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FILM: ARAB BLUES – a Tunisian psychoanalyst moves come back home from Paris

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14 February 2020.

By Neptune.

ARAB BLUES (Un Divan à Tunis)  ***  (vo French) 

First shown at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, this social comedy received the Audience Award there, mostly due to the radiant Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who plays Selma, a Tunisian psychoanalyst who has decided to come back home from Paris to practice the profession of Freud in a modest rooftop flat in post-Arab Spring Tunisia. 

Writer/Director Manele Labidi has put together a breezy film with a quirky, rousing group of characters who respond in varying measures to the modern manner of Selma trying to promote her trade. When she first arrives, one curious elderly gent asks about the framed portrait she has amongst her luggage. Is the old man her grandfather, and a devout Moslem, he asks. “Actually, he’s Jewish. He’s my boss”, she says. It turns out to be Freud with a bright Fez on his head. 

The film continues in this light tone, with all sorts of types, from the police objecting to her receiving men in her flat, to an enthusiastic hairdresser who brings in lots of curious customers. One of them asks if she can guarantee a happy life for her from now on…

Another fellow hears that a French girl receives people on her couch. The eager innocent thinks he’s come to see a prostitute, before Selma tells him to pull up his pants and leave. This salacious scene is treated with a delicate touch and none of the MeToo angst. 

And there is of course the frustrating, ongoing promise of “Inshallah” (God willing) versus real action in her search for a valid work permit. 

The contrast between the entrenched, traditional ways of old and the way Selma wants to help her country people is both a headache and a delight, and Farahani has the charm and inherent talent to carry it off beautifully. Here’s an Oriental film borne with both pride and empathy on the shoulders of two women, Labidi and Farahani. 

(As were also such superb films as “Caparnaum” by the Lebanese Nadine Labaki, and the recent “Adam”, by the Moroccan Maryam Touzani). Onward! 

#JESUISLA  **1/2   (vo French)  

A busy chef (Alain Chabat) with an extended family, a hectic schedule, and a cellular friend in Seoul, decides to just let go of his French life for a bit and visit this intriguing South Korean girl. 

Well, it doesn’t all work out as he thought it would as he gets stranded in the huge, modern airport there. But he begins to learn about life beyond himself, and we get see and learn so much about an amazing South Korea and their very different culture.  A strange, charming adventure. 

LE PRINCE OUBLIÉ  *  (vo French)

More corny and shoddily-done than this is not possible. Omar Sy, who was quite brilliant in  â€œIntouchables” has not found the same rhythm in the films which he has tried since then. 

Maybe he should wait for the right material – script, co-actors, director…

Give this one a miss.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Neptune
Neptune

Click here for past reviews.

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FILM: THE GENTLEMEN – a crazy yarn and top actors having a whale of a time

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7 February 2020.

By Neptune.

THE GENTLEMEN  ***

Hugh Grant is unrecognisable, but such sleazy fun; the usually cool Colin Farrell looks like a geek here, but is razor sharp; handsome Charlie Hunnam is hidden behind glasses and a goatee as a loyal lieutenant, while Matthew McConaughey rules the roost as a smooth operator from the U.S. of A. who’s created a highly lucrative business in the marijuana trade in the middle of the peaceful, gentrified English countryside. And the action and dialogue come at you with the wit and speed that is Guy Ritchie’s speciality, as in “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” or “Snatch”. 

You’ve got to love Ritchie to fully appreciate his frenetic, wacky style – the English version of Tarantino’s mad genius. And often more hilarious. 

There are so many layers to the story, all such fun, that I won’t tell you any more. If you like great action, a crazy yarn and top actors having a whale of a time, don’t miss this latest Ritchie extravaganza. And check out demure Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey fame playing a fierce gangster’s moll. Super cool!  

ADAM  **** (Arabic) 

Two women in Morocco – one, a grieving widow with a sweet daughter and a warm, cozy home; the other, homeless and pregnant, looking for a job. The widow, despite her initial hesitations, allows the pregnant woman to stay in her home for just a few days. 

