Selma (2014)

Directed by: Ava DuVernay
Country: USA

Movie Review: Already exhibiting an enlightened sense of filmmaking in “I Will Follow” and “Middle of Nowhere”, Ava DuVernay, now sees herself taking an outstanding position in the modern cinema with this powerful historical drama about Dr. Martin Luther King’s sacrifices and efforts to achieve civil rights for black people in a hostile atmosphere. The film, solidly written by debutant Paul Webb, has in its base the three Selma-Montgomery marches that took place in 1965 Alabama, chronicling the last three months of the pacific campaign. “Selma” starts with Dr. King (David Oyelowo) receiving the Nobel Peace prize, and approaching the president Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) in order to make something to stop the violent crimes of white men who have the protection of a tendentious judicial system, especially in the South. By making his point of view clear, King’s non-violent movement works according to three principles: negotiate, demonstrate, resist. With this fundamental posture, his political ideas will make the impossible, uniting blacks and whites in a memorable victory towards social and civic equality. Tension is as strong as the emotional impact that comes out from its beautifully shot scenes, pulsing energy even in serene moments. DuVernay was able to surprise me whenever I thought the film would slow down, managing to move into the right direction and never falling in banality. This is a film where we can really sense the courage of actions and the power of words, while getting sad and appalled with the intolerance and abuses of power perpetrated by the state troopers. Thoughtful approach, efficient narrative and a magnificent casting, makes “Selma”, a film not to be missed.

Into the Woods (2014)

Directed by: Rob Marshall
Country: USA

Movie Review: Experienced filmmaker, Rob Marshall, directs this watchable but limited cinematic adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical for Walt Disney Studios. Written for the screen by James Lapine, “Into the Woods” starts with an invigorating energy, expressive tunes, and a confident strength, just to let these attributes fade away as the second act arrives. Marshall’s fantasy musical articulates several fairy tales by the Grimm brothers: “Cinderella”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Rapunzel”, and joins them with the central story of a baker and his wife who were cursed to remain childless by the witch next door, due to a past friction with the baker’s careless father. Certain day, she visits the couple and tells them what really happened, bringing the news that the curse can only be lifted if they get her a white cow, a red cape, a yellow hair and a golden slipper. Creating a Christmas/New Year’s spirit, “Into the Woods” showcases as a creative visual/rhythmical experience that engages at first but loses a considerable amount of intensity, missing a few good chances to become more efficient. The well-cooked story was slightly affected in its last part by the repetitive inflexions and melodies, as well as a certain inability to create different moods for what was happening. It’s almost comparable to a jazz band playing the same chord with no solos. Despite of its merits, it should have had something more to say by showing more cohesion when the Giant appears. Even with ups and downs, the film brings some of the Disney’s old magic, becoming occasionally entertaining, yet never pleasurable.

Big Eyes (2014)

Directed by: Tim Burton
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Big Eyes” marks a changing in Tim Burton’s style and this fact brought some freshness to a career that, despite valuable, was relying in the same plot strategies and visual elements. Dropping the former graphical style, many times supported on the fantasy, darkness and horror of his stories, Burton brings us a biopic about the painter Margaret Keane whose work received great notoriety in the 50’s but was credited to her fraudulent husband, Walter. Played brilliantly by Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams, the couple comes to a legal dispute for the authorship of the painting series that are characterized by the oversized eyes of its subjects, after having put an end to a 10-year marriage in 1965. Until this time, the submissive wife had always backed up her fraudulent husband against her will. Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who already had written “Ed Wood”, the film was presented in colorful images, always with a comedic tone that frequently swallows entirely the dramatic side. Maybe this was the biggest issue of “Big Eyes”, in addition to an overdone court trial that was more silly than funny. Regardless these aspects, I found Burton’s conventional move acceptable, not only because I had the chance to know the real story it tells, but also because he boldly opted to turn a presumable biographical drama into a deliberately feel-good tribute to the real painter who still lives at the age of 87. Waltz gives a damn-good performance, impersonating an expert in the art of cunning, and deceiving for his own merit and glory.

