Rose Island

Rose Island (L’isola delle Rose) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: Sydney Sibilia. Cast: Matilda De Angelis, Tom Wlaschiha, Elio Germano , Fabrizio Bentivoglio, François Cluzet, Luca Zingaretti.

I watched this on my sister’s suggestion (Though we don’t always see things under the same light… ) but I knew absolutely nothing about it. What a delightful surprise this was!A caption right at the front of the film said “based on a true story”, but I’m so used to seeing those kind of warnings that it didn’t even register on me. It was only once the film was over, during the end credits featuring black & white photos of the real event, that it dawned on me that this amazing story actually happened!

Essentially it’s the story of a man who in 1968 built his own “island” (well a large platform in the middle of the sea) 5 miles off the cost of Italy (opposite to Rimini) and fought to make it into an independent “country” with its own language!The incredible story itself is possibly better than the film itself, which however very watchable it is, struggles in places to find its own voice (or understand which genre it should be).

At times it’s way too comical and farcical (especially in the very simplistic and over-the-top way the Italian Government is depicted), preferring the easy laugh to a much deeper understanding of the real issue at stake and seemingly missing the point and the power of the actual story. It also somehow misses most of the emotional bits and by the time the final sequences comes along I felt it could have been a lot more powerful (I’m thinking of the same sort of scene in Cinema Paradiso for example… but then again, I don’t want to spoil it). Having said all that, I’ve had a ball with it: it’s light enough, it’s entertaining all the way through and it’s nicely filmed and acted (though however much I liked the main character, I never quite believed it could be just out of university) and as I said the story itself was enough for me to give it an extra star.

One for those who think Italian movies are only about Mafia and neorealism.

Cops and Robbers

Cops and Robbers ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Arnon Manor, Timothy Ware-Hill.

Based on the poetry by Ware-Hill written for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery murder in May 2020, this short animated film is dedicated (and the final caption says) to “all the black men women and children who have been victims of racial profiling, police violence, loss of life and other injustices, just for being themselves”.

What’s interesting about “Cops and Robbers” is that it was created by black students and artists from all over the world; each of them used their own visual style to represent the source material: 2D, 3D, hand drawing, black and white, puppetry and so on (To see the variety of people who costributed to this in the end credits is just as fascinating as the short film).

The final result is something which in only 4 minutes adds power, beauty and a level of emotion to the already hard-hitting words.

The cacophony of images probably gets slightly too overwhelming in a few places and the quietest moments are actually the ones I found more impactful, but maybe that was the point: the loud noise and confusion and energy adds to the desperation of the words.

This is poetry on film in the best possible sense, where all the elements (music, visuals, words, editing) work together towards the powerful message.

On Netflix

Death to 2020

Death to 2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Al Campbell, Alice Mathias. Writers: Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow 

Charlie Brooker’s mockumentary looks back at 2020 with interviews with fictional experts, world leaders, reporters and “average citizens” and gives a satirical look at one of the worst years in memory. Brooker (the creator of Black Mirror) used to so something similar for the BBC, but now of course he has Netflix to back him up and that allows up his budget and bag A-List stars for his cast: Jackson, Hugh Grant (who’s is great and once again willing to look despicable and make us laugh at his own expense), Tracey Ullman, Lisa Kudrow and Kumalil Najiani.Brooker’s wit (at times surreal) is all over this and the joke come in at a really fast rate. Yes most of them are very infantile and if you’ve browsed the internet over the past 12 months, if you’ve been on Facebook, or any social media for that matter, in fact if you’ve been alive at all, you will be familiar with most of them.

This feels like a collection of the memes of 2020: things which have already been told by many other comedians out there. There’s no great revelation, no big arguments or deep observations and to be honest, just a few hours after having watched it I can hardly remember any punchline. But having said that, despite the fact that it’s been slaughterred by the press, I did enjoyed it. I found it light and breathy and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that while watching it time flew by and I did find myself laughing more often than I thought I would. It may be because I like Charlie Brooker (I have actually worked with him a while ago and he’s one of the wittiest person I’ve ever met) but there is a certainly cathartic pleasure in seeing it all laid out there (and yes, it is all from a biased lefty point of view… but so what?). It works like a sort of exorcism to cleanse us from the memories of this terrible year.

