#General Kriepe

[dkmh-news]

‘Went up the Hill’ Heads for Toronto Premiere With Vicky Krieps and Dacre Montgomery in Overlapping Roles as a Ghost: ‘Nursery Rhymes Are Dark’ | Variety

Writer-director Samuel Van Grinsven says that his new film “Went Up the Hill” was inspired by a single image of two people in a room, a coffin between them, both equally mourning the person inside, but knowing next to nothing about one another.

His film, which debuts this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, sees a young man, Jack (Dacre Montgomery), travel to a remote part of New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged mother. There he meets her grieving widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps). But his mother’s spirit returns, inhabiting both of their bodies to speak to the other one and instigating a threatening three-way nocturnal dance.

Van Grinsven, who previously directed the well-noted “Sequin in a Blue Room,” spoke to Variety ahead of the film’s Toronto premiere.

You have called “Went up the Hill” a ghost story, but not a horror film. Please explain?

It’s a tricky thing. There’s definitely horror elements throughout it. There’s some horror films that inspired it, in terms of our references, but I would hesitate to call it a fully a fully fledged horror. Structurally, it’s different to that, even in terms of pacing. Our inspirations are Bergman’s “Persona” or “Hour of the Wolf” or “Personal Shopper” by [Olivier] Assayas. Three characters played by two actors, including one played by both, creates a degree of confusion for the viewer. How intentional is that confusion?

Confusion is natural in a premise like this. I think often the characters themselves are quite confused. [Audiences are] very much where the characters are at. It’s pretty rare that the characters are ahead of the audience. Vicki Krieps’ character Jill is [ahead] to begin with, and that’s probably the moment in terms of the identities and possession and the shifting identities, that is the most confusing. It’s the first time you step solely into her point of view and you meet Jack in Jack’s body. [Later] you meet Elizabeth in Jack’s body, and that’s where we put the audience [narratively] behind.

But we were not so much seeking confusion as aiming to let the audiences experience what these two characters are going through.

You make it clear that both lead characters are gay, but it doesn’t appear to be a major theme of the movie. How come?

I think if both characters were to be straight, that there would be an ingrained audience expectation of the two of them falling in love. And I wasn’t interested in that. I liked the idea that their connection, if you removed that element from their relationship, they would be forced to trust each other in a way that is like brother and sister — and then almost like mother and son.

You are dealing with weighty subjects. Why risk trivializing them by referring to a kids’ nursery rhyme in the title and through the character names?

The “Jack and Jill went up the hill” nursery rhyme is fascinating in the sense that it’s quite confusing. It’s two characters searching for something in a place where it’s not commonly found — going to the top of a hill to find water doesn’t necessarily seem the most logical thing to do.

Also, there’s the maternal connection of a nursery rhyme, which is passed from mother to child and from family to family. That felt extremely powerful, when you’re talking about generational trauma, or the way in which cycles of abuse are passed on.

And the repetition that comes with a nursery rhyme is close to the cycles of the darker themes that we’re dealing with. Finally, I liked the sense that nursery rhymes are used to lull a person to sleep [where my characters experience so much].

How did Vicky Krieps come on board?

She was actually the first person we thought of for the role of Jill. And she really believed in the project from the moment she read it. But it is a big ask coming all the way to New Zealand, and she wasn’t available to do the role.

Then COVID happened and everyone’s schedules changed too. We ended up shooting the film later than we expected, which opened that door again to having a conversation with Vicky. We shot in 2023.

She’s a very instinctual artist who follows her gut. She felt ready to explore and wanted to bring to this to the screen. So, she came on board in an executive production sense, and supported the film to getting off the ground.

Where was it filmed?

We ended up shooting the film in the Canterbury Highlands of South Island, New Zealand, about two hours from where I was born where my family come from.

And the ice scenes?

The content in which the characters are stationed on the backs of the lake was shot at a real Lake Pearson location, the one that you can see from that house.

Then, for the scenes in which they’re physically on the ice, we built surface in a large open paddock, just in front of the lake. We were able to work with some incredible art team in New Zealand who had experience with building those surfaces for films like “Avatar” and “The Hobbit.”

[eviltwinbobworld]

Marius Goring as Major General Kreipe, Dirk Bogarde as Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and David Oxley as Captain Bill Stanley Moss in Ill Met by Moonlight (1957). Written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

mariusgoring.com

[notanotherinfjblog]

A small collection

I do still intend to keep writing the other more detailed How to spot guides for each MBTI type individually, but in the meantime, I collected some interviews with several people of each type that you can click through and maybe it helps you see the similarities not just of the people of the same type, but also based on the high functions that they share. I also tried to not exclusively use native English speakers because I’m personally a bit fed up with the anglocentrism of this site and the internet in general (though of course I’m also constrained in my choices here that I can only use people that I know of, which are mostly European), but if I could find some, I included interviews of them speaking both English and their native language. Even if you don’t understand that language, I still recommend looking into those interviews. Not understanding what someone is saying can sometimes actually help focussing on their body language itself.

INTJ:

Margaret Atwood (writer) 

Joyce Carol Oates (writer)

David Fincher (director)

Michael Emerson (actor)

Tom Rachman (writer & journalist)

Patrick Salmen (writer, interview is in German) 

Martin Sonneborn (satirist, journalist & politician, interview is in German)

ENTJ:

Katie McGrath (actress)

Keira Knightley (actress)

Nicholas Hoult (actor)

Anthony Head (actor)

Elijah Wood (actor)

Daniel Radcliffe (actor)

Tamsin Greig (actress)

Markus Zusak (writer)

Zach Woods (actor, comedian & director)

Malala Yousafzai (education activist)

INTP:

Harald Lesch (physicist, astronomer & science journalist, interview is in German)

Axel Milberg (actor & writer, interview is in German)

Peter Capaldi (actor)

Jane Goodall (primatologist & anthropologist)

Neil Gaiman (writer)

R.H. Thomson (actor)

Rooney Mara (actress)

Matthias Brandt (actor & writer, interview is in German)

Kai Meyer (writer, interview is in German)

ENTP:

David Tennant & Matt Smith (actors)

Hugh Grant (actor)

Tilda Swinton (actress)

Saoirse Ronan (actress)

Eddie Redmayne (actor)

David Mitchell (writer)

Bill Nighy (actor)

Florence Welch (musician)

Louisa Harland (actress)

Richard Ayoade (comedian, writer, director & actor)

INFJ:

Colin Morgan (actor)

Freddie Highmore (actor)

Barkhad Abdi (actor)

James Phelps (actor, since he’s with his twin: he’s the one on the right)

Ewen Bremner (actor)

Amy Acker (actress)

Rohinton Mistry (writer)