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)

Directed by: Peter Strickland
Country: UK

Movie Review: For me there’s no doubt that “The Duke of Burgundy” is the best film from cult British filmmaker Peter Strickland. If his debut “Katalin Varga” surprised me in a positive way, “Berberian Sound Studio”, presented as an aesthetic exercise on audiovisuals, was a sort of disappointment. His latest work is a peculiar love story between two women, filled with eroticism, humor, and intrinsic tension in every move. Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) are lovers who inhabit a fantastic medieval villa somewhere in Europe. Both nurture a special taste for embellishing their relationship with repetitive rituals of humiliation and pleasure, where the former plays the dominant housemaster and the latter always impersonates a submissive maid. In the course of time, Cynthia starts to show a certain discomfort with her staging character, giving signs that she wants a more conventional and stable relationship. Evelyn, in turn, seems more and more addicted in these little representations, which always end the same way. Besides their private secret life, both are entomology enthusiasts, having very few contacts outdoors. However, in one of those contacts, jealous will put their relationship in jeopardy. Like as in Strickland’s previous films, the style adopted and atmosphere created are of great importance, bringing to my mind Jacques Rivette’s “Celine and Julie Go Boating” for a couple of times. Expressive performances and cinematography, in addition to the amazing score by Cat’s Eyes, are other factors that contributed to turn “The Duke of Burgundy” into a sensual, audacious romantic-drama of elegant articulation.

American Sniper (2014)

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood
Country: USA

Movie Review: “American Sniper” is a biographical war drama that marks the return of prolific director, Clint Eastwood, who just a few months ago had presented the also biographical but disappointing, “Jersey Boys”. In this new film he introduces us the story of US Navy Seal, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), a former cowboy, who was turned into a hero after serve his country in four dangerous tours in Iraq. Highly patriotic, Kyle was responsible for more than 160 confirmed kills, deed that conferred him the title of the most lethal sniper in US history. Seen as a golden trump in the deadly fight against the terrorism, Kyle showed to be a man of integrity in his duty, but at some point he became simultaneously sickly addicted to adrenaline (the shaking “Hurt Locker” immediately bounced into my mind) and affected with the atrocities seen in the Middle East combat. His wife, Taya (Sienna Miller), was the mirror of discontentment each time he was home, since he was quietly absorbed in his thoughts and didn’t show much availability for her and their kids. The powerful war scenes were much appreciated, bestowing the ideal suspense and action. I was stunned by Kyles’s last combat during a sand storm and his risky rescue, but in the opposite way to these, the family drama didn’t have almost any impact, giving the sensation of having been handled with slight superficiality. Not so absorbing or thrilling as “Zero Dark Thirty” and with a lame ending, “American Sniper” still has something (sad) to say, working both as a homage to a great soldier and a warning that war can wreck people’s lives. Great direction Mr. Eastwood!, yet a bit more was expected.

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Directed by: Peter Jackson
Country: USA / New Zealand

Move Review: The third chapter of The Hobbit saga, “The Battle of the Five Armies”, issues a big challenge for the viewer: how to deal with the tiresome inflicted by the previous two chapters? Well, let me tell you that I found this one much more efficient and entertaining than the other two. Here, Bilbo Baggins and his alliance of faithful friends, try to maintain the Lonely Mountain safe from several evil enemies. This time, and unexpectedly, the forces of good will have a hard time dealing with Thorin Oakenshield, chief of the Company of Dwarves, whose blind greediness pushes him to the dark side, strengthening the dark forces formed by Sauron, the army of orcs, and vengeful flying-dragons. Pelted with fierce battles and adorned with the habitual imposing score of Howard Shore, the film delivers exciting moments and manages not to drag itself, since it wasn’t so extended in its duration to exhaust our patience. Of course there were a few moments of exaggeration, particularly in the last period, but I've left the theater satisfied with what I saw, and kind of happy for Peter Jackson had conducted this trilogy to a decent ending. However, I believe no one needs more Tolkien’s adventures for some good years, in spite of the undeniable visual awesomeness of the journeys. It’s a feeling that can almost be taken from this concluding part, where the pain felt for the ones who died contrasts with the joy of the victory. Enthusiasts of the saga are going to vibrate with it and remain faithful, while the ‘tired ones’ should give a final chance to this respectable conclusion.

