Guns Akimbo

Guns Akimbo; action / black comedy, New Zealand / UK / Germany, 2019; D: Jason Lei Howden, S: Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Ned Dennehy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo

Skizm is a website run by criminals which streams thugs shooting and killing each other. Miles is a computer programmer bored with his life. Miles visits Skizm website, insults a random user who turns out to be Riktor, the owner of the website, and who shows up with his thugs at Miles' apartment. Miles is tranquilized. He wakes up with two guns bolted-glued to his two hands, and is informed by Riktor that he sent a woman assassin, Nix, to kill him. Miles flees from his apartment into the city, while drones are filming and streaming his journey. Riktor kidnaps Miles' ex-girlfriend Nova and threatens to kill her unless he faces Nix. Upon finding out that Riktor killed her father, Nix teams up with Miles and they storm the Skizm headquarters. Nix dies, but Miles kills Riktor by throwing him from the top of the building and saves Nova. 

A black satire on acid about people's addiction to video games, internet and violence, "Guns Akimbo" is a mess of a film that never really finds its real balance. It is a typical modern movie for attention deficit hyperactive disorder-generation and autism-audience since its frenetic pace where no scene can last for longer than two seconds is exhausting, rushed, forced and numbing. From the technical perspective, everything works: the crystal-clear cinematography is gorgeous, the editing is professional, and the lighting is wonderful. But they cannot compensate for the wrong approach taken to craft the storyline. Overedited and overstuffed, "Guns Akimbo" has only small crumbs of "normal" when it relaxes to be casual and more genuine. This is not a good use of actor Daniel Radcliffe, who spends most of the film in underwear, with two guns "glued" to his arms, so he has to carefully watch while unzipping his pants, as to not accidentally blow off his penis while urinating in the toilet. It is more cringe and embarrassing than fun. There are several weird ideas here. In one of them, while live-streaming Miles hiding, villain Riktor and a director argue over which camera to switch to from their control room. A gimp advises the director to do what Riktor says, while the director replies: "How do you even breathe with that stupid gimp mask on?" Riktor then loses his patience and starts chocking the director, while the gimp cynically replies to the director: "Having trouble breathing?" In another, Nix throws a knife at villain Dane, but he catches it and throws it back at her, slicing two middle fingers from her hand. Later on, after she defeated Dane, Nix is in an argument with Miles, so she takes her chopped off middle finger and places it on her hand to show what she thinks of him. There are random camera movements and chaotic directions from everywhere, yet it's as if the authors just simply forgot how to relax and simply have fun.

Grade:+

Slow Days

Ajde, dan... prođi...; drama, Croatia, 2006; D: Matija Kluković, S: Višnja Pešić, Filip Šuster, Petra Težak, Nina Benović, Petra Kurtela, Leon Demšar, Simona Dimitrov-Palatinuš, Asja Jovanović, Antonija Stanišić, Matija Kluković

Several stories set in Zagreb. Teenager Martin has trouble sleeping, and is picked up by his mother Martina at the airport. She is angry that he resorts to alcohol during nights. Martina takes a vacation to visit her husband working abroad... Jadranka is in a relationship with Alen, who never takes off a sock from his left foot, not even during sex. He finally admits the reason: years ago, some guys tattooed the word "prick" on his foot when he was asleep... Sanja returns from abroad after the company of her father went belly up, but she is annoyed because she has to stay with her strict grandma and lazy grandpa who wants to reach the age of 150... Sanja's niece Tamara is a poet whose poem won a prize... Tamara's brother Matija hangs around with an arogant philosopher, Stjepan... Tamara and her friend take a plane to Barcelona.

Independent 'slice-of-life' anthology drama "Slow Days" (literal translation "Come on, day... Pass...") caused quite a sensation in Croatian cinema, with critics praising it as the fresh voice of a new generation that is able to produce their own films, establishing director Matija Klukovic as a blend between "Croatian Jarmusch" (due to its independent roots and black-and-white cinematography) and "Croatian Altman" (due to its large ensamble with almost twenty characters). Despite a typical setting of depressive people, "Slow Days" avoids the cliches of Croatian heavy-handed melodramas due to its sense for authentic characters and several funny dialogue, as well as unusual shot compositions and camera angles which give it a dynamic charge. Several unusual lines stand out: for instance, angry that her teenage son Martin secretly drinks because he can't sleep, his mother Martina says: "You don't even have hair on your dick, and already you are acting like an alcoholic!" 