Audrey Magee (writer)

Jenny Erpenbeck (writer, interview is in German)

ENFJ:

Emma Thompson (actress & screenwriter)

Wes Anderson (director & writer)

Ulrich Wickert (journalist & writer, interview is in German)

Marshall Curry (director)

Eleanor Catton (writer)

Alissa York (writer)

INFP:

Kristen Stewart (actress)

Hozier (musician)

Rupert Grint (actor)

Asa Butterfield (actor)

Eddie Marsan (actor)

Helen Oyeyemi (writer)

Christopher Annen (musician, interview is in German)

ENFP:

Andrew Garfield (actor)

Dev Patel (actor)

Katherine Parkinson (actress, plus her being a prime example of intuitives barely knowing how to survive)

Michael Sheen (actor)

Jan Philipp Zymny (writer & comedian, interview is in German)

Chris Columbus (director)

Maggie Stiefvater (writer)

Lisa McGee (screenwriter & playwright)

Lars Eidinger (actor, interview is in German)

Hannah Herzsprung (actress, interview is in German)

ISTJ:

Felicity Jones (actress)

Lindsay Duncan (actress) 

Famke Janssen (actress, plus an interview in her native Dutch)

Maggie Smith (actress)

Britt Robertson (actress)

Elizabeth Nunez (writer & professor)

Ken Follett (writer)

Vicky Krieps (actress, plus an interview in her native Luxembourgish with subtitles available, and in German and in French)

ESTJ:

Eliza Taylor (actress)

Letitia Wright (actress)

Charles Dance (actor)

Matt Damon (actor & screenwriter)

Sandra Bullock (actress)

Henry Cavill (actor)

Alba August (actress & musician, plus an interview in her native Swedish and Danish)

Alicia Vikander (actress, plus an interview in her native Swedish with subtitles available)

ISFJ:

Gemma Chan (actress & model)

Laura Dern (actress)

Crystal Reed (actress)

Natalia Dyer (actress)

Arthur Darvill (actor)

Jordan Rodrigues (actor & dancer)

ESFJ:

Olivia Colman & Helena Bonham Carter (actresses)

Lupita Nyong’o (actress)

Bradley James (actor)

Scott Moir (figure skater)

John Krasinski (actor, director & screenwriter)

Carey Mulligan (actress)

Emilia Clarke (actress)

Tom Hopper (actor)

Tomi Adeyemi (writer)

Hugh Jackman (actor)

ISTP:

Christoph Waltz (actor & director, plus an interview in his native German)

Harrison Ford & Ryan Gosling (actors)

Ruth Wilson (actress)

Björk (musician, plus an interview in her native Icelandic)

Devon Bostick (actor)

Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (actor, plus an interview in his native Danish)

Evan Peters (actor)

Christopher Lloyd (actor)

Christian Bale (actor)

Peter Maffay (musician, interview is in German)

ESTP:

Zendaya (actress & musician)

Oscar Isaac (actor)

James Acaster (comedian)

Jodie Comer (actress)

Jördis Triebel (actress, plus an interview in her native German with subtitles available)

Stromae (musician, plus an interview in his native French with subtitles available)

Sabaa Tahir (writer)

Tatiana Maslany (actress)

Emilio Sakraya (actor & musician, interview is in German)

Anya Taylor-Joy (actress, plus an interview in her native Spanish)

ISFP:

Santiago Cabrera (actor, plus an interview in his native Spanish)

Ben Howard (musician)

Tessa Virtue (figure skater)

Karen Gillan (actress)

Rachel McAdams (actress)

Gael García Bernal (actor, plus an interview in his native Spanish)

Audrey Tautou (actress, plus an interview in her native French)

Henning May (musician, interview is in German with subtitles available)

Jannis Niewöhner (actor, plus an interview in his native German)

Évelyne Brochu (actress, plus an interview in her native French)

ESFP:

Tom Holland (actor)

Maisie Williams (actress)

Billie Piper (actress)

Robert Sheehan (actor)

Margot Robbie (actress)

Jim Carrey (actor & comedian)

Omar Sy (actor, plus an interview in his native French)

Taika Waititi (director, actor, comedian & screenwriter)

Alexander Rybak (musician, plus an interview in his native Norwegian and Russian with subtitles available for both)

[regardezmoica]

Official Competition films announced - 66th BFI London Film Festival

The 66th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express has announced the contenders for the Best Film Award in association with Sight and Sound.

Established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for A Prophet, recent winners of the Best Film Award include Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, Alejandro Landes’ Monos and, in 2021, Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road.  

Argentina, 1985 (Argentina, dir-scr. Santiago Mitre) 

Ricardo Darín stars in this uncompromising political drama, thrillingly recreating one of Argentina’s most legendary trials, which sought to bring the country’s military dictatorship to justice. 

Prosecutor Julio Cesár Strassera is about to embark on the trial of a lifetime, assembling a legal team to try the leaders of the country’s 1976-83 military junta. Director Santiago Mitre deftly handles this pacy investigative courtroom drama, contextualising it within the complex narrative of a country forging a new democracy in the aftermath of the regime’s collapse.

Brother (Canada, dir-scr. Clement Virgo) 

Clement Virgo’s film is a bold and breathtaking story of brotherly love, set over three separate time periods, in Toronto’s West Indian community. 

When his childhood sweetheart Aisha returns to their Toronto neighbourhood of Scarborough for the first time in 10 years, Michael is forced to revisit a family tragedy. Growing up as young Black boys in a neighbourhood prone to gang violence and police brutality, older brother Francis was Michael’s best friend, protector and even parent when their Jamaican mother worked night shifts. As they grow older, Francis and Michael’s lives diverge, as Francis immerses himself in Scarborough’s West Indian community. But there remains a fierce, unconditional love between the brothers and their mother – it’s them against the world. 

Corsage (Austria-Luxembourg-Germany-France, dir-scr. Marie Kreutzer)

Sisi the Empress gets an irreverent make-over in Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s exhilarating period drama. Vicky Krieps won the Best Actress award in Un Certain Regard at Cannes for that role.

Christmas, 1877. Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps) is turning 40. Renowned for her beauty, she undertakes daily privations to ensure she fits her wasp-waist corset and keeps her picture-perfect looks. Suffocating in the stuffy Hapsburg court, she finds herself incapable of continuing to conform to the decorative role that is expected of her, instead carrying out desperate acts of rebellion.

Les damnés ne pleurent pas (France-Belgium-Morocco, dir-scr. Fyzal Boulifa) 

Fyzal Boulifa follows his arresting debut Lynn + Lucy (LFF 2019) with another striking film about the perils of falling foul of community and social expectations. 

