The Phantom of the Open (2022)

Direction: Craig Roberts
Country: UK

The Phantom of the Open is a biographical sports comedy based on Maurice Flitcroft, a British crane operator turned golf star in the 1970’s, and not because he was good at it! Both a dreamer and a tenacious optimist, Flitcroft was miraculously accepted to participate in the 1976 British Open Golf Championship without being a professional player. He made history in his first participation, becoming the worst player of the tournament with a score of 121. Despite being ridiculed by some, his unshakable confidence and courage made him a popular hero known as the people’s golfer. 

Mark Rylance (The Outfit, 2022; Bridge of Spies, 2015; The BFG, 2016) plays this big dreamer with a low-key profile and inspiration, capturing the imperturbable charisma of the man; Craig Roberts (Eternal Beauty, 2019) directed from a script by Simon Farnaby, who had previously co-written a biography book about the subject with Scott Murray. Bearing the tones of the old classics, the film feels somewhat old-fashioned in its approach, biting the dust in its vain attempt to turn an undeniable great story into an unforgettable cinematic experience. Despite the lucid storytelling, the chronicle was ordinarily transferred to the screen by Roberts, whose big ladle of easy sweets and tough dreams went too sentimental in places. 

In the absence of a formal audacity, the result, limited yet not unpleasant, comes without surprise: a finger of golf, talented actors (Sally Hawkins plays the golfer’s affectionate wife; Rhys Ifans embodies the then secretary of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club) and 105 minutes of popcorn movies.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Direction: Taika Waititi
Country: USA 

After directing Thor: Ragnarok in 2017 with appreciable creativity, New Zealander director Taika Waititi plunges the God of Thunder into a synthetic puppet circus that, being as heavy-handed as downright silly, never finds an emotional center amidst the chaos. Waititi, who garnered hearty acclaim for works like What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), doesn’t know what to make with this super-talkative Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a totally devitalized superhero overshadowed by the mighty presence of Gorr (exemplarily performed by the amazing Christian Bale), a galactic anti-god killer. Prosthetic artist Adam Johansen did a wonderful job with the characterization of the villain, particularly noticeable with the black-and-white images. 

To defeat Gorr, Thor turns to the indifferent, moody Zeus (Russell Crowe) and surprisingly teams up with his ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who inherits all his powers and his former hammer. Tons of fireworks adorn this concoction of fragments from other movies - Avatar, Star Wars, Mad Max, and even Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. With a narrative that jolts rather than compels, the film tries to go everywhere but ends nowhere. It tells a story with no head and tail, fully packed with shabby dialogue and romantic mush. The absence of good laughs is also overwhelming, making it one of the weakest Marvel flicks ever. 

This Thor flick is the compendium of all things that should not be done when it comes to superhero movies. And the ludicrous parody keeps rolling at the sound of Guns N’ Roses’ powerful hits.

Rhino (2021)

Direction: Oleh Sentsov
Country: Ukraine 

First-time actor Serhii Filimonov fits hand-in-glove in the skin of the title character, a fearless anti-hero who is not allowed to go right when he’s been on the wrong side of the fence all his life. His true name is Vova and he never turns his back on a fight, fated to be a take-no-shit gangster who seeks out all the power he can get. From the moment he joins the underworld crime organization in his little Ukrainian town in the ‘90s, a local turf war emerges. On one hand, this gives him the opportunity to gain the respect from other thugs, but on the other, he has to deal with several dangers that monstrously loom in his life. Rhino darkens his soul, inhabits the depths of hell, and can’t even find solace at home anymore. 

This is a portrait of a disgraced figure who, softening up his inner rage over the years, articulates feelings of remorse and penitence with difficulty in a film with more heart than brains. Oleh Sentsov directs with an eye for action, but his film crams so much tawdry violence, revenge and savage behavior into its framework that it ends up trapped in its own roundabouts and unexciting narrative. Everything happens too quickly and clichéd, pointing the way to a somewhat predictable wrap-up. 

Even generating some character-driven circumstances, Rhino can’t sustain its momentum. Nonetheless, the writer-director keeps the pace moving, focused on a precocious pessimism that comes off as spoiled and shallow. Unfortunately, he never found the perfect formula to make the life of his character cinematically noteworthy.