On Netflix

Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 ⭐️⭐️

Director: Patty Jenkins Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig , Pedro Pascal

Everywhere I turn these days I seem to find reviews of “Wonder Woman 1984” all mentioning the same words: “great escapism” (as if that could be an excuse for what’s actually a bad film). I was really hoping that this could be not just a nice fun action romp, which would give me that much needed “escapism” and fill that void and satiate that blockbuster craving I’ve been having for the past year, but also something which would help advocating for the return to the big screen. Unfortunately I have to say I was not only very disappointed by this film, but also rather bored too. I thought it was a bloated (Sooo long!), messy, hammy and ultimately very silly sequel.

Of course, I’m aware this is a superhero movie and one should really hang any disbelief at the door when checking in, but I do have a problem when these types of films cannot even stick with their own rules. And so now Wonder Woman can fly ( yes I know this happened in comics too at some point, but still); here she seems indestructible (though from times a few punches did manage to knock her down, quite randomly when the script required her to be hurt). Now people can come back from the dead and anyone can wish for anything and it will magically happen. There’s point when it all gets just way too much and laves the film with nowhere else to go.

I have been an avid fan of superheroes forever and have seen more than I care to admit. I certainly have no problem with people in tights and silly costumes saving the world from whatever the latest evil mind is, using their super-powers. It’s the kind of silly mindless fun that Marvel does so well and DC keeps on messing up. But this film feels so chaotic and over the top that even with all the will in the world I just couldn’t take it anymore.Of course, some of the action is spectacular and the special effects are spotless, but those are all things we’ve come to expect from such a multi-million dollar “tentpoles”.

And yes of course Gal Gadot is beautiful and now embodies her character as a second skin, to perfection, but as soon as you look beyond that, you’ll soon see what a mess this film is and even those action scenes, however skilfully handled, felt really disconnected with each other almost as if they were filmed in isolation without even a script (“let’s shoot something and we’ll figure out how to connect it all later on”.In fact narratively it is all over the place and doesn’t add anything to the previous instalment in terms of world-building or character development. So much so that when Wonder Woman 3 comes out (As I am writing this news broke that a third film is being greenlight and fast-tracked by Warner Bros), you will be able to skip this one altogether and you would actually not have missed anything. Diana’s (aka wonder woman’s ) only defining characteristic seems to be her constant mourning the death of Chris Pine’s character (how many years later?!?!), which is how we left her at the end of the previous film.

The film tries to throws so many ideas in the mix (the cardinal sin of super-hero sequels, too many strands, too many baddies, too many storylines) in the hope that something will stick at some point. As long as it can please fans on the internet and give them enough hashtags to play with…

If this is the kind of film they were hoping could save “Cinema” for its post-covid demise, then we are in real trouble.

Santa Claus: the movie

Director: Jeannot Szwarc. Cast: Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston 

Santa Claus gets the “Superman treatment” in this 1985 movie (incidentally by the same writers and producers of Superman) which let’s be honest should really only be watched around d Christmas time and possibly by children alone, while the parents get some rest elsewhere. 

The first act is actually rather magical and somewhat promising: the introduction of Santa, the arrival of the elves, the amazing toy factory. The production design is warm, cuddly and detailed and makes you hope for a much better film than what you’re eventually going to get.

The story (if it can be called such… I’m using the term very “broadly”) goes through the numbers and gives children all they’re hoping see: Santa flying above the sky (aided by some ropey 80s effects) and delivering presents to children (all rather annoying and with terrible haircuts), the toys being build is the factory in North Pole… and so on… Then at some point the film becomes something else when one of the elves (a charmless Dudley Moore) decides to use automated machines to build toys. And just when you’re thinking “I’m not really enjoying this anymore” there’s another abrupt left-turn as a super-villain comes into the story, wanting to steal the spotlight (and the job) from Santa, by which point all the promises of the first few minutes fall apart and the parents who are still left watching this with their children begin to contemplate possible ways to flee the room to do something else instead. 

It is actually a jumble of at least 3 films stitched together at 80s pace (or rather the bad 80s). Slow, uneventful, unimaginative and turning the whole Christmas magic into a merchandising machine (not that far from the truth probably… ).

Worst of all Santa himself is one of the most wooden and empty characters of any children movies I’ve probably seen this year. He may look the part but that’s about it. The blame must be directed to the script which doesn’t really allow him to do much at all.  Children under 10 may probably love it but for anyone else it’ll be a test of endurance.