In Fear (2013)

Directed by: Jeremy Lovering
Country: UK

Movie Review: After the experience gained with TV series, Jeremy Lovering’s first feature reveals to be a simple but watchable horror film that relies on the same old techniques to impress. After making a stop (shrouded by mystery) in the unique pub of a remote Irish city, Tom and Lucy hit the deserted and mazy country roads with the intention of finding a house hotel. Driving in circles and running out of gas, the couple’s apprehension and uneasiness will be noticeable in their facial expressions when the night falls, spectral appearances start to occur, and an uninvited guest joins them to give every indication. The concept is far from being new, but the film gains some points by causing some chills and excitement through nocturnal images of the roads surrounded by woods, only illuminated by the car´s lights. The doubt about what happened in the pub and the uncertainty of what’s coming next never abandoned me, with the question if the threat was coming from this world or from another starting to emerge in my head. Minimal in terms of plot and execution, sparse in intentions, and evincing an efficient camera handling, “In Fear” makes of ambiguity its better tool to scare, well sustained by dim light images and a balanced alternation between silences and music. Considering the low budget and minimum resources, the film partly succeeds, even not unclasping the habitual stereotypes of the genre.

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Grand Piano (2013)

Directed by: Eugenio Mira
Country: Spain

Movie Review: Spanish thriller “Grand Piano” stars Elijah Wood as Tom Selznick, a talented pianist who returns to concerts after a five-year hiatus due to an almost incontrollable stage fright. Accusing the responsibility of having his fans and media with an eye on him, Tom cannot hide his deepest fear but this time seems decided to cause good impression. He just wasn’t prepared to be threatened with death by an alleged hitman who forbade him to play a single wrong note during the concert. Emma, his famous wife sitting in the audience, becomes another easy target for the madman who communicates with the musician via cell-phone, while he plays the most difficult pieces of his mentor, Gudureaux. Tension is mixed with an unconvincing, humorous tone that never causes the desired effects of involving us in the implausible and forced situations, hopelessly impossible to be taken seriously. Throughout the entire concert, Tom communicates with his persecutor through an earpiece, occasionally stopping to play and leaving the room in order to find the man’s identity and motives. While the band keeps playing, a ridiculous game of cat and mouse is created, and we breathe an unnatural atmosphere that in nothing contributes to elevate its far-fetched plot written by Damien Chazelle (“The Last Exorcism Part II”, “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”) whose next directorial feature “Whiplash” is very much awaited. I only found “Grand Piano” slightly entertaining, becoming an ‘out of tune’ piece of cinema within the ‘songbook’ of the genre.

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The Artist and the Model (2012)

Directed by: Fernando Trueba
Country: Spain / France

Movie Review: Renowned Spanish helmer Fernando Trueba has a gentle style of filmmaking, and that’s noticeable in “The Artist and the Model”. However, this drama shot in an appealing black-and-white, is not at the same level as his big hit from 1993, “La Belle Epoque”, or the absorbing musical animation from four years ago, “Chico & Rita”. If the two films mentioned before were quite passionate in the way they express themselves, this one seems to lack some confidence and the results are lucid but restrained. The story, set in an occupied France in the early 40's, follows a famous aging sculptor whose long-time discouragement vanishes after his wife finds the perfect model for him: a young fugitive girl from Reus, Catalonia. Beautiful, shy, and restive, this girl will create a special bond with the persistent artist, at the same time that she takes actively part in the war, helping Jews to flee to Spain. Despite of this last factor, all was depicted with a relaxed pace and a quietness that dangerously approaches to sleepiness. The few events depicted in the film, like the unexpected visit of an SS officer or the hiding of a wounded soldier, weren’t sufficiently strong to give a shake into monotony and the results nothing have to do with enthrallment. Trueba wrote the plot conjointly with screenwriter/actor Jean-Claude Carrière, and the film was nominated for 13 categories of Goya Awards, including best film, screenplay, actor, actress, cinematography, and director.

