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Post by berkley on Apr 24, 2024 23:21:31 GMT -5
Last week I saw a really excellent Australian crime movie called Limbo. It's about a detective working on a newly re-opened case of the disappearance of an Aboriginal girl 20 years ago in an isolated town. He gradually becomes involved with lives of some of the people he meets in the course of his investigation and this slowly opes up the social/racial problems underlying the crime and the situation in general. This is a very low-key film, but very well made and performed: all the actors do a great job and the atmosphere and pacing are finely tuned. It's shot in black and white, which makes for a very stark visual experience combined with the harsh Australian scenery.
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Post by berkley on Apr 27, 2024 15:00:02 GMT -5
Yesterday evening I caught La Bête, starring Léa Seydoux, directed by Bertrand Bonello. This was a quite fascinating science fiction movie, one of those things that's hard to describe without giving away more than I think would be conducive to appreciating it in full. I can say that there are three story strands, on that takes place in the early 1900s, one in 2014, and one in 2044: there's no mystery made of them, it's clear pretty early how these stories are related to one another, so I don't think that should be a spoiler of any kind.
My personal reaction was that the 2014 narrative didn't grab me as much as the others: it doesn't start until I think well into the 2nd half of the film and felt a little too drawn-out to me, but it is important to the overall narrative. So I wouldn't say it's a flawless piece of work, but still a must-see, IMO, for anyone interested in SF movies or films in general. I'll definitely be looking for more of Bonello's work, this being the first movie of his I've ever seen.
One more thing - I've complained recently about certain performers being under- or mis-used by film-makers (e.g. Gemma Chan in The Creator): well, Bonello really gets the most out of Léa Seydoux in this one. I think she's in nearly every shot, she's hardly off the screen for a minute. So she is very much the star of the show and has a lot of work to do to carry all the interconnected storylines. Her main co-star is also impressive - an English actor named George MacKay who reportedly learned French specially for this rôle (I thought he did very well in both French and English, and Ill be curious what RR thinks or any of our other French-speakers if they see this film). Guslagie Malanda was also really good in a part that I wish had been a little bigger as the relationship between hers and Seydoux's characters seemed to need more space to develop.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 28, 2024 17:02:02 GMT -5
Judging from the trailer only, Mr. MacKay does a very credible job; he sounds as if he's quite comfortable with the language. Like, say, Queen Elizabeth.
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