Clara Sola (2022)

Direction: Nathalie Alvarez Mesén
Country: Costa Rica

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

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

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

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

The Black Phone (2022)

Direction: Scott Derrickson
Country: USA 

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

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

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

A Dark, Dark Man (2022)

Direction: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Country: Kazhakstan / France 

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

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

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

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

Poser (2022)

Direction: Ori Segev, Noah Dixon
Country: USA

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

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

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

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

Karmalink (2022)

Direction: Jake Wachtel
Country: Cambodia / USA

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

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

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

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

Crimes of the Future (2022)

Direction: David Cronenberg
Country: USA

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

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

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

Benediction (2022)

Direction: Terence Davies
Country: UK 

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

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

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

Dinner in America (2022)

Direction: Adam Rehmeier
Country: USA

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

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

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

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

The King of Laughter (2022)

Direction: Mario Martone
Country: Italy

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

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

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

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

Direction: Richard Linklater
Country: USA 

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

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

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

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

Hustle (2022)

Direction: Jeremiah Zagar
Country: USA

Co-produced by NBA star LeBron James and actor Adam Sandler, Hustle plays like a smooth, aerodynamic sports drama film that, failing to inspire me completely, managed to retain a certain surface-level charm. The film stars Sandler in a sober role alongside real NBA players, including Juancho Hernangómez from the Utah Jazz and Anthony Edwards from the Minnesota Timberwolves.  

The script by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters (A Star is Born, 2018) is not particularly innovative, and the film, competently directed by Jeremiah Zagar - who put out the wonderful indie drama We the Animals four years ago - systematically falls into stale formulas. However, it was great to see Sandler stepping out of his comfort zone and carrying an unrestrained, totally convincing passion into his role, which is both refreshing and invigorating to watch. He is Stan Sugarman, a former player turned scout turned assistant director, and then demoted to scout again by Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), the stuck-up co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers. Stan has been in the business for 30 years, refusing to give up on his newfound talent Bo Cruz (Hernangómez), a constructor worker and single father from Mallorca, Spain, who delights the crowd at every street basketball court he enters. 

Taken to the US, it is revealed that the Visa bureaucracy involved in the process is not the main problem but rather Bo’s lack of concentration and temper each time he’s provoked or insulted in the field. The film is basically divided into two aspects: the flourishing friendship between Cruz and Sugarman, and the exciting moments of basketball. Forgoing cheap shots, Hustle is fairly entertaining and possibly something more for the fans of the sport.

Murina (2022)

Direction: Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
Country: Croatia

Murina is a fish, also known as Mediterranean moray, that commonly bites its own flesh in a desperate attempt to set itself free from the fishermen’s hooks. The parallel with the 16-year-old Julija, the main character of this tense psychological Croatian drama filled with toxic masculinity and an urge for freedom, is blatant. 

Julija (Gracija Filipović) lives with her rude, authoritarian father, Ante (Leon Lucev), and disenchanted mother, Nela (Danica Curcic), on a small island in Croatia, a deceiving paradise where the summer heat is part of the uncomfortable setting. The arrival of Javi (New Zealander Cliff Curtis), a wealthy foreigner and friend of the family, not only awakens her rebellious and femininity sides but also makes her fight fiercely for her unvoiced dreams. 

Whereas the moody father is a punisher whose rudeness and aggressiveness is far greater than his care for the family, the visitor’s cultivation offers a different vision of life, an unthinkable hope, and a new meaning in terms of human relationships. Humiliation and desperate situations lead to desperate measures and, therefore, confrontation is inevitable. 

With the clear and crisp tone evinced here, it’s clear that director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic is a force to follow. This solid first feature, based on her 2017 short film Into the Blue, was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and was crowned with the Camera D’Or at Cannes. In conclusion, Murina is an impressive story of emancipation carried by convincing performances and well-drawn characters that bring authenticity to it.

Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2022)

Direction: Kevin Kopacka
Country: Germany

With a retro European style from the ’60s, Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes is a witty play of shadows, an unscary yet darkly funny experience, which occasionally stumbles across its tonal tightrope of comedy and horror. It’s not implausible to describe it as a cheerfully energetic horror film that, alternating silly and intriguing elements at the outset, ultimately comes away as a shamelessly entertaining mess.

Co-written and directed by Austrian-Sri Lankan Kevin Kopacka, the film follows the disappointed Margot (Luisa Taraz) and her critical husband Dieter (Frederik von Lüttichau working with the director for the second time). Soon after their arrival at the abandoned old castle she inherited from her wealthy family, they sense ghostly presences and experience strange episodes charged with voluptuousness. A different reality unfolds in the second part of the film, taking us to a psychedelic collective trip involving a film crew. 

Stylishly prurient and slightly anarchic, this little genre film is easy to watch, but lacks new blood and real scares, stuttering in its outrageous dreaminess. By giving the film a running time of 74 minutes, Kopacka is never at risk of making us exhausted, but not all the scenes hit the right notes in spite of the constant attention to detail. Nevertheless, the film demonstrates passion for mood and style while aiming more for the eyes than for the mind.

