A Film a Week - The Long Walk / Bor Mi Vanh Chark

previously published on Asian Movie Pulse

The US-born Laotian filmmaker Mattie Do is back on the festival circuit with her third feature "The Long Walk". This arthouse-genre hybrid premiered at Venice Days sidebar of 76th Venice International Film Festival before its North American premiere at Toronto and, having in mind Do's reputation for "Chantaly" (2012) and "Dearest Sister" (2016), it will travel beyond that both regarding the "regular" film festivals (especially those "late night" sections) and more specific genre-oriented ones.

As her previous movies, it is a ghost story of sorts that follows some genre conventions while also examining the (contemporary) Laotian society. The plot is realized through two timelines separated by 50 years. It opens in the near future with an old man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungs) living in the rural area of scavenging motorcycle parts for money. There is something sinister about his lonely existence, especially with a notion that there is a serial killer lurking in the area and him being one of the last persons who saw the latest victim alive. The plot twists when the dead woman's daughter (Vilouna Phetmany) and the police come to him asking for help: apparently, he can speak to the ghosts. One of them, a young woman (the first-timer Noutnapha Soydara), actually follows him...

The other timeline is set in the recent past, with a boy (Por Silatsa) finding a dead young woman (Soydara, again) in the swamp. It might be his first contact with death, but it will not be the only one: his mother (Chanthamone Inoudome) is ill with no chance of recovery, while his father is largely absent, angry or drunk and the small vegetable garden around the house needs tending to. How are those two timelines connected, it is for us to see in the two hours of the running time.

The script by Do's regular screenwriter Christopher Larsen is meticulously constructed and it moves in circles of mystery offering the viewer a fair share of red herrings in the shape of recurring details (the same ghost, the same house and some of the mise-en-scene solutions are in both storylines) that still have to find the place in the story. They eventually do, but the feeling is a bit confusing for the first half of the film so patience is strongly advised.

The understated science fiction bits and pieces (payments are handled through microchips tattooed on the forearm of each person, supersonic aircrafts are flying over the area and the motorbikes are designed in the futuristic fashion even though they function is basically the same) here to highlight the class conflict in nominally socialist Laotian society, but they are not used to their maximum extent. And combined with similarly frivolously used time travelling and ghost aspects aim to add something to the spiritual dimension, but actually accumulate the confusion. With an additional circle in the end and a couple of plot twists, the feeling is that Mattie Do tried to be too clever for her own good, no matter how good of a storyteller she is, as she demonstrated in her previous works. But the film is still intriguing and thought-provoking.

One of Do's fortes is her work with the actors, especially with one of her "Dearest Sister" veterans Yannawoutthi Chanthalungs whose characters is the most complex of the bunch and also harbours the most of the films mystery. His acting is compellingly understated and his face shows the stoicism necessary to endure the hardships of life. Vilouna Phetmany and Noutnapha Soydara are similarly gentle and vulnerable in quite different roles and Por Silatsa's restrained acting works well with the film.

Visually interesting, shot in saturated contrast colours (green and yellow for the exteriors, dark brown and grey under the dim light for the interior), well acted and narratively unorthodox, "The Long Walk" is a film worth the time spent on watching it. The film also profits from the time taken for contemplating about it. It might not be the peak of Do's career so far, but it is certainly something new and fresh.

It Chapter Two

kritika objavljena na XXZ

2019.

režija: Andy Muschietti

scenario: Gary Dauberman (prema romanu Stephena Kinga)

uloge: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Martell, Wyatt Oleff, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Teach Grant, Nicholas Hamilton, Xavier Dolan, Joan Gregson, Peter Bogdanovich, Stephen King

Pre dve godine, nova ekranizacija magnum opusa Stephena Kinga, romana It, odnosno njen prvi deo, rasturila je bioskopske blagajne iz više razloga. Film je izvrsno pratio trendove i ciljao svoju publiku: bilo je tu nostalgije za 80-im godinama prošlog veka, avanture, prestravljivanja, prijateljstva i pseudo-mudrosti, što je radilo posao za mlađu publiku, dok je ona nešto starija poredila klovna Pennywisea današnjice sa Pennywiseom svoje mladosti, u izvedbi Tima Curryja u televizijskoj seriji iz ranih 90-ih. Reditelj Andy Muschietti i trio scenarista (Gary Dauberman, Cary Fukunaga i Chase Palmer) su vrlo mudro prekomponovali radnju iz romana kako bi se nastavak podrazumevao.