Selim and his mother Fatima-Zahra live in close quarters, with so little money that a single moment of bad fortune is a crisis of survival. Man-child Selim has grown up without a father, leaving him and his mother socially marginalised; he’s bound to his mother, but also resents her and offers his love with a dose of petulance. In a starkly patriarchal society, Fatima-Zahra needs Selim just as much as he leans on her. When a trip to her family village reveals some troubling secrets, a rift opens that will see them try to establish their independence from each other, but tests their fragile love. 

Enys Men (UK, dir-scr. Mark Jenkin)

Bait director Mark Jenkin follows up his acclaimed debut with this chilling, endlessly mysterious folk horror tale, beautifully shot on grainy 16mm. 

On a remote island off the Cornish coast, a volunteer environmentalist records daily observations about a rare flower growing near the cliff edge. Going about her tasks with meticulous care, the nameless ecologist lives a life of isolation and repetition, her routine only occasionally interrupted by a local man who comes to deliver petrol for her antique power generator. But as changes suddenly appear on the plant she is studying, the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur, plunging the volunteer into a nightmarish, metaphysical dreamscape. 

Godland (Denmark-Iceland-France-Sweden, dir-scr. Hlynur Palmason) 

With his third feature, Hlynur Pálmason (A White, White Day) delivers a breathtakingly inventive and ambitious historical epic, set in mid-19th-century Iceland. 

A young Danish priest is sent to a remote Icelandic outpost to establish a church. Convinced of his moral purpose and fortitude, he travels via the most treacherous route to document the country’s stark beauty with his silver plate photography. It’s a dangerous crossing, guided by locals who disdain their Danish colonisers.  

Nezouh (UK-Syria-France, dir-scr. Soudade Kaadan) 

Soudade Kaadan (The Day I Lost My Shadow, LFF 2018) turns to her Syrian roots for this wry, poignant look at a family forced from their home in Damascus. 

When a missile destroys her family’s apartment, teenager Zeina and her mother believe her father Mutaz will finally concede that they need to leave the devastated Syrian capital. But Mutaz (Samer al-Masri, The Worthy) refuses to become a refugee, resolutely patching up the family’s home with bedsheets. With the interior becoming the exterior, Zeina and her mother are more exposed to the outside world than ever before. The invitation of a rope through a hole in her blasted ceiling leads to an encounter with the neighbour’s son Amer, to stars, imaginary fishing and movies.

Saint Omer (France, dir. Alice Diop) 

Alice Diop reinvents the courtroom drama in this concentrated, gripping study of a writer and the young African woman whose fate comes to fascinate her. 

Acclaimed as a documentarist, notably for 2021’s Nous, Diop turns to fiction with this riveting, stylistically spare take on the courtroom tradition. Kayije Kagame plays Rama, a writer who travels to northern France to follow the trial of Laurence, a young African woman accused of killing her daughter. As she listens to the various testimonies, Rama’s own condition – as an artnezouhist, a lover and a Black woman in France – also falls into a questioning perspective.  

The winner of the Best Film Award will be announced at a special virtual LFF awards ceremony event on Sunday 16 October on BFI YouTube and social media. 

[agentnico]

Old (2021) Review

Goodness gracious the amount of foreshadowing featured in this film is beguiling! In the opening 5 minutes most of the characters make mention of age and time like a gazillion times and how one needs to enjoy their younger years and learn to smell the roses and such. I get it, we’re watching a film about a beach where people grow old faster, no need to bash us over the head with it. Dare I say, we don’t have time for it!

Plot: A family on a tropical holiday discovers that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly reducing their entire lives into a single day.

M. Night Shyamalan is a very hit-and-miss director. Known for his brain teasing plot twists, he’s done some amazing thrillers such as The Sixth Sense and his Unbreakable trilogy, but he’s also the guy who conjured up The Happening about plants killing people where Mark Wahlberg spends the entire film walking around with this expression:

And this face:

Oh and dare I not forget this:

Honestly, to this day no one really knows what was happening in The Happening and as it happens, no one will ever happen to know. But we’re not here to talk about that film as Shyamalan is back with a new thriller that features a pretty intriguing original concept, but does that concept result in a good film?

Hmmm... how do I go about describing Old? As stated prior, the film features a clever synopsis, however all the rest surrounding that plot is, to put it in a nutshell - silly. The dialogue is astonishingly badly written. Characters speak like they are puppets reading from a monitor and whenever someone is talking about something medical or scientific it feels like the scriptwriter (who also happens to be Shyamalan, that cheeky rascal) simply Googled the facts and copied and pasted them into the dialogue without trying to re-edit it somewhat to make it sound like a real life person is saying them. Didn’t help that the actors delivering the lines didn’t do a particularly great job either. Which is surprising as the film features a generally talented cast including renowned Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps (who managed to hold her own opposite masterclass actor Daniel Day-Lewis in his final film before retirement Phantom Thread) and Rufus Sewell who is known for his sleazy creepy overbearingly uneasy villainous roles. Also younger Hollywood talent Alex Wolff and Thomasin McKenzie make appearances. However in this movie all of them are caricatured, act strange and their characters constantly make questionable decisions and are generally unlikable. 

Shyamalan is a talented filmmaker. I’m all for directors experimenting with interesting camera angles and shots as long as there is a purpose for it. However here Shyamalan tried to be experimental by poorly positioning the camera so as to cut half of the characters’ faces during close-ups and having many shots appear out of focus, and at times you can see him doing so as to hide the reveal that characters are growing older, but at times (most of the time to be honest) it came off as pretentious and distracting.

Throughout this movie you sit there wondering “is this a comedy?” For this movie features so many evidently unintentional funny moments, purely from how weird and at times ludicrous it is. I can say safely that I did enjoy myself from beginning to the end. There isn’t a dull moment in this, but it’s not for the right reasons. The movie tries to built this feeling of tension and dread, but it comes off as stupid and as such quite laughable. For example, a character gets pregnant at one point, and the way how that scenario comes about is handled....well....basically there are many unanswered questions and one of those questions is does sexual education even need to exist if younglings can find this all out by themselves no problemo? Look, this movie gets weird, okay? You kind of wonder how much crazier this film can get, which results in an enjoyable watching experience. It’s not a good movie by any means, in fact it’s a roll-your-eyes bad one, but one that brings entertainment in how stupid it is.

Overall score: 5/10

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Yeah Jin said he doesn't have a lot of celeb friends I feel like everybody is trying to make this a whole thing when it's not a big deal

Yeah, it's no big deal, but I have a theory on why Army clings to BTS being isolated and having "no celebrity friends". It's just a theory, so I might be really off with this, but hear me out.

