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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2021

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2021

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Programme

26 films · 17 reviews

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All Eyes Off Me

Danny is pregnant by Max who is busy trying out Avishag’s sexual fantasies with her. She wants him to hit her when they have sex. Avishag takes her bruises to Dror, whose dog she sits. A generational portrait that asks: how liberated are we really?

(Country: Israel; Year: 2021; Director: Hadas Ben Aroya; Stars: Elisheva Weil, Yoav Hayt, Elisheva Weil, Yoav Hayt)

Aloners

Review preview for Aloners

In one of the most complex and intriguing performances of 2021, Gong keeps us guessing about what Jin-na is really thinking and feeling.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Reflection on loneliness through the life of a solitary woman.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2021; Director: Hong Seong-eun; Writer: Hong Seong-eun; Stars: Jeong Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong-hak Park, Gong Seung-Yeon, Jeong Da-eun, Seo Hyun-woo, Jeong-hak Park, Gong Seung-Yeon)

Full review

Amira

Amira, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her imprisoned father, Nawar. Although their relationship since birth has been restricted to prison visits, he remains her hero. But her beliefs are about to be shaken.

(Country: Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia; Year: 2021; Director: Mohamed Diab; Writer: Mohamed Diab; Stars: Saba Mubarak, Ali Suliman, Tara Abboud, Waleed Zuaiter, Ziad Bakri, Suhaib Nashwan, Reem Talhami)

Annette

Review preview for Annette

I could not have wished for a more perfect first film to wean me back into the in-cinema press screening world I left behind in March 2020.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a daughter with a surprising gift.

(Country: France, Mexico, US, Switzerland, Belgium, Japan, Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Leos Carax; Writer: Ron Mael, Russell Mael; Stars: Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver, Simon Helberg, Ron Mael, Russel Mael, Devyn McDowell)

Full review See: Interview with Marion Cotillard about Annette

The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic (Sokea mies, joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia)

Review preview for The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic

Nikki has a light touch with a script that is able to see the funny side of things but which doesn't make light of the medical and societal situations that Jaakko and Sirpa are facing.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A blind man with MS encounters trouble on a day trip to visit a friend he has never met.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2021; Director: Teemu Nikki; Writer: Teemu Nikki; Stars: Petri Poikolainen, Samuli Jaskio, Marjaana Maijala, Hannamaija Nikander, Matti Onnismaa, Rami Rusinen)

Full review See: Interview with Teemu Nikki about The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic

Boiling Point

Review preview for Boiling Point

Given the state of the things, it's fair to say that some of the situations that will arise are telegraphed ahead of time, but that adds rather than detracts from the tension - after all, aren't all satisfying meals in some ways connected to anticipation?

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The shift has hardly begun for head chef Andy and he’s already behind with everything. His restaurant is overbooked, there’s a disgruntled inspector combing the kitchen and, if that weren’t enough, a culinary icon and a respected food critic have turned up for dinner.

(Country: UK; Year: 2020; Director: Philip Barantini; Writer: James Cummings, Philip Barantini; Stars: Stephen Graham, Vinette Robinson, Jason Flemyng, Ray Panthaki, Malachi Kirby, Alice Feetham, izuka Hoyle, Hannah Walters, Taz Skylar, Lauryn Ajufo)

Full review

Brighton 4th

Review preview for Brighton 4th

After the fantastic opening scene, snapshots of their life in Georgia set the tone.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The story of a Georgian wrestler, Kakhi, en route to Brooklyn to help his son out of a gambling debt.

(Country: Russia, Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Levan Koguashvili; Writer: Boris Frumin; Stars: Levan Tediashvili, Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Giorgi Tabidze, Kakhi Kavsadze)

Full review See: Levan Koguashvili in conversation on Women From Georgia and the connection to Oscar submission Brighton 4th , Levan Koguashvili in conversation on Georgia’s Oscar submission Brighton 4th and cinematic elements , Levan Koguashvili in conversation on Tribeca Film Festival highlight Brighton 4th

Brother's Keeper (Okul Tıraşı)

Review preview for Brother's Keeper

The director shows the warmth of the children against the cool aloofness of teachers who feel little connection to their wards, even as we know even Yusuf's herculean efforts are likely to prove ineffectual.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When a boy falls ill at an authoritarian boarding school, his friend struggles to get the staff to take notice.