A stand out is the excellent actress Nina Benovic as Tamara, who has some of the best moments. One such is when she and her friend observe seven paper sketches on the table made before she was even born, by her father, a painter, who tried to envisage how she could look like when she grows up, so the two try to pick the sketch that resembles her face the most. In another, while walking through the Ilica street at night, Tamara stops, jumps back and says she sometimes does that to imagine how it would be like to kiss her own ass. A nice opening at the airport bar is given by novelist Predrag Raos, who complains: "Everyone has his own logic. That's why nobody never understands anybody." While Martina is talking with Martin in their apartment, she plays with the key on the ground with her feet. However, some episodes are better, while others are weaker and should have been cut: for instance, the one revolving around grandma and grandpa are boring; the one with a waitress moving furniture leads nowhere; whereas especially unsuccessful is the one with the intolerably pretentious youngster-philosopher Stjepan (ironically played by director Klukovic himself). Not every dialogue works, since a fair share of them is routine and empty. There are too many episodes, and the point at the end isn't quite clear (trying to escape from the 'grey routine' by taking a flight to another country), losing focus, yet overall this movie has enough spirit, intelligence and inspiration to work, while also giving a loving homage to Zagreb as a whole.

Grade:+++

Breaker Morant

Breaker Morant; historical legal drama, Australia, 1980; D: Bruce Beresford, S: Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Rod Mullinar

Second Boer War, 1 9 0 1. Three Australian soldiers under the jurisdiction of the British Empire—lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, George Witton—are brought in front of a military tribunal under the indictment of killing nine Boers (descendants of Dutch settlers) POWs and one German missionary. The three are defended by lawyer and Major James Thomas. Numerous witnesses show up, recounting that after the Boers killed Captain Hunt, the three went on a rage, discovered a tent with Boers and shot a man wearing Hunt's uniform. They also killed six Boers who surrendered, and also the German missionary who talked to the Boers. The court finds the three guilty and sentences Witton to life in prison, and Morant and Handcock to death.

An unknown classic from "Down Under", one of the best Australian films of the 80s, "Breaker Morant" is a gripping trial drama based on a real historical event during the Second Boer War. A lot of credit goes to the veteran director Bruce Beresford who directs these static trial sequences with a lot of great shot compositions, unusual camera angles and aesthetic images (the "fake split screen" of soldiers building two coffins on the far left side of the frame, while a wall in the middle separates the defendents in the prison back yard on the far right side of the frame; the silhouettes of Morant and Handcock sitting in the foreground while the firing squad is standing over the horizon in the background, while the Sun is above them) that enrich the cinematic experience. Another great component is the brilliant performance of Jack Thompson as the lawyer defending the three Australian lieutenants at the military court. A special charge is achieved by the way the movie plays with the audience: at first, it sets up the whole story from the perspective of the three and their lawyer who passionately defends them, as to make the viewers assume they are innocent and victims of gross injustice of the British martial court. However, as witnesses appear and the movie goes to flashbacks, revealing for what they were indicted for, a dichotomy appears—they are guilty. They are war criminals. One especially dark episode has six Boers waving a white flag, approaching the British military outpost, who are then sent in a prison camp while Morant talks to his colleague that "he doesn't remember any white flag" and then proceeds to order the soldiers to shoot the prisoners. Beresford crafts the film on two levels, humanistic and legal—the viewers understand the three indicted lieutenants, but from the legal standpoint they also understand that they are guilty. While a little bit overstretched in the final act, "Breaker Morant" is a surprisingly intelligent film.

Grade:+++

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer; historical drama, USA, 2023; D: Christopher Nolan, S: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Gary Oldman

J. Robert Oppenheimer is fascinated by physics while a student at the University of Cambridge. As a grown man back in the US, he reads that the Germans discovered nuclear fission, which alarms the American government. World War II erupts, and US Colonel Leslie Groves recruits Oppenheimer and many other scientists to try build the first atomic bomb in an isolated town built just for them, Los Alamos. Oppenheimer becomes the director of this Project Manhattan. They succeed and detonate the first atomic bomb in July 1 9 4 5. The US Army immediately drops two on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ends World War II. Afterwards, Chair of the US Atomic Energy Commission Lewis Strauss initiates a committee questioning Oppenheimer's loyalty due to his previous links with Communists, end thus ends his security clearance. 

