By Roger Costa
THE OWNERS
Winner of 3 Czech Lions Awards including Best Actress and Best Screenplay, writer-director Jiří Havelka’s directorial debut is an impressive socio-economic tragicomedy about how we support, implicate and tolerate the closest members of our community: those who live right next door. The concept of neighbor in the urban area has evolved throughout the years, some for better, others for worse. In this satirical take on the (lack of) communication and relationship between several residents of the same apartment complex, that idea seems to translate as a warzone. A group of eccentric residents gather for a meeting intending to make improvement decisions, but they end up turning against each other in which becomes an opportunity to address some unresolved matters. Most of them becomes personal, sometimes insulting, racist, and discriminatory. Led by a young mother who wants to save the old place and suggests repairs, the one-room meet-up turns into a claustrophobic, hilarious nightmare of social provocation and moral dilemma as they can never come to an agreement.
Smart, filled with acid commentary on modern behavior and housing issues, and convincingly performed by a superb cast, the result is an authentic and bitterly funny comedy about our daily social challenges.
(A Big World Pictures Release. Opens Friday, August 18th at Quad Cinema)
MADELEINE COLLINS
One of Europe’s most seductive and bold performers, actress Virginia Efira gives another stunning turn in this enigmatic psychological thriller directed by Antoine Barraud. She plays a wealthy woman living a double life: married to a maestro with two sons in France and raising a daughter with a lover in Switzerland. Efira builds up her character with incredible sophistication and emotional control, brilliantly balancing the moments of frustration and desperation with those of pleasure and satisfaction. As her secret life starts to fall apart, risking both of her families, the director invites the viewer for an elegant, suspenseful, unnerving and provocative moral puzzle about family bond and co-dependence, supported by her ravishing, hypnotizing performance. She deserves Awards attention!
(A Greenwich Entertainment Release. Opens August 18th at IFC Center)
LOVE LIFE
After gaining international acclaim with such gems as “Hospitalite”, “Harmonium” and “A Girl Missing”, Japanese writer-director Kôji Fukada continues to prove he is among the best auteurs of our generation. Centering his stories around family bonds, conflicts, tragedies and the power of resilience, Fukada returns with this sensitive, heartbreaking drama about a family coming to terms with their pasts after a sudden tragedy strikes. As the protagonists face moral dilemmas, a journey through past connections surge, introducing new players to the puzzle (including a deaf Korean migrant) and allowing them to hold on to what’s left. Superbly performed, gorgeously shot and edited, Fukada addresses humanity, displacement, social and migration status, as well as the powerful language of silence, conceiving his most touching and impactful film yet.
(An Oscilloscope Release. Opens August 11th at IFC Center)
MUTT
A melancholic, moody, straight-forward trans romance set in the course of a day, Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Sundance Award-winning indie follows the turmoil experienced by a trans man dealing with how people react to his physical transformation, as well as stumbling into undesired, unexpected meetings. His ex-boyfriend, a troubled half sister, and an anxious father arriving from oversea will have his day filled with challenges and memories that might affect his new reality. Fast-paced, easily relatable, convincingly performed and infused with an adrenaline only seen in New York City’s urban scenario, it is a fresh take on the queer romantic genre.
(A Strand Releasing Release. Opens August 18th at Film Forum)
Comments