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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2019

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019

First Feature Competition

Programme

18 films · 9 reviews

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Dance With Me (Dansu Wizu Mê)

After being hypnotised, an ambitious financier is compelled to dance whenever she hears any kind of music.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2019; Director: Shinobu Yaguchi; Writer: Shinobu Yaguchi; Stars: Chay, Takahiro Miura, Ayaka Miyoshi, Tsuyoshi Muro)

Darkness (Buio)

It’s the story of Stella, a young girl living with her father and two little sisters in an isolated house with bolted windows. A solar explosion has made it impossible to go outside, food is scarce and you have to fight for survival – at least that’s what their father tells them.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Emanuela Rossi; Writer: Claudio Corbucci, Emanuela Rossi; Stars: Valerio Binasco, Denise Tantucci, Gaia Bocci, Valerio Binasco, Denise Tantucci, Gaia Bocci)

A Dog's Death (La Muerte De Un Perro)

Mario and Silvia are a typical Montevidean middle class couple, going through the trauma of retirement. But when one makes a mistake at work, things begin to spiral out of control.

(Country: Argentina, France, Uruguay; Year: 2019; Director: Matías Ganz; Writer: Matías Ganz)

Dust And Ashes

What is the truth behind a young factory worker's suspicious behaviour?

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2019; Director: Park Hee-kwon; Writer: Park Hee-kwon; Stars: Ahn So yo, Lee Kang ji, Kim Na young, Kim Jae rok)

Finky

Review preview for Finky

Keane himself is performing a tricky act here, juggling the real and the surreal while walking a tightrope of story.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A musician and puppeteer seeking to escape steals an envelope full of cash and escapes to Scotland with his childhood friend Tom to start a new life.. but things don't go as planned.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2019; Director: Dathaí Keane; Writer: Dathaí Keane, Diarmuid de Faoite; Stars: Dara Devaney, Ned Dennehy, Diarmuid de Faoite, Fionnuala Gygax, Eoin Geoghegan, Caitríona Ní Threasaigh, Dolina MacLennan, Mary Ryan, Michael Glenn Murphy, Diona Doherty, George Blue, Paul Ellard, Niall Mac Eachmharcaigh, Micil MacDonncha, Anthony Morris)

Full review See: Dathaí Keane talks about his feature debut Finky , Tom Sullivan and Dathai Keane talk about the Cine4 Development Scheme for Irish language film

Isaac (Izaokas)

Review preview for Isaac

The potential for violence and creeping paranoia haunt the film, but though some elements of it may feel murkier than others, there's always a sense that Matulevicius and his cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis are in control.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Skeletons rattle in the closet of a film director and his friends, 20 years after an infamous massacre.

(Country: Lithuania; Year: 2019; Director: Jurgis Matulevicius; Writer: Jurgis Matulevicius, Saule Bliuvaite, Nerijus Milerius, Antanas Skema; Stars: Aleksas Kazanavicius, Severija Janusauskaite, Dainius Gavenonis, Dainius Kazlauskas, Martynas Nedzinskas, Ainis Storpirstis, Salvijus Trepulis, Eugenijus Jankelaitis, Arunas Vozbutas, Rytis Saladzius, Mindaugas Ancevicius, Andrius Alesiunas, Jonas Baltakis, Kestutis Cicenas, Arvydas Dapsys)

Full review See: Jurgis Matulevicius on his debut film Isaac

Looted

Review preview for Looted

Looted is all at once a localised crime drama, a tale of a difficult yet loving father-son relationship, an exploration of escapism's price, and a social realist anatomisation of a community.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
Rob spends his days stealing cars with his gang in a town on the English coast... but at night he returns home to his terminally ill dad.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Rene Pannevis; Writer: Kefi Chadwick, Rene van Pannevis; Stars: Charley Palmer Rothwell, Thomas Turgoose, Tom Fisher, Morgane Polanski, Anders Hayward, Stephen Uppal, Daniel-John Williams, Alan Carter, Janet Cowl, Gary Davison, Charley Palmer Rothwell, Thomas Turgoose, Tom Fisher, Morgane Polanski, Anders Hayward) , Trailer

Full review

Lorni - The Flaneur

Review preview for Lorni - The Flaneur

Hussain is magnetic in the main role - with Shem every inch the cool, flaneur, with his leather coats and desert dry observations

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Shillong is a small town with a self-fashioned out-of-work private detective who escapes the monotony of his drab life when he is tasked with investigating the disappearance of objects of great cultural value. Looking for one thing, he discovers something else…

(Country: India; Year: 2019; Director: Wanphrang Diengdoh; Writer: Wanphrang Diengdoh; Stars: Adil Hussain)

Full review

Mater

Review preview for Mater

This is a very subtle and accomplished feature debut.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
A Croatian ex-pat is has to return home due to her mother's declining health, forcing them to face the ghosts of their past.

(Country: Croatia; Year: 2019; Director: Jure Pavlovic; Writer: Jure Pavlovic; Stars: Daria Lorenci, Neva Rosic, Vera Zima, Anka Vuckovic, Marijo Jurkovic, Vinko Vukovic Liska, Berislav Susnjar, Milivoj Barbir, Pavo Norac-Kevo, Jasminka Vrdoljak, Ivana Milicevic, Hrvoje Barbir, Stephan Baumecker, Till Patz, Lilli Jellinek)

Full review

The Names Of The Flowers (Los Nombres de las Flores)

As Bolivia stages the 50th anniversary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's death, Julia, an old countryside teacher, is invited to share her historical story with the world: Giving a bowl of soup to the captured guerrilla in her classroom, while he recited a poem about flowers to her a few hours before his death.