Vortex (2022)

Direction: Gaspar Noé
Country: France 

Argentinian-born, Paris-based helmer Gaspar Noé, whose work has been anything but predictable (Irreversible, 2002; Enter the Void, 2009), signs a killing drama centered on an elderly couple whose life becomes wrecked by a common neurodegenerative disease. In the end, we are unlikely to forget them. 

Dario Argento, the director of Suspiria (1977) and Tenebre (1982), accepted his first leading role as an actor, embodying Lui, an 80-year-old Italian-born screenwriter with heart problems who is working on a book about cinema and dreams. His psychiatrist wife, Elle (Françoise Lebrun who shone in the epic 1973 French romantic drama The Mother and the Whore), four years younger than him, suffers from advanced dementia and her memory declines precipitously each day that passes. Despite the nearly inexistent help, he refuses to leave their Parisian apartment. From time to time, they have a visit from their son, Stephane (Alex Lutz), a single parent and drug addict in recovery who doesn’t even feel strong enough to take care of himself. At this complicated phase of their lives, his father intently says: “we are all slaves to drugs”.

The film is presented in split-screen mode, capturing the daily routines and specific incidents of the characters. It works both visually and narratively, conveying a precise notion of space and allowing us to understand the protagonists and better relate to them. Yet, the whole film pulses with disenchantment. 

Coercing us to face the sad reality of his story, Noé has never been so poignant and mature. This time he spares us to any artistic pose or psychedelic bullshit and strikes with the devastating realism of memory loss, aging, addiction, and the end of life. It’s his most personal work to date, inspired by the death of his mother and his own life-threatening experience (hemorrhage of the brain). While dealing with the gloomy aspect of the subject, this demanding, depressing, and moving film shows an atrocious lucidity.

Dreaming Walls (2022)

Direction: Maya Duverdier, Amélie van Elmbt
Country: USA

Dreaming Walls might not be taken as a model documentary, but its viewing also doesn’t hurt. It’s about the iconic Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, New York, once the home of prominent artists and intellectuals during the bohemian years. Allow me to start this review with a caveat: anyone curious about the ghost-related mysteries - so diffused in the media - that involve the famous site in question is likely to be disappointed with The Dreaming Walls, which definitely doesn’t take that direction. 

The pair of Belgian directors, Maya Duverdier and Amélie van Elmbt, place their focus on the disputes of remaining tenants regarding the never-ending renovations, which will turn the twelve-story-building into a luxury hotel. There are also some nostalgic moments that bring back some glimpses of their bohemian artistic lives in the past. This is specially true for Mel Easter, a former dancer who became a major character in the film. Some archival footage is dovetailed, including a few scenes with the hotel’s longtime manager Stanley Bard, as well as some projections, and songs such as “Chelsea Girls” by The Velvet Underground & Nico.

Boasting Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, Dreaming Walls doesn’t have much beneath the surface. I felt there were too many aspects that could be better explored, as well as further digging to be done about current residents captured in their frustration, resignation and determination. The choppy editing denies the film a rhythm, making it a little stiff. Even missing great opportunities and far from mind-bending, this more-lugubrious-than-austere doc is pelted with an eeriness that lingers after the final credits roll. It likely won’t work for those who are not familiar with the course of the hotel over its nearly 140 years of existence.

Elvis (2022)

Direction: Baz Luhrmann
Country: USA 

Elvis, a lush-looking, fast-paced but full-of-holes biographical drama about the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, leaves one feeling modestly entertained but disappointed all the same because there isn't enough to catch us with our guard down. The life of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) - from childhood to stardom to his tragic death - is pictured with decorative panache, seen through the prism of the relationship with his evasive manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), a persuasive scoundrel who made sure to profit enough at the cost of his client’s talent.

Directed and co-scripted by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, 2001; The Great Gatsby, 2013), this biopic uses a hybrid approach with dislocated visuals and questionable musical mash-ups. As a director of excesses, Luhrmann’s signature style was expected to bring something new but doesn’t really score here. He rather depicts the musician’s trajectory as a fairground attraction, diminishing any possible greatness and cranking up the gaudy theatrics unnecessarily. In addition to the flamboyance that glazes at the surface, the film suffers from a certain artificiality that removes emotional heft. We sense that something is not right.