I think that on a subconscious level, Army sort or likes that. Of course that on the surface they see it as just another proof of everyone else in the industry is bad, it contributes to the under dog narrative, of how much BTS fought to make a name for themselves, of how much they're hated in general. It gives the fanbase a sense of purpose because they can't be defenders if there is no victim to defend and protect. They might all say how shitty it is that they are isolated, but deep down they enjoy that. Because to them, perhaps it's another proof that only Army is able to fully understand and love BTS how they deserve. Only Army truly sees BTS for who they really are. And BTS helped in giving Army such a main character role and the fans have fully taken advantage of that.

Of course they allow other people from outside to be friends with BTS, if they tick each criteria that is necessary and imposed by the fandom. The most important criteria is to constantly praise BTS. That's why they love Halsey and a few others. And lately Chris Martin which has turned out to be on some special level. (I never thought I would reach a point in my life in the year 2022 where I would have to read girlies praising Chris Martin and Coldplay. Sounds fucking surreal for anyone who isn't Army or a Coldplay fan. I digress).

The entire thing gives Phantom Thread vibes and Army is Vicky Krieps enjoying Daniel Day Lewis aka BTS getting sick because in that way, she gets to take care of him and show him that he needs her and only her.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #89

After nearly two years of watching on average three movies per day, I realize why I enjoy this self-imposed project so much:

1. I really love movies, and I appreciate very much being able to do it full time as if it was a “real job”.

2. I am so happy to discover the richness of 'World Cinema’ on a regular basis, true masterpieces I never heard about before from far flung lands.

3. It’s not the act of passively watching movies that is most important for me. It’s having started writing again, even if it’s only film reviews for my own sake. Who knows, maybe soon I will even be moving these film-scripts from my head to paper.  

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RIP, Jean Luc Godard X 4:

🍿 A woman is a woman, (1961) his first idiosyncratic color ‘musical’. Exuberant film-making, imaginative, self-conscious and rebellious. "I don't know if this is comedy or tragedy... but it is a masterpiece"

🍿 I’m sorry to say but his second feature, the philosophical crime thriller Le Petit Soldat, left me cold. Maybe it’s all the talking about the politics of the Algerian War, maybe it’s the fragmented style and loose structure. I could hardly keep up. 🍿Sympathy for the Devil (AKA One Plus One) was Godard's first English language film. It documents The Rolling Stones in the studio developing the song "Sympathy for the Devil" from the album ‘Beggars Banquet’, which is exquisite. But this is mixed up with a bunch of didactic agitprop, long voice-over readings of Marxist texts, and staged scenes from the revolution, a tedious experience at best.

🍿Extra: From an 2014 introduction at TIFF.

(Also, I did not know he was a kleptomaniac).

🍿

I have no affinity to the Turkish culture, but I’m excited to explore its apparent cinematic wealth. Watchtower is a terrific quiet drama, not made by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, but by female director Pelin Esmer. A lonely man with a tragic secret takes a sentinel job at a remote mountain fire-watching station. A young woman was raped by her uncle so she hides her pregnancy while working as a bus tour company. Slowly and painfully their paths converge. Even without a traditional payout at the end, it is the serendipitous discovery of the week!

🍿

Petite maman, my 5th and the latest by my favorite feminist author Céline Sciamma. Always telling subtle stories about young girls, this short cinematic poem follows an eight-year-old daughter, whose grandmother just died. Small and delicate, as are all her other films. 8/10.

🍿

Ermanno Olmi’s first major feature Il Posto (1961). A delicate telling of a shy young man landing his first job at a large Kafkaesque Milano office. I saw it in an Italian version with no subtitles, and missed much of the intended subtext.  

🍿 

Bergman Island - Scenes from a Marriage on Fårö Island, my 3rd delightful meta-film by Mia Hansen-Løve (after ‘Goodbye first love’ and ‘Things to come’). The story of a married couple of filmmakers on a working retreat on the island where Ingmar Bergman had resided. A film for Bergman fans, who may venerate the earth that the great ‘Artiste’ walked on.

Nearly perfect from the very first scene, with the parallel film-within-the-film maybe a bit on the nose. Female-centric and sparse in its Swedishness. Vicky Krieps is the most beautiful actress from Luxembourg I know. My favorite film of the week!

🍿  

2 with Aubrey Plaza:

🍿 Emily the criminal, a tight new LA crime thriller, about a woman who can’t get from under her impossible student loan debt. Depressingly realistic look into the humiliating life of marginal gig workers and poor people in general, which turns into a terrific survival flick. You can only make it here if you decide to break the law (and of course if you are a pretty white young female..). 8/10.

🍿 Earlier Aubrey Plaza played in Funny People, a 2.5 hour-long Judd Apatow comedy with Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan. It’s an unfunny exploration of sophomoric stand up comedians, that is too long by at least an hour. Lots and lots of dick jokes. 2/10

🍿

The Brazilian Pink cloud starts off with a disclaimer: “This film was written in 2017 and shot in 2019. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.” It’s about a woman who hook up with some guy for a one-night stand, and who finds out the next morning that a lethal ‘Pink Cloud’ suddenly covers the whole world, and nobody can go outside any more. Passive and claustrophobic, the two find themselves stuck together, isolated in the apartment, for days, then weeks, and eventually for a decade. This is not about Covid, but it is. 5/10.

🍿

The last movie star, one of the last movies 81-year-old Burt Reynolds completed before his death shortly after. The story of a frail man who used to be a superstar, flying to an amateur film festival in Nashville was predictable, but still touching, lovely, and wistful. 7/10.

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Patricia Highsmith X 2:

🍿 Loving Highsmith, a lovely new biography of the prolific, lonely writer whose many terrific thrillers were made into films (’Carol’, ‘The talented Mr. Ripley’, ‘The American friend’, ‘Strangers on a train’). She was one of my friend Danny’s favorite writers. ‘Carol’ was the “first Lesbian novel with a happy ending”. 7/10.

🍿 Strangers on a train, based on her first novel. Hitchcock supposedly “stole” the rights for the movie for only $7,500, negotiating for it anonymously in order to keep the purchase price low. With two famous tennis matches, one out-of-control merry go round disaster and a famous shot of a murder reflected in the victim’s broken glasses. Re-Watch.

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Apparently, The Catholic School is based on a true event that happened in an affluent Rome neighborhood in 1975. So it mixes the standard Italian tropes of sin, guilt, latent homosexuality, misogyny, masculine pride, sexual repression, Etc.- nothing wrong with that. But the confusing story starts with a large group of mixed up teens in an upper-class school, and describes them in such unclear way, that it’s hard to figure out who’s who what and what is it about. What’s worse, it ends up unexplainably with a gruesome gang-rape, lengthy torture scene and a senseless murder. A disgusting experience. 1/10.

