Populaire (2012)

Directed by: Régis Roinsard
Country: France

Movie Review: “Populaire”, the directorial debut by Régis Roinsard gains in ambition in the same proportion as lacks in creativity. It’s a kitsch recreation of the American romantic comedies from the 50’s, set up with frenetic boogie rhythms and jazz standards in the background. The last thing Rose (Déborah François) wants is to live in her small hometown, working for her father and marry the son of the local gas station's owner. Feeling pressured, Rose decides to go to Paris and become a secretary, a dream that will come true after being hired by Louis Echard (Romain Duris), an eternal bachelor who doesn’t sees her as an efficient employee but recognizes her ability to typewrite with an unusual speed. The duo will become successful in speed typewriting contests, and love arrives without surprise, but not everything will be so easy for the couple, since Louis shows decision problems regarding their relationship and tends to restrain his inner feelings. The interest of the film came more from the energy of the contests than the romance itself whose development left me with a sense of déja-vu. Though, its ending statement: ‘Americans for business, and French for love’, doesn’t apply so much as a truth here. With obvious outcomes and far-fetched tones, “Populaire” accomplished its role of crowd-pleaser and entertainer with some charms, most of them coming from the reliable performances.

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Touchy Feely (2013)

Directed by: Lynn Shelton
Country: USA

Movie Review: After the relatively successful “My Sister’s Sister”, Lynn Shelton returns to screenwriting and direction with “Touchy Feely”, a sweetish drama about human connection, pursuit of happiness, and energy benefits. The story is focused on three relatives: Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a massage therapist whose occasional aversion to body contact hampers her from working or having a normal relationship, and is pondering to take ecstasy pills as a solution; her brother Paul (Josh Pais), a dentist whose apathy suddenly changes to a sort of healing touch after he has discovered reiki energy; and finally the latter’s daughter, Jenny (Ellen Page), who wants to study and is not happy to work for her father at the dental office. Shelton applied sad, depressive, and self-pity tones to depict all the characters, which was a bit annoying. The few times that she tried to take advantage on some humor, the scenes simply didn’t work, and the story remained lost in its despaired question of ‘what can I do with my life to feel better?’. In its final part, the confusion in the characters’ heads changed to a clear insight and the plot ran into a controlled mess of intentions and behaviors that seemed quite unbalanced. Ironically, by seeing so many disconnections, I wasn’t able to connect with this story. Perhaps a movie about the power of energy should have been less faint and more dynamic, with or without ecstasy pills...

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Northwest (2013)

Directed by: Michael Noer
Country: Denmark

Movie Review: Without being particularly original, “Northwest” gives a good notion of the multiracial conflicts in the Northwest’s Copenhagen's underworld. Casper is a 18-year-old burglar who works for Jamal, the leader of an Arab gang that controls the black market in town. Casper’s younger brother, Andy, isn’t very much welcome in the group, having inclusively some problems with Ali, a dangerous thug and Jamal's right-hand. Fed up of being tricked by the Arabs, Casper accepts a job's proposition made by Bjorn, a local drug dealer who also runs a prostitution business. Little by little, Casper involves his brother in these organized crime scenarios, but will have to deal with Jamal who starts to intimidate them. More about Casper and Andy’s personalities will be revealed when they are assigned to kill Jamal in his hiding place and things get out of control. Stepping known territories, “Northwest” revealed sufficient rawness and energy to be considered an efficient action-crime film. Helmer Michael Noer, who co-directed “R” with Tobias Lindholm in 2010, was capable of mixing racial and family issues in an engaging way, making us follow the story with expectation. Real brothers Gustav and Oscar Dyekjaer Giese did a great job, in a film that probably won’t be a reference in the genre but which offers interesting and believable situations.

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Crystal Fairy (2013)

