BornKnight Reviews

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Classic Wes Anderson

[8/10 · 31 March 2024]

Glad it won in its Academy category (Shorts)

Shot movie (about 41 min) of Wes Anderson following the story of the protagonist and how and what he done with some achired powers.

It features several actors that are used to Wes Anderson works;

It is composed in long shots, with a very good editing quality with figurine and scenery typical of Wes Anderson, in the end of the 19th century and start of 20h, with all those saturated pastel tones, moving parts of scenery and little details that are a joy to his fans.

The story is also a very good and interesting parable, with no special effects all done with scenery illusions.

A score of 8,0 out of 10,0 to this one / A-.

The Parades (2024)

Lacks Something

[7/10 · 31 March 2024]

Good japanese thriller about the afterlife, that happens about the time of Fukushima disaster. The rhythm of the story is slow.

It follows a woman that is a soul without accomplishing her objective at Earth (it can be in or out life).

Good characters, sensitive movie - maybe not fit for everyone. It have a Ghibli characteristics to it, without the cute characters.

Good photography, but do not expect FX effects to compensate the natural / supernatural interactions.

But in the end it lacks something to enhance it more - maybe more emotion on the scenes to bring tears to the eyes. My score: 6,5 / 10,0 / B-.

Perfect Days (2023)

Marvelous Experience but Not for All

[10/10 · 4 March 2024]

Coproduction between Japan and Germany, directed by the german director Wim Wenders (Texas Paris, Wings of Desire among others) and written by him and Takuma Takashi.

It won the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for Best Actor and Ecumenical Jury and it is nominated for Academy Best Foreign Movie (my favorite for this category).

It tells some days at the life of a public bathroom cleaner at Tokyo, interpreted by Koji Yakusho Hirayama, as Hirayama, his daily routine and 4 events in between his usual days. It also shows how some people treat those invisible workers even in a modern civilized country as Japan.

Hirayama have a simple, but happy life as he is and what his does with the maximum commitment - it is a marvelou movie about contemplation and what simple things and events can bring of happiness in the life, if you allow it.

The cinematography is by Franz Lustig (Anselm), and it is beautiful in using the available light and daily variations, mostly in shots with the protagonist.

With a slow minimalistic story focused on this philosophy and camera work also directed to the architecture of public bathrooms, it may not be a movie for everyone.

My score for it is 9,6 out of 10,0 / A+.

Inside (I) (2023)

Intriguing - Repetitive yes, but was expected

[7/10 · 3 March 2024]

Psychological thriller about a thief end up locked up into a (broken) intelligent rooftop in NY during a heist - directed by Vasilis Katsoupi (in his 2nd incursion as director after "My Friend Larry Gus") and written by Ben Hopkins (Lost in Karastan). So ok, both of them don't have anything good on their CV.

But I must say before anything that I don't think most reviews are just to this movie - he is actually good. Beside the plot he has some underlined themes as the value of art and some curious ways that art can be created. As a side extra the apartment had real art as art not props.

All we know that Willem Dafoe acts in very controversial pieces of art when he choses it and 100% of the movie is in motion by him. And as I said it have a message - just not expect a totally explained end (although I got it, and the after is of no concern what may frustrate some people).

As a whole I give this one a 7,0 out of 10,0 / B score.

Poor Things (2023)

Amazing

[9/10 · 1 March 2024]

Fantasy drama- comedy adult film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of the Sacred Deer, The Lobster, The Favourite) and written by Tony McNamara (The Great, The Favorite, Cruella), being based on the 1992's novel by Alasdair Gray, that Lanthimos liked and even went to Scotland in 2009 to buy the direct of the movie.

Having a victorian semi-steampunk and exquisite atmosphere it tells the story of a newly created woman Bella Baxter, with her body reanimated by the eccentric surgeon Godwin Baxter, that discovering that after her suicide jumping a bridge she was pregnant, and uses the unborn fetus brain on her head.

