Moonage Daydream (2022)

Direction: Brett Morgen
Country: USA / Germany 

Moonage Daydream is an imperfect but ultimately satisfying documentary about David Bowie, a true artist from the stars, staunch experimentalist, beatnik traveler, and innovator with a unique personality and multiple personae, whose music continues to haunt and influence generations. Bowie’s fantastic path in arts and life is depicted as a psychedelic trip with flamboyant visuals, archival interviews, personal statements and ideas, and never-before-seen excerpts of live tours. 

Bowie’s favorite theme of isolation, deliberate androgyny (characteristic of his ‘70s phase), and self elusiveness are well addressed here, maintaining that mysterious appeal that not even his death was capable to erase. We have a vivid sense of his relationship with the universe and life, and between art and feelings.

In 2018, American documentarian Brett Morgen (Cobain: Montage of Heck, 2015; Jane, 2017) had access to the British singer's archives via the Bowie Foundation. What resulted from there is uplifting and will serve the curiosity of the musician’s followers, making them look at him with fresh eyes. But there’s a chance the others be disappointed with the way it was mounted. In my case, and without being dazzled, it was, at least, inspiring to see the alien rockstar romping majestically across the stage and flirting with many types of art.

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Direction: Guillermo Del Toro
Country: USA

Carlo Collodi’s world-famous novel, Pinocchio, has been subjected to many versions lately. After Roberto Benigni had directed and starred in the abominable version of 2002, it was Matteo Garrone who attempted the feat with triumphant results in 2019 (curiously, the film also starred Benigni as Geppetto). 2022 brought us two opposite Pinocchios: a failed live-action remake by Robert Zemeckis, and an enjoyable, lush-looking stop-motion animated film by Guillermo Del Toro, who co-directed with the debutant Mark Gustafson.

The stubborn, super-energized wooden boy (voice by Gregory Mann) disobeys his unconsolable father, Geppetto (David Bradley), and skips school, ending up in a carnival show ran by the exploitative and authoritarian puppet-master, Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz). The story, set in the fascist Italy of the ‘30s, is narrated by Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor), who looks after the living puppet, and also includes other interesting characters like Spazzatura (Cate Blanchett), a devilish monkey turned Pinocchio’s unlikely friend, and the sisters Wood Sprite and Death (Tilda Swinton).

The magical and moving approach of Del Toro gives the title character a fresh meaning in a delightful story that, filled with perils, joys, sorrows, and compassion, works as a life lesson. The musical aspect (entrusted to French composer Alexandre Desplat) didn’t match the technically stunning visuals, but this fable comes with enough humor, poetry, and grimness to justify the director’s childhood obsession. Extra dark tones contribute a personal touch to the least faithful rendition of Collodi’s tale.

She Said (2022)

Direction: Maria Schrader
Country: USA

Maria Schrader’s investigative drama, She Said, tells the important true story that exposed the system protecting abusers in the industry of cinema. The screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz was based on the book by New York Times' reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, played here by the talented Carey Mulligan (An Education, 2009; Never Let Me Go, 2010) and Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks, 2012; The Big Sick, 2017), respectively. The actress/activist Ashley Judd (Ruby in Paradise, 1993; De-Lovely, 2004) plays herself as one of the victims who first came forward to denounce the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein as a sex offender.

Smartly structured, if lengthy, the film keeps the tension simmering but leaves us wanting something more in the end. Unlike the work of the journalists, this film feels almost unfinished due to repetition; all the twists and turns feel the same. Less inspired than Nina Wu (2019) and The Assistant (2019) - two other fictional dramas pertaining to the same subject - She Said is, however, the first film to openly mention Weinstein, who was accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than 80 women - actresses, models, assistants, and collaborators.

The film depicts the meticulous collection of information, and the very long work of persuasion of the journalists to encourage the victims to speak out. The investigation, which helped to launch the #MeToo movement, is far from being a great gesture of cinema, lacking a bit of air and dramaturgy. It’s no Spotlight (2015) for sure, and gets too sentimental in spots. As a film, She Said declines to aim for anything other than the factual narrative, doing it with a mix of courage and relative panache.

Bones and All (2022)

Direction: Luca Guadagnino
Country: USA 

Bones and All, the first English-language film from Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, was filmed in the US and feels very American. The story, set in the 80s, is an adaptation of the 2015 novel by Camille DeAngelis, and reconnects the director with the actor Timothée Chalamet and the screenwriter David Kajganich, after Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Suspiria (2018), respectively. Contrarily, the young actress Taylor Russell (Waves, 2019) and the celebrated actor Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, 2015; The Outfit, 2022) work with Guadagnino for the very first time here. 

