Land and Shade (2015)

Directed by: Cesar Augusto Acevedo
Country: Colombia / other

Coming from Colombia and deserving special attention worldwide, “Land and Shade” was distinguished with 4 prestigious awards at Cannes (Golden Camera, France 4 Visionary Award, SACD Award, Grand Golden Rail) and also conquered other trophies in Mumbai, Thessaloniki, and San Sebastian. I must state that it justified all of them. 

The writer/director, Cesar Augusto Acevedo, did a staggering work and is already marked as the next man to watch out due to this astounding debut feature. 
The incisive drama gradually attains high emotional levels at the same time that catches the viewer with its powerful, well-guided storyline and striking imagery. Joining the celebrated Ciro Guerra, who has been the summit of the Colombian modern cinema with gems such as “The Wind Journeys” and “Embrace of the Serpent”, Mr. Acevedo assures a place in the podium of the country’s cinematic creators, together with William Vega, artisan of another outstanding debut, “La Sirga”.

Don Alfonso (Haimer Leal), an old local farmer, returns to the secluded land he had abandoned many years ago when he was told it would be gradually discontinued of its landscape and factories to be turned into a huge sugar cane plantation. After 17 years, he agreed to go back in order to take care of his dying son, Gerardo (Edison Raigosa), a former sugar cane worker who has trouble breathing due to the continuous inhalation of dust and ashes along the years, consequence of the daily burn of the fields, which is a regular practice of the harvesting. 
Besides his bedridden son, Alfonso meets his sweet 6-year-old grandson, Manuel (Felipe Cárdenas), and his sympathetic daughter-in-law, Esperanza (Marleyda Soto), and re-encounters his embittered ex-wife, Alicia (Hilda Ruiz), who keeps stubbornly refusing to leave the property she was able to save. In a cold way, she gives Alfonso all the instructions about the tasks to perform in her absence. While he’ll stay home cooking, cleaning, washing, and keeping an eye in Gerardo and Manuel, Alicia and Esperanza are going to the fields to work and bring some money home. This is an extremely tiresome and underpaid job, which clearly starts exhausting the women.

Realistic and constructive, “Land and Shade”, is made of dualities and doubts. 
It’s simultaneously sad and vitalizing, portraying the dim indoors as gloomy and suffocating while some outdoor scenes, regardless the real circumstances, often pulse with light, a kite, and chirping birds. The doubts had to do with the choices of each character. Everyone ponders: staying or leaving? That’s the question. 
To balance the agony, sacrifice, and misery of this broken family suddenly united by an imminent death, the film counterpoints with solidarity, humanity, and forgiveness.
This is one of the most intense movies I’ve seen lately, and both director and cast consciously and confidently paddle toward the right direction, escorting the film to a triumphant realm.

King Jack (2015)

Directed by Felix Thompson
Country: USA

“King Jack”, an independent drama written and directed by the debutant Felix Thompson, shows enough good attributes to deserve a look.
The film isn’t flawless, but its characters are well shaped and the story tries to withdraw something positive from a set of negative experiences endured by a fatherless 15-year-old boy.

Jack (Charlie Plummer) is known in his modest little town as ‘Scab’, a nickname earned very early thanks to his big brother, Tom (Christian Madsen), with whom he maintains a distant and often strained relationship.
Jack has been terribly bullied along the years by Shane (Danny Flaherty), an older local who, together with his friends, chases him everywhere and beats him up hard.
Despite trying to avoid Shane, Jack sticks to a rebellious attitude and answers back to the provocations through unimaginable ways. To give you an idea, the film opens with a scene where he writes in big letters the word ‘c**t’ on the home of the bully. 
Apart from this persistent distress, Jack’s time is spent at school, where he fantasizes with the indifferent Robyn, or in the company of Harriet who has a crush on him.

The real adventure starts when his unfamiliar 12-year-old cousin, Ben (Cory Nichols) arrives to stay for the weekend. Jack immediately makes very clear he’s no babysitter, and smoking a cigarette with a stylish superiority, gives Ben all the instructions on how to behave and who not to talk to. Soon, they become buddies but their friendship is put to a test when Ben is made hostage and ‘tortured’ by the ignoble Shane. In the course of this extreme situation, he ultimately resorts to Tom to save his cousin. Anyway, he knows he’ll have to deal with brutal retaliation.

Mr. Thompson’s efforts in drawing something truthful were achieved thanks to a solid camerawork and the young Plummer’s performance. Even if no particularly fresh ways were used to examine the topic, there’s something that deserves to be explored in this coming-of-age film, this year's audience winner at Sundance.

Love and Friendship (2016)

Directed by Whit Stillman
Country: Ireland / other

In “Love & Friendship”, Whit Stillman (“Damsels in Distress”) presents us a witty dramatization of Jane Austen’s epistolary novel ‘Lady Susan’, dated from 1871.
In this period romantic comedy, he pragmatically takes the first minutes to introduce the characters one by one, giving us, at the same time, a well-adjusted orientation in order to proceed with this funny tale.

Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale), a widow of questionable reputation, arrives in Churchill to stay some time with her in-laws while beginning a campaign in order to find a wealthy husband for her daughter, Federica (Morfydd Clark), and for herself.
She feeds the spreading rumors that her personal choice falls on Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), her sister-in-law’s attractive brother, with whom she engages in long conversations and strolls. He ends up deeply infatuated but is promptly rebuked by his father who is concerned about the family reputation and future.

In the meantime, and invoking the fifth commandment: ‘Honour thy father and thy mother’, which she mistakes by the fourth, the charming but scheming Lady Susan literally forces her daughter to accept marrying to the silly, chatty, wealthy, and hilarious Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), who aids his future mother-in-law with money and a new carriage. ‘Nobody knows the embarrassment of a young girl without a fortune’, she says. However, the bashful Federica is anguished with the idea and seeks Reginald to take the weight out of her chest.

The story takes a spin and evolves into unexpected directions, always carrying flattering tones, beneficial seductions, and polite conversations.
Moreover, the amusing “Love & Friendship” is brilliantly acted (Ms. Beckinsale and Mr. Bennett truly excel) and shot, under the attentive direction of Mr. Stillman who knows how to consciously place delicious characters within irresistible frames. The pic is constantly adorned with warm colors and the right props of the period.

Eye in the Sky (2015)

Directed by Gavin Hood
Country: UK

Helen Mirren gives another remarkably centered performance in “Eye in the Sky”, where she plays Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya.

The intelligence has strong reasons to believe that a dangerous woman called Susan Helen Danford, a British citizen now radicalized by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, is hidden with her radical husband in Nairobi where they lead terrorist attacks from a well-identified house.
From the Northwood Headquarters in the UK, Powell supervises the delicate multinational mission, counting on the information provided by the American drone surveillance team that operates from Nevada, and Farah (Barkhad Abdi), a Kenyan undercover agent who is stationed in Nairobi and controls a spy insectothopter (a miniature drone with the form and size of a dragonfly) that is intended to invade the terrorists’ refuge. 
Besides confirming Danford’s identity, the drone also shows that a suicide attack is about to be carried out. This particular circumstance impels Col. Powell to modify the mission’s classification from ‘capture’ to ‘kill’.
 
After a complicated process to get clearance from her superiors, Powell proceeds with the mission, instructing the USAF pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) to advance with his Reaper drone and destroy the target.
However, Watts sees a little girl selling bread right in front of the house and refuses to obey the orders.
Negotiations begin in order to minimize collateral damage, but assuring that the terrorists don't escape. Question: Does the life of an innocent child worth more than the death of these priority targets?

Slightly better than “Good Kill”, Andrew Niccol’s 2014 drone thriller, “Eye in the Sky” is imbued of a tension that is already familiar. 
Director Gavin Hood (“Tsotsi”), working from a screenplay by Guy Hibbert, seemed to have planned everything so that the ending could reach our hearts. Despite this sensation, the film succeeds by presenting two valid sides: one didactic, which shows today’s modern technology and warfare clinical procedures; and another, far more unsettling, that shows little respect for human lives.

The Wailing (2016)

Directed by Na Hong-jin
Country: South Korea

Na Hong-jin, the successful writer/director of the action-packed “The Yellow Sea” and “Chaser”, returns with a supernatural thriller that guarantees creeps and laughs in equal amounts.

Do Won Kwak plays the main character with aplomb. He is Jong-Goo, a small village cop whose qualm about unexplainable occurrences don’t refrain him from investigating a mysterious and quiet Japanese stranger (Jun Kunimura) who everybody says is an evil ghost. After this man’s arrival, a few brutal crimes, associated with a patterned ritual, started to happen, making him the main suspect, although without proof. The villagers also believe he raped a young woman (Chun Woo-hee) who became deeply affected and, since then, keeps wandering throughout the village with no apparent direction.
There’s a laughable foolishness, perhaps even a slight naivety, in Jong-Goo that arises sympathy. As a vulnerable man, he’s often tormented by nightmares and is not afraid to scream whenever startled.

A strange force possesses one villager at a time, making their bodies rot and impelling them to commit harrowing massacres, which frequently aim their own families. It seemed obvious that Jong-Goo and his partner nothing could do about it. However, when his daughter starts to evince abnormal behaviors and becomes violent, he accepts the help of a noisy shaman (Hwang Jung-min), who despite knowledgeable and available is also fallible. 
Meanwhile, he befriends with a young deacon whose curiosity about demons is larger than his faith.

The frequent presence of animals, shadowy figures, heavy rain, and hypnotic rituals are part of the ominous scenario, beautifully captured in Hong Kyung-pyo's cinematography and intensified through a powerful score. Once in a while, we are presented with a stunning landscape to break the tension, or that tension is broken by an unexpected humor, as in the scene that invokes a typical zombie attack.
Never tacky in the execution, “The Wailing” is rousingly entertaining and shall attract the ones who love to be shaken by the power of horror, crime, and action.