The Retrieval (2013)

Directed by: Chris Eska
Country: USA

Movie Review: Chris Eska’s third feature, “The Retrieval”, is set in 1864, in the middle of a destructive civil war, that bestows sufficient suspense and emotion to guarantee our attention. Will (Ashton Sanders), is a 13-year-old black kid who, together with his greedy uncle Marcus (Keston John), acts as a snitch for Burrell (Bill Oberst Jr.), a hunter of slaves whose mission is to capture and kill Nate (Tishuan Scott), an emancipated slave. Struggling against his conscience for betraying his own people, the bewildered Will receives training to mislead the chosen prey by convincing him that his brother is dying. Everything goes wrong after the men are caught in a shooting between the Northern and Southern forces. Along the way, throughout beautiful woods and forests, the fatherless boy and his new guardian, create an exceptional bond that impel them to protect each other from the dominant white men. In one occasion, Will repays the favor, saving Nate’s life, and the latter says: ‘you save me back there!’, to which the boy replied ‘I saved myself’. Eska was smart in his approach: not pushing the scenes beyond its limits, using efficient close-ups, and relying in the powerful cinematography from the Japanese Yasu Tanida. With a tighten plot and covering a well-defined historical context, the low-budgeted indie “The Retrieval” is a slow-burning thriller whose simplicity of processes don’t remove the power of the plot. Debutant young actor Ashton Sanders did a great job, as well as the former Oprah Winfrey Scholar, Tishuan Scott.

The Interview (2014)

Directed by: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Country: USA

Movie Review: “The Interview” is another cheap comedy taken from the minds of Seth Rogen (story writer, director, producer and actor), Evan Goldberg (story writer, director and producer) and Dan Sterling (story and screenplay writer, executive producer, and a very small role as Tech Specialist). Besides Rogen, a staple in today’s Hollywood American comedies, the film also stars James Franco, Randall Park, Diana Bang and Lizzy Caplan. Dave Skylark (Franco) is a famous interviewer for a sensationalist TV program called ‘Skylark Tonight’, where celebrities use to make ‘shocking’ revelations about themselves. His pal and show producer, Aaron Rapoport (Rogen), becomes unsatisfied with the course of the show, after finding a former college colleague whose contempt for the type of content presented made him feel bad. Taking advantage of the crisis involving North Korea and the US, Dave and Aaron are incited by CIA’s agent Lacey (Caplan) to kill the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un (Park), after they have been invited to conduct an interview with him. Once in communist land, the two friends will opt for divergent paths: Dave will take the side of the venerated president, while Aaron keeps faithful to the mission but deeply in love with Sook (Bang), a North Korean official. I found Franco’s character extremely annoying, and one more time, Rogen and company make the abhorrent win over cleverness. The type of humor presented in “The Interview” seems created by naughty kids, relying on gags about stinking penis, buttholes and poo. There is some action too, with a tiger attack being the most ridiculous scene. Too much polemic over this release, and the truth is that the world doesn’t gain anything with its idiotic story.

Predestination (2014)

Directed by: The Spierig Brothers
Country: Australia

Movie Review: With a bewildering plot and incisive storytelling, “Predestination” is a quite surprising sci-fi thriller that pelts us with a positive, intriguing ambiance. It’s the third feature film from Spierig brothers who counted with Ethan Hawke in the main role for the second consecutive time, after the not so convoluted “Daybreakers”, released in 2009. Sarah Snook, in a sort of DiCaprio style, also stars as a disgraced unmarried mother whose life was ruined when forced to become a man after being picked by a Government recruitment bureau that traces virgin teen girls with sublime skills in order to accomplish their mysterious missions. Later on, with the help of a Temporal Agent (Hawke) who’s in possess of a time-machine in the form of instrument suitcase, she will have the chance to get back to 1963 and revenge what they done to her. A discreet start misleads us to think that this would be another banal story, but after an entire hour of preparation, a key element in this case, the film shifts into action - risky missions, time travels, procedural routines and vicious cycles that may be baffling but widely satisfying. The film presents all the attributes to please, not particularly the lovers of visual sci-fi (since the special effects weren’t stunning), but the ones who fancy intricate plots set up in labyrinthine forms, in a similar way to “Looper”, “12 Monkeys” or “Inception”. Shot with good taste and vigorous colors, “Predestination” revealed to be creative enough to keep us ‘alive’ till the end, even if some plot elements, after thoroughly analyzed, leave us ruminating about its logic. Right after “Under the Skin”, this is another satisfying sci-fi release for this end of the year.