This beautifully acted film, directed by another woman, Maryam Touzani, describes the slow but profound relationship that develops between the two females and the little girl as a catalyst. With exquisite photography and pacing, Touzani brings a whole world of emotions into this delicate tale of charity and bonding. Cooking together, helping with the little pastry booth of the widow, their complicity becomes a learning curve for both women, as their wisdom and caring transforms each of them. 

The visitor brings a lightness to the widow’s strict lifestyle and opens her up to a possible suitor, while she also augments the food stand with her delicious concoctions. But as the pregnancy advances and the baby is due, the question of society’s pressures, the shame of an illicit child and its future hangs heavy upon the expectant mother. 

This sublime film which came out in the Certain Regard section in Cannes last year ,should have won the top prize. It didn’t, but then who says life is fair…? Run to it for a moment of grace. 

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Neptune
Neptune

Click here for past reviews.

For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

FILM: VITTORIO DESICA’s Italian classics

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10 January 2020.

By Neptune.

THE VITTORIO DESICA RETROSPECTIVE at the GRUTLI

The best thing in town this week, other than the films I have previously reviewed, is the exceptional Italian retrospective continuing at the GRUTLI CINEMAS until 16 January 2020.

Some of the highlights of the great years of Italian cinema that remain are:

PAIN, AMOUR et FANTAISIE

From 1953 with Vittorio DeSica and an innocent, charming Gina Lollobrigida on 11 January at 19h

SCIUSCIA

DeSica’s 1946 Neorealistic venture into the tragedies of wayward youths. 12 January at 17h.

MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE

The delightful classic with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.
13 January at 21h

MADAME DE…

An elegant tale of love, in French, by Max Ophuls with DeSica and Dannielle Darrieux. 14 January at 17h.

LA CIOCIARA (TWO WOMEN)

The tragic film that won Sophia Loren her first Oscar in 1960.
16 January at 17h.

BOMB, A LOVE STORY

Also at the GRUTLI, catch an excellent Iranian film the same evening (16 January) at 19.30.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Neptune
Neptune

Click here for past reviews.

For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

FILM: JOKER – This “Joker” is no joke

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11 October 2019.

By Neptune

JOKER  ***

Arthur Fleck is a loser who lives with his mother and works part time as a clown. He becomes the Joker in this latest version of that character (played also by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger in previous Batman films) which was created by DC Comics in the early 1940s. 

Watching this “Joker” is no joke. For though this film is brilliant it is also harrowing and probably very dangerous. Especially as Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Arthur is incredibly strong. He makes all of his horrific, desperate reactions to the unfairness of the world seem somehow justified. We feel his loneliness, his yearning for acknowledgment, his need for some sort of love. 

This prelude to the origins of the Batman saga is dark, tragic and violent. So impressive, that it won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival this past September. Take note, this is not a Batman movie. 

From the first moments of this film by Todd Phillips (director of “Hangover”, “War Dogs” and “Due Date”), one is sucked into Arthur’s tormented mind. We’re in garbage and rat-infested Gotham City. There is unrest among the poor, and an almost accidental subway murder of three young, rich bullies creates a breach between the haves and have-nots. The rabble-rousing media calls it a revolution against the rich and powerful. Anarchy begins to take over the city.

The central figure of all this unrest is the sad Joker. Phoenix will probably end up with an Oscar for his unforgettable performance. It will stay with you long after you leave the theatre. He is both pitiful and fearsome in his depiction of a troubled, mentally deranged clown who wants to be a comedian. Joker/Arthur just might get his chance when he has a shot at a late night TV show hosted by Robert DeNiro. There are many twists to the story: his abused childhood, his delusional mother, his confrontations with the future Batman’s wealthy, influential father, who just might be his own…

What Phillips is trying to say here is not quite clear, though it looks like a metaphor for the turmoils of our present day. But it is riveting cinema with an evocative soundtrack which creates a mood of sad depravity and revenge. And it is that loneliness, revenge and violence that may excite and influence vulnerable young minds. 

Yes, it is gripping, disturbing and dangerous. 

LA FAMEUSE INVASION des OURS en SICILE  ***  (vo French)

Léance the king of the bears loses his son Tonio whilst teaching him the art of trout fishing in a stream. He looks for him without luck in the mountains that the bears inhabit and finally he has to decide to extend his search down to the plain below where the stream ends and where the unknown humans live. 