The Ones Below (2015)

Directed by David Farr
Country: UK

The effective thriller, “The Ones Below”, deals with two neighbor couples expecting their first child and the terrible happenings that follow the loss of a baby.

The Londoners Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore), after giving it a good thought, are going to have a child and are feeling great about it. When not working, they carefully plan every detail while moving into the upper flat of a townhouse that was divided horizontally into two.
The ones who live below are the English-Finnish Theresa (Laura Birn), and her successful husband, Jon Baker (David Morrissey). They’re living a dream since she's finally pregnant after seven years attempting to conceive.
Kate develops a strange curiosity for Theresa, who seems very sympathetic, carefree, and enjoying a stupendous phase in her marriage and life.

The women eventually become closer, but the first meeting of the couples comes draped in tragedy. Kate invites the Bakers to dinner, but the couple doesn’t seem so happy as before. Theresa shows to be unstable and drinks a few glasses of wine, despite forbidden by Jon, who in turn, adopts a judgmental posture that visibly bothers the hosts. He acts violently after Theresa falls down the steep stairs. This anguishing incident makes Theresa lose the fetus.

From this point on, the couples cut relations and the Bakers depart to Germany. They return a few months later, willing to forget what happened and ready to make amends with their neighbors. Theresa even shows availability to take care of Kate's newborn, Billy. However, abnormal behaviors and frightening occurrences put Kate and Justin alert, as the story grows creepy in its conclusions, embracing an impenetrable darkness.

Even without blowing your mind with his statement, David Farr, who co-wrote the screenplay of “Hanna” five years ago, had a favorable directorial debut. This slow-burning thriller was able to cause a good impression and got my attention from start to finish, also thanks to the consummate performances of the well-selected cast.

Money Monster (2016)

Directed by Jodie Foster
Country: USA

Jodie Foster leans on two of the most revered Hollywood actors, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, to bring her new showy drama, “Money Monster”, to the forefront.
Despite the stars and the pertinent topic, which targets Wall Street and its financial uncleanness, Ms. Foster stubbornly opted for a standardized approach that frustrates both our expectations and the film’s ability to find a proper voice of its own.

We don’t have to wait too long for the action to begin, but that same action doesn’t take us beyond an insubstantial soap opera. 
Lee Gates (Clooney), the loquacious host of a popular TV-show entitled “Money Monster”, is made hostage during his live show. The responsible is Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell), a humble laborer disguised of a deliveryman who invested all his money in the IBIS Clear Capital's stock, just as Lee had advised in the previous edition. Considered a safe investment at the time, IBIS suddenly crashed, apparently due to a computer glitch, which led Kyle to the ruin. 
The infuriated man, feeling he was set up and wielding a gun, demands honest answers and forces Lee to put on a vest laden with explosives.
With nerves of steel, Patty Fenn (Roberts), Lee’s longtime director, is the one who maintains the men calm by getting some valuable answers.
Diane Lester (Caitriona Balfe), IBIS chief communications officer, becomes a key identity, disclosing some sensitive information that will take them to the root of the problem: her boss, Walt Camby (Dominic West).

Already pelted with extremely fabricated circumstantial details – a security guard who wasn’t doing his job, a producer who was having sex with a co-worker during the show, the ineptness of the cops – the film went completely astray in its last part, where everything seemed unnatural and tendentiously sentimental. 
Moreover, whenever Dominic Lewis’ musical score attempts to infuse some more emotion to the story, it ends up doing the opposite, increasing the commercial tones of the film and creating a thick barrier between the characters and me.

Honeyglue (2015)

Directed by James Bird
Country: USA

“Honeyglue”, a lugubrious romance written and directed by James Bird, got trapped in its own melodramatic tones and couldn’t free itself from that sticky viscosity. 
Fastidiously overstaged, the film never manages to convince and takes a steep decline after just a few minutes.

Morgan (Adriana Mather) and Jordan (Zach Villa) introduce themselves through video footage, adding that what we’re seeing is a digital love letter to each other and a farewell statement. Both have their heads shaved and they convey both assurance and a weird sense of fate.

The narrative immediately winds back to tell their peculiar love story. 
The couple met at a nightclub where Morgan, who was only given three months to live due to a galloping brain tumor, gets super curious about Jordan, a boy dressed as a girl. It was her birthday, and he seemed as much attracted to her as she was to him. Despite the instant chemistry between them, she gave him the wrong phone number while he stole her wallet. The next day, Jordan regrets the bad deed and pays her a visit to return her belongings. However, her parents get shocked with the way he dresses and talks.
Despite this prejudice, the couple falls in love and decides not only to get married, but also live the three months left doing everything that might come to their minds. The enthusiasm leads them to rob a little store, to pay a visit to Jordan’s estranged mother, and to become the center of the attention in a bar – the most contrived scene of the film.

