Broker (2022)

Direction: Hirokazu Koreeda
Country: South Korea

Following a first international production in 2019 with the charming French drama The Truth, the highly celebrated Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows, 2004; Shoplifters, 2018) decided to shoot his next film in South Korea. Broker mixes conscious drama and light comedy, starring the acclaimed Song Kang-ho (Memories of Murder, 2003; Parasite, 2019), the unsung Gang Dong-won (Peninsula, 2020), and the popular singer/songwriter Lee Ji-eun.

The themes of family, abandonment, and adoption suit Koreeda once again, but this time around, the narrative is pelted with problems that range from a sleep-inducing tone to an often unexciting course of events. The plot, pointing out the controversial baby boxes where mothers can drop their infants to be adopted, ends up in a life-changing road trip that unites a dissatisfied young mother (Ji-eun) with the two men - laundromat owner Sang-hyeon (Kang-ho) and formerly rejected child Dong-soo (Dong-won) - that illegally plan to make a good sum with the selling of her child. 

Never heart-wrenching, Broker is mounted with simplicity but not enough wit and grit to make our day. The detective side of the story is clumsy; it simply doesn’t work, no matter how many turns the plot can give. On the emotional side, the film only impressed me once, in a strong scene on the Ferris wheel that felt like a short rebirth of Koreeda’s best dramatic qualities. There are some innocent moments of humor that don’t save the film from its graceless staging. 

Despite glimpses of a hard-earned affection, Koreeda’s road movie is a soulless exercise that sinks the cast in a dry land of forced, melodramatic resolutions. This is particularly obvious for Kang-ho, whose acting capabilities deserve more credibility than what is showed in this flat performance.

Girl Picture (2022)

Direction: Alli Haapasalo
Country: Finland

Directing from an estimable script by Ilona Ahti and Daniela Hakulinen, Finnish director Alli Haapasalo (his feature debut Love & Fury was a screen adaptation of Anja Snellman's novel Autumn Prince) tells the story of three young women in search of love, acceptance, and the knowledge of pleasure. The result is interesting, if not really exciting; realistic but with a shallow depth of field.

Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) are best friends seeking new experiences and a more active life beyond the smoothie kiosk where they work. The former starts a queer relationship with Emma (Linnea Leino), a dedicated ice skater with practically no social life; the latter, troubled by the early insecurities and discomforts related to sex, tries several boys with more disappointment than excitement.

Although it was Milonoff who got the award for outstanding performance in an international narrative feature at the L.A. Outfest, the debutant Kauhanen was the most compelling of the three actors, playing her role with a charming awkwardness and a certain candor. 

One can easily connect with the young women’s personal conflicts thanks to the sensitivity of the acting and a concern for realism in the direction. Even pedestrian in places and smeared with a jumble soundtrack, Girl Picture is an observant coming-of-age picture with real substance.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Direction: Anthony Fabian
Country: UK / France / Hungary

This third adaptation of the 1958 classic novel by Paul Gallico, originally titled Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris, ensures an over-the-top fun that other versions couldn’t manage to get. The plot, set in the 1950s, hinges on the scintillating performance by Lesley Manville (Another Year, 2010; Phantom Thread, 2017), who plays the eternally optimistic and good-hearted Ada Harris, a widowed residential housekeeper from London who falls head over heels for a haute couture Dior dress. This capricious circumstance takes her to Paris, where she meets Christian Dior in person, and befriends some of his employees. 

Here you have a gloriously enchanting old-fashioned tale retaken to the screen with polished and colorful new tones, balancing happy and sad moments with virtue. The story, depicted with a sweet retro flavor, takes unexpected poignant overtones along the way, but Manville simpers with affection, making every impossible dream come true with benevolence and soul. 

Isabelle Huppert is great as the snob Dior director, Claudine Colbert, and other on-target supporting roles by Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, and Lucas Bravo help to get the film out of the ordinary. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is both funny and full-bodied, pleasurable and bouncing. It’s the type of cozy, uplifting film that can easily brighten someone’s day.

Lost Illusions (2022)

Direction: Xavier Giannoli
Country: France

Lost Illusions is a resolute, playful, and contemporary adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s three-part classic of the same. The material is not a walk in the park, but director Xavier Giannoli, who wrote the screenplay with Jacques Fieschi, nails it with cleverness rather than brilliance.

The story revolves around the rise and fall of Lucien de Rubempré (Benjamin Voisin), a self-confident young poet from Angoulême turned journalist of the moment in Paris with the influence of his friend Ettiene Lousteau (Vincent Lacoste), a crooked art critic paid to write lies in an influential local newspaper. Inhabiting a phony world populated by fragile puppets, Lucien makes amends with his former lover, the sincere patroness of the arts Louise de Bargeton (Cécile de France); contends with the latter’s noxious cousin, the Marquise D’Espard (Jeanne Balibar); opposes and then befriends the seductive writer Raoul Nathan (Xavier Dolan); meets Dauriat (Gérard Depardieu), a peculiar publisher who doesn’t know how to read nor write; and embraces the actress Coralie (Salomé Dewaels), who is about to make her first big appearance on stage with a play by Racine. 

