August 30, 2023
Written and Directed by Charlotte Wells
One summer, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) went to visit Turkey with her 30-year-old father Calum (Paul Mescal). She recorded their time together on her MiniDV camera. Sophie was friendly with other British teenagers in the resort, including a boy her age named Michael (Brooklyn Toulson). Calum, now living in London apart from Sophie and her mom, was trying his best to put up a happy front, keeping to himself the problems he was having.
Having read all this effusive praise for Charlotte Well's directorial debut, as well as Paul Mescal's Oscar nomination for Best Actor, must have given me very lofty expectations which were too much for this humble indie film to fulfill. For me, it felt so much like watching a random stranger's home video from her vacation that I hardly felt any connection to. Temper your expectations before you watch, and you will probably get to appreciate it more. 4/10.
Written and Directed by Lukas Dhont
In rural Belgium, two 13-year-old boys, Léo and Rémi were the best of friends and were very close to one another. They spent a lot of time playing together at the flower farm of Leo's parents. When their classmates began teasing them about being gay, Leo did not like the innuendo and began to distance himself away from Remi. When Remi confronted him about it, Leo became very defensive, and they had a physical fight about it.
The intimate way director Lukas Dhont showed us the break down of a very close friendship between two boys was a very uncomfortable cinematic experience for us in the audience. The climactic twist was one of extreme sadness that no one saw forthcoming, and because of Dhont's excellent build-up, the emotional effects were devastating. Dhont decided not to spoon-fed us the correct answers, challenging us to think hard. 8/10.
Written and Directed by Marie Kreutzer
With all her ceremonial duties, Empress Elisabeth (Vicky Krieps) was unhappy as the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (Florian Teichtmeister). Her constraints were represented by the tightness of the corsets she needs to wear, and she rebelled against them. She only confided with her trusted friend Countess Marie Festetics (Katharina Lorenz), and enjoyed activities with her cousin King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Manuel Rubey).
Director Marie Kreutzer used a lot of innovative techniques to set this apart from the usual period biopic. There was technical surprises in the cinematography and musical score. There were inserted black-and-white scenes from the newly-invented motion picture camera by Louie Le Prince (Finnegan Oldfield). There were a couple of scenes featuring modern pop songs ("Help Me Make It Through the Night," "As Tears Go By"). 7/10
Written and Directed by Davy Chou
Freddie Benoit was a Korean who was adopted by a French family when she was still a baby. Now a young woman of 25, Freddie decided to fly to Seoul, Korea when her trip to Japan did not push through. While in Seoul, Freddie tried to look for her birth parents from the adoption agency who facilitated it. She was met with varied reactions -- one parent was over-apologetic, while the other one did not seem to care to see her.
As played by Park Ji-min, Freddie was not exactly a likable person. Her headstrong, rude attitude is not easy to watch or sympathize with. She had some relationships along the way, strangest being with a middle-aged French arms dealer. The belated reunion scene of Freddie and her birth mother was very unsatisfactory. The whole final scene of older Freddie at a remote hotel was a puzzling conclusion. 4/10
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