The Innocent (2023)

Direction: Louis Garrel
Country: France

Louis Garrel, the son of esteemed director Philippe Garrel for whom he has acted several times over the years (Regular Lovers, 2005; Jealousy, 2013; Le Grand Chariot, 2023), wrote, directed and starred in The Innocent, his fourth feature and most rewarding film so far. This project took five years to mature and bears a very personal stamp as it was inspired by his mother, the actress Brigitte Sy, who actually married a prisoner in the penitentiary where she was giving theater workshops. Louis was 18 when that occurred.

Here, he impersonates the taciturn Abel, who freaks out when informed about what his mother (Anouk Grinberg) is planning to do. In panic, he starts to investigate all the moves of his suspicious father-in-law (Roschdy Zem) with the help of his best friend, Clemence (Noémie Merlant). 

This romantic comedy drama, brilliantly served with a slice of heist thriller on the side, takes a somewhat familiar concept and applies it to the story of mother and son. The well-crafted plot entertains without upsetting, and the film is carried out with remarkable ease. It's all very charming (thanks to the fantastic ensemble cast and some decent chemistry between them), gloriously dramatic (the scene at the restaurant is memorable) and, at some point, thrilling. Garrel ultimately finds the perfect equilibrium between genres, guaranteeing narrative fluidity at all times.

Narrative cleverness and adroit editing sustain us through a story that, being irremediably elemental, simple and light, succeeds in its efforts as it is also graced with a typically super performance by Merlant and an effective direction by Garrel. Delivering that pure pleasure of cinema we thought already lost, they will put a smile on your face.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Direction: James Cameron
Country: USA

Avatar: the Way of Water, the sequel to Avatar (2009) and the second installment of a series of five, was again co-written and directed by James Cameron (The Terminator, 1984; Titanic, 1997). The events in this episode occur more than a decade after the first story, and tells how Jake Sulli (Sam Worthington) and his united family work collectively to beat an eternal human rival, the recombinant Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). 

The film goes for a broader canvas - with a lot of technology - and adopts a Star Wars side that isn’t always favorable. Even with a strong dramatic center rooted in family, survival and environment, this is a blatant example where the visual spectacle (it can dazzle but also fatigue) swallows up an unexceptional story.

The sequel starts awfully, charged with artificial visuals and heavy content, but gains some tract along the way, becoming slightly more compelling when the action moves to the sea. This particularity offers Cameron a new playground and visual exploration from the point of view of colors, textures and fluidity of the scenes. The beautiful friendship between Jake’s younger son, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and Payakan, an outcast Tulkun, brings the best moments to the screen. All the rest of it is more of the same in a tiresome film that suffers from an extended duration, repetitive messages, and clichéd dialogues.

Cadejo Blanco (2022)

Direction: Justin Lerner
Country: Guatemala / Mexico / other

Cadejo Blanco works more or less in the way it's supposed to, but in its grave meditation on the banality of evil and gang insensitivity, it reflects excessive mechanical behaviors. I felt a bit detached because the narrative was never stimulating.

The story revolves around the disappearance of a teenager who never returned home after a night out in Guatemala City. Sarita (Karen Martínez), the missing girl’s courageous sister, is certain that her disappearance is related to Andrés (Rudy Rodriguez), a gang boy who was dating her. Through him, she manages to infiltrate the gang in the coastal town of Puerto Barrios in order to get some answers. Yet, the acts of violence she’s forced to commit and the oppression she endures will change her life forever. 

Wallowing in the mire of an innocent infiltrated that seeks revenge, the film displays a simple, adequate scenario, but the episodes are not quite believable. Martínez reveals excessive emotional control and a chilly coldness when acting. Although she might not be worthy of our sympathy, it’s not just revenge she’s eager for but also survival that is in question. 

It’s easy to say that writer-director Justin Lerner - this is his third feature, following Girlfriend (2010) and The Automatic Hate (2015) - and the pair of young actors showed dedication to the material, but it’s unfortunate that the tactlessness of most of the scenes hinders the final product.

Lord of the Ants (2022)

Direction: Gianni Amelio
Country: Italy

With Lord of the Ants, Italian director Gianni Amelio is far from his glory days, built on the basis of films such as Lamerica (1994) and Il Ladro di Bambini (1992). His newest effort is a biopic of the Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. He was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of duress against an 18-year-old student who would become the love of his life. 