🍿

Toto the hero, a Belgian classic from 1991. An old man (who looks remarkably like Laurence Olivier in his 70′s) is looking back at his dull life and all the many things he dreamed about but never got to achieve, especially his love to his sister. The best scenes were when he imagined his childhood as a theme from Charles Trenet’s ear worm ‘Boum‘. 4/10.

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2 dramas related to September 11:

🍿 The Humans, a claustrophobic thanksgiving dinner with six members of an unhappy family: Depressed religious father Richard Jenkins, his senile old mother June Squibb, the two bitter daughters Amy Schumer and Beanie Feldstein (who is moving into a run-down Chinatown apartment in NYC with her unmarried boyfriend Steven Yuen, to the disapprovement of the mother). Not dysfunctional enough? The father who was just fired from his job as a janitor at a Catholic school, after 28 years, is still traumatized by his memories from 9/11.

(Btw, Casting Director here is Ellen Chenoweth, whom I thought had many hundreds of movies to her credit, but according to IMDB, “only” 97 since 1982′s ‘Diner’).

🍿 The Siege was a bombastically-loud action film about Arab terrorists in New York City, whose actions causes Martial law to be declared over the city. Made in 1998, it foreshadows many of the agonies that will befall the country just three short years later, hysteric jingoism, macho Islamophobia, terror in the streets, the expansion of the Security State. The most original plot twist was letting CIA agent Annette Bening sleep with her Palestinian informant (but then of course she had to die). Seeing TV clips of Bill Clinton playing a president and rich pundit Arianna Huffington bloviating on TV was not helpful either.

🍿

World War Z, a $200 million zombie apocalyptic horror, the highest-grossing zombie film of all time. Fast zombies instead of slow-shuffling zombies, and very fast editing to compensate for the stupid plot. With Peter Capaldi as a WHO Doctor... 2/10.

🍿 

I literally could not understand the new Confess Fletch comedy with Jon Hamm. But then, I recently saw the Chevy Chase original for the first time, and I didn’t get that one either. It did have one good joke (“What’s the password?” - Go fuck yourself!” ) but the rest? Was it goofy? Wacky? Witty? Plucky? Smart? Was it funny? Not for me.

🍿

Switch, a predictable rom-com with good guy schmuck Jason Bateman as a sperm donor to Jennifer Aniston. 2/10.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

[sloshed-cinema]

Old (2021)

Why is it that in virtually every one of M Night Shyamalan’s movies, he attempts to write a character who falls under the Wes Anderson Precocious Child archetype, and in virtually every one of M Night Shyamalan’s movies, he fails at that? At least he’s consistent. Rather than some sort of adorable whimsy, we get a little squirt vomiting a thesaurus at rapid pace and fixating on names and occupations. The latter trait obviously allows for part of the conclusion to play out, but that’s more setting the table for yourself than a clever payoff. Perhaps these personalities were an attempt to ward off the creepiness at the core of the film’s premise when it’s applied to children. Sorry M Nigbt, but you don’t get to have adolescent bodies with the maturity of children fuck and have it not come across as intensely uncomfortable. Shyamalan’s writing again comes up short in general, unable to overcome the inherent goofiness of “what if old but fast.” The opening scene slathers it on thick with DO YA GEDDIT thematic table setting, Shyamalan unable to resist winking at the audience. Life is passing by fast, don’t live in the past or focus on the future, yadda yadda yadda.

While he’s stepped back from basically casting himself as the third lead in films, M Night’s was such an eye-roll in terms of how knowingly meta it is.  The man who drives the group to their nightmare scenario, he spies on them through a, wait for it… camera lens.  Cinema is voyeurism, we get it, my dude.  You’re a little late to the party on that observation.

THE RULES

SIP

Trent asks about name and occupation.

Someone bites it.

Gael García Bernal and/or Vicky Krieps deliver breathtakingly obvious dialogue about time and shit.

A wound heals.

BIG DRINK

I NEED MY CALCIUM!

The film cuts to M Night.

Someone says “Mid-Size Sedan.”

[jorgerisso1]

Lo que vi esta semana

OLD ("viejos")

Género: Intriga. Fantástico. Thriller. Drama |Familia. Sobrenatural. Cómic.

Año: 2021

Pais: Estados Unidos

Dirección: M. Night Shyamalan

Guión: M. Night Shyamalan. Novela gráfica: Pierre-Oscar Lévy, Frederick Peeters

🎬Quienes conocemos la filmografía del director M. Night Shyamalan ya estamos enterados de lo vamos a ver, lo raro , lo distinto, lo inusual, aveces bueno como "El sexto sentido" "El protegido" "Fragmentado" "La aldea" y bastante veces regular como "Después de la tierra" "El último maestro del aire" y bastantes más que los seguidores de Shyamalan conocemos muy bien.

Para aquellos que deseen ver este raro film les cuento sin spoiler lo que vi.

La fotografía es genial, puesta en escena y actuaciones bastante pasables y el guión loco como los creadores.

⭐ Pasable

Sinopsis

Que emocionante tener unas vacaciones en el paraíso, rodeados de vegetación y con un mar deslumbrante, pero no todo es lo que parece y un grupo de familias que son invitadas por el dueño del hotel a pasar un día de maravillas sufrirán de una anomalía temporal que les impide escapar de la isla, que mejor dicho es un círculo de rocas y el mar como límite y que por razones muy misteriosas les provoca envejecimiento.

⭐ Recomendacion final de Amantes del Cine de J.D.R. sin gustos personales, sólo basándome en el repaso general del film, se puede ver??

Haciendo un repaso general siempre sobre base del film nos encontramos con algo entretenido y bastante pasable. Si, se las recomiendo.

● Análisis, crítica, sinopsis y post realizadas por Jorge Domingo Risso (D.R.)

Reparto

Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abbey Lee, Ken Leung, Aaron Pierre, Eliza Scanlen, Emun Elliott, Embeth Davidt.

[picturelockshow]

"Old" Review: Great Concept, Faulty Execution

When you hear the name M. Night Shyamalan, it doesn’t stir up exciting emotions about cinema. Instead, it’s generally a frustrating mixture as to whether he’s a hack or not. Don’t get me wrong, I think he has talent. I clearly enjoyed The Visit but had issues with After Earth. It’s the constant back and forth battle of his legacy. The premise of his films are always intriguing enough to make you watch, but they don’t quite live up to the excitement of a trailer. Never one to disappoint, Shayamalan’s latest, Old, has interesting concepts and poor execution.

