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The Land Within (2022)
Not only a great "slow-burn", it's emotionally incendiary.
- Watched on HBO Max -
The incipit is pretty simple : a young man returns to his homeland in Kosovo after years of exile. Once he arrives, he's faced with a place that has changed during his absence. Violence, war and time has sweeped the place, like and invisible broom.
That's when Una (played by Luana Bajrami) comes in. Not only she is now the boss of the family, she also radiates the screen with a dazzling performance. Every little gesture, smirk or word carries meaning, carries weight, and above all, emotion. She is a pleasure to watch, and the arc of her character is quite big, yet unexpected.
The way it's filmed and staged is a great example of creativity. Many will be rebuffed by the slowness of the film, but it delivers strongly.
Some would say it's a "slow burn" ; I found it emotionally incendiary. 8.9/10.
Hustle (2022)
A tragedy for basketball and cinema.
Wow - I just absolutely despised pretty much everything in this film.
I love basketball and have been playing it for 10+ years. Same goes for Adam Sandler - grew up watching him, and then got genuinely impressed with his roles in "The Meyerowitz Stories" and "Uncut Gems".
Anyway, "Hustle" is ridiculous : everything simplified to the bone and just plain stupid. A few examples:
- Europeans have a funny way of living (their goal being living in America... since when?).
- Juan Hernangómez is a really bad actor. Like a real BAD ACTOR (a good basketball player though).
- Having been convicted, Juan just explains why and done : it's forgiven, let's not talk about it anymore.
- That "Spanish blood" is just so warm, man... Nothing to do about it (according to the film at least).
- The guy leaves at the airport, and he gets THAT call that will change his live. 'Murica.
- Adam Sandler is always good at the celestial loser, but we get to see that too much.
- Soccer is bad. Why?
- I could go on, and on...
Cinematically, it's pretty average. Nothing amazing, nothing too bad I guess.
But please, isn't this film just another example of how Netflix is literally going down before our very eyes ?
The script is simplistic, everything about it is predictable, the cast is poor.
I know I'm not the only one out here to criticize Netflix's films, so could we please stop watching everything they give out to us?
It's a shame, for the sport, for Adam Sandler, for Juan Hernangómez, for the viewers.
Jungleland (2019)
Strange style
Bad enough to be comically ridiculous, not good enough to be absurd.
I found the storyline pretty fragile as everything that happens is somehow unbelievable. Mostly, dialogue lines are unconvincing. The mise en scène and the cinematography are pretty good though.
"Dommage".
Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (2022)
Conversion
Basically, it's just a bunch of fame-hungry people finally turning to God in a last attempt to justify their money.
Awesome music though. Don't really understand how it switched from showing guys making awesome music to the same guys kind of losing it.
Louis Theroux: Forbidden America (2022)
Overreaching
Having been a fan of Louis Theroux's documentaries for years, I was waiting for this one.
I felt like it was less smart and less edgy than most of Louis' earlier work.
Felt kinda strange also to have Louis travel all over the world right after saying (for example) "He lives in Budapest" -> boom, he's over there.
But mostly, I felt like Louis looked tired of doing what some people call "his freak-show". He didn't seem very enthusiastic and/or interested in his subjects.
In his documentary series, the main protagonist is actually the presenter. In this case, Louis became very early on the "normal people's view" on the situations he puts himself in. This time, I didn't feel that connection.
But I guess after so many years, it's normal. Can't blame him.