Sada pred sobom imamo drugo poglavlje koje prati našu sedmorku klinaca 27 godina kasnije kada se zlo u trećem licu jednine srednjeg roda ponovo pojavi u gradu Derryju, savezna država Maine. Novina mu je to da će se naši junaci ponovo morati nositi s njim jer ga prošli put nisu do kraja "ubili", te da se ovog puta ono manifestuje u više oblika, ne samo kao klovn koji mami i ubija decu. Ako se prethodno poglavlje bavilo zlom u svom natprirodnom, ali i prirodnom obliku u doba odrastanja (nije tu stvar samo u klovnu, nego i u siledžijama, nasilnim, posesivnim, kontrolišućim roditeljima, inherentnom rasizmu zabite sredine itd), ovo ima ambicije da definiše zlo sa kojim se odrastao, pretpostavimo dobar čovek mora nositi. I to je samo jedno od merila po kojem je ovo drugo poglavlje slabije i nespretnije izvedeno od prethodnog.

Drugi nivo, sasvim subjektivni, je taj da nam naši simpatični klinci nisu toliko simpatični sada kada su odrasli. Uostalom, ekipa je skraćena za jedan lik jer se starmali Jevrejin Stan (Bean) ubije odmah na početku u nemogućnosti da se ponovo suoči sa onim što ga čeka. Ostali su dakle, hipohondar Eddie (Ransone) koji je sada neurotični broker, crnac Mike (Mustafa) koji je jedini ostao u gradu i u međuvremenu si pribavio etiketu lokalne lude koja se zamlaćuje s teorijama zavere, novajlija / debeljko Ben (Ryan) koji je u međuvremenu smršao i postao hipster-arhitekta, lajavi serator Ritchie (Hader) koji je sada polu-uspešni stand-up komičar, te Bill (McAvoy), vođa bande koji je postao poznati horor-pisac u krizi i devojka Beverly (Chastain), zarobljena u lošem braku sa bogatim dizajnerom. Oni se baš i ne druže međusobno, za pretpostaviti je da se nisu videli 27 godina, ali ne krivim ih: teško da bi se iko pri zdravoj pameti družio s njima.

Treći je tretman trauma odrasle dobi: one, naime, ovde nisu ni izbliza simbolički moćne kao one iz prvog poglavlja, odnosno rane mladosti. Zato Muschietti poseže za dva rešenja: flashback scenama koje su kontra-produktivne jer nam sa svakom sledećom naši odrasli likovi postaju sve manje i manje simpatični i prepadima kojih je još i više nego u prvom delu i očito služe da maskiraju manjak supstance. Srećom, pauk kao pojavni oblik je smanjen na minimum, gola divovska baba (Gregson) je donekle efikasna ma koliko bila loše reciklirana iz The Shining i očito dorađena CGI efektima, a Pennywiseovo prečesto pojavljivanje uz još očitije CGI manipulacije u suštini ubija njegovu preku stravičnost na mahove iz prvog dela. Dodatni problem je i promena u Skarsgardovom pristupu koji je sad teatralniji i unekoliko podseća na Curryjev, odnosno na imitaciju istog.

Četvrti i možda najkardinalniji je trajanje filma, pola sata duže od prethodnog poglavlja, što je problematično jer je obrnuto proporcionalno tematskoj kompleksnosti. Vreme nije potrošeno na razvoj likova, već uglavnom na prazan hod i popunjavanje istog "set-piece" scenama (od kojih su neke sasvim pristojne) i "jump scare" momentima. U tome jednostavno nema mesta za realne, ovozemaljske strahove, pa It Chapter Two deluje kao pravolinijska, gotovo arkadna avantura sa nespretno podigranim ljubavnim trouglom bez neke realne pretnje između troje nosećih likova.