Cocoon (2022)

Direction: Leonie Krippendorff
Country: Germany 

In Leonie Krippendorff’s debut feature, Cocoon, particular stages of youth that lead to sexual and emotional maturity are compared to the dragging caterpillar that slowly transforms and soon will be able to fly in freedom. The backdrop for the sensitive awakening brought by this coming-of-age drama is Berlin, where the timid 14-year-old Nora (Lena Urzendowsky) lives with her big sister, Jule (Lena Klenke). They often hang at parties, at school, and a bit everywhere around the vibrant Kreuzberg district, and their alcoholic mother, Vivienne (Anja Schneider) is more absent than present in their lives.

Alcohol and drugs among the school friends are frequent and considered normal, but what gets Nora confused is the sexual attraction she feels for girls and not for boys. She’s clearly into girls, but the process of learning through romantic relationships is not without pain and disappointment. The early crush on Romy (Jella Haase), an approachable new girl from another class, will help her track down and solidify the sense of identity she keeps looking for. 

This summer lesbian romance is an immersive daydream of teenage girlhood into adulthood with all its highs and lows, and  ends up more tactful than the usual fabrications of the genre. Yet, sometimes the film could have used a certain glow of poetry to enhance the protagonist’s perspective and candidness. Fortunately, the process of self-discovery depicted here is saved from sentimentality.

Montana Story (2022)

Direction: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Country: USA

The pair of writers/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel has not been consistent in their filmography. What Maisie Knew (2012) and The Deep End (2001) remain their best efforts to date, but they stumble again with Montana Story, an inaptly executed and lazily paced indie drama whose fair story deserved a bit more grittiness.  

As disclosures of their past mount, estranged siblings Cal (Owen Teague) and Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) act uncomfortably after reuniting in the old ranch of their terminally ill father. They spent seven years apart, without talking to each other. Their gradual disclosures send us back, and we have our own perception of the family and its relationships. However, one experiences more apathy than empathy along the way, in a family settle of past traumatic experiences that rounds off the angles a little too much to go straight to the heart. 

The remaining characters are underdeveloped - including the Kenyan private nurse Ace (Gilbert Owuor) and the longstanding housekeeper Valentina (Kimberly Guerrero) - and they only seem to be there to add a few more unnecessary minutes to the film. I also identified a bunch of redundant shots. Like, who needs to see Erin killing a chicken with her bare hands to believe she was a cook in New York? This is a fallacious attempt to create something deep.

If the conventional plot is not particularly memorable, then the gorgeous cinematography that sharpens the scenic countryside of Montana becomes the real attraction of the film.

Men (2022)

Direction: Alex Garland
Country: UK

Following two successful sci-fi thrillers (Ex Machina, 2014; Annihilation, 2018), The British writer-director Alex Garland shifts his focus to the folk horror genre with Men, a vertiginously styled pic with a lot to admire and think about. The film is loaded with dark mysticism, hair-raising choral music, haunting images, and a negative energy that puts you alert at all times. 

The disturbing story, which opens and closes with Lesley Duncan’s beautiful “Love Song”, follows Harper (Jessie Buckley), a haunted woman seeking peace and some spiritual healing after the death of her husband, James (Paapa Essiedu). Crushed by painful memories, she decides to travel solo and rent an old manor in the Southwest rural region of England. Once arrived, she finds a group of weird men (brilliantly performed by Rory Kinnear), each of them embodying a perfectly identifiable male archetype. They all seem to want a piece of her soul, and scary visions succeed one after another, making us restless.

Metaphor and symbology - most of it related to rebirth/reproduction - are present everywhere in a work of immense and intense emotional vigor that opposes misogyny with Spartan sturdiness. The film takes you to really creepy places but the inscrutable, deranged denouement, despite being suffused with grotesque and creative imagery, leaves you in a sort of suspended state; a sort of agonizing and exciting enigma. I experienced the same feeling with films by David Lynch, Peter Strickland and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The logic of things is left open to debate, but I would add that Garland missed the very final note of a grandiose symphony. He wanted so badly to take the film to certain extremes that he impaired it at the last minute by not giving a plausible resolution to the story. 

However, the qualities we find here - the score/sound design by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury (a combination of eerie, ethereal and penetrating sounds) is absolutely phenomenal - easily overcome the quibbles. Whether this cryptic nightmare is your cup of tea or not, it’s very hard to ignore it.

Emergency (2022)

Direction: Carey Williams
Country: USA

The main topic of the comedy-thriller Emergency, the sophomore feature from Carey Williams (R#J, 2021), centers on racial prejudice but also addresses class gaps, friendship, and alcohol drinking, all from a youthful perspective.

Working from a script by K.D. Dávila, Williams directs Donald Elise Watkins, RJ Cyler and Sebastian Chacon with verve and purpose. They are college roommates - two black and one Latino - who spend a stressful night after finding an unconscious, intoxicated white girl (Maddie Nichols) on the floor of their apartment. Fearing the reaction of the police, known for their wrong assumptions, they decide not to call 911 but rather devise a plan of their own to get the medical attention she needs.

