Movie Review by Sergio Martínez
The recent edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma de
Montréal, held from October 8 to 18, left us with a pleasant impression: once
again, it struck a good balance between films by established auteurs and works
by young filmmakers just starting out on their journey to bring their stories
to the big screen.
Below is a review, through our critical lens, of the films
we had the opportunity to see.
SOMETIMES SADNESS, SOMETIMES REBELLION—An encounter and reflections
in a minimalist tone
Dir. María
Aparicio (Argentina-Spain)
Dante (Roger Kosa) is a historian conducting research in
Spain on the work of another scholar—a Spaniard who, in the early 20th century,
had studied the vicissitudes of the working class and the labour movement in
Argentina. Eva (Eva Bianco), meanwhile, is a filmmaker who has stopped in
Madrid for a few days after attending an event in France. Their encounter lets
the film delve into a reflection that oscillates between personal experience
and the political backdrop of the moment.
Dir. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (Spain-France)
This is a film that arrived with a lot of accolades: it won
the Best Director award at Cannes, took home the Audience Award at the recent
Toronto International Film Festival, and also won an award at the San Sebastián
International Film Festival—and it certainly did not disappoint those of us who
had the opportunity to see it here in Montreal.
The story unfolds across three historical periods: 1932,
1937, and 2017. In the first, a young
man from Granada, born into a high-society family, has applied for membership
in the city’s casino, an institution of great social prestige. The casino’s
board members vote on the application by assigning white balls (acceptance) or
black balls (rejection). The young man receives a majority of black balls. The
reason for the rejection is the applicant’s alleged homosexuality.
The theme of homosexuality runs through the other time
periods, which are in turn intertwined: the young recruit in the nationalist
forces who must guard a wounded republican officer from whom he is tasked with
extracting information, and the frustrated playwright in 2017 who must suddenly
tie up the loose ends that will lead to the discovery of the lost pages of a
play by Federico García Lorca.
The narrative structure is impeccable and subtly guides the
viewer to uncover the plot’s connections, like a game where, in the end, all
the pieces fall into place. In the process, however, love's persistence emerges
as the common thread running through each character’s story. We dare to call it
a masterpiece.
LE VERTIGE —With a bold technique and a story that’s just as
dizzying
Dir. Quentin Dupieux (France)
The director uses an animation technique in which the
movements are deliberately uncoordinated—like animated photographs where the
continuity is sometimes slow—which, in turn, contributes to the story’s
absurdist atmosphere.
From that premise, a series of events unfolds that
ultimately shows us how an entire movement of devoted followers can be created
around a skillfully crafted scheme. Another form of social manipulation, in
essence.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JO—Everything happens so fast…
Dir. Jacqueline Lentzou (Greece-France-Germany)
Jo (Josephine) is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her
mother. That day, things aren’t going well: she misses the bus to school, her
mother refuses to drive her, and scolds her for not getting up earlier. Once at
school—where she isn’t exactly a model student—she is suddenly captivated
during music class by the voice and unique personality of a classmate, Phaedra,
who, in addition to having a wonderful voice, has tastes very different from
her own and those of her friends. This leads Jo to arrange to meet her new
friend after school.
After school, Jo runs into her boyfriend and some other
friends, but things don’t go as she expected.
This is a film that, through strong performances and a story
that raises questions at every turn, ultimately shows us how quickly life can
pass, leaving many things unfinished.
THE DAY WE EMBRACED THE UNIVERSE—A silly story, a poor
performance, but it seems to have a following
Dir. Kenichi Ugana (Japan)
There isn’t much to say about this movie, whose story is
very simple: strange creatures that look like stuffed animals are invading
Earth. They are, however, merely an advance guard for other characters who,
under the command of a queen of the universe, have come to destroy the human
race. The reason is said to be humans' careless treatment of the planet—an
obvious environmental message that serves as a pretext.
The story itself—and even more so the acting—is poor,
leading us to declare this film the worst we’ve seen.
THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (LE JOURNAL D’UNE FEMME DE
CHAMBRE)—A classic story with modern twists
Dir. Radu Jude
(Romania-France)
This new adaptation of Octave Mirbeau’s novel (Luis Buñuel
had filmed a version in 1964) is interesting in that it introduces new
elements, particularly the fact that the chambermaid is not a girl from the
provinces, but rather, in this case, a Romanian immigrant, Gianina (Ana
Dumitrascu), who has left her daughter behind in her home country, promising to
visit her by the end of the year.
The film presents Gianina’s story in a way that easily draws
the viewer in; the beautiful actress’s performance is very solid and
convincing.
SHUMEI: THE LIVING LEGACY OF KABUKI—Between theatre and ritual
Dir. Takashi Miike (Japan)
This documentary offers a fascinating exploration of kabuki,
a traditional form of theatre that has evolved in Japan over the centuries. The
film focuses on Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII, the actor who has succeeded his father
in a long and traditional dynasty of Kabuki performers. He, in turn, introduces
his five-year-old son, who will also follow the path of an art form that
incorporates a significant amount of ritual.