The only reason to see it is Tom Hanks. At first you won’t believe your eyes, seeing him buried under prosthetic facial work. His performance is so appropriate, contrasting with that one of Austin Butler, who never convinces as the title character. Assuming the form of an elaborate crowd-pleaser, Elvis is a missed opportunity to depict the iconic singer’s life with sober-mindedness. 

Flux Gourmet (2022)

Direction: Peter Strickland
Country: UK

Whoever is acquainted with the work of British auteur Peter Strickland knows that each new work is a challenging sensory stimulus. Not afraid to take risks, he gained notoriety with the odd Berberian Sound Studio (2012), solidified his cult status with The Duke of Burgundy (2014), and was absolutely fabulous in the way he conceived In Fabric (2018), perhaps my favorite of his delirious digressions. Now, with Flux Gourmet, he offers another psychedelic experience; a dark comedy that, intersecting gastronomic revolution with experimental performance art, takes the form of a sharp-witted satire with diverting characters full of peculiarities and an uncontrollable thirst for control and power.

The plot follows a collective that unleashes extravagant culinary performances - known as sonic catering - during a residency at a prestigious, if obscure, art institution. More disturbing than finger-licking, this transgressive absurdity will frustrate some and enchant others. Structurally interested in Pasolini’s Salo, the director prepares a special meal that is not for everyone’s taste. We can almost feel the fetid odors in the air over the course of nearly two hours. Notwithstanding, if you’re into quirky films whose plots you can’t predict, then go for it with confidence. 

It’s eccentric, noisy, provocative, and punchy in the social commentary; the visual aspect is disciplined; the sound processing is disorienting; and the ensemble cast is simply phenomenal (what an off the wall chemistry between Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie). A bit out there, indubitably, but totally worth a watch if you're into gritty cinema.

True Things (2022)

Direction: Harry Wootliff
Country: UK 

The toxic relationship depicted in True Things might not be a mind-blowing experience since it was seen many times before, but the up-and-coming director Harry Wootliff’s debut feature makes us expect even better things from him in the future. 

The idea of adapting Deborah Kay Davies’ novel came from the Golden Globe-winning actor Ruth Wilson (The Affair TV series, 2014-19; Jane Eyre TV mini series, 2006). Here, she embodies Kate, a lascivious if lonely thirty-something woman living in an existential vacuum. In an instant, a casual sexual episode with a complete stranger (Tom Burke) takes her to a state of ecstasy with the possibility of settling down while being truly loved. In such a way that she may not be able to figure out the obscure intentions of this man and manage to ward off his injurious exploitation. 

This mindfulness of doomed romance and life disorientation is very real, and the two aspects are intelligently combined. The pathos and uncertainty are so strong in Kate’s subjugation that we should definitely see this experience as a possibility to grow. And yet, this rather desperate vision of love leads the protagonist to a dangerous abyss. By judging her previous behavior, it’s inevitable to think about the worst. 

The film’s soundtrack includes “Rid of Me” by PJ Harvey, which plays in a key moment of the narrative, and we cannot deny the deep involvement of the actors in the job, especially Wilson as an erratic soul craving for love and exhausted by anguish and doubt.

Both Sides of the Blade (2022)

Direction: Claire Denis
Country: France

Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche perform together for the first time in Both Sides of the Blade, a heart-in-the-sleeve romantic drama that flutters with the psychological adjustments and frustration of complex adult relationships. They are Jean and Sara, respectively, a couple living happily together for nine years. He, a man of few words with a son from a previous marriage, is an ex-con and former professional rugby player; she is a radio personality full of life and very supportive of him. Their life together takes an unexpected turn, starting to crumble in front of their eyes, when François (Grégoire Colin), Jean’s once best friend and Sara’s ex-lover, returns to town after a long absence, rekindling certain feelings that are impossible to control. 

It’s understandable why the actors were attracted to director Claire Denis’ script, as it gives them opportunities to go deep in emotion. The French director, whose past work includes Beau Travail (1999), 38 Shots of Rum (2008), Let the Sunshine In (2017) and High Life (2018), worked together with the novelist Christine Angot, inflicting gravitas and depth in the adaptation of the latter’s 2018 book Un Tournant de la Vie. Despite the familiarity of the topic, the film doesn’t succumb to any identity crisis. In her sober way, Denis depicts this de-romantization with steady tinges of doubt and pathos and keeps it zipping along to a sad conclusion. 

