Kollektivet (2016) - Review in english

Kollektivet (original title) or The Commune (English title), the new movie from director Thomas Vinterberg (known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998, Submarine - 2010 and Jagten - The Hunt - 2013), one of the founders of the film movement Dogme 95, which seeks to create a more realistic and less commercial cinema, deals with a family in the 70s, formed by the father Erik (played by Ulrich Thomsen, known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998 and Adams æbler - Adam's Apples - 2005), the mother Anna (represented by Trine Dyrholm, known for Festen - The Celebration - 1998 and DeUsynlige - Troubled Water - 2008) and the daughter Freja (played by Martha Hansen). Erik inherits the house of his family after the death of his father, but considering it very large and with high maintenance costs he is willing to sell it. However, his wife convinces him to turn the house into a kind of community, inviting some friends and even interviewing strangers to share the house and to help pay the bills. Living in a group, like a big family, they have dinners, parties and regular meetings so that important matters are made democratically. But the utopia around this experiment begins to be questioned when a love affair shakes the small community.

Kollektivet hits to portray very well the time when the story takes place: the 70s in Copenhagen. The production design, costumes and characters's characterization, expressed by the clothes, hair and costumes, confer credibility and immerse the viewer in the plot. But the film errs for not develop enough the characters that are not part of the central plot. The director should have further explored the group in conflict scenes and the writer could have better elaborated the difficulties of social life that are inherent to a life in a community. As it was written the supporting actors add little to the story and the parallel plot of Freja's journey into adulthood opposed to the reflection of everything that happens within the community deserved to be better developed.

The big highlight is the actress Trine Dyrholm, who received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival this year for her excellent performance. The most dramatic scenes and the strongest blows that we took in the feature film are starred by her character, Anna, a television news presenter. The actress representation convinces not only because her ability to express emotions in times of joy or in the darkest moments, but by the naturalness of interpretation, which makes the viewer forget that it's just a role play.

Convivial challenges can be overcome? To what extent a community project should override the individual interests? What is more important: the individual or the collective? Life in community is possible? These are some of the questions that The Commune tries to address, but ends up doing superficially. Director Thomas Vinterberg had talent to produce a film with a final result much better than he produced.

Original title: Kollektivet
English title: The Commune
Director: Thomas Vintenberg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3082854/

Trailer (with some spoilers):

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Wie Brüder im Wind (2015) - Review in english

Cinema has good films that tell a story between man and animal. Among them we can mention: Born Free (1966), Brother of the Wind (1973), The Black Stallion (1979), L'ours - The Bear (1988), Cheetah (1989), Fly Away Home (1996), Duma (2005), Eight Below (2006), Le Renard et L'enfant - The Fox & The Child (2007), Life of Pi (2012) and The Jungle Book (2016). In Wie Brüder im Wind (original title) or Brothers of the Wind (English title), the story revolves around a child and a bird of prey, in 1960, in some place of the Austrian alps. In nature the eagle creates two chicks, and the strongest always ends up throwing the weakest out of the nest. Thus, after being pushed by the older chick out of the nest and fall to the forest floor, which would be a death sentence for the youngest chick, he is rescued by Lukas (acted by Manuel Camacho), which takes care of the wild animal in secret. With relationship problems with his father Keller (played by Tobias Moretti, known for Das Finstere Tal - The Dark Valley - 2014), the boy finds love and companionship in the bird, named Abel. But when the time comes to release the eagle back to nature will Abel be able to reintegrate himself to the wildlife and will Lukas find his own release for a new life?

The story is narrated by Jean Reno (known for Léon - The Professional - 1994), who plays the character Danzer, a forester who lives on site. The film is directed by Gerardo Olivares and Otmar Penker in a semi-documentary style. Its major highlights are photography, soundtrack and sound mixing. The images of the wildlife are breathtaking, especially the scenes made ​​with the eagle. The camera angles, including the mini camera installed on the eagle, enable the vision of all the landscape of the Austrian Alps, which is to behold. In that Brothers of the Wind does not lack anything when compared to the best documentaries about nature. The sound mixing gives realism to the narrated story, immersing the viewer in the animal life.

The weak point of the film that ends up compromising the movie's final result is the script. It focuses too much on the melodrama of the boy 's relationship with his father. While the scenes of wildlife are natural, family sequences are all artificial and forced. The writers trio (Otmar Penker, Joanne Reay and Gerald Salmina) errs in trying to turn the eagle struggle to survive into something bigger, making a link in Lukas and Abel's story. The directors and writers should have focused only on the nature and eagle majesty, who is the great protagonist of the narrated story.