It’s hard to resist a good cannibal movie, and this one has daring moments and poetic attempts. As a tone poem of dangers and transgressions, the film retains the romantic and melancholic density of the director’s signature, focusing on the unspoken complicity between a couple of drifting young cannibals who have to deal with a lonely, cunning, and more experienced “eater”. 

The emotion surfaces tardily in a film that intermingles drama, teen romance, and gory horror. Filming with paradoxical gentleness, Guadagnino captures his ravenous characters with assurance, but the mix of styles is not always winning. Even when working outside the typical genre conventions with occasional reference to films from the canon, the film lacks the spark that would set fire to such a carnivorous road trip.

This horror doesn’t bite to the bone and should only work for those willing to accept the tenets of Guadagnino’s doomed cannibalism and dark romance. In my eyes, the ultimate success of this experience comes from Rylance’s creepy performance, and not so much from the cannibal teens.

The Eternal Daughter (2022)

Direction: Joanna Hogg
Country: UK 

Deftly written and directed by Joanna Hogg, who stunned us with works like The Souvenir (2019) and Archipelago (2010), The Eternal Daughter is a slow-burning study of loss and dependence. It’s a double role for the unmatchable Tilda Swinton who plays mother and daughter with unfailing consistency as they stay at a remote haunted hotel - once their former family home - where creaking doors, long dark corridors, rattling windows, and occasional ghostly figures create a chilly atmosphere that fades with the time. It spins its wheels with subtle psychological disturbance, which is a reflection of unhealthy filial ties.

The place revives all sorts of memories in the mother, and creates some emotional turmoil in the daughter, a filmmaker who is trying to write her next project based on their relationship. Although the rooms seem to hold stories and secrets, the process is somewhat repetitive. Whereas the eeriness decreases considerably, the climax falls victim of some momentary disclosing flashbacks that work as inhibitors of surprise. 

The outside night shots are intensifiers of the intended mood, as well as the ambiguous side characters - a carefree receptionist (Carly-Sophia Davies) and a gentle caretaker (Joseph Mydell) - who prove to be irrelevant in the end. And the apprehensive music soars, highlighting both enigmas and emotions.

Definitely a minor Hogg’s, The Eternal Daughter is like a poignant melody packed with pathos and a sumptuous staging; a purge of guilt and memories that, without taking the form of a labyrinth of artsy manipulations, never hits too hard. I wish I would have been more spooked here.

Corsage (2022)

Direction: Marie Kreutzer
Country: Austria 

Staged with maturity and discernment, Corsage is a moody fictional period drama focused on the restless 40-year-old Empress Elizabeth of Austria, who, tired of conforming with the immaculate figure she had promoted in her youth, becomes an object of criticism, gossip and rumors. Impulsive and unfaithful, the princess is seen with distrust by the society and her family, often embarrassing her husband, the Emperor Franz Joseph I (Florian Teichtmeister) and children. Although Sissi’s erratic behavior makes impractical a salutary public image, she exhibits a compassionate personality for the war-wounded men and mental patients.

Perpetually commanding in the lead, Vicky Krieps is impressive in the role. Corsage serves as another showcase for the amazing acting skills of this confident actress who also managed to unearth strong and complex characters in Bergman Island (2021), Hold Me Tight (2021) and Phantom Thread (2017). 

Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer (The Ground Beneath My Feet, 2019), besides taking some liberties in the script and form, avoids unnecessary entanglement and has no use of sentiment in a story mounted with enough self-destructiveness, mordancy and rebelliousness for us to enjoy it bitter. Even if sparse in surprises and quite unconvincing as a depiction of the 19th-century aristocratic life, the film keeps us interested, with a story that, being as stiff as the Empress’ corset tightness, carries a lot of metaphor regarding modern women. It deserves some attention for its tenacity and provocation.

The Wonder (2022)

Direction: Sebastián Lelio
Country: Ireland / UK / USA

From the director of Gloria (2013) and A Fantastic Woman (2017), The Wonder won’t make you energized as it engages in a slow cooking process with lack of spices. The film, based on the book by Emma Donoghue and co-written by Lelio and Alice Birch (Lady MacBeth, 2016), is a lugubrious and uninventive mystery film soaked in mysticism and contemplation that, without betraying its lyrical style, never grips tightly. The lukewarm, spiritless atmosphere refuses to leave until the end, following a script in need of more paradox and a less debilitated conclusion. On the other hand, it raises deep questions about religion and its interpenetration with human realities.

