LivraisonduCinémaReviews de cine

Yek Tasadef Sadeh by Jafar Panahi Un Simple Accident is by a mile Jafar Panahi’s best film so far - and don’t get me wrong, I remain an avid fan of Taxi and The Circle alike. Panahi is a poet of true freedom, so eager to break away from rudimentary and oppressive regimes, a superb liberal in the best sense of the word, one that many so-called U.S. and European liberals (who have twisted and hollowed out the very concept) should strive to become. The film is mesmerising and nerve-tingling, and I do strongly recommend avoiding anything written about it, not even a one-sentence synopsis, to experience it at its fullest. Encore! Ссылка скрыта

Vive L’Amour by Tsai Ming-liang Rewatching Tsai Ming-liang’s Vive L’Amour (愛情萬歲 / Ài Qíng Wàn Suì) is pure bliss. Probably the world’s greatest cinematic poet of silence, Tsai Ming-liang’s second film is a perennial tale of loneliness in Taipei, of young people locked in tiny prison cells of their self-inflicted pain and solitude, even when they are together. And indeed, no dialogue is needed. This film is as fresh as it gets, an absolute classic from the 90s that hasn’t aged a day in over 30 years. Bravo! Ссылка скрыта

After the Hunt by Luca Guadagnino Such a beautiful yet utterly sad film about the poor state of U.S. academia — extremely liberal, often not by choice, and full of over-sensitized young people who want to bend reality to fit their perceptions of good and bad, right and wrong, and everything in between. A stellar musical score, and a superb performance by Julia Roberts (I never really liked her before), with Michael Stuhlbarg not an inch less brilliant. Overall, though, in the context of today’s realities, I’m very, very sad. But it’s so unique now that a Hollywood director allows himself to be morally ambiguous and not totally preaching. Ссылка скрыта

Compulsion by Neil Marshall Oh wow. Neil Marshall, the iconic horror filmmaker and the author of Dog Soldiers and The Descent, made perhaps the best tribute ever to Italian giallo cinema — I’d even say to Dario Argento’s classics from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. The camera style and shot angles; a very particular 80s electronic synth score; Argento’s signature killer scenes in POV, the unapologetic “torture porn” of sharp objects piercing though flesh; several Italian actors / actresses speaking English with heavy accents; the unrestrained erotic tension coupled with sometimes poorly scripted dialogue (yet for classic Italian thrillers this is an essential feature — it makes you focus more on the gore and the macabre); even the very font of the credits… it is all so perfectly styled — and beautiful, if you get it. This is a film buff’s dream: a feast for the senses and the ultimate post-modern tribute to the great Italian genre. No moralizing, just pure sensation. And to make it even more insane, Marshall decided to introduce probably the longest and definitely one of the bloodiest stabbing scenes cinema has ever seen. The only thing I can compare it to, in terms of intensity, is maybe Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, when the underpass scene with Monica Bellucci made audiences twitch and look away — or the absolute rawness of Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video and the original Funny Games. Insane, really. A must-watch for giallo cineastes. Not for mainstream audiences. Ссылка скрыта

Jeepers Creepers 2 by Victor Salva So interesting that this horror movie has aged so well, just like pre-Parker Bordeaux. I didn’t like it after its release; it felt too gory and too grotesque after the sly, smirky tone of the original, too direct. Just as Kevin Williamson decreed in Scream 2: “By definition alone, sequels are inferior films.” And yet - hey, a pleasant surprise 20 years later. Ссылка скрыта

Jeepers Creepers by Victor Salva One of the coolest horror movies of the naughts. Absolute pleasure to watch. Brrrr Ссылка скрыта

China Moon by John Bailey Oh, this lovely and rare moment when a supposedly mediocre crime thriller from the early ’90s – a total studio flop – ages into a beautiful, classically made film noir in the style of the ’30s and ’40s, rendered in gorgeous, non-digital colors. Making Billy Wilder proud. Ссылка скрыта

The Witch by Robert Eggers Atmospheric medieval horror movie by Eggers, dark and spooky like hell (even when the skies are lit up), with no good folks here in the forest, all ‘em supposedly God-fearing people are wild, cruel, and wicked. No prayer leads to salvation, huh. Utterly enjoyable. Ссылка скрыта

The Wizard of Lies by Barry Levinson I’m surprised how socialist-leaning Hollywood filmmakers allow themselves—slightly, or even not so slightly—to compare Bernie Madoff to Ted Bundy, when Madoff’s main crime was just taking money in a Ponzi scheme, from rich and poor alike. Shouldn’t these people depose money and everything that comes with it? And I really dislike Robert De Niro lately — his best work is surely far behind him, and his socialist views are, well… ugh. Ссылка скрыта