Directed by: Sebastián Silva
Country: Chile

Movie Review: After the failure “Magic Magic”, it was with enormous satisfaction that I saw Chilean helmer Sebastián Silva returning to his best with “Crystal Fairy”, a cool trip into the world of drugs, friendship, and compassion. The film was co-produced by the cult-director Pablo Larraín, author of authentic gems such as “Tony Manero”, “Post Mortem”, and “No”, and its approach comes much closer from the looseness of “Magic Magic” rather than the rigor of “The Maid”. The story, set in Chile, begins with the weird Jamie (Michael Cera) doing drugs in a party where he strikes up a conversation with Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffman), a hippie girl under the effect of acid. Without any real intention, Jamie gives his phone number and tells her about his plans to go on a trip to the North with his friends on the next day. Without losing time, Crystal Fairy joined the group towards the adventure but her presence seems to mean trouble. Very funny situations were created when Crystal made herself too comfortable in front of the boys, talking about energy, meditation, and chakras, or when they go desperately looking for San Pedro, a cactus known for its hallucinogenic properties. Near the end, the tempers get hot, paranoia arises due to drugs, and many sad truths are revealed. With a confident moving camera, Silva, who won the directing award at Sundance, mixes humor, drama, and adventure, in a believable portrait about a wandering, lost soul. Cera and Hoffman were simply irreproachable in their roles.

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Night Across The Street (2012)

Directed by: Raoul Ruiz
Country: Chile / France

Movie Review: Raoul Ruiz was able to finish “Night Across The Street” before he dies at the age of 70, making it a meaningful goodbye in a great career. Certainly it was not a coincidence that Ruiz had returned to its origins, Chile, to make this reflective and ironic film about time, life, and death. By mixing real and surreal aspects, he encloses everything that he considers life, through the story of Celso (Sergio Hernandéz), his main character. Celso is one step closer to retirement and seems disoriented with that fact, keeping the mind constantly occupied with visits to his childhood. In these frequent absences from reality, he contacts with the writer Jean Giono, the musician Beethoven, or the pirate John Long Silver, three great storytellers, according to him. These fictional scenes are intertwined with other that we assume to be real. It was almost if Ruiz had an urge to share all his collected knowledge throughout the years; history, politics, cinema, dreams, technology, landscape change, spiritualism, love, and even a crime subplot in a doomed house; everything was a good pretext to tell us about life. But the occasional sound of an alarm clock is still there to take him away from his cinematic dreams and remind him that lifetime has reaching an end. Beautifully shot using faint lights and a profound sense of nostalgia, this surrealist film wouldn’t make Buñuel or Fellini ashamed of its haunting inaccessibility.

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This Is Martin Bonner (2013)

Directed by: Chad Hartigan
Country: USA

Movie Review: In this drama, written and directed by Chad Hartigan, we can see two men trying to restart their lives in two different ways. Martin Bonner (Paul Enhoorn) is in his late 50’s, and with stubborn determination is doing the best he can to reconstruct his life in Reno, Nevada, where he moved after a painful divorce that left him broke. He left two children in Maryland: a daughter, with whom he speaks often on the cellphone, and a son who runs a gallery and never has time for his dad. Now working for a charitable organization, his life will become easier to handle when he gets to know Travis (Richmond Arquette), a man who spent 12 years in prison after killing someone due to drunk driving. Both men showed to have many things in common, and their conversations flow easily and unforced, covering subjects such as wives and children, Christianity and faith, and the hardness of building a new life from scratch. Helmer Chad Hartigan found is own unhurried and observant look in this earnest, adult, and humanistic story that not for once seemed unrealistic. We can’t say its pace is enthusiastic or vibrant, yet “This Is Martin Bonner” belongs to those unpretentious tales, in which nothing relevant seems to happen, but when better analyzed, we realize there’s a lot of relevant details going on, worthy to dig and think about. Not suitable for all audiences, it can be better absorbed if watched in a non-tiring day.

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I Declare War (2012)

Directed by: Jason Lapeyre, Robert Wilson
Country: Canada

Movie Review: It’s almost impossible not to think about “Lord Of The Flies”, “Stand By Me”, or “The Hunger Games” when we watch “I Declare War”. This is a film about the kids' nature, made exclusively with kids, which shouldn’t be seen by kids. We follow a group of them playing war games in the woods, but their uncontrollable thirst for winning and power falls into real torture and physical violence, causing many rules to be ignored. Friendship, jealousy, and loyalty are in the basis of the behaviors, putting leaders and followers of each team in a constant mental and emotional strain. Among rebellions and war strategies, they also spend some time in discussions about God and faith, philosophy, love, and even giving wings to their imagination. It was curious that only one feminine player was present, functioning as seductive element with the goal of disorienting the troops for the sake of her little boyfriend. Despite the intensity of the performances, I didn’t find the story so thought provoking as I was expecting, and gradually became indifferent to what might happen to these antipathetic young teenagers. We already know that kids can be ambitious, competitive, and very mean to one another when they want to. So, what this film has to offer beyond this idea and compared to other similar movies? Absolutely nothing. Production values are solid enough, though.

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