Set in a rural 19th-century Irish village, the story depicts the arrival of an English nurse (Florence Pugh), hired by a committee of curious men - believers and skeptics - to observe a devotee 11-year-old girl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) who survives without eating. Is she a saint, a witch, or a haunted person? The hidden secrets are revealed with the help of a journalist (Tom Burke) willing to write an article about the case for the Daily Telegraph. 

Having a faltering narrative rhythm as its worst enemy and the cinematography as its strongest quality, The Wonder is more an exercise in mood with no visible threats. It will leave you with less than what you demand for a story of this nature.

Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022)

Direction: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Country: UK / USA

Embroiled in a sheer monotony that results from the director and the screenwriter’s lack of vision to adapt the famous D.H. Lawrence novel of the same name, Lady Chatterley’s Lover feels too darn old-fashioned for a contemporary audience. It’s a pointless and utterly forgettable misfire from French filmmaker Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, whose directorial feature debut, The Mustang (2019), has drawn some positive reactions. 

The three main performances from Emma Corrin, Jack O’Connell and Matthew Duckett are so mannered that it's hard to feel anything but discouragement and ennui. The non-existent chemistry between the lovers reinforce the idea that this film is on automatic pilot. A romance that never catches fire within a dramatic plot that fails to innovate and engage. If you’re looking for a more exciting and cinematically engaging version of the novel, try Pascale Ferran’s, released in 2006.

Till (2022)

Direction: Chinonye Chukwu
Country: USA 

The true story of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched for racial reasons in Mississippi in the 1950s, is told with a disturbing edge in this thoughtful and fully explanatory biographic drama directed, executive produced and co-written by Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency, 2019). The work, classic to the core, also underlines the important step given for the civil rights movement and black community as the racial hatred was exposed like never before. 

Simply told with limited theatrics, Till is effectively dramatic without achieving the state of masterpiece. It’s worth seeing, if only to soak up the positive presence of Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, with intrepidity. Getting both press and public attention, she resolutely seeks for justice to make the two white murderers pay for their horrendous crime.

Although it doesn’t always avoid the pitfalls of filmed theatre, the film retains all the drama's thematic force, being bolstered by some good supporting roles and carrying uncomfortable feelings and heavy emotion. 

The Nigerian-born director is totally committed to her subject, but I’m convinced that the power of the film doesn’t totally match the power of the message.

The Fabelmans (2022)

Direction: Steven Spielberg
Country: USA 

The Fabelmans, a notably sharp semi-autobiographical drama mounted with proficiency, evokes Steven Spielberg’s youth years, dwelling in his great-to-watch family dynamics and early passion for cinema. Spielberg's declaration of love for the seventh art is sincere, funny and tender, with some magical moments that will easily conquer the viewers’ heart. 

Never in the same vein of his previous works, Spielberg shows how versatile he is, a fact confirmed through his alter ego, Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle acts with class and gravitas), who makes low-budget westerns, WWII battles, and homemade movies with the same acuity. We follow him with amusement from age seven to 18, a specific life period that starts in New Jersey, passes by Phoenix, Arizona, and ends in California. Observant, Sammy captures a secret within the family that confounds, hurts and scares.

After the disappointing and unnecessary remake of West Side Story, it’s good to see master Spielberg back in business with an intimate, personal chronicle that is as much endearing as it is eye-popping. The melancholic grace of the image is superb and benefits from the obvious pleasure of staging, while the story itself - another successful collaboration with playwright/screenwriter Tony Kushner (Lincoln, 2012; Munich, 2005) - contains real finds, intense moments of happiness, and painful struggles proper from the adolescence.

The Fabelmans is forged with a developed sense of narrative, harmonious composition, and an unblemished command of the actors, with my favorite episode occurring in the final minutes, when the young filmmaker meets the renowned director John Ford (impeccably impersonated by David Lynch) at CBS Studios. Spielberg hasn’t lost sight of the engaging, practical nature of his style, and benefits from the excellent performances of LaBelle, Paul Dano and Michelle Williams.

The Novelist's Film (2022)

Direction: Hong Sang-soo
Country: South Korea

Adopting the same naturalistic and conversational style he's been accustoming us, the prolific South Korean writer-director Hong Sang-soo delivers a mildly entertaining film orchestrated with discreet virtuosity. Centered on artists facing creative blocks and dealing with short period hiatus in their careers, The Novelist’s Film is steady in mood, uneven in the rhythm, and vulnerable as a story.