(Country: Turkey, Romania; Year: 2021; Director: Ferit Karahan; Writer: Gülistan Acet, Ferit Karahan; Stars: Samet Yıldız, Ekin Koç, Mahir İpek, Melih Selçuk, Cansu Fırıncı, Nurullah Alaca)

Full review

Cadejo Blanco

Review preview for Cadejo Blanco

Karen Martínez is riveting in the role.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A young woman gets involved in a dangerous world as she tries to find out what has happened to her missing sister.

(Country: Guatemala, US, Mexico; Year: 2021; Director: Justin Lerner; Writer: Justin Lerner; Stars: Karen Martínez, Rudy Rodriguez, Pamela Martínez, Brandon López, Juan Pablo Olyslager)

Full review

Drive My Car (Doraibu Mai Kâ)

Review preview for Drive My Car

Slow to build and with an assembly of characters who are all more complex than they seem on the surface, Drive My Car exemplifies Japan’s growing body of literary cinema.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Nishijima Hidetoshi as a stage actor and director happily married to his playwright wife. Then one day the wife disappears.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; Writer: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and takamasa Oe, based on the book by Haruki Murakami; Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima, Tôko Miura)

Full review

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

Review preview for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye

The real and the performed run so close together that, by the end of the film, it's not entirely clear if even Tammy knows where one ends and the other starts.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2021; Director: Michael Showalter; Writer: Abe Sylvia, Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato; Stars: Jessica Chastain, Vincent D'Onofrio, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Sam Jaeger, Fredric Lehne, Randy Havens, Louis Cancelmi, Chandler Head, Gabriel Olds, Joe Ando-Hirsh, Jay Huguley, Coley Campany, Kevin J O'Connor, Keith D Dooley)

Full review

The French Dispatch

Review preview for The French Dispatch

It all has a very particular flavour. Even a new one.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th Century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in the French Dispatch magazine.

(Country: Germany, US; Year: 2021; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, Hugh Guinness; Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Saoirse Ronan, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Benicio Del Toro, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray)

Full review

Great Freedom

In postwar Germany, Hans is imprisoned again and again for being homosexual. Due to paragraph 175, his desire for freedom is systematically destroyed. The one steady relationship in his life becomes his long time cell mate, Viktor, a convicted murderer. What starts in revulsion grows into something lie love.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2021; Director: Sebastian Meise; Writer: Sebastian Meise, Thomas Reider; Stars: Franz Rogowsk, iGeorg Friedrich, Anton von Lucke, Thomas Prenn)

Hit The Road

Review preview for Hit The Road

Panahi and his actors shift through emotions so smoothly, you barely notice them until they have immersed you.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Drama based around a road trip in a borrowed car.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2021; Director: Panah Panahi; Writer: Panah Panahi; Stars: Hassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar)

Full review

I'm Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch)

Review preview for I'm Your Man

Watching Alma grow closer to Tom is bittersweet – not least because she knows the danger.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In the near future, a scientist finds herself agreeing to live with a humanoid "partnership robot" in order to fund her research.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2021; Director: Maria Schrader; Writer: Emma Braslavsky, Jan Schomburg, Maria Schrader; Stars: Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller, Hans Löw, Henriette Richter-Röhl, Annika Meier, Jürgen Tarrach, Monika Oschek, Wolfgang Hübsch, Helena Hentschel, Falilou Seck)

Full review

Jane By Charlotte (Jane par Charlotte)

Review preview for Jane By Charlotte

The closer and more personal this documentary gets, the more it opens up to the largest of issues.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The director's portrait of her mother.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Charlotte Gainsbourg; Stars: Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg)

Full review

Memoria

Review preview for Memoria

For all the talk of hermetical storytelling, this might be his least hermetic and most approachable movie to date.

Nikola Jovic · 4 out of 5
A woman from Scotland, while traveling in Colombia, begins to notice strange sounds. Soon she begins to think about their appearance.

