POMO

It was clear that Garland wasn’t going to make a blockbuster out of this. However, it wasn’t clear what his masterful balancing between reality and dimensions beyond human perception would bring to a film that is supposed to stand solely on raw realism. Civil War contains grand scenes with tanks and helicopters, but without a cinematographic concept of the kind that Alfonso Cuarón employed in Children of Men and which would be needed here. At its core, Civil War is merely an intimate road movie spanning a broken America as it follows a team of three seasoned journalists and their novice colleague, whose innocence stands in contrast to their experience and professional detachment. Our question of why such a young girl would be doing such work is immediately answered for us: “I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. And I've never felt more alive.” ___ Civil War avoids sentiment and the dark tone of the story is lightened by the use of American pop oldies, but it lacks the artistic optics that we like Garland for in the first place. The film should me made up entirely of terrifying scenes, but it contains only one, which reflects the one-dimensional thinking of America’s redneck population and features a standout performance by Jesse Plemons. The director amplifies the rawness not with dark instrumental music, but with the intense sound of gunfire. And even though the film is compelling and engaging thanks to its characters, it lacks refined and unexpected conflicts, as well as an intellectual reach that would go beyond warning us about Donald Trump. And the climax is literally ridiculous.

Sensational. The narrative was clearly inspired by the Oscar-winning Free Solo. But that film was about the world’s best professional climber and was made by the world’s best professional outdoor director. Skywalkers is an enthusiast’s project about a pair of young adventurers, with a lot of selfie videos taken with mobile phones and drones – including some that are packed to the gills with adrenaline. Seeing it on the big screen means experiencing it with them. A hell of an adrenalin rush! However, what makes the film a sensation is the intertwining of their potentially lethal hobby, in which they find the meaning of life, with the romantic relationship that develops between them thanks to their shared passion and, through absolute trust in and support for each other, helps them to achieve the impossible. And the setting of their Instagram story in the period from the beginning of the pandemic to the Russian invasion of Ukraine (which they disagree with). A great, powerfully emotional love letter. [Miami Film Festival]

Better to have a short life in freedom than a long non-life under a communist dictatorship. A powerful true story of young Cubans who chose freedom in the 1990s. The film gets its joyful spirit in an isolated treatment home, where its characters live after deciding to shorten their own lives by deliberately injecting HIV. Because they can live as they please there. However, the introduction in the city is more interesting – rawer, more dramatic, packed with restlessness and rebellious energy. Clichés and mild kitsch pop up in the constellation of characters in the treatment home. But the ending works well. This group deserved to have their story made into a film. Blockbuster-makers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are aiming to make inroads into independent cinema. [Miami FF]