Sultana's Dream (2023) Animation is Film

Isabel Herguera’s feature debut was inspired by the 1905 fable by Rokeya Hossain, which imagines the utopian country called Ladyland, where women hold sway and men stay at home. Here we follow a young woman as she deals with her place in the world, discovers the original book and goes on a quest to find a real world Ladyland.

This is a cinematic work of art of the highest order. The differing look of the film will remind you of the work of some the world's greatest artists as well as the work of animators such as Lotte Reininger, Cartoon Saloon, Marjane Satrapi, Richard Williams and others, while at the same time giving all the borrows it's own slant that makes it something truly unique. Frankly the images and the story telling here are so unique that the referencing of other artists is merely an attempt at trying to explain the visual wonders contained inside.

What this film does visually will make you sit wide eyed and slack jawed at the beauty of it all.

AT the same time this is a film that I never fully emotionally connected to. Very much a film with a great deal on its mind, it often puts it's ideas ahead of it's feelings. This is a film that wants to win us with ideas more than it does emotion. I can't blame director Herguera she has a lot she wants to say, rightly so, but at the same time some of the emotion is lost. It's not fatal, but so much here is so good I wanted to love it not just like it.

My reservation aside, this is still a film you will want to see, especially on a big screen. 

Recommended.

The Wait (2023) hits VOD today

Director F. Javier Gutierrez's THE WAIT is a genre bending film  that never quite nails down what it wants to be. 

The film is the story of a man who is hired to take care of a vast hunting estate. He is suppose to keep the property divided into a certain number of sections so that the various hunting parties don't end up shooting each other. Bribed to increase the number of runs, tragedy strikes in rapid order as his son is killed and his wife commits suicide. Left to his own devices weird things begin to happen.

An odd mix of genres, western, horror, drama, THE WAIT never fully finds it's footing. Is it a look at grief? Is it a balls to the wall horror film? It doesn't seem to know. More damaging is that the film has an uneven pace. The early section setting everything up is incredibly slow and if you don't click the film can be hard to warm to. Worse our protagonist is a man of few words and limited expressions and we really don't know what is going on inside him.

Mind you the film isn't bad, it has some great horror sequences, but you can't help but wonder if this could have been better.

despite my reservation fans of Euro-horror should give it a shot.

Brief thoughts on THE PARTY'S OVER (2024) Toronto 2024

 

A Senegalese woman tries to sneak into Spain. Caught on the beach by police, she breaks free and ends up hiding in the garden of large home. The woman living there takes her in, but there are complications.

Comedy of manners and biting social commentary mix in a look at how we see each other. It’s a frequently amusing tale that, while not always successful (it’s a bit too obvious in the points it’s making) does entertain.

I don’t have much to say beyond that.

A pointer toward EXILES (2024) Toronto 2024

A mother and daughter  circle each other after the death of the patriarch. Both are hurting but neither can come to terms to reach out to the other to start the healing process.

This is a good low key drama.

Forgive me if I don’t say a great deal on the film, but being a guy and raised in a house with two other brothers I don’t always connect to mother daughter stories. I can tell you this is a good film but I also am very aware that I did not get some of the resonances that are at play.

My reservations or not , this is worth a look.

Close Your Eyes (2023) starts 8/23 at Film Forum

Víctor Erice’s fourth film in fifty years is glorious. An ever changing tale it s a celebration of life and the movies.

The film follows a once up and coming film director who is brought on to a TV show to talk about his friend, an actor who went missing 20 years before. They were in the middle of making a film but the actor simply vanished. People thought he was dead, others weren’t sure. The show kicks off a search and to say more would be telling.

A film told in kind of chapters (Sequences from the film, the making of the show and the search) the film grabs us from the first moments and drags us to the very end. Actually it’s not drags but it acts as a pied piper and causes us to follow where ever it goes. We fall into the film because not only do we want to know what the tale of the mystery is but also because be care deeply abut the characters on screen.

And at this point I need to mention José Coronado as the missing man. Giving what is quite simply one of the greatest performances I have ever seen, he should be up for every award under the sun. He isn’t acting, he is inhabiting. That’s an absolute rave.

I was moved by this ways I’m still discovering. Indeed the film is so magical that I don’t have words to describe it except to say that the film is now part of my DNA.

