Music & Films for
Common People
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10
FOXTROT
Dir. Samuel Maoz
Samuel Maoz's second feature, is, above all, daring. He takes constant bold decisions that challenge conventions and offer beautiful images; if not all of these choices have the same rate of success, at least one can't deny the guts he had to craft something unique and truly memorable.
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Told as a triptych that plays with narrative time, with a good style variations to separate and contrast the three parts: if we face intense and very intimate drama in the beginning and end, the middle part is a sardonic portrait of Israeli war with a much more vibrant and experimental narrative approach.
With extreme-close ups and adventurous camera angles and movements, Maoz is able to create a particular mood that get us into the state of mind of the characters.
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9
AU REVOIR LÀ-HAUTE
(See you up there) Dir. Albert Dupontel
Dupontel offers a story with a clever criticism of war as a business and the way that powerful men send others to die for their privileges, but his storytelling attacks corrupt social structures in quite a joyous way, with humor that lights the dark themes with a good dose of fantasy details (Amélie-style).
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And to support his amusing story and remarkable characters, Dupontel makes his camera a tool for storytelling: it flies, jumps, and is in constant movement to create rhythm and immerse us in the world he has created. Uncommon angles and movements, with a perfect use of textures and color make one of the most remarkable cinematographies of the yeat. But it is the attention to detail in the costumes, art direction, and make up what allows such a visual impact in every single shot of the film.
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GIRL
Dir. Lukas Dhont
8
Although it gives us a few good moments that show the social reaction towards a transgender young woman, Girl is mostly about the internal process she has to endure. A fantastic character study where the lead character finds that her two biggest dreams are in conflict with each other. Lukas Dhont makes a fantastic work getting us inside of Lara's world, with a dynamic camera that at times observes and at times dances, that is intimate and that acknowledges that this is a film about the human body and that is not afraid of showing it, but that is subtle and elegant at it.
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But this already great screenplay would be nothing if it wasn't because of the amazing discovery of Victor Polster, the actor who navigates a wide range of emotions and comes more than victorious from a deep internal search of performative truth.
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7
LAZZARO FELICE
(Happy as Lazzaro) Dir. Alice Rohrwacher
Alice Rohrwacher achieves a film that takes the best assets from Classic Italian Cinema but putting them to the service of a refreshing storytelling that is bold and smart at using innocence and tenderness as her weapons to create a powerful criticism of harsh social realities.
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Part a neorrealist social film, part a tale of manners, and part magical realism, Lazzaro Felice dares to juggle with several concepts and styles, but finds a congruent communion among them in order to tell a story about innocence. A rich cinematography embraces the rural environment and supports the joyful and sweet vision of the film, and Rohrwacher know exactly how much time to take in order to enjoy the details and giving space for their characters to expand, while not making the narrative slow and boring.
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6
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Dir. Martin McDonagh
What sets this film apart from other revenge-seeking movies is the smart approach it has and its complex and well-written characters. Our "heroine", is far from being the best mother and her language and behavior could be very questionable, but that is what make her very human. We're never manipulated to like this woman for her suffering or her stoicism, but because she takes action and is determined to expose a system that allows unpunished rapes and murders.
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It's tone of black comedy is also something to applaud. It is extremely politically incorrect, but in a way that questions and exhibits the vices of Deep America. Sam Rockwell's character is appalling in his racism and bigotry, an uneducated man that happens to have some power, but it is he who ends up being the joke.
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5
ZIMNA WOJNA
(Cold War) Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski
Zimna Wojna is entirely a tribute to classic cinema, Pawlikowski delivers a traditional love story relying on very formal techniques, both in its narrative and aesthetics, exploring the impossibility to love within a totalitarian regime. Relying on the two main characters, developing their emotions in a way that makes us think of Kieslowski, but also chic and sexy in the best Fellini style. This film is a reminder on how great is classic cinema without effectism, just the power of good storytelling and the impact of perfect images.
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Over all, it is a beautiful film to watch, sophisticated and smart, a masterclass in composition and use of light for a black and white film. it is short and focused, not allowing superficial digressions; every dialogue, every camera movement, every musical note is there for a very well thought reason.
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4
BLACKKKLANSMAN
Dir. Spike Lee
Spike Lee creates his sharpest film in years, a frontal confrontation to the rise of white supremacism by going back in history to the times of the Ku Klux Klan, but with a surprising approach: a comedy (of very dark humor) about a black policeman that manages to infiltrate in the Klan.
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The screenplay is the biggest asset of the film, tackling such a difficult topic in the smartest way possible, and managing to empower people rather than making them feel miserable about the atrocities that have been committed by racial hate. But beyond the story, Lee takes a lot of narrative and visual inspiration from Blaxploitation films, remembering those first films that managed to have a black character as the lead. A moving, fierce and hilarious film that effectively ties a horrible page of our past with the horrible page we're writing in the present.
3
DOGMAN
Dir. Matteo Garrone
What it takes for a good man to make something atrocious? Pretty much that's the simple premise on Matteo Garrone's new film. From the opening scene, the director is able to give us a precise glimpse on who's this guy, what are his virtues, and what will be the reason why he'll eventually be driven to a spiral of madness. A strong character construction might be the best virtue of the film, for which Marcello Fonte won the Best Actor in this year's Cannes Film Festival.
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The interactions between Marcello Fonte and Edoardo Pesce, who plays his gangster ultra-violent friend, are quite enjoyable, the mismatch of characters, both in physical appearance and personality, makes for delightful scenes that most of the time play with dark humor to show the ridicule on human comedy. A couple of great performances that help each other to shine by opposition.
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THE SHAPE OF WATER
Dir. Guillermo del Toro
2
Guillermo del Toro has proved several times that he is able to create fantastic worlds that transport us outside of our reality to inhabit in them for a few hours. For The Shape of Water, he goes for a dark fairytale very rich in its metaphors towards otherness, and the hate speech that people with power use to subject those who are not like them; a political statement in times where walls, bans and brutality are making a resurgence in world politics. The Shape of Water is a tale about communication, understanding, diversity and standing for those who are tormented because of who they are.
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Every single scene is crafted in such a meticulous way, that is as if a visual feast was deployed in front of our eyes. He creates a "submerged" environment thanks to his superb use of the color green, both in the tinted cinematography, and in the production design.
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ROMA
Dir. Alfonso Cuarón
1
Written, directed, produced, photographed and edited by Cuarón himself, it might be one of the most extreme examples of an auteur film, not only because of his intense involvement in every aspect of the film, but also by the personal trademark that he was able to imprint in it and the closeness of the story to his personal life.
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An interesting exploration of class relations in Latin America, and a reliable (but yet, romanticized) testament of the lifestyle, manners and events of a specific time and place. The beautiful cinematography on black an white knows how to best capture the great research done to bring back to life a city from the recent past from the production and costumes design.Every single shot is so carefully designed to find infinite beauty even in the most insignificant and common acts
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