Warming up and settling in.
Ok so quick behind the scenes here: for the past couple years PFF has used an RSVP system for Centerpieces and Opening/Closing (similar to what I believe NYFF among others does). When it opened for me, I made a block reservation of all the Centerpieces and Openings I cared about but had a couple I was wavering on and hadn’t finalized my schedule. One of those was Hamnet, which I thought I’d included initially, only to discover as I was walking up to the theater that I had not, in fact. I tried to get into the rush line but alas, it proved to be quite popular. I will get to it mostly likely when it releases or if they add another screening (similar to Sirât, which I’m missing mainly for social obligations and banking on Neon not dumping it). I have failed you all as a journalist and for that, gomenasai. Anyways, here’s the stuff I did get to:
The Little Sister: B+
Cannes Best Actress and Queer Palme winner, deserving at least enough on the former. Newcomer Nadia Melliti has an arresting face and a very compelling demeanor, which goes a long way towards making the usually standard sexuality wrestling feel, if not novel, then at least lively. I was struck especially by an early scene in which she gets in a fight with a classmate, who calls her out on her repressed lesbianism when she calls him a homophobic slur, the sort of early clocking that occurs in school and a willingness to make her unsympathetic. Hafsia Herzi’s adaptation of an autofictional novel (as Wikipedia describes it) holds back from making religious or family struggles the focal points, shifting more towards Fatima’s burgeoning relationship with nurse Ji-Na (Return To Seoul breakout Park Ji-min). All in all, a rather refreshing portrait of Tinder dates, lies, and youth thrashing about to find who they are.
What Marielle Knows: B
The kind of movie that gets by on a lot of outrage to be uproarious, and frequently works well enough on that register even if you realize that the title character gets left behind afterwards. She reveals to her parents one day that – after a fight with her friend – she can now see and hear everything that they do. This of course leads to a bourgeois couple spiraling as they’re confronted with the lies they tell themselves and each other, as well as the knowledge that they’re being constantly surveilled. I’ve seen it compared to Yorgos Lianthiamos (who you’ll be hearing from tomorrow) but to me it feels more in line with Ruben Östlund’s cringe comedy and prodding at comfortable people. There’s a lot to dig in on, but thinking back I don’t know that it really adds up to all that much.
Miroirs No. 3: B-
I suspect that like another Christian Petzold entry this will work a lot better on rewatch, but then again Phoenix landed its ending and tension a whole lot better. Didn’t catch Undine or Afire in part based on reviews and I saw Transit years ago so hard to say if this tale of a woman in a car wreck who stays with a local woman who seems to recognize her is in line with what he’s been doing since the Paula Beer era. The actors are all quite good, but something about it just doesn’t gel. Kept waiting for the inevitable reveal of what’s going on and I can see a version as a powerful exploration of grief but it all just falls flat. He’s still skilled of course, but this feels like minor-tier Petzold.
Honey Bunch: B-/B
A case of a last act shift that had me thinking I was going to rate this a lot higher. Truthfully, the tone in the beginning is so off I wasn’t even sure this was trying to be a horror movie. We get a typical start with a woman arriving with her husband at a retreat for victims of trauma and memory loss but it’s just not creepy enough to make me wish they’d just reveal what’s going on. That reveal is a nice little twist on things though so I won’t spoil things (and to be fair, it does get a little gross, a little bloody later on). Fun enough, but I think I’m still looking for the jolt of a Red Rooms or something else.
Tomorrow: This year’s Palme D’Or winner, and a check in with Yorgos and Emma.
Life of the Mind 