The rivals ★★★
DRAMA (2024, 131′)
Directed by: Luca Guantanino
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Feist
One of the most interesting and versatile filmmakers of recent years, Luca Guantanino this time serves us a tense love triangle, wrapped in the atmosphere of the fiercely competitive world of professional tennis. Tassi (Zendaya), a former sports prodigy and current wife and trainer of Art (Mike Feist), a champion whose career has taken a nosedive, is looking for ways to bring him back to the top. Meanwhile, the two will run into Patrick (Josh O’Connor), an old friend of Art’s and Tassie’s lover. Soon the past will come back to haunt them.
Guantanino takes the hectic pace of training, constant competition and life on the road that tennis players do, adding to the mix the “uplifting” electronic music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Justin Kuritskes’ screenplay takes us straight into the final act of the drama – a fight between the two (and) amorous rivals – then explains how we got there through extended flashbacks. As is well known, apart from the rest, in tennis the wills of the two opponents clash – a suitable allegory for the theme of the film. On the other hand, the character that moves everything here is that of Zendaya, whose mental (and physical) trauma will essentially define the lives of all of them.
Live spirit ★★★
DRAMA (2022, 88′)
Directed by: Cristel Alves Meira
Interpretations: Louis Michel, Anna Padrao
Portugal’s official submission for the 2023 Oscars, Cristel Alves Meira’s film mixes metaphysics with provincial prejudices and the hidden secrets of small societies. All this through the child’s eyes of little Salome, who arrives for a vacation in the village near her beloved grandmother, who, however, suddenly dies. While the elders of the family start quarreling over the coffin, Salome is convinced that the evil is responsible for a local woman who everyone thinks is a witch. Meira cleverly unfolds her story through the folkloric path in order to highlight the dynamics that develop between the (mainly) female protagonists. Without succumbing to the charming temptation of the psychological thriller, he manages to create a tight family drama, full of comic-tragic sequences and a sense of authenticity, which is always welcome in modern cinema.
The Last Hero ★★½
BLACK COMEDY (2023, 85′)
Directed by: Ziga Wirtz
Interpretations: Angeliki Papoulia, Primoz Pirnat
The Slovenian director Zigga Virc tries to talk about the way in which the past of his country – and not only – is registered and affects the next generations, in a film with strong comic elements and starring Angeliki Papoulia. In a village in Slovenia, a German multinational is preparing to open a supermarket on the site of a statue of a decorated World War II hero. His son, obsessed with preserving the memory of the resistance movement, will start a regular… war when a representative of the multinational (Papoulia) arrives in the area. Wirtz has some interesting ideas around generational conflict and the management of historical heritage, especially in Eastern Europe, but their implementation is problematic in some cases.
Don’t open the door ★
THRILLER (2024, 87′)
Directed by: Sakis and Alexandros Karpas
Interpretations: Sakis Karpas, Fotini Levoyannis
The online phenomenon of Unboxholics (Sakis and Alexandros Karpas) transfers its activity to the big screen, in a psychological thriller with only two protagonists. A mysterious man (Sakis Karpas) lives alone in the heart of the frozen forest. One night a young biologist (Fotini Levoyannis) will knock on his door, claiming that her team was attacked by some dark entity. Trying to find out what is going on, the two will embark on a journey of revelations and memories, which will bring them face to face with a traumatic past.
A plot without many surprises and an atmosphere deliberately dark and cryptic, in an ensemble that tries to avoid the clichés of the genre, but rather ends up imitating them in their boring version.
Super Maggie
ANIMATION (2023, 79′)
Directed by: Ricardo Cuso
Can be heard: Katerina Girgis, Konstantinos Repanis
Animation with animal-like protagonists, who wear the superhero costume. Super Maggie spends her time unclogging drains and filing tax returns. But when an evil genius threatens to trap the entire town in a “perfect” simulation, she takes action to save it.
