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Reviews
Chambre 212 (2019)
the vibe is chatty, the music, jazz
Chambre 212 a.k.a. "On A Magical Night" is a retread of stories of what-could-have-beens à la It's a Wonderful Life, Non-Fiction and even A Christmas Carol. This time the older adults became shadows of who they were when they were young. There is a lot of homage to movies here, very talk-y and chatty air like early- to mid-career Woody Allen and Nora Ephron, and good deployment of songs as musical score. While a bit light in premise, the substance of the script intelligently goes beyond the usual stories of reflective recollections. The principal cast and their old/young selves were uniformly very good, animating the curves and crevices of the well developed screenplay. Certain line readings (especially how it is said in French) are funny without being precious.
La Gomera (2019)
deconstructed neo-noir
La Gomera a.k.a. "The Whistlers" is a fun Romanian neo-noir borrowing suspense tropes from James Cain, Robert Siodmak and Jules Dassin. The premise is a cop (no unreliable voice overs here) who had to learn the idiom of the whistling language for communicating with people living in interstitial spaces inside and outside of the law. Offbeat, at times hilarious in a deadpan way and rife with truly beautiful mise en scène, the film is a deconstructed tribute to this specific and particular film genre but operates outside of it. All the characters are vividly drawn, the supporting ones carry out the one-dimensionality of their roles with a certain lived-in freshness. The use of music was also very tasteful and deliberately operatic as counterpoint to the life-and-death situations, quirkily told. Corneliu Porumboiu seems to be having fun directing this story -- it shows and I for one was swept by the story and storytelling.
Dylda (2019)
Common women in uncommon situations
Dylda a.k.a. "Beanpole" is heavy, intense, bleak and yet a surprisingly hopeful film from Kantemir Balagov. It chronicles the life of Iya a.k.a. Dylda because of her uncommon height and gangly posture and how she navigates the tricky terrain of surviving in post-war Leningrad. The aftereffects of war seem more devastating than when war was ongoing. A semblance of normalcy actually was the most painful realization of empty lives and meaningless selves. The story at times reminded me of films such as Beyond the Hills, Disobedience and An Elephant Sitting Still. The will to survive in an unforgiving environment had to be ferociously performed, yet there are societal dimensions that keep people from their own version of happiness. The two first-time actresses truly fleshed out their characters' hunger for connection. Is there a way out of this affective blockage post-war Leningrad imposed on common women? The one thing I noticed too is that characters are neither drawn as evil or good, just people whose morality and human nature tip where circumstances point towards.
Sea Oak (2017)
Postmodern horror?
A bit out-of-the-box in terms of narrative, storytelling pace, mood and genre (is it bleak drama, is it surrealist comedy, is it postmodern horror?), but Glenn Close triumphs! As the pusillanimous Bernie, she evokes the universe from an acting performance that is quiet, understated, and later on, justifiably explosive yet also touching. I would want this developed into a series with all of its quirks, eccentricities and artistic vision intact.