The cast is not outstanding, apart from Luigi Lo Cascio (he made his debut in 2000 with Tullio Giordana’s One Hundred Steps) who plays the title character with intellectual superiority. The relationships between the characters seem contrived or detached from emotion in a somewhat cold, chewy film that doesn’t get better with time, not even when the camera is turned to a courtroom. 

Amelio simply chronicles the facts and lets naivety take control of things. The dialogue goes from philosophical and poetic to sloppy and banal, while the characters don’t pull enough truth from a story that really happened but surely with a lot more intensity than it’s presented here. Lamentably, Lord of the Ants, even demonstrating solid values at its core, loses its voice to torpidity.

Tori and Lokita (2023)

Direction: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Country: Belgium / France

Picking two non-professional actors who have never acted before to play leading roles in their socially aware new film, the Dardenne brothers continue to provide the same raw feelings and narrative straightforwardness that marked their previous works. Yet, in this ultra-realistic immigrant tragedy set in Belgium they probe a new approach that reveals the darkness and evil behind modern slavery. Whomever this gripping drama is for, it still feels like an observant drama film from the directors who made Rosetta (1999), L’Enfant (2005), Lorna’s Silence (2008) and Two Days One Night (2014).

The inseparable Tori (Pablo Schils) and Lokita (Mbundu Joely) arrived in Sicily from Benim but end up in Belgium, where they are forced into drug crimes and subjected to many forms of exploitation by the heartless owner of a pizzeria (Alban Ukaj) that employs them illegally. Pretending to be siblings, they suffer together with the injustice of the social services and the undeserved punishment inflicted by their exploiters. 

The long singing scenes provided by the protagonists are the weakest moments of the film as they break the chain of events. There’s also unnecessary emotional bait in the redundant final scene. Yet, because the script also manages to pack a punch, I believe you’ll be prepared to forgive it. This is a poignant cry of revolt against the fate of minor migrants in Europe. The young actors project a special authenticity that engages the viewer in an emotionally resonant story of true friendship and hope for a dignified, honest life that ends tragically.

Rimini (2023)

Direction: Ulrich Seidl
Country: Austria 

Co-written, directed and produced by Ulrich Seidl, an inveterate provocateur who captured the attention of the media with his audacious Paradise trilogy, Rimini is a comedy drama about decay in every sense. Although freckled with cheesiness, shenanigans and nostalgia, the film is generally absorbing with its strong performances and intoxicating subversion. Its visuals, thoroughly mesmerizing, depict the life of a washed-up romantic pop artist and occasional gigolo, Richie Bravo, impeccably impersonated by Michael Thomas. Seidl created this role specially for him after seeing him singing Sinatra’s “My Way” during the shooting of Import Export (2007).

The backdrop for the story is the northern Italian title city whose gloomy winter weather makes the story even more punishing. With fatherhood as a key topic, we get a glimpse of Richie’s relationships with his nationalist, dementia-struck father (Hans-Michael Rehberg in his last film role) as well as his daughter, Tessa (Tessa Göttlicher), who, after 18 years, claims what he stole from her and her mother. Yet, his money - most of it coming from sexual services for retired fans - barely covers his alcohol addiction.

This acerbic Dolce Vita is not an easy film to watch, but worth the effort as it is a brutal and insolent viewing experience. Seidl can still hurt with his ferocious filmmaking style. He extracts a mix of caustic humor, corny drama, unseductive raw sex, and a sort of painful numbness from many of the scenes. If this is your cup of tea, take a look at Sparta (2023), the follow-up to Rimini, which focuses on Richie’s brother, Ewald.

The Worst Ones (2023)

Direction: Lise Akoka, Romane Guéret
Country: France

Embracing a docu-fiction style that works for most of its time, The Worst Ones - the first feature from directors Lise Akoka and Romane Guéret - is designed to trigger emotional responses with disarmingly honest portrayals. It’s a sympathetic, interestingly structured mise en abyme carried by young non-professional actors. The film, which took more than three years to come to life, is an extension of their 2016 short film Chasse Royale.

The directors focus is the backstage of a painstaking casting process (they actually assessed hundreds of youngsters’ acting improvisations) and subsequent filming in the underprivileged Picasso neighborhood located in the Northern French city of Boulogne-Sur-Mer. Four teenagers - considered the worst ones by the local people - are chosen by a questionable Belgian film director, Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh). They are Jessy (Loïc Pech), who had problems with the law; Ryan (Timéo Mahaut), who lives with his sister and never cries; the moody Maylis (Mélina Vanderplancke), who is not sure if she wants to participate in the film; and Lily (Mallory Wanecque), who earned a bad reputation at school after losing her little brother to cancer. Despite the interesting characters, I found the director to be the most intriguing of them all. 

