Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021)

Captain Volkonogov Escaped, and so did this film. 

Premiered at Venice film Festival, in Competition and was awared in many International Film fests, including Socchi, but neve released in its own country, Russia. 

see it and you'll get why !!!

The film is written and directed by Natalya Merkulova and Alexey Chupov. 

Volkonovov is played brilliantly by Yura Borisov who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar in Sean Baker's  Anora  and was the lead in Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes entry “Petrov’s Flu.” He is an NKVD captain in Stalin's USSR of 1938, when the Great Purge emerged. Timofey Tribuntsev is also great as his pursuer and former boss, major Golovnya. 

The title is soehow ironic, don't expect a traditional escape. The film has surreal qualities, non-linear narrative, great colors, widescreeen cinematography (2.35.1),  great production design (shot in St. Petersburg), and black humor galore. It's a sort of thriller, dark comedy, historical drama, fable, and it shows a side of Russia's history at its most darkest (that is, until Today :( Ok, not only that but all Totalitarian Poli cde Ste.

The musical theme, recurrent and also sometimes ironical, is the legendary Soviet song  Polyushko-pole (Song of the Pains), see the interpretation by the avant-garde St. Petersburg band  Shortparis below: 

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!! 

-a bit too long and confusing, or switches hard to follow...

The Lodger (1927)

The Lodger -from Aperitiff 2009 on a a special live music projection 

În The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), Londra e terorizată de un misterios

asasin în serie, numit Răzbunătorul (The Avenger), care ucide blonde în plină şi perpetuă

ceaţă. În acelaşi timp un individ misterios se cazeză în pensiunea familiei Bunting, care

începe să-l suspecteze pe chiriaş că este asasinul mult temut. Protagonistul titular este

Ivor Novello, renumit compozitor, actor şi cîntăreţ în epocă, care şi-a reluat rolul din

acest film mut într-un remake sonor, din 1932 (regia Maurice Elvey). Temele

caracteristice lui Alfred Hitchcock, suspiciune şi vionovăţie, care vor reveni obsedant,

sunt prezente în primul său thriller, cu tuşe expresioniste, care se inspiră din povestea lui

Jack Spintecătorul. Este şi primul film de Hitchcock care se păstrează integral (copia

nouă are 105 minute) şi în care regizorul are un cameo, apariţie devenită apoi trademark.

Versiunea clujeană are 75 de minute şi e acompaniată live de muzica DJ Dubase &

Leizaboy.

Alin Ludu Dumbravă

Cannes 2026 Oficial Selection

Cannes 2026 official selection includes the new Cristian Mungiu film, FJORD, his 1st International film, shot in Norway, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate  Reinsve ! The two Osccar nominated actors were together before in A Different Man (2024). I'm getting Oscar buzz already on this one...

The whole Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition here 

It also includes Nicholas Winding Refn's new film, the revenge thriller  HER PRIVATE HELL, out of competition.

Also Out of Competition is Andy Garcia's noir DIAMOND, starring Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.

Festival special screenings includes doc  JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW by Steven SODERBERGH

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/steven-soderbergh-john-lennon-yoko-ono-documentary-1235470466/

Islands (2025)

 Islands is an odd piece, film noir under the sun, actually much at dusk. Shot all in location in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain, it premiered at Berlinale 2025 as a Special Presentation.

The director is German,  Jan-Ole Gerster (also co-writer), the actors are Brits, Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing.  Shades of Ripley  (Highsmith's) and Hitchcock. Well acted, existential slowburn anti noir ;). Atmospheric score and sound design. 

see it in a cinema, if you still catch it !

 3 1/2 out of 5, 7 out of 10 !

Top films of 2025

Tough cookie, lost count of how many films I've seen. Less than probably any year. Over 200, less than 300 ? More ? I started to put them on Letterboxed starting late October but still didn't catch up with the rest.

***

Top of the series is here and films from 2024 are again a problem, The Brutalist and The Substance should've make the 2025 list, as there still are some of 2025 which I haven't seen yet (Hamnet,-saw it,. did not like at all- Resurrection, Sound of Falling ?). Marty Supreme would make Top 5 but I've seen it in Januaray 2026. 

Top Ten  soundtracks here. 

Just caught up with Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice that makes the list. It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy.