That is what this old, famous and endearing Italian tale, done in animation is about. Whether Léance succeeds in his quest you don’t need to be told. This is a film pointed at children after all. But you should know that his quest is long and a little complicated, with many twists and turns and changes of scene to it. 

It is a gentle film. Bears are gentle creatures aren’t they and who knew they have so many in Sicily ? And yet the film has its violent moments too, of war and of frightening, writhing sea creatures and more feeders of nightmares, so it is not for the very young. Eight is the limit. But this film is not just another well-animated fairy tale. It is a work of art. In his directorial debut, the renowned Italian comics illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti has worked to produce artistic perfection in every frame. It stands out. This tale is a visually beautiful, even magnificent film. It will impress adults for this, as the story will impress their children.

(By BJ)

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune_peanuts

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FILM – 5 franc movies across Switzerland this Sunday

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30 August 2019.

By Neptune

CINEPHILES – ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, READY, GO! This SUNDAY, to the annual Allianz JOURNÉE DU CINÉMA for just 5 CHF. This deal happens once a year in our overpriced cities, so take advantage. Go for a double feature, or even a triple one, to see the films you have missed till now. This SUNDAY, September 1st, for only FIVE francs a séance! Don’t miss out – click here for a list of participation cinemas across Switzerland.

A second bonus – from August 21 – September 10, the Grutli Cinemas are featuring a SPIKE LEE (America’s angry black rebel) retrospective, screening many of his highly entertaining and controversial films of the past decades, such as MALCOLM X; DO THE RIGHT THING and MO’ BETTER BLUES. There will also be multiple screenings of Raoul Peck’s outstanding, searing documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO. Catch one or more of them this Sunday, and the following weeks.

And a third bonus – the NORD-SUD Cinema is back in action, renovated and covering the Right Bank, Servette area, with all the films you may have missed. A member of the arthouse cinemas including the Scala and the City, it will be showing, in 2 halls, quality films which are on their way out. RECENT RELEASES:

THE KITCHEN (Les Baronnes) – (vo English)

Notice the rating – , which denotes sub-mediocrity. Save your time and money (even the 5 francs!), and skip this embarrassingly bad film trying to be a feminist mafia thriller, which makes one feel sullied for having stayed to the end. Its supposedly high-power female cast including (the usually vulgar) Melissa McCarthy and Elizabeth Moss of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, falls flat with a wayward script, terrible photography and amateur direction from first-time director, Andrea Berloff. Sub-mediocrity is no way to advance women’s rights.

FRANKIE *1/2 (vo English and French)

How on earth did this empty, pretentious film get into the Competition lineup in Cannes? The answer of course was the clout of Isabelle Huppert as the star.

And possibly the incredible list of cameo roles including the great Brendan Gleeson, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear and Jérémie Renier. Director Ira Sacks brings them all together in Portugal to say goodbye to Huppert who is supposedly dying. With Huppert leading the cold tone, all these characters have little to do except pass each other with platitudes for dialogue. There is hardly any emotion, all is dull. Even the brilliant Gleeson who plays her husband, just wanders around, looking lost. A complete waste of much talent. Pity.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune_peanutsFor more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

FILM: DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT – bittersweet film about a severe alcoholic.

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6 April 2018.

DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT ***

The multifaceted director Gus Van Sant (among his 48 works – “My Own Private Idaho”, “Good Will Hunting”, “Milk”) is back, this time with an intimate, bittersweet film about a severe alcoholic.

Through a wild night of too many drinks with a reckless friend and a car accident, John Callahan ends up as a wheelchair-bound paraplegic.
This whole thing could have been quite depressive, but Van Sant’s light, impressionistic direction, the always excellent Joaquin Phoenix as Callahan, a blond, unrecognisable Jonah Hill, and the delicate Rooney Mara, manage to make this true story of the shock-cartoonist John Callahan a tender, almost amusing tale of redemption through art. For while trying to quit drinking, he’s nudged by various ‘angels’ to take his newly-discovered talent for controversial cartoons seriously. As his fame grows, so does his self-esteem. This is that story based on his memoirs, before his death in 2010.