Utisak u priličnoj meri popravljaju glumci, pre svega izuzetno uverljiva Jessica Chastain, poslovično odlična čak i u osrednjim ili lošim filmovima. Vrlo dobar je i versatilni James McAvoy koji uspeva da uhvati neurozu pisca u krizi, dok se Bill Hader suviše oslanja na verbalne gegove i proseravanje u maniru glumca iz ne baš dobrih nepristojnih komedija. Ostatak se gubi u masi, ne svojom krivicom, već zbog toga što su likovi usled dramaturgije zarobljeni u limbu između glavnih i sporednih. Za gledaoce je donekle osvežavajuće ponovno pojavljivanje mladih glumaca, pre svega Sophije Lillis u ulozi Beverly kao devojke i Jaedena Martella, ranije poznatog po prezimenu Lieberher) koji igra mladog Billa, te Finna Wolfharda (zvezda serije Stranger Things čiju je poetiku prethodno poglavlje oponašalo) kao mladog Ritchieja. Simpatičan je izbor faca za cameo uloge, pa tako Peter Bogdanovich igra reditelja koji može, a ne mora imati veze s njim samim, Xavier Dolan je nažalost potrošen da bude žrtva u prologu filma, a čak se i sam Stephen King pojavljuje u jednoj sceni kao vlasnik radnje s antikvitetima.

Kad smo kod Kinga, bez obzira na etiketu "majstora strave" i bliskosti između horor-literature i filmova, sa njim treba biti pažljiv, treba znati izabrati, pročitati i naročito filtrirati ono što funkcioniše, a šta ne. Njegovom ultra-plodnom stilu pisanja na granici skribomanije bolje leže kraće forme (kratke priče, novele, kratki romani), nego "regalska književnost" koje se reditelji po pravilu hvataju, kao što mu bolje leži prirodno ili tek lagano natprirodno zlo, nego ono simbolički moćno jer dosta često nema dovoljno koncentracije i discipline da ga izdigne iznad nivoa banalnog. Scenaristička knjiga je sa tri spala na jedno slovo, a Dauberman ne spada u red sjajnih, a Muschietti ipak nije reditelj velikog formata, pa Kingu pristupa kao zanatlija i gotovo štancer, što je dovoljno da "drži vodu", ali ne više od toga.

Problem se, pak, može pojaviti u budućnosti i u formi franšize, bilo da se radi o nekom "spin-offu" na temu Pennywisea ili o potencijalnom nastavku. Ma koliko bila intrigantna zamisao da naše mulce i odrasle vidimo i kao starije ljude (koji još uvek mogu proći kao sredovečni), to, bojim se, nije nimalo dobra ideja, svejedno da li bi to pisao sam King ili ga "dopisivao" neki filmski scenarista. Onda ćemo tek plakati za upadljivo prosečnim drugim filmskim poglavljem Ita.

A Film a Week - Balloon / Qiqiu

previously published on Asian Movie Pulse

As a novelist and a filmmaker, Pema Tseden is probably one of the key figures in the contemporary Tibetan culture. His newest film, "Balloon" ("Qiqiu" in the original) is kinda connected to his previous works, especially with "Tharlo" (2015) and his previous award-winning Venice title "Jinpa" (2018), at least through his "house actor" Jinpa and the topics revolving around Buddhist religion, mysticism and philosophy. However, "Balloon" has another, quite this-worldly, realistic layer to it: the examination of One-child Policy from a distinctly Tibetan point of view. The film, like its predecessor, has premiered recently at Orizzonti competition of the 76th edition of Venice Film Festival.

The story follows a family living alone on the vast plateau surrounded by their prized sheep. It consists of an ailing grandfather (Konchok), a father named Dargye (Jinpa), a mother Drolkar (Sonam Wangmo) and their two mischievous sons who have found two of the last condoms in their parents' stash and use them like balloons for playing with each other. The time period is not specified, but it can either be in the 80s or 90s, which means that One-child Policy was still very dominant and brutally enforced even by lenient doctors. With Dargye's libido, Drolkar's inability to say no to him and Tibetan religious and ethnological traditions (mainly, the belief in reincarnation of the deceased relatives in the small family circle), but also the shortages of material goods like condoms contradicted by the strictness of the state family planning policy, the problems are about to occur and to hit the family quite hard.

