Skip to main content

Miskolc International Film Festival · 2016

Miskolc International Film Festival 2016

International Competition

Programme

17 films · 13 reviews

Jump to a film

Aquarius

Review preview for Aquarius

The closer the glance at the specifics, the more universal the plight becomes.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
A retired music critic is the last resident of a building targeted by developers - she becomes engaged in a cold war of sorts with the company.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2016; Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Writer: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Stars: Sonia Braga, Jeff Rosick, Irandhir Santos, Maeve Jinkings, Julia Bernat, Carla Ribas, Fernando Teixeira, Rubens Santos, Humberto Carrão, Bárbara Colen)

Full review See: Sônia Braga in conversation on the magic of Aquarius and director Kleber Mendonça Filho , Kleber Mendonça Filho in conversation on Aquarius

Captain Fantastic

Review preview for Captain Fantastic

Taken as a whole, however, the director is trying too hard, pushing this family so far into caricature that we lose sight of the story of grief that is underpinning the shenanigans.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
A dad who has raised his kids in the forest is forced to take them on a road trip.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Matt Ross; Writer: Matt Ross; Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Erin Moriarty, Missi Pyle, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn, Ann Dowd, Annalise Basso, Frank Langella, George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Shree Crooks, Nicholas Hamilton, Richard Beal, Alan Humphrey, Ralph Smith) , Trailer

Full review

Certain Women

Review preview for Certain Women

Certain Women is a film suffused in uncertainties.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Triptych of stories about women in small-town America.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Kelly Reichardt; Writer: Kelly Reichardt, based on stories by Maile Meloy; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, Rosanna Arquette, Laura Dern, Jared Harris, James Le Gros, Rene Auberjonois, John Getz, Ashlie Atkinson, James Jordan, Matt McTighe, Sara Rodier, Edelen McWilliams, Lily Gladstone, Gabriel Clark)

Full review See: Interview with Kristen Stewart and Kelly Reichardt about Certain Women

Equals

Review preview for Equals

A ragbag of cliches that owe a debt to everything from Romeo and Juliet to THX 1138.

Amber Wilkinson · 2 out of 5
A futuristic love story set in a world where emotions have been eradicated but where a genetic glitch means some people can still fall in love.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Drake Doremus; Writer: Nathan Parker; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Bel Powley, Guy Pearce, Claudia Kim, Toby Huss, Jacki Weaver, Kate Lyn Sheil, Aurora Perrineau, Rebecca Hazlewood, David Selby, Scott Lawrence, Rizwan Manji, Kai Lennox, Shunsuke Okubo)

Full review See: Venice Festival report: Looking For Grace, The Daughter, Equals, The Childhood Of A Leader

From Nowhere

Three undocumented Bronx teenagers are graduating from high school while navigating the treacherous waters trying to get their papers to stay in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Matthew Newton; Writer: Matthew Newton, Kate Ballen; Stars: Sydni Beaudoin, Helen Beyene, Erica Camarano, Joseph Castillo-Midyett, Raquel Castro, Octavia Chavez-Richmond, Emilio Cuesta, Shenell Edmonds, Donté Grey, Olli Haaskivi, Portia Johnson, Eliud Kauffman, J. Mallory McCree, Julianne Nicholson, Jim Norton)

Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Review preview for Hunt For The Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi knows growing up isn't child's play but he also respects childhood as a place of adventure, where spontaneity rules and the possibilities are only limited by imagination.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A kid and his foster uncle run off into the New Zealand bush.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2016; Director: Taika Waititi; Writer: Taika Waititi, based on the novel by Barry Crump; Stars: Julian Dennison, Rachel House, Rima Te Wiata, Oscar Kightley, Rhys Darby, Cohen Holloway, Mike Minogue, Stan Walker, Sam Neill)

Full review

It's Not The Time Of My Life (Ernelláék Farkaséknál)

Review preview for It's Not The Time Of My Life

Directors looking for inspiration in how to get things done on a budget, could take a leaf out of Szabolcs Hajdu's book.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Family tensions rise after an unexpected visit.

(Country: Hungary; Year: 2016; Director: Szabolcs Hajdu; Writer: Szabolcs Hajdu; Stars: Imre Gelányi, Lujza Hajdu, Szabolcs Hajdu, Zsigmond Hajdu, Domokos Szabó, Erika Tankó, Orsolya Török-Illyés, Szilágyi Ágota)

Full review

It's Only The End Of The World (Juste la fin du monde)

Review preview for It's Only The End Of The World

The histrionics on display submerge everything else while the narrative pitch throws so much at the spectator that it is impossible to sympathise with anyone.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
A writer returns home after a long absence to tell his family he is terminally ill.

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2016; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Xavier Dolan, Jean-Luc Lagarce; Stars: Léa Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel, Gaspard Ulliel, Nathalie Baye)

Full review

Land Of Mine

Review preview for Land Of Mine

The randomness of death in times of war aside, Land Of Mine - perhaps unavoidably - leans towards the conventional in its overall narrative arc.