Kinda disappointed with Romanian Cinema this year too. I liked Kontinental '25 and that's it. Could 've been also Jude's Dracula but he made it such an intentional mess and duration wise a whole calvary...

But disappointments of the year: the new Running Man by Edgar Wright. And the last Mission: Impossible. Hopefully...Oy...

Top 5 -alphabetically:

all that's clickable as links are my "reviews"

Eddington -Ari Aster

O agente secreto-Kleber Mendonça Filho

One Battle After Another -Paul Thomas Anderson

Sinners -Ryan Cooglar

Sirat -Oliver Laxe

new entry on Jan. 2th 2026:   No Other Choice

Marty Supreme -also in Jan. 2026

Almost Famous ;) -also alphabetically:

Ballad of a Small Player -Edward Berger

Bugonia -Yorgos Lanthimos

Caught Stealing -Darren Aronofsky

Father Mother Sister Brother -Jim Jarmusch

Frankenstein -Guillermo del Toro

In the Hand of Dante -Julian Schnabel 

Nouvelle Vague -Richard Linklater

Nuremberg -James Vanderbilt

The Materialist -Kelly Reichardt

The Phoenician Scheme-Wes Anderson

Tornado - John McLean

Train Dreams- Clint Bentley

Warfare -Alex Garland & Ray Mendoza

Nicolas Cage Award of the Year:  The Surfer  (d. by Lorcan Finnegan) 2024 !

Horror:

28 years Later-Danny Boyle 

Together -Michael Shanks

Weapons -Zach Cregger

Good Boy- Ben Leonberg

The Monkey-Osgood Perkins

Dangerous Animals -Sean Byrne

The Gorge -Scott Derrickson

The Long Walk -Francis Lawrence

The Substance -2024, Coralie Fargeat

Keeper -Osgood Perkins

Comedy:

even weaker as it is, still good fun !!!

This is Spinal Tap 2:  The End Continues by the late Rob Reiner....

Bunny -Ben Jacobsen 

an indie, punkish NY film in the best way, kinetic, quirky, funny, dark comedy, punkimprovised, irreverent. Cool punk songs too.

Documentary:

Soundtrack for a coup d'etat -2024-Johan Grimonprez

the doors -When You're Strange- - Tom DiCillo, from 2009 but remastered in Cinema limited

pink floyd at pompei -1972. Adrian Mabel, remastered in Cinema limited

Devo -2024, Chris Smith   -netflix

Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) 2025/ Questlove   -netflix

Catch-Up -Four Aces:

Pale Flower- Masashiro Shinoda-1964 

La Traque -1975 Serge Leroy

The Childhood of a Leader -2015 Brady Corbet

Finalmente l'alba - Saverio Costanzo -2023, on which I wrote: 

Rome and Cinecitta 1953. More like a drreamlike story, a false thriller, homage to Fellini and La Dolce Vita, Notti di Cabiria, and linked to a real muder cold case known as the Italian Black Dahlia. Interesting slow film, in the Venice Competition in 2023. Modern beat score, strange and eerie. Song Last Nite by The Stokes (2011) on the end credits. 

3 1/2 out of 5

No Other Choice (2025)

1st film I saw on 2026 it's one of the best of 2025 and one of Park Chan-wook's best. No Other Choice aka Eojjeolsuga eobsda.  It's also the offical Korean Submission for Best International film at the Oscars and it's nominated for 3 Golden Globes Awards. No Other Choice premiered in the 2025 Venice Film Fest Competition. It won Best Director in Sitges FF. 

It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy. Just peropeare for slower development, the film has 2h19 mins.

I follow the Korean director for 25 years, ever since he came to Bucharest with his 1st feature, JSA (Joint Security Area) at the 1st Festasia fest edition.  That was before Oldboy, Mr. and Mrs. Vengeance, Thirst, Handmaiden and Stoker. Saw most of his oeuvre, also the HBO series The Sympathiser, so I can say that this one it's one of his best. 

Lee Byung-hun who is South Korean leading man is here a Paper Man, formerly "Pulp Man of the Year 2019." He was also in PCWook's JSA, in A Bittersweet Life, Squid Game series, even in G.I. Joe. He gets back at working with PCW after 25 years. Here he is a plain family man, with a desperate will to get back to his job that was downsized.  Son Ye-jin is great too as his wife Miri, and so is the son Si-one and the daughter Ri-One- playing cello. And the two dogs (Si-Two and Ri-Two). And all the supporting characters. Great supporting characters !