There are more subplots that eventually get connected to the main thread of the story. One of them follows Dargye's business actions like borrowing the ram from his friend so it could impregnate as much of his ewes as possible, which serves as a statement of natural order of things opposed to man-made policies. Another one involving the couple's student-age son Jamyang (Dudul), Drolkar's nun sister Ani (Yangshik Tso) who comes to pick him up and escort him home for summer holidays and his teacher, simultaneously her ex-lover (Kunde) tends to explore the relationship between love, religion and tradition.

"Balloon" would have been a wonderfully poignant social issues type of dramedy, but Pema obviously had other things in mind. It does not make the film less critical towards the repressive society and the pressures within the same circles, on the contrary. It just makes it richly layered and a bit exotic and hard to follow for those not quite acquainted with the traditions. On the other hand, this loose structure works as a rich tapestry that we can imagine reading a novel, but are rarely able to see in movies.

His storytelling might be meandering, but as a director he seems like a man with a vision that does not get satisfied by simply following certain rules of the trade. He is more intuitive than that, especially when it comes to working with actors, both professional and unprofessional, familiar or unfamiliar to him. That especially goes for Jinpa the actor whose performance is somewhat different from the ones as Jinpa the character. Visual side of the film is quite impressive due to beautiful locations like wide open spaces and mountain landscapes, but also to Lu Songye's sure-handed camerawork.

The trick with "Balloon" is that, like all the things that come from a strongly traditional culture, it has to be taken as it is. Pema Tseden is still on the virginal territory of inventing a film language that works in Tibetan surroundings and can treat a number of subjects, both philosophical and mundane. In the end, "Balloon" is a rewarding film and a step in Pema's career to another masterpiece after "Jinpa".

Wasp Network

kritika objavljena u dodatku Objektiv dnevnog lista Pobjeda i na portalu Analitika

Malo je filmskih autora koji su uspeli da iskombinuju i raznovrsnost i veličinu opusa, odnosno tempo stvaranja od prosečno jednog filma na dve godine – kao francuski režiser i scenarista Olivije Asaja. Njegovi filmovi nisu uvek savršeni, svakom se može naći i nekoliko mana, ponekad čak i krupnih, ali makar mu predanosti poslu ne manjka.

Na primer, „Wasp Network“, koji je premijerno prikazan u Veneciji, četvrti je njegov film u pet godina. Dolazi nakon niza koji sačinjavaju „Clouds of Sils Maria“ (2014) u kojem je otkrio novu-staru glumačku dimenziju Kristin Stjuart, zvezde sage „Twilight“; zatim „Personal Shopper“ (2016) sa istom glumicom u ponajboljoj ulozi i impresivni „Non-Fiction“ (2018) koji se „ljubovanjem“ u buržoaskom krugu bavio na vrlo svež način. 

Pre tog niza Asaja je napisao i režirao poluautobiografski film „Something in the Air“ (2012) u kojem se priseća revolucije 1968. godine iz ličnog ugla i mamutsku petostatnu trodelnu mini-seriju „Carlos“ (2010), biografiju Šakala, najpoznatijeg svetskog profesionalnog teroriste.

„Wasp Network“ ima najviše sličnosti upravo sa ovim naslovom, ne samo zbog glavnog glumca Edgara Ramireza, latino-miljea i španskog jezika koji se predominantno čuje, već i zbog biografske osnove („zasnovano na stvarnim događajima“) i ugođaja raskošne, fantastično uslikane televizijske mini-serije sa lokacijama od kojih zastaje dah. Temeljna razlika je u formatu. „Wasp Network“ traje malo više od dva sata - i to se oseća na ne baš dobar način. 

Naprosto, previše je likova i događaja, a kontekst je specifičan i ne naročito poznat. Reč je o mreži kubanskih špijuna koji su se infiltrirali u redove antikomunističke kubanske dijaspore u Majamiju, otkrili njene veze sa organizovanim kriminalom i terorističkim akcijama, ali i američkim zvaničnim i poluzvaničnim strukturama. „Kubanska petorka“, odnosno špijuni koji se nisu sklonili na vreme, pohvatani su, procesuirani i osuđeni u sudskom procesu koji možemo smatrati poslednjim hladnoratovskim događajem te vrste. To potvrđuje i naslov knjige Fernanda Moraisa koja je poslužila kao inspiracija.