(Country: Canada, US, Bolivia, Qatar; Year: 2019; Director: Bahman Tavoosi; Writer: Bahman Tavoosi; Stars: Sergio Wilson Tapia Echalar, Susana Condori, Jorge Hidalgo, Fermina Torrez de Morales, Bárbara Cameo de Flores, Abraham Flores Heredia, José Luis Garibaldi Durán, Sergio Wilson Tapia Echalar, Susana Condori, Jorge Hidalgo, Fermina Torrez de Morales, Bárbara Cameo de Flores, Abraham Flores Heredia, José Luis Garibaldi Durán)

Obscure

A teenager finds his life thrown into disarray when he discovers his father is having a sexual relationship with his sister.

(Country: US, China; Year: 2019; Director: Kunlin Wang; Writer: Kunlin Wang, Stella Zhou; Stars: Kylr Coffman, Lorell Bird Dorfman, Chris Cleveland, Chuck Saculla, Darin Heames, Kylr Coffman, Lorell Bird Dorfman, Chris Cleveland, Chuck Saculla, Darin Heames)

On The Quiet (Szép csendben)

A young boy tries to protect a younger member of his orchestra, who is being sexually harassed by the conductor.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2019; Director: Zoltán Nagy; Writer: Zoltán Nagy, János Antal Horváth; Stars: Erik Major, Gábor Máté, Lulu Bognár, Dorottya Antóci, Benjámin Lengyel, Judit Schell, Zsófia Szamosi, Mária Varga, Annamária Láng, László Görög, Gábor Németh, Lívia Kereszt, Bernadette Mayer, Bálint Korom, Dani Jeles)

Saul At Night

Review preview for Saul At Night

You can sense the influence of Charlie Kaufman.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
In an effort to create a safer, healthier, and more productive society, a legally imposed curfew and mandated sleeping schedule forces all citizens to keep the same hours. Except Saul Capgras...

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Cory Santilli; Writer: Daniel Miska; Stars: Kentucker Audley, Suzanne Clément, Stephanie Ellis, Acadia Colan, Ian Lyons, Brandon White, Eddie Nason, Sage Francis, Enku Gubaie, Daniel Washington, Adam Carbone, Kentucker Audley, Suzanne Clément, Stephanie Ellis, Acadia Colan)

Full review

The Seeker (O Buscador)

Review preview for The Seeker

Having cinematographers Ulrich Burtin and Luca Pougy shoot the gathering in a single take is an audacious move that pays off.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Trouble brews on Father's Day when a woman returns to her family home for the first time in four years.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Bernardo Barreto; Writer: Bernardo Barreto, Andrés Gelós, Luis E. Langlemey, Rodrigo Nogueira, Martín Preusche; Stars: Mariana Molina, Pierre Santos, Leonardo Netto, Mário Hermeto, Bruno Ferrari, Debora Duboc, Aline Fanju, Luiz Felipe Mello, Erom Cordeiro)

Full review See: Bernardo Barreto talks about his feature debut The Seeker (O Buscador)

Stay Still

Smart and quick-witted Julie is in her mid-twenties. She marches to the beat of her own drum and has her own manifesto: do nothing. Agnes is a happy go lucky nurse of the same age. With a husband and a child, she is fitting into society's expectations. Until, that is, she meets Julie.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Elisa Mishto; Writer: Elisa Mishto; Stars: Katharina Schüttler, Kim Riedle, Natalia Belitski, Martin Wuttke, Jürgen Vogel, Giuseppe Battiston, Leslie Malton, Hildegard Schroedter, Luisa-Céline Gaffron, Juliane Elting, Matthias Bundschuh, Ole Lagerpusch, Torben Krämer)

Stories From The Chestnut Woods

Review preview for Stories From The Chestnut Woods

Jan Vysocy’s soundscape is huge, overwhelming. It reminds us of the smallness of the human characters.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
In a decaying forest on the Yugoslav-Italian border in the years after World War II, a stingy, old carpenter and a lonely, young chestnut seller share imaginative memories of the past.

(Country: Slovenia; Year: 2019; Director: Gregor Bozic; Writer: Gregor Bozic, Marina Gumzi; Stars: Massimo De Francovich, Ivana Roscic, Renzo Gariup, Tomi Janezic, Natasa Keser, Anita Kravos, Giusi Merli, Janez Skof, Massimo De Francovich, Ivana Roscic, Renzo Gariup, Tomi Janezic, Natasa Keser, Anita Kravos, Giusi Merli)

Full review

Supernova

Review preview for Supernova

Everything plays out within 80 minutes but you'll feel the impact of the crash for much longer.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Three men, one place, and one event that will change each of their lives.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2019; Director: Bartosz Kruhlik; Writer: Bartosz Kruhlik; Stars: Marek Braun, Marcin Hycnar, Marcin Zarzeczny, Agnieszka Skibicka, Anna Mrozowska, Michal Pawlik, Pawel Koslik, Dariusz Dluzewski, Malgorzata Witkowska, Jerzy Janeczek, Hubert Podgórski, Wiktor Korzeniowski, Mateusz Korsak, Tomasz Zaród, Tomira Kowalik)

Full review

Tomorrow We Are Free (Morgen Sind Wir Frei)

Iran 1979. The true story of a young mother and her Iranian-born husband from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) who move to Iran with their little daughter in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. There, they fight against violence and religious doctrines.

(Country: Germany, Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Hossein Pourseifi; Stars: Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, Katrin Röver, Reza Brojerdi, Morteza Tavakoli, Luzie Nadjafi, Zahra Amir Ebrahimi, Katrin Röver, Reza Brojerdi, Morteza Tavakoli, Luzie Nadjafi)