Monte & Culebra
MOVIE REVIEW
Pepe (2024)
There was a major theme running through several different movies at this year’s Berlinale: restoring lost things to their rightful place and/or providing lost things with their own voice. The lost thing here whose voice was restored to it was a hippopotamus. And not just any hippopotamus, but one of the ones smuggled into Colombia by drug lord Pablo Escobar for his own private zoo. And not just any of the hippos in the drug lord’s private zoo, but the one who escaped and was the subject of a hunt by the Colombian army. He was nicknamed Pepe, and the movie is largely told from his point of view. As a concept this is insane, but so is this little story, and (big breath) writer-director-cocinematographer-editor-music-cosound designer Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias made it something big and beautiful. And Mr. De Los Santos Arias did it so well he won the directing prize at the Berlinale for it. He also threw in every possible related subplot, and while he was at it, some jaw-droppingly beautiful cinematography too. It’s a lot of weight for one creature to carry, but Pepe carries it off.
Continue reading “On the Hip” »
Claude Wang/Homegreen Films
MOVIE REVIEW
Abiding Nowhere (2024)
“Abiding Nowhere” was commissioned from director Tsai Ming-liang by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art; and once you know this the movie makes complete sense. For it is less of a movie in the traditional sense and more of an art installation, the kind that could easily play on a loop in an exhibit. And while this will absolutely limit its appeal, “Abiding Nowhere” also offers a chance for reflection that is the film’s entire point.
Continue reading “Watch Your Step” »
MDFF
MOVIE REVIEW
Matt and Mara (2024)
There’s a huge difference in cinema between half-baked and uncooked. A film being largely improvised by its cast is fine, unless the improvisation is not built around a fixed plot. You can have all the talent in the world and the movie still won’t work if it isn’t sure of the story it is telling. “Matt and Mara” could have been delicious. But in this form we are not even being served the cookie dough. All that's here is some raw ingredients with the hope we'll mix them ourselves.
Continue reading “Past Lives” »
Carole Bethuel
MOVIE REVIEW
Suspended Time (2024)
As the longest year any of us ever lived recedes into memory, we all have a decision to make. Do we forget the way 2020 made us feel the way people who survived the Spanish flu did a century ago, or do we try to figure out how we can remember the most painful year of our lives (so far) without going completely crazy? It's an impossible question of course and everyone will have a different reaction to it; and certainly there are people who will not be able to bear “Suspended Time's” depiction of a lockdown year on principle, but it certainly helps that the version of the Covid pandemic shown here was suffering on the lowest possible setting.
Continue reading “Locked Down” »
Tessalit Productions
MOVIE REVIEW
The Empire (2025)
Fun cinema fans will remember the sequence from “Notting Hill” where Hugh Grant crashes a junket held for Julia Roberts by pretending to be the film critic for Horse & Hound magazine. When he asks her about the horses in her new movie, she gently reminds him it is set in space. Clearly Bruno Dumont, director of “The Empire,” saw this movie at some point and said to himself, "Challenge accepted. Can I make a ridiculous space Europudding involving horses and, while I’m at it, spaceships shaped like a palace and a cathedral? I can, and I will." And by Jove he did, and the result is perfectly ridiculous. This is not a complaint.
Continue reading “War of the Worlds” »
Matteo Casilli/Indigo Film
MOVIE REVIEW
Another End (2024)
Reanimating the dead in movies – such as in “All of Us Strangers” – is mainly done in order to provide emotional closure, of a kind, for the living. This is always seen from the point of view from those left behind, who want something from the dead that they are willing to go to any lengths to receive, and which appears to be catnip for audiences with their own dead to bury. But as “Another End” lumbers on you’ll have plenty of time to reflect on what this means for those people brought back, the ones who cannot rest in peace. It’s hard to think of something more horrific than the idea that your loved ones might attempt to keep your soul alive for their own purposes even after you’re gone. No one is supposed to think this is a metaphor for artificial intelligence that only tells you want you want to hear. No, this is supposed to be romantic! Or normal! But not every human longing ought to be fulfilled; and not every movie with a sharp aesthetic and a superb international cast ought to be supported.
Continue reading “Back to Life” »
Juan Pablo Ramírez/Filmadora
MOVIE REVIEW
La Cocina (2024)
“La Cocina” is set in Times Square in New York, but was primarily filmed in Mexico City and you can't hardly tell the difference. That's possible because the workers in New York's restaurant kitchens are from all over the world, legal or not. The story takes place over one day in a colossal restaurant kitchen where everything’s about to snap. They nearly always are of course, movies about restaurants being what they are, not to mention "The Bear," but “La Cocina” captures big personalities and hair-trigger moods better than most.
Continue reading “Kitchen Stories” »
Shane O’Connor
MOVIE REVIEW
Small Things Like These (2024)
This year's Berlinale experienced protests before it began thanks to some thoughtless political posturing that goes against the festival's explicit antifascist ethos. It was a serious mistake, not least because what fascism boils down to is the negation of human empathy in exchange for rules and regulations designed to consolidate power in the hands of the chosen. That means the choice of “Small Things Like These” to open the festival is a doubly pointed reminder of the value of human kindness and the importance of empathy as a weapon.
Continue reading “Do the Right Thing” »
Neon
MOVIE REVIEW
Cuckoo (2024)
The absolute worst audience reaction you can have for a horror film is silence. People are supposed to be reacting to the gore, experiencing the shocks of the plot twists in their own bodies, maybe even screaming. This is not something you can expect from “Cuckoo;” it’s awful but it’s true that the audience at the Berlinale watched it in stony silence. “Cuckoo” should have been an O.T.T. camp catastrophe/delight, but unfortunately it's just a rotten egg.
Continue reading “Force majeure” »
David Bolen/Sundance Institute
MOVIE REVIEW
Thelma (2024)
Writer-director Josh Margolin has taken direct inspiration from the “Mission: Impossible” movies (Tom Cruise is thanked in the credits) to make an action movie starring an elderly woman which does not once patronize her. It takes the dual challenges of being old and caring for the elderly and turns them into riotous action sequences filmed by David Bolen with all the flash of a thriller, and with Simon Astall’s music hitting the same dramatic notes. Climbing two flights of stairs is no small achievement when your body is winding down, so it’s a completely fair comparison, and kind of surprising no one has done this before. This is also the first starring role of June Squibb’s film career, and considering her acting career has lasted over 70 years, better late than never – but oh, what a loss, because she’s wonderful. Funny, devious, charming and with a determination to assert herself that never turns to bitterness, Ms. Squibb’s Thelma is an absolute delight. From the Sundance Film Festival onwards, this will redefine crowd-pleaser.
Continue reading “Easy Prey” »