Tonally unalterable, the film’s happenings always seem far from a true climax while trying to play as a modern fresco. It’s a tragedy of hypocrisy and ambition that gets somewhat clumsy when it tries to build bridges with the present. Yet, its literary schemes, vain aristocratic pose, and an assortment of comportments that oppose liberals and royalists sometimes provide us with a good laugh.

Anchoring his period drama with a killer cast, Giannoli expresses his desire to mix lyrical and satirical spark, but he draws the film out and comes nowhere near Balzac’s serial novel. A word of praise for Belgian cinematographer Christophe Beaucarne, whose refined taste for visuals is remarkable.

Man of God (2022)

Direction: Yelena Popovic
Country: Greece 

Man of God chronicles the life of Saint Nectarios of Aegina from 1889, when he was serving as a bishop in Cairo, until his death from prostate cancer on the Greek island of Aegina in 1920. He lived all his life piously, only being posthumously declared a saint by the Greek Orthodox Church in 1961. Popular among the faithful and persecuted by jealous colleagues and superiors, this holy man was convicted without a trial, unjustly exiled, and later accused of immorality while running a convent of nuns. 

Spiritual inspiration and benevolence in opposition to conspiracy mar the biopic with an irresistible premise, but, unfortunately, the sophomore Serbian writer-director Yelena Popovic was unable to match the beauty of it on the screen, failing in every aspect. Man of God suffers from slowdowns, uneven transitions in time, unnatural scenes spoken in Greek-accented English, and some naivety in the proceedings. Even providing us with an opportunity to know more about this remarkable Greek Orthodox saint, Popovic struggled all the way with blandness and never found the key to rehabilitate the clerical figure in question. There was obviously much more to this man. 

Aris Servetalis, who plays Nectarios, has been delivering terrific performances in his still short career - Alps (2011), The Waiter (2018), Apples (2020) - but this particular role didn't allow him to shine. Mickey Rourke, curiously listed second in the film’s acting credits, has a brief four-minute appearance as a paralyzed man. While the film's goal is to pay homage to Saint Nectarios, it never goes beyond stilted representation. The narrative plummets with its conventional tone, and then the whole film with its stiff formality.

The Medium (2022)

Direction: Banjong Pisanthanakun
Country: Thailand 

All filmed in documentary mode with plenty of folkloric practices and shamanic tradition, this possession-themed horror Thai film got me really hooked until halfway. Then, it started revolving around images that kept repeating before reaching an excessively strained denouement that fails to convince. 

The film, co-written by director Banjong Pisanthanakun and first-time producer Na Hong-Jin (The Chaser, 2008; The Wailing, 2016), is segmented into three parts: the first one, exotic and truly enigmatic, captivates without resorting to cynicism or post-modernistic tactics; the second, more classic and longer, stirs up confrontations and revelations; and finally, the extremist third part whose staged panache is overdone with multiple gory effects and paranormal night vision. This decrescendo is perceived from the minute everything starts to speed up.

Taking place in a small Thai village, the story, describing an ancient family blessing turned grievous curse, is captured by a film crew while working on a documentary about Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), a shamanic priestess in distress about the disturbing behavior of her niece, Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech). 

Bringing a fair share of lingering images and scares, the director also makes it too long and stuffy, in a typical case where less would be better. Nonetheless, the acting is pretty decent and the sound design by Chatchai Pongprapaphan plays effectively throughout.

The Restless (2021)

Direction: Joachim Lafosse
Country: Belgium / France / Luxembourg

The subject of this intimate drama co-written and directed by Joachim Lafosse is bipolar disorder and the possible damage it can do to a relationship. As a result of this terrible illness, Damien (Damien Bonnard), a gifted painter, undergoes agitated manic episodes that don’t let him sleep for days in a row, as well as long periods of depression that hamper him from leaving his bed. There are moments when he loses the notion of what’s acceptable, and others when his tired body gives up.

His wife Leila (Leïla Bekhti) takes care of him patiently, but things have been getting out of control lately. Exhausted to the bone, she no longer manages to be a mother, his wife, and nurse at the same time. The romance between them is in jeopardy due to Damien’s indiscipline. Trust doesn’t abound, and Leila’s reluctance to giving him another chance is perfectly understandable. It’s serious the impasse they reached.

Lafosse, who has a knack for rigorous marital dramas (Our Children, 2012; After Love, 2016), keeps his sober sense of direction, channeling different kinds of energy with a steady hand and the help of the lead actors. Still, a few scenes marred by repetition should have been staged with even rawer appeal. 

Not reaching extraordinary levels but eluding sentimentality thanks to the director's taste for realism and the accuracy of the performers, the film observes clinically and documents appropriately the particularities and difficulties of bipolar patients. This was Bonnard show all the way; he didn’t squander the opportunity to showcase his performing talents.

