 Three female detectives rummage around in their own lives as much as in the lives of others in Icíar Bollaín’s Mataharis, the director's first film since her laurelled domestic abuse drama Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes). While a female perspective is still a welcome change in Spain’s cinematic landscape, having three different female protagonists is perhaps too much, as Bollain and Tatiana Rodríguez’ screenplay only succeeds in reducing each woman’s story to its soap-opera essentials, with the detective bureau-setting adding to the TV-series feel. Acting from the three leads is far above the average TV series from Spain (or elsewhere), but is not enough to disguise the basic small-screen appeal of Mataharis. The film did middling business in Spain upon its release in September. It opens today in Belgium and will open in August in the Netherlands. |
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 Eric Rohmer, the director almost single-handedly responsible for the reputation of French dramas as talky yet intelligent, shows he has lost nothing of his rigour at age 87 with his new – and apparently last – film Les amours d’Astrée et de Céladon (The Romance of Astrea and Celadon). The oldest New Wave director has opted for an earnest adaptation of an early 17th century literary text from Honoré d'Urfé that recounts a story set in 5th century France as imagined in 1607, taking the text and its idealised version of a half-Roman, half-pagan Gaul with a Christian overlay at face value. Played to straight-shooting perfection by a cast of impressive new faces, Les amours d’Astrée et de Céladon was well-received in France upon its commercial release and can look forward to a long life on DVD both at home and elsewhere. |
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 Just a year after Tornatore’s La sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman), a woman with an evil plan is back hiding behind masks both metaphorical and real in Petri Kotwica’s Finnish drama-with-thrills Musta Jää (Black Ice). The Competition title here at the Berlin Film Festival is a showcase for Finnish acting talent from top to bottom and marks a significant step forward for the writer-director after his debut Koti-ikävä (Home Sick), though the closing reels of Musta Jää dilute its power as a psychological thriller in favour of plot twists and turns more at home in a soap opera. At home, the film has done very respectable business since its October release and was the big winner at the Jussi Awards, Finland’s national film prizes. |
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