massimo_saidel

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOSEPH MENGELE by hyper-active maverick Russian filmmaker KYRIL SEREBRENNIKOV ("The Ballad of Limonov" 2024; "Tchaikovsky's Wife"; "Leto"; etc) is a rare case of a disturbing and hypnotic feature adding value to an excellent original novel (the eponymous bestseller by french writer Olivier Guez, telling the south american exile of Auschwitz medic Mengele, also known as the Angel of Death, narrated in 'his fictionalized first person and voice'...): Jumping back and forth from Argentina to Germany and Brazil at a sharp and nervous pace, the film is timed as an escape thriller which never bores, even if the outcome is public knowledge since the 80's. All thanks to the skills of this ecclectic author who almost always treats vintage or historical subjects with a contemporary feel and tempo, plus little known but greatly directed actors. This time he chose to shoot in German to add urgency and realism, eventhough the book was written in french and well translated to english. Current action is filmed in crisp Black and White, while war-time flashbacks and a riverside scene are in over-exposed Light & Color that seem 'lifted' from "The Zone of Interest".

AUGUST DIEHL (seen in Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards", and last year as the Devil of a new baroque and russian version of "The Master and Margarita"; soon in Pavel Pawlikovsky next movie) gives an OUTSTANDING controlling dual and threatening PERFORMANCE of the monstruous yet horribly human Bad Doctor. We've rarely appreciated a more charismatic turn by a german male actor since Klaus Maria Brandauer ("Mephisto").

I screened the film in Paris last week in a full moviehouse but on a limited number of screens: a conservative release ahead of bigger xmas goodies, or a subject now "unpopular"? Its relevance in the face of current human crisis, manipulations and wars is very much now.

Despite the audience award at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain this fall, BUGONIA struck a noticeable letdown on the faces of first day (italian) audiences streaming out last week of cinemas, muted and conflicted after a 2hours' captivity, only slightly shorter than Emma Stone's own fictional kidnapping...a remake/adaptation of the 2003 Korean cult movie SAVE THE GREEN PLANET! Rumoured to be more fun than this latest offering by greek wunderkind director YORGOS LANTHIMOS: the former basket-ball player & clip-maker has come a longway from his second feature and first reward in Cannes ("Dogtooth" 2009), his lauded adoption of english and Emma Stone's in 2018 ("The Favourite") and his planetary hit "Poor Things" only two years ago. But in the face of this last eco-political "sci-fi comedy" in the rural boondocks of Georgia which plays like a sad and sick terminal joke, maybe it's time for YL to calm down, slow down or even size down temporarily (while he seeks renewed inspiration away from America) his association with the divine Stone: going West allowed Lanthimos to join the Super duper Club of arthouse Stars like Wenders, Kaurismaki or Inarritu, but with too much frequency (like Sorrentino) and diminishing returns (since long sketches' flick "Kinds of Kindness" in 2024, which I did not dislike even clocking at 164mn)...Dear Yorgo, please free your impeccable Muse and take a Zorba meditation turn: May the force be with you!

There are enough users' reviews about Celine Songs' (37) 2nd feature to make my added grain of salt superfluous or stale, but it is one of the few summer ("mixed poké season") flicks that stayed with me.

Less pungent & heart-needling than her previous "Past Lives" (2023), this time the canadian-corean director dives into the rom-com fruit salad of her adpoted New York: at first it's pure "Sex and the City" territory and Manhattan it is, with all its materialist fetiches obsessively aspiring to romantic vows...but this DAKOTA JOHNSON to die for is no "Pretty Woman" (more a new Anne Hathaway for the 2020's): a smooth, effective, convincing selfmade Matchmaker at a topscale professional agency, her mantra that topples Desperate Débutantes and (ex) Housewiwes alike is "You will marry the love of your life, I promise".

In the process (one of those downtown ritzy wedding affairs) she runs the same nite into her own new super rich prospect-candidate (affirmative but gent PEDRO PASCAL, who reminds us in more ways than one of Spencer Tracy) and her still enamoured loser ex boyfriend (Chris Evans), officiating as a dour waiter...At this point the film should be rife for clichés and tired twists, but the director's skill and real affection for all her Materialist characters avoids the pitfalls, zooms lightly on human foibles and delivers both melancholy and happy touchés.

MATERIALISTS is another offering from versatile New York indie production house A24 (unstoppable since being invested by anglo-ukrainian billionaire Len Blavatnik).

NB: credits-maniacs like myself will notice that the film was shot mostly (for budget reasons? Interiors only?) over the wall in Mexico - in minor defiance of our Potus!