The film has the set up of a horror film. A young family arrives at a resort after winning a sweepstakes. It’s supposed to be one last great outing before the parents tell their kids some news. Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), Prisca (Vicky Krieps), Maddox (Alexa Swinton), and Trent (Nolan River) are excited to be there. We’re slowly introduced to other couples and families on the resort property. The kind resort manager (Gustaf Hammarsten) suggests that our main family visits a secluded private part of the beach that no one knows about and they take him up on the offer.

Of course, they quickly find out that they weren’t the only ones told about this strip of paradise. Perhaps as swiftly, they also learn that the beach is aging their bodies. Like any good horror film, there are enough people on the beach to have some start leaving the flick in interesting ways due to the situation. Will anyone survive?

Old is another one of Shyamalan’s exercises in camera movement and blocking. I wouldn’t say its masterful camerawork but it is intentional. His camera focuses on what he wants us to see by keeping characters in the foreground with chaos happening in the background, dollying from one part of the beach to another while action is taking place where the camera just left, and giving us angles that exaggerate situations. There is definitely someone behind the camera telling this story, but a mixture of poor performances and weak plot points make the controlled camera engage in a fight between art and a train wreck.

One of the biggest problems with Old is the delivery of lines in the film. It sounds like many of them are doing a live table reading of the script. Vicky Krieps struggles to deliver her lines clearly but her Luxembourg accent muddies it. The chemistry of the cast is missing minus the brother/sister relationship in Maddox (Thomas McKenzie as the 16 year old version) and Trent (Alex Wolff as the 15 year old version). If the cast could have received a few more days to bond before rolling the camera, this may have been more believable. Instead you have many talented actors give a good solo performance while not responding to one another to create an ensemble. The heart of the film’s characters being a mediocre ensemble makes solid performances with chemistry from Nikki Amuka-Bird and Ken Leung go under the radar. 

Once the why is revealed, it makes a lot of sense. In fact, it may make you want to read the graphic novel it was based on, “Sandcastle”. Old could have been greater if it was given a little more time and fleshing out. Instead, much like its young characters, it ages rapidly and misses key beats that were important to its development. Not a bad flick to catch when it goes streaming and you’re looking for something to watch though.

Rating: C

[beckettstreamingita]

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Regista: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino Genere: Azione , Poliziesco , Drammatico Attori: John David Washington, Boyd Holbrook, Vicky Krieps, Panos Koronis, Alicia Vikander

Trama

A seguito di un tragico incidente d'auto in Grecia, Beckett, un turista americano, si trova al centro di una pericolosa cospirazione politica che minaccia la sua stessa vita.

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[eviltwinbobworld]

Marius Goring as Major General Kreipe with David Oxley as Captain W Stanley Moss, Dirk Bogarde as Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Dimitri Andreas as Niko in Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) written, produced and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

“...Marius Goring seized every opportunity presented by his role as a German general, plucked from beneath the noses of his staff by the British officers and their partisan band. Once he has recovered his aplomb, he insists on being treated according to his rank, while slyly trying to bribe a boy to raise the alarm for him. But at the successful end of the escapade, as Paddy and Billy present him with their collection of all the buttons and tokens he has carefully left on the trail, gathered with equal care by the boy he had thought to dupe, he salutes them: ‘You are professionals, not amateurs.’” from Arrows of Desire: The Films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger by Ian Christie.

mariusgoring.com

[ironpour]

for the anon who was asking for series recommendations im making this list of things that i either have already liked and some of the things im getting into while im spending more time alone and redundant:

Podcasts -

The End of the World with Josh Clark 

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-the-end-of-the-world-with-30006093/episode/ep01-fermi-paradox-30115804/

one of my all time favourite podcasts, an incredible listen about all of the things that could end our world - but it isn’t about apocalypse. it is about all the little things that we theorise could add up to our end.

Nordic Food Lab Radio

https://soundcloud.com/nordic-food-lab-radio

just finished this interesting series on wild, unusual foods - most related to the nordic region

Bad Gays and NewModels are both interesting 

sysk is always fun and lighthearted and informative. and nice to listen to other people’s voices 

Books -

Im reading Borne by Jeff Vandermeer right now and im about 110 pages in and enjoying it so far

Im also reading The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright for some insight into what plants and fungi i would be able to find in the world around me - especially in the strange times we find ourselves in

im dipping in and out of NOMA Guide to Fermentation for ideas and techniques for some of the fermentation experiments in taking on while im at home - im currently lacto-fermenting some oyster mushrooms. noma is related to the nordic foodlab podcast too

and im generally referencing Ottolenghi’s Simple and Diana Henry’s How to Eat a Peach cookbooks for some ideas of what to make (ie the leeks i made for lunch today were adapted from diana’s book)

Film -

Safe by Todd Haynes

Re-watched Phantom Thread (it is perfect)

torrented Little Joe to watch based on some screencaps i saw on here but i dont know a thing about it

started watching Gutland the other day bc vicky krieps is in it and i love her - again i dont know much about it 

Dead ringers by david cronenberg

i have an absurd amount of films downloaded that i need to watch, not to mention on my usb stick + in my lists on netflix etc

TV -

I started to watch Devs by Alex Garland the other day and im very intrigued by it - it seems like Black Mirror if Black Mirror was actually smart and not just supposed to appear superficially intelligent. also it reminds me that alex garland is a good filmmaker and how much of a shame it is that annihilation was inevitably sabotaged into the more easily digestible netflix movie. and also the music is incredible

i also absentmindedly watch the xfiles occasionally when im looking for something i dont need to pay too much attention to - it is pretty pleasant and i *get* why it was so popular

Youtube -

i watch cooking things like BA obviously that i enjoy to varying degrees. actually recently though i was watching some vice munchies food video and i was like WOW ba has their foot on the neck of so many of these other channels - this presenter was trying so desperately and tragically to appear fun and comically and endearing and failing miserably, and the things she was cooking were dogshit

i often watch people speedrunning games that i find interesting, or just a walkthrough of a game that i dont have access to, or some challenge runs 

[leerps]

heaps of free time right now so would love to get writing and creating characters again!!!

a plot where two fire lookouts spend a season together communicating through radios, never seeing each other (based on firewatch which has the most beautiful aesthetics thanks)

more m/m and f/f plots honestly (especially this)

history plots in general with so many details and aesthetics, gimme the italian renaissance, russian aristocrats in the 1800s, victorian gothic - literally anything i’m up for it all ok

two small town touring showgirls that fall in love, think gentlemen prefer blondes (preferably also set in the 50s)

pre-existing dynamics! i’d love a couple trying for a baby and it not working, or a relationship that’s falling apart big time

bonus points for nsfw/kinky plots bye

inspired by pretty woman where broken, tired man hires an escort or sex worker to spend a few days with him

p.s. i have some available muses here if you’re interested

some cute babes i’d like to play:

actors: sophie turner, carey mulligan, rosamund pike, léa seydoux, fan bingbing, vicky krieps, golshifteh farahani; cillian murphy, dev patel, taron egerton, henry cavill

models: anais mali, hilary rhoda, susanne knipper, adwoa aboah, paloma elsesser, lauren de graaf, juliet searle, camilla christensen, shalom harlow, grace elizabeth; adrien sahores, andrew westermann, keith powers, yassine rahal, reece king, caleb trent, conor doherty, florian luger, gerhard freidl

and lastly, some verses i’d like to write in: middle-earth, star wars, his dark materials, firewatch, the last of us, game of thrones

[kritsayvonne]

I belong to INCO, the International Community Association of Agios Nikolaos and the wider Lassithi Region, a Not For Profit Organisation providing the legal framework to support social, cultural, charitable and community activities. On 1st/2nd September I joined a group of fourteen INCO members for a weekend in Patsos, in the centre of the Rethymno prefecture, Crete.

