These are the movie premieres that hit the screens starting this February 17
Por Philipp Engel
Ruben Östlund burst onto the international festival scene with a film whose title was already quite a declaration of intent: The Guitar Mongoloid (2004). Pure provocation, in the vein of Lars Von Trier or Harmony Korine. Since then, he has not given up in his efforts to become the court jester of auteur cinema, sticking his finger in the eye of the biempensante elite with more or less poignant gags. And the play has turned out so well that he already has no less than two Palme d'Or cannoises, one for The Square (2017), where the main target of his poisoned darts was the director of a contemporary art museum, and another for this new geometric comedy, starring a couple of model-influencers whose inner life is as rich as can be imagined.
Consistent with its clearly equilateral shape, the climactic vertex of The Triangulo de la tristeza –a memorable scatology festival on the high seas not suitable for biodramine users– takes place in the second part, after a brilliant exposition on the uncomfortable relationship between money and gender roles, and before an already less stimulating final part that is received as a parody of Lord of the Flies reinterpreted by adults who behave like children.
In the era of precariousness and the polarization of wealth, satire of the ruling class has become a curious trend, mixing playful catharsis with unhealthy fascination: The White Lotus series, the penultimate M. Night Shyamalan (Time) , or the phenomenon Parasites go through the mind of the spectator lost in The Triangle of Sadness. But the cinema of this disciple of Roy Andersson suffers from the same thing as that of his great teacher: by building his narrative using sketches, the whole ends up being perceived as irregular. In this sense, Force Majeure (2014) continues to be his roundest film. Another problem is that his stylized conceptual hooliganism can be seen wearing a feather duster: the characters appear as hollow puppets to which, from time to time, he throws brushstrokes of humanity, as if remembering that they are supposed to be people, and not just empirical demonstrations of an idea. Subtlety is not his forte. Not at all. Still, the walk is worth it. Even with very bad sea.
By Salvador Llopart García
Skeptics have nothing to do here: better leave this review. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania won't convince anyone who isn't already convinced of the value of superheroes. Accumulate this new Ant-Man ... ”many of the recurring flaws in these types of movies where the future of the universe is at stake, and none of the virtues of it. The bad thing is that it will not be much better for those who are more or less faithful to the genre. Unlike the previous two installments of the Ant-Man and the Wasp adventures, this one is rather goofy and tiresome, and humor is almost entirely absent. Some occurrence remains, but few.
We are facing a grandiose proposal, with three generations of the same family lost in deep space; lost, actually, in a supposed quantum multiverse. That, translated into narrative logic, means that the united family ends up in a place where everything is possible, as in Journey to the Center of the Earth. There the unleashed imagination reigns for their respects, as in the world of Alice in Wonderland but without a queen. A visually overloaded world, which wants to be impressive and at times it is, although it is sometimes grotesque. Pandora World, in short, as in Avatar, on the grotesque side. One is tempted to say that the best thing is the presence of Michelle Pfeiffer.
His worst flaw? The archenemy of adventure. An all-powerful being called Khan, the conqueror, determined to end the universe and a good part of the supposed parallel universes, that is, what we call the metaverse. What a fixation with the metaverse! In short, Khan, called to be a recurring character, turns out, despite the multiplication of which he is capable, rather flat, without any tragic background as Thanos, the previous resident villain in the Marvel universe, had. With an archenemy of as little depth as Khan, I fear that bad times are coming for the super heroic lyric.
By Jordi Batlle
Inspired by true events, Ellas hablanda concentrates a group of women in the hayloft of a religious colony and there they discuss, reflect, and decide how to deal with the serious situation they are suffering, since they have been sexually assaulted by the men of the community.
The film revolves around this unique theme and over and over again talks about faith, forgiveness, God's mercy, punishment or revenge, etc. Very dialogued, has a theatrical aspect and sometimes gives the feeling of attending a sermon.
His interest lies in the performances (remarkable actresses with only one actor, Ben Wishaw, who looks like Anthony Perkins from The Big Test), in the psychological treatment of the photography and subdued colors and in the good use of the setting, a haystack in the only thing missing is Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis dancing to a romantic song.
By Jordi Batlle
Jorge returns to the neighborhood and the bar of his youth and meets Alicia, the woman he loved in the past. There is something strange in that bar: an old jukebox, a coin phone hanging on the wall... As if time had stopped in the seventies. And it is that time is precisely the engine that propels this film, which was previously the play by Víctor Conde himself. Time or times, since past and present are mixed, melted or confused in the bar and in the stories of Jorge and Alicia, and Miguel, Mario and Paula, the other three essential characters in the show.
The game, which drifts towards the fantastic story and has a Resnaisian core, is seductive and is followed with interest despite some somewhat artificial passages or dialogues. In a brief role, Juan Diego in his last film appearance.
By Salvador Llopart García
The film triumphed in Sitges, I suppose in the early-morning sessions, when one takes the unscrupulous spectator that one carries inside for a walk. It is about some very criminal criminals watched over by some policemen who are not far behind in toughness. They travel by ship, and we soon learn that there is something else on that ship. Like Con air, that is, and a monster inside. A monster without poetry, rather given to dismembering the staff.
Turned to gore, it sins of stereotyped characters, with no greater interest than knowing how far their cruelty will go (and their desire to shed blood) and who will survive, a bit like Ten Little Blacks. She has, as a remarkable virtue, a fast-paced visual narrative, with all the knowledge of Korean cinema behind it. But the blood drowns everything.
Por Philipp Engel
This critique could be titled Eight Mexican Surnames for its exploitation of Aztec clichés that include kidnappers wearing wrestling masks. Or maybe Mexico Grindr: the dating app for gays is having its moment (the characters of Pol Monen and Eduardo Casanova met thanks to it) and this rom-com from the co-director of Mentiras y gordas (2009) contains the potential ingredients to become in the most colorful wagon of LGBT Pride day.
Nothing to object to, of course, except that this pink soap opera ends up being perceived as the long prelude to a crazy comedy that doesn't take flight until the end. The lively end credits are confirmation of a party that hasn't happened.