The biopic about Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb", is good, yet still a little bit overrated and overlong. The middle part of "Oppenheimer", the one showing how the US Army actually built a whole isolated research town, Los Alamos, in the middle of nowhere in order for the scientists to create the first atomic bomb is excellent—but the first part showing Oppenheimer's private life and relationships is boring, whereas the final, third part, involving a committee hearing in the comically small room that can barely fit nine people is unnecessary, since there are no stakes in it after the detonation of the atomic bomb after which such an overlong epilogue feels like a 45-minute anticlimax. Cillian Murphy is brilliant and perfectly cast at the tormented title protagonist, achieving a huge career boost, but Matt Damon almost steals the show as US Colonel Leslie Groves, in the genius performance that is much better than Robert Downey Jr.'s as Lewis Strauss, who doesn't get much to do in the script. In one delicious sequence, Groves meets Oppenheimer and tells him he heard Oppenheimer is a "dilettante, a suspected communist, unstable, egotistical, neurotic", upon Oppenheimer interrupts: "Nothing good? Not even 'he's brilliant, but'...?" - "Well, brilliance is taken for granted, so no."

Christopher Nolan sometimes has troubles with illogical plot holes when he writes his own scripts ("Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises"), yet by adapting a real-life biopic he managed to avoid those issues this time around, since the events unfold naturally. However, as a director, Nolan has trouble finding the right pace in this movie, since several moments are excessive, rushed, whereas a big nuissance is the musical score which plays almost all the time, nonstop, sometimes so detached from the rest of the film that it's even bombastic during just normal, static scenes of two people talking. Two great sequences: one is the colossal countdown until the first test detonation of the atomic bomb at night, when Oppenheimer and the crew watch the mushroom cloud through dark glasses, which reaches almost Hitchcock's intensity of suspense; the other is when Oppenheimer holds a speech after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima, while he has a hallucination of a bright explosion "wiping out" all the audience in the room. It also shows some rarely talked about details, such as when the nuclear scientists were unsure if, once started, the nuclear explosion may cause a chain reaction which may never stop. The moral and ethical question the movie poses is if Oppenheimer is guilty for any future use of atomic bombs in any conflict. Sadly, some sharper philosophical dialogue is missing. "Oppenheimer" should have ended after two hours, after the atomic bomb testing, since the committee hearing is given more room for the movie's running time than the sole room it was held in, a small private hearing without much weight later on. It didn't merit prolonging the story for another 45 minutes, while one dumb scene (Kitty imagines her husband Oppenheimer is naked (!) while sitting during his testimony in front of the committee, and then even that he is having sex with Jean Tatlock (!) in the room) should have been cut. Overall, still an intelligent depiction of these events.

Grade:++

The Boy and the Heron

Kimitachi wa Do Ikiru ka; animated fantasy drama, Japan, 2023; D: Hayao Miyazaki, S: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Takuya Kimura

Japan, World War II. During the bombing of Tokyo, a hospital is caught on fire and Mahito's (13) mother dies there. Mahito's father remarries Natsuko and moves to a safe village. From the house, Mahito observes a strange heron in the lake. The heron turns out to be a mythical man in costume, and he tricks him into entering a different parallel world. Mahito enouncters strange creatures in that world, such as floating Warawara that ascend to be born in the real world, as well as fisherwoman Kiriko and firewoman Himi who protects the Warawara from being eaten by hundreds of pelicans. Mahito encounters an old man who creates worlds using 13 small stone blocks, and who invites him to be his heir and create better worlds. Mahito refuses, takes Natsuko back to the real world and settles with living there.

Hayao Miyazaki's 12th and final feature length anime film, "The Boy and the Heron" is a cryptic allegorical tale imbibed a little bit too much in Japanese historical-cultural references and Miyazaki's own cocooned autobiographical mindset. While the bizarre, surreal creatures in the parallel world tend to get a bit too 'autistic' and 'gibberish', the underlining storyline still has some clear messages—Mahito is traumatized by the "broken" real world, damaged by World War II and mindless violence and suffering, which took away his mother. Yet by entering the parallel fantasy world, he also finds flaws and omissions, such as the tragic sequence where a wounded pelican begs Mahito to kill him, explaining that the pelicans must eat the fantasy creatures Warawaras since the oceans contain no fish for their food. Mahito then encounters the old man, a sort of god of this world, who lives in the impeccable palace on top, selfishly holding this paradise for himself while all the imperfect creatures around him suffer due to his negligence. The old man asks Mahito to be his heir and continue his work, to creatue "more harmonious worlds" using 13 small stone blocks. Is the old man a symbol for Miyazaki himself, asking for someone to continue his (now flawed) work, or else Studio Ghibli will fall apart? Or is it a dark commentary on religion and power, where the people on top only think about themselves, staying in power, and are numb to the plight of millions around them? Through this symbolism, Miyazaki gives a meditation on each new generation which was victim of human errors from the past, and advocates that they reject this past mindset and create a new, better world, with new thinking and more justice. There are several problems in this abstract film, including that the Heron is an incomplete character—yet even though it is not among Miyazaki's best films, it still features traces of his best work, which will hereby invite the viewers to check these out.