DANS LA BRUME *** (vo French)

Paris, a normal day until a strange movement of the earth, a sort of an earthquake, provokes a deadly fog that suffocates everyone in its path as it settles over the city. Only the very heights of Paris are spared – the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Sacré CÅ“ur on Montmartre, the top floors of high buildings.

We are with a couple that manages to think quickly, rushing up to the top apartment in their building, where they are invited in by an elderly husband and wife who are dazed by the catastrophe. The young couple, played convincingly by Romain Duris and Olga Kurylenko (getting better with each role), has an adolescent daughter who has lived in a hermetic bubble since birth, in their already fog-covered apartment. She at least is safe in her comfortable, air-tight cubicle, though now without electricity its batteries need to be changed periodically. You get the tense picture…

This apocalyptic tale of what could go wrong with our abused earth is both a nail-biter and an edgy family survival yarn. Inside the grey fog, French Canadian director Daniel Roby has managed to slow down this thriller to make us feel with each of the characters. Can they be saved, will they survive?
It’s a tough, introspective film – not for the faint-hearted.

RED SPARROW *1/2

Waste of talent is a terrible thing. This film, which could have been a super spy thriller, misses its mark by a mile, due once again to the lack of that most crucial of film elements – a viable, worthy script. To top it off, the awful directing drowns it completely.

This exaggerated yarn of a Russian ballet dancer who is forced to become a Soviet spy is so mangled with embarrassing clichés that it turns cringe-worthy. The lovely Jennifer Lawrence overacts here, never convincing us as a Russian, nor gelling with her counterpart American spy, played by a bland Joel Edgerton. The talented, usually-intense Matthias Schoenaerts is miscast as the evil uncle, while Charlotte Rampling and Jeremy Irons (as the token classics…) seem terribly embarrassed by all the garbage they are spewing out.
With all its stars and hype, you’ll probably want to see it – save your money instead.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune_peanutsFor more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

FILM: 6 you should probably avoid

By

17 November 2017.

Not a great week, I’m afraid. Wait for next week when there will be some fine ones.

TEHRAN TABOO **1/2 (vo Farsi)

This is a film that is done in animation, atmospheric and politically-attuned, with quite an intriguing storyline. It is well-made, has been making the rounds of film festivals and audiences seem fascinated.

But unfortunately it portrays drug abuse, prostitution, corruption and cheating, as though those were the norm in Iranian society. It literally depicts an Iran that is 100% rotten, and that perspective is neither fair nor correct. The upshot is, the form is good but the content is way off target.

The Iranian director, who lives in Germany and whose funding came from Europe, seems to hold a huge grudge against his native land. Otherwise why magnify what may be true of a small portion of the country, into a lurid, juicy generalization? Compare his vision with grander, politically-astute directors such as Farhadi, Panahi and Mirkarimi, who see the faults in the system, but show them with a deeper understanding of Iranian culture and character. This director’s view is narrow, negative and detrimental.

JUSTICE LEAGUE *1/2

Here is yet another action blockbuster with the recurring list of DC Comics characters brought to life – for mass consumption, and mass profits for the studios. Bringing together heavyweights of the series such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, plus a few new additions, this one is darker and more ponderous. And much too violent. In comparison, the Marvel characters, last seen in THOR and GUARDIANS of the GALAXY, were far more entertaining – a hilarious ride.

The only two standouts in this heavy-handed concoction (by the over-zealous Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon as late replacement) are special newcomer The Flash, played with enthusiastic innocence by Ezra Miller, and the sublime Gal Gadot who embodies the wondrous Wonder Woman – radiant, endearing, a delicate but powerful force. Ben Affleck seems too old and heavy to be a convincing Batman, and the gaunt Jeremy Irons should really be retiring. Tiresome.

MARYLINE *1/2 (vo French)

The very talented Guillaume Gallienne, a member of the prestigious Comédie Française, who came out with the brilliant “Les Garçons et Guillaume, à Table” in 2013, falls flat with this insipid tale of an aspiring actress. Much ado about nothing.

