These are the premieres that hit the theaters this April 12:
By Jordi Batlle Caminal
When we tasted the first installment of Twilight, more than fifteen years ago, it was difficult to predict the future of the young stars who played the candid lovers, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, suddenly riding the merry-go-round of fame. We could assume that they would be, like so many others, ephemeral, seasonal idols. But it was not like that.
In the following three decades, in addition to meeting the romantic-vampire obligations imposed by the saga, both Patterson and Stewart have proven not only to be talented versatile actors, but also to have artistic concerns that are not common in the family of new promises from heaven. film.
It would seem that his horizons have more to do with authorial prestige than with the box office. Pattinson has worked with Cronenberg, Herzog, James Gray, Claire Denis, the Safdie brothers, Robert Eggers... And Stewart with Olivier Assayas, Kelly Reichardt, Woody Allen, Pablo Larraín and also with Cronenberg. This willingness to take risks undoubtedly deserves applause.
And a new challenge for Kristen Stewart is Blood on the Lips, the new work by the author of Saint Maud, where the actress, who had no objection to publicly declaring herself a lesbian, plays a gym worker madly in love (requited love) with a bodybuilder who is preparing to participate in a contest in Las Vegas. Here we tread iconographic and typological terrain highly cultivated by American cinema.
On the one hand, there is the dirty gym and its miserable surroundings as reflections of the unfulfilled American dream and the Hustonian mythology of the loser. On the other hand, the love story between a couple marked by destiny, as in You Only Live Once, by Lang, or The Night Lovers, by Ray, only here the protagonists are no longer a boy and a girl, but two girls.
Finally, a violent criminal intrigue, with a couple of annoying corpses, escape, chase, etc. The packaging would be that of a prototypical chromatically flamboyant B series (an authentic trip to hell), whose tone is sarcastic, full of black humor and nonsense close to the “grand guignol”; that is, a Don Siegel of the seventies reformulated by the mischievous look of the Coen brothers and with a final delirious wink to the fans of Bert I. Gordon.
By Salvador Llopart
When it happens, as it now happens in action movies, those that find their reason in spectacularity and bullshit, which all seem to be cut from the same cloth, this Monkey Man arrives to leave one stunned and exhausted. As intense as it is predictable in his story of revenge and redemption. At times vulgar to the point of saying enough. Something like John Wick in an Indian key. Directed, however, with incredible strength and conviction by Dev Patel, the Slumdog Millionaire actor who makes his debut behind the camera with this film infused with an intense flavor, like Indian curry. Like excessive spices.
And India is the ultimate reason for a story that, in addition, is wrapped in legend. The constant reference to Hanuman, the Lord of the Monkeys in Indian mythology, the Monkey Man of the title. One of the few gods of Hinduism who is worshiped by all castes and who symbolizes incorruptibility and righteousness.
Kid, its protagonist, the monkey king project embodied by Patel himself, turns out to be a sad, severe and, on top of that, weak hero. A cool hero, wow. Hero of the poor, however. Against the corrupt police, the sellout politician and the religious leader who pulls the strings of social intransigence and intolerance. Schematic characters, if you will. Mere ideas, although effective. The necessary antithesis of this monkey man played with evident conviction by Dev Patel, the unexpected protagonist of an outrageous action.
Assembly is accelerated. Obfuscated at times. The sound is turbulent. The camera moves agilely and nervously, seeking the close-up, until it gets lost in eyes or a face. The teaching of Danny Boyle, who directed Patel in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), or Guy Ritchie are not far away. A dark film, even muddy, although with a vitality worthy of admiration. There is action in Monkey Man, there is myth and there is also an evident intentionality in this song of hope for the dispossessed.
Por Philipp Engel
Absurd adventures in the Amazon jungle, which at least have the virtue of reminding us that, in addition to arms and drug trafficking, there is also that of wild animals, like the last jaguar in the title, which a brave girl will set out to save. . The director tries to repeat the formula and magic of Mia and the White Lion (2018), starting from scenes in which a preteen girl makes love to the docile beast, but neither the landscapes are as convincing, nor the plot believable, nor the humor goes from blushing.
By J. Batlle
In Dangerous Minds, Michelle Pfeiffer tamed her wayward students with marine muscle; in Full of Grace, the nun Carmen Machi encouraged them with soccer, and now Professor Jiménez achieves the singular feat of turning a gang of inept teenagers into chess champions, suggesting (there is a message here, of course) that we are all Kasparov if we put our minds to it. The lesson is adorned with the oldest topics of popular Iberian comedy.
By S. Llopart
What a great action director Zambrano would be if he put his mind to it (or it was proposed to him). Nothing is revealed if it is stated that, in El Salto, which is about illegal migration, the moment of crossing the fence(s) of Melilla, bravely, risking one's physical integrity, is one of the most heartfelt moments. and exciting new film from the director of Solas (1999). It's a shame that, in the end, the protagonists turn out to be more schematic ideas than real characters. Even good intentions are bad advisors when it comes to cinema.
Por P. Engel
With an open heart and without a network, the French-Moroccan Nora el Hourch has the courage to combine in her debut film the question of consent in suburban culture with the very different permeability to MeToo in different social classes, where priorities vary. The worst that can be said about it is that it can be somewhat schematic, at times, and didactic, perfect for showing in institutes, but it also contains many good decisions, it is fresh, it breathes truth and it has the virtue of moving us.
By S. Llopart
The second round has a lot of vindication of innocence, although it does so in a rushed and clumsy way, without deciding on comedy or drama. I think of Welcome, Mr. Chance (1979), the last film by Peter Sellers, as an obvious reference and, when remembering the film directed by Hal Ashby, this headless political satire that is Dupontel's film even more shines. , where they want to turn bees into a life lesson like Sellers did with gardens in Ashby's film.