Prvo upoznajemo Renea (Ramirez), pilota kubanske vojske koji jednog dana, gotovo iznenada, odluči da rizikuje sve i ukrade avion, proleti ispod radara i prebegne u Majami, za sobom ostavivši kćerkicu i ženu Olgu (Penelopa Kruz, izvrsna kao i uvek kad glumi na maternjem jeziku). 

Rene se brzo uvezuje sa dijasporom, najviše sa Hozeom Basultom (Leonardo Ezbaralja), vođom navodno humanitarne organizacije za čiji račun pilotira na raznim sumnjivim i neprijavljenim letovima. Za to vreme Olga se nosi sa statusom žene izdajnika, pritom želeći da i sama emigrira zbog kćeri i boljeg života, dok ne otkrije nešto iznenađujuće... Rene je na specijalnoj misiji za račun države.

Od kolega, tu je još jedan pilot, Huan Pablo Roke (Vagner Moura) koji je preplivao zaliv Guantanamo i tamo se predao američkoj vojsci. On je onako gangsterski šarmantan i naizgled bezobziran. Brzo napreduje, ženi se lokalnom lepoticom (Ana de Armas), a njihova svadba ima status društvenog događaja decenije. Od Reneovih kolega izdvaja se još i šef i koordinator misije Hernandez (Gael Garsija Bernal) koji je skromni, sušti profesionalac.

Likova, naravno, ima koš i još. Ponekad ih je teško ispratiti i naći im tačno mesto u mozaiku događaja, interesa i konteksta, što film opterećuje i ukazuje na to da bi ovakav materijal bolje disao u nekom dužem, TV formatu. Asaja se čupa kako zna i ume, čak na pola filma uvodi naratora i pravi rekapitulaciju „četiri godine ranije“, što baš i nije primer vrhunske elegancije ni dramaturgije ni režije, a pride i ostavlja utisak da je ova bioskopska verzija možda isečena iz neke buduće mini-serije.

Opet, i pored toga, „Wasp Network“ nije dosadan, za šta bi trebalo posebno pohvaliti montažera Simona Žakea koji čini čuda da održi ritam. Glumci su izvrsno izabrani i zaduženi za relativno jasne junake, iako dodatni razvoj likova ne bi škodio, a vizuali poput scenografije, kostimografije i fotografije su prava bombona i glavni adut filma. Asaja, dakle, nije napravio čudo, ali je „Wasp Network“ i pored toga sasvim korektan film koji ne upada u zamke politizacije, već razmerno detaljno priča vrlo zahtevnu priču.

Lista - Septembar 2019

Ukupno pogledano: 64 (37 dugometražnih, 25 kratkometražnih, 2 srednjemetražna)
Prvi put pogledano: 63 (36 dugometražnih, 25 kratkometražnih, 2 srednjemetražna)
Najbolji utisak (prvi put pogledano):Marriage Story
Najlošiji utisak: The Painted Bird