Try again, you multi-awarded actor/director…

JALOUSE *1/2 (vo French)

Karin Viard is one of France’s most popular and versatile actresses. Unfortunately, this mediocre tale of a woman who simply cannot control her jealousy isn’t one of her best – not because of her, but the cliched scenario. Wait for it to come on TV.

HAPPY DEATH DAY *1/2

Another one of the horrors (literally) which Hollywood churns out to attract the teeny crowd.
A spoiled college student keeps living the day of her horrific death over and over again – but do we, the audience, need to? Give this a wide miss unless you’re a silly teenager…

WESTERN * (vo German and Bulgarian)

Some German laborers go to work in Bulgaria…shouldn’t it be the other way round?
And what’s so ‘western’ about that? Supposedly, trying to accept each other… Duller is not possible.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune_peanutsFor more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Film picks this week: The big short, a Swiss film about an artist and a touching Japanese story

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8 January 2016.

If you haven’t seen a Swiss film for a while then Neptune has discovered just the thing for you this week. If this is not your cup of tea then there is the adrenaline of the stock market in The Big Short or cultural insights revealed in a Japanese film about a struggling pancake booth.

GIOVANNI SEGANTINI – Magie de la lumieÌ€re *** (vo French)

There’s no doubt about it – the Swiss excel at documentaries. It might be their connection to time (watches?), their precision (watches, trains?), their meticulous handiwork (watches, tools, paper cutouts?), or their patience (waiting for the cheese to age and the cows to come home?) Sorry, just my meandering mind…

This one, by the Zurich-born Christian Labhart, brings to light an exceptional Italian painter who created some of his finest works in the high mountains of the Engadine at the end of the 19th century. From a tortured childhood to a wandering life looking for the perfect light for his paintings, Segantini was always passionate about his ideals, his work, but also about his beloved wife and family.

The exuberant Jean-Luc Bideau and the melodious Marthe Keller narrate from his writings and from a book based on his life, giving thought to his paintings which resemble both the grandeur of Hodler and the brush strokes of Van Gogh. And to raise it to the glory of complete art, the music of Bach and Mozart are interpreted by Paul Giger and the Carmina Quartett, along with a superb counter-tenor, Franz Vitzthum.

It’s all quite perfect, except for the moments when the director interjects jarring, modern-day views of Milan’s (where Segantini started) grey panorama into the bucolic old world of our painter. Strange, unsettling notion, though it cannot take away from the beauty of the rest of this opus on creating art.

AN – LES DELICES DE TOKYO ***1/2 (vo Japanese)

By the famed, multi-awarded Japanese director and Cannes regular, Naomi Kawase (“Still the Water”), here is a gentle story of the meeting of old age and young admirers. Quite normal in a culture which traditionally reveres the elderly, it is a fine reminder to our hurried, compartmentalised Western ways to see the wisdom and delicacy of those who may have outgrown our society.

And so Kawase recounts this touching tale of an old woman and a secretive man who runs a struggling pancake booth. Run to this superb study of patience and the appreciation of life.

THE BIG SHORT ***

If you’re into the rush and adrenaline of the stock market and the perils of Wall Street, this is your kind of film. With a power cast – Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt – this based- on-true-story movie by Adam McKay about the 2008 economic collapse is an exciting roller-coaster ride and initiation into the (corrupt) workings of the money markets. A place where the rich keep getting richer (big banks), and the weak keep getting – excuse the expression – screwed…

This is fast and furious, and not always easy to follow for the ordinary layman, but it’s worth your time…and money 🙂

THE PEANUTS MOVIE (Snoopy et les Peanuts) **

Everyone’s favourite characters are all here…cute Snoopy, insecure Charlie Brown, loony Lucy, etc, etc, but somehow they don’t light up our hearts as Charles Schulz managed to do through so many newspaper years. Pity, for it’s a sweet movie, but the plot is somewhat old hat, and the pace drags. Wonder how the kids will react.

At your own risk…

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Les huit salopards) *1/2

I’ve been a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino since Pulp Fiction. In admiration of his love and knowledge of cinema, and the complete control of his craft. One could even excuse his excessive use of blood and gore as they were often part and parcel of his “symphony in violence”.