After this she went on a journey from a Frankenstein character and develops her tastes and skills gradually till the end of the filme. I must say that some sexual scenes with Emma Stone and her character sexual appetite are most daring and shows how she grow as and actress in all aspect.

The main core of roles are Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn, Willem Dafoe as Dr. Godwin Baxter and as a lesser role Ramy Youssef as Max McCandles.

According to the cinematographer, Ryan Williams (American Honey, The Favorite) in conjunction with the director Lanthimos used an array of cameras, lens and films included Nikon, Angenieux Optimo and Zeiss Master Zooms, an ultra-wide PL-mount Optex 4mm fisheye, designed for 16mm/S16mm cinematography, that opens up to T2, plus antique 58mm and 85mm Petzvals. Ryan selected EASTMAN DOUBLE-X Black & White Negative Film 5222 for the movie's opening B&W sequences, KODAK EKTACHROME Color Reversal Film 100D 5294 for Bella's elopement and adventures with Wedderburn, and KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film 5219 for the film's denouement.

The production design by Shona Heath and James Price and the equip of art direction and prosthetics made and incredible job plus with the unique costume design by Holly Waddington (Lady MacBeth, Clash of Titans) also are striking, from the more bizarre childish dresses used on the start of the film to the more adut on the end. All this with a modest budget of $35 million.

The movie have 11 Academy nominations for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score), Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Achievement in Costume Design and already have 11 BAFTA awards plus Venice Film Festival 2 awards, Golden Lion Best Film and Yorgos Lanthimos 2023 Winner UNIMED Award.

I honestly hope that the movie shines and it shinned for me and obfuscated some other movies (maybe only not in best co-adjuvant actress - which we don't have here) at the academy.

Daliás idök (1983)

Really Amazing Work

[8/10 · 24 February 2024]

Dalias Idok is an Hungarian 1984 animated feature directed by József Gémes about chivalry. Hungarian animations are a world aside from many countries and have different approaches and themes from the majority of the counties (for example see "Habfürdö' from 1980).

This is also the case with this animation that have an painting graphic style that resemble an oil panting. It is It is an adaptation of the Toldi trilogy, a 19th-century epic poem in three parts by János Arany (1817 - 1882) written in 1800, inspired by the legendary Miklós Toldi, who served in the Hungarian King Louis the Great's army in the 13th century. The trilogy recounted the medieval stories of Toldi as the king's champion.

Miklós Toldi (c. 1320 - November 22, 1390) was a Hungarian nobleman from Bihar County of the Kingdom of Hungary, who is remembered as a legendary strong hero in Hungarian folklore, long thought of being a legend but later fund to be a real man.

You have all the features from a classic chivalry story here, from heroic acts to tragedy, lost loves, battles and a bitter end.

I watched the restaurated work from the original negative and magnetic tapes, in 4K made in Hungary in 2022, for the National Film Institute - Film Archive and Lab of the country.

My score: a 8.5 out of 10.0 / A - .

Happy as Lazzaro (2018)

Beautiful and Sad Fable

[8/10 · 23 February 2024]

A tale (or fable?) of social commentary by directress and writer Alice Rohrwacher (that I first knew in the short "Le Pupille") in rural Italy with touches of anti capitalism and class division, where sharecroppers live, without knowing their semi-slavery state because of lack of knowledge. Lazzaro the protagonist, is an innocent character that is happy to make others happy, in the pureness of his heart. He doesn't know who is his father of mother just who is maybe his grandmother.

There are very few signs of when this passes you can guess the 60 or 70's till later you see a cellphone of the 90's. So this is the condition that those people lives.

They live under Marchesa Alfonsina De Luna state till one day Lazzaro meets the rebellious son of her, Tancredi, that wants to live away from the rot of his bankrupt family, so he devise a plan.