I can’t find a good reason to recommend “Honeyglue”. 
If a story of this nature doesn’t touch you in the heart is because something is wrong with it. The ideas of tolerance, acceptance, and love are conveyed with a deplorable lack of freshness, likely because Mr. Bird has never found the adequate bright tones to do better than overload us with predictability and tedium. Actually, here, the word bright can only be associated to the tonality of its cinematography.

Couple in a Hole (2015)

Directed by Tom Geens
Country: Belgium / France / UK

“Couple in a Hole”, Tom Geens’ directorial sophomore feature, is a haunting experience somewhere between the mystery and the psychological drama, whose tones are absorbed with a certain apprehension.

Doing much with little, the Belgian writer/helmer invites us to peek at a Scottish couple, John (Paul Higgins) and Kara (Kate Dickie), who live like two cavemen, secluded in a French mountain, after they had lost their son in a tragic accident.
Apart from the civilization, which is not so far from the hole they inhabit, the couple barely eats to survive and is considered in danger with the approximation of the winter, which always brings an agonizing cold and devastating hunger.
John pursues rabbits and picks herbs, mushrooms, and occasionally worms that his wife gobbles up with pleasure. Kara does the opposite. She rarely leaves the hole because of anxiety and panic. However, she’s making an effort to get out more with the help of her forbearing husband whose true will is to get back home, abandoning that place forever. Lucid of their situation, John is visibly tired of that life, but the highly traumatized Kara, who refuses any help from strangers and often suffers from hallucinations, stops his intentions. She says she feels the presence of her son and can’t leave. The anguish took her mind.

When happily celebrating a rainy day outside, Kara is bitten by a poisonous spider, a situation that requires an urgent application of medicine. This setback forces John to look for an antidote in the village, getting the desired help from Andre (Jérôme Kircher), a stubborn but generous local farmer who had tried to establish contact with him before. After that, Andre keeps coming to the mountain in order to offer them food. Famished, John tries to cast him away, but ultimately cannot resist the homemade delicacies. The two men become friends but their wives, for different reasons, oppose vehemently to this connection.

The film pulsates with uncanny vibes, thanks to the stimulating performances and the ominous woods that overload even more the shadowy story.
The revelations and disclosures are a bit too predictable for us to elevate this indie thriller to a superior category. Nevertheless, mysterious energies are successful emanated from the scenes and a fair watch is made certain. 
Mr. Geen is a director to keep an eye on.

Chevalier (2015)

Directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari
Country: Greece

Male competition is trenchantly satirized in the slow-burning “Chevalier”, a deadpan Greek comedy directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari. She got the precious help of the inventive screenwriter Efthymis Filippou, the one responsible for the eccentricity of the stories behind Giorgos Lanthimos’ films – “Dogtooth”, “Alps”, and the recent “The Lobster”.
Therefore, if you’ve seen the cited films, you know what kind of mood to expect from “Chevalier” whose zaniness and strangeness are not so appealing as the wittiness of “Attenberg”, the director’s previous.

Our eyes are turned to six buddies who embark on a peculiar fishing trip on a luxurious yacht, not to relax or spend some time together but rather to compete with each other, playing silly games that will determine who’s next to wear the prestigious Chevalier ring.
As the minutes pass, we are presented with multiple frictions among the men. 
They make the odds about who’s going to win, and each one of them, with no exception, will boast the victories or cry the failures. As humans, they try to conceal their most inner fears by embracing pride, cynicism, and an obstinate competitiveness. 

Succeeding in the goal of establishing the film as a provocative statement of masculinity, Ms. Tsangari did a competent job, commanding the male pawns with control and insight. However, her tones are invariable, since both the pace and the ridiculous posture were maintained without attaining a particular peak. 
Most of the viewers will have to find some patience if they want to keep focused on this men’s war. 
I dare to say that the idea was much bigger than the final product.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Directed by Shane Black
Country: USA

The name Shane Black may not ring a bell for the common mortals, but he is the writer of the four installments of “Lethal Weapon” and the director of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “Iron Man 3”.
With this said, it’s quite clear that Mr. Black has a propensity for mixing action, crime, and comedy, and “The Nice Guys”, with whom he co-wrote with Anthony Bagarozzi, confirms exactly that.

The film, set in a fervent L.A. in 1977, puts side-by-side Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, respectively playing Jackson Healy, a violent, solitary ‘fixer’, and Holland March, a private-eye with an uncontrollable appetence for booze. After an initial commotion between the two, they team up to find Amelia (Margaret Qualley), an activist, emerging porn artist, and fugitive, whose mother, Judith (Kim Basinger), a high-ranked executive in the US Department of Justice, tries desperately to locate her. It happens that Amelia disclosed important information about the pollution infractions committed by the Big Three Detroit automakers. All the revelations were recorded in an experimental porn film, which was apparently destroyed by a fire. However, another copy of the film is being hidden, and as a consequence, Amelia is being fiercely hunted.