His last one, Django Unchained was an overblown master work, with a raison d’eÌ‚tre – of the indecency and savagery of the black man’s history of inequality in the American South.
But this latest is a self-indulgent, lengthy exercise in gratuitous violence couched in a supposed homage to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. The title foretells the vileness of his endeavor – an unappetizing motley crew of misfits and outlaws stuck inside a snowed-in cabin for nearly three interminable hours – ours, not theirs. Sorry, Quentin, not this time.

LE GRAND PARTAGE *1/2 (vo French)

Because of a weak script which quickly loses its thread, this film is neither a hilarious comedy nor a brilliant social commentary. It just doesn’t know where its head or heart stands, flip-flopping around like a dying guppy. It has an interesting concept – of the bourgeois having to share their homes with the poor – and a good cast including Karin Viard, Didier Bourdon and Josiane Balasko, but it just doesn’t gel.

To Miss…

JOY *

Oh Lord, we have that supposed magical combo again: director David O. Russell, best-flavour-of- the-year Jennifer Lawrence, over-used Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro (all from “Silver Linings Playbook” and “American Hustle”), making for an Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome…

Except this one has a tiresome family in a plodding, convoluted plot about a mop meeting the American Dream. Oh, please! Enough already of sweety-faced Jennifer, of “Hunger Games” renown!

PENSION COMPLETE * (vo French)

Despite the duo of Gerard Lanvin and Franck Dubosc, this bland remake of the delightful 1960s “La Cuisine au Buerre” (with the inimitable Fernandel and Bourvil) just doesn’t make it.
Why re-fix it if it ain’t broke?! Save your money.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune in Lugano 2015

Neptune at the 2015 Locarno film festival in Switzerland

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Films this week: RAMS (Icelandic), UN + UNE (French), IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (American), SUBURRA (Italian)

By

11 December 2015.

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

BELIERS/ HRUTAR/ RAMS ***1/2 (vo Icelandic)

There is something very touching about Icelandic films. They’re usually grey, cold and rough, like the weather, but they are also very compelling. It must be their strong character-driven plots. Not much dialogue, not very attractive actors, but a lot of intense, pent-up feelings that need to be released occasionally. And therefore the human drama of it all…

Like most of the films of their internationally-known director Baltasar Kormakur of the recent “Everest” and “The Deep”. Or like last year’s brilliant “Of Horses and Men” which told of eccentric characters and hidden sensuality in a small northern community.

This one by Grimur Hakonarson, which won the top prize at the Certain Regard section in Cannes, is about two estranged brothers who raise pedigree rams, are neighbors, but have not spoken to each other for years. The simplicity and lunacy of human reactions along with the power of dedication makes this an exceptionally tragicomic work.

UN + UNE ***1/2 (vo French)

Ah, dear Claude Lelouch is back! He loves life above all – life and love. All forms of love – love of the colors and textures of India. Love of film and music and creativity. Love of parents and children. But above all, love between a man and a woman. “Un Homme et une Femme” was his great leap into fame in 1966, when he got a Palme d’Or at Cannes. With his myriad films – some 50 of them – he has followed his heart each time. Sometimes with great élan, and a few times, a bit off-course. But he keeps at his pursuit of this connection in life – between friends, as in the wonderfully loony “l’Aventure c’est l’Aventure” – or chance encounters, as in “Hasards ou coincidences”.

This time he takes us to India, with its multitudes, its vivid hues, its poverty and possibilities. He introduces a local thief who does a heroic gesture and ends up in a movie about his exploits. And a French composer of film music, who comes to India to write the score for the film.

Suffice it to say, that Lelouch has found a lovely couple in Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein, who have a curious attraction, seductive yet moral. They each have their own partners, but a spiritual voyage connects them further, till an ultimate meeting with the renowned Indian saint of love, the holy Amma. Those sequences moved me to tears. Ok…I’m an old softie.
He films the charming, amusing Dujardin with a great deal of love, probably as his own alter ego. All sorts of emotions, flashbacks and dreams weave in and out of the film, as does the music, always created by his old friend and composer, Francis Lai.