(Country: Colombia, Mexico, France, UK, Thailand, Germany, China, Switzerland; Year: 2021; Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Writer: Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Stars: Tilda Swinton, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Jeanne Balibar, Juan Pablo Urrego, Daniel Toro)

Full review

One Second

A prisoner escapes from a labour camp and forges an unexpected relationship with a young vagabond.

(Country: China, Hong Kong SAR China; Year: 2020; Director: Zhang Yimou; Writer: Zhang Yimou, Zou Jingzhi; Stars: Zhang Yi, Fan Wei)

Parallel Mothers (Madres Paralelas)

Review preview for Parallel Mothers

Milena Smit is a relative newcomer. This is only her second feature and she has real presence.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Two women, a generation apart, find themselves inextricably linked by their brief time together in a maternity ward, bound by a secret with ties to a deep trauma in Spanish history.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Pedro Almodóvar; Writer: Pedro Almodóvar; Stars: Penélope Cruz, Rossy de Palma, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Daniela Santiago, Milena Smit, Julieta Serrano, Israel Elejalde, Adelfa Calvo, Inma Ochoa, José Javier Domínguez, Carmen Flores, Trinidad Iglesias)

Full review

Reflection

Ukrainian surgeon Serhiy is captured by the Russian military forces and exposed to horrifying scenes of humiliation and violence. On release, he tries to rebuild his life.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Writer: Valentyn Vasyanovych; Stars: Roman Lutskyi, Dmitriy Sova, Andriy Rymaruk, Vasiliy Kukharskiy, Nika Myslytska, Nadiya Levchenko, Igor Shulha, Andrii Senchuk, Stanislav Aseyev, Oleksandr Danyliuk)

La Tana

Coming of age tale about a teenage boy who finds his life changing after the arrival of a woman in the house next door.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2021; Director: Beatrice Baldacci; Writer: Beatrice Baldacci, Edoardo Puma; Stars: Irene Vetere, Elisa Di Eusanio, Helene Nardini, Federico Rosati, Lorenzo Aloi, Paolo Ricci, Irene Vetere, Elisa Di Eusanio, Helene Nardini, Federico Rosati, Lorenzo Aloi, Paolo Ricci)

Unclenching The Fists

A young woman struggles to break free from her over-controlling father in a mining town in the mountains.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2021; Director: Kira Kovalenko)

Wars

When Emma turns twenty, she decides to join the army. Not only does she want to follow in her father’s footsteps, but she also yearns to rid herself of an oppressive sense of existential emptiness.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2021; Director: Nicolas Roy; Writer: Cynthia Tremblay; Stars: David La Haye, Éléonore Loiselle)

What Do We See When We Look At The Sky? (Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt?)

Review preview for What Do We See When We Look At The Sky?

Digression builds upon detour, which piles charmingly onto excursion, sometimes lifted, sometimes pushed and always shaped by a score that also roams freely in its influences.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A couple who fall in love at first sight, wake the next day with different appearances and struggle to find one another.

(Country: Germany, Georgia; Year: 2021; Director: Alexandre Koberidze; Stars: Irina Chelidze, Giorgi Bochorishvili, Ani Karseladze, Giorgi Ambroladze)

Full review See: Alexandre Koberidze in conversation on What Do We See When We Look At The Sky? and folktales

Wild Men

Review preview for Wild Men

Underscoring this film are potent themes about masculinity, identity and self-expression. There is also a fair bit of action, and not just of the mountain adventure variety.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A man in the throes of a mid-life crisis who has decided to try to live like his Viking ancestors unwittingly befriends a robber on the run.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2021; Director: Thomas Daneskov; Writer: Thomas Daneskov, Morten Pape; Stars: Rasmus Bjerg, Zaki Youssef, Sofie Gråbøl, Bjørn Sundquist)

Full review

Zero Fucks Given (Rien à foutre)

Cassandra is a flight attendant for a low-cost airline. Based in Lanzarote, she’s always willing to take on extra hours and carries out her duties with robotic efficiency. On the side, she just goes with the flow and floats between Tinder, parties and lazy days. When she suddenly gets dismissed, she is forced to return home. Will Cassandre find the force to confront what she was running away from?

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre; Writer: Julie Lecoustre, Emmanuel Marre; Stars: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jonathon Sawdon, Jean-Benoît Ugeux, Mara Taquin, Alexandre Perrier)