At the very center, we have a celebrated novelist, Kim Junhee (Lee Hye-yeong), who leaves Seoul to visit an old friend in the suburbs. In her way back, she crosses paths with a director (Kwon Hae-hyo) with whom she almost worked in the past, and a trendy actress (the director’s wife Kim Min-hee), whose work she admires. Both think she has a lot of charisma, but she decides to discard the former and make a short film with the latter. 

It’s a movie in love with words and human connection, pulling subtle punches with a cerebral pragmatism and purity of tone. Sang-soo’s efforts result in a contemplative film that, stuttering at times, also plays too much with coincidences. Despite the visible exaggeration at this level, a worn-out drinking scene, and nothing newfangled to produce a spark, we let ourselves be carried away by the charm of the protagonists.

The passable The Novelist’s Film doesn't transcend the director’s intimidating filmography, whose previous entry, In Front of Your Face, is a stronger bet.

Armageddon Time (2022)

Direction: James Gray
Country: USA 

Armageddon Time is a simple coming-of-age tale that addresses venomous social injustices and overwhelming gaps in the American society. Even tamer than director James Gray’s previous New York stories - We Own the Night (2017) and Two Lovers (2018) - and dealing with a finale that is not particularly surprising, the film, set in 1981 Queens, is definitely marked by enough evocative power. It’s an entertaining, down-to-earth vehicle that, holding nothing back, is more focused in honesty than in any desire to impress. 

The film’s title may suggest another sci-fi incursion like Ad Astra (2019) or another plunge into adventure like The Lost City of Z (2016). Instead, Gray mounts a period drama film inspired by his own childhood experiences. The personification of himself at childhood comes as Paul Graff, a Jewish-American boy who wants to be an artist. Young actor Banks Repeta gives the character life, showcasing the struggle of a kid against racial discrimination in the family and at school, a fact that is further intensified when he is caught smoking weed in the school’s bathroom with his rebellious black friend, Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb).

Uncomfortable and disoriented, he deals with disillusionment with more boldness than fear, not thanks to his caring mother (Anne Hathaway) nor his volatile father (Jeremy Strong), but with the help of his beloved grandfather Aaron (Anthony Hopkins), whose wise advice he listens attentively. The idea that’s hard to fight, but one can never give in is taken by Paul with hope and fortitude. 

A careful stylization by cinematographer Darius Khondji, who had worked with the director in The Immigrant (2013), creates a particular tonality inspired by Marcel Proust’s classic In Search of Lost Time. Gray put his passion into staging his painfully vivid memoirs, creating a nuanced, delicate film with a strong anti-racist message.

Tár (2022)

Direction: Todd Field
Country: USA 

Earnestly told and entirely convincing, Tár is a masterstroke by Todd Field, a director always on the lookout to take the viewer into breathtaking emotional whirlwinds. Inactive since 2006 (after masterful dramas such as In the Bedroom and Little Children), Field will make people wondering if the film was actually inspired by real events, such is the precision of detail and exactitude of information - the film starts with a marvelous interview with the New Yorker’s journalist Adam Gopnik, in which we learn Tar’s considerations about time in music, interpretation and feelings.

Elegantly mounted, his tale of intrigue works like a thriller, presenting us an intelligent post-pandemic journey, whose protagonist - an interesting yet desensitized avant-garde female conductor seriously inspired by Gustav Mahler - exerts abuse of power, tricky manipulation and favoritism. It's bursting with brainy tension, machinations and emotional turmoils, grabbing us from start to finish. The main reason for the film success is Cate Blanchett, who delivers a rock-solid, high-class performance, illuminating every single shot with her acting prowess. For now, I couldn’t think of any other actress than her for the Oscars. 

Just like the music by Hildur Guðnadóttir, the cruel learning story penetrates our soul with entrancing captivation and ravishing violence. The overall story arc is realistically complemented with surgical dialogues and striking visual compositions in a timeless contemporary drama to be remembered for its immense qualities. One can finally rejoice with what have been missing from the movies these days: authenticity and intelligence.

The Good Nurse (2022)

Direction: Tobias Lindholm
Country: USA 

The thrillers of Danish director Tobias Lindholm got famous for their glows and agitation, but The Good Nurse, a harrowing true story abated by banality, doesn't hold up as well as you'd expect. Screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns worked from the 2013 true crime book by Charles Graeber. 