Grade:++

Primal Fear

Primal Fear; legal thriller, USA, 1996; D: Gregory Hoblit, S: Richard Gere, Edward Norton, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances McDormand, Terry O'Quinn

Chicago. Archbishop Rushman is killed and mutilated with a knife in his home. The police chase after a guy with blood on his clothes running away nearby, and arrest him: it is Aaron (19), the orphan altar boy. Aaron is charged with Rushman's murder, and sly lawyer Martin Vail is the first to offer to represent him at trial. Aaron claims he was in the room, but that a third person killed Rushman. Martin finds a secret VHS tape at the church in which Rushman filmed Aaron having sex with a girl and another guy. Martin sends the tape to prosecutor Janet, his ex-girlfriend. Aaron feigns he has a split personality, "Roy", who killed Rushman, and attacks Janet during trial, whereby Judge Miriam stops the case and orders Aaron into a psychiatric hospital. Aaron later admits to Martin he feigned his split personality.

The feature length acting debut of Edward Norton immediately announced him as the new acting hope thanks to the legal thriller "Primal Fear", though the leading actor Richard Gere is even better, overshadowing him as the cynical lawyer Martin. When Martin starts off semi-narrating the film with such snappy lines as: "On my first day of law school, my professor says two things. First was: from this day forward, when your mother tells you she loves you, get a second opinion... If you want justice, go to a whorehouse" or "Why gamble with money when you can gamble with people's lives?", the viewers are instantly engaged and intrigued, since he is established as a sharp character who is shady, yet still clever enough to have some principles and ethics. His exchange with lawyer Janet (Laura Linney) near the beginning is also delicious, since he insists they were in a relationship, while she just coldly rebuts him with: "It was a one-night stand, Marty. It just lasted six-months." Bizarrely, the writing becomes much less inspired and more standard when Martin gets to represent Aaron at trial, since several "bumps" appear, most notably in the unnecessary random splatter scenes of someone killing Arcbishop with a knife. The sole core of Martin's legal defense is rather bland and stale, though the excellent Alfre Woodard manages to ignite some interest here and there in the role of the Judge. The plot twist at the end reminds too much of the one in "The Usual Suspects", thus lacking some true surprises or highlights, yet due to the strong first act "Primal Fear" is still a quality legal film.

Grade:++

Dune: Part Two

Dune: Part Two; science-fiction, USA, 2024; D: Denis Villeneuve, S: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Javier Bardem, Léa Seydoux, Charlotte Rampling

In the year 10,191, the desert planet Dune is a battleground between two sides: Paul Atreides and his mother Lady Jessica unite with the native Fremen tribe to fight against the House of Harkonnen that have taken over the monopoly on the exploitation of the coveted "spice" resource from the planet. Fremen tribe leader Stilgar assumes Paul is the prophecized messiah, a title which Paul begrudingly accepts to achieve his vengence against the Harkonnen's. Several raids against "spice" extraction platforms cause Vladimir Harkonnen to send sadistic nephew Feyd-Rautha to counter-attack and wipe out the Fremen. Paul drinks the "spice", declares himself Mua'Dib and uses atomic weapons to break the wall of the capital. There, he battles and kills Feyd-Rautha and Vladimir Harkonnen, captures the Galactic Emperor and forces him to hand him over the throne. Paul thus takes the Emperor's daughter Irulan as his wife.