It's a Korean Le Coupert / The Axe, based on Donald  E.Westlake 1997 novel. It was made before by Costa-Gavras in 2005 as The Ax, a great black comedy, merciless, starring José Garcia. But Wook-Chan goes even further in absurdity and satire. He co-wrote this with Don McKellar, they worked together before on The Sympathiser. The film is produced by Costa-Gavras family and it's dedicated to the Greek director, who kept the rights of the novel and gave them to Park Chan. The film was supposed to be in English first (starting 2009) but kept developing.

Via IMDB: During a live discussion with Costa-Gavras at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival, Park told audiences that he was still working on his adaptation of Westlake's novel. The film was described by Park as a "lifetime project" and that while he hadn't begun filming it yet, he wished "to make this film as my masterpiece." Gavras, who still held the rights to the book, had helped Park to develop the project. The film was set to be an English-language picture, with Don McKellar co-writing the script alongside Park.

The design is fabulous too, from the bonsai and the greenhouse to the seasons change, going from summer to winter (it was shot in a period of five months, from August 2024 to January 2025). The colors are very important for the transitions and the story. Impeccable widescreen (2.35 : 1) cinematography  (by Kim Woo-hyung who worked before with the director on The Little Drummer Girl series) and editing (Kim Sang-bum, Park's editor since JSA), adding to the plot points and directing. 

Great score too, and great idea of a cello subplot, by Chan-wook Park's collaborator, Cho Young-Wuk.  The score includes incidental classical music, Mozart piano concerto (no. 23!), Marin Marais and pop hits, Korean and American (Hold On I'm Coming by Sam and Dave -1966), edited and directed on camera (one set-piece might as well be the best Cinema scene of 2025!-and the funniest -with subtitles too ;).

4 out of 5 / 8 out of 10 !!!

“I've always been trying to follow the footsteps of the great masters of cinema, most of whom have passed away today. I've tried very hard to reach their level. And I think in certain scenes or certain films, I might have reached a similar level, but there's still a very long way to go. So, when I think about how many more films I can make for the rest of my life, I feel very rushed.”

Park Chan-wook 

*the screenplay of the film in English can be found here !!! 

Father Mother Sister Brother (2025)

Father Mother Sister Brother  might be the last Jim Jarmusch hilm (*he said it). He is also 72 now, which is somehow incredible, cos he kinda looks the same.

Three vignettes (New Jersey, Dublin, Paris), out of which the 1st one is the best, Father, because it has Tom Waits in it. Nice to see Charlotte Rampling as Mother and Vicky Krieps with pink hair is cool too. It's Jarmusch's introspective reflective film after 6 years of pause and the uberdisapointing The Dead don't Die (see here in Romanian).

FMSB is not a lot of fun, some coffeee, no cigarettes, the same shots from above tho, on Mother some cakes, some tea (no alcohol) some skating, Rolexes, a nice Paris flat, a lot of Reds in the costumes (YSL;), but the whole thing is out of breath, man...sort of Mid day on Earth...

that FMSB won Best film on Venice film fest this year, beats me. This was a film that was not accepted in competition in Cannes, the festival that made JJ a star !

Jim Jarmusch made also the music, on guitar, together with singer Annika (Henderson), one of the songs is Jackson Browne's These Days, 1st sung by Nico in 1967.  

3 stars out of 5 / 6 out of 10 !

Sirat (2025)

The Sirat Bridge, in Islamic belief, is a narrow and perilous bridge that every person must cross on the Day of Judgment to enter Paradise (Jannah). It is described as being thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword, with the faithful crossing it swiftly, while sinners may fall into Hell below.

(from imdb trivia)

SIRAT is one of the best films of 2025, and definitely the most interesting, visually and thematically. Jury Prize in Cannes and Golden Globe nominated for best foreign film (Spain's entry) and surely Oscar nod in the same category. Sergi Lopez leads a cast of unknown and unprofessional actors into the Morrocan -here unanmed-desert in a Jodorowskian take on Sorcerer (Friedkin's best !!!) in Burning Man territory. Existentialism follows upwards and downwards spiral ;)

Director and co-writer Oliver Laxe says Sirat it's a mix of Mad Max, Easy Rider and Stalker.  