*ponovno gledanje
**kratkometražni
***srednjemetražni

objavljene kritike su aktivni linkovi

datum izvor Naslov na Engleskom / Originalni naslov (Reditelj, godina) - ocena

01.09. festival Seberg (Benedict Andrews, 2019) - 7/10
02.09. festival Citizen K (Alex Gibney, 2019) - 5/10
02.09. festival An Officer and a Spy / J'accuse (Roman Polanski, 2019) - 6/10
02.09. festival The Truth / La vérité (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2019) - 5/10
02.09. festival Martin Eden (Pietro Marcello, 2019) - 4/10
02.09. festival The King (David Michod, 2019) - 6/10
03.09. festival Adults in the Room (Costa-Gavras, 2019) - 7/10
03.09. festival Atlantis (Valentyn Vasyanovych, 2019) - 6/10
04.09. festival Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy, 2019) - 3/10
04.09. festival Gloria Mundi (Robert Guédiguian, 2019) - 7/10
05.09. festival Divine Love / Divino Amor (Gabriel Mascaro, 2019) - 8/10
05.09. festival Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019) - 5/10
05.09. festival Ad Astra (James Gray, 2019) - 4/10
05.09. festival The Domain / A Herdade (Tiago Guedes, 2019) - 4/10
05.09. festival Roger Waters: Us + Them (Roger Waters, Sean Evans, 2019) - ?/10 
06.09. festival Balloon / Qi Qiu (Pema Tseden, 2019) - 7/10
**07.09. festival Condor (Kevin Jerome Everson, 2019) - 6/10
**07.09. festival GUO4 (Peter Strickland, 2019) - 8/10
**07.09. festival Austral Fever / Febre austral (Thomas Woodroffe, 2019) - 6/10
**07.09. festival Dogs Barking at Birds / Caes Que Lardas A Passaros (Leonor Teles, 2019) - 7/10
**07.09. festival Darling (Saim Sadiq, 2019) - 5/10
**07.09. festival Delphine (Chloe Robichaud, 2019) - 7/10
**07.09. festival The Tears Thing / Le coup des larmes (Clemence Poesy, 2019) - 7/10
**07.09. festival Sh_t Happens (Mihaela Mihaly, David Štumpf, 2019) - 6/10
**07.09. festival Sand / Morae (Kim Kyung-rae, 2019) - 6/10
**07.09. festival Roqaia (Diana Saqeb Jamal, 2019) - 4/10
**07.09. festival The Diver (Jamie Helmer, Michael Leonard, 2019) - 6/10
**07.09. festival After Two Hours, Ten Minutes Passed / Nach zwei Stunden waren zehn Minuten vergangen ( Steffen Goldkamp, 2019) - 5/10
**07.09. festival Give Up the Ghost (Zain Duraie, 2019) - 7/10
**07.09. festival Kingdom Come (Sean Robert Dunn, 2019) - 8/10
**07.09. festival Superheroes Without Superpowers / Supereroi senza superpoteri (Beatrice Baldacci, 2019) - 5/10
08.09. festival Collective / Colectiv (Alexander Nanau, 2019) - 8/10
08.09. festival 45 Seconds of Laughter (Tim Robins, 2019) - 8/10
10.09. festival Guest of Honour (Atom Egoyan, 2019) - 7/10
11.09. festival The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used to Be / La mafia non è più quella di una volta (Franco Maresco, 2019) - 6/10
12.09. festival The Long Walk / Bor Mi Vanh Chark (Mattie Do, 2019) - 6/10
12.09. festival The Laundromat (Steven Söderbergh, 2019) - 8/10
17.09. festival Saturday Fiction / Lan xin da ju yuan (Ye Lou, 2019) - 7/10
*17.09. video Hail Satan? (Penny Lane, 2019) - 7/10
17.09. festival The Painted Bird (Václav Marhoul, 2019) - 2/10
19.09. festival Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach, 2019) - 9/10
19.09. festival About Endlessness / Om det oändliga (Roy Andersson, 2019) - 8/10
23.09. festival The Burnt Orange Heresy (Giuseppe Capotondi, 2019) - 7/10
24.09. video Mug / Twarz (Malgorzata Szumowska, 2018) - 6/10
**24.09. festival Nowhere / Nigdina (Neli Ružić. 2019) - 4/10
**24.09. festival Sons of Hypocrites / Hipokritovi sinovi (Anton Mezulić, 2019) - 5/10
**24.09. festival Grandmother / Baka (Borna Zidarić, 2019) - 8/10
***24.09. festival Nihilist (Renata Lučić, 2019) - 4/10
**24.09. festival Pluf! (Elvis Lenić, 2019) - 6/10
25.09 TV Take a Deep Breath / Diši duboko (Dragan Marinković, 2004) - 3/10
25.09. festival The Lions of Lissa / I leoni di Lissa (Nicolo Bongiorno, 2019) - 6/10
25.09. video Booksmart (Olivia Wilde, 2019) - 6/10
26.09. video The Highwaymen (John Lee Hancock, 2019) - 7/10
26.09. festival Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas, 2019) - 6/10
**26.09. festival Home for Christmas / Doma za Božić (Tomislav Đurinec, 2019) - 7/10
**26.09. festival Workers Leaving the Factory / Izlazak radnika iz tvornice (Zvonimir Rumboldt, 2018) - 7/10
**26.09. festival Arrival of a Train / Ulazak vlaka u stanicu (Zvonimir Rumboldt, 2018) - 6/10
***26.09. festival If Only Dreams Came True / Da je meni (Višnja Skorin, 2019) - 5/10
27.09. video Midsommar (Ari Aster, 2019) - 5/10
**27.09. f estival Probably Dead / Sigurno mrtvi (Ivan Grgur, 2019) - 6/10
**27.09. festival Escape Route / Mjesto za bijeg (Lucija Ana Ilijić, 2019) - 6/10
28.09. video The Silence (John R. Leonetti, 2019) - 3/10
30.09. festival Waiting for the Barbarians (Ciro Guerra, 2019) - 8/10
30.09. festival It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019) - 5/10