The film’s main victories come from its magnificent ability to move the focus from children to children captured in their own environment, and its unwillingness to fall back on convenient labels and the usual soap operatics. Yet, there are a few awkward moments that stem from the fabricated shooting scenes. Wanecque and Mahaut win us with their performances, and the worst become the best as their candor emerges in front of an observant camera that is avid at capturing their reactions, whether spontaneous or imposed.

One Fine Morning (2023)

Direction: Mia Hansen-Løve
Country: France 

In Mia Hansen-Løve’s romantic drama One Fine Morning, Léa Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour, 2013; France, 2021) is Sandra Kienzler, a widowed, avid-for-love interpreter who finds herself at a serious emotional crossroads. She tries to cope with the anguish that stems from her father’s health deterioration and the joyful possibility of a new love. The film pulsates with desperate, even miserable passion as Sandra gets closer to Clément (Melvil Poupaud of Eric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale and Raul Ruiz’s Time Regained), a married old friend and cosmochemist who usually spends months away in Antarctica and the North Pole. They have one children each and their relationship is not without indecision and consecutive ups and downs.

Ingrained with melancholy and shot in 35 mm, the film doesn’t exactly take your breath away, but it’s not afraid to state that life can be often messy and unfulfilling. It’s a simple yet powerfully acted drama that flourishes because of the protagonists’ charisma. These two lonely souls manage to go beyond their existential ennui.

Hansen-Løve, who was partly inspired by her father’s illness and wrote the script when he was still alive, takes a more transparent approach in opposition to the more ambiguous tonalities of her last film, Bergman Island. One Fine Morning has a few floundering moments, especially those when illness is involved. And yet, with sorrowful tears in her eyes, Sandra keeps us connected with her irrepressible hope.

Living (2023)

Direction: Oliver Hermanus
Country: UK

Living is an impeccable period drama handled by South African director Oliver Hermanus who, after the well-accepted Moffie (2019), brings us a re-reading of Akira Kurosawa's 1952 masterpiece Ikiru, which he transposes to the post-war London of the same period. 

In the first minutes, especially if you don’t have a reference of the original film, you might be inclined to think that the protagonist is Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp), a young newcomer who joins his bureaucratic peers at the London County Council for his first day at work. But soon, we realize that the man to follow is his boss, Mr. Rodney Williams (Bill Nighy), a stiff, bored widower who does his job quietly without paying attention to the ones around him. His life suddenly changes  when he is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. From then on, unable to get the attention of his own family, this lifeless man decides to shirk work in order to live what he had never lived before. He confides in two persons: an insomniac bohemian writer (Tom Burke), who takes him partying, and Miss Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a cheery former employee. 

Living is both inspired and inspiring. It’s also risky as it steps on classic territory. Yet, the core of the film is completely soluble in the contemporary with the exception of the piles of paperwork, which no longer apply to our technological era. 

Although this reflection works as a stinging satire of the bureaucratic mind-set of that time, the film’s best quality remains its emotional honesty. With an appropriate mise en scène and  technicolor photography giving it a deliciously old-fashioned charm, Living is a tastefully poignant story of deep human emotion wrapped up in a retro British wall covering. It’s sad, but in its awakening consciousness, it reminds us all that it’s never too late to embrace life.

Are You Lonesome Tonight? (2023)

Direction: Wen Shipei
Country: China 

Are You Lonesome Tonight? is a slow-paced but stylish debut effort from director Wen Shipei, who was partially inspired by his father, a small-time criminal in the 1990s. A mood piece with haunting visuals that stands between the poignant drama and the neo-noir crime thriller.

The story - co-written by Shipei, Wang Yinuo, Zhao Binghao, and Noé Dodson - follows Wang Xueming (Eddie Peng), an air-conditioner technician who accidentally runs over a man on a dark summer night. His first instinct was to flee due to panic but guilt and remorse makes him connect with the victim’s widower, Mrs. Liang (Sylvia Chang). To his surprise, he finds her not sad at all but enjoying the time for herself. 

Sometimes off-beat, this slice of crafty sleuthing shelters more surprises in the form of twists, which can transpire from hazy flashbacks or sharp realities. The immersive first part, even carrying clumsy fighting scenes, was better than the second, which revealed weaknesses. Yet, the film captivates with an appropriate use of light and tone, intermittently recalling the cinema of Wong Kar-wai (dark alleys illuminated by red lights), Edward Yang (Elvis Presley song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is a staple of his A Bright Summer Day) and Tsai Ming Liang (the constant pouring rain and a sense of desolation), but there’s no minimalism in the storytelling.