I also think the film is near perfect, with only the closing sequence of the film within the film being awkward in execution- though it’s spot on for what it is.

I can not say enough good about this film, except to say that I and several others at the the screening I attended were of the opinion that this should have been the opening night film of the NYFF instead of the latest Todd Haynes. Nothing against the Haynes film, but the opening night film should be highlighting a truly special film and CLOSE YOUR EYES is exactly that.

Highly recommended this is going to be on your best of the year list.

Berta (2024) Fantasia 2024

 

A woman gets revenge on the man who raped her.

This is an excellent little horror short. Perfectly done it works from start to finish and makes a perfect landing. I loved this from start to finish

I don't want to say any more lest I spoil it.

See this film

Infinite Summer (2024) Fantasia 2024

Miguel Llansó returns with another way out philosophical science fiction film.

This time out the story concerns a young woman named Mia who goes off to meet her friends. They end up using a virtual reality/meditative head set that has un planned for side effects.

If you know Llansó‘s film then you know you are not going to get anything approaching a typical science fiction film. Llansó is a singular voice in cinema (all cinema not just genre) and he freely mixed low tech and high tech with every genre under the sun and any idea that comes into his mind for films that don’t look like, or behave like anything you’ve ever seen. They are films that end up haunting your soul forever because they attach themselves to your very being.

I am a huge fan of Llasnso's films and his skill.

That said I’m still pondering INFINITE SUMMER. The film is completely different than his previous work. It seems to be trying to be “normal” even though it really isn’t.  I think the problem for me is the English dialog doesn’t ring true. It feels like it was written by someone who doesn’t speak the language for people who don’t speak the language. While the dialog in Llansó‘s films can be odd, this seems a bit too odd. I am going to have to see the film again.

My problem with the dialog aside this film is still very good  As with all of Llansó's films it’s a heady mix of ideas and images. It’s a mix that gets under your skin and the final galactic images wow and the broken look of one character as he stands behind police tape is absolutely crushing.

This film is often a stunner and worth a look, especially since you are reading Unseen Films and a lover of films that are great and off the beaten path.

The Other Way Around (2024) Cannes 2024

A couple going through a rough patch decide that that they will have a party to celebrate their up coming separation. This sends shock waves through their friends, family and themselves

This is a good comedy drama that entertained me while it was on but didn’t stick when it was done.  That’s not a fault of the film more that I was seeing it in the crush of Cannes coverage. This is the sort of film that I frequently encounter at festivals where I do heavy coverage (Cannes, Tribeca, NYFF, Fantasia) where they are small delicate gems that get overwhelmed by the crush of films being seen around them.  They are films that you see and enjoy but which you need to see away from everyone and everything.

It’s a good enough film (and contains a killer performance from Itsaso Arana that made me notice her for the first time)  that I look forward to seeing the film again when I can really see the film for itself.

My refusing to do a proper review aside I recommend THE OTHER WAY AROUND  because it will entertain.

Foremost By Night (2023) NDNF 2023

FOREMOST BY NIGHT is the story of mothers and children lost and found. The main focus of the film is a woman who was forced to give up her baby years ago and has spent the intervening years trying to find him. Along the way she meets a woman and her adopted son.

This is an incredibly hard film to pin down. It desperately wants to be in the form of a thriller but it doesn’t really work. The opening monolog suggests it’s really a horror film but I don’t see it. Much of the film is related in letters read over the images so we are told things instead of watching things transpire. The tone of scenes shift. Actions are often mannered. The narrative is partly fragmented. I’ve read that it is supposed to be an examination of the forced removals of children by the Franco regime, but had I not read that in an outside source I never would have known it.

I could  feel that director hammering the film using the best pieces that could be found. We can see what is being reached for, but at the same time the grasp doesn’t connect to the emotion. We can admire the craft but we can’t fully feel anything.

I really love a lot of the pieces, but I don’t love the whole.

I think it’s a miss but if the subject or expert filmmaking thrill you give the film a shot.

Samsara (2023) First Look 2024

Lois Patiño​ tells two stories, one of a man named Amid in Laos who meets a young monk. And the other of a young girl in Africa who wakes up to find her goat has given birth.

Quiet and meditative this is a film more about what you find in the contemplation of what it is showing you rather than with in what we are told. Actually what we are told isn't much since the film more or less is simply life unfolding. We are left to ponder the spiritual side of everything.