Director Denis Villeneuve achieved one of the biggest turnarounds in cinema history when he transformed the story excommunicated in Lynch's first film adaptation into gold with this new version that was critically recognized and became a hit at the box office. Unlike the first part, which took a lot of time to establish this futuristic world, "Dune: Part Two" cuts right to the chase and delivers a more dynamic, tight storyline with a perfect pacing—in fact, the longer this movie lasts, the more intruiging it gets, since all the pieces start connecting closer and closer towards the finish line. This is one of those epic spectacles that need to be seen on the big screens to enjoy it in its full form. A lot of this credit goes to the cinematographer Greig Fraser who has a dreamy camera that documents a plethora of aesthetic, magnificent images. Even the 100ft long giant sand worms appear pretty in this crystal-clear cinematography. 

One instant classic is the monumental sequence where the camera pans left to right around Paul standing on a sand dune, looking at the approaching giant sand worm over the horizon, and as the worm "crashes" through the dune, Paul jumps on top of it, riding it across the desert. Two other sequences of Fremen "riding" these worms are also incredible to look at due to the amazing technology they were filmed with. One sequence stands out stylistically from the rest of the film—the bloody fight in the arena involving sadistic villain Feyd-Rautha, filmed in black and white. Paul's raids against the "spice" extraction platforms are exciting, linking the story to guerilla attacks against colonial powers and various independence movements. However, while Villeneuve is a highly professional director, he still lacks some creative-innovative playfulness that would make his movies really fun to watch. The scenes where Lady Jessica (a rather underused Rebecca Ferguson) and Paul drink "spice" to gain a higher consciousness or the sequence of the final battle lack some abstract 'raw power' that would make "Dune: Part Two" a sheer joy to watch. Nonetheless, this is arguably the best possible "Dune" film adaptation. As much as Lynch's "Dune" was a dirty mess, so much is Villeneuve's "Dune" a clean sweep.

Grade:+++

Over the Top

Over the Top; sports drama, USA, 1987; D: Menahem Golan, S: Sylvester Stallone, David Mendenhall, Rick Zumwalt, Robert Loggia, Susan Blakely, Chris McCarty

Truck driver Lincoln Hawk, after abandoning his wife Christina, arrives at a military school to finally meet his son Mike (12). Lincoln takes Mike with him on a ride in his truck, showing him his skill: Lincoln is an expert in arm wrestling. Arriving at the hospital, they are informed that Christina died from a disease. An angry Mike takes a taxi to his rich grandfather Jason Cutler. Lincoln sells his truck, obtains 7,000$ for it and bets 20:1 on himself in an arm wrestling match in Las Vegas. Mike finds out his grandfather hid all the letters Lincoln was sending to him for years, so he goes to Las Vegas, where Lincoln manages to defeat the favorite, Bull. With the money, Lincoln and Mike decide to open their own company. 

Israeli filmmaker Menahem Golan achieved huge success in his native country both as a producer ("The House on Cheleuche Street") and a director ("Operation Thunderbolt"), until he co-founded Cannon Films and started a new career in the US in the 80s. One of the American films he directed was a movie that was more hated than it deserved to be, the decent sport-road movie father-son drama "Over the Top", which has its 80s charm despite numerous flaws: the minute the truck passes by and the camera pans up towards a mountain in the background, while the title "Over the Top" pops up, you know it's going to be a cheesy ride. This is one of those 80s movies you cannot be mad at. Golan has a sense for some aesthetic images thanks to his cinematographer David Gurfinkel, such as the scene where the camera lingers on Lincoln sitting on the back side of his truck, looking in the distance. There are several problems in the storyline, though—for instance, the 12-year old Mike is picked up from school by a man who is a complete stranger to him, Lincoln (Sylvester Stallone), who claims to be his father based only on a photo of himself and Mike's mom. 

While driving in the truck, Mike exits, runs across the highway, a car almost hits him, but he is chased after and caught by Lincoln who holds him and understands ("I hate you!" - "Then hate me, we have to start someplace!"). Wouldn't anyone from the driving cars stop and inquire about a man chasing after a little kid running away from his truck on the highway? The reason or motive for why Lincoln abandoned and never saw Mike in person was never explained. Equally as questionable are such weird moments as when Lincoln gives the 12-year old Mike the order to drive the truck in the street or to persuade him to himself participate in arm wrestling with random teenagers in a video game arcade, even though the kid clearly doesn't want it. In a way, there is a certain symbolism here: Lincoln represents the middle, working class, while grandfather Cutler represents the upper class, and Mike thus has to decide in which camp he belongs to. Lincoln "forces" Mike to be more humble, down to Earth, to "twitch" him out of the 'spoiled brat' mindset. Yet, these elements were not done in a good way. The arm wrestling finale is banal and too routine, with the typical happy ending for the underdog, yet even that isn't that bad and has its flair.