The Forgiven (2022)

Direction: John Michael McDonagh
Country: UK

This adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s book of the same name by director John Michael McDonagh isn’t exactly flat at its core, but it never comes together, resulting in an almost entirely predictable misfire. Bolstered with the solid acting of Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener, 2005; Spider, 2002) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, 2012; The Eyes of Tammy Faye, 2021), The Forgiven says too little as it attempts to formulate a direct critique of the cynical, hedonistic, and affluent Western dominance of African countries and the subjugation of their people. McDonagh, who impressed crowds with bold films such as The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014), ran out of gas here as he sticks to a tightly wound narrative that, promising to surprise, lingers forever. He clearly looks for depth and maturity but ends up grabbing some dust in the air.

A terrible accident while driving through the Moroccan desert has profound repercussions on the lives of the Henningers, a wealthy British couple. He is David (Fiennes), a contemptuous alcoholic doctor whose words are constantly loaded with sarcasm; she is Jo (Chastain), a dissatisfied writer of children’s books who is open to new romantic adventures. While David agrees to be taken by the grieving Moroccan father (Ismael Kanater) whose son he ran over, Jo instantly forgets him, especially when Tom (Christopher Abbott), a gallant financial analyst from New York, is around. 

Superiority, mercy, compassion, and atonement are dutifully stitched into a diagrammatic patchwork that captures better the gut-ache of a broken 12-year marriage than anything else. A restrained, tepid tone is maintained throughout a drama film that should have added a little extra bite.

My Donkey, My Lover and I (2022)

Direction: Caroline Vignal
Country: France

This more-annoying-than-seductive French rom-com by writer-director Caroline Vignal (Girlfriends, 2000) follows Antoinette Lapouge (Laure Calamy), an impulsive, cheeky schoolteacher who follows her married lover (Benjamin Lavernhe) to the Cévennes, a South-Central region in France with vast, often uncultivated landscapes where he’s enjoying a trekking holidays in family. Once there, she realizes that no one understands her better than the overprotective donkey that makes her company.

Vignal, who took inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1879 book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes, was already bewitched by the scenery of this national park, where she had spent a week in 2010 with her family. Working from her light, thin and transparent script, the director totally relies on the freewheeling performance of Calamy, who, hanging on the wire between ecstasy and fragility, gives the film an air of sweet fantasy. She comes up against the limits of the script, though. 

Colorful but with no major throbs, this uninspired walk in nature seems content with a few vaguely droll sketches that can get excessively wearisome. The scenes with Antionette and Patrick, the donkey, are oft-repeated and unimaginative, playing again and again until our patience wears thin. But most of all, the biggest problem with the film is not being funny enough. 

A Balance (2022)

Direction: Yujiro Harumoto
Country: Japan

The protracted drama A Balance, the sophomore feature by Japanese helmer Yujiro Harumoto (Going the Distance, 2016), is generally more wobbly than balanced, and not just regarding the handheld camera. Although the film ultimately achieves its function of exposing sexual abuse at school and make the Japanese society alert, its documentary-like representation fails to stir emotions consistently. Unfortunately, Harumoto doesn't touch our hearts as much as he thinks he does, creating a cinematic object that is problematic in various aspects. This story about sexual crimes, cover ups, and lies is not devoid of interest, but following a decent buildup, falls apart in subsequent scenes bathed in inertia, with nothing fresh or exciting about them.

At the center, we have documentarian Yuko (Kumi Takiuchi), who, through her camera lens, seeks the truth about a presumable case of sexual harassment at school that ended in double suicide. She’s impartial and righteous, exposing the truth and the impact that the case had on the victims’ families. But when facing a similar case that implicates her own father (Masahiro Umeda), who runs the cram school where she teaches, her moral consciousness becomes blurred and her behavior questionable. It’s not a dichotomy between fiction and reality that one finds here. It’s more about truth and falsity. 

The performances hit the right notes and both the scenario and the moral dilemma are credible, and yet they lost the battle with 152 minutes of slow pacing and silences that cause a certain boredom. The whole filming technique is also documentary-style but the path that leads to the ending is not as strong as it should be. A Balance seems more like a product of an appalling naivety.

The Phantom of the Open (2022)

Direction: Craig Roberts
Country: UK

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

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

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

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Direction: Taika Waititi
Country: USA 

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

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

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

Rhino (2021)

Direction: Oleh Sentsov
Country: Ukraine 

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

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

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

Vortex (2022)

Direction: Gaspar Noé
Country: France 

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

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

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

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

Dreaming Walls (2022)

Direction: Maya Duverdier, Amélie van Elmbt
Country: USA

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

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

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

Elvis (2022)

Direction: Baz Luhrmann
Country: USA 

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

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

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

Flux Gourmet (2022)

Direction: Peter Strickland
Country: UK

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

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

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

True Things (2022)

Direction: Harry Wootliff
Country: UK 

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

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

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

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

Both Sides of the Blade (2022)

Direction: Claire Denis
Country: France

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

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

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

Watcher (2022)

Direction: Chloe Okuno
Country: USA

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

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

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

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