A plan that unwillingly ends ends with and event that throws Lazzaro in the future 20 to 30 years ahead. By chance or destiny he meet robbers in the now decadent rural mansion (not knowing that they are people of his past "family") and in the city where he is recognized by an old female friend (the role is played by the older sister of Rohrwacher, Alba) - the only one that sees the miracle of him not ageing anything at all (and not all broken and bloody by the event that happened so many years ago, not seen by anyone).

In this urban future he ends up living within the same ignorant and individualist clan (with some exceptions) and ends up meeting by chance the Baroness son again, decadent as ever in his dreams of richness that broke his spirit.

Not telling the end after all this spoilers, but it is sad to see Lazzaro so pure treated as nothing, unhappy by his friend status, and trying to correct things in a wrong way in his innocency (no, it doesn't have an happy ending).

A movie that may not be for everyone but that shines to see such saintness and pureness of heart among our society.

Good cinematography and choice of colors, with Kodak Super 16mm film by cinematographer DP Hélène Louvart AFC and good acting by the protagonist, the newcomer Adriano Tardiolo.

I would score this one a 8.0 out of 10.0 / A-.

The Zone of Interest (2023)

Silent Holocaust

[9/10 · 21 February 2024]

The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, that based herself on the life that Rudolf Höss, Nazi commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940-43 must had in that time in his residence, just at the side of the camp.

It premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, winning both the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize. For the 96th Academy Awards, it received 5 nominations (including Best Motion Picture, Best International Feature Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound) - for me best sound is almost a win, and have great chances for best international movie and adapted screenplay.

Both Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss and Sandra Hüller (from Anatomy of a Fall) as Hedwig Höss are exceptional in their roles.

It focus on the idyllic live of the Nazi commander, in his house on the most normal life conditions, while the Holocaust and the killing machine he created works at just some meters of distance.

The camera focus on medium and large plans, often showing the life of the dreams, but on the horizon we often see signs of the terror like smoke from the locomotives and from the enormous chimneys at the distance.

We also have other signs, extremely subtle, like the sound of shouts and shots at the background, that only shows as more close in rare sequences.

Other sequences like the girl, shoot in Infrared that left at night apples and fruits for the camp workers are just haunting (and the cause of one of the more aggressive shout sequence I mention above).

Interesting enough is the view as close the view of the concentration camp is on the movie in the past, and in the present as a memorial. Both are unmistakable, but in either vision a far cry from what the reality must have been inside them.

For the movie is a 8.6 from 10.0 / A- and a must see for 2024.

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Watch the Directors Cut Roadshow Version

[7/10 · 20 February 2024]

One of the most hated movies by Ridley Scott, that shows the difference of what versions and cuts can have on a movie. This movie have a Theatrical version (144 min.) a Director's Cut (189 min.) and Director's Cut Roadshow Version (194 min.) (that I watched years after watching the theatrical on cinema).

The movie is loosely based on the story of Balian I of Ibelin (originally a noble of French or Italy, but portraited as his son in this movie and epoch) travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.

A tale of noble actions and ideals on the 2nd Crusade among equally noblesse and troubled people. It is not totally historically accurate (let's say 50%) but is one of the most impressive movies about the crusade with all the desert, sun and bloody scenes than you can imagine (and a fictional end).

Originally a 7.0 raised up to a 7.8 out of 10.0 in this version B+ (not sure if this is the version that Netflix have).

Godland (2022)

More Visual than Meaningful

[6/10 · 20 February 2024]

A bit slow and vague to my personal taste the movie is divided in two parts that shows the travel and settlement of a young Danish priest (protestant) and photographer to a remote village on Iceland, on the 19th century (then a colony of Denmark, from 1376 to 1918), with distinct languages.

The first part focus on the travel and hardship of the travel with the loss of a friend and rising animosity between the priest and some people of the party; the second part focus on the settlement of the priest and some of the locals, with rising of of disputes and claims, while he involves with the daughter of a local farmer and a builder that acompanished him the first part of the movie.