Grade:+

Still Alice

Still Alice; drama, USA, 2014; D: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland, S: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish

Linguistics professor Alice (50) starts experiencing strange memory losses and goes for a medical check, where she is diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease, inherited from her genetics. Her husband John tries to support her, as do her grown up kids Tom, Anna and Lydia, a struggling actress. Alice tries to slow down the process via mental tests, but her state becomes worse and worse. John leaves to accept a job at Mayo Clinic. Lydia takes care of Alice when the latter is not able to talk anymore. 

Based on the eponymous novel by neuroscientist Lisa Genova, co-directed by Richard Glatzer who himself suffered from a neurodegenerative disease and died shortly after completing the film, "Still Alice" is a dark and depressive film about the consequences of Alzheimer's disease, giving a lot of effort in conjuring up an authentic and, appropriately, unpleasant film depiction of such a mental state. However, overall it is still just a "one-gimmick" film where the one standout component, Julianne Moore's excellent performance, overshadows everything else, since the whole film is much more relevant sociologically than cinematically. There isn't that much inspiration in cinematic techniques or dialogue, settling only for a standard, albeit emotionally devastating story. A few editing tricks would have been welcomed: for instance, it would have been a much more powerful reveal if they didn't show Alice making a video for her later self with instructions how to take a full jar of pills and commit suicide the first time, since the second time makes it less intense. Nontheless, the viewers can engage and feel compassion with Alice's plight from which there is no escape, and thus the ending is very touching, and luckily avoids turning into melodrama most of the time. 

Grade:++

China Moon

China Moon; crime, USA, 1994; D: John Bailey, S: Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe, Benicio del Toro, Charles Dance, Patricia Healy

Veteran homicide detective Kyle Bodine mentors the young detective Lamar Dickey on a crime scene, claiming that criminals always make a mistake. Kyle meets Rachel and falls in love with her, but she is married to the arrogant Rupert. Rachel flees to a hotel in Miami, but returns and shoots Rupert, persuading Kyle to not report the murder and hide the corpse in the lake. The police investigate Rupert's disappearance, and although Kyle cleaned all traces in the house, find a 38 mm bullet in the wall, the same Kyle uses. The corpse is found. Kyle discovers Rachel cooperated with Lamaer to spy on her husband, and that Lamar framed him by inserting the 38 mm bullet in the corpse. When Kyle insists Lamar give him his gun back, the police arrives at the parking lot and shoot Kyle. An angry Rachel takes the gun and shoots Lamar.

Made in the tradition of classic Hollywood film noirs in the 30s and 40s of the 20th century, the feature length directorial debut film of cinematographer John Bailey is a proportionally well made modern "update" of said subgenre, staying true to its foundations. Ed Harris is great in a rare leading role as homicide detective Kyle who falls in the typical 'love ploy' of the married Rachel who tricks him into aiding and abetting the murder of her husband. The first half an hour are bland and routine, exhausting a little bit the goodwill of the viewers, yet once the murder happens, the various plot twists start to engage dramatically, and numerous set-ups lead to a satisfaying payoffs. One such set-up is that Kyle often chastises his young new partner Lamar (Benicio del Toro) for not noticing little details at the crime scene, only to later on regret it when Lamar starts unexpectedly noticing clues in the murder of Rachel's husband, all leading to implicating Kyle himself. The sole sequence where Kyle attempts to clean all traces of the murder Rachel's husband at his home is brilliant, showing how Kyle meticulously extracts a bullet from the wall and paints it over, dumps the corpse in the lake and throws the gun at the top of a truck, which drives off. Kyle is thus shocked when Lamar observes that the perpetrator could not have buried the corpse, since it was raining the entire day, and how Rachel is lying about the broken window, which is jammed. Kyle even shoots at a sand dune, to later retrieve the bullet, compare it with the alleged bullet found in the corpse, and conclude he was framed. The ending is somewhat underwhelming and lukewarm, yet "China Moon" has more than enough virtues to confirm that it is a quality film.