Also there are one armless man, one legless man (Freak show, /Freaks t shirt), another hint at some Jodorowski. And a pun on a Boris Vian poem and song, more existentialism and surrealism mix.

Stellar Techno electronic soundtrack by French artist Kangding Ray. Would deserve the Oscar and the Globe for best score.It won Cannes Soundtrack Award.

Kudos also for Laia Casanova’s sound design, that turns the "rumors of the wind" and the noises of the desert into their own Rave.

 Also as I was sure, it's the Winner of 2025 Palm Dog - Jury Prize For Pipa the Jack Russell, and Lupita the Podenco mix.

9 out of Ten / 4 1/2 out of 5 !!!

*To be seen in a cinema with powerful speakers and good sound design. And about that, it's a real shame the film runs in Romania only a few shows, in some cities (see here on the distributor's site Transilvania Film), and not at all in Brasov :((( shameful...

A review in Hollywood Reporter here

RIP Udo Kier

Udo Kier died on November 23d in Palm Springs. He was 83. One of the greatest actors. Ever. Only through his mad glaze, blue piercing eyes, he dominated every screen and stole every scene he was in.

Takes me some time and pain to write about him. I knew him, met in different occasions 4 times over the years. Interviewed him with Andrei on the set of One Point O in Bucharest in 2003. We spent hours in a derelict block of flats, now demolished, in a smoked flat, under the lights, into the night. Uberhot, hot early summer night in Bucharest (8th of may as the picture says). Udo came for a film and stayed for one more, got a part in Andy Garcia's Modigliani. His hair was dyed blonde for the part. We got Polaroids with him, each, this is Andrei's here. 

Then he was invited in Cluj at TIFF in 2006 and we hang out with him, even to a second hand shop where he bought a glorious long leather coat. This is another pic from Andrei, from one night to never forget, in the Diesel club, in the cellar VIP room (ha, another place that does not exist anymore...)

Then year passed, I had Udo's US address and mail, we sent him a script of a film still not done today. Didn't pass us to his agent or anything. I don't have the same mail address so that got lost.

In 2015 I was a guest of Grossmann film Festival, and spent more time with Udo, also there. We even went to see an art exhibition together. 

Found another pic from Grossmann 2015, with my buddies, director Kritstjan Milic (Zivi i mrtvi) and Kapelmeister of the fest, Marko Mehtsun. 

And last time I saw him in Cannes, on Rue des Antibes, in 2019, as he was there with the cast of  Kleber Mendonça Filho's Bacurau, great film. We met on the street and had a chat.  The last part of Udo is in Filho's new film, The Secret Agent.  A beautiful heartfelt goodbye...

On the screen I saw him last in Hunters, season two where he played obviously on of his recurring characters, Adolf Hitler. Update: I just saw My Neighbor Adolf and liked it, Udo is at his best. 

Goodbye Udo, it was a pleasure and an honor to meet you...

RIP Robert Redford

Robert Redford gone where a River / rivers run through...

The Man was 89. Once ”The Golden Boy” of Hollywood...No liftings, just traces of life...

One of my top childhood heroes, he was an absolute star in that times "commie" Romania, together with Paul Newman, John Wayne and Burt Reynolds, the stars of those early 70's. RR, as a Rolls Royce of acting and old Hollywood grace and elegance. 

From early prats in Barefoot in the Park and The Chase, to stardom: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, to his activist years and Sundance, to the last parts in All is Lost (one of my favourite RR performances), The Old Man and the Gun and last in that Marvel film (2019)...

Never won an Oscar as an actor, but as a director, in 1980 for Ordinary People. That film is now quite forgotten, but at the time it helped build an Indie genre later on. A raw model for Brad Pitt and tons of others he helped more in the capacity of director, producer and festival founder (Sundance). Even though he directed 9 feature films he will be remembered more as a Classic Movie Star. 

Downhill Racer, The Candidate, The Hot Rock, The Great Waldo Pepper, The Great Gatsby, The Electric Horseman, Jeremiah Johnson, Brubaker, The Natural.