The photography is marvelous with the Icelandic landscape and to a degree it shows the variation between the seasons and the body and soul of man, that loses gradually his aim and mission till he looses all of his former personality.

But other than that it didn't have a really strong message being more a display of beauty in harshness landscapes and personalities than having a message on itself. For this I score it with a 6.5 out of 10.0 / B-.

No likes yet.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)

Over Hyped

[6/10 · 13 February 2024]

Way too hyped for what it is (like the game before the updates) - cyberpunk anime based on the Cyberpunk universe created by Mike Pondsmith, the anime serves as a prequel to the game and takes place about a year before the events of Cyberpunk 2077. It got the seal of approval by the Polish Developer CD Projekt.

It is set on a future city on California (Night City) in a world where gangs and cybernetic implants are usual. The main "hero" (or "anti-hero" since it runs a gang in the future on the series) is a cocky latin-american cocky kid with a hard working mother and that gets involved on gangs war, getting implants and changing character through the series.

Despite the animation being totally Japanese in the form of anime, the main error probably is the main story that the screenplay is based (written by a Polish team)... it is bad written, dumb and previsible and I had zero empathy with the protagonist. The quality of animation is good, but not phenomenal.

Action is frenetic but unreal to the point of being silly and the characters have no realistic traces at all. Maybe because of this I took 1 and a half year to be able to see it all.

The same can be said of the opening music "This Fffire" by Franz Ferdinand probably one of the worst music chosen for the anime by a band already dead in 2023 (it was a more proheminant band from 20y ago).

It was nominated to a ton of anime awards, but got only the best best anime of the year ("only" because it had more than 10 nominations).

For me it is a 6.0 score out of 10.0 / B. Go play this game game that is a 100% better or go known the Syndicate games and remake on Xbox to see some good cyberpunk and similar stuff, or go see Appleseed or Ghost in Shell series to a good quality cyberpunk anime.

Foundation (2021– )

Just Spectacular - Isaac Asimov at His Best

[8/10 · 12 February 2024]

Managing to put a series of Books into a series is no easy task especially when it covers 1000 years.

It isn't a series for everyone when you consider this, and that Isaac Asimov isn't just an advanced sci-fi writer but also a visionary almost one century before us. It is a case of love or hate especially when it involves two types of media, a filmed streaming series (with no easy task at hand) and a series of written books (with more two sequels and two prequels in a total of 7 books).

Do not attach to most of the characters as many of them obviously won't live the 1000+ span of years of the saga of the original trilogy.

The books are just magical, complex and transcending - if you like the series go read them. There are many differences of course but to go into full fidelity runs into that case of a "book that is impossible to make a film".

The actors are top notch into their roles and the budget that Apple spent on this one is comparable to a big budget movie (around 70M a episode), with effects on CGI and sound that should be viewed in IMAX.

If you love true sci-fi do yourself a favor and go watch it: my score is 8,7 out of 10,0 / A.

The Tourist (2022–2024)

First Season is Great

[8/10 · 8 February 2024]

Season 1 Review (currently on NF):

Criminal thriller series in 8 episodes with a touch of dark comedy and drama about a man Jamie Dornan (of "60 Shades" trilogy) and Danielle Macdonald (as Probationary Constable Helen Chambers in one of the sweetests characters I've ever seen).

The chemistry between the two in this series is amazing and cute, bringing some relief to the tense rhythm of the main story that have many bloody sequences and great wide shoots of the Outback.

The man is driving in the Australian Outback and suddenly is pursued by a truck (terminator style). After being knocked out of the road by the one he lose all memory and enters in a saga to discover his past.

In general lines Dornan character is very good and the series that maintains a thrilling experience till the 5 episode, being a tid bit bit weaker on the last episodes. As a whole, the serie could have ended in the first season that is an all around story.

For this, I gave a 8,0 out of 10,0 score / A-.

