Vilnius Film Festival · 2022
15 films · 13 reviews
Despite all of its shortcomings, 107 Mothers nonetheless, makes for quite a completing piece of filmmaking.
(Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine; Year: 2021; Director: Péter Kerekes; Writer: Péter Kerekes, Ivan Ostrochovský, Ivan Ostrochovský; Stars: Maryna Klimova, Iryna Kiryazeva, Lyubov Vasylyna, Maryna Klimova, Iryna Kiryazeva, Lyubov Vasylyna)
As a whole, it appears way too kinetically ostentatious for its own sake, sadly making it less than the sum of its parts, but there are things to appreciate here.
(Country: France, Israel; Year: 2021; Director: Nadav Lapid; Writer: Nadav Lapid; Stars: Nur Fibak, Avshalom Pollak)
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?
(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)
Haguel inverts viewers' habits, breaking conventions like a trickster.
(Country: Germany; Year: 2022; Director: Idan Haguel; Writer: Idan Haguel; Stars: Shlomi Bertonov, Ariel Wolf)
(Country: Egypt, Netherlands, Greece, France; Year: 2021; Director: Omar El Zohairy; Writer: Ahmed Amer, Omar El Zohairy; Stars: Samy Bassouny, Mohamed Abd El Hady, Fady Mina Fawzy, Demyana Nassar, Abo Sefen Nabil Wesa)
The balance of Javier Bardem's central performance as the CEO of the title is what elevates this from being another run-of-the-mill satire.
(Country: Spain; Year: 2021; Director: Fernando León de Aranoa; Writer: Fernando León de Aranoa; Stars: Javier Bardem, Manolo Solo, María de Nati, Fernando Albizu, Sonia Almarcha, Almudena Amor, Celso Bugallo, Óscar de la Fuente, Mara Guil, Dalit Streett Tejeda, Daniel Chamorro, Yaël Belicha, Tarik Rmili, Martín Páez, Rafa Castejón)
Diwan lets the cold hard facts trickle in as weeks are marked off at the bottom of the screen.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Audrey Diwan; Writer: Audrey Diwan, Marcia Romano, based on the book by Annie Ernaux; Stars: Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami, Louise Orry-Diquéro, Louise Chevillotte, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire, Leonor Oberson, Anna Mouglalis, Cyril Metzger, Eric Verdin, Madeleine Baudot, Alice de Lencquesaing, Fabrizio Rongione, Isabelle Mazin)
(Country: Hong Kong, France; Year: 2021; Director: Qiu Jiongjiong; Writer: Qiu Jiongjiong; Stars: Tao Gu, Yi Sicheng)
Harari and his co-writers Bernard Cendron and Vincent Poymiro, show how the war propaganda becomes internalised in these men, so that even when they are given signs that the conflict may be over, they rationalise that it must be some sort of 'fake news' designed to trick them.
(Country: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Arthur Harari; Writer: Bernard Cendron, Arthur Harari, Vincent Poymiro; Stars: Endô Yûya, Tsuda Kanji, Matsuura Yûya, Chiba Tetsuya, Kato Shinsuke , Inowaki Kai, Issey Ogata, Taiga Nakano, Nobuhiro Suwa, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Tomomitsu Adachi, Kyûsaku Shimada, Angeli Bayani, Jemuel Satumba, Kuu Izima)
The autumn setting fits it perfectly, because although this is the change of the year as things die back for winter, it is also blazing with colour and hopefulness.
(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Céline Sciamma; Writer: Céline Sciamma; Stars: Gabrielle Sanz, Joséphine Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal,)
This is the playground as a warzone, where the sandpit might, indeed, be as deep as the sea and hold dead bodies and where adult authority might only make things worse.
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Laura Wandel; Writer: Laura Wandel; Stars: Maya Vanderbeque, Günter Duret, Lena Girard Voss, Laura Verlinden, Karim Leklou)
The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.
(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch; Stars: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone)
Wright doesn't try to reinvent the documentary form, but draws on the Maels' energy, matching their playfulness and incorporating both stop-motion and a decoupage styles of animation into their back story.
(Country: UK; Year: 2021; Director: Edgar Wright; Stars: Ron Mael, Russell Mael)
Tafdrup chooses to follow the more familiar route, carrying events to a natural extreme, but in a way this lets the Danish couple off the hook.
(Country: Denmark, Netherlands; Year: 2022; Director: Christian Tafdrup; Writer: Christian Tafdrup, Mads Tafdrup; Stars: Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch, Fedja van Huêt, Karina Smulders, Liva Forsberg, Marius Damslev, Hichem Yacoubi, Lea Baastrup Rønne, Jesper Dupont, Sieger Sloot, Andrea Benucci, Adrian Blanchard, Alessio Barni, Ilaria Casai, Ilaria Di Raimo)
There is a lingering, half blossomed melancholy that lies underneath the often very funny, fast-paced moments of quotidian chaos.
(Country: Norway, France, Sweden; Year: 2021; Director: Joachim Trier; Writer: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt; Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Renate Reinsve, Herbert Nordrum)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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