These are the premieres that hit the theaters this April 4:
Por Philipp Engel
It could be defined as the perfect mix, which no one saw coming, of The Raven (1943), the iconic film by maestro Henri-Georges Clouzot, with the recent and very, very vindictive Wonka. The first has the plot of poisoned letters, anonymous letters that someone sends to the inhabitants of a small town, insulting them conscientiously, and airing their most intimate secrets.
From the second, the completely unreal atmosphere of the parody Littlehampton, a very caricature and almost fantasy world, like a children’s musical, but without songs and full of bad words, in addition to the great Olivia Colman playing the villain: here in the skin of a “spinster”, as they said at the time – we are in the English post-war period of the 1920s – who lives annihilated by her despicable father, played by a disgusting Timothy Spall.
Little Indiscreet Letters could be a saturated color version – created by Ben Davis, also director of photography for Souls in Banshee in Inisherin – of some Ealing classic in the style of The Death Quintet (1955).
It has that genuinely British balance between white comedy of manners and blacker humor (in addition to the swearing), and is presented, above all, as a duel, acting and character, between Miss Colman and the no less impeccable Jessie Buckley, who He already coincided with Olivia in The Dark Daughter (playing, by the way, her same role in a youth version).
On this occasion, Buckley is a single mother, foul-mouthed, alcoholic, lovingly liberated and to top it off, an immigrant from Ireland, who has been at odds with her uptight neighbor for some time, a tension that will reach its peak when the anonymous letters begin to multiply in a bad way. .
The film by Thea Sharrock, a rather discreet director to date (she directed Before You and The Magnificent Ivan), is a first-class entertainment, based on the immeasurable talent of its two main actresses, and a comedy in which the Audience and critics can laugh heartily in unison. It is also true that, despite the fact that it handles many “serious” issues, from systemic racism to the suffocating patriarchy, it leaves little substance. It provides a great time, but it is difficult to return to it in the memory of it.
By Jordi Batlle Caminal
Actor Pau Durà’s third feature film as director, Pájaros is a classic road movie, with a car, a suitcase full of marijuana, another full of money, a bunch of cans of great asparagus and a couple of thoughtful beers (three in one section of the route) who have just met and will continue to get to know each other more thoroughly on the journey that will take them from Valencia to Constanta, Romania. The driver (Javier Gutiérrez) is an unreliable vivalavirgin, a complete skull, who is called Colombo because he imitates (without much grace) Peter Falk and who accepts the trip because he is well paid and has more debts, many more, than neurons.
The person who hires him (Luis Zahera) is a strange, serious guy, of few words (also pronounced with a nervous stutter), fond of ornithology, who suggests that the reason for the trip is the study of cranes, although we will soon discover that it is of another thing.
It is worth adding that there is a third suitcase that we do not see, which is called the script, and it is also full, specifically of commonplaces: Columbo is one step away from divorce and tends to forget his son’s birthday, his partner has to go through a process of redemption and for a serious illness/punishment, etc. They are clichés that, however, do not cloud the attractions of the film, whether landscape (beautiful photography by David Omedes) or psychological, since the inner evolution of this picturesque duo is interesting when the comedy sculpted on the traditional mold of the “buddy movie” ” A cloud of sadness covers her, making them into broken toys that are nothing short of endearing.
Zahera, awarded for this role at the Malaga festival, is the saddest, sometimes he seems like the Hispanic version of Harry Dean Stanton, of a creature who has already lost sight of the real world. But behind Gutiérrez’s ostentatious laughter, behind the caricature, there is a subtle trace of human fragility that ends up making his Colombo perhaps the essential character of the story.
By Salvador Llopart
Let’s see, Julián, yes, you, Julián López, what would you tell me about Methuselah? You, who have been in La hora chanante and Muchachada Nui. And I would ask the same thing to your “bro” Raúl Cimas, who stars in the film with you.
Also Carlos Areces, another of the gang. You do what needs to be done in this story of old “hiphoppas” who do not want to mature, clinging to their youth. But the film does not have “flow”, it does not flow. It remains in a forced verse, in a tired rap. Of graceless thanks and squandered good ideas. Too “hardcore”, right?
By J. Batlle
The events narrated here take place just before those of The Prophecy, the founding classic of 1976, with the character of Father Brennan acting as a link. The tone, the disturbing atmosphere and the staging are acceptable, in the sober and artisanal style of Richard Donner. Also the cast, led by a very convincing Neill Tiger Free. The script is not up to par, but the whole thing breathes a healthy air of satisfactorily manufactured genre cinema.
By S. Llopart
Walking tour through emptied France. The walker is a writer, also emptied, in search of his redemption. He is embodied by a more reflective Jean Dujardin, less imposing than on other occasions. A man beaten by life, who walks and walks behind his shadow after a silly accident that almost killed him. Redemption of a tourist postcard, the truth is, which instructs more than excites. Since Machado we know that there is no path, the path is made by walking. There isn’t too much film here, really.
Por Ph. Obstacle.
An alien invasion movie like never before seen. Not only because it takes place in a society as unequal, patriarchal, religious and capitalist as the Moroccan one, and in a landscape like the Atlas, but because of Alaoui’s very personal approach, which embraces the alien arrival through abstraction and mystery, What a unique opportunity for philosophical meditation and introspective journey, like the one undertaken by its heroine, the impressive Oumaïma Barid, a young woman who will give birth in a new world.
By S. Llopart
The best of all this is John Cena, an actor with Schwarzenegger’s physique and much, much more sense of humor. The worst: how his charisma is blurred in a film that is neither action nor a satire of the genre. And that he ends up staying on a vague terrain, with the worst of the two options. Cena plays a trained military man, a killing machine, tired of his home life, stuck in the jungles of Central America, defending a redeemed dictator in the hands of actor Juan Pablo Raba, also the highlight of the sad show.