Season 2 Review (on NF from 02-28): 6 episodes in Ireland awaiting, but it is in BBC One rn.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

If You Like Scorsese this is for you

[9/10 · 4 February 2024]

Another must watch movie from 2023 and another hit from Martin Scorsese. Currently it holds 10 nominations to the 96th Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Best Actress, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Best Original Song).

It is based on the 2017 nonfiction book "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann, that basically investigate the Osage Indian Nation that occurred between 1920 and 1930. Just as an outline oil was discovered on Osage lands in the end of 1800, but with the boom of automobile industry it value boomed, making the Osage people one of the most rich on Earth at that time, even if the jurisdictions of the legal rights were done by white man. Based on legal attributions and heritage marriage occurring on that time a wide spread of sordid murders and interracial marriages between Indian woman and white men occurred putting a whole af the money in white mens blood dirty hands.

Of course being a 3 and a half hour project (after all not all stories can be condensed on 2 hours, and the rhythm is right), the second of Scorsese after 2019's "The Irishman" - the movie (which had the rights buyed in 2015 by 5M) was to start production in 2019, but obviously it halted because of COVID what gave Scorsese time to get the money for a USD 200M production (by Apple and Paramount) and started the works in 2021.

I will not enter in details of the characters here, but all is historically researched, and many details were affected by Osage contributions. On the Acting part, Leonardo DiCaprio, as Ernest Burkhart, Robert De Niro as William King Hale, Ernest's uncle and Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart, Ernest's wife are just perfect.

The nominations of Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto - Argo, The Irishman, Brokeback Mountain among other sublime works), editing (Thelma Schoonmaker), Production Design (Jack Fisk and Adam Willis), Costume Design (Jacqueline West), Best Original Score (using musics from Indians and from that time, in a discrete, but at the same time prominent in the last work of Robbie Robertson) are all spot one.

Maybe the best achievement of the movie is bringing to the spotlights another history side of the evil side of USA, as Tulsa was in the same age.

I expect a lot of Awards for this ones, even with some strong competition - and give this one a 9,2 out of 10,0 / A score. Do yourself a favor and see it, if you like Scorsese epics.

Sisu (2022)

Tarantino + John Wick in WWII

[7/10 · 2 February 2024]

WWII action thriller about a lone man and ex-military that mines gold in Lapland, Finland during 1944 and the retreat of nazis forces. After encountering an abundant quantity of gold he encounters retreating units of nazis, a bigger one that encounters him, and a little one that messes with him and hell is set loose.

Jalmari Helander director and writer did a good job on this one, that is divided in chapters - similarities with Rambo III and John Wick aren't so coincide since the production crew worked in John Wick.

Wait for gory deaths, and very good choreographies on the sequences of fighting. The story is also original in it's way and reminds a lot Tarantino.

Jorma Tommila as Aatami the protagonist does a good job, better that Keanu btw. There are some goofs as the post WWII tank used by the germans but ok.

Good production and fun if you like revenge and violent movies, a 7,0 out of 10,0 / B for me.

The Teachers' Lounge (2023)

Intriguing and Actual Theme

[8/10 · 2 February 2024]

German drama film directed by Ilker Çatak, and that is nominated for best international movie for the 96th Academy Awards.

Leonie Benesch as Carla Nowak, and idealist Polish immigrant teacher have a suspicion of theft at her 1st grade school raised by one of the student towards another (immigrant Turk) student.

After this incident and the reunion with the father of the boys she withstands another small theft at the teacher lounge, and after that she decides to mount a trap to confirm her suspicions putting her coat with the wallet and some money and laptop to film. The money is stolen but only the sleeve of the robber is seen - the sleeve with a unique painting that another functionary on the teacher lounge uses, and she aboard her (that is mother of another immigrant student).

From this pretext the movie delves into a suspicion web mixed with xenophobia and student pro and against the late case boy that divide opinions and breaks the fragile peace that the school once had, including with some more radical students that oppose order and make false statements.