Liked him in lesser films like Sneakers, Legal Eagles, Havana, The Last Castle, The Clearing. 

One of my favorite later parts parts of RR is Nathan Muir in Tony Scott's Spy Game (2001). His pairing with Brad Pitt as his mentor in CIA was a very touching one. 

He made serious topics like grief and political corruption resonate with the masses, in no small part because of his own star power. (The NY Times)

Together (2025)

New entry in the Body horror genre, after the recent The Substance, this is the debut feature of writer/director Michael Shanks. Liked it more than the overrated Bring Her Back. For me the other interesting horror fodder this year include 28 Years Later and Weapons. 

Together is an ambitious little horror flick, with themes of love and obsession, about a couple that moves in a little village house, far from town, and a mysterious pit in the woods.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie are married in real life so the intimate scenes have more power, intensity and authenticity than with other actors.

Supporting is Aussie Damon Herriman (The Nightingale, OUATIH, The  Bikeriders), and when he's on screen you know something ain't right ;)

Shot in Australia in only 21 days. Debut at Sundance Film Fest in Jan. 2025. Was presented even in  Locarno film fest !

Powerful score by Cornel Wilczek. End song, Another One by Golden Suits (2016). 

The effects are good for their budget, some morph coming from The Thing and more recently Color out of Space.

7 out 10 ! 3 1/2 out of 5 !

The Surfer (2024)

 “Don’t live here, don’t surf here”.

Another Nic Cage for Acting president, method of madness award ;)

Australian-Irish The Surfer was Cages first official Cannes fest selection in 34 years (after 1990's Wild at Heart!).

Mandy was in Quinzaine. Also Dog Eat Dog. 

A cross of Wake in Fright with The Wicker Man (one of Cage's most insane films is the remake of the cult British film of 1973), it's a psychedelic drama, unfolding in the Australian surfing territory.

Great score by Francois Tetaz, all reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's sound. 

Written by Thomas Martin, who took a cue from the short story that based 1968's Burt Lancaster's The Swimmer. 

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan who debuted with an interesting curio back in 2019, Vivarium. 

But the most interesting thing in it is Julian Mc Mahon, recently passed away at 56 :( He's the main attraction in the film, as Scally, the macho guru of the beach, dressed all in Red.

Sight and Sound review here. 

8 out of 10 / 4 out of 5 

Blüesferatü revine la Castelul Bran – 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30

Cine-concertul live Blüesferatü revine la Castelul Bran – 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30

 

Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), capodopera regizorului expresionist F.W. Murnau, este considerat unul dintre cele mai importante filme mute din istoria cinematografiei. Muzica originală a filmului s-a pierdut, iar de-a lungul timpului s-au realizat numeroase partituri alternative, făcând din Nosferatu un favorit al cine-concertelor din întreaga lume.

 

Dar niciodată nu s-a cântat blues pe el. Până acum.

 

Blüesferatü – eine Symphonie des Blues aduce în România o versiune live în care imaginea iconică a lui Nosferatu este acompaniată de o coloană sonoră originală, compusă și interpretată live de șase muzicieni brașoveni, într-o cheie blues psihedelic, intensă și cinematică.

După premiera mondială din 2023 și reprezentațiile din 2024 în cadrul Transilvania Blues Festival Brașov, Buzău International Arts Festival și TIFF Timișoara, proiectul revine în 2025, pe 28 iunie 2025, ora 21:30, într-o nouă punere în scenă, în grădina Castelului Bran.

 

Muzica originală este compusă și interpretată live de muzicieni brașoveni: Ionuț Constantin „Yokko” – compozitor, dirijor; Robert Watzatka „Watzzy” – compozitor, chitară; Ilyes Botond „Boti” – chitară; Mihai Nedea – clape; Ciprian Pârvu – bas; Claudiu Rusu „Kani” – tobe. Muzicienii vor cânta live în fața ecranului pe toată durata filmului - 95 de minute!

 

Un eveniment rar, aflat la granița dintre muzică, film și performance, sub clar de lună, în inima Transilvaniei.

 

Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Transilvania Arts & Events.

