Movies Graded

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz  Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui Runtime: 98   minutes Synopsis:  24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot. Verdict:  La Haine. Hatred. This word has been rotting the world we live in for years now as proven by the countless riots that have been erupting on a daily basis all around the globe. The divide between angry citizens and their governments is seeing a pattern of exponential growth, leading to a civilization living in constant instability and ever-growing tensions. “It’s about a society in a free fall. On the way down, it keeps telling itself: so far so good, so far so good, so far so good. But it’s not about how you fall, it’s about how you land.” The closing lines of Mathieu Kassovitz’s black and white masterpiece released in 1995 perfectly sum up the underlying truth that the movie’s attempting to acknowledge. Taking place in Paris over the course of 24 hours...

Director: Éric Rohmer Stars: Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory Runtime: 95   minutes Synopsis:  Marion is about to divorce from her husband and takes her 15-year-old niece Pauline on a vacation to Granville. She meets an old love... Verdict:  Another day, another Éric Rohmer film to brighten my mood! The French director’s reclining style is one I cannot get enough of during these stressful times. His movies are sublime, sunny, and uplifting in their own special way, blurring the line between ultra-realism and dreamlike sceneries. “Pauline at the Beach” is yet another project of his that checks all three components that make his work so ever soothing. With radiant characters, engaging dialogue, and locations that will make your eyes melt, it’s a film that succeeds at showcasing a handful of characters’ views on love and relationships while maintaining a light ambiance that makes for a perfect after-midnight watch. I absolutely adored sitting back to experie...

Director: Éric Rohmer Stars: Melvil Poupaud, Amanda Langlet, Gwenaëlle Simon Runtime: 113   minutes Synopsis:  A shy maths graduate takes a holiday in Dinard before starting his first job. He hopes his sort-of girlfriend will join him, but soon strikes up a friendship with another girl working in town. She in turn introduces him to a further young lady who fancies him. Thus the quiet young lad finds he is having to do some tricky juggling in territory new to him. Verdict:  Gaspard, a young secluded math graduate with a penchant for music, takes a short holiday in a small commune in northwestern France to work on his compositions and take advantage of the gorgeous beaches there before starting his first job. His plans are quickly challenged by his introduction to Margot, a local waitress/ethnologist who pushes him out of his comfort zone by becoming his friend and initiating multiple conversations about all sorts of topics over the course of his stay.  It’s a wholesom...

Director: Janicza Bravo Stars: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun Runtime: 86   minutes Synopsis: A stripper named Zola embarks on a wild trip to Florida. Verdict:  The latest A24 release has been making headlines for quite a while now. The film, which premiered at Sundance over a year and a half ago, has managed to keep its momentum going due to the good word of mouth it garnered as well as the unusual fact that it was based on a Twitter thread that went viral in 2015. I’ll be honest, it’s that last part that got me interested in the movie more than anything else, especially considering that I wasn’t aware of the content of that thread. I won’t go as far as to call “Zola” a film that favors style over substance, but it’s most definitely the former that gives the movie its wild personality. By managing to simultaneously emit a trashy and ethereal aura, it succeeded in grabbing my attention very early on. The music choices and little reminders of the origin of the stor...

Director: Pascal Plante Stars: Katerine Savard, Ariane Mainville, Pierre-Yves Cardinal Runtime: 107   minutes Synopsis:  Nadia, an Olympic swimmer in her twenties, faces the challenges of her imminent retirement. Verdict:  Set in an alternate universe in which the pandemic didn’t happen and the Tokyo Olympics went ahead as planned, “Nadia, Butterfly” follows the aftermath of a young Canadian competitive swimmer’s final race before her premature retirement from the sport. It’s a grounded exploration of an athlete’s decision to let go of years of rigorous training to reach the very top of her profession. A journey she started at a very young age, unaware of the extremely competitive and selfish nature of the sporting world which eventually took a toll on her. The fact that our lead character is played by Katherine Savard, a real-life professional swimmer whose specialization and Olympic record are far too similar to Nadia’s, adds a lot of weight to her performance. Being a ...