The movie is engaging and the web of suspense got me till the end, and it is a nice entry to best international movie. I would rate it a 8.0 out of 10 / A - as a whole.

Fallen Leaves (2023)

Simple but Effective - Watch it if you like Wes Anderson

[7/10 · 1 February 2024]

German-Finnish drama / romance by the director Aki Kaurismäki, continuation of his Proletariat series, which was originally planned as a trilogy and already includes Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl (1990).

With simple stories in a stylized Helsinki that seems to be stopped at the end of the 80´s on purpose (although your hear on the radio about the current Russia and Ukraine War, and see a 2024 calendar) it tells about the love story in simple lines of melancholy about two workers, a construction area man and a woman that worked on supermarkets and factories. Think of a Finnish Wes Anderson.

The lines of the story are simple as the concept, of a couple that have some mismatches around the way till the final encounter, but this simpliness, slow-paced sweetness in the context of the depression and melancholy of the lives and city is what colours the film in the end. Contributing to this sweetness it includes the changes on each other character along the movie in simple steps.

The movie premiered on 76th Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where it won the Jury Prize and will be the contender for the 96th Academy award for best international movie.

Knowing what to expect of the movie I gave him a 7,6 out of 10,0 score, or a B+ as I always prefer more complex stories.

Fallen Angels (1995)

Complimentary to Chunking Express

[9/10 · 31 January 2024]

The complimentary movie to Chungking Express (1994), this is a neo-noir thriller that was shooted as a different movie because of the length of the total movie and differences between the two.

As in the first this one also tells two stories: of a hitman (Leon Lai Ming) that wants to detach from his activities and his partner, a woman that cleans his apartment while he is out, and have a secret love for him, while he meets another girl nicknamed blondie.

The second one is from a ex-convict escaped from prison, Ho Chi-mo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) that is mute and works and lives with his father, also breaking into other works at night to sell their goods and services (here we have a meet with the Chungking Express with the first movie) and keeps finding another girl Charlie that lost his girlfriend for blondie), aside from a sequence that he meets another character from the first story in the end.

While having its themes along with Chungking, it differentiates from he first one by the use of cinematographer Christopher Doyle shooting mainly at night and using extreme wide-angle lenses, keeping the camera as close to the talents as possible to give a detached effect from the world around them, giving an wide-angle distortion of images creates an effect of distance-in-proximity, conveying the characters' solitude.

The visuals are frantic, out-of-focus, and neon-lit. The camera also follows the characters and segments of B&W and heldcam camera also are used.

Another difference is the use of voice overs (as in thoughts) in the place of dialogues and pop songs this time mainly Cantonese versions of many musics, some of them also being ocidental (like the instrumental "Speak My Language" by American avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson and Flying Pickets version of "Only You" by member Vince Clarke, while he was still with Depeche Mode).

To me a score of 8,7 out of 10,0 / A along side with the previous one a must to watch movie of an bygone era before the delivery of the city back to China in 97.

Chungking Express (1994)

Unique

[8/10 · 30 January 2024]

Filmed into the post production of two years of filming the Wuxia epic "Ashes of Time", with low resources, this movie is another example that we don't need millions of USD to make a masterpiece.

Wong Kar-Wai have a personal style of using melancholic characters distorted stories, using elaborate soundtracks in the background. This movie show two drama and crime stories about two lovesick policeman and their search over his relationship with a woman, always in a 0,01cm encounter of distance between them.

The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May (replaced emotionally with letters and old pineapple cans), and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler. The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker called Express - referred in the title (Faye Wong).

Both stories circles around Chungking Mansions, a 60's complex of buildings supposed to be residential, but that is made up of many independent low-budget hotels, shops and other services, filled with stores and stalls in the building cater to wholesalers shipping goods to Africa and South Asia, and amid the gigantic Central-Mid-Levels escalator with a length of 800m and one of the two highlights locations of the movie.