The film boasts Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne in the center roles. She is Amy Loughren, a proficient if tired nurse and single mother of two, who has been struggling with cardiomyopathy crisis. He is Charlie Cullen, a self-assured and helpful nurse who worked in nine hospitals over 16 years, leaving a trace of silent death behind him. When he arrives at the ICU of Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, it was a huge relieve for Amy, who couldn’t guess her patients would be in danger. A mysterious death leads to an investigation by two relentless detectives (played by Nnamdi Asomugha and Noah Emmerich), leaving them stuck in a web of lies, cynicism and cover-ups. 

Rather than shocked or terrified, you follow the course of events fairly intrigued and sometimes amused. But this is not enough. This monotonous crime drama awkwardly and stiffly arrives at its revelations, managing little more than a gesture toward untying inextricable knots. It’s weak as a thriller and particularly disappointing following Lindholm's exceptional past work (A Hijacking, 2012; A War, 2015).

Quite simply: this is something you could read about in a few paragraphs, and the film fails to present any type of dilemma during its passionless narrative. Cullen’s character should have been better explored and details of his personal life revealed to help us gain some interest and overcome indifference.

Anatolian Leopard (2022)

Direction: Emre Kayis
Country: Turkey 

Anatolian Leopard is a resolute, cerebral and languid drama written and directed by Emre Kayis, who successfully captures the inward turmoil of a solitary zoo director struggling to find his place in a corrupted society. 

After more than two decades of hard work and dedication, the pensive director Fikret Ozturk (Ugur Polat) is confronted with the closure of the Turkey’s oldest zoo. In order to avoid that, and stop the privatization process, he fakes the escape of the indigenous Anatolian leopard, a symbol of the country and an endangered species. On that ground, he counts on the help of his loyal officer, Gamze (Ipek Türktan), whose dream is to be a flight attendant. 

Polat’s performance is believable and his facial expressions show all the frustration, debility and ennui in the face of the system’s machination. His character internalizes all these feelings with a sense of disconnection from everything. Fearing extinction himself, Fikret is fed up with posing for pretentious crooks and tycoons who soak up everything he built. 

Even not taking huge directing risks, Kayis does not hesitate to use a suitable composure in the shots, creating a genuinely entrancing tale of disappointment with a sense of tragic inevitability. The final result may seem austere for ordinary mortals, but the film will be gratifying for movie buffs who don’t get scared with the unrelenting bleakness (with subtle touches of humor) of an apt metaphor.

Our Father, The Devil (2022)

Direction: Ellie Foumbi
Country: France

Fronted by Bissau-Guinean-Belgian actress Babetida Sadjo (And Breathe Normally, 2018) and Souléymane Sy Savané (Goodbye Solo, 2008), who was born in Ivory Coast, Our Father, the Devil is an intense and keyed up drama thriller that says a lot about trauma, hatred, repent, forgiveness, and a nearly uncontrollable thirst for revenge. The feature debut from Cameroon-born, New York-based writer-director Ellie Foumbi, who gives the film a real narrative breath, is set in Luchon, a small southwestern French town located in the Pyrenees, on the border with Spain.

The plot follows Maria Cissé (Sadjo), an African refugee turned chef who got heavily traumatized at the age 12 when her Guinea village was attacked by merciless, barbaric men. One day, in a normal day at the retirement home where she's employed, a charismatic Catholic priest, Father Patrick (Savané), inspires everyone but her while talking about imperfections, atonement, and forgiveness. The problem is that she recognizes him as being one of the aggressors, and her thirst for revenge becomes bigger than anything. 

Oozing some darkness, this is a well-acted film with a message that, fortunately, doesn't have to preach to be effective. Having its blind-by-rage protagonist descending to hell and coming back, the story might not affirm anything new, but forces viewers to meditate on the topic, as it is presented with an energy and conviction that questions our own responsibility to protect victims, condemn aggressors, but also give them a second chance if deserved.

Although a little cold sometimes, Our Father, the Devil imposes itself as an esteemed first work where the thought of forgiveness made me feel good.

Return to Dust (2022)

Direction: Li Ruijun
Country: China

Return to Dust expresses a trenchant social realism that, being beautiful to the eye, is caustic to the intellect. It depicts the story of two humble and lonely human beings who find some happiness together after years of hard work and exclusion. Following an arranged marriage, the generous farmer Ma Youtie (Wu Renlin, a non-professional actor) and the bashful Cao Guiying (star actress Hai Qing) manage to get along pretty well, proving the inhabitants of their rural Gansu village that they can do much more than what is expected from them. 