Painful into-the-lens confessions bolster the tone with a desperate, beseeching stare, while Tindersticks’ wistful song, which gave the film its title, cuts to the heart as soon as the final credits roll. It’s one of those cerebral love triangles that does not resolve in any form.

Watcher (2022)

Direction: Chloe Okuno
Country: USA

Watcher, the debut feature by Chloe Okuno, is an assured step in the psychological horror/thriller genre, and its viewing benefits from a well-plotted build-up, unexpected countermoves, and a decorous climax. 

Maika Monroe stars as Julia, a woman in her thirties who moves from New York to Bucharest with her workaholic husband (Karl Glusman), who accepted a marketing job there. Their new apartment is spacious and cozy, but she starts to feel uncomfortable with and suspicious about a sinister man (Burn Gorman) who keeps watching her at all times from the building across the street. Her fear and uneasiness are discredited by everyone except Irina (Madalina Anea), the sympathetic neighbor next door who works as a stripper. The suspicion quickly leads to paranoia, for which contributes the news of a serial killer slitting women's throats in the neighborhood. 

The screenplay, adapted by Okuno from an original by Zack Ford, holds well together, with Monroe and Gorman uncorking decent performances and shining with unglowing charisma. The latter, in particular, manages to be brilliantly disturbing. 

Mentioning Hitchcockian voyeurism would be too strained and nothing here is going to knock you off your feet, but the film keeps us entertained and pretty much on the edge of our seats until the end. The director, avoiding complicating what is simple, makes it straightforward, with no frivolous scares. In doing so, she achieves more than most modern thrillers. Keep in mind: it’s the atmospherics that command here, treating us with a nifty good time.

Clara Sola (2022)

Direction: Nathalie Alvarez Mesén
Country: Costa Rica

Clara Sola, the first feature film by Swedish-Costa Rican writer-director Nathalie Alvarez Mesén, relies on a solidly crafted story that, combining complex themes such as religion, sexuality, family oppression, and superstition, rewards inquisitiveness.

At the centre of the events is the 40-year-old Clara (played by the professional dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya), a mystic virgin healer from a remote Costa Rican village, who, marked by the behavioral restrictions imposed by her castrating mother (Flor María Chavez), cures other people’s ailments but whose own body cannot be cured. Almost uncared-for, Clara is as devotional when she heals as she is ardent in the physical desire that burns for a late sexual awakening. She is fond of animals and picky about her clothes. She has been living all her life in sexual repression, occasionally kissing a young local boy in secrecy for practice, and recently dreaming with Santiago (Daniel Castañeda Rincón), the new boyfriend of her 15-year-old niece, Maria (Ana Julia Espinoza), whom she starts to imitate. 

Believed to have been touched by a divine grace, she’s forbidden to touch herself. And yet, masturbation is her big weakness, a sin that her mother tries to prevent by rubbing her fingers with fresh chili peppers or burning their tips with a candle. She’s actually infantilized to the point of embarrassment. The director pushes a few right emotional buttons with the help of the lead actor, whose performance gives a way into her character that will compel the viewer. A transition from subjugation into freedom seems urgent, and the process is not devoid of intriguing episodes. 

Shot with a vague poetic sense and employing a sensory staging that draws energy from people and the naturalistic surroundings alike, this film immerses us in an uncanny environment, almost between the real and the surreal. And we can only wish Clara could rebel against matriarchy and bring a ray of hope into her miserable life.

The Black Phone (2022)

Direction: Scott Derrickson
Country: USA 

Drastically uneven, the supernatural horror film The Black Phone is told through the eyes of Finney (Mason Thames), a reserved 13-year-old student bullied both in college and at home. The film, shot with a retro look and featuring Ethan Hawke as a deranged part-time magician and child abductor, is an adaptation of a short story by Stephen King’s son Joe Hill, and made head-poundingly boring by co-writter/director Scott Derrickson (Sinister, 2012; Doctor Strange, 2016). Failing in form and subject, this cinematic effort is perhaps too controlled in the proceedings, carrying poor choices in its attempt to alternate scary, dramatic and funny moments without really excelling in any of them. 

