July 8th
Sundown
Compartment Number 6
Yara (streaming on Netflix)
The Girl from Oslo - (just a mention of a great Netflix series)
Two very strong cinema releases are here this week. Plus ongoing offerings from good ol' Netflix. Advance notification: the Scandinavian Film Festival will be starting next week.
Sundown
Dir: Michel Franco
Length: 82 mins
 |
© Kismet - the ever-impressive Tim Roth
gives us a mystery-shrouded character |
Neil (Tim Roth) is on holiday at an exclusive resort in Mexico with Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and two kids in their late teens. When Alice's mother suddenly dies the holiday is cut short. At the airport Neil announces he left his passport at the hotel, leaving Alice to return to London alone. But it's a ruse and Neil stays on, indulging in beer, the local lifestyle, and hooking up with local lass Berenice (Iazua Larios). No more clues from me as to why; suffice to say this is an almost existential story that centres on the mystery of what is driving (or not driving) the seemingly lackadaisical Neil. The power of the film is in the gradual unpeeling of the layers of the onion, as director Franco teases us in revealing the truth incrementally. As a picture of the seediness, poverty and criminality of aspects of Mexican life, there is a lot on display, but at heart the film is about Neil. Tim Roth is brilliant as Neil, who, rather than doing, simply spends his time being. The subtlety of Roth's performance is a revelation. This is the sort of film where by the end, the whole adds up to even more than its parts.
4 - highly recommended
Compartment Number 6
Dir: Juho Kuosmanen
Length: 107 mins
 |
© Transmission - a small
gem of a film |
Winner of the 2021 Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Grand Prix at Cannes (plus umpteen other awards) this is a quirky little gem of a film. Finnish girl Laura, (Seidi Haarla) is travelling north on a Russian train to the Arctic circle. Her girlfriend Irina was supposed to come but has stayed behind in Moscow. Laura wants to visit the 10,000 year-old petroglyphs in the frozen town of Murmansk. Her companion in the cramped compartment is Russian mining worker Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov), and from the get-go it looks like they could be a match made in hell. But things take an unexpected turn as the hard drinking, chain-smoking obnoxious Ljoha gets Laura talking about her life, and, on a stopover, even takes her to visit an old woman, a friend of his, who is full of worldly wisdom. This is one of those low-key slice of life films that surprises, constantly, as it goes along. The fact that so little happens and yet I became so engaged is testament to the strength of the direction and the acting. Ultimately the film taps into something about finding the common humanity that binds us and helps us get in touch with our deeper, sometimes hidden, self. 4 - highly recommended
Yara
Dir: Marco Tullio Giordano
Length: 96 mins
Streaming on Netflix
 |
© Netflix - solid police drama based
upon a true crime in Italy |
In a small Italian town 12 years ago, a 13-year-old girl Yara goes missing on her way back from gym training. When the body is found some months later, a determined prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri (Isabella Ragonese) introduces an innovative DNA testing procedure to track down the killer, via relatives who share a stand-out genetic quirk. This is based upon a true story which shocked Italians everywhere. The strength of the movie is underpinned by Ragonese's performance as a woman who simply will not give up, despite male authorities suggesting men could do the job better. The film offers an interesting take on a ground-breaking DNA-driven investigation, and has enough tension for those who love a solid crime procedural.3.5 - well recommended
And one more thing . . . .
The Girl From Oslo
10 part series Streaming on Netflix
 |
| © Netflix - a gripping hostage drama |
No, I'm not getting into the business of reviewing series (that could take ten lifetimes!) but I have fallen under the bingeing spell of this terrific Norwegian/Israeli drama about a Norwegian girl, and an Israeli brother and sister taken hostage by ISIS while they are holidaying in the Sinai. Secrets, deals, negotiations and double-crosses abound, as the Israeli Secret Service and defence forces, ISIS, Hamas, and the Norwegian parents all jockey to engineer a solution that meets their demands. Performances are uniformly impressive, the tension never abates, and the twists and turns will rope you in. I loved it. 4 - highly recommended
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