These are the releases that hit movie screens between December 20 and 22:
Por Philipp Engel
The controversy surrounding the French candidacy for the Oscar for international film – Slow Fire, chosen instead of Anatomy of a Fall –, which has raised the cinephilia of our neighboring country in arms, is reminiscent of when the New Wave critics They charged against “le cinéma de papa”: it is clear that this culinary film is more conservative than the judicial one, that it is not connected to current events, and that it could even be said that it looks back with a certain nostalgia (something that cannot be taken at face value). of the lyrics), but it is still a great film.
The ossified academies have to opt for one film or another, a vote that does not have to affect the restless viewer, omnivorous by nature: why should they choose? You can, should and need to enjoy two of the titles of the year, also awarded at the most significant Cannes festival, where Justine Triet won the Palme d'Or, and Tran Anh Hung was crowned Best Director.
From the moment it was announced that the Vietnamese filmmaker was returning to the Official Cannoise Section, no less than 23 years after that First Summer, it was already intuited that Slow Fire had to be big, and it is. Benoit Magimel and Juliette Binoche are great at rekindling the chemistry of yesteryear, in addition to generously giving the spotlight to the dishes, created by him and prepared by her (actually designed by chef Pierre Gagnaire), which parade through the nineteenth-century cuisine of this delicate ode to old French cuisine. Although some plot traces remain, from the transmission of knowledge to autumnal passion, the radicality of this film, less academic than it seems, lies precisely in the starring role given to the patient preparation of the dishes, in long shots that They don't need words, just the very light seasoning of a knowing smile.
Food Porn? Perhaps in the sense that food, like sex, often fails in its attempt to convey emotions through the screen. Here it is just the opposite: although it loses a Michelin star for using a pear as a sensual metaphor, perhaps we have never seen a film capable of expressing the tears that a mere bite can provoke in us. Exquisite.
By Jordi Batlle Caminal
Man and nature merge, dilute into a spiritual and religious whole in the subjugating images of Samsara. In the first part of the film we visit a Buddhist temple in Luang Prabang, Laos, where future monks are trained. We witness, in a register closer to the documentary than to the fiction film, his prayers, his domestic and culinary tasks, his excursions (the scene of the waterfalls is impressive, of sublime beauty), and we observe a young boy who reads to him. to a dying old woman a book about death and reincarnation. Throughout this journey there is an unexpected echo (the tone, the theme of the afterlife) of the Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
After the death of the old woman, the screen blackens for a few minutes, with occasional flashes of light and colors not suitable for photosensitive viewers, and we begin a hypnotic journey, a transition to another life, between the cosmic experience of Kubrick's astronaut Bowman and a lysergic Lynch nightmare. And, suddenly, we are in another film without ceasing to be in the previous one; We are in a corner of Zanzibar, Tanzania, where a baby goat has just been born. This radical break is also reminiscent of the Thai filmmaker and particularly his film Tropical malady. We have changed landscape and continent, but the poetic fabric and a deeply human feeling remain.
As you can see, Lois Patiño, one of the most significant representatives of 'cinema novo galego', has made an exotic and transcendental excursion (or two: a two-sided story). He continues to extract from his new natural settings the same spell that he extracted from his native land in Costa da Morte or Lúa vermella: visual purity, naked contemplation of the world, serenity, calm, inner peace. A work of minority vocation, you will not see it on the list of Goya nominations; Depending on how you look at it, its absence in the jackpots is a triumph, not a defeat.
By Salvador Llopart
There are many gay sex scenes and few words in Femme. They are not necessary either; the words, I mean. A powerful drag queen (Stewart-Jarrett) suffers a homophonous attack upon leaving the show, which destroys her... until she, as his victim, recognizes her executioner (MacKay). Cloudy looks and diffuse feelings, where humiliation, resentment and revenge are confused with nascent love. It is not a rational story, no; It is a passionate story. Spotlight. To the limit. Where two worlds collide. It speaks, in short, of the telluric power of desire.
Por Philipp Engel
Willy Wonka already has a Christmas rival: the talented fusion between Benjamin Renner, co-director of French animated gems like Ernest and Célestine, and Mike White, creator of the series The White Lotus or cult films like What Ever Happened to Brad, with the overwhelming level Gru's label production, makes for a high-flying family show: the best in animated birds since the hilarious Angry Birds. It is not ¡Canta!, nor Pets, the jewels of Illumination, but it has plenty of action, laughter and dancing.
By S. Llopart
Fellini made 8 ½ about a director's creative crisis. Gondry does the same here. His way, of course. His alter ego is clear: the only way to create is to drive him and others crazy. Excellent when, from pure innocence, a la Wes Anderson, he turns his doubts into a treatise on creativity. He is lost, however, when he becomes petulant, selfish and atrabiliary. Besides being charming, of course. The whole goes from more to less.
By S. Llopart
Not all of us have the courage of Saint Augustine, who, as he said, would continue doing the same thing even if he died at that very moment. And much less do the two protagonist couples of this comedy have it about the essentials of existence, where one of the four knows that he is going to leave this world in less than a month. A proposal of theatrical origin - it is evident - with a desire to entangle and a desire to entertain. But at a rather slow pace, almost mortuary. The translation from theater to film is not easy and the whole thing suffers.
By S. Llopart
Lackluster, tiring like most of the latest superhero installments, wherever they come from, this Aquaman 2 generates heroic fatigue, even exhaustion. Aquaman and his brother, who were previously enemies, team up to fight together. Does it sound familiar to you? Thor fans know what I'm talking about. In fact, the entire narrative is fueled by offal: the Star Wars bar, the colorful universe of Avatar, the curse of The Lord of the Rings. The special effects reach their zenith, but the story drags in misery. A colorful pastiche, come on.