The Burnt Orange Heresy

kritika objavljena na XXZ

2019.

režija: Giuseppe Capotondi

scenario: Scott B. Smith (prema romanu Charlesa Willeforda)

uloge: Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland

Kako zatvoriti filmski festival čija je suština mešanje zvučnih hollywoodskih naslova koji će možda iskočiti u sezoni nagrada i "arthouse" programa, kako onog iz "mainstream" kategorije, tako i onog malo težeg i alternativnijeg? Zašto ne sa sa sasvim običnim trilerom smeštenim u svet umetnina režiranim od strane domaćeg autora koji ne demonstrira ambicije da skuplja nagrade i zadivi poslovično nepoverljive filmske kritičare, već se lako gleda. Atraktivne italijanske lokacije, atraktivni internacionalni glumci plus jedna javna ličnost iz druge sfere (engleski jezik koji se jedini govori je garancija da će film ići u međunarodnu distribuciju), priča koja glatko teče i intrigira i precizno pozicionirani obrati su sasvim dovoljni da relaksiraju i zabave.

James je ugledni likovni kritičar, ili je to makar bio dok nije počeo da se intenzivno drogira lekovima protiv bolova. Simpatičan je i elokventan, dovoljno verziran u svom poslu da može da ga obavlja bez mnogo angažmana i dovoljno snalažljiv da zna da unovči svoje ime na predavanjima koja drži turistima u Milanu. Igra ga Claes Bang, zvezda dve godine starog filma The Square na donekle sličan način, ali ipak je jasno da se radi o liku koji je originalan, a ne recikliran.

Na jednom takvom predavanju će upoznati svoju kontra-težu, američku izblajhanu učiteljicu na putovanju / klošarenju po Evropi po imenu Berenice (Elizabeth Debicki, vrlo zanimljivo sveže ime na globalnoj filmskoj sceni) koja jedina u sobi punoj naivnih turista uspeva da prepozna njegovu muljažu. Njih dvoje će otpočeti vezu koju dvoje očajnika po filmovima i inače znaju da započnu. Ali jedan poziv od ekscentričnog kolekcionara da provedu vikend na njegovom imanju menja sve i okreće film u smeru trilera.

Kolekcionar Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger u svom standardnom izdanju) ima ludu sreću da mu je na imanju u gostima poznati slikar Debney (Donald Sutherland, uobičajeno izvrstan) koji inače beži od javnosti. James će dobiti priliku da sa njim uradi ekskluzivni intervju sa mogućnošću da isti preraste u bestseller knjigu. Za uzvrat, međutim, mora da ga ubedi da Cassidyju proda makar jednu sliku iz svoje kasne, misteriozne faze. Ali Debney ima itekako razloga da beži od javnosti i skriva svoje radove, a Jamesa na vrlo ilegalnu akciju pokreću finansijski razlozi (preti mu bankrot u vrlo bliskoj budućnosti), a na scenu će uskoro stupiti i paranoja, a Berenicina misterioznost (i misteriozno držanje) tu nimalo ne pomaže, naprotiv...

Filmu se može dosta toga zameriti u pojedinostima, za početak od šablona skovanog po modelu Hitchcocka, pa do površnog jahanja na stereotipima o umetnicima, kritičarima i kolekcionarima. Naravno, neki obrati na kraju su predvidljivi u skladu sa žanrom, a ujedno i previše oštri da bi se održala iluzija uverljivosti, te praćeni uverljivo neprijatnim nasiljem (sa razlogom, ali ga to ne čini lakše probavljivim osetljivim gledaocima). Međutim, u celini sve to izvrsno radi posao.