Pride (2014)

Directed by: Matthew Warchus
Country: UK

Movie Reviews: In his sophomore feature film “Pride”, the British filmmaker and dramatist, Matthew Warchus, gracefully composes a lively picture based on the real events that took place during the UK miner’s strike in 1984, where the small mining village of Onllwyin, in south Wales, decided to open their doors and accept the support of an activist group composed in its majority by lesbian and gays. The movement, entitled LGSM (Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners) will prove their dedication and competence, showing at the same time that they don’t ‘bite’ whoever is straight. United against the government of Margaret Thatcher, both gays and miners will embark in a successful cooperation never seen before, going even further later on, and promoting the ‘Pits and Perverts Benefit Concert’, an initiative that definitely conquered the miners, bringing some more inhabitants to fight for the cause. The characters are stereotyped but sympathetic, and “Pride” works more as a crowd-pleaser than a faithful portrait of the events. However, Warchus was able to create an entertaining, feel-good atmosphere by putting heart and soul in the right place, promoting a salutary coexistence, and trying to sensitize and open the minds utilizing effective humorous strategies. Although not totally surprising, “Pride” is an agreeable hymn to friendship and solidarity, taking well the opportunity to pass on the message that is urgent to abolish hate among people whose differences have to be respected. The fantastic soundtrack from the 80’s was mind blowing, while the cast responded accordingly to the demanding challenges proposed.

Two Days, One Night (2014)

Directed by:

Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Country:

Belgium / others

Movie Review: The talented Dardenne brothers, who had their directorial debut in 1987, never needed complex ideas to make an interesting film. Their career got the deserved attention from both critics and audience in 1996 with The Promise, and other pertinent dramas followed with even wider acclaim such as Rosetta, The Kid With a Bike, and L'enfant. 
The realism of each scene they depict is almost everything they need to engage us in their contemporary stories where a lot of emotional stuff is going on, compelling us to identify ourselves with the misfortunes and joys of the characters. And that's what happens in “Two Days, One Night”, another observant tale set in Liege, Belgium, that has the power to completely stun with its narrative objectivity, emotional weight, and stupendous performances.
After going through a torturous depression, Sandra is apt to return to work. However, she is informed that her future in the solar panel factory where she works, will be decided soon by her 16 co-workers, who will vote to choose between keeping her in the company or receive a deserved annual bonus for their hard work. Sandra has exactly two days and one night to talk personally with her fellow workers to explain how important is to keep that job for her and her family. 
It’s noteworthy how the Dardennes easily manage to play with the viewers’ conscience, putting us in a situation where it would be hard to make a choice, in case we had too. On one hand, I felt sympathy for Sandra, thinking she deserved her place back in the company, while on the other, I understood that for some, a €1000 bonus, which would pay a year of gas and electricity, could be difficult to decline. 
Reactions and motives were distinct, making the unstable Sandra oscillate in her already deplorable state. 
Even playing a cheerless character, Marillon Cotillard was capable of enchanting in her best performance since “La Vie en Rose”.
The brothers’ direction followed their usual techniques, preferring a modest but realistic closer look into the situation, in detriment of visually intense scenarios or beautiful background landscapes. 
Socially pertinent and compellingly dramatized with sadness and triumph, “Two Days, One Night” is a raw and pungent drama to absorb and reflect on.
Besides the nominations for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role by the Academy and Best Film at Cannes, the film was victorious in Sidney, Traverse City, and São Paulo.