The incendiary duo, alluding to Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, get an unlooked-for but valuable help from a 13-year-old girl to accomplish their tough task. The girl, Holly (Angourie Rice), happens to be Marsh’s clever daughter who, like her father, has an eye for detail and a special ability to clear up undesirable situations with casualness.

“The Nice Guys” evolves at a brisk pace, showcasing a few hilarious scenes and achieving an efficient balance between the rousing violence and the farcical gags.
Both the central characters, plus the kid, are funny in their own way, but Gosling is particularly amusing while fueled (or slumbered) by neat scotches.
Moreover, and regardless an adversity here and there, the film also succeeds by throwing in some surprises and for adopting an unembarrassing, easygoing posture.
Just let yourself go with the flow!

The Bride (2015)

Directed by Paula Ortiz
Country: Spain / Germany

Paula Ortiz’ sophomore feature, “The Bride”, is a good enough dramatization of Federico Garcia Lorca’s 1933 Spanish tragedy “Blood Wedding”.

The screenplay, written by Ms. Ortiz and Javier García, is packed with emotional charge and suffocating atmospheres in a film that exhibits arid landscapes, eroded houses, and a love triangle that ends up in a terrible adversity. 
Despite the mediocre musical score, the final product can be pronounced as artistic due to the beautiful cinematography, efficient camera work, and a well-streamlined editing. However, Ms. Ortiz could have dropped the intense theatrical approach in favor of something a bit more cinematic and even contemporary. Moreover, the two male protagonists, Álex García and Asier Etxeandia, couldn’t match the performances of Inma Cuesta and Luisa Gavasa.

Three childhood friends, a woman and two men, see their lives dangerously standing at the edge of an abyss when two of them decide to marry each other. The bride (Cuesta) and groom (Etxeandia), whose names are never revealed, are apparently happy and exchange promises of eternal love. Yet, the reality is quite more complicated than that, since their friend, Leonardo (García), who’s already married to the bride’s cousin (Leticia Dolera), can’t hide his true love. The bride is also divided and can’t refrain the uncontrollable attraction that is triggered whenever Leonardo is around. 
So, it's no surprise to anybody that the wedding is a big mistake and is condemned to fail.
On her wedding night, Leonardo takes her on horseback to the woods in order to commit the sin that will ruin their lives forever.
The supernatural component is successfully added with the presence of the spirit of an old hag who distributes glass knives so that justice can be done.
With reference to the performances, the groom’s bitter mother (Gavasa) was the one who impressed me most.

Appealing to the senses, “The Bride” conveys fate, guilt, and anguish with relentless fixations but fails to build an impactful crescendo. Curiously, the beginning of the film is much more capable than the ending because something is lost in the middle. Still, this was decent enough to deserve a peek.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Country: USA

Would you like to see some your favorite superheroes fighting one another? For example, Iron Man against Captain America? If yes, this is the film for you.

The team responsible for the previous installment rejoined forces to maintain that successful spirit alive, but “Captain America: Civil War” falls short when compared to “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. 
The Russo Brothers, directing from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, did their part with enough spectacular action scenes, including well-choreographed body fights, impossible chases, and the use of a large number of superheroes and superpowers. Still, the film stands on the threshold of satisfaction.

The Avengers can’t be blamed for doing their job, which consists of keeping the citizens safe from danger. However, sometimes they cannot control their actions to the point of avoiding some destruction. Here and there, it happens that innocent people die when in the wrong place at the wrong time.
These ‘mistakes’ arise guilt in some of our heroes, especially Stark, who feels responsible for the death of a young kid named Charles Spencer. 
When the secretary of state announces that the UN is going to establish a panel to oversee and control the Avengers, voiding the initial Sovokia accords that gave total power to the vigilantes, the team is divided. Stark, moved by remorse, decides to join the governmental regulation while Steve Rogers, in turn, is aware that nothing can be done to avoid these accidents when they attempt to capture the enemies. 
Both men will lead their superhero teams, which unexpectedly include names such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Ant-Man.
Meanwhile, the UN building in Vienna, where the accords would be ratified, is bombed and the main suspect is the super-soldier, James "Bucky" Barnes.

The film entertains on a small scale as it displays its numerous heroes and the great cast.
What the Russo Brothers don’t know is that the more superheroes they add, the more muddled the movie becomes. 
The other issues with this action-packed adventure are the following: the formula is becoming exhausted, the duration should be shortened by at least 30 minutes, and Tony Stark is losing his humor such serious is the situation he faces here.
And yes, I’m disappointed!

Chronic (2015)

Directed by Michel Franco
Country: Mexico / France

I can understand why the ‘best screenplay’ was given to “Chronic” at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, since this English-language drama, directed by the Mexican Michel Franco (“After Lucia”), is an intriguing character study. 
However, that same screenplay that gradually immerses us into the story, sharping our curiosity for such an unreadable character, loses its composure with a finale that deserved a better way out. 