Nonetheless, at the core, the way both portions of humor and plot spins are infused sets this work apart from those master filmmakers.

The Son (2023)

Direction: Florian Zeller
Country: USA

In his second feature, French director Florian Zeller doesn’t repeat the masterstroke of his debut. If The Father (2020) - starred by Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman - was a powerful drama that left me disarmed with astonishment, then The Son - with Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Zen McGrath in center roles - made me eye-rolling several times. Zeller based himself again on his own stage play, having raised the bar too much to be reached. He failed roundly in this clumsy, gloomy melodrama that ends up irritatingly supplicating and artificially tearful.

The story, set in Manhattan, New York, is devoted to the topic of adolescent depression and the difficulties of parents understanding it. At 17, Nicholas (McGrath) seems to be aimless, no longer being that luminous child who always smiled. He harms himself, living in constant anguish and anger. This started to happen after his successful father, Peter (Jackman), had left home. Unable to communicate his feelings with his mother (Dern), Nicholas asks to live with his father and his new wife, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), with whom he recently had a son. 

The Son sticks to an appalling linearity, poor staging and a heavy-handed sentimentality that provokes more indifference than pity. The film is suffocating, especially when Nicholas is pleading (McGrath’s lines are terrible and we have trouble sympathizing with him), but there’s also this dancing scene at the sound of Tom Jones that feels awkward, and corny flashbacks that help to anesthetize every feeling. Closer to a TV movie with a simplistic shooting structure than of a real drama, The Son is not recommended.

Saint Omer (2023)

Direction: Alice Diop
Country: France 

Inspired by the sinister true story of Fabienne Kakou, a mother with a good education sentenced in France in 2017 for infanticide, Saint Omer infuses motherhood, depression, and maleficent sorcery into a courtroom drama spiced with morbid witticisms. French director Alice Diop signs a complex and demanding first fiction film that doesn’t get too far from the documentary style that became her specialty (We, 2021; La Permanence, 2016). This one belongs to that kind of film where we make questions but are not given many answers.

Rama (Kayije Kagame) is an introspective novelist who gets deeply disturbed while attending the trial of a Senegalese woman, Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda is an astounding revelation), accused of having killed her fifteen-month-old daughter. The case makes her reflect about her childhood and her cold mother, as well as her present pregnancy. 

The subject matter, already powerful by itself, is treated like a mordant Dostoyevskian crime story shrouded in ambiguous motivation. It is intriguing and promising but it may leave a feeling of incompleteness in some viewers. Fixed camera shots induce petrification and turn things even drier and icier while exerting a strange power of fascination. 

Saint Omer is visually strengthened by the sharp compositions of cinematographer Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019; Spencer, 2021). Even not as touching as it could be, this exquisitely acted film provides a guilty pleasure for those who like to dive into skepticism.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2023)

Direction: Laura Poitras
Country: USA

From the awarded documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour, 2014; The Oath, 2010), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed examines the life, career and activism of American photographer Nan Goldin. The artist has spent the last few years chasing the Sackler family, the ones responsible for the opioid crisis that decimated thousands of lives across the world.

Goldin opens up about her difficult childhood, the trauma that came with the suicide of her older sister, her complex relationships, her work, her addictions, and her disapproval of the Sacklers, whom she confronted in court. Her continued activism forced several museums to reject their donations and remove their names from the galleries. 

The most revealing moment is when Goldin states how she officially entered the art world. Her personal work notably focuses on LGBT communities and related topics such as nightlife, Lower East Side parties in the 1980s, and AIDS - a condition that victimized many of her friends. All these are logically linked to her personal life. As the photographer ponders about the difference between telling stories and the real experiences lived, we get to know that she uses photography as as a way to walk through fear.

Poitras orchestrates a well-made, easy to digest documentary that creates a certain contrast by having everything in the right place in opposition to the protagonist’s irreverence. Goldin proves to be a true experimenter and survivor of our world.

La Civil (2023)

Direction: Teodora Mihai
Country: Mexico / Romania / other

Co-written and directed by Romanian director Teodora Mihai (Waiting for August, 2014), La Civil is a solid, relentlessly thrilling drama with an ultra-realistic plot based on a real-world story, strong performances, and a resolute direction. On the one side, this is a chilling observation of violent Mexico and the rough ways of its cartels; on the other, it's a depiction of a mother fighting to find her kidnapped daughter while scraping through the abysses of places whose boundaries have been moved. 

