POMO

Icelandic teenagers and a tragic event that they did not anticipate. The modifier “intimate” takes on even greater significance here than is usual. The detailed depiction of the rising fear of losing a loved one and subsequently dealing with the resulting pain. The main character goes through that mostly in secret, without the understanding of those around her and thus all the more intensely. Though thin in terms of story, this small drama is sufficiently packed with emotions and psychology, and offers a nice, poetic ending. [Cannes FF]

A lot of dark drama inspired by actual events, which you ideally shouldn’t read about beforehand. Because even though the protagonist, Karoline, has it as badly as possible, more unexpected blows will come. The impressive production design gives a sense of the filth and hopelessness of the time. The film also impresses in places with almost expressionistic compositions, whose meaning is symbolically filled out by the appearance of Karoline’s husband, who had been disfigured in the war. There are a lot of details that make us wonder how people lived in such discomfort during that time a century ago. Vic Carmen Sonne in the main role leads the film with her brilliant, quiet performance, which veteran actress Trine Dyrholm later darkens (literally) in a smaller space with equal intensity. Facial expressions are paramount here. Viewers will experience the maternal moments even more powerfully; many gasps were heard in the screening room and people could be seen covering their eyes. [Cannes FF]

Lanthimos has taken a sharp detour from his recent mainstream films. He knows that we will eat anything out of the palm of his hand. Kinds of Kindness is a decadent riddle reminiscent of Paul Thomas Anderson’s sultry conversational flicks and his own early Greek films, but with Hollywood stars and an American setting. The first and most polished of the three stories masterfully draws us in from the opening seconds with its subject matter and characters. The second one throws us off balance and the third, in relation to the two that came before, is already fodder for a roundtable discussion. The dark, unexplained supporting character R.M.F, around whom the stories revolve, is most likely the alter ego of the director himself (and is played by Lanthimos’s Greek friend Yorgos Stefanakos) and represents a metaphor for his journey through big-time show business. There is no shortage of funny, bizarre, disturbing and bold moments in Kinds of Kindness, as Lanthimos again takes an original approach to exploring sexuality, sensuality, cruelty, dominance and all of the other things that we love him for. Only with a smaller budget and in a realistic contemporary setting. [Cannes FF]