When abducted by The Grabber and locked in a soundproofed basement, Finney not only counts on the revelatory dreams of his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), but also on an old black rotary dial phone that allows him to talk with the previously victimized kids. The film is a tad better in its rabidly hostile final section, but that phone as a medium of communication doesn’t make much sense to me. Moreover, emotions never rang loud and true - the scenes with the siblings’ father (Jeremy Davies) is a persistent problem throughout, while Hawke, in his second collaboration with Derrickson, hides behind a devil mask and won’t be remembered for this role. 

The Black Phone quickly reveals its true face: a clumsy thriller that drags its ambitions far beyond its means, forging ahead with the kind of conviction that will keep horror thriller junkies sitting bolt upright. Are you there? Hello? I’m hanging up now… What a shame!

A Dark, Dark Man (2022)

Direction: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Country: Kazhakstan / France 

Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s A Dark, Dark Man is a well-shot, slow-burning noir cop drama whose crime story - filled with overwhelming schemes and visceral truth about corruption, crime, and incompetence in the police - contrasts with a somewhat airy narration. While the picture doesn't quite maintain a vigorous energy through to the very end, it is still a knotty and quietly terrifying portrait of a lawless place delivered with disarming moments of humor.

The young police detective Bekzat Alibekov (Daniar Alshinov) sorely lacks principles while performing his duties in the desolate rural Karatas village in Kazakhstan. All police officers in this arid small town do. However, he got a reputation for being violent and unscrupulous during the couple years in service. 

He’s in charge of a case in which four orphan boys were found raped and dead. What should be just another quick-resolving case where the police itself tries to incriminate the wrong man - a mentally unstable local called Pukuar (Teoman Khos) - to cover up the big shark behind the crimes, suddenly changes the odds because of Bekzat’s own past as well as the forced presence of a foreign journalist, Ariana Saparova (Dinara Baktybaeva). She puts him under pressure, ready to report any irregularity in his actions. 

Having descended into hell too many times, can someone totally shrouded in darkness for so long allow some light in his life? In the end, Yerzhanov, who co-wrote the script in partnership with Roelof Jan Minneboo (the writer of George Ovashvili’s Corn Island and Khibula in his third collaboration with the director after The Owners and Gentle Indifference of the World), manages to make us feel some sympathy for the devil.

Poser (2022)

Direction: Ori Segev, Noah Dixon
Country: USA

Inspired by their own passion for the underground music scene, first time helmers Ori Segev and Noah Dixon created a powerful indie drama with Poser, whose backdrop was captured in Columbus, Ohio, where they’re based in.

Employing perfectly composed frames and a magnetic cinematography, this lucid, sometimes melancholy portrait of a young woman fascinated by sounds and non-conforming musicians goes much beyond art and pose. The newcomer actor, Sylvie Mix, totally fits in with the atmosphere; she is Lennon Gates, an apparently shy yet ambitious dishwasher and podcaster who develops a dangerous obsession with Bobbi Kitten (herself), the frontwoman of the electro-pop duo Damn The Witch Siren. Lennon secretly aspires to a singer/songwriter career and wants to be accepted by the artists she veneers. But her ambition goes too far in a final push out of her comfort zone. While going to lo-fi sounds, she claims honesty in music, but is she really honest with herself and the others? 

The pleasures of the film partly come from the alternative music, the underground setting, and the way the other side of an apparent gentle human is been gradually unveiled. Good feelings actually flow a little too freely in the first part, but we’re sort of surprised at how things are not what they seem. It’s a complex exploration of identity, and we let ourselves be carried away by the commitment of an ensemble that only needs a little extra soul to make us vibrate completely. Even when the characters get lost in pulsating tunes, the filmmaking always brings them down to earth. 

Poser finds fresh ground to explore, bolstered by its artistic expression with both chilling and heartbreaking cadenzas. The directors spin this provocative low-key story with smart observations on obsession and character, finding the appropriate form while distilling nerve, charm, and some eccentricity in the mix. There’s art within a film that also seeks to be a form of stylish art itself. And it succeeds, categorically.