 

 Bilete: iabilet.ro

110 RON în presale | 130 RON la intrare

 Eveniment Facebook: Blüesferatü – Live at Bran Castle

 

Un proiect produs de Alin Ludu Dumbravă și Vlad Popescu pentru Asociația Transilvania Arts & Events finanțat de Consiliul Județean Brașov, cu sprijinul Castelului Bran, recomandat de Rock FM și Zile și Nopți.

Sponsori: BCR, Butan Gas

Parteneri culinari: Stoker Wines

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

 The Phoenician Scheme (2025) is Wes Anderson's 12th feature (out of 12, 2 films are animations), presented at the 78th Cannes film festival in the Official Competition. 

The New Yorker review here

It's supposed to be a film dedicated by the writer-director to his daughter, a more emotional relationship of characters and less parodic as in his other films.

A lot of in-house references and cyphres, even more and obscure than before. From the name of the character, Zsa Zsa (Gabor), Korda (the famous filmmaking brothers), to Casablanca, Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin, Max Ophuls shots, Igor Stravinski & Mussorsky-Ravel, Pierre-August Renoir's painting (that was owned by Greta Garbo). Black Narcissus nurse included ;) The score is again by the great Alexandre Desplat, on his seventh collaboration with WA, in a synchopatic sound and beat very similar to the music from The Grand Hotel Budapest (the best Wes Anderson film for my money).  What is new is the cinematographer, Bruno Dellbonnel's first film with WA. Top set & production design (done again at Babelsberg studios, where the Grand Budapest Hotel was shot) by Adam Stockhausen and cool costumes by the legendary Milena Canonero.

Za-Zsa Korda (genius name !) Benicio Del Toro chews scenery, actually he machetes it, in a part half inspired by Howard Hughes, part Groucho Marx. Matthieu Amalric (Marseille Bob !!! -Bob le flambeur ?) plays Peter Lorre and Jeffrey Wright (Marty- "man") is the epitomy f cool !

IMO Benedict Cumberbatch (uncle Nubar) looks like from Feulliade's Fantomas or any silnet films villains, with a fake beard and diabolic eyes (Jack Lemmon in Blake Edwards' The Great Race too?). Also Michael Cera's Bjorn accent is far far out. The Monty Python affiliation is automatic.

If you know Wes Anderson's favorite films and directors, you know there is not much Americanism in him. He might be the most European Art-house American director. Also he is starting to live completely in his own MU (movie universe), like latter Fellini, Roy Andersson, etc. Is that a good thing, or a Phoenician scheme ;) ?

All in all, 7 out of 10 /3 1/2 out of 5 (could've been 10 mins. shorter) and the Black and white Bunuelian mocking Bergman (or Pasollini ?) sequences (except the Bill Murray cameo as God). Too much of mannerism, tends to deja-vu/veja-du ?. 

RIP Sly Stone

Sylvester Stewart aka Sly Stone (leader of legendary funk-soul group Sly and the Family Stone) went away to the other side... He was 82. He is the godfather of funk (adelik), soul master, Uber rockstar in hiss day and a raw model for Prince. Also for Nile Rodgers, George Clinton and many others, black or white. He upped James Brown's game to a a musical level of perfection. His band played Woodstock in 1969, one of the high(er!) acts of the monumental event. And I mean, who ever married on Madison Square Garden and Live ? (in 1974!).

There's a great documentary about him, that just premiered in Sundance Fest. this January and was streamed by Hulu (in Ro on Disney+) in Feb. 2025. Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of the Black Genius), directed by Questlove, musician on his own. See it and you'll get why Sly was the slyest ;) He did a big big thing for Black musicians way back when segregation was All Time(s) Nigh !

Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin ;)

Cannes 78: Palme d'or to Robert de Niro !!!

 Such are the moments of Cannes !

Honorary Palme d'Or to Robert De Niro !!!

At the peak of the evening, a standing ovation greeted Leonardo DiCaprio’s entrance. The American actor, who owes his breakout and his encounter with Martin Scorsese to Robert De Niro, expressed his admiration before presenting him with an Honorary Palme d’or:

 

“Tonight, I have the immense honor of standing before you to pay tribute to someone who is our model. Robert De Niro’s legacy lies in how he inspired actors to treat their craft not just as solo performance but as transformation. Robert De Niro is not just a great actor—he is The Actor. With Martin Scorsese, they told some of cinema’s most legendary stories, uncompromising stories. They didn’t just make movies—they redefined what cinema could be. They elevated the actor-director relationship into a crucible of risk-sharing.”