“Chronic” also works as a showcase for Tim Roth’s acting skills. He plays the film’s central character, David Wilson (Roth), a home caring nurse who meticulously and passionately dedicates himself to terminally ill patients. The same proficiency that we already had the opportunity to observe in “Pulp Fiction”, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Four Rooms”, all by Tarantino, and Tornatore’s “The Legend of 1900”, was used.

David is extremely persevering and zealous in his work, but sometimes undisciplined in the eyes of the patients’ relatives. He takes care of them with such a resolute dedication that not everybody is able to understand. In spite of creating strong bonds with them - a sort of dependence, he never asks anything in return. It’s right to say that David needs his patients as much as they need him.
In a very particular case, he allows John (Michael Cristofer), an architect who had a severe stroke, to watch pornography on the computer in order to stimulate the senses and the body. This questionable behavior, when discovered by John’s children, cost him his job at the nursing agency and brings him a lawsuit founded on sexual harassment. 
Despite this maniacal devotion to work, David, who gets visibly bored at home, has serious problems in his private life, starting with his estranged daughter, Nadia (Sarah Sutherland), with whom he lost contact a long time ago and now tries to reconnect with.

Even carrying a touching humane side, the film is set in cheerless tones and becomes hard to watch due to its languid pace and raw approach. 
There’s a certain ambiguity, almost like a secret that we expect to be revealed, that keep us wanting to know more about David.
The ending, abrupt and unsatisfying, prevents “Chronic” from being a stronger achievement.

Land of Mine (2015)

Directed by Pieter Zandvliet
Country: Denmark / Germany

Martin Pieter Zandvliet’s “Land of Mine”, a fictional drama centered on the landmine clearance of the Danish West coast in the aftermath of the WWII, is simultaneously cruel and humane.

To accomplish this hazardous mission, a high-ranked official, Sgt. Carl Rasmussen (Roland Møller), is assign to command a group of young German soldiers, turned prisoners of war, who before being sent to the desolated beaches along the coast, receive their first training sessions on how to disarm landmines, explosive devices that most of them have never seen before. The insensible Lt. Ebbe Jensen (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), who really doesn’t care if the soldiers die or live, gives the first instructions.
After being minimally trained, they join the implacable Sgt. Rasmussen, who despite the violent first scenes, in which he humiliates a German soldier, shows not to be so heartless as he seemed. 
He gets surprised when he realizes that the platoon under his orders is just made of a few homesick, hungry boys who still call for their mom when something goes wrong. They’re really young and innocuous.

After a flash adaptation to the job and a few lamentable incidents, the boys, acting fast and accurate, gain the desired experience and also the fondness of their leader, who starts to treat them in a more humane way, even protecting them from external abusers.
Expecting to go home after the job done, as they were promised, the team removes 1200 landmines but the reality that awaits them is very different.

The film follows similar lines as Paul Katis’ “Kajaki” without reaching its highly absorbing levels.
Mr. Zandvliet often struggles to give the film an original perspective, in the same manner that he struggles to build his characters with a fully shaped dimension. One issue resides in the constant radical changes in posture observed on Sgt. Rasmussen, which feels contrived. 
Using a moderated pace to get his ideas flowing, Mr. Zandvliet, who also wrote the screenplay, recurrently pushes this dramatic game of nerves to the limit.

Sweet Bean (2015)

Directed by Naomi Kawase
Country: Japan / other

“Sweet Bean”, a thoroughly acted Japanese melodrama directed by Naomi Kawase (“Still the Water”), concentrates on three lonely persons who suddenly see some light in their lives when in the company of one another. 

Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase), a quiet man with a troubled past, sweats every day by working in a small dorayaki (Japanese red bean pancake) shop in order to pay his debt to the owner who once helped him getting out of a difficult situation. Despite not having a 'sweet tooth', Sentaro still puts all his effort to make the shop thriving, which is not so easy. The customers are no more than a few young students who go there and annoy him with their conversation. Still, he’s fond of a solitary girl, Wakana (Kyara Uchida), who always arrives after her fellow students to eat and collect the rejects.

One day, a fragile elderly woman comes in, motivated by a sign on the window saying they were looking for someone to work on a part-time basis. She introduces herself as Tokue Yoshii (Kirin Kiki) of 76 years old. Despite her crooked hands due to a horrible past of leprosy, she believes she could be a good fit since the bean paste has been her specialty for 50 years and Sentaro is using a tasteless industrial paste to make his recipes.
After tasting her paste, Sentaro gives her a shot and Tokue not only doesn’t disappoint him as she turns the tiny store into a huge success in town.
Things were running smoothly and Sentaro even takes a deserved day off, but the shop owner’s conniving wife (Miyoko Asada) has totally different plans for the business.

