POMO

A sex-packed would-be thriller/drama with a dysfunctional romantic motif. When the main characters aren’t having sex, donkeys are mating in the yard or one of the dozen couples or threesomes are going at it in a by-the-hour hotel, where half of the film takes place. And if not that, at least the sound of intercourse is heard from the televisions in the hotel rooms. Heavy breathing can be heard in the background in all of the scenes set in the hotel, even when the main characters are just talking. While there is an abundance of sexual elements to marvel at, there is zero emotion and somehow no joy in the filmmaking. I find that disconcerting coming from Karim Aïnouz, whose The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmao was for me the greatest surprise of Cannes 2019. Two and a half stars. [Cannes FF]

A crime film in a European setting, like Refn‘s Pusher, but with younger gangsters, a gay relationship between the main male characters and the sister of one of them, who serves as our guide through the film. The linking of the film to an RPG, which provides an alternative life for her and her brother, is surprisingly conceptual and gives the film a distinctive dimension and sense of drive. The armed heroine in the game is the sister’s alter ego and fills out the depiction of her real-life emotional states. The frequent intercutting of the game with the dramatic action of the film is also a parallel to the perception of reality through the eyes of teenagers who are not fully aware of the seriousness of their criminal behavior (producing and selling drugs). The content of the film is indicative of the youthful creativity of screenwriter and director Caroline Poggi, next to which her imaginativeness and feel for taking an unusual approach to storytelling stand out even more. [Cannes FF]

A werewolf-like theme of nocturnal transformations into a murderous animal, this time a bull. Seriously. And there doesn’t even have to be a full moon. Despite a lot of night-time scenes and slightly bloody killings, Animale doesn’t work as a horror movie at all. It’s rather a drama with a strange “animal energy”, taking place in the countryside in the environment of bullfighting and raising bulls, with which the protagonist finds a mental connection. The narrative doesn’t lack a light artistic touch and the story offers a surprise in explaining why the transformations into a bull happen. But don’t expect a powerful movie experience, because Animale is rather just a curiosity. Two and a half stars. [Cannes FF]

A gangster movie done differently and done well! The main character is a teenage girl and the  main motif is her relationship with her father, the head of a mafia crew. In a quiet rural setting, the situation seen from her perspective involves a threat to the crew and thus to the only family that she has. There is a sorrowful undertone of the impending inevitable outcome in parallel with getting to know the characters who, like anyone else, love those closest to them in spite of their own criminality. The Kingdom punches above its weight in the sunny Corsican atmosphere. The fate of a legacy that cannot be avoided. [Cannes FF]

A step-sister of Crimes of the Future, this time set in the realistic present and more oriented toward high-tech gadgets. The stylish Vincent Cassel in a Tesla, scenes of his deceased, scarred wife Diane Kruger following an amputation, her alive-and-well sister Diane Kruger seducing her widowed brother-in-law Cassel, progressive VIP cemeteries with a video system monitoring the dead, a possible political conspiracy to misuse those systems on the part Russia and China…and so on. Not enough? Cronenberg once again takes a stab at a mysterious conversational detective flick with a great atmosphere, original ideas, mysterious-sounding scientific terms that no one understands and intimate sex shrouded in the bizarre. And of course with laughably absurd plot development around all of the characters, which seems to be terribly serious, but beneath the surface it’s nothing more than the fragile fantasy of a frightened boy. Judging from the feeble applause of more than a thousand journalists, there aren’t many of us left who will still tolerate such a thing. [Cannes FF]

An “agrarian” feel-good drama about rural youths who raise cows, make cheese and ride dirt bikes. A family scarred by tragedy, rivalry, tractors, sex in the barn, love and friendship, responsibility for a little sister. For a debut by a young director, Holy Cow is pleasantly authentic, with a feel for the setting and well-directed non-actors. [Cannes FF]

Brilliant wide-angle compositions in dark, discomfited filters. Not only of the desolate desert landscape, but especially the dilapidated industrial city framed by that landscape in the background. The story of a reclusive outsider, who doesn’t speak through the entire film, and the emerging friendship between him and a stray dog doesn’t offer anything new or substantially emotional, but the visual storytelling and flawless directing of the dog are fascinating. It’s a shame that the film lacks a more powerful ending that would be richer in thought. With that, I can’t give it four stars. [Cannes FF]

A nicely outlined western epic with a large number of characters having a diverse palette of conflicts as well as family and romantic relationships. And of course natural locations from multiple corners of America that are a joy to see. Every inch of the film (including Debney’s music) gives us a sense of Costner’s love for the classic genre, which may seem almost kitschy to less knowledgeable young viewers. Horizon doesn’t aim for artistic achievements or creative innovations and is “only” a pure romantic western that, thanks to the planned lengthy runtime, can incorporate marginal scenes of everyday life from the given period, which are something that we have never seen in westerns before. That adds value to the film and – together with the “coming next” at the end – confirms that Horizon is rather a series in film form. Albeit a series in whose case it would be a shame not to see it on the big screen (which means that the spoilerish insert at the end is not a slap in the face). I’m not giving Chapter 1 a star rating for now, since it is only the first quarter of the project and the final impression will depend on the development, integration and outcome of the individual stories.

A wacky feminist “horror” comedy with three hysterical women, a severed penis, a corpse in the refrigerator, the ghosts of dead men and sizable portions of blood and, mainly, female nudity, the amount of which we’re not used to seeing in the French mainstream (or elsewhere). That nudity interestingly enhances the openness of expressing femininity in the film, which is obviously a metaphor for the difficulty that suffering women have in dealing with men (swine). Though this almost hallucinogenically chaotic genre mish-mash is packed with admirable energy, it lacks functional dramaturgy, which would have made it an objectively good Film with a capital F. [Cannes FF]

The first quarter of an hour likably introduces the characters and is pleasing due to the presence of well-liked actors. After the situation has been dramatized, however, the film descends to the level of an infantile TV production, with humour that I perhaps just don’t get and political allusions that I didn’t find clever enough for the given ensemble of actors, not even on an allegorical level. On the other hand, if such names signed off on the screenplay, maybe I’m wrong and you will find it appealing. Rumours seems to have been inspired by the “forest weirdness” of Albert Serra’s Liberté, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes a few years ago. [Cannes FF]