POMO

Set in a time in America that now seems the most appealing of all, Air is a fresh entrepreneurial adventure with a maximally feel-good happy ending. It's not as funny or seductively amoral as The Wolf of Wall Street, nor does it reveal such an interesting curiosity as Moneyball did, but it’s still a skilfully directed and well acted true story of the American Dream. “Booorn in the USA!”

A tribute to selfless paramedics for their dedicated work in a job that takes an extraordinary psychological toll, especially in New York, where they are more hated than appreciated by the junkies and criminals they rescue. More stress and terror than in Scorsese’s Bringing out the Dead, made as intense as possible in every scene. Black Flies offers a constant melancholic mood of hopelessness, assiduous acting and an unrelenting dramatic drive, but there is also a slight superficiality and some borrowing from elsewhere. I most enjoyed the intimate scenes of naked bodies touching, healing all of the bad things around them. [Cannes FF]

The exploration of the real world by people coming from Barbie Land is stimulating and original and hints at the promise of a clever, fresh and original satire reflecting the pseudo-problems of contemporary (western) society. But the potential inherent in that is cut dead by the subsequent “gender conflict” and its childish resolution to which the film resorts. And that’s a shame. Even the balance of entertainment for children and adults doesn’t work here, since the movie is not for kids at all. But let’s be glad that audiences are returning in large numbers to cinemas now that the pandemic is over. Barbie deserves thanks for that. And special praise goes to the originator of the brilliant “Barbenheimer” marketing concept, though the hardworking crew around Tom Cruise didn’t deserve to have M:I-7 overshadowed.

The first segment in the apartment / on the street / in the store is congenially filmed paranoia. With goosebumps and my mouth hanging open, I witnessed the beginning of the film of the year, a film that I had been waiting decades for, a film that would put me in a cinephilic trance with every shot, every cut, every expression and every move that Joaquin Phoenix made. The second, laid-back and more comical segment still held the bar high and aroused my curiosity as to what would happen next. But with the segment in the forest, the film began to lose everything from the plot that had won me over and became an incoherent muddle of motifs and metaphors that don’t make sense in the psychological study of the main character. And if they’re supposed to makes sense, the viewer has long since lost interest in figuring them out.

Inside the Yellow Cocoon is an extremely slow and unexciting “spiritual journey” undertaken by a young man in order to understand the meaning of life, which was changed for him overnight by the tragic death of his sister. Long shots, talking with people, ordinary background scenery comprising the Vietnamese countryside. For three gruelling hours, there is none of the build-up or plot development that we are used to seeing in movies. I can’t imagine being in such a state of mind that this film would better suit me. [Cannes FF]

This dark pathological thriller descends into horror not through scares or a sense of dread, but through a chillingly realistic rendering of a disturbing subject. With its atmospherically appropriate setting in gloomy New York, the film features a creepy lead character superbly stylised by Marin Ireland. The film is psychologically balanced, as the motivations of the two doctor characters are understandable despite the definite crossing of ethical boundaries. Only the directorial guidance of the child actress is weak, and the film’s conclusion lazily avoids the escalation of tension that the viewer expected.

With its subject matter, You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder is hackneyed low-key, low-budget banality that can’t be faulted much in its details and it’s interesting because it brings Ewan McGregor and his real-life daughter Clara McGregor together in front of the camera as the characters of a man and his daughter. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]

A film that knows what it's doing with every scene, character, humorous moment, choreographed fight and unexpected twist. And despite the mix of a serious subject with comedic abstraction, it never slides into cheapness or bombast for even a second. In terms of screenwriting, it’s three times more sophisticated than Sisu and, in terms of directing, there are few other films that are as tasteful and fresh without bigger-name actors.

The very first shot with Zimmer-esque music is stunning, taking into account that this is a Czech film. The monumental exterior sets with great design, including the cars, holograms and digital images, are world-class in Restore Point. With respect to the plot, it wouldn’t matter that it is merely a crime movie in a sci-fi setting. So was Minority Report. The film’s handicap lies in the attempt to keep the viewer in constant suspense by incessantly and often needlessly conveying the plot through dialogue, dialogue and more dialogue. Without being drawn into the story in an original and more impactful way, I was unwilling (and, at a night-time festival screening after a full day, unable) to take it all in. Next time, the filmmakers should come up with a more original subject, cut down on the chatter and balance the slower passages with getting to know the characters, and the result will be great. Like a movie franchise with the same female detective. She is well cast, easy on the eyes and her character is well suited to further development. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]

A Chilean island, indigenous people with witchcraft at their command and an arrogant German colonizer... Sorcery has atmosphere, high-quality actors and a setting in an attractive historical period with impressive production design, but the screenplay fails to offer anything more interesting. The most powerful scene gets the story going at the beginning, but it’s followed by waiting for a catharsis that is never fully brought to fruition. Nevertheless, the subject matter invited many interesting solutions to the situation as longed for by the viewers. [Sitges Film Festival]