Leviathan (2014)

Directed by: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Country: Russia

Movie Review: Russian cult director, Andrei Zvyagintsev, doesn’t stop to astonish me with precise contemporary tales set in his country of origin. “Leviathan”, presents the same quality as his three previous masterpieces - “The Return”, “The Banishment” and “Elena” – this time introducing some mythological tones, inspired on the Book of Job, and moving in the same measured way, to rub hard in our faces the hypocrisy, injustice and corruption of a rusty, yet dangerous Russian system composed by unscrupulous politicians, dishonest cops and selfish representatives of the church. In order to cope with these shameful realities, the common people drown themselves in vodka, whether to forget the miseries of life, or to celebrate a relaxed time together. The script, co-written by Zvyagintsev and his habitual partner, Oleg Negin, is centered in Kolya, an ordinary man who is ordered to leave his house, located in a remote peninsula, since the dishonored mayor has other plans for that piece of land. His last hope is the arrival of Dmitri, an old friend from the times when he served in the army, now turned into a respected lawyer with good connections in Moscow. When the case was evolving favorably, Kolya finds out that his wife, Lylia, is having an affair with Dmitri. He eventually forgives her, to notice afterward that it’s Roma, his depressed son, who seems to require the most urgent attention. Not neglecting some humor, the grim “Leviathan” strikes us with its landscapes, truths and symbolism, leaving us frozen in our chairs but boiling inside with all the cynicism and terrifying procedures of Mr. Putin’s regime and his vassals. Oddly, the film counted with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture but didn’t get a screening permit in the country.

Buzzard (2014)

Directed by: Joel Potrykus
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Buzzard”, is an independent black comedy directed and co-starred by Joel Potrykus, who counted with Joshua Burge in the main role, as it happened previously, in the two first films of his Animal trilogy, the short “Coyote” and the feature “Ape”. Marty (Burge) is a scammer who is highly bored with his daily job. Solitary and moody, he seems a bit happier when listening to punk-metal music with a horrible mask on his face or when working on his modified Nintendo magic glove. Marty’s only acquaintance is the weirdo Derek (Potrykus), a co-worker in the mortgage company, who considers him a dangerous psycho. Irritating, video gamer and solitary as well, Derek, will become closer to Marty after letting him stay for some days in his basement, a.k.a. party zone. The funniest situations of the film are created in this space, where Derek tries to beat his record eating bugle snacks, or when the two friends fight with their special weapons after Marty starts acting bossy. Marty’s depressive state results more energetic than apathetic, however his character becomes more abhorrent than likeable. A long shot of him eating spaghetti with meatballs in a luxurious hotel room in Detroit exemplifies what I’m talking about. The low-budgeted “Buzzard” may lack some polish in several occasions but contains all the ingredients to become a cult film - eventful, depressively funny, totally focused on its anti-hero, and provocatively sad after all. Potrykus shows vision and creativity, while Burge was outstanding as a furious, anti-capitalist misfit who, in the end, runs towards a way out. Or it would be towards the following scam?

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (2014)

Directed by: Ned Benson
Country: USA

Movie Review: Two times Oscar-nominated, Jessica Chastain, phenomenal as usual, and James McAvoy, play a damaged couple in love, but having to endure a separation for undetermined time in order to deal with the worst wound of their lives: the lost of their only son. Eleanor (Chastain) tries to retrieve her balance after a failed suicide attempt, deciding to ‘disappear’ from the life of her friends and especially from Connor (McAvoy), her husband, who doesn’t give up on her while struggles to keep his restaurant. For some time, she consents to live with her parents who show different postures towards her. Her father, Julian (William Hurt), is a respected professor who adopts a talkative and helpful attitude, while her mother, Maria (Isabelle Huppert) is a French musician who seems a bit cold and evinces a sort of indifference regarding her daughter’s emotional state. Returning to college, Eleanor only feels some solace with her father’s colleague, professor Friedman (Viola Davis), and when is in the company of her sister Katie (Jess Weixler). Writer-director Ned Benson creates a mournful family portrait composed by trauma and sadness, where the pace is constant and the narrative often chokes in its characters’ suffering. Benson tries to minimize these moments with a couple of happy scenes from the past of the couple. Even emotionally flawed in its final part and relying on a few aspects that simply didn’t work out for me, “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby” was capable to deliver a strong message: everyone has a different process to heal wounds; a ‘disappearance’ can be of vital importance in cases like this.