Various critics have given this film the cold shoulder. They adhere to their usual Lelouch-bashing. As also with the talented, successful Luc Besson. It seems it is envy more than anything else. Let these zero-heroes try to make films as these dedicated artists do!

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA ***

Remember “Moby Dick” with Gregory Peck as the driven seaman who was out to get the killer whale?

Well, director Ron Howard (of such varied and exceptional films as “Splash”, “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind”) has concocted a remake that tells that old tale from the perspective of a narrator recounting the events to the author of the book, Herman Melville.

Howard has combined a literary quest, a grand adventure yarn with fantastic special effects, and a fine acting crew starring Australia’s hunk, Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson as the storyteller and Ben Whishaw as Melville.

This is big-time blockbuster striving for intelligence…sort of like “Amadeus”, “Gladiator” or “Lincoln”.

SUBURRA *** (vo Italian)

The scenes and the weather are as dark and ominous as the theme in this Italian film by Stefano Sollima. But then we are deep in Mafialand and it’s all about the convoluted corruption and moral decay in Italy.

It is the year that the Pope is thinking of resigning. We are in the political chambers of Rome, where votes are bought with promises and favors. And the dark night keeps on raining as we follow the misguided dalliances of one senator, from his wild night with two prostitutes, his desperate meetings with various unscrupulous characters and the meltdown of the government, once again. Like “The Godfather”, the direction is tight, the action is vicious and the message is obvious. Pierfrancesco Favino is fine as the politician, while the dangerous character named Samurai becomes enticingly attractive as played by Claudio Amendola. This is a polished, well-done film if you don’t mind coming out with a feeling of filth and resignation.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune in Lugano 2015

Neptune at the 2015 Locarno film festival in Switzerland

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This week’s reviews: Appia, Irrational man, Pan

By

16 October 2015.

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

APPIA ***1/2 (vo French)
You may have never heard of the painter Dominique Appia. I had not. But thanks to writer/director Nasser Bakhti, the Carouge-born Swiss painter of wonderfully imaginative, detailed works is now receiving a long overdue homage at age 87. This illuminating documentary is a gem, as are Appia’s hyper surrealistic paintings.
Bakhti follows the artist from his childhood through his years of finding himself and his talent in our sleepy Geneva environs. Carouge and Appia become one as we discover his parents, his loves and friends, and his many admirers. And of course his intriguing canvases, which Bakhti reveals with magical delicacy. As we go from his participation in a Centre Pompidou show in Paris to Geneva’s Victoria Hall, we realize with wonder that its ceiling is Appia’s work! That’s the brilliance of good documentary: discovery through an aesthetic path…

The following is one of the artist’s paintings.

Appia image

There film is showing in Geneva at Cinelux, 18 October 2015 at 11 am.

Appia exhibition

IRRATIONAL MAN ***1/2
Like most years, this new Woody Allen film was first shown in Cannes, out of competition, as usual. The man knows how to captivate an audience – much of the time – and has done it annually for the past 40some years! This latest, harking a bit back to “Match Point “, is about a depressive philosophy professor (Joaquín Phoenix) in an American college. Depressed, that is, until he finds a curious distraction. I will say no more – it will be your pleasure to find out…

Allen’s press conference at the festival was a pure delight: flanked by his two actresses, Emma Stone and Parker Posey, Allen, almost 80, had all the journalists in stitches with his humor and eloquent wisdom. He said we all need a distraction to survive the tedium of life; his is that he can’t help writing and making films, and simply chooses the right actors and let’s them do their thing! This will leave you both chuckling and pensive.

PAN ***
Don’t listen to the dour critics – this is delightful adventure! From angelic-looking Peter (the adorable Levi Miller) in Oliver Twist surroundings, a hilariously evil Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, a sweet Rooney Mara, to sexy/funny Garrett Hedlund as Hook, we’ve got a prequel to Peter Pan that’s super fun for all the young at heart. English director Joe Wright loves to make big, classic entertainment, like “Pride and Prejudice”, “Atonement” and “Anna Karenina”. You may or may not love it – but it’s done with heart!

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Click here for past reviews.

Neptune in Lugano 2015

Neptune at the 2015 Locarno film festival in Switzerland

For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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