Karmalink (2022)

Direction: Jake Wachtel
Country: Cambodia / USA

Jake Wachtel’s feature debut, Karmalink, is a smoothly conducted and acceptably performed Cambodian tale  that trades fire for smoke as the story evolves. Still, it's a bold combination of advanced technology, reincarnation, gentrification, and teen treasure-hunt adventure.

Mounted with lightness and grace, the story follows Leng Heng (Leng Heng Prak), a 13-year-old boy who dreams about his past lives. Those vivid dreams always bring to consciousness a missing Buddhist relic that he’s determined to find out. That powerful idea seems bigger than himself, but for that purpose, he joins forces with his best friend, Srey Leak (Srey Leak Chhith), an independent, recently homeless young girl with acute detective instincts. 

Between an embarrassing naivety and beautiful narrative intentions, the film is bold in the concept but a bit timid in the result. It turns out to be visually interesting, honorably fulfilling the specifications of good entertainment, and yet, the dynamics are not without ups and downs. It can still be engaging, especially due to a curious futuristic setting defined by a mix of mundane and unworldly elements. The key here is to keep things moving without letting the complications weigh down the intentional direction of the story. 

Karmalink has other great things besides its title: it’s Cambodia’s first sci-fi film, with an apt direction, and Robert Leitzell's top cinematography guaranteeing a spot-on control of color and light.

Crimes of the Future (2022)

Direction: David Cronenberg
Country: USA

Body-horror specialist David Cronenberg delves into a futuristic gloom-and-doom scenario with a not-always subtle emotional balance in his newest film, Crimes of the Future. Curiously, this new work bears the same title as one of his earliest films (from 1970), which, addressing similar topics such as cosmetics, body distortion and aberrant sex, is not a prequel. 

Reinventing himself, Cronenberg nods to scenes and passages from ExistenZ (1999) and Crash (1996), two cult films of the same kind, while working on an oppressive yet undeniable unique intermixture of pain, eroticism, technology, questionable art, and dark ambience. The film, marred by mutilations, implants and incisions, can be barbarously unpleasant to the eyes and can easily mess with your stomach too. It tells the story of a couple of artist performers - Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) and Caprice (Léa Seydoux) - whose avant-garde shows consist of tattooed organs extracted live to be exhibited to the audience. This happens in a futuristic synthetic world where the absence of pain turns it into a sought after extravagance, and where surgery and self-mutilation are the new sex.

Cronenberg’s known obsessions with the human body and its possible mutations and challenges are well alive but this disturbing meditation on art and evolution fails to be a triumph on all fronts. Not every subtext and nuance has an impact; dismal feelings emerge from the abstract philosophical trait that connects tech and humanity. Moreover, the conceptual violence makes the film swing between fascination and repulsion. And yet, the script reveals some inventiveness. As for the visuals - capturing a blend of gothic and toxic atmospheres - and the foreboding score by regular collaborator Howard Shore, they are a perfect fit.

Benediction (2022)

Direction: Terence Davies
Country: UK 

English poet Siegfried Sassoon was a decorated if subversive Lieutenant during WWI; a fierce anti-war protester who refused to perform any military duty due to the government’s continued support for armed conflict. Acclaimed director Terence Davies (The House of Mirth, 2000; A Quiet Passion, 2016), who has an unerring instinct to compose period/literary dramas, helmed this strangely lyrical biopic of the war poet with a transparent narrative tempered by intermittent recitations of his lugubrious yet touching poetry. 

Siegfried is captured in his artistic circle of friends and lovers with impressive work from Jack Lowden in the main role, well supported by Jeremy Irvine as the cruel and infidel entertainer Ivor Novello, and Calam Lynch as the narcissistic and mordant socialite Stephen Tennant. The volatile, sometimes gossipy, often turbulent love affairs between Siegfried and his lovers are pigmented with jealousy and tense arguments, giving the film the bitter taste of a soap opera. Still, Davies avoids unnecessary melodrama in this sober staging. The inner state of the protagonist, a homosexual in constant battle with his choices and the course of life, is where the movie gains points. 

Bit by bit, the portrait of a complex character full of contradictions and distressed by Catholic guilt takes shape. It’s not a happy story, not even sympathetic, but rather a deeply fascinating one. Embracing the classic style for which he is known, the director demonstrates a masterful command of tone, period framework and visual style. Although a little stifling in its analytical rigor, Benediction conquers us by the way it’s done, but also devastates us through the poignancy of the life depicted.

