POMO

Stop! Or My Grandma Will Shoot! An endearing “action” comedy with a heart and an excellent June Squibb. The 94-year-old actress turns in an admirable performance as she combines a variety of humorous gestures with sensitive dramatic moments. The interplay between the characters comprising her family and the bad guys is formulaic yet effectively written, with a surprising choice cast in the role of the main villain. When it comes to comedies about the elderly, however, I personally prefer more sarcastic, culturally distinctive European films, such as A Man Called Ove. [Miami Film Festival]

It’s a shame about the level of stupidity in many of the scenes, because the natural settings are atmospheric and the monsters are impressive. The idea of setting the story on Earth before our civilization, in the age of dinosaurs, is also fine. Sci-fi B-movies require at least a bit of common sense, which is all the more true with smaller budgets. Here, with solid production under the baton of Sam Raimi and an A-list actor in the lead role, the absence of intelligence is an even greater drawback.

Set in a time in America that now seems the most appealing of all, Air is a fresh entrepreneurial adventure with a maximally feel-good happy ending. It's not as funny or seductively amoral as The Wolf of Wall Street, nor does it reveal such an interesting curiosity as Moneyball did, but it’s still a skilfully directed and well acted true story of the American Dream. “Booorn in the USA!”

Sandra Hüller turns in another superb performance in Anatomy of a Fall, one of two films featuring the actress in the competition section at Cannes this year (the other being The Zone of Interest). Though she plays the main character, we remain unaware of whether she is guilty or not throughout the film. Her expression and speech are mostly cold and we sense the murderer in her, but she plays innocent absolutely naturally. Casting her in this role was an excellent move. This long, very dialogue-oriented film also includes a trial with an interesting, procedural investigation of a tragic event. Well directed with ambiguity in the difficult search for the truth. [Cannes FF]

The exploration of the real world by people coming from Barbie Land is stimulating and original and hints at the promise of a clever, fresh and original satire reflecting the pseudo-problems of contemporary (western) society. But the potential inherent in that is cut dead by the subsequent “gender conflict” and its childish resolution to which the film resorts. And that’s a shame. Even the balance of entertainment for children and adults doesn’t work here, since the movie is not for kids at all. But let’s be glad that audiences are returning in large numbers to cinemas now that the pandemic is over. Barbie deserves thanks for that. And special praise goes to the originator of the brilliant “Barbenheimer” marketing concept, though the hardworking crew around Tom Cruise didn’t deserve to have M:I-7 overshadowed.

Inside the Yellow Cocoon is an extremely slow and unexciting “spiritual journey” undertaken by a young man in order to understand the meaning of life, which was changed for him overnight by the tragic death of his sister. Long shots, talking with people, ordinary background scenery comprising the Vietnamese countryside. For three gruelling hours, there is none of the build-up or plot development that we are used to seeing in movies. I can’t imagine being in such a state of mind that this film would better suit me. [Cannes FF]

It’s a shame that The Equalizer 3 has less action and, in particular, a formalistically sloppy settling of accounts with the main bad guy. Denzel Washington’s charisma and the excellent stylisation of his character as the alpha purveyor of justice from the conflict with the Italian Camorra offered a bigger and longer slaughter with a higher body count. We have been spoiled by John Wick... That said, The Equalizer 3 is still entertaining even in the quiet passages with its fine characters, Italian atmosphere and, mainly, escalating tension leading up to the clash between the brutal local underworld and the ultimate American hero. The epilogue is needlessly theatrical (Italy) and naïve (San Francisco).

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]

…and Edward Scissorhands found the love of his life in Bella… The intellectual Yorgos Lanthimos in the fantastical world of Tim Burton with a considerable portion of sex, the socially hot topic of emancipation and framing in an artistic form for the highest film awards. Distinctive humor spiked with a bizarre parable about growing up and awareness of the feminine self. A delightful black-and-white paraphrase of Frankenstein with a brilliant depiction of the instinctive behavior of a curious childlike mind in an adult body with its physical needs. The aptly depicted process of the downfall of male rationality and ego after falling in love with a sexually animalistic and mentally unstable woman. Poor Things has the sole of a European arthouse delicacy that all Hollywood actors long four. I may or may not give it a fifth star in due time. A lot of scenes struck me as overly strained and not as funny as most of the guffawing audience found them to be. [Sitges 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.