 

In response, the cinema legend addressed the Grand Théâtre Lumière with a call to action—for freedom and democracy, without delay:

“My sincere thanks to the Festival de Cannes for creating this community, this universe, this ‘home’ for those who love telling stories on the big screen. The Festival is a platform for ideas, a celebration of our work. Cannes is fertile ground for new projects. (...)

In my country, we are fighting tooth and nail to defend democracy—something we once took for granted. This concerns everyone. Because the arts are, by nature, democratic. Art is inclusive; it brings people together. Art is a quest for freedom. It embraces diversity. That’s why art is a threat today. That’s why we are a threat to the autocrats and fascists of this world.

We must act—now. Without violence, but with passion and determination. The time has come. Everyone who believes in freedom must organize, protest, and vote in elections. Tonight, we reaffirm our commitment by honoring the arts—and liberty, equality, and fraternity.”

To conclude this opening ceremony and launch twelve days of screenings for the 78th edition, American director Quentin Tarantino took the stage and, with full voice, declared: “IT’S MY HONOUR TO DECLARE THE 78TH FESTIVAL OPEN!!!”

Cannes 2025/ #78 Poster-s

Announced now. From Claude Lelouch's legendary Un homme et une femme (1966).

Pas un, mais deux ;)
Un Homme. Une femme.  

A man.

A woman.

A deserted beach.

A turbulent sky.

Intoxicating music.

A 3-month-old idea.

A 3-week shoot.

A 20-second scene.

Eternity lasts but a moment in the end.

It was 60 years ago. In 1965, two damaged beings played by Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant met, charmed each other, resisted, and finally twirled under Claude Lelouch's incandescent camera. The Palme d'or in Cannes in 1966, the two Oscars in Hollywood in 1967 and the dozens of awards around the world pale in comparison to this grandiose moment of tenderness, simplicity and beauty.

Because it is undoubtedly the 7th Art’s most famous embrace ("étreinte" in French, the anagram of "éternité"), because you can't separate a man and a woman who love each other, because you can't separate that Man from that Woman, the Festival de Cannes has chosen for the first time in its history to present a double official poster. A Man and a Woman. Side by side. Back together.

— He: When something’s not serious, we says it’s like a film. Why aren’t films taken seriously, do you think?

— She: Maybe because we only go to the cinema when all is going well?

— He: So you think we should go when all is going wrong?

— She: Why not?

During times that seem to want to separate, compartmentalize or subjugate, the Festival de Cannes wants to (re)unite; to bring bodies, hearts and souls closer together; to encourage freedom and portray movement in order to perpetuate it; to embody the whirlwind of life to celebrate it, again and again.

This man and this woman who both won awards in Cannes —Best Actor (Z, 1969), Best Actress (A Leap in the Dark (Salto nel vuoto), 1980)— are no more. These two posters also pay homage. Magnificent heroes of delicacy and seduction, Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant forever illuminate the film of our lives, like these two posters, whose colors express the intensity of a passionate love that triumphs over despair. This light no longer comes from the heavens, today troubled on all sides by dark clouds; it emerges from the radiant fusion of two beings who reconcile us with life.

78th Festival de Cannes official poster credits: © Les Films 13 - A Man and a Woman, Claude Lelouch (1966) / Graphic design © Hartland Villa

Mickey 17 (2025)

Our entire life is a punishment. 

(Mickey Barnes)

The highly expected (and most postponed release) new film of Bong Joon Ho, Mickey 17, with Robert Pattison in Multiple roles, is so-so. Frankly I don't get the enthusiastic positive reviews. The humor is lame at best with Pattison taking his ques from Jim Carrey's performance in Dumb and Dumber ! It's the Multiplicity Effect all over, clones (or how they're called here, "expendables" ), are getting dumb and dumber...duh. The film finally premiered at the Berlinale Film Fest in February with a worldwide release of March 7th. 