Rebecca Naughten · 3.5 out of 5
In the aftermath of World War Two, the Allies used German prisoners of war to defuse and clear landmines from the Danish coastline.

(Country: Germany, Denmark; Year: 2015; Director: Martin Zandvliet; Writer: Martin Zandvliet; Stars: Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Emil Belton, Oskar Belton, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Laura Bro, Oskar Bökelmann, Leon Seidel, Karl Alexander Seidel, Maximilian Beck, August Carter, Time Bülow, Alexander Rasch, Julius Kochinke)

Full review

Motel Mist

Five lives intersect at a love motel on the outskirts of Bangkok.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2016; Director: Prabda Yoon; Writer: Prabda Yoon; Stars: Prapamonton Eiamchan, Vasuphon Kriangprapakit, Wissanu Likitsathaporn, Surapol Poonpiriya, Katareeya Theapchatri)

Native

When a signal is received from the other side of the universe, Cane and Eva are dispatched to colonise a distant world.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2016; Director: Daniel Fitzsimmons)

Neon Bull

Review preview for Neon Bull

Mascaro is completely in control of his material.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Story of a bull handler who dreams of a career in the world of fashion.

(Country: Brazil, Uruguay, Netherlands; Year: 2015; Director: Gabriel Mascaro; Writer: Gabriel Mascaro; Stars: Juliano Cazarré, Maeve Jinkings, Vinícius de Oliveira, Alyne Santana, Josinaldo Alves, Carlos Pessoa, Samya De Lavor)

Full review See: Beefing up reality: Gabriel Mascaro interview about Neon Bull

Nightlife (Nočno življenje)

Review preview for Nightlife

The use of handheld camera is more distracting than immersive and gives the film a dated air, while the script refuses to dig beyond surface accusations and hand-wringing about the state of society.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
The lives of a wealthy married couple radically change in an instant. While the husband is in critical condition after an accident that occurred under strange circumstances, the wife tries to understand the situation and to salvage what she can.

(Country: Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2016; Director: Damjan Kozole; Writer: Damjan Kozole, Ognjen Svilicic)

Full review

Swiss Army Man

Hank, a hopeless man stranded in the wild, discovers a mysterious dead body. Together the two embark on an epic journey to get home. As Hank realises the body is the key to his survival, this once-suicidal man is forced to convince a dead body that life is worth living.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Writer: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert; Stars: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Timothy Eulich, Richard Gross, Marika Casteel, Aaron Marshall, Antonia Ribero)

That Trip We Took With Dad (La Drum Cu Tata)

Review preview for That Trip We Took With Dad

It may look and, even on family terms, feel nostalgic but Lazarescu makes sure we're aware of the tough choices facing her characters.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A Romanian-German family make a journey from Arad in Romania to the German Democratic Republic.

(Country: Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Romania; Year: 2016; Director: Anca Miruna Lazarescu; Writer: Christoph Busche, Ida Cerne, Alexander Costea, Raluca Gabriela Cîrcea, Anca Miruna Lazarescu, Claudia Lindner Leporda, Brigitte Mueller, Denijen Pauljevich, Dr. Stefan Wolle, Roland Zag; Stars: Alexandru Margineanu, Razvan Enciu, Ovidiu Schumacher, Susanne Bormann, Manuel Klein, Doru Ana, Marcela Nistor, Lutz Blochberger, Ana Ularu, Florin Galan, Friedrich Schilha, Colin Buzoianu, Mihai Penisoara, Liliana Balica, Roxana Sabau-Nica)

Full review

Toni Erdmann

Review preview for Toni Erdmann

The film really shouldn’t work, but it does.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A father drops in on his daughter and poses as a stranger to her friends.

(Country: Germany, Austria; Year: 2016; Director: Maren Ade; Writer: Maren Ade; Stars: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, Lucy Russell, Trystan Pütter, Hadewych Minis, Vlad Ivanov, Ingrid Bisu, John Keogh, Ingo Wimmer, Cosmin Padureanu, Anna Maria Bergold, Radu Banzaru, Alexandru Papadopol, Sava Lolov, Jürg Löw)

Full review See: Maren Ade and Sandra Hüller in conversation on Oscar nominee Toni Erdmann , Maren Ade and Sandra Hüller in conversation on Toni Erdmann

Under Construction

Review preview for Under Construction

Hossain allows Roya to embrace her freedom, showing intimate details of an affair that is allowed to have a much more positive impact on her life than is more often the case on film.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A modern Muslim woman struggles to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh.

(Country: Bangladesh; Year: 2015; Director: Rubaiyat Hossain; Writer: Rubaiyat Hossain; Stars: Shahana Goswami, Rahul Bose, Sohel Mondol, Mita Rahman, Rikita Nandini Shimu)

Full review