POMO

The energy of this slow-moving film is given by the nuances of the central couple’s relationship. The seemingly dull plot consisting in their simply spending time together on a trip to the Californian outback is loaded with spontaneity and authenticity, open and even graphic intimacy and tense quarrels, abounding with love and hate, shot live as if we were there with them. In an epic widescreen picture, but emotionally barren with no supporting music. Throughout the film, we wait to see if there will be some kind of twist, dramatization, a point. And Bruno Dumont duly defies us and our expectations. A hell of a festival flick.

Though it is beautifully filmed in formalistic terms and Bradley Cooper devotes himself to his acting performance, Maestro is a lifeless biopic. It’s as if there were no motifs in Leonard Bernstein’s life that would be sufficient for a dramatic and emotional telling of his story on film. Nevertheless, the film itself shows that there were such motifs, but it would have been necessary to work with them in a different way and build the screenplay on a foundation other than Bernstein’s homosexuality versus his marriage. The aspects of the complexity of his relationship with his wife are not tangible here. If not for a few dialogue scenes, we wouldn’t understand them at all, because we have no way or time to feel them. Produced by both Scorsese and Spielberg? Seriously?

With its setting and weather, The Slayer is an atmospheric slasher flick with the well-chosen Sarah Kendall doing a fine job in the lead role. You won’t exactly be scared by it, but the identity of the murderer is well concealed, the killings are satisfying with decent execution and the climax is properly intense. But it’s a shame that it isn’t sufficiently explained. That is, if we don’t take into account the inorganically tacked-on epilogue. We have to be satisfied with the ambiguity of the connection between the main character’s dreams and the events that take place in the film.