Dinner in America (2022)

Direction: Adam Rehmeier
Country: USA

The L.A.-based writer-director Adam Rehmeier does a great job in Dinner in America, a riotous farce with provocative dialogues, a dead pan sense of humor, and a fierce instinct to be repulsive. His wry, character-conscious direction is efficient, and his screenplay shows a persistent fondness for odd characters and dysfunctional families. 

The story, set in Michigan, makes the most of an explosive connection between Simon (Kyle Gallner), a broke, scheming, pyromaniacal punk rocker and drug dealer, and Patty (Emily Skeggs), a slow, clumsy and bullied college dropout who is employed at a local pet store. Although they don’t seem to have anything in common with the exception of their musical tastes, a strange love is on their way, which will give a bit more meaning to their lonely existences. 

Rehmeier coaxes silver-bullet performances from the leads (the supporting cast is also impressive) and fires up this caustic punk love story with fun surprises and impish mischievousness. That sheer sense of savage nature we all know is further enlivened by a few hilarious strokes of madness and anarchy. It’s not a big surprise that this anti-hero ride is more attitude than substance, and yet that attitude creates sparks of energy that makes us have a great time.

Punk rebellion reigns here, and you better be prepared for some quite nasty scenes. Definitely not for all audiences but with a guaranteed audience niche for itself.

The King of Laughter (2022)

Direction: Mario Martone
Country: Italy

The Great Beauty’s star, Toni Servillo, took to his role like a duck to water in The King of Laughter, an upbeat biopic-comedy centered on the beloved Neapolitan actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta, whose dedication to theater and illegitimate procreation were remarkably consistent. The film, co-written by Ippolita di Majo and director Mario Martone (Leopardi, 2014; Capri Revolution, 2018), who ensures that all conflicting moments are leavened with a light touch, depicts Scarpetta’s complex family environment as well as his legal dispute with the famous ultra-nationalist poet/playwright Gabriele D’Annunzio, who sued him for writing a parody of his tragedy The Daughter of Iorio. 

Teeming with staging lucidity, a dynamic pace and some intentional excess, this is a tasty portraiture of the theater buff whose clownish acting is taken to a hilarious effect during a memorable court session. His inflamed speech, packing in a lot of insightful remarks about the Italian art and political criticism, is pure laughter. 

Both the lively rhythm and classic filmmaking are adequate, in a campy but effervescent tribute film that makes for a spikily funny watch. This is also an opportunity to watch Servillo chewing up the screen for 133 minutes and making the show outrageously entertaining. You’ll be likely to leave the theater with a smile on your face, bathed in the evocative soundtrack of Neapolitan songs, and the sharp imagery unfalteringly tuned by expert cinematographer Renato Barta, who worked with masters Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, and Jacques Rivette in the past.

Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Direction: Richard Linklater
Country: USA 

This gorgeous rotoscope animated statement about a self-proclaimed fabulist is nothing more than a loosely based representation of director Richard Linklater’s childhood in Houston,Texas, during the summer of 69. The director of Boyhood puts himself in the skin of Stanley (Milo Coy), who dreams about a top secret NASA mission created to get him to the moon faster than the Russians.

This lunar conquest - simultaneously personal and real - is likely to seduce young and old folks alike as it straddles between a dreamlike scripted fiction and a rigorous slice of history. It’s a gentle chronicle of a journey to adulthood underpinned by both an evocative setting and a love of science. As an autobiographical coming-of-age effort, it looks back on the director’s most fantastic fantasies, plunging the audience into a narrative thoughtfulness that is already a staple in Linklater’s works. 

This technically perfect, irresistibly nostalgic, and extremely informative cinematic experience offers us tremendously rich details about a specific time that are to be savored and absorbed without reservation. References to music and cinema, games and pranks, school activities and sports, as well as the family environment are pure enrapturement. 

The picture spreads an infectious good mood with a vast number of aspects I could easily relate to. I miss those times with no cell phones nor the internet undermining a way of living that seemed more candid. Combining a legitimate dramatic structure with enchanting visual results, Apollo 10 1/2 is an immersive fantasy stripped of stiffness, where one finds comfort, loveliness, and sweet moments of grace.