Both sequences have a unique visual approach sometimes intimate, sometimes frenetic with a beautiful use of color among the chaos that reminds me of the works of the photographer Saul Leiter.

On the unique soundtrack using ocidental musics we have the use for the first story is Dennis Brown's "Things in Life" and "Baroque", composed by Michael Galasso, can be heard twice during the first part of the movie.

On the second "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas plays in the key scenes in the second story, which also features Faye Wong's Cantonese cover version of "Dreams" by The Cranberries.

In the plans of making there was a third movie but since it was too long it was released as a separate movie, Fallen Angels in 1995.

Another must watch classic with a unique style that differentiates it from other Hong Kong productions - I gave it a 8,7 out of 10,0 / A rate.

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Strong Screenplay

[8/10 · 30 January 2024]

French movie with a drama / courtroom theme that is gripping more into it's realistic tone than others movies that create unexpected and unbelievable tones, directed by Justine Triet from a screenplay she co-wrote with Arthur Harari (Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle).

Currently it is the winner of Canne's Palm D'or and nominated for five Academy awards, being those Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Screenplay, Best Achievement in Film Editing.

It tells the story of In an isolated mountain chalet near Grenoble, where the problematic couple French Samuel Maleski is playing music in his attic so loudly that interrupts an interview of his German wife, Sandra Voyter (played by Sandra Hüller), and son Daniel (partially blind), returns from a long walk with his guide dog Snoop to find Samuel dead below his attic window.

From there and all the theories, criminal analysis and courtroom judicial processes guide the movie and gain the midia of the country. Do not expect CSI level invention on this one - it is logical and reasonable as a movie that analyses the crisis in the couple and the impact on the son with a heavy focus on the courtroom that gabs your attention.

Sandra Hüller is the protagonist that leads with an incredible performance on her role. The direction is solid as well as the screenplay. The cinematography varies from formal takes to more active ones and the editing is perfect in joining all the takes.

I usually found courtroom movies to be boring but this wasn't the case that holds your attention till the end even with the slow moving of events and investigations from the live of protagonists to the dispute of the lawyers.

A strong contender for all the prizes but knowing the academy I am almost sure it will grab 2 to 3 prizes.

From my point of view the movie is a 8,5 out of 10,0 / A. For sure one of the movies of 2023 that must be seen, so it gets a like from me too.

Past Lives (2023)

One of the Best Romances

[9/10 · 28 January 2024]

An american A24 very adult romance and drama movie that gets in you little by little, slow burning with a gentle flame and involves more than just love, but personal choices and fate too.

Compared to a lot of romances this one is very real, and tells the story of two korean child, that lives closely together in their 12yo in sort of a "proto-date" till she emigrate to Canada and then US, already searching better changes at what she planned to do as a job (writing).

Jump 12 years later accidentally she discovers that he was looking for her, and they start to chat online together, and the old fire starts to ignite again... till the day she says with a broken heart that because neither of them can see each other too soon and because she need to focus on her work they should to stop talking for a while.

A while that passes in another 12 years and she gets on her life in America even marrying another writer aspirant while he gets a girlfriend. Then he decides to come visit her in NYC (that's shown in the very start (2min) of the movie, watch closely for the details in expressions that this tells so much) .

A great strat for Celine Song at her debut on the big screen (as director and screenplay) and great performance of Greta Lee.

An 9.5 out of 10.0 / A+ for me - most real than 80% of the ommances that you see around. Got a nomination for Academy on original screenplay and best Movie but should get more categories imo.

Wonka (2023)

In fine Tune with the Original

[8/10 · 23 January 2024]

After so many years I wonder if the majority of people have seen the original (comedy / musical) movie of 71, that is a classic. I myself was a bit worried when I saw the announce for this one (haven't watchet a single trailer).

Oh how I was wrong - Timothée Chalamet's Willy Wonka is just perfect on how he emulates the original Wonka by Richard Gere plus the musical and dance scenes aren't bad at all.