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Concrete Night (2013)

Directed by: Pirjo Honkasalo
Country: Finland / others

Movie Review: Ultimately dedicated to documentaries, Finnish helmer Pirjo Honkasalo returns to fictional drama with the stylish “Concrete Night”, 15 years after “Fire-Eater”. Based on the novel of the same name by Pirkko Saisio, the plot was effectively composed in the grey atmosphere of Helsinki, where 14-year-old Simo (Johannes Brotherus) lives with his unconcerned mother (Anneli Karppinen) and older brother Ilkka (Jari Virman), who is about to go to prison due to drug dealing. Simo shows a great admiration for his harsh, pessimistic, and lost brother, being negatively influenced by everything he does or says. The film, magnificently photographed in black-and-white, is loaded with dreamlike tones and enhances the alienation where its characters are sunk. The opening scene that shows Simo’s nightmare, getting trapped underwater, starts to make sense as the film approaches its end. It was a product of the negativism and disillusion of his brother’s theories, which were based on become free of hope, not expecting tomorrow, and devalue the human being’s existence. The predestinated arrival of a homosexual neighbor, who was living abroad, seemed to have been the last straw to make Simo explode from all the restrained anger and disenchantment of his young life. Despite philosophical allusions to love, fear, and future, the story is very simple and definitely casted some spell on me, with its mirrors, glasses, water, and creative details. It belongs to those ones dark, poetic, and beautiful…

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Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Country: UK / USA / others

Movie Review: Acclaimed indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch opens his contemporary vampire tale with a great shot: camera moving in circles following the movement of a vinyl record spinning, and showing the two protagonists, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), both vampires who are in love for centuries, but currently live physically separated. While she runs through narrow alleys in Tangier to find her blood dealer, he drives across the dark roads of Detroit to reach the hospital where he buys blood. Stating their appetite with their favorite drug, they show the pointed canines with pleasure and ecstasy. After speaking with each other, Eve senses the depression and discouragement of Adam who plans to kill himself with a 38-caliber bullet made of dense wood. She decides to be with him, but the arrival of Eve’s sister, Ava (Mia Masikowska), will bring uneasiness and trouble. Well-set scenarios help to compose the almost lyrical, contemplative atmosphere, adorned with medieval sounds and psychedelic rock. Don’t expect standard vampires, since the ones depicted here are more mature, controlled, and artistically cultivated. Only Ava showed not to be in the same level as the others, obeying to her strongest impulses and behaving irresponsibly. Many factors made me identify “Only Lovers Left Alive” as a Jarmusch film. Despite narratively more direct than some of his previous works, and without climax, I found it conceptually more interesting than “Byzantium” and much more adult than “Dark Shadows”.

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Dream and Silence (2012)

Directed by: Jaime Rosales
Country: Spain / France

Movie Review: Fourth feature film by Spanish filmmaker from Barcelona, Jaime Rosales, is an astounding study on family, dreams, and silences that heal. With influences of Robert Bresson and Victor Erice, Rosales presents us magnificent sequential segments drawn by preponderant steady shots, and bold camera movements (like moving in the opposite direction of its characters towards the unknown, or lurking insistently whether from afar or closely). In a contrasted black-and-white, the image sequences seemed to disperse themselves from time to time (following its characters), leaving to the viewers the task of putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Yolanda is a Spanish teacher in France, where she lives with her architect husband, Oriol, and two daughters. A terrible accident in Spain will make irreversible changes in their lives. The way Rosales found to tell such a simple story is simply ingenious and almost surreal. The calmness presented in several details from everyday life and some conversations, don’t let us forget the depressive states of despair and anguish in the case of Yolanda, or the strange and laid-back behavior in the case of Oriol in face of problems. I felt completely immersed in its enigmatic structure, insinuations, and occasionally abrupt silences. “Dream and Silence”, in its elegant and distinctive disposition, shall delight art-house lovers, as well as enthusiasts of unconventional storytelling.

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Stalingrad (2013)

Directed by: Fedor Bondarchuk
Country: Russia

Movie Review: Shot in 3D for IMAX format, Russian WWII blockbuster “Stalingrad” is excessively graphical and noisy, relying on a deficient narrative to depict the drama lived in 1942 by a group of Russian soldiers in order to keep a strategic building in their possession, after the German onslaught. Some images are grotesque and completely out of reality, like angered soldiers in flames shooting incessantly, and constant use of slow motion to depict the battle scenes, where extremely saturated colors and an ornate composition give a non-natural air to the picture. Through silent ambushes or explosive offensives, the war scenes conveyed fierceness but not exactly reality. At certain point, soldiers from both sides were fighting over the two women stuck inside the building, and not even the story about the five fathers of the narrator, or the explanation on how a famous tenor became cold and cruel after volunteer himself, were interesting enough. Filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk preferred the elaborated methods, so misleading and exhaustive, to the simple ones capable to create a suspenseful atmosphere. I also can’t choose a performance that has stood out, since everybody seemed lost among the debris. The score composed by the acclaimed Angelo Badalamenti, widely known for his work in David Lynch’s movies, did its part without surprise. Assuredly, “Stalingrad” doesn’t make justice to one of the most important and bloodiest battles of WWII.

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