- THE ZONE OF INTEREST
It's not a movie that grabs you by the heart, but by the mind. There's two movies here: the one you watch and the one you can hear. It plays like a documentary feature in a way that you simply watch the everyday's lives of a German family whose patriarch is charged with the management of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The almost fairy-tale like life of the family hosting parties and taking care of a beautiful garden and a very confortable home contrasts with the horrific sounds of something you cannot see but you know it's coming from the other side of the wall that separates the family from the people in the concentration camp. Mica Levi's score will be haunting you for days, as it will the sound work. In the cinematography department, the camera angles create a detachment from the characters, making the audience a simple viewer, like you are watching a reality show. Still, it's a satire you can relate with multiple things right now - the ability of living a normal and happy life when there's death, pain and horrific things happening right next to you. It's about the lack of empathy. It's about selfishness. It's one of the most urgent films of the last couple of years and it is oh so simple, yet oh so effective. Flawless vision and execution by Jonathan Glazer, who proves to be one of the most singular auteurs working these days. The Zone of Interest won't earn you by the heart, but by the mind, by the sense of guilt. It's a cinematic punch!
R: 9/10
- NYAD
It's a light drama about pushing boundaries and aiming for glory, led by the always great Annette Bening, but Nyad is Jodie Foster's show for me. Quite basic visual effects, a plotline we feel we have already watched before and a "follow your dreams no matter what age you are"-kind of inspirational message. It can be cheesy sometimes, but it is not bad. It fails to reach brilliance, but it never missteps. Bening brings the dramatic intensity of a woman determined to suprass ageism and to prove herself - she has a couple of pretty good moments, with some "punchy" lines, making the most of what's given to her. As for Jodie Foster, she brings charisma and a luminous turn as the lead's best friend - a thankless role that would fail in the hands of a less capable actress, but Foster proves she's one of the best and she elevates the scene every time the camera points at her. It's impressive, actually - and she's able to shine even brighter than Bening. In the end, Nyad is just a buddy-feel-good movie with some very good acting - and while that's not impressive, it's quite okay.
R: 6,5/10
- MEAN GIRLS
It fails to bring the hormone-craziness of the original movie and it settles itself somewhere between being just a GenZ remake and embracing the flashy nature of the musical genre. It adds nothing to the previous material and Angourie Rice can't quite fill the shoes of Lindsay Lohan at her prime: Rice proves to be great as the good ingénue who comes from Africa to have her American high-school experience, but she can't quite channel the spicy and mean spirit required for the second half of her character's arc. The musical numbers don't come with fluidity between the scenes and everything looks cheap here! The best thing about this Mean Girls? It gives us Renée Rapp - the Regina George of GenZ times, Rapp is smart to distance herself enough from Rachel McAdams previous interpretation of the same character, but she also pays homage to the character as she embraces THAT certain mean spice that suits the confidence she exudes in every scene she's on. Rapp's musical numbers are also the best parts of the whole movie - it's rare to find an actress as charismatic as Rapp these days, but she has "it"! A star in the making and one of the most exciting new performers I have seen recently. Two words for this Mean Girls: Renée Rapp!
R: 4/10
- MAESTRO
A movie with an identity crisis in many ways. What begins with a clear (and beautiful) reference to the movie musical style, then becomes a conventional and dry biopic. In terms of visual style, the movie looks (and sounds impeccable): gorgeous cinematography by Matthew Libatique, beautiful costume design work (courtesy of the always superb Mark Bridges) and some impressive sound editing/mixing work. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is the makeup and hairstyling one: it's showy, but it doesn't make the leads to resemble the real-life characters they are portraying. Instead, the resemblance comes from the way both Cooper and Mulligan chanel Leonard and Felicia: outstanding acting work, with Cooper being able to show Bernstein's magnetism with a charismatic acting turn as a man who loves to be the centerpiece of his own show, while Mulligan is typically amazing in an affecting and sensitive dramatic approach to a woman dealing with the many issues of her husband. Don't get me wrong, Cooper has yet to suprass his performance in A Star Is Born and Mulligan has yet to suprass her turns in An Education and Wildlife in order for me to claim a new "the performance of his/her career", but their work here is truly outstanding no matter what. I liked Maestro at the very beginning, with its dreamy sequences and a beating heart - I wasn't expecting it to turn into a Wikipedia-esque biopic that touches everything but it doesn't delves deep into the many complex dimensions of Leonard Bernstein. Maestro is an unfulfilled cinematic promise. I blame it on the screenplay.
R: 4,5/10
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