Budgeted at 118 mill. $ (!!!), this is surely a flop for Warner Bros. whom imo did not put a lot of faith in the finished project. The whole thing feels uninspired, the jokes are and you don't care much for Mickey or the Mickeys. Bong's humour is very personal and it worked in all his films prior to this, from The Host to Mother, also the social commentary, class commentary, leftism, was much better in Snowpiercer, which was his 1st external project out of Korea, then a flop, now a cult film and a s***ty cash-in neverending TV (streaming) series. That is why I am gonna go gloves off on Bong here. Wasting four years on this film when you were on top of the world, able to do any film you'd like, totally free of charge (he had final cut on this!). 

The source book is entitled Mickey 7 !!!, not to be confused with the 60's Mickey One ;), the material was customized by Bong for a more personal film for him, his 1st in the USA (shot in the UK Warner Leavesden studios), a follow-up to his all winning Parasite (2019). 

Shot impeccably by Darius Khondji. Dark as his TM and white -ice (the planet Nifleheim) and claustrophobic industrial corridors and chambers. Music, some of it uninspired, some good, by Bong's collaborator  Jung Jae-il (Okja, Parasite/ and the Squid Game series). 

Mark Ruffalo plays over-the-top, same Grand Guignol style as in Poor Things but here he is more like an impression of an Vincent D'Onofrio but she surely channels Trump. Toni Colette too, operatic hysteric evil lady. The aliens/monsters "creepers" are cool, but I pretty doubt they'll make a merch out of them. Starship Troopers "bugs" came to mind, but with the cuteness required. The Korean designer did work before for Bong on The Host.  

2 1/2 out of 5 / 5 out of 10 

L'amour Ouf (2024)

L'amour Ouf / Beating Hearts in English, Iubire fara limite in Romanian. In competition (!) at last years' Cannes film festival, French star Gilles Lellouche adaptation of a Neville Thompson novel is in Romanian Cinemas now. 

Great on the big screen (widescreen!), operatic, with a superb score and soundtrack, great cinematography, this is the most American French film in a long time, and that's a good thing imo. In Cannes they kinda hated the film -of course, oh la la), way too commercial for them to enjoy it if it's not made by Tarantino or James Grey...

Epic running time: 2h46. 1st cut was 4 hours though.

It's based (loosely) on the 1997 best-selling Irish novel "Jackie Loves Johnser OK?" by Neville Thompson, whose French title is "L'Amour Ouf" ( a pun on the expression "L'Amour Fou", also a film by Jacques Rivette from 1968).

Uneven, pastiche, but highly energetic and frenetic this is not a prefect film, far from it, but I loved the energy, the musical rhythm (greta songs, from The Cure to Billy Idol, to Sirius by Alan Parsons project, cuts from John Carpenter's from Escape rom New York score, closing on Foreigner-Urgent!!!), from the opening lettering and the pulsing dramatic score by Jon Brion (with whom Lellouche worked on his second film as director, Le grand bain/Sink or swim). 

Shades of Tarantino and Wild at Heart. And of course West Side Story. And Scorsese's touch. And maybe Lelouch too ;)

original poster with announcement of coming out in 2023. 

*Alain Chabat won best suppoting actor at 2025's Cesar awards. 

Marcello Mio (2024)

 First good film I've seen in a cinema this year. Also from last year, in the Cannes 77 film fest official selection. A very personal film, una affare di famiglia with everyone playing their own parts. 

Marcello Mio is of course about Marcello Mastroianni, and Chiara Mastroianni, and her mom, Catherine Deneuve. And the buddies, from Fabrice Luchini to Nicole Garcia, Benjamin Biolay (Chira's ex), Melvin Poupaud (un autre Chira's ex ;), all playing themselves. Also Stefania Sandrelli and Marcello MM himself in an excerpt from Pietro Germi's 1961 Divorzio all'italiana/Divorce Italian Style. And Francesca Fialdini, a hot TV host from Rai.  

written and directed by Christophe Honoré (les Chansons d'amour), 

super self referential (meta-meta) and for true cinephiles, including plot points from MM's films, a dog, a soldier, a bridge, a white kitten, and family memoires, this film is not for everyone. But maybe those who see it (of course I was alone in the theater, Monday at 16.45 !!!) should dig further. from the easy clues, 8 1/2  & La Dolce Vita, to the more obscure family references (including Maria Callas, a specific restaurant in Paris, Ginger & Fred, a song about how Marcello makes you laugh, etc.)

Beautiful soundtrack, including Isao Tomita's version of Clair de Lune.