Ms. Kawase’s screenplay, based on Durian Sukegawa’s novel of the same name, uses complacent tones to invite us to reflection. However, what started interesting and strong, ends up mellow and weak. 
One can’t reproach the beautiful humanity presented in the story – new opportunities bring hope, hope brings life and success, which in turn bring confidence and clarity of thought. 
Yet, the modest, melancholic, and circumspect “Sweet Bean”, whose temperate matte cinematography by Shigeki Akiyama is seductive to the eyes, didn’t know how to balance the sugar levels. The result is way too saccharine for my personal palate.

Sunset Song (2015)

Directed by Terence Davies
Country: UK / Luxembourg

The name of the English filmmaker, Terence Davies, is associated with rigor and formalism, which are well patent in the strong period dramas “The House of Mirth” and “Deep Blue Sea” from 2000 and 2011, respectively. In between them, in 2008, he set out the meditative documentary “Of Time and the City”, a poetic homage to his birthplace (Liverpool), which received general critical acclaim.
With the rustic drama, “Sunset Song”, an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932 novel of the same name, Mr. Davies’ methods don’t change and the same directorial sharpness is applied, enhanced by the outstanding production values.

The story takes place at the start of the 20th Century in North East Scotland, where the handsome and bright Chris (Agyness Deyn) calmly narrates her own story. 
Willing to become a teacher, Chris tries to study whenever she has a chance, a task that isn’t so easy due to the hard work on the farm and the unpleasant atmosphere lived at home.
Her stern father, John Guthrie (Peter Mullan), is often violent and abusive, spreading fear and anguish in the family. Usually, his main target is his older son, Will (Jack Greenlees), who can only find solace in the arms of Chris whenever he’s violently thrashed. 
Unfortunately, the siblings can’t count on their depressive mother, Jean (Daniela Nardini), who just gave birth to twins and, not long afterward, finds she’s pregnant again. Hopeless and disoriented, Jean couldn’t cope with the idea of having another child and poisons herself to death.
The vexed Will decides to abandon the house, lacking any motivation to help his father while the twins go to live with an aunt. This leaves the gracious Chris, a blossoming flower facing the disquietude of the coming-of-age, living alone with her ghastly father.

John has a stroke and ends up bedridden. Yet, he still shows his despicable character in an appalling scene just before dying. 
Is the gracious Chris finally free from hardship? The answer is yes and no.
She gets married with a hard-working young lad, Ewan Taverdale (Kevin Guthrie), and the couple lives harmoniously for a few years. However, their love faces a deep abyss when the World War I breaks out. 

Not always expeditious in terms of narrative, “Sunset Song” would have benefited if shortened, especially in those moments when a dragging melancholy takes over the story – perhaps not the perfect time to slideshow multiple picturesque Scottish landscapes. 
Mr. Davies, a lyrical observer who wasn’t totally faithful to the novel, lost impact when setting up two or three staged scenes, which maybe were the causes why I couldn’t take this story so seriously.
Michael McDonough’s splendorous cinematography and Agyness Deyn’s delightful performance are the wild cards that prevent this drama from becoming narrower.

Louder Than Bombs (2015)

Directed by Joachim Trier
Country: USA / Norway / other

Suffused with dramatic nerve but slightly off-tone, “Louder Than Bombs” is the latest drama from the Norwegian director Joachim Trier, who also co-wrote with his habitual accomplice, Eskil Vogt.
The successful collaboration between the two men spawned two great Norwegian dramas in the past, cases of “Reprise” in 2006 and “Oslo, August 31st” in 2011.
Now they felt like moving settings from Oslo to New York and the language changes from Norwegian to English, but despite the marvelous international cast and the well-established place and time, the film isn’t such a loud ‘bomb’ as suggested.

The family drama is depicted with a certain mystery, which never really bites hard, and revolves around the death of the acclaimed war photographer, Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), who after a fatal car crash leaves Gene (Gabriel Byrne), her benevolent husband, and their problematic younger son, Conrad (Devin Druid), living together. The communication between them can be compared to a cell phone trying to operate without a network, which is the same to say: useless. Gene tries to get closer to the weird Conrad, visibly in an emotional turmoil, in order to understand his needs and behaviors, but the teenager is angered with life, immersing himself in video games and wandering alone after school.

Soon, Gene’s older son, Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg), a college professor whose wife just gave birth, arrives solo at the house to help his father going into the stuff of the melancholic Isabelle and put it in order. Jonah also has his own problems to solve since he’s unhappy with his relationship and is still deeply attracted to a former girlfriend with whom he unexpectedly reconnects. However, he’ll be of extreme importance for the equilibrium of the family, and the one with whom his brother feels comfortable to open up with.

At the same time and to complicate the situation, an article about Isabelle is being prepared to come out in the NY Times. The author is Richard Weissman (David Strathairn), a journalist who was completely aware of her depressive state and knew her too well to make the family comfortable.

The structure set by Mr. Trier, often resorting to flashbacks, awaken my curiosity for the story, but some of the film’s sections deliberately disguise those familiar routines, typical of the genre in question, which revealed to be sparse in terms of inspiration. Here, the characters’ feelings are more explicit rather than implicit, contrasting with the secrets of Isabelle and the doubts related to her death.
“Louder than Bombs” is a minor film when compared with the filmmaker’s earliest works. Even labeling it as watchable, I believe it doesn’t bring any special rewards to the viewer.

