I, DANIEL BLAKE
Winner of the Palm d’Or in Cannes, Ken Loach’s new film follows the aging title character as he struggles to survive amidst a chaotic individualist system. A hardworking carpenter, Mr. Blake is a widower living at humble conditions, dealing with an awful load of bureaucracy after an accident leaves him unable to get back to work. As he tries to get help with allowances, the system constantly denies him, putting him at a conflicting and desperate situation: doctors won’t allow him back to work, neither the government will consider him for the benefits. Although he is somehow hopeless, he volunteers himself to be shelter for those surrounding him: his refugee neighbor, and a single mother, for whom he feels compassionate and stands up against authorities to defend the woman’s right at a public welfare building. The sequence transcends the soul of the film, as Mr. Blake won’t give up on his integrity and awareness of human rights- he’s fighting for himself, and wouldn’t ignore to fight for his fellows’ needs. At the age of 80, director Ken Loach conceived a heartbreaking masterpiece about the insecurities of growing old, how the system insists in ignoring their needs, the unemployment crisis in Europe, and how modernity and technology are suffocating human values such as the replacement of face-to-face interactions for programming machines. Dave Johns gives a superb performance, becoming a cynical, profound and sensitive hero for whom the audience develops an intense connection through his burden quest for dignity. He won the Best Actor Prize at the British Independent Film Awards, and it won’t be a surprise if he melts the Academy’s heart and gets an Oscar nod for this tremendously important and alarming role. Also incredibly talented, newcomer Hayley Squires as the single mother who steals every scene she is in. Narrated with bright Neo-realistic aesthetic, Ken Loach’s film is a powerful account on social injustices and a call for each one of us to stand up for righteousness.
LA LA LAND
If there’s only one single movie that you really must see this Holiday, it is this dazzling, funny, inspiring, contagiously moving musical directed by Damien Chazelle, the young director who gave us the beats of “Whiplash” last year. A romantic story about the sparkling encounter between an aspiring actress and a struggling pianist, the film breathes art throughout, a passionate and effervescent love letter to the city of Los Angeles, the industry of movie making, the sounds of jazz, golden age musicals, love and life itself. This celebratory masterpiece, colorfully shot in Technicolor, is exactly what we need for the Holidays: to travel somewhere else out of the real world. In fabulous, elegant, multi-talented performances, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone sing, dance, play instruments, make us cry and laugh, taking us into a magical fable, as we fall in love for their troubles. “La La Land” is one of those instant classic films to watch over and over, and sing along amazing tunes such as “City of Stars” and “The Fools Who Dream”. A masterpiece of entertainment, the film will literally take you to the stars with its pure, vibrant, triumphant depiction of art and love. And it also remind us the essence of cinema: to believe in dreams.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
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