The actress Arcelia Ramírez impersonates this mother, whose fragility veers to fearlessness as she seals an uncommon agreement with a military unit recently transferred to the small town where she lives. We never let go of the heroine she plays and want to applaud her unremitting investigation to know the truth. Yet, the fear is real and the sense of hopelessness is excruciating. The same cannot be said of her passive husband, Gustavo (Álvaro Guerrero), who had left home to live with a much younger woman. 

Mihai grabs hold of her character and the spectators by dragging them into a vertiginous nightmare. Her narrative mechanics never weigh down the power of the story, which works as a social chronicle of a country ravaged by violence and corruption.

Infinity Pool (2023)

Direction: Brandon Cronenberg
Country: USA

Brandon Cronenberg (Possessor, 2020), the son of cult filmmaker David Cronenberg, demonstrates his appetence for horror, sci-fi and unrelieved bedlam in his latest release, Infinity Pool. Alexander Skarsgård (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, 2015) and Mia Goth (Pearl, 2022) star as leads, whereas Cleopatra Coleman and Jalil Lespert join them in supporting roles.

 The film, shot in Croatia and Hungary, follows a writer (Skarsgård) suffering from creative blockage and his wife (Coleman), who travel to the fictional coastal country Li Tolqa to spend some relaxing time in an all-inclusive retreat. Their plans become compromised as, after a car accident, they are pushed into a spiral of alcohol, hallucinogenic drugs, and a mix of horrific and libidinous experiences. 

Sensorially stirring, the film succeeds mostly in the visual department by combining saturated colors, image overlapping and alluring tonalities to depict inexplicable oddities, both physical and mental. We follow every moment thrillingly but the film is a little too gruesome and scabrous to be likable. Infinity Pool is a dark head-spinner, which, as austere as it is incongruous, comes shrouded in pain, mystery and humiliation. Goth steals the show as a hedonistic actress who doesn’t waste time controlling her whims by slowly distilling horror and pleasure. The finale allows us to shiver and giggle at the same time.

Women Talking (2023)

Direction: Sarah Polley
Country: USA 

From the pen of Canadian helmer Sarah Polley (Away From Her, 2006; Stories We Tell, 2012), comes Women Talking, a loquacious, average and unpersuasive religious thriller without the holy water. Centered on a very sensitive subject matter - that of women being subjugated, exploited and sexually attacked within a religious colony without the possibility to complain or defend themselves - the film is undercut by shallow characters and cinematic deficiencies. It’s not uninteresting in the idea itself (inspired by a real case in Bolivia) but rather unstimulating, drama-wise. Polley's script was based on Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name. 

The scenarios are mounted with a monotonous visual palette, the calculated dialogues recycle without ever renewing, and the production is so literal that viewers risk staying hungry for bolder cinema. The ensemble cast plays their parts stiffly, and only Jessie Buckley (I’m Thinking of Ending Things, 2020; Men, 2022) stands out tenuously. Ben Whishaw plays August, a sensitive teacher in love and the only male allowed in the barn meetings of a group of illiterate, mistreated women who, collectively, will reach a final decision: to stay and fight their attackers, or to leave for good. Naturally, this is all weighted up by religious considerations and the fear of missing the Kingdom of Heaven. 

It’s encouraging that these desperate women abused by vicious men had found a way but there’s still something missing in the unfolding of a story in which the dramatics feel plastically inert.

The Whale (2022)

Direction: Darren Aronofsky
Country: USA 

A Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, 2000; Black Swan, 2008) in small form articulates ideas with unimpressive results in his newest film, The Whale, a painful drama based on Samuel D. Hunter’s play of the same name. The script by Hunter himself causes some emotional friction in spots, but this film will only be remembered for the burdensome mobility of its central character. 

The film works as a new springboard for Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, 1999), whose career started to go downhill in 2010, but even his unblemished commitment to the role can't redeem this intimate behind-doors drama from excessive pathos and an inordinately staged posture that makes it less genuine than it was supposed to. 

The story makes us acquainted with Charlie (Fraser), an introverted Idaho-based English teacher suffering from morbid obesity, who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter (Sadie Sink) when he believes he's about to die. He had left home many years before to live with a male student. Refusing to go to the hospital even when dealing with congestive heart failures, Charlie is well taken care of by his best friend Liz (Hong Chau) at home. He also has unexpected visits from his alcoholic ex-wife (Samantha Morton) and an obliging door-to-door missionary (Ty Simpkins) who wants to save his soul.