Goodbye to Language (2014)

Directed by: Jean-Luc Godard
Country: France / Switzerland

Movie Review: Both experimental and philosophical, “Goodbye to Language” shows a creative Jean-Luc Godard who, at the age of 84, exposes his thoughts freely. Shot in 3D, the film showcases a personal stamp of ideas and metaphors, wrapped with a fictional story about the relationship between a single man and a married woman, who adopt Roxy, a stray dog. The man says the best inventions of the world were the infinity and zero. The woman, far more fatalist, disagrees saying it were sex and death. In an interspersed way, Godard makes considerations about the power of images and lost words, and brings us a bunch of references like Solzhenitsyn, Ellul, Rilke, Rodin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Monet, Riemann, Byron and Shelley, and even the Apaches, just to mention a few, while he tries to convey his own political and social vision of the world. Some notions are quite interesting while others get us completely lost, whether on ‘infinity’ or ‘zero’. In “Goodbye to Language”, Godard opts for a non-linear editing along with a fragmented narrative where the sequence of images, including black-and-white archive and multiple compositions saturated in color, multiply in front of our eyes. It might not be fully articulated, but it doesn’t disappoint either, in the sense that we’re pelted with valid personal thoughts presented with humor and a poignant sarcasm, that have wings to be explored (more than one viewing is required). That’s why Godard will always be remembered as a provocateur and a distinct cineaste. This is a philosophical trip only for those who take pleasure in watching plotless films.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)

Directed by: Olivier Assayas
Country: France / others

Movie Review: “Clouds of Sils Maria”, the compelling new drama from the acclaimed director Olivier Assayas, gathers all the necessary elements to provide a focused, well structured, and mesmerizing session of contemporary cinema. We follow Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche), a celebrated actress who crosses the Alps on a train in the company of her dedicated assistant and friend, Valentine (Kristen Stewart). They’re heading to Zurich where she’s going to homage and receive a prize in the name of Whilem Melchior, the director who launched her career when she was 18. ‘Maloja Snake’ was the name of the play where she represented flawlessly a young girl who seduces and then destroys an older woman. Her plan to visit Wilhem at his place in Sils Maria after the event is thwarted by the news of his death. Soon she forgets about it, since Klaus, a new emerging director, invites her to participate in his version of the same play, but this time in the role of the older woman. Even feeling weird about it, Maria accepts, not without developing a strong curiosity about Jo-Ann Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), the polemic young actress who will be playing her former role. Assayas sets up a world of cynicism, moods, direct confrontations and put up postures, at the same time that insecurities, indecisions, and even superstitions, give shape to Maria’s character, in an absorbing, realistic way. Suddenly, aging became so difficult for Maria whose close relationship with Valentine is visibly affected by the play. “Clouds of Sils Maria” feels spontaneous, entangling us deeply along its perceptive observations.

Winter Sleep (2014)

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey / others

Movie Review: I can state that “Winter Sleep”, the new masterpiece from acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, does the same for modern Turkish cinema, as “A Separation” did for the Iranian one. The film gives us three hours of pure delight cinema, showcasing the life of a cultivated, wealthy man, Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), a former actor who lives in a small isolated Anatolian village, where he also runs a hotel. As he struggles to make his business thrive in harsh winter, he also deals with family problems, since his wife, Nahil (Melisa Sozen), shows no more love for him and tries to recover her confidence again by organizing a fundraising to help schools in need of improvement. She recognizes Aydin as a refined, honest man, but can’t stand him anymore for his vanity, cynical arrogance, and pride. If this wasn’t enough, his idle sister, Necla, criticizes him heavily in his editorial writings for a small local newspaper. At the same time he’s suing two brothers, the tenants of an old house he rents since his father’s time. One of the brothers is a good man, while the other is a depressive ex-con who usually shows an errant behavior. This is a tale about money, morality, love and conscience, words so many times referred during the assertive narrative, which carries so much beauty and pain. Ceylan uses more words in this film, conserving however the penetrating aesthetic style for which we know him, composed by the excellent work of his habitual cinematographer, Gokhan Tiryaki, and occasional moments of contemplation and inner reflection. Palme D’Or at Cannes, “Winter Sleep” hides a ponderous complexity behind its simple images, and so far is my favorite movie of 2014.