Our host was Vasilis of the Patsos Taverna, an ex paratrooper who is passionate about local Patsos history and environment. Vasilis ensured we all had accommodation in Patsos, provided wonderful food courtesy of his mama, Mrs Maria, and guided us for local excursions. 

Prior to the trip I re-read Ill Met By Moonlight, by W Stanley Moss, about a hazardous war-time mission in Nazi-occupied Crete.  A young British officer, Major Patrick Leigh Fermor, led the kidnap of General Kreipe, Commander of the Sevastopool Division, and narrowly escaped a German manhunt, to get the prisoner off the island – a major coup for British intelligence.

The reason behind my reading was our visit to the hideout where heroic Patsos folk kept the group fed and hidden for two days despite pressure from Nazis. The photo of our guide, Vasilis (above) shows him sitting in exactly the same spot as a photo of General Kriepe taken by W Stanley Moss and included in his book. A plaque on the cliff wall commemorates the event. Somehow the single red poppy left by the family of an AnZac soldier was more poignant.

During the early evening we explored the village before meeting up to chat the evening away…would you believe it, the evening ended with me as the raki waitress!!

The ruined church in Patsos has the remains of wonderful icons. They have been removed for restoration and will be returned to the village in due course. The small olive tree was recently planted as a memorial to the wartime efforts of Patsos villagers who maintained essential secrecy.

The next morning we visited a church dedicated to Saint Anthony nestling in the rock face. This church is reached by an easy path at the top of Patsos Gorge – then the hiking trail starts.

After a photo call on the bridge we enjoyed a downhill walk at a pace that allowed everyone time to enjoy the beauty of the rock formations, cliffs, river bed with a still tinkling stream and wonderful trees.

After about 1.5 k we had a breather and then walked back up to the church. In theory we could have carried on walking until the gorge bottomed out at a reservoir. Instead we drove near to the reservoir to walk along a gentle path next to bubbling springs. The time and energy saved by the drive provided opportunity to visit a new local enterprise, a winery in its second year.

Yep, you’ve guessed it, not only did we follow the grapes journey from delivery to wine bottle we had a wine tasting lesson too. At present they make white and rose wine – mm, hard to choose, so I bought both.

Ooops, we spent rather too long over our wine tasting and Vasilis had a phone call from his mama asking where we were as lunch was waiting – the tastiest stuffed tomatoes ever. Also on the menu was a fab aubergine dip we’d enjoyed the previous day. Thankfully, Mrs Maria was not one of those cooks who keeps her recipes secret – I’ve made some since getting back to Kritsa.

After a very leisurely lunch some of the group stayed over for another night in Patsos, some headed home and others headed off to holiday in other parts of Crete. I shall certainly return to Patsos as I’d like to walk more of the gorge, and in a year’s time the winery will start selling red wine too, and I need to taste that for completeness.

If you spend time in East Crete and would like to learn more about INCO, you can use the contact form below.

[contact-form]

To find out more about Patsos, the opportunity for accommodation guided tours you can visit Vasilis’ great website – https://patsosescape.com

And finally, here is the Aubergine Dip recipe…

Ingredients:

Two Aubergine together weighting 500g

1 large clove of garlic

40 ml mayonnaise – I used low calorie

Half a small lemon – juiced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon wine vinegar

I tablespoon chopped parsley

Method:

Set oven to 200c

Prick aubergines all over and place in hot oven for 45 mins – turn over halfway through.

Let aubergines cool, then cut in half and scoop flesh into a food processor.

Add chopped garlic and lemon juice

Blend in 10 second bursts until there is a smooth paste – Tip, put a large handful of parsley leaves in with the final burst and then there is no need to chop it.

Scoop puree into a bowl

Add mayonnaise, olive oil and vinegar and stir briskly.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cover with cling film and rest in fridge overnight.

ENJOY

  Patsos, Home of Cretan Heroes I belong to INCO, the International Community Association of Agios Nikolaos and the wider Lassithi Region, a Not For Profit Organisation providing the legal framework to support social, cultural, charitable and community activities.

[starwarsnonsense]

Top 10 Films of 2018 (So Far)

Since I quite like continuing old traditions, I wanted to do a post rounding up what I consider to be the ten best films of 2018 so far. This list includes a few films that came out in 2017 in the US, since they were only released here in the UK this year.

Have you seen any of the films I cover below? Have I piqued your interest in a title you might not have heard before? Let me know, and do share your favourites too!

1. Annihilation, dir. Alex Garland

This was my most anticipated film of the year, and my hype for it was more than rewarded. This is a marvellously rich and transporting science fiction film that isn’t afraid of taking the viewer to some very weird places. However, Annihilation doesn’t simply rely on its strangeness to succeed - it is also firmly rooted in its characters and themes, which has made it incredibly rewarding to return to. Natalie Portman is fantastic as Lena, and Annihilation is a brilliant showcase for her - Lena is a complex and frequently self-destructive character, riddled by guilt and regrets that shape the pulsating, luminescent world of the mysterious ‘Shimmer’ that she has to venture into. The Shimmer might seem like an environmental phenomenon at first, but it’s really more psychological, being a space that adapts according to the people who enter into it. This film overflows with fascinating and thought-provoking ideas, and it was entirely worth the hike I made over to Brooklyn to catch one of the final showings at the theatre (since Annihilation was denied a theatrical release in the UK, I made a point of seeing it while I was on holiday in New York). I think it will go down as one of the great science fiction films, and it belongs in the same conversations as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris.

