THE EQUALIZER *** Â Â (VO English)
We all know how intense and great an actor is Denzel Washington. There is also a quiet majesty to the man. He’s back once again with his Training Day director, Antoine Fuqua, in this satisfying and thrilling film which manages to be both peacefully Zen and ruthlessly violent. Denzel plays a quiet, decent man who is manager in a sort of a Home Depot. A loner, every evening he frequents the same diner. When the teenage girl (a ripening Chloë Grace Moretz) he observes there each night gets badly abused in her line of dubious duties, he decides to do something about it. But the adversaries are the Russian Mafia, and they mean to maintain their lucrative businesses. So the surprising dynamo that is Denzel’s character comes face-to-face with a vicious Russian hit man played by the equally intense Marton Csokas (of Hungarian/New Zealand background and a bit of a Kevin Spacey look-alike). Tightly written, directed and cut, this an exhilarating ride into one man putting justice into his corner of the world. Zowie!
STILL THE WATER *** Â Â Â (VO Japanese)
Shown in competition and much appreciated at Cannes, this delicate reverie about the coming-of-age of two youngsters on a remote Japanese island is directed by Naomi Kawase, who is a regular at Cannes. The magnificence of her cinematography, the treatment of each of the characters – from the vulnerable teenagers, the wise old man, to the dying mother – is both tender and pertinent. A sort of a Japanese Tree of Life, this is a poetic and spiritual tale of tormented humans and nature harmonising, suspended in time. The turbulent sea, the soulful music, the coming to terms with love and death are all important elements of this tranquil tale.
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Germany and Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