Grade:++

Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones; historical drama, Poland / Ukraine / UK, 2019; D: Agnieszka Holland, S: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Kenneth Cranham, Joseph Mawle

After interviewing Adolf Hitler, aspiring Welsh journalist Gareth Jones wants to travel to Moscow to interview Joseph Dzhugashvili Stalin, the bright hope of communism. Jones obtains a visa and reaches Moscow, where he meets New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty who informs him that all foreign journalists are not allowed to leave the capital or inquire about what happens across the Soviet Union. While traveling in a train with Soviet foreign minister Litvinov, Jones secretly boards another train and exits in Ukraine. He witnesses Holodomor, Ukrainians dying because the communists confiscated their food. Back in Moscow, Litvinov warns Jones not to tell anyone about the famine or six British engineers will be executed. Jones defies and warns what happened, even though the public ignores him. After media mogul William Hurst publishes his story, it gains widespread attention. 

While other countries have foreigners making adulation and tribute movies about them, Russia is stuck with almost every second foreign movie damning and vilifying it and its criminal history. One such example is Agnieszka Holland's biopic "Mr. Jones" about Gareth Jones, one of the rare foreign journalists witnessing Holodomor, the second worst genocide in human history. It starts off with bright colors, depicting Jones initially having naive hope in communism and Stalin, until he arrives to Soviet Union and slowly sobers up, realizing it is a degenerate dictatorship, whereby the colors become grey and bleak, until Jones comes to warn people about the dangers of communism. it is a pity the crucial segment—showing Jones encountering corpses on the ground and people starving due to famine in Ukraine—is too meagre and spans only around 15 minutes of the film's running time, since a more elaborate depiction of this rarely mentioned crime would have been better. The rest of the film is more of a contemplation about journalistic integrity, 'ostrich effect' and pliability of various interest groups in Britain who ignored Soviet crimes in order to insist on an economic cooperation with the Soviet Union, embodied in the cowardly character of Walter Duranty, the New York Times correspondent who became a Stalinist collaborator and Holodomor denialist-propagandist in the media. The ploys, lies, ideological fundamentalism and threats of Soviet officials feel familiar even today. While more inspiration and a tighter narrative would have been welcomed, "Mr. Jones" is a well made history lesson.

Grade:++

The House on Chelouche Street

Ha-Bayit Berechov Cheleuche; drama, Israel, 1973; D: Moshe Mizrahi, S: Ofer Shalhin, Gila Almagor, Yosef Shiloach, Michal Bat-Adam, Shaike Ophir, Rolf Brin

Tel Aviv, 1 9 4 7. Sami (15), his brother and two sisters live with their widowed mother Clara. All were wealthy Egyptian Jews who immigrated to British Mandate of Palestine and now live in poverty, in a small apartment. Clara works as a cleaning lady. Sami skips school and finds a job as a locksmith to earn money for the family, but a communist employee, Max, starts a strike, thereby halting the workshop. Sami meets librarian Sonia (25) who becomes his first love interest. He also joins the Jewish independence paramilitary group Irgun. The British soldiers arrest Nissim, who was courting Clara. As the Israeli War of Independence is about to start, and the Arab clashes start, Sami enlists into the Jewish military and leaves his home.

A semi-autobiographical, gentle 'coming-of-age' drama by Moshe Mizrahi, "The House on Chelouche Street" is an overall good, albeit standard film with underwritten, mediocre dialogue. A lot of the threads are connected to the specific Jewish mentality and (immigration) history, depicting a 'rough' and problematic emergence of proto-Israel: the Egyptian Jewish family were wealthy, but had to "shock adapt" to a different life in Tel Aviv where they live in poverty in a small apartment (the five of them sleep in one bedroom), whereas Mizrahi creates a good reconstruction of the rarely depicted life in the British Mandate of Palestine. Teenage protagonist Sami undergoes a crash course in growing up, from skipping school, finding a job, meeting his first love, and then having to enlist to military to fight in the war. In one notable, but somewhat banal moment, mother Clara serves dinner to her four kids, but the daughter protests: "Why does Sami get to have meat?" Clara responds: "Because he is the only one who works, he needs energy". Sami takes pity, grabs the meat from his plate and places it on his sister's plate. The sister eats it, but Clara slaps her for punishment. Except for a beautiful 4-minute love / sex sequence between the bashful Sami (15) and librarian Sonia (25) in bed, some halfway into the film, the rest is solid, yet somewhat routine, without major artistic lift-offs, making "Chelouche" not that different than many other similar films, though Mizrahi's sympathies for the characters are endearing.

Grade:++