By: Henry J. Fromage –
I was lucky enough to get an excellent clutch of screeners from practically every competition section at Venice.
632. The City of the Living
We start off with a highlight of this year’s festival in this most uncharacteristic true crime film. I forgot this even was that while watching- it’s such an effective character study about a young man just trying to figure life out who ends up in a rather interesting and lucrative line of work. Unfortunately this very much is based on a true story, and one that shocked a nation, but in refusing to focus on the lurid crime but rather those victimized by it, it finds the truly important story. Two Beers.
633. House of the Wind
This Cameroon-set film follows a old woman (played by the director’s own mother) living alone in a veritable mansion, spending her time video calling her kids who are working abroad and building a house for her eldest she hopes will return and raise a family there (but who pointedly makes no promises on the phone). When she loses the i.d. she needs to accept their money orders, she makes a pact of convenience with a young woman to help her out in exchange for a room and posing as her own mother to the French fiancé who’s coming to visit. A story of unexpected (and rather reluctant) human connection. Two Beers.
634. Diane in the Loop
Diane in the Loop follows a brash young Belgian woman who learns a devastating fact about her mother’s past, and embarks on a journey to get revenge on the man on her behalf, whether she wants that or not. It’s a bit overly quirky at times, but the characters win you (and each other) over one hard-won truth at a time. Three Beers.
635. Agata the Writer
Mia Wasikowska stars as a Polish-Australian novelist visiting Bosnia to write her next book. She intends to set it during the War, but each Bosnian she meets calls that instinct into question in one way or the other. The denouement of the film takes a big creative swing that’ll make or break the film for you- I was into it. Three Beers.
636. Children of the Monkey
Children of the Monkey follows family man Dario (Riccardo Scamarcio) as he navigates challenges with his disabled son alongside his wife, while also encouraging his teenage nephew’s interest in dirtbiking, which he was quite skilled at himself at the same age. You could see the more melodramatic places such a story could go, but this one is thoroughly grounded in its characters and their relationships. Two Beers.
637. No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman
This crackling action film follows a female sniper for the Peshmerga, the army of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, as she returns to Mosul after hearing that her sister may be held there by a rival ISIS sniper. There should be many more films about the Kurds and their struggle against ISIS, who they were instrumental in defeating before Trump kicked them to the curb. They’d be hard-pressed to top this one, though. Two Beers.
638. Salon de Belleza
This enigmatic film is set in the decaying ruins of a beauty salon has some at times beautiful yet generally rather seedy imagery. There are assuredly multiple levels of metaphor at work- for the AIDS crisis, for the apocalyptic state of many present day urban areas, for the plight of immigrants in Europe, and probably more, but none cohere into a unified thesis that I could detect. Four Beers.
639. The Burning Giants
Speaking of enigmatic, here’s this Thai film in which a forest covered in seemingly toxic smoke is guarded by a paramilitary group for reasons unknown. There’s definitely something mysterious happening back in there, and while you may not understand this one in the end any better than the previous, it’s got imagery and ideas you’re not going to get anywhere else. Two Beers.
640. What Belongs to Others
What Belongs to Others follows Kasia, a small-time crook who happens across a man who committed suicide during a burglary. With few other options in her life, she decides to pose as his girlfriend and take up residence. It’s not the film that description makes you think it is, though, exactly, but rather one that uses this as a jumping off for a character exploration and story of unlikely human connection. Three Beers.
641. The Girl with the Leica
This film tells the story of groundbreaking photographer Gerda Taro, whose partnership with Robert Capa (many of his early photographs were even actually taken by her) created some of the first documentation of the horrors of European fascism. She also tragically was the first female combat photographer to lose her life at the front line, passing away while covering the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately, this film is a bit too focused on her love life and a bit too in love with its time-jumping conceit (which only really works at the end, like it was designed from that point backwards) to do her story complete justice. Four Beers.
642. Lovers in the Blue Night
This Mumbai-set drama sees four different people in search of love do their damndest to do so despite all the words between them that are often unsaid but nonetheless understood. It’s an achingly romantic film set in a place where romance is in short supply- particularly between two men, or people on the edges of the sex industry. It’s the kind of film you just hope for each character to find their happiness, even when you know not every one will. Two Beers.
643. One Minute to Midnight
Melvil Poupaud stars as a one-time lothario revisiting old haunts and friend from his younger days as a promising magazine writer. In these heady conversations the detente between the sexes and his less than evolved past come to the fore, as do sexual and national politics from then and now in the form of his idealistic daughter and the encroaching autocracy it’s hard to miss in the background while he’s focused on his past faux pas with women. Two Beers.
