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Reviews
Empire of Light (2022)
Spread too thin
Is this a film about old/young romance (Harold and Maude without the jokes) ? Is it about the shame of 1980's National Front in England ? Maybe it is about the glory of cinema, with unnecessary scenes of the joy of the big screen. Perhaps it is about the problems of suffering with or watching mental illness.
If you pack all of these topics into one film, nothing is treated cleverly or in-depth. There is also fat that could be trimmed. Endless slow shots of cinema legends become self indulgent. I do not need the author reminding me of Hitchcock or Brando.
Coleman's totally convincing acting is the only reason to watch and be fascinated, but that is a lot of responsibility, for one actress to carry a film.
À plein temps (2021)
A French Ken Loach
I had an overwhelming feeling of watching a Ken Loach film with subtitles, but better photographed and with more interesting music. A hard-working single mother is faced with an unrelenting series of dramas and setbacks. Unlike Ken Loach nobody has to die to wrap up the story.
Das Beil von Wandsbek (1950)
Surprisingly good
One often watches historical films, because they are historic. This one is actually interesting.
I kept thinking of the similarity to Fallada's Jeder stirbt fuer sich allein. In both stories, there are some committed nazis and a few brave heroes, but mostly just people getting by.