Original title: Wie Brüder im Wind

English title: Brothers of the Wind

Directors: Gerardo Olivares and Otmar Penker

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532278

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Bridgend (2015) - Review in english

Between 2007 and 2012 were committed 79 suicides by hanging in Bridgend County, a coal mining province in Wales, and mostly among teenagers. Based on this tragic true story, the film Bridgend, directed by Danish rookie Jeppe Rønde who until then only made documentaries, is a fictionalized version of the case. The story revolves around the protagonist Sara (played by Hannah Murray, known for the character Gilly, of Game of Thrones), a young woman who moves to a small town in Bridgend County due to her father's job relocation, the police officer Dave (played by Steven Waddington; he starred in the movie Imitation Game - 2014). Being a new girl in town Sara does not have any friends and her favorite hobby is riding her horse, Snowy. But gradually she gets drawn into a group of mysterious teenagers who appear to be connected to the wave of suicides, which causes concern of her father, who investigates the deaths.

To make this movie the director Rønde spent six years researching, interviewing and accompanying the teenagers who lived in the area and wrote the script based on their stories. There are theories about the deaths, but local authorities still do not know what motivated the suicides in which the film was based. Another detail is that the motion picture was filmed in the very Bridgend County.

The film portrays the reckless life of teenagers and uses the clichés that are already well known in adolescence representations: parties ruled by alcohol, cigarette, riots and dips in the lake, in a quest for freedom, to experience feelings without worrying about the consequences of your own acts. The intergenerational conflict is another point addressed and is showed by the gap between parents and children, who can not interact or communicate with each other.

With a gloomy and gray, grim and melancholic atmosphere, Magnus Nordenhof Jonck's photography (known for his work in Kapringen - A Hijacking - 2012 and Krigen - A War - 2015) creates a claustrophobic tone that makes you feel as if something terrible could happen at any time. Part of this constant tension effect is also built by Mondkopf's soundtrack, which uses the electronic sound to keep the suffocating tone in the movie. Bridgend quite remember the movie The Witch (2015) for the setting yearned in each frame.

Despite having an efficient cast the film could have developed the characters more. Another weak point was the way the script was written. The story does not follow a specific line and ends up being confused and not promoting the necessary understanding. The narrative focuses only on the lives of adolescents, leaving aside important parts as the parents viewpoint, the investigative work of the police and how the suicides affect the local community. Rønde was bold in its proposal to portray a difficult subject in an abstract way and ended up delivering a smaller film than it could be. Especially for the setting and the visual quality that are top-notch. Perhaps part of the answers that were left unclear can be found in the documentary Bridgend (2013).

Original title: Bridgend
Director: Jeppe Rønde
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4180576/


Trailer with some spoilers:

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Z for Zachariah (2015) - Review in english

Science fiction movies have always aroused interest of directors and screenwriters and whetted the imagination of people. Z for Zachariah, based on the homonymous book by Robert C. O'Brien and directed by Craig Zobel, is a typical post-apocalyptic movie (to quote a recent film in that style we have the great The Survivalist - 2015) which focuses on drama and interpersonal relationships. Ann Burden (Margot Robbie, known for The Wolf of Wall Street - 2013) is a young woman who survived a nuclear disaster, which devastated almost the entire planet, in one of the only places not affected by the radiation: her family's farm. She lived alone with her dog Faro until the appearance of the scientist John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for 12 Years a Slave - 2013), which had managed to resist the tragedy thanks to its special costume. An affinity and a bond are established between them, but the arrival of another survivor, the mysterious Caleb (Chris Pine, known for the films Star Trek - 2009 and Star Trek Into Darkness - 2013), threatens the relationship between John and Ann and shatters the harmony of the place.

The pace of the film is slow, focused on drama and the internal conflicts of the three characters. Instead of external threats and great action scenes or destruction, the plot deals with the complexities of the human mind, such as game of interests, distrust, fear of being alone and people's different reactions when subjected to extreme situations. Thus, the success of this type of narrative depends on tension and suspense created by the script coupled to casting and director's skills.

The performances, by the way, left absolutely nothing to be desired. Chiwetel Ejiofor hands on all duality of his character, John, which is intelligent and skeptical, but at the same time, possessive and keeps some secrets. Margot Robbie embodies the role of Ann, a humble girl, religious, sweet and naive, which is vulnerable by the inexperience of life and the fear of loneliness. Chris Pine completes the cast of confused personalities with the mysterious and manipulative Caleb, who brings with him a dark past.

The photograph, taken with long shots to explore the beautiful nature of the region, and the good soundtrack are positive features in the movie. But small failures in script and direction eventually delivered a smaller film than it could be. The dialogues and the atmosphere of tension and conflict between the characters should be better developed, especially in the third act. There is a visible continuity error in the movie: Ann's dog simply vanish after Caleb's arrival, with no explanation at all. The end, built ambitiously to enable viewer's reflection and imagination, leave some loose ends which causes the feeling that a few scenes lacked depth. After all, Z for Zachariah creates tension and drama in some moments, besides having great performances.

Original title: Z for Zachariah
Director: Craig Zobel

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598642/

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