2. Beast, dir. Michael Pearce

This little British film - shot mostly on location in Jersey by a first-time director - was easily the biggest (and best) surprise I’ve had so far at the cinema this year. I literally had no idea this film existed until a day or so before I watched it, and that made the experience of viewing it even more wonderful. Moll (Jessie Buckley) is an isolated young woman who is stifled by her controlling family and quiet life on a remote island, as well as a secret sin that bubbles away underneath the surface. Her life is predictable - safe, repetitive and dull - until she meets Pascal, a mysterious local man who she finds she has an affinity with. However, there is a murderer haunting the island, taking the lives of young girls in the night. Who’s to blame, and what impact will the killings have on Moll and Pascal’s swiftly escalating romance? While that is a synopsis more than a review, I felt it necessary to explain the premise to try and compel you to seek this one out. Beast is raw, woozy and utterly absorbing - the love story between Moll and Pascal is one of the most passionate and gripping you’ll ever see on screen, and their chemistry is simply sensational. There’s a real gothic, fairy-tale edge to the story which appealed perfectly to my (admittedly rather niche) tastes. This is a real hidden treasure of a film - do yourself a favour and make it your mission to watch it.

3. Lady Bird, dir. Greta Gerwig

This film was so, so relatable, despite my not really having experienced an adolescence anything like “Lady Bird’s”. While the details of her life are very different from mine, I think anyone can relate to the sweeping brushstrokes - the tensions that can arise between parents and children, the thirst for freedom and independence that builds the closer you get to the final days of school, and the feelings of love and loyalty that are always there even when they’re unspoken. Greta Gerwig captures all of this and so much more with marvellous delicacy, balancing little moments that add colour and spark with more serious scenes so deftly that it’s amazing to think that this is her first feature. Lady Bird is a very specific and very beautiful film, and it’s special precisely because it feels universal even as it feels small and personal to its director. 

4. Eighth Grade, dir. Bo Burnham

This is the perfect double bill with Lady Bird, and the people who have dubbed this film “Lady Bird Jr” are right on the money. Elsie Fisher has a real star turn as the heroine Kayla, who is a very special child - she’s kind, sensitive and thoughtful, which basically means she’s my kind of superhero. But even as she is a good and sweet person, she is also going through all of the trials you’d expect a 13 year old to be facing in 2018, as she wrestles with acne, confusing feelings about super-dreamy boys, and the escalating anxiety that comes with a comment-free Instagram post. Like Lady Bird, this film succeeds in being both very specific and highly universal - the only social media I had to deal with as a teen were MySpace and Bebo, and I found that seeing Kayla wrestle with a whole kaleidoscope of feeds, devices and platforms made her strong grip on her integrity as a  funny and deeply warm-hearted individual all the more remarkable. Bo Burnham, as with Gerwig, made a pretty incredible film here - in particular you should watch out for the father/daughter dynamic, which is my favourite part. Eighth Grade is funny and generous, and the perfect medicine if you’re feeling demoralised by the state of the world right now.

5. The Breadwinner, dir. Nora Twomey

The Breadwinner is a really lovely animated film telling the story of Parvana, a young girl living with her family under the Taliban. When her father is taken off to prison, Parvana sees no other choice but to dress as a boy to provide for her mother and siblings. But how long will her disguise last? The story here was what really gripped me - it’s very simple, in both the telling and the themes, but it is truly beautiful in that simplicity. The emotions are very raw, and this film goes to some shockingly dark places at times - while I think it can be watched with children as long as they are mature enough for some challenging themes and upsetting moments, it’s likely to speak most strongly to adult audiences with a fuller appreciation for the context in which the film is set. It’s a great and moving alternative to more mainstream animated efforts, and is well worth your time.

6. Phantom Thread, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

This was a delightfully twisted film with an absorbingly complicated and twisty relationship at its centre. Vicky Krieps is an absolute marvel as Alma, and it’s wonderful to see how she battles to bring the fragile and austere designer  Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) to heel. It’s also a beautiful film with rather fabulous fashions - if you love couture, particularly from the ‘50s, this will be a real treat. I also appreciated the many allusions to classic cinema - there are strong shades of Hitchcock’s Rebecca, as well as the underrated David Lean film The Passionate Friends. Check this out if you like your romantic dramas weird and entirely unpredictable.

7. Revenge, dir. Coralie Fargeat

Revenge is angry, sun-soaked and batshit insane - and it is pretty great for all of those reasons. It follows Jennifer, the teenage mistress of a sleazy married man. After a horrifying assault Jennifer returns, phoenix-like, to wreak her revenge upon her attackers. This movie was very much inspired by exploitation flicks, with their penchant for showing scantily clad (and frequently bloody) women wielding shotguns to hunt down the brutes who did them wrong. However, first-time director Coralie Fargeat takes every one of those tropes and owns them, ramping up the blood and giving the action a propulsive energy that keeps you gripped even as you know exactly where things are going. The soundtrack here is also one to look out for - it’s all pulsating synths that do a great job of building the suspense and tension from the get-go.

8. Lean on Pete, dir. Andrew Haigh

This is a very painful film in many ways, but it’s only painful because it does such a great job of earning your emotional investment. The lead of this film is Charley, a sensitive and quiet teenage boy who becomes attached to an ailing race horse as he seeks to escape his troubled home-life. When he finds himself in crisis, Charley takes the horse and they head off on a journey across the American heartland. Charlie Plummer is extraordinary as the lead here - Charley is the kind of character that makes you want to reach through the screen so you can offer him a hug of reassurance and support. The photography of the American countryside is exquisite, and means this film really deserves to be seen on the big screen - the breadth of the landscape gives all of the emotional drama some (richly deserved, in my view) extra punch.

9. You Were Never Really Here, dir. Lynne Ramsay

This is a very weird film (you’re probably noticing a theme at this point) but it’s completely absorbing. It’s very much actor-led, and the film rests on the shoulders of Joaquin Phoenix’s gripping and unpredictable performance - in some scenes he’s muttering in deference to his mother like a modern-day Norman Bates, while in others he’s portrayed almost as a lost boy in an overgrown body, disorientated by his environment and engaging in acts of extreme violence as if in a sort of trance. The narrative is fuzzy and unfocused, but I didn’t find that mattered much since I was too busy following every evolution of Phoenix’s face.

10. Thoroughbreds, dir. Cory Finley

Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy make fantastic foils to one another as two appallingly privileged teenagers whose obscene wealth is only matched by their resounding lack of morals. This is a film that plays with your loyalties, trying to wrong-foot you at every turn - it’s frequently difficult to figure out what’s genuine here, and while that did sometimes leave me feeling a bit emotionally detached that’s usually the point. This film is more of an intellectual puzzle than a lean, mean, emotion-extracting machine (see: Lean on Pete), and it succeeds brilliantly on that level. The simplicity of the story means the fun lies in picking apart lines and expressions, so go in prepared for some close viewing.