Black Coal Thin Ice (2014)

Directed by: Diao Yinan
Country: China

Movie Review: The third feature-film from writer/director Diao Yinan, “Black Coal Thin Ice” mixes drama and mystery, in a neo-noir cop thriller set in Northern China, and occasionally becomes hard to follow. An alcoholic ex-cop and his former partner decide to investigate several connected murders occurred in the region, where parts of the victims’ bodies are dumped in different places via coal stacks shipments. These crimes were similar to other cases occurred five years ago. The clues take, the now private investigator, Zhang (Fan Liao), to Wu Zhizen (Lun Mei Gwei), an elusive laundry clerk woman, widow of one of the victims, who will become the key to the mystery, since every man who got close to her ended up dead. The film title alludes to the distinct atmospheres lived in the suffocating interior of coalmines and the bitter cold of the exterior, where the snow often erases crucial traces. The two main characters also live in different realities, only converging once after investigator and investigated start an unpassioned affair that can put them at risk. Yinan’s filmmaking style brings Tsai Ming Liang to our mind, especially in the nocturnal scenes and strongly accentuated colors, aspect that matched very well the dark tones of the story. “Black Coal Thin Ice” is almost phantasmagoric in its shadows and presences, but in spite of the inspired visuals and framing, there were scenes that I felt a bit out of context, in addition to a finale that was everything but unexpected. The film won the Golden Bear in Berlin, where Fan Liao was also considered best actor.

Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Country: USA

Movie Review: The unimaginative Biblical epic “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is brought by the respected English filmmaker Ridley Scott, and stars Christian Bale in the role of Moses, assigned by God with the mission of freeing 600,000 Hebrew slaves imprisoned in Egypt for 400 years. When this recognized Egyptian leader knows the truth about his origins, coping with the fact that he was born an Israeli slave, he decides to follow his illuminated soul and lead his people to Canaan and to their beloved God. The task won’t be easy since the envious Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), with whom he grew up as a brother, will oppose him with fear of losing the throne, as some prophets once predicted when his father, Seti (John Turturro), was still ruling. The film was entertaining until certain point due to the nature of its story, but not even one or another distortion in the plot, credited to four different writers, could provide us some thrills or surprises. Its execution didn’t convince as well, seeming exclusively made to impress the eyes and standing as an unorthodox exercise on shots from the top where the humans appear like ants crawling on a battlefield. Actually, the scenarios were never natural and the scenes never sufficiently striking in order to move us. Trying to escape to Christmas’s Hobbit-mania, I decided to give a chance to “Exodus: Gods and Kings”, coming to the sad conclusion that Scott blew it, making a super-long film whose episodes ironically felt short. Ridley dedicated the film to his younger brother and fellow director, Tony Scott, who died in 2012.

Inherent Vice (2014)

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Country: USA

Movie Review: Gifted American filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson, picked up Thomas Pynchon’s novel to create his seventh feature, “Inherent Vice”, a psychedelic trip into undercover agents, peculiar LAPD detectives, drugs, hustlers, prostitutes and curious mysteries in the fervent Los Angeles of the ‘70’s. Joaquin Phoenix, in his second consecutive collaboration with the director, gives a magnificent performance as Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, a hippie private investigator who decides to help his former girlfriend, Shasta (Katherine Waterston), finding her missing lover, the real-estate mogul Micky Wolfmann. Coincidently, a man asks for Sportello’s services to find the whereabouts of Wolfsmann’s bodyguard, saying he owes him money. Our cool detective starts his investigation, not without partying whenever he can, but ends up with the awkward LAPD Lieutenant Christian ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) going after him everywhere he goes. Along the eccentric ride, he visits an obscure corporation named Golden Fang where he meets the crazy Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd (Martin Short) and his helpful young patient Japonica Fenway (Sasha Pieterse). The recreation of the era is fantastic and the story provides an eccentric ride, however I expected more from the detective story, without getting disappointed either. Its strong images and libidinous postures are effective, but I didn’t find the humor so remarkable, while the pace, now and then, seems also affected from a good dose of weed. Notwithstanding, it’s well recommended for its inherent, fashionable excitement.