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Touching Base with Compassion and Empathy this Christmas Season

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By Roger Costa

A REAL PAIN

Beloved actor Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut is a fresh, surprisingly touching and humorous look at the effects and meaning of mourning- in this case, two estranged cousins embarking on a journey of self-discovery through the traumas and past horrors of the Holocaust while visiting their grandmother’s Polish neighborhood. Played with perfection by Eisenberg himself and Kieran Culkin, the film explores the turmoil-effects as they crash with their differences and perspectives on how to process the “vacation” but also how their bond becomes stronger. While Eisenberg has a normal busy married life and sees the trip as a touristic getaway, Culkin storms deep into the tragic facts surrounding that area, constantly challenging everyone to carry some of that haunting burden. As they seek for honesty and values among themselves, new friendships and connections are established. Eisenberg delivers a smart and accurately sentimental comedy wrapped and satisfyingly delivered as an American classic that celebrates and honors its history, legacy and pride.

(Searchlight Pictures. 12/20. Cinema Village).

FLOW

The most celebrated and Award-buzzed animated film of the season is an instant heart-grabber. Its unique wordless narrative style delicately and precisely observes how a few animals learn how to accept each other’s differences and cooperate, after surviving a great flood that destroyed everything around them, their habitat, their fields and also their humans who lived there. Led by a mysterious, fragile black cat, Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis uses this story to bring awareness to climate change, depicting the drastic consequences everyone is getting affected with, including the animals in our environment. It is a remarkably conceived sort-of-silent animated film that speaks volumes with its timely ecological alert. Plus, it teaches us an important lesson very relevant for nowadays: how to understand and accept your neighbor’s differences, whether he’s a human or an animal.

(Janus Films. 12/20. Cinema Village).

THE BRUTALIST

One of the most ambitious films of our era, Brady Corbet’s epic American Dream saga brings an astounding performance by Adrien Brody as a Hungarian-Jewish architect re-building his legacy (and torment) after escaping the horrors of the Holocaust. While he awaits the arrival of his wife (Felicity Jones) he is entrusted by a wealthy investor (Guy Pearce) to build a mega center in the middle of the desert. Influenced by the great American classics exploring power and manipulation, Corbet is on path to collect many Awards this season. This is a film made for the Oscars, filled with vigor and cinematic strength impossible to resist. It is an impressive, gigantic film that deserves many praises but it also carries some flaws. The fact of the 15-minute intermission is relevant, though not really necessary- it could have been cut down a little. It also loses a bit of its brilliance on the second part, due to the high expectations kicked off on the first act, but never loses its credibility and impeccable quality. I also dislike the way Corbet gets rid of some of his key characters at the end without many explanation. But once you see Adrien Brody carrying a bouquet of flowers and running to meet his estranged wife, you forget about these details and only consider the grandeur of it. The result here is indeed visionary, it’s a miracle cinephiles have been longing for.

(A24. 12/18. AMC Lincoln Square).

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Pedro Almodovar’s Venice’s Golden Lion winner marks his feature-length English-debut and brings Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and John Turturro in tour-de-force performances worthy of an Oscar nod each. A beautiful and tragic melodrama, it follows the special bond between two writers who re-connect in New York City after one of them is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. As they revisit memories and situations that marked their lives and careers, an unexpected final wish brings them to terms with moral dilemmas regarding the human condition and the right to decide whether to live or to die with dignity. Gorgeously shot, mysterious and seductive, Almodovar scores a provocative and thoughtful drama confirming him as a master of the feminine universe- in whatever language he chooses.

(Sony Pictures Classics. 12/20. Film at Lincoln Center).

GO TO THE MOVIES! MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Social Press . 18/12/2024

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