While I am a fan of Patino's, I kind of think he missed the mark with this film. While I know his films can be meditative, this time out I'm not certain there is enough to hold together a feature. My attention drifted off and my eyelids got heavy, and while I made it to the end I'm not certain there was enough here for me.

Worth a look for the interested, but not for the casual film goer.

Society of Snow (2023)

J.A.Bayona retells the story of the crash of the plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team in 1972. Its a harrowing tale of survival where the survivors were forced to eat the dead.

This is the third narrative version of the tale. The original version was the infamous SURVIVE which dealt with the sensational aspects of the the story. Twenty years on came ALIVE which was less sensational, but just okay. This time out we have the best version of the story. This telling makes the story both reverent and suspenseful. Watching the film what happens doesn't seem like a foregone conclusion.

I have to applaud the effects team. The the effect sequences are stunning and I can't believe that the film isn't in the running for the Oscars Visual Effects award.

At the same time while I think this is a super film, I'm kind of scratching my head about the Oscar nomination for best International Feature.. Yes the crash and the other things are nerve jangling, and they are what stay with you,  however, a number of the other films that were in the running are better. 

By reservations aside. This film is a killer thriller and worth a look.

Robot Dreams (2023) Animation First 2024

In an alternate 1980's NYC a dog who is tired of living alone makes himself a robot companion.

This wordless animated film is very good. An entertaining little film, it was trumpeted as one of the best films of the year by many people in the critical community. There was much discussion in as to whether it would end up an Oscar nominee because of how Neon was handling the release and people weren't certain if it did or didn't qualify.  By the time I finally sat down to see the film it was carrying a great deal of baggage.

There is much to like in this film. There is much to like in the film. The characters are well drawn (no pun intended). The visuals are excellent. New York looks and feels like New York. The musical choices are excellent.  In a lot of ways it's as good as the film could possibly be. 

The trouble for me is that it didn't live up to the hype. Months of people telling me how I was going to be madly in love with the film when I saw it were wildly over selling it. Its a very good, very solid film but it's not the best animated film of the year.

That said- the film will is really good. It will delight you, make you smile and possibly make you cry. It's definitely worth seeing when it finally plays near you.

Reinas (2024)Sundance 2024

In the summer of 1982 Elena makes plans to take her daughters Lucia, Aurora,to the United States, however things become complicated when the girls' dad returns into their lives.

This is the sort of small gem that Unseen Films was created to highlight. A small joy of a film that is going to get over looked at a festival full of glitz and glamour like Sundance. This is a lovely little film about a family and the choices they make. 

I really liked this film a great deal. It's a wonderful slice of life that is full of life. To be certain it doesn't chart any new territory but being so full of such wonder characters you really won't care. From the opening where Carlos, the girls' dad spins tales about being an actor on to the final fade out you'll be hooked watching every one on screen. 

I know I'm not speaking of the deeper themes about living in a city in turmoil (Lima was in political turmoil and there was danger from authorities and the "terrorists" they were hunting), but that isn't what is important. Its the four people up front trying to decide how to make a better life for themselves.

If you need a small scale film to act as a palette cleanse from all the over hyped "big films" at Sundance REINAS is just the ticket.

Recommended.

2023 Catch up reviews: L'IMMENSITA and TOTEM

L'IMMENSITA
Penelope Cruz stars as a mother who, in the 1970's,  moves with her family to Rome for a better life and finds life and complications. 

Good soapy family drama that is based on director Emanuele Crialese life. It is story filled with life and change. The film's one problem is that the film has too much going on. Between the trans story line, the dysfunctional family, the shifting of life in Rome and so much more. It feels spread thin at times. It's not bad, just too short to cover everything it wants to cover.

TOTEM (2023) 
The course of a day for Sol, a young girl whose family is getting ready for her father's birthday. It's going to be a huge party that Sol's father may or may not attend since he is struggling with a debilitating form of cancer.

Shot in academy ratio  this is a film that puts you up close an personal, with many shot long take close ups. Its a film that borders on being a documentary. 

While the film was extremely well done it didn't completely connect to me. While I wanted to see how this played out, I never stopped feeling the director moving here pieces.

Reservations aside it's worth a look.

