POMO

Memory is a small, intimate, deeply felt drama about two wounded souls who find love in each other. The character studies presented by the wonderful Jessica Chastain are always entertaining, but doubly so here. Her performance gave me goosebumps. Peter Sarsgaard is also excellent; you will feel the chemistry between them in their every touch. But the film didn’t have to end so quickly; the characters of the parents and the parallel with childhood could have been further developed, making Memory an even more intense and complex psycho-drama. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

The Royal Hotel spends the whole time heading toward the realm of unpleasant violence and a thriller-survival/horror flick with revenge involving castration, but it stays grounded and avoids those genres in the end. At the same time, however, it’s not some kind of sophisticated psychological game that could be described as against-the-grain art that cleverly plays with viewers’ expectations. [International Film Festival]

The main character of The Successor has no clue what he is about to inherit. And you will “enjoy” it more with him if don’t know either. The camera practically never leaves him, procedurally following him over the course of several days, when he flies out to settle his deceased father’s affairs, which will change his life. An apt clash of a successful career in the fashion industry with unexpected negative events that could happen to any of us, albeit with a vanishingly small probability. This film would be interesting in the formalistic rendering of, for example, Michael Haneke, but in this conventional genre form, it reliably knocks us out thanks to its great subject matter and surprising twists. A very likely candidate for a Hollywood remake. [San Sebastian IFF]

The Danish Braveheart, or everything that we could have hoped for from a historical drama starring Mads Mikkelsen. A principled protagonist with good intentions, whom we identify with and understand, even with his faulty decision-making; the two women who love him (one platonically); an adopted vagabond girl who brings family values into the story; a villain whom we would gladly disembowel even at the risk of losing our own freedom. Most of the film’s runtime is filled with safe, predictable clichés, but the inner motivations and fortunes of all of the characters ultimately and meaningfully intersect in the cathartic and emotional climax with a nice intellectual reach. The Promised Land is a powerful film that’s worthy of the big screen. [San Sebastian IFF]

An endearing though somewhat whiny and not very distinctive melancholic comedy about three New Yorkers – a father and his two sons – who are bumbling around in solitude, a disintegrating relationship and a marriage, respectively. Ex-Husbands offers hints of Woody Allen’s dark humor and the human warmth of James L. Brooks, but without any scenes or acting performances that would give it flair and make it more memorable. [San Sebastian IFF]

Shot in 4:3 format, this austerely staged drama is set in the inhospitable environment of Tierra del Fuego in the historical period of its cruel colonization. The Settlers is minimalist in terms of its imagery and acting, and raw in the brutality of its violence and sexual deviancy. The character of the Scottish lieutenant, with Sam Spruell aptly cast in the role, is the satisfying highlight of the film’s gloomy and depraved spirit. The rousing applause from the Iberophone audience at the festival screening indicated how important such reflection on the darker sides of South American history is for them. All nations must deal with their past to some extent. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

A subtle narrative covering two social themes – the absurd situation of a school system in which children have more rights than teachers, and queer issues in the form of a frightened child starting to become aware of his own sexuality. And all of this in observing several key moments in the academic setting from the multiple perspectives of those involved, whose personal and professional lives are affected the events depicted. Monster is a superbly written dialogue film with quiet, powerful moments. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

An intimately off-kilter but likeably original idea rendered into a rather traditional melodramatic cliché about society’s inability to accept otherness in its ranks. And about a couple who find kinship as they struggle with provincial obtuseness. The French are not afraid of anything. If the courage of the director/screenwriter had been applied also to the unexpected and appropriately shocking conclusion of the story, the film would have left a more substantial mark on the festival scene. [San Sebastian International Film Festival]

This dark pathological thriller descends into horror not through scares or a sense of dread, but through a chillingly realistic rendering of a disturbing subject. With its atmospherically appropriate setting in gloomy New York, the film features a creepy lead character superbly stylised by Marin Ireland. The film is psychologically balanced, as the motivations of the two doctor characters are understandable despite the definite crossing of ethical boundaries. Only the directorial guidance of the child actress is weak, and the film’s conclusion lazily avoids the escalation of tension that the viewer expected.

Maika Monroe is the only one who sort of holds together this pretty dysfunctional drama about the search for an abducted daughter / thriller about a struggle between mortals and a gang of crackpot goons / unexpected romance between two emotional castaways. God Is a Bullet is quite inept in terms of its use of emotion and suspense, not to mention the comically inappropriate brutality and unsuccessful effort to shock with eccentric bad guys, among which only Karl Glusman hands in an impressive performance. And Jamie Foxx is surprising in a supporting role. Otherwise, there’s not much of value here. The dialogue is superficial, the directing is disjointed and the main character played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is lifeless.