JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX
The real problem are the sequels.
I will never understand why when a film works there is such a strong need to make a sequel that almost for sure will be a flop.
Why not develop new ideas, give life to new characters, create new scenarios?
For the money. Obviously.
But Joker folies a deux is unfortunately the proof that big names don't necessarily make a great film.
Joaquin Phoenix again wears his big red smile and his colorful clothes... but it's not enough to replicate the masterpiece that in 2020 let him win an Oscar as leading actor and earned Todd Phillip the Golden Lion in Venice.
Arthur Fleck, the anti-hero with spastic laughter, is back... but this time the magic isn't there, not even if Lady Gaga is supporting him in the role of Harley Quinn.
What in the first Joker was poetry, intensity, soul, basically turns into a gray and quite boring musical that we didn't need.
As always, Phoenix, is impressive, very expressive; he can sing, he can dance... but we already knew that.
Lady Gaga sing beautifully... but it's still hard to see her as an actress and not as Lady Gaga "with less makeup".
Replicating the famous ballet on the stairs is not enough as well as the talent of the director, and the millionaire production.
Maybe we should have understood it from the posters that thundered "The world is a stage" but for more than two hours we watch, almost yawning, a legal drama - without rhythm - where everybody sings.
The moral about fame and success that the film would like to throw in our faces as a modern lesson takes second place because, honestly, we are tired of things we have already seen and songs we have already heard...we want new films, new plots, new lessons.
But above all, we don't need another Joker.
THE PRIORY OF SION
Sometimes you have to take a lot of risks to find a treasure.
There is certainly no shortage of emotions in this fascinating script that keeps us suspended on the thread between present and past, where Templars, hidden treasures, ancient mysteries and secret congregations are the absolute protagonists of this screenplay with fast pace.
Written by the talented Florence Cazebon-Taveau, The Priory of Sion published by Ediilivre Editions France is a story - set in the famous Rennes-le-Château - that fascinates, intrigues and ignites the desire to discover a lot more about a distant and fascinating era.
The Holy Grail - the legendary cup with which Jesus celebrated the Last Supper- is the object of desire that will unleash a whirlwind of espionage and conspiracies.
In 2022 we will follow the frenetic steps of Florence (clairvoyant) and Patrick, two friends passionate about Occitan history who will have to escape from the tentacled clutches of Opus Dei. In 1896 we will instead follow the bucolic but otherwise boring life of two couples: the greedy Abbot Bérenger Saunière and his lover\housekeeper Marie Denarnaud; and the generous and altruistic Abbot Henri Boudet and his young apprentice Manon who - like the modern Florence - is medium and pranotherapist.
Opposites compared. Good and evil challenging each other. A dive into a mystical and intriguing past
Cazebon-Taveau's writing is incisive, accurate and enthralling.
Reading the script, faces and places materialize: we see the country roads traveled by Abbot Boudet, the house where Bérenger Saunière plots how to get rich, and the eyes of Florence and Patrick so full of passion and fear.
Esotericism, suspense, subterfuges... all that's missing is a director who takes this script and turns it into a great film!
PRESUMED INNOCENT
You will really understand the truth only at the end...
Presumed Innocent - an Apple series created by David E. Kelley - is an adaptation of the famous novel by Scott Turow, the second after the 1990 film directed by Alan J. Pakula starring Harrison Ford.
Rusty Sabich (a splendid Jake Gyllenhaal), a shrewd and talented district attorney, finds himself investigating the brutal murder of his colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve), who we soon discover being his lover.
The police begin to dig into Rusty's past, focusing meticulously into the adulterous - and at times morbid - relationship which catapult Sabich into the vortex of doubts and conflicts so much to become the most plausible suspect in the crime.
The house of cards collapses inexorably.
Already extremely fragile ties now find themselves seeking balance on a very thin thread made of hidden truths, lies and misunderstandings. Rusty's seemingly perfect family crumbles. Doubt takes over the mind of his wife (Ruth Negga) and their two children.
His enemy Tommy Molto (Peter Sarsgaard), who has already been competing with his colleague for some time, will do anything to nail him and have him convicted as the sole person responsible.
An exemplary cast - including Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel & Lily Rabe - at the service of a charming, torbid story.
Passion, desire, revenge, thirst for power and twists alternate in this splendid legal drama - directed by Anne Sewitsky and Greg Yaitanes - which until the last moment of the last episode leaves us in suspense, upsetting everything that we thought we understood.
Absolutely worth seeing!!!
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
Set in 1989, the film's plot follows the sapphic relationship between a gym manager who is part of a crime family and an ambitious bodybuilder who get wrapped up in organized crime… and as Gina X Performance sings in one of the first songs that make up the film's disturbing soundtrack: I like it, Je l’aime, Mi piace!
Love Lies Bleeding directed by Rose Glass from a screenplay she co-wrote with Weronika Tofilska, is a gripping neon-tinged thriller that recalls the photography of Nicolas Winding Refn.
It's a story of love and death.
Lou (Krsiten Stewart), taciturn and introverted, leads a solitary life inside her gym where she spends her days unblocking clogged toilets until the day she meets the attractive Jackie (Katy O'Brian) who dreams of making success with her super body at a competition in Las Vegas.
The two look at each other, they like each other, they fall in love... madly.
But the steroids that are used to pump up Jackie's muscles also cause hallucinations and psychosis which soon lead her to commit a murder that will put the lives of both of them in serious danger.
Voices and realities distorted by the abuse of doping substances, scenes bordering on horror, and night club atmospheres make the film worthy of being seen even though some dialogue or scene can be a little grotesque and ridiculous.
Kristen Stewart - here perfect tomboy with a terrible haircut - got just two facial expressions but as always manages to make the most of them giving life to a fascinating and well-acted character.
In the cast shine the darkness of the splendid Ed Harris, in the role of the very evil and ruthless Lou's estranged father.
MARCELLO MIO
No, it's not a Documentary, but the tender story of an identity crisis.
To bring a character back to life It's never easy, but when the character in question, is a legend of Italian Cinema and also your father...the challenge becomes even more difficult.
Fresh from the last Cannes Film Festival, Marcello Mio - directed by Cristophe Honorè - is a delicate and funny comedy but also a fitting tribute to the unforgettable Marcello Mastroianni played with extreme sweetness and respect by Chiara Mastroianni, the daughter he had with Catherine Deneuve in 1972.
Chiara, actress and daughter of actors with an extremely cumbersome name, struggles to find herself on set and outside; her father begins to appear more and more often in her dreams that one fine day Chiara stops being Chiara and decides to become Marcello.
She dresses like him, speaks Italian like him, and drinks whiskey like him.
Her friends, but above all her mother Catherine, are obviously quite shocked by the bizarre situation but each one of them decide to accompany her on this bittersweet journey where each interpreter will be forced to relive their personal relationship with Marcello.
Thus we discover anecdotes, places, curiosities, nicknames and songs; and we rediscover iconic moments that make everything extremely pleasant, nostalgic and romantic.
It goes without saying that the scenes between mother and daughter are something magical and very emotional.
Catherine Deneuve, divine and splendid as always, generously play herself making us discover small past quarrels and jealousies with her famous ex-partner and also her more human and funny side.
Among the protagonists we find the wonderful and hilarious Fabrice Luchini, the charming Nicole Garcia, Benjamin Biolay and Melvil Poupaud.
Thanks to a natural and stunning resemblance, Chiara Mastroianni,splendidly manages to revive the memory of her father Marcello.
In her, we find all the expressions, the smile, and the looks of what was undoubtedly one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.
Absolutely worth seeing!