support between them and their protectiveness. Though Beautiful Beings is not very original in terms of theme or execution, it is dramatically intense. [KVIFF]
Cold Skin (2017)
Cold Skin proves that being a butcher skilled in filmmaking is not the same as being a generally skillful director, or rather a director capable of, for example, comprehensively telling a story with sensitive development of the meeting of two species. Cold Skin is neither fish nor fowl, a dysfunctional film that Xavier Gens gradually transforms from a survival horror flick into a fantasy tale with heart. Halfway through, however, something in it goes off the rails and the result evokes only a bitter smile. The theme and the setting of a rugged volcanic coastline had potential and, in light of the budget and production possibilities, it could be forgiven for its mediocre digital rendering.