Everyone WIll Burn (2022) opens Friday

A woman about to kill herself by jumping off a bridge is stopped by a strange little girl. Taking the little girl home with her they are stopped by the police who don’t like the woman’s answers and attempt to arrest her. The little girl causes one officer to kill the other before he bursts into flames. And suddenly and genuinely shocking clear we are not in Kansas anymore. We are in a small town in Spain where the outsiders are bullied  and pushed to the point of suicide. However things are about to change.

From the first frame this is not a film that does what we expect. Sure it looks kind of familiar but director David Hebrero bends things in ways we never expect.

This film is disturbing. It’s not just the violence but the cruelty of everyone. People are cruel to each other in ways that are shocking. We may live in a world where people are mean to each other, especially on social media.  Add to that the dark  supernatural forces at work and we are in a world that looks like our but is toxic to the touch.

I loved this movie. I watched the opening sequences and instantly that I had to let people know that they had to cover the film at Fantastic Fest or wherever the film plays.  

I should say that I don’t think you will be scared by the film, rather deeply disturbed. This film left me bothered  for hours after this ended. I even had to put something on when I went to bed just to distract me from thinking about it  as I drifted off to sleep.

You really should see this film.

Recommended

CLOSE YOUR EYES (2023) NYFF 2023

Víctor Erice’s fourth film in fifty years is glorious. An ever changing tale it s a celebration of life and the movies.

The film follows a once up and coming film director who is brought on to a TV show to talk about his friend, an actor who went missing 20 years before. They were in the middle of making a film but the actor simply vanished. People thought he was dead, others weren’t sure. The show kicks off a search and to say more would be telling.

A film told in kind of chapters (Sequences from the film, the making of the show and the search) the film grabs us from the first moments and drags us to the very end. Actually it’s not drags but it acts as a pied piper and causes us to follow where ever it goes. We fall into the film because not only do we want to know what the tale of the mystery is but also because be care deeply abut the characters on screen.

And at this point I need to mention José Coronado as the missing man. Giving what is quite simply one of the greatest performances I have ever seen, he should be up for every award under the sun. He isn’t acting, he is inhabiting. That’s an absolute rave.

I was moved by this ways I’m still discovering. Indeed the film is so magical that I don’t have words to describe it except to say that the film is now part of my DNA.

I also think the film is near perfect, with only the closing sequence of the film within the film being awkward in execution- though it’s spot on for what it is.

I can not say enough good about this film, except to say that I and several others at the the screening I attended were of the opinion that this should have been the opening night film of the NYFF instead of the latest Todd Haynes. Nothing against the Haynes film, but the opening night film should be highlighting a truly special film and CLOSE YOUR EYES is exactly that.

Highly recommended this is going to be on your best of the year list.

The Wait (2023) Fantastic Fest

Director F. Javier Gutierrez's THE WAIT is a genre bending film  that never quite nails down what it wants to be. 

The film is the story of a man who is hired to take care of a vast hunting estate. He is suppose to keep the property divided into a certain number of sections so that the various hunting parties don't end up shooting each other. Bribed to increase the number of runs, tragedy strikes in rapid order as his son is killed and his wife commits suicide. Left to his own devices weird things begin to happen.

An odd mix of genres, western, horror, drama, THE WAIT never fully finds it's footing. Is it a look at grief? Is it a balls to the wall horror film? It doesn't seem to know. More damaging is that the film has an uneven pace. The early section setting everything up is incredibly slow and if you don't click the film can be hard to warm to. Worse our protagonist is a man of few words and limited expressions and we really don't know what is going on inside him.

Mind you the film isn't bad, it has some great horror sequences, but you can't help but wonder if this could have been better.

despite my reservation fans of Euro-horror should give it a shot.

THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS (2023) Fantasia 2023

Odds are unless you've seen the earlier films from directors Juan Gonzalez and Fernando Martinez you've not seen anything quite like THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS. Trust me on this, this is a one of a kind film.

The film begins with a man named Juan being shocked not only that his best friend was killed by falling off the roof of his apartment building but that he shattered into a million pieces because he wasn't human, but a golem.  This sends him on a quest to find out what was going on, but also into very unexpected places.

