Search results

Uncut Gems is an asphyxiating movie with a quick narrative, overlapping dialogues and always surprising approach. There is no way to predict movements, and actors act as if there is no script, hardly listening to each other precisely as we do in our natural world. Most of the scenes go from the perspective of Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler). Soon we are introduced to this explosive protagonist from the inside out: the initial scene is a colonoscopy. Continuing action, Howard is on the streets of New York on his way to his jewelry store, bumping into and interacting with all sorts of crooks, thieves and abusive pawnshop owners. The arrival at his store reveals more chaotic situations. Among the customers, there are two thugs hired by his brother-in-law Arno (Eric Bogosian), with whom Howard has a debt he never pays because he is always betting on the money he can earn. Dividing his life between his wife (in the separation phase) Dinah (Idina Menzel), and his mistress Julia (Julia Fox), the Jewish businessman seems to be constantly at the bottom and digging. His last hope is the last McGuffin: a piece of rock encrusted by multicoloured opals that we see at the film's beginning has come out of a mine in Ethiopia. Taken by business partner Demany (LaKeith Stanfield), basketball star Kevin Garnett (himself) is enchanted by the jewel and asks to take it to the Celtics game as an amulet; he leaves his NBA championship ring in escrow. Howard has no doubts: he pawns the ring and bets everything on the play where Garnett will act. When Howard expects to receive the ring back, to take it to the alleged millionaire auction, the athlete does not return. With this, the jeweller can not recover the ring, and the reprisals of Arno's collectors are becoming increasingly personal and violent. The result is the characteristic humour of the Safdies brothers, who direct the film. Although captivating, it is not an aesthetic that provokes laughter but only anguish. If the end was more or less expected, it still seems uncut.

The Whale is a disturbing, suffocating film set in a dimly lit environment. One of the reasons for this invitation to anguish is the camera work of director of photography Matthew Libatique who, guided by the famously self-destructive hand of Darren Aronofsky, avoids any outdoor scene at all costs. The journey of protagonist Charlie (Brendan Fraser) goes, at most, as far as the balcony but never leaves it. Most of the time, the director remains faithful to Samuel D. Hunter's play, not only in terms of the set design but also in terms of the stage style, as if we were watching a live performance. Therefore, the feeling experienced by the professor of being trapped at home and, ultimately, in his body is shared by all of us in the cinema. Charlie teaches online writing classes for university assignments, and none of the students can see him because he turns off the camera on his laptop. We soon discover that the man has always been corpulent, but after his lover's suicide, his relationship with food "got out of control." The consequences are high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, and severe mobility difficulties. The film becomes an exercise in complicity where we share Charlie's corporeality, from his muffled breathing and tender, sad eyes to details of his anatomy deformed by obesity, which can be repugnant. The story of The Whale takes place in a decisive week, in which several visits occur to try to change the character's fate: his friend and caregiver Liz (Hong Chau), a boring young missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), and his daughter Ellie - from whom Charlie has distanced himself - played with pre-adolescent ferocity by Sadie Sink. "Whale" is not just a metaphor for Charlie's oversized body but refers to a school assignment about Moby Dick, which the professor keeps as a talisman. The way the person who wrote the text, only revealed at the end of the film, talks about the novel's main character Ishmael's problems, as if describing Charlie's own life.