WHERE THE RIVER BEGINS – Social reality and the mysterious nature
Dir. Juan Andrés
Arango (Colombia-Canada)
Undoubtedly, this powerful film brings two elements together
to form a poetic synthesis: the social reality of a Colombia still ravaged by
violence and poverty in the slums of Bogotá, and the lush, mysterious jungle
the protagonists enter in search of salvation.
Yajaira (Girlesa Duave Cerezo), a young Indigenous woman
from the Emberá community, lives with her parents and her daughter in a poor
Bogotá slum. Overwhelmed by the violence
surrounding her, she decides to leave the city with her 9-year-old daughter.
She is joined by a white boy (Juan David Junca Linares), who is also on the
margins of society and belongs to a gang that has just had an armed
confrontation with another local gang. The film narrates, with great visual
beauty, the journey of the two young people and the girl into the deep jungle,
during which a bitter secret that the young guy has been carrying will also be
revealed.
BITTER CHRISTMAS—Almodóvar dissects the creative process
Dir. Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
The Spanish director had already dissected the creative
process in his previous film, Pain and Glory (2019). While his approach on that
occasion was more introspective, in this new film he takes a more detached
stance by employing the technique of making “two films in one,” so to speak. At
the beginning, we see Elsa (Bárbara Lennie), a filmmaker now working in
advertising, and her partner, Bonifacio—or simply Beau (Patrick Criado)—a
firefighter who works as a stripper at a nightclub on his nights off. However,
we soon discover that this is actually a film that director Raúl Rosetti
(Leonardo Sbaraglia) is trying to finish but has been hampered by a sudden
creative block. To make matters worse, his chief artistic advisor decides to
quit her job.
A thought-provoking film that will surely cause controversy.
THE ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG — Surviving rituals and prejudice
Dir. Abinash Bikram Shah (Nepal-France-Germany-Brazil)
This film tackles an unexpected and certainly controversial topic in its home country: Pirati, a woman in a leadership role—backed by the community’s spiritual leader—faces the dilemma of either fulfilling the expectations of her ritual role or taking the liberty to be with her lover. In her family life, things become complicated by the sudden disappearance of her transgender daughter, Apsara, who has gone missing in a forest inhabited by wild elephants. Although the community initially took a tolerant stance toward young women who work as transvestite prostitutes, that begins to change as prejudices surface and eventually escalate into violence.
This film effectively portrays the dynamics of a small, devoutly Hindu community that is simultaneously grappling with the challenge of living more freely. Excellent cinematography and compelling performances enhance this film.
THE HISTORY OF CONCRETE—Nothing very concrete about it
Dir. John Wilson (United States)
Known for his television documentaries tinged with humour,
this—Wilson’s first feature-length documentary—nevertheless falls short of its
aspirations: it sheds little light on the history of this material, which is
essential to the development of modern cities, and instead veers off into
featuring forgotten nightclub musicians and other topics unrelated to the
supposedly central theme.
Although it initially touches on historical aspects of
concrete’s use dating back to Roman times, the film offers little further
context on a subject with so much to explore: after all, and especially in the
United States, reinforced concrete was essential to the construction of the
skyscrapers that have defined the skyline of American cities like New York and
Chicago. Nor does it mention the material’s vulnerability during the attack on
the Twin Towers in 2001. In short, a
failed attempt to tackle a topic about which much could have been said.
FATHERLAND—An intellectual’s return to a war-torn country
Dir. Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland-Germany-France-Italy)
In our opinion, one of the most powerful films screened at
the festival. Shot in black and white, the film conveys the atmosphere of the
historical period in which the story unfolds: 1949, when Germany lay devastated
by war, and its territory was divided into occupation zones, whose ideological
differences were already becoming apparent.
Against this backdrop, the writer Thomas Mann (Hanns
Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller)—who had been in exile in the
United States during the Nazi era—travel back to their homeland. First to
Frankfurt, in the American occupation zone, where they are welcomed in a
festive atmosphere, and then to Weimar, in the Soviet occupation zone, where
the writer will give a lecture on Goethe, while his hosts try to win his
support for what they call the building of a new Germany.
It is a film that, in turn, prompts reflection on the
effects of war on the people who suffer it and on how people like Mann and his
daughter—both intellectuals capable of seeing beyond appearances, yet at the
same time committed to what is, after all, their homeland—will cope with this
new reality.
***
A FESTIVAL ON SOLID GROUND
In short, we believe that, for both critics and the general
audience, the 55th edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma de Montréal has
once again fulfilled its mission of bringing to the city, on the one hand,
examples of avant-garde cinema that challenge conventions, and, on the other,
works that—within a more conventional thematic and narrative
framework—contribute to the body of cinema as an artistic expression. A fine
selection, without a doubt.
