This is a gently persuasive tale that reflects the Chinese reality, where the meaninglessness of one’s existence surpasses any individual attempt to stand out. It’s also about the will to change and the right to dream in a country that shows little compassion. 

Writer-director Li Ruijun presents everything with bouts of languishing moments that never lose sense or direction. Sometimes they say more than what they show. There’s powerful drama and rustic lyricism in these characters’ journey, and we root for them, aware of their honesty, simplicity, and determination. Return to Dust is a sober, subtle, and moving experience that finds its aesthetic identity, satisfying both as a life tale that tries to reconnect people with humanity and as a tribute to the vitality and endurance of Chinese peasant culture in adverse times.

Costa Brava, Lebanon (2022)

Direction: Mounia Akl
Country: Lebanon 

Mounia Akl administers an elegant direction in her feature debut, Costa Brava, Lebanon, having co-written the script with Clara Roquet (10,000 Km, 2014; Libertad, 2021). She put together a strong cast with Saleh Bakri and Nadine Labaki in the center roles along with the young actresses Nadia Charbel and Seana Restom, the latter being a wonderful revelation in her first screen appearance. 

This observant, political, and human Lebanese drama film, whose title refers to a once beautiful beach turned dumping near Beirut, is set in the near future and deals with the Lebanese waste crisis. The hot-tempered Walid (Bakri) and the singer/songwriter Soraya (Labaki), both former activists, abandoned Beirut eight years ago to live secluded in the mountains with their two daughters - the superstitious nine-year-old Rim (Restom), and the 17-year-old Tala (Charbel), who's in full sexual awakening - and Walid’s terminally ill mother, Zeina (Liliane Chacar Khoury). Their peace is suddenly disrupted when the government announces an ecological landfill adjacent to their house. An ongoing tension installs within the family as the surroundings deteriorate and their health is threatened. 

Costa Brava is a scathing story of resistance to elusive governmental machinations as well as a story of tiredness and ultimately liberation. It works both as a news bulletin, a coming-of-age disenchantment, and a shout of protest treated in a sober mode. At times, we can almost sense the toxicity that suffocates and embitters the household. To flee or to resist? That’s the dilemma faced by self-imposed ‘prisoners’ in another tough wrestle with a corrupt political system.

Werewolf by Night (2022)

Direction: Michael Giacchino
Country: USA 

Score composer Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, 2007; Star Trek, 2009) directs an arresting 50-minute television special that's often unsettling and adventurous. If you dig offbeat werewolf stories and arthouse films, then you’ll be begging for more. The teleplay by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron is based on the Marvel Comics of the same name.

Jack Russell (Gael Garcia Bernal), a monster hunter doomed to be a werewolf, is summoned by Ulyses Bloodstone’s widow, Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris), to compete against rivals - including the deceased’s estranged daughter Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly)  and the merciless Jovan (Kirk Thatcher) - in a mission to determined who will be the next leader in the crusade against the evil monsters. 

Thoroughly staged with unpredictable alliances and implacable attacks, Werewolf by Night is by turns violent and comedic. The option for black and white was appropriate, serving to enhance the imposing photography by Zoë White (The Handmaid’s Tale series, 2018-19). An atypical surprise that should be further developed to fully satisfy.

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Direction: Ruben Östlund
Country: France / Sweden / other

Palme D’Or winner, Triangle of Sadness, is a step down in the Swedish director Ruben Östlund's filmography, which includes Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017). This heavy-handed, neoliberal satirical comedy about inequality and class gaps is his first English-language film, and comes pelted with dark humor and irony. However, after a great start, it ended up grubby and silly. 

In the first chapter, we are introduced to models and influencers, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), who show a bit of their personalities. On the passable second section, they embark on a luxury cruise marked by a captain’s dinner that won’t let you escape the nauseating wobbliness of repetition. Yet, the best sequences for me involved the interaction between a Russian capitalist who sells fertilizer (Zlatko Burić) and the alcoholic Marxist captain (Woody Harrelson) who despises each and every wealthy passenger on board. Some great dialogues are nearly absurdist at this phase. The third and last chapter is a complete disaster, sinking down the whole film in a blink of an eye. 

If we're making picks for the most eccentric and anarchic flicks of the year, my enthusiastic vote goes to the hyped up Triangle of Sadness, even if the final result is not particularly satisfying. In this case, Östlund wasn’t smart enough to take some possible good ideas to better conclusions, preferring a cinema that is coarse, drastic and with no consequence. It can be funny at times, though.