As if it were a documentary of the time, Argentina, 1985 brings a reconstruction of the country’s scenario in photography with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, with which the experienced cinematographer Javier Juliá manages to print a claustrophobic sensation (not by chance) in the internal scenes. In the external ones, the natural and indirect lighting prints a realistic atmosphere. Released in a period where several groups of fascist orientation have assumed positions of power, Santiago Mitre’s work portrays the suffocating situation of the Argentine population, recently out of a seven-year dictatorship. The return to democratic normality was still threatened by the fear of a resistant wing of the army. A watershed moment in this dark moment of Argentine history, the trial made by a civil court has a challenging mission: to prosecute the military chiefs who ruled the country during the so-called years of terror in which people disappeared from their homes, to be tortured or killed. The chief prosecutor, Carlos Enrique Strassera, played in the film by Ricardo Darín, was chosen to play the role of accuser. Not at all heroic, the public servant lives in a modest apartment with his wife Silvia (Alejandra Flechner, fantastic) and his children Veronica (Gina Mastronicola) and Javier (Santiago Armas Estevaren). In forming his team, Strassera soon realizes that most of the existing lawyers fall into the categories “dead,” “fascist,” or “super fascist.” After appointing as co-counselor the young idealist Luis Moreno Ocampo (played by the great Peter Lanzani), the accuser opts for a true “Brancaleone’s army” formed by young newly graduated lawyers. After this intro, which mixes family scenes and behind-the-scenes team formation, the film reaches its dramatic point during the trial, bringing to light the devastating reports of kidnapping, torture, and murder. One of the most impactful - made by Adriana Calvo de Laborde (Laura Paredes) - tells how she was tortured during her labor.

Watching the release of a cinematic masterpiece is an indescribable thrill, and when a director like Martin Scorsese signs it, it's like diving into an unknown yet intoxicating landscape. 'Killers of the Flower Moon' is simultaneously a romance, western, drama, crime film, and even a mystery.   All these genres flow and intertwine in the 3 hours and 26 minutes of screening, from the moment war veteran but still young Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) disembarks at the Fairfax, Oklahoma train station in search of a new life.   Soon, he'll be greeted by Uncle William Hale (the always fantastic Robert De Niro), a prosperous cattle rancher known as 'the King of the Osage Hills,' an indigenous tribe expelled from Kansas who, ironically, discovered oil in that region, making the ethnic group the wealthiest in the world in the early 20th century.   Hale's concern is to know if his nephew is healthy and fond of women and money. Upon confirmation, he states that the Osage are 'the most refined, richest, and most beautiful people on God's earth.' Love and Death on Flower Moon Following this advice, but also out of mutual enchantment, Ernest meets and marries Mollie Kyle (the excellent Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman living in his house with her ailing mother, Lizzie Q (Tantoo Cardinal). With this, the young man enters the line of succession of the wealthy girl's property.   The multifaceted romance between them never hints at any sinister motives. However, Mollie's sisters have all died under violent and inexplicable circumstances, leaving their husbands as heirs to a great fortune.   This succession of supposed crimes eventually leads to a significant federal investigation involving the powerful J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, who sends Agent Tom White (Jesse Plemons) to Oklahoma.   The outcome of the investigations, evident in the book of the same name on which the film is based, becomes somewhat controversial for the viewer, not because it's unexpected, but because Scorsese's ability to defy conventions leaves us utterly perplexed. "

There is something sad and unsettling about Aftersun, Charlotte Wells' simple debut movie. The presence of a camcorder and the absence of cell phones indicate that the story takes place in the past, a record made by a father and daughter on vacation in Turkey. At the beginning, the young girl Sophie (Frankie Corio) reveals that she has just turned 11, while her father, Calum (Paul Mescal), will be "131" in two days .  From the scrambled images, we notice that someone is rewinding the VHS tape from the two's goodbye at the end of the film to the beginning. It is a moment of pure happiness between the young father, who no longer lives with Sophie and her mother. So, where does the sadness come from? The movie makes us sad for no apparent reason. Days pass between lazy lounging by the pool (not forgetting the sunscreen), snorkelling, and dinners with old music. The only exception is "Losing My Religion," sung by Sophie at a karaoke. Upset because Calum refuses to sing with her, Sophie spends the night with a group of English teenagers and ends up with a friend her age, with whom she usually plays arcade games. Alone, Calum walks towards the waves. Last Dance We think something serious might happen that night. Sophie, on the verge of adolescence, feels grown up and independent. Calum, who confesses to being surprised to have reached 30 in a conversation with a diving instructor, exudes calmness but practices Tai Chi Chuan (a Chinese stress-relieving technique) and reads self-help books. We often see scenes in a rave with strobe lights where a woman (later identified as the adult Sophie, played by Celia Rowlson-Hall) tries to hug Calum in the dark, but he runs away. In the final scene of the trip, Calum convinces Sophie to dance with him to the song Under Pressure , with emphasis on the verses repeated by David Bowie and Fred Mercury: "This is our last dance."

