These are the premieres that hit the theaters this April 19:
By Jordi Batlle Caminal
Civil War is linked to that type of film about journalists risking their lives on the front lines of war conflicts that became fashionable in the eighties: The Year We Live Dangerously, Under Fire, Circle of Deceit, Salvador... But times have changed , and they have changed a lot, and today everything tends towards uniformity. If in each of those films by Weir, Spottiswoode, Schlöndorff and Stone there was a personal stamp, a different aesthetic approach, in Alex Garland's film a multipurpose iconography prevails, apparently very accepted by the public of our time.
Indeed, it is now commonplace to encounter an apocalyptic landscape and recurring scenarios (infinite roads crammed with abandoned vehicles, long itineraries full of danger behind every tree, occasional stops at empty farms, possible groups of survivors along the way, etc. .) that are repeated from film to film and that are so valid for an epic of extraterrestrial invasions (The War of the Worlds, by Spielberg), of zombies (The Walking Dead series and a thousand imitations), of lethal expanding viruses (White noise, by Baumbach) or for this America on a war footing due to the uprising of several states.
Comfortably installed in this visual canon, Civil War follows the route of four journalists of various ages (from the elderly veteran to the young, inexperienced photographer) over thousands of kilometers towards the city of Washington. Garland has always approached genres (science fiction in Ex Machina or horror in Men) from unconventional perspectives, and here, although conscious of entering the blockbuster, he has chosen to banish the usual digital paraphernalia and circus apotheosis ( This is not an “action movie” with Gerard Butler saving the White House) to focus on a realistic story filmed with nerve. Some moments have impact, like the tense, disturbing episode starring a monstrous Jesse Plemons.
Let no one expect a serious reflective speech about recent America (and perhaps imminent America) from Mr. Trump. However, the fact that it reaches the screens this electorally decisive year gives it a pertinent (or impertinent) touch for debate and controversy.
Por Philipp Engel
It is impossible not to be overwhelmed, as well as enthralled, by Rohrwacher's latest film, which forms a sort of trilogy with the already extraordinary Wonderland (2014) and Happy Lazzaro (2018), all of which were presented at Cannes. . Enthralled, because the combination of three analogue formats in the hands of its faithful cinematographer Hélène Louvart can and should be described as sublime: we are talking about a non-academic beauty, rather primal and wild, in its purest form.
Overcome, because this new fable, which once again straddles the line between neorealism and fantasy, takes us back to the origins of humanity, where history is confused with myths, and those of cinema itself, with moments of accelerated camera and slapstick, to bring them back to the present like someone fishing with a net in the deepest part of the Mediterranean.
Anarchic, in the best of senses, The Chimera begins with Arthur (immense Josh O'Connor, famous for the series The Crown), who has just been released from prison, returning to the Tuscan mansion ruled by a decadent matriarch (Isabella Rossellini , history of cinema), in search of his lost love, which is no longer of this world.
In the meantime, he relates to beautiful Italy, played by Carol Duarte (a Brazilian actress who nevertheless refers to the divas of Italian cinema, from Magnani to Mangano, including Loren), while he resumes his no less clandestine activity as a tomb looter. Etruscans, guided by a strange gift that leads him to detect their location underground, to the delight of his “tombaroli” friends.
As in his previous films, we once again have the evils of capitalism – here the plundering in the art world – in the face of the quixotic or complicit resistance of the destitute, but what really matters is the imperious desire to bequeath an absolutely free cinema , magical and mysterious, in response to the dumbing down of the era of series and platforms. Prodigious.
By Salvador Llopart
In this film, bodies explode and blood flows: you have been warned. It also has moments of humor and even the current scream queen runs in terror through secret passages. The important thing is the movement, that things don't stop. She starts off with an Agatha Christie, who-did-it brushstroke, until the vampires show up. From then on anything goes, even narrative incoherence. The point is that the (bloody) party continues. The result, if it does not offend, in its incoherence, is curious. Even original. At times, vertigo.
Por P. Engel
A minimalist style exercise focused on three characters and one location: the alleged radio studio where the programs that encouraged the Rwandan genocide were broadcast, when the Hutu killed 70% of the Tutsis. The theatrical characteristics of the device and the off-screen to which the bloody events are relegated are, at the same time, the strength and weakness of a proposal that trusts everything to the notable protagonist trio, the excellent photography and an irregular script
By J. Batlle
Cuñados, like the previous Cuñados, is a comedy as well seasoned as that octopus “a feira” that they cook and consume so much in the two films. The sequel follows the guidelines and structure that already made us laugh in the original title and once again it is the three stupid protagonists who support the comic edifice with spark, funny phrases, funny situations and a fresh, healthy humor that never falls into the vulgarity unfortunately so common in popular Spanish comedy.
By S. Llopart
Wonderful animation work from the team headed by Salvador Simó, who was behind the multi-award-winning Buñuel in the Turtle Labyrinth (2018). Equipped with an innocent drawing and, at the same time, full of nuances. Where the oriental tradition, especially that of dragons, of unusual tenderness and delicacy, meets completely naturally with the most refined technique. All the art, however, is diluted in a narration that is too infantilized, even for the little ones. Far below the artistic result of the whole. Pity.
Por P. Engel
For much of its generous footage, Rosalie sabotages its possibilities as an instant classic of capillary cinema with an overly conservative “qualité” academicism, but the hairy and luminously sensual delivery of the Tereskiewicz, the endearing bonhomie of a Magimel innkeeper (both better than a Benjamin Biolay in caricature villain mode) and some poetic fugues with interesting shots make the film shake off its bombastic soap opera classicism like a dog just out of the water.