To those who knew the original movie, this gets the start of life of Wonka as a chocolatier, and fill many gaps on the original story - but not all, one being the personality he achieved later and the later relation with the OOmpa Loompa.

The movie is just a delight - every little character have its little part and backstory and the story is a family friendly one with all the magic of the original. Even the secondary characters are good choices and all relates in perfect tune.

To those who don't know, the character was original from a book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' a 1964 children's novel by Roald Dahl, that had a sequence (a crazy one btw, in 1972). Many politically incorrect terms were already omitted in the 1971 book.

The movie gets outside of those, being more a spiritual prequel film for the 71 one, exploring Willy Wonka's origins in 2023. And remembering the 2005 remake of the original by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

As a complimentary note, the Dahl's family agreed with Netflix to expand the Wonka universe on a series of animations for the streaming channel.

The movie gets a 7.7 out of 10.o for be a B+.

Close to Vermeer (2023)

More Informative

[8/10 · 23 January 2024]

Complementary to "Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition 2023", that tell us about some of the works exhibit in 2023, when the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displayed 28 Vermeer paintings in the largest exhibition ever by this famous Dutch painter of the 17th century.

During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy at his death, leaving his wife in debt when he died at 43yo (due to the stress after the 1672, a severe economic downturn caused by three invasion of Dutch territories) father of 8 girls and 3 boys with a 44yo wife - he and Rembrand are probably nowadays the names of that era that we remember the most on duct painting.

His works were only rediscovered around the 19th century that had an essay saying that he had 66 paintings, but we knows only 34 of them (and three more contested - that are discussed here).

This documentary by BBC instead takes a more technical side, telling about the hunt and trades to get the masterpieces to the exhibition and more about the scientifical and technical side of Veer Meer works, with maybe camera obscure and his use of pigments.

You also see more of the humane side of people involved in the exhibition, being better than the first documentary I mentioned.

A solid 8.3 out of 10.0 / A- I would say. Watch it if you admire the works of this dutch great master so much admired in his city in his days, but unknown by the rest of the world (his major patron where of the city of Delft).

Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition (2023)

Interesting but So in Depth

[8/10 · 22 January 2024]

In 2023, the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam displayed 28 Vermeer paintings in the largest exhibition ever by this famous Dutch painter of the 17th century.

During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy at his death, leaving his wife in debt when he died at 43yo (due to the stress after the 1672, a severe economic downturn caused by three invasion of Dutch territories) father of 8 girls and 3 boys with a 44yo wife - he and Rembrand are probably nowadays the names of that era that we remember the most on duct painting.

His works were only rediscovered around the 19th century that had an essay saying that he had 66 paintings, but we knows only 34 of them (and three more contested).

This documentary rotates about a dozen or so of his paintings discussing the majority of them, analyzed by experts and critics. It also shows some X-ray and other studies on the techniques used my this master of painting (sadly only showed a couple of them)

Not the most profound documentary but what others say is a repetition of saying the whole time is truth - he was ahead and different on his time paint thought light mostly than colors, in rich and intricated details - I am most of all amazed how he mastered focus on his pictured present on some parts, blurry on others as we do with analogic cameras and digital cameras on our era.

Still very interesting especially if you are a fan of his works or want to know them better. 8.0 out of 10.0 / A-.

The Marvels (2023)

Could be a TV Series

[6/10 · 20 January 2024]

Who watched the Mrs. Marvel series already knew the tone the movie would have. It achieves what it wants, and it is fun and cute, not a cinema masterpiece (and it never intended to be).

One things that annoys most people are the connections - literally to know much stuff here you needed to be catch up with all the movies and series related on MCU. Also the space between Mrs Marvel are too long to remind of the character.

Not a "normal" Marvel movie as could be done in a series, but I think the intent was to show to more people the "new" characters and create interest (could be a series).

Score: 6.0 out of 10.0 / B-.