I’m Still Here  is not an easy film to watch, given the anguish it evokes and the helplessness it exposes. However, it is mandatory, especially for nostalgic individuals of an era they never lived, who boast that it was "good" for Brazil. It was not. From the very first moment, when housewife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) swims in the calm waters of Leblon beach in Rio de Janeiro, a military helicopter, flying low, darkens the previously tranquil landscape with the noise of its rotor, like a metaphor. The script is based on a true story, from the film's namesake book , written by Eunice's son, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, and recounts the last moments of his father, former federal deputy Rubens Beyrodt Paiva. A jolly father (Selton Mello physically resembles him), from the upper-middle class, Rubens has a peaceful life, economically stable and many ongoing real estate projects. The house is always full of festivities, with many friends, dances, drinks, good cigars, and international travels. Within this happy setting, Eunice intuits that something is happening and fears every time Rubens receives mysterious phone calls. The threat materializes On January 20, 1971, the threat materializes in the form of a group of armed men who appear out of nowhere, invade the house, manipulate the couple's records and books, and "invite" Rubens to give a statement at the Army barracks. Adrian Tejido's nuanced and nervous photography becomes static and somber. Eunice and her 15-year-old daughter Eliana (Luiza Kosovski) are taken to DOI-CODI, where we are literally left in the dark , until the protagonist returns home, without her husband. From that point on, Fernanda Torres becomes Maria Lucrécia Eunice Facciolla, one of the many women who faced the military dictatorship and led the fight against information manipulations to conceal the fate of prisoners, tortured and murdered. Eunice's struggle only finds closure 25 years later , when in 1996, she obtained a death certificate and acknowledgment of her husband's death by the dictatorship.

Juror # 2 , which rumours suggest may be Clint Eastwood's final directed film, expresses discontent with how justice is carried out in the United States. In Jonathan A. Abrams' sometimes cynical screenplay, the judicial system itself is judged for the way personal interests take precedence. This trial involves juror Justin (Nicholas Hoult), who wants to return home quickly because his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) is about to have a baby, and prosecutor Faith (Toni Collette), who intends to "close" the case promptly because she's campaigning for election. Upon arriving at the courthouse in Savannah, Georgia, Justin is worried about his wife, who previously experienced a miscarriage. He focuses and hopes for unanimity in the jury until he realizes that he himself might be guilty of running over the victim . Recovering from alcoholism, Justin was at the bar where the defendant, James (Gabriel Basso), had a serious argument with his girlfriend Kendell (Francesca Eastwood, the director's daughter) on a rainy night. She left alone to return home, he followed her in his truck; and sometime later, she was found dead. Eastwood does everything to "delay" the verdict The incident is reconstructed through the versions of prosecutor Faith and defence attorney Eric (Chris Messina). At the same time, Justin deals with his own fragmented flashbacks from the night of the alleged homicide. When the jurors are called to deliberate, it becomes clear that both sides have weak arguments: although the defendant is clearly suspicious, the autopsy is inconclusive, and the only witness proves unreliable. Eastwood does everything to "delay" the jury's consensus, where retired police officer Harold (J.K. Simmons) begins to doubt the prosecutor's version. At the same time, juror Marcus (Yarbrough) is certain of the defendant's guilt. Tormented by his memories, Justin opposes a quick conviction, but without exposing himself, as he knows no one would believe he wasn't drinking that night . After the trial concludes and life returns to normal for everyone, Faith goes to Justin's house. He answers the door and the two stand face to face in silence.