The problem with The Whale is that the more Aronofsky wants to make cinema, the more it gets histrionic. In its desire to bring out emotions, the film skips over the more complex fallout of personal abandonment, in its physically and psychologically undertows. Corporeal deterioration achieved further notable triumph in The Wrestler (2008), and I suspect that many like me will find The Whale an underwhelming movie-going experience.

The Menu (2022)

Direction: Mark Mylod
Country: USA 

Gastronomy and madness go hand in hand in The Menu, a pungent psychological thriller served with large portions of humor. I found it agreeably witty despite the grimness, with an excellent performance by Ralph Fiennes in the role of reputed if enigmatic chef Julian Slowik, who happens to be a disgruntled sadomasochist storyteller. Mark Mylod, in his first theatrical effort, directs from a script by Will Tracy and Seth Reiss.

The chef’s special dinner is served in his exclusive restaurant located on a remote island. The menu is far from classic and the elitist guest list includes a vain food critic and her editor, a wealthy couple of regular customers, three arrogant business partners, a washed up movie star and his assistant, and the self-centered Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult), an undisturbed food lover. The latter took his new date with him, the confident Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy), without giving previous notice to the restaurant. Chef Slowik is particularly intrigued by her presence. 

Creative and unique in its conception, the film presents a dark side that haunts, scares and lingers. A number of substantive observations about one’s dreams and our society are to be savored, and the relaxed but steady pacing allows the buildup of an emotional crescendo. Giving us penetrating looks, Fiennes completely controls the kitchen, avoiding fussiness and sentimentality, while the the music composed by Colin Stetson - an estimable avant-garde multi-reedist - accompanies sophisticated plates and key moments alike.

By the way, never the thought and vision of a cheeseburger made such an impression on me. And by this time your appetite should be big for both the food and the movie.

Sharper (2023)

Direction: Benjamin Caron
Country: USA

Even boasting a talented cast, Sharper needed sharper angles and less artificial schemes to succeed. The screenplay by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka vomits so many twits that it makes you tired and nauseated. It’s an elliptical story that, extending itself for too long, is not as immersive as one might want it to be. 

The film, with New York as its backdrop, is set in motion with Sandra (Briana Middleton), a timid PhD student who accepts an invitation for dinner from Tom (Justice Smith), an insecure bookstore owner recently rehabilitated from depression. The course of the story then takes us to Max (Sebastian Stan), a pitiless con artist who visits his indulgent mother, Madeline (Julianne Moore). At that specific time, he meets her new boyfriend, Richard (John Lithgow), a public figure and billionaire. Yet, in this game of deceit, nothing is what it seems.

Offering no innovation, director Benjamin Caron has difficulties in finding a tone of his own. The thriller seems complex on the surface but, looking closely, you’ll realize that it doesn’t unfold in an expert way. Its machinations, despite passing a sense of fun, are based on copy-paste rudiments that wear out our patience.

Empire of Light (2022)

Direction: Sam Mendes
Country: UK / USA 

In Sam Mendes’ romantic drama, Empire of Light, we are transported to a coastal English town in the early 1980’s, where an old-fashioned cinema employs two outcasts with complicated pasts: Hilary Small (Olivia Colman), a duty manager struggling with mental illness, and Stephen (Michael Ward), a black young man originally from Trinidad who endures systematic racism. 

This is a well-intentioned, sometimes awkward effort that is hard to emotionally embrace in full. The director of Road to Perdition (2002) and 1917 (2019) handles the story with sobriety and pathos, but almost never manages to touch us. Not being particularly romantic and living from embarrassing situations, the film tells us how love and friendship can become an oasis in a cruel and violent world. 

The film is passable just because of another outstanding performance by Colman (The Favourite, 2018; The Lost Daughter, 2021), who puts up a frank smile and a depressive facial expression with the same disconcerting charm. Looking like a young Sidney Poitier, Ward (Small Axe: Lovers Rock, 2020) is not bad, whereas the incredible Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio, 2012) as a veteran projectionist, and the self-assured Colin Firth (A Single Man, 2009; The King’s Speech, 2010) as the cinema’s general manager, weren’t given enough space to shine. 

There are a few lovely things in this film that make it easier for us to forgive its shortcomings. But so you know, Empire of Light is no magic movie.