Welcome to the third of the chronicles that we will dedicate day after day to the 69th edition of the Seminci – Valladolid International Film Week, the second that a server will cover for El Séptimo Arte. 'Rita' – Paz Vega's debut as a screenwriter and director does not exactly stand out for its subtlety. His intentions are very clear from the beginning, not so much the extent to which it is legitimate to use (or perhaps exploit?) two young children as an alibi. And Vega emphasizes the message so much throughout the film that those who end up out of frame, and even out of focus, are his two tiny protagonists who, of course, are there to eat. In this fragment of manners not so from another era, the strength escapes through the mouth, under the weight of a cardboard evidence and with such thick lines that it ends up bordering on parody. The cause is noble, of course, but the way it is exploited engulfs the film, to the point of becoming, leaving the children on the sidelines, a fake work that feels more opportunistic than opportune. ***** 'The Brutalist' – Something like the antithesis of 'Megalopolis'. A great and epic production a la 'Once Upon a Time in America' with an architect instead of a gangster whose lack of means has forced him to focus and cradle at all times what is important: Telling a story. No distractions or autofellatio. What Coppola's film lacks, perhaps corrupted by the debauchery of not having to tighten one's belt and want to put one's balls on the table. Corbet, on the other hand, bows and prostrates at the feet of the power of his history. Supported by intelligent production design and skillful 70 mm cinematography that perfectly mask its lack of means, this production shot mainly indoors is something of a serene epic, modest and epic in an intimate way that, at the same time, Like so many other classics about the American dream and that stuff, it constantly retains our attention thanks to the successful and lucid succession of moments that give it shape for more than three resounding hours that even fall short. The third time was the charm, and after the interesting 'The Childhood of a Leader' and 'Vox Lux: The Price of Fame' it seems that Corbet has finally exploded as a filmmaker. ******** 'Stranger Eyes' – The starting point and the beginning of the film suggest that we are facing a thriller. And although to a certain extent it is, there comes a time when even the film itself seems uncomfortable adhering to said genre, something that even ends up hindering it. As the policeman says at one point, sit back and look at the images… and be patient. The “truth” and the “truth” are out there, in front of some camera. This film by Yeo Siew Hua, about, among other things, the corruptible and elusive power of the image or the isolation and detachment vital in a current society where we observe and are observed at all times, is always intriguing but also disconcerting. And at the same time convoluted in a not very spirited, relaxed and anticlimactic way. It is certainly not a film that makes it easy, although it leaves room for an enigma to be deciphered on the way home or to bed. ****** 'my only family' – Something like 'As Good As It Gets' a la Mike Leigh, with a Marianne Jean-Baptiste even more intense, unbearable and harassable than Jack Nicholson in that one. But much more, since that was still the classic “Made in Hollywood” story in which a grumpy old man is humanized and given the opportunity to redeem himself, while Leigh's… is, let's say, something more realistic and less complacent. In any case, it is a cross between comedy and melodrama that a veteran filmmaker with bare bones like Leigh shoots with your eyes closed, this being the good and the bad: How comfortable and unintimidating it is. Its humanistic honesty and compassionate coherence is a solid film that delivers with good writing, even though throughout its 95 minutes it is clearly seen that it could have given much more of itself ******.