Director: Gaspar Noé Stars: Béatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Abbey Lee Runtime:   minutes Synopsis:  Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches - but that's not all. 'Lux Æterna' is also an essay on cinema, the love of film, and on-set hysterics. Verdict:  Those familiar with Gaspar Noé’s body of work will tell you that the French filmmaker’s strengths don’t lie in his storytelling abilities. The scripts he works on are often only a few pages long, and he’s known in the industry to heavily rely on his crew’s improvisation skills to carry his projects. He has perfected imperfection so well that his movies always push the boundaries of filmmaking, providing the audience with an unforgettable experience that some adore, some loathe, but none forget. Just like the rest of his filmography, “Lux Æterna” is guaranteed to divide moviegoers. It may have an unusually short runtime of 51 minutes, but Noé makes the mos...

Director: Bora Kim Stars: Park Ji-hu, Kim Sae-byeok, Jeong In-gi Runtime: 138   minutes Synopsis:  Seoul 1994, in the year the Seongsu Bridge collapsed, 14-year-old Eunhee wanders the city searching for love. Verdict:  Bora Kim’s semi-autographical coming-of-age movie about a young girl’s struggles with patriarchal abuse, acceptance, and identity during the mid-1990s is an intimate invitation into the bubble in which our protagonist resides. It’s a powerful watch from beginning to end in which Eun-hee’s relationship with her family, friends, and teachers is examined from more than one angle. She’s admirably portrayed by rising star Park Ji-hu who effectively succeeds in capturing her character’s many layers of exasperation. Her family considers her to be an embarrassment; her teachers consider her to be a delinquent with no bright future, and you can tell that her lonesome nature has her on the edge of a psychological breakdown at all times. It’s her against the world, an...

Director: Cate Shortland Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour Runtime: 133   minutes Synopsis:  A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War. Verdict:  Introduced during the early stages of the MCU's inception, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow quickly grew to become a fan favorite and, for a long time, remained the only female member of The Avengers. Girls all over the world looked up to her as she stood her ground in this exclusive boys’ club, so much so that they had rightfully been campaigning for a solo movie for their heroine for years. Their wish was finally granted 10 years after her big-screen debut in "Iron Man 2" in what unfortunately feels more like an entry in the MCU made more out of obligation than anything else. It was very clear from the get-go that “Black Widow” would be more filler than substance, and that its non-existent personality would turn it into a tedious, forgettable watch. This ...

Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska Stars: Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Kinga Preis Runtime: 92   minutes Synopsis:  In Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters are adopted into a cabaret. While one seeks love with humans the other hungers to dine on the human population of the city. Verdict:  A gory horror musical about two mermaids who visit the surface with different goals in mind, “The Lure” is the type of movie that will stick with you no matter how you feel about it. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s guaranteed to leave a trace due to its unique blend of genres an unusual sense of direction. Quite obviously based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”, Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska perfectly understood how to remain faithful to the original story’s themes without it feeling like a rehash of the countless adaptations we already have. No pun intended, but it truly did stand on its own two feet thanks to its uncomfortable atmosphere, intimida...

Director: Wong Kar-Wai Stars: Tony Leung, Ziyi Zhang, Faye Wong Runtime: 129   minutes Synopsis:   Several women enter a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years, after the author has lost the woman he considers his one true love. Verdict:  Revered filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai is one of the most respected and beloved figures within the film community. The unconventional, almost rebellious techniques he has used to tell stories revolving around the themes of relationships, memories, and loneliness continue to inspire many directors to this day, earning him a spot on the Mount Rushmore of auteurs whose features are englobed by a distinct personality. It’s difficult not to admire what Wong Kar-Wai has offered to the medium of cinema even if, like me, his movies don’t resonate with you as much as you’d like them to. “2046” is the third and final chapter in Wong Kar-Wai’s unofficial Love Trilogy, preceded by “Days of Being Wild” and “In the Mood for Love”, and se...