Dheepan (2015)

Directed by Jacques Audiard
Country: France

Renowned French filmmaker, Jacques Audiard, author of “The Beat That My Heart Skipped”, “A Prophet” and “Rust and Bone”, does another remarkable job in “Dheepan”, a taut drama that addresses immigration with an acute vision and extreme fondness for its compelling characters. 

Mr. Audiard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Thomas Bidegain and Noé Debré, sets a vibrant story about three Sri Lankans who, after losing their families in the brutal civil war, flee from the refugee camp where they were sent in order to find a better life in France. 
Antonythasan Jesuthasan, a former Tamil Tiger soldier in real life, naturally seemed very comfortable when putting himself in the skin of the main character, Sivadhasan, since he’s also a Tamil Tiger soldier who, tired and psychologically damaged by consecutive years of war atrocities, decides to search for peace in a riskless place. 
To facilitate his entry in France, he assumes the identity of Dheepan, a man who was killed together with his wife and their nine-year-old daughter a couple months before. This suits him perfectly since he takes a complete stranger, the beautiful and bashful Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) as his wife, and Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby), a nine-year-old orphan who joins them as their daughter.  

Instead of lingering in trivial details about the trip, as it’s usually the case in this type of movies, Mr. Audiard, categorically leaves all the tensions to the treacherous housing complex located in Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris where the ‘family’ is going to live. Dheepan is more than happy to get a job as the caretaker there, but the lawless zone reveals to be equally unsafe due to concentrated gang activity.
Yalini, whose idea is to go to London where her cousin resides, also finds work in the house of a gang’s leader, Brahim (Vincent Rottiers), taking care of his disabled uncle while the smart Illayaal, even in need of attention and love, is making progress at school.
Soon, the initial detachment that enveloped these three persons evolves to something bigger, to a tenderness and unity that grow as life runs smoothly and they gradually adapt to their new reality. 
However, the dangers and violence that undermine the area thwart their plans, and the film passes the threshold of tranquility by pushing us into a freaking bloodshed.

The perseverance of the characters suddenly leads to dilemmas and consternation, situations that are intensified by the flawless performances, which decidedly exceeded the expectations.
Mr. Audiard reinforces his knack for strong, realistic dramas and this one, in particular, feels very contemporary and bursting. 
“Dheepan”, Cannes’ Palme d’Or 2015, isn’t devoid of imperfections but has the ability to change moods skillfully according to the circumstances. Whether in its hopeful, brutal, or compassionate forms, the film never loses its grip.

High-Rise (2015)

Directed by Ben Wheatley
Country: UK / other

As an unconditional admirer of Ben Wheatley’s work, I must admit I was expecting slightly more from “High-Rise”, an impractical adaptation of J.G Ballard’s 1975 novel of the same name. However, I'm not disappointed either because I enjoyed the bizarre, lustful, surreal, and psychedelic tones that the film has to offer, in addition to a mordant humor, which is already a staple in Mr. Wheatley’s projects (“Sightseers”, “A Field in England”).

Set in a dystopian near future that is evocative of the 70’s, the film stars Tom Hiddleston in the mesmerizing role of Dr. Robert Laing, an unceremonious physiologist who is more than happy to move into a monumental apartment building where the social class of a person determines in which floor they live. There, he meets a bunch of curious characters, starting with the voluptuous Charlotte (Sienna Miller) who lives right above him and was telling Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), a failed documentarian who lives on an upper floor, that he’s not her type.
Wilder is married to the extremely fertile, Helen (Elisabeth Moss), who is pregnant again and spends her time making parties for kids. 
Laing is invited to different kinds of parties, in which he tries to learn how the things work there, including one of the highest and consequently fanciest floor where the architect of the building, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons) lives an agitated life with his wife. Royal likes Laing but this particular party wasn’t a so positive experience for the latter.

The building, portrayed as a trap, offers everything its tenants might desire except mental sanity. There’s a swimming pool, a supermarket, sports fields, and a gym. Every character brings a bit of mystery to the story since we have the notion there’s something hidden and waiting to be disclosed.

The delirious “High-Rise”, suffused with infidelities, whims, parties, and brawls, is a strong social satire that interlinks the bourgeois status (with all its privileges) and moral decadence.
The oppressive air comes to us through satisfying portions of irony and edgy irreverence, in a stylistic effort that you can think of something close to Franz Kafka meets Peter Greenaway. Also, the dashing visuals and musical score were highly influential in our general perception. 
Not everyone will be pleased with a freewheeling story that features a group of dysfunctional characters inhabiting a dysfunctional building. Nevertheless, Mr. Wheatley, who shows a curious inclination for slow-motion scenes, and the screenwriter Amy Jump, did the impossible. Even faulty here and there, the film pays off.