There’s a feverish anticipation of who's going to crack first under the delicate circumstances, but all ended up lukewarm, with limited novelty. Not fascinated by it, I found as many pathetic situations as funny lines - the lighthearted, funny dialogues between Sean (Cyler) and Kunle (Watkins) are the film’s best offering - in this tenuous dramatization of a serious episode. There’s a sentiment of truth marked by misunderstanding, fear and suspicion, but like the vibes of a crazy party, you leave before it leaves you.

Ahed's Knee (2022)

Direction: Nadav Lapid
Country: Israel 

Awkwardly shot, Ahed’s Knee is the fifth film from Israeli writer-director Nadav Lapid (Synonyms, 2019; The Kindergarten Teacher, 2014). The fact that it's his most disruptive work to date, doesn’t mean it was effective or even likable. In truth, the idea behind the story is brilliant, but the result is meek. Vacillating between empathy and cynicism, this is a brave political statement rather than an artistic film, even if it boasts a somewhat experimental Godard-kind of appeal. It ultimately suffers from excessively staged scenes and a flirting posture that feels contrived. The direction, insisting on obscene camera stunts, is far from impressive either.

The story follows a celebrated filmmaker named Y (Avshalom Pollak) - Lapid’s alter ego - who left his terminally ill mother in Tel Aviv and travels to the remote small village of Sapir, in the deserted Arava region. There, one of his films is going to be screened, followed by a Q&A session. He immediately feels a special connection with Yahalom (Nur Fibak), the young deputy director for the Ministry of Culture, who is responsible for this opportunity. However, he gets pissed off when a form is given to him, confirming he won’t address certain ‘unwelcome’ topics in public. He righteously sees this mandatory procedure as domestic censorship.

The director’s disenchantment with today’s Israel methods is valid, but Nadip lets the clear message overrule the material. It sure builds some tension, and yet the film fails emotionally, morphing from a complacent, sleep-inducing narrative to utter sentimentality, especially in the last segment. I felt distant. Moreover, the soundtrack, just like the eloquent prolixity, has no impact at all in the context presented. Overall, this is all too dramatic and obtuse to fully satisfy.

Official Competition (2022)

Direction: Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn 
Country: Spain / Argentina 

The pair of Argentinean directors, Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, made ten films together, with the heavily awarded The Distinguished Citizen (2016) as a standout. Their newest work, Official Competition, is a satirical spoof structured around the rehearsals for the shooting of a film financed by a bored stiff billionaire businessman. 

Even if not always surprising, and playing a bit too long for my taste, the film revealed to be more engaging than I was expecting. A very confident Penelope Cruz appears in top form as a lesbian avant-garde director who knows what she wants. Her investment in the film is matched by Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez, who play talented awarded actors with huge egos and different levels of ambition. 

The film delves into complex relationships in cinema, usually hidden from the public, as they happen behind the scenes. And because we have fine experienced actors playing actors and directors, the whole thing makes even more sense, and some truth lurks from behind the wild and funny absurdity of the scenes.

The directors, borrowing the minimalist scenarios of Lars Von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay for a bit, openly address rivalries, hypocrisy, banalities, and occasionally improper behavior during the process of an artistic creation. This Competition is a pitch-perfect joke that, at times, breaks up the vibes with unevenly inspired sketches. However, it never runs totally out of steam.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Direction: Joseph Kosinski 
Country: USA

The return of Top Gun, again with the forever-young Tom Cruise at the center, takes a coherent, sober treatment in the hands of director Joseph Kosinski (Only the Brave, 2017; Oblivion, 2013). Dedicated to the late Tony Scott, who directed the original in 1986, this sequel replaces Kelly McGinnis with Jennifer Connelly as the new love interest of Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise), a subversive US Navy ace pilot who is told to teach and prepare 12 Top Guns graduates for a nearly impossible special mission.

All skillful pilots show absolute respect for what he is and what he has achieved, but one of them, Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), expresses resentment about a situation from the past. He is the son of Maverick’s deceased best friend, Goose, who was played by Anthony Edwards in the first installment. 

Even not hitting a single beat you don't expect, the film is actually well-paced, fun to watch, and genuinely tense at times. It packs heart and visual flair within a good old fashioned storytelling that often feels nostalgic. It might be schematic and simplistic in its dramatic framework but the action is bracing and it never shortchanges the human scale or the heroic scope.

Kosinski, who understood how to equalize the romance, the drama and the action in the film, is not interested in dazzling us with mind bending ideas or twisty plots. Instead, he sticks with a stylistically coherence that becomes all the more powerful as the film advances. CGI technology was refused in order to deliver the most authentic experience possible, and the spectacular aerial maneuvers of the third act are breathtaking. Top Gun: Maverick is high quality Hollywood entertainment for all generations.