Za to treba zahvaliti reditelju Giuseppeu Capotondiju, njegovoj preciznosti i verziranosti. On je uglavnom radio na televiziji (serije Suburra: Blood of Rome i Berlin Station), ali je imao i jedan bioskopski i festivalski film ranije, takođe triler koji počinje u nekom drugom ključu The Double Hour sa kojim je glumici Kseniji Rappaport omogućio da osvoji Srebrnog Lava u Veneciji 2009. godine. Njegove među-žanrovske tranzicije su glatke i čvrsto kontrolisane, Njegov drugi veliki adut je izbor glumaca i rad sa njima, gde ih precizno vođenje ne sprečava da se razmašu taman koliko treba.

Konačno, trilera o muljanju sa umetninama ima koš i još. Capotondi ovde ne pokušava da nam ponovo izmisli točak ili otkrije toplu vodu jer za time nema ni potrebe. Zato i ne treba očekivati čuda, ali za posetu bioskopu ili gledanje u kućnim uslovima u nekoj bliskoj budućnosti, ništa više i ne treba.

A Film a Week - Verdict

previously published on Asian Movie Pulse

The topic of domestic violence is usually a tricky one. Luckily, the Filipino director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez picks the right approach: the straight one for his feature debut “Verdict”. The film has just premiered at Venice, in Orizzonti competition and its universal appeal of domestic drama combined with procedural about the faulty state of the country’s bureaucracy should assure its vibrant and long festival life.

The film opens at home with Joy Santos (Max Eigenmann, quite active on the domestic film and TV scene in the recent years) and her daughter Angel (Jordhen Suan). Their evening routine is suddenly interrupted when Joy’s husband and Angel’s father Dante (Kristoffer King, also pretty prolific lately) comes back home violently drunk and angry about some miscommunication between him and Joy. As the argument gets more and more heated, he gets physically violent toward his spouse, even hitting their child who gets in between. After slashing him with a kitchen knife in an obvious act of self-defense, Joy, pretty beaten up, runs with Angel to the nearest police station.

There is no doubt that it is not the first time Joy takes a beating from her husband and it is also granted that it would not be the last, unless she does something about it. So she files the charges against her violent husband and puts him in jail, at least temporarily, while the two of them move to a safe house kind of establishment. The trial at the court of law ensues and, as it is usually the case, it is less about justice or even law per se. So the lawyer’s games of rhetorics and establishing the narrative in which the evidence and the testimonies by witnesses would or would not stand, while everything is more or less left to the judge’s frivolous interpretation.

No doubt that domestic violence is still a big thing even in the most developed parts of the world and that countries with stronger patriarchal culture face even more problems in that regard. It is usually not the matter of positive legislative that condemns any form of discrimination and abuse of (physical and let us say economic and political) power, but the one of patterns deeply rooted in culture. Most of the cases are not being reported for various reasons and even those that are processed by the police and the court are being treated as some kind of minor offenses.

Gutierrez knows it and is not shy to show it openly using the stylistic choices along the lines of cinema verite and its echoes all over the world, usually relying on long, hand-held takes done by the cinematographer Joshua Reyles and somewhat rough editing by Diego Marx Dobles. The emotional effect is maximized even before the film’s greatest trick – the smooth transition from the domestic violence drama to procedural and court thriller of sorts that also corresponds with the transition from an individual to a more universal level. The ending with a twist is also a treat that deserves to remain spoiler-free.

It is evident that Gutierrez has a good understanding with its cast and crew and that should not be an issue since he has already worked with all of them on a similarly themed short film titled “Judgement” that treats only the courtroom part of the story. In the process of converting a short to a feature film, the actors had the most work, since their characters were developed over the course of it. Both Eigenmann and King are quite compelling in their performances, without slip-ups to the territory of over-expressive melodramatic acting, although her control is visibly better than his. Luckily, they both have to interact with a number of supporting characters played by competently relatively unknown actors who serve as the perfect buffer between the two of them.

All things considered, “Verdict” is more than a film with a good cause. Its importance is multi-layered and being simply a very good film also contributes to it.