I really can't explain what this film is like so you just have to see it. I am not saying that as a dodge not to review it but when you consider that it has it's own view which riffs on the visuals of THE ROOM, steals from Wes Anderson, TV sketch comedy shows, and a dozen other sources plus it has a cast that is fully invested in the loopiness by playing it essentially straight.This world exists two universes over from our own.

Watching the film blind as to it's insanity, I was kind of thrown off. The film was playing by a new set of rules. I mean films are not structured like this. GOnzalez and Martinez take the premise of movies being able to do anything to a new level by creating a film whose stories, while rooted in reality (these are all real people) have no boundaries. The film has it's own world and it operates on those rules. It is initially confusing, but once we realize we aren't in Kansas but some where else it all falls into place and we are willing to go with it anywhere.

In a weird way the film is kind of like the work of Quentin Dupieux, except it's less forced and more natural. Dupiex is usually trying to make a point and he curves things for his ends, Gonzalez and Martinez are telling you a story and bending things to do that. I think this actually works better since I came out feeling attached to the world and not just bits of a story.

If you want an off Hollywood experience that will show you their is still people doing wondrous things with film see THE FANTASTIC GOLEM AFFAIRS.

One Night With Adela (2023) Tribeca 2023

Laura Galan (PIGGY) turns in performance that is light years better than the film that is struggling to contain it. Almost certain to be put Galan on everyone's radar and make her a huge star, her turn as Adela is (largely) as real and raw as they come.

The plot of the film has a woman named Adela taking some detours during her shift as a garbage collector. She staggers through the nigh as she deals with a creepy guys who try to pick her up, ingests tons of drugs, and calls into a radio show saying that she is going to do something terrible very soon because she is a wreck of a person. 

For a while this is a hell of a ride. Essentially a long single take of Adela marching through the night and we are trapped with a nightmare of a person. For its early section this film  holds your attention  with an iron grip as we wait to see what is going to happen next. The film makes an early statement with an unexpected turn in the first minutes and we are hooked. However shortly there after the film begins to lose its grip as it stops being anything other than Adela driving and walking through the night chain smoking and occasionally calling into a radio show (this was the point where several people at the screening I attended fell dead asleep). Nothing much happens for at least an hour until the final section of the film at which point the film falls completely off the table.

There are a couple of problems with the final section that wreck the film. The first is there is absolutely no reason for the film to continue as a single take. Sure its a nifty trick that allows  for a wicked reveal, but it doesn't make any narrative sense. It works against the suspense because it's just people in a room after a long march a city at night. The frantic nature of the narrative stops and the film becomes something else.

The second problem is the revelation of what Adele's drug fueled trip is all about doesn't really work. I'm not going to go into what happens but it almost everything that it involves is a giant WTF. Every revelation once we get to the apartment is out of left field and everyone raises way more questions then they answer (which I'm guessing we are supposed to accept because its a single take). Worse they all seem to be there just to shock not because they make narrative sense. Adela stops being a person we connect to and just becomes the wrong sort of crazy...which is probably the point but it's a turn that reveals she is not as well a thought out a character as she seemed, and that the internal logic of every detail of the film makes no sense. The final section make the film go from a fun thrill ride into becoming a waste of time. (It's a more psychotic and less coherent version of FALLING DOWN, which I hate.)

I went from WHOA! at the opening, to why am I bothering?

While Laura Galan gives a hell of a performance the film is not worth seeing beyond that.

Coffee Table (2022) Fanataspoa 2023

Blacker than you can imagine black comedy/tragedy about a a couple of new parents who buy a coffee table  that they are told will "change their lives."

I'm not going to give you details because this is a film where all of the tension comes from the worm turning as events transpire that may result in them being found out. Think of the Hitchcock films were a bomb is hidden and we are waiting for it to go off. It's not a bomb, but we are curled up in a ball waiting for the true horror to be revealed.

This is a very very uncomfortable comedy until it isn't (it's horrifying), and even when it's funny again it's catch in your throat, "I think I'm going to be sick" sort of funny until it just stops being funny altogether.

I can completely understand people walking out of the theater because they don't want to go there.

And I completely understand if my saying that makes it seem not as bad when you sit down and see this, and I'm sorry for that, but some of you need to be warned.

If you want to go to a really dark place THE COFFEE TABLE is highly recommended. Me I don't know if I want to go there again.