Venue: Cines Babel, Valencia
Date watched: 9-Nov-2024
My rating: 8 out of 10
6 of 168 films to watch.

Review aided by AI on the basis of my personal notes taken during the film.

Strengths

• Great performances, specially by Mikey Madison as the title character.

• Very fluid management of genres within the same film: tragedy, comedy and even documentary.

• Camera movement is devilish.

Weaknesses

• Some of the characters are in the verge of being a caricature.

• The main character suffers the kind of treatment that shouldn’t be glossed over, unfortunately it is.

Summary

Anora is a wild tale about a stripper who meets Ivan, a wealthy Russian oligarch heir, there is an immediate connection between them although mediated by a prostitute-client relationship, in any case this leads to more than just fleeting hedonism, but the fantasy shatters when Ivan’s powerful family intervenes.

Musings with plot spoilers

Anora, now widely famous and feted thanks to its many successes, is a film of our times, we have a Russian oligarchic family going through the US with the confidence of the power they can yield there (although not everything goes their way this is unintentionally prescient), we have the rich buying whatever they want, it could be an election, but in this case is something more modest, the social status of a wayward son, we have the gangsters with a heart, and all this swirls around Anora, a young woman with which this powerful people toy with without any regards for her as a human being. I told you, a film of our times.

Anora is a stripper in a seedy nightclub, she seems confident and in control of the situation, but that facade starts to slip away as soon as we realise she is readily available to prostitute herself. Ivan, a Russian almost boy she has just met as a client (and whom she serves with a very explicit performance) asks her phone number, and although no further business is discussed it is implied that they (perhaps more him) have unfinished business for another time.

The scenes in the night club are frenetic, Mikey Madison, Anora in the film, did her homework and met strippers and prostitutes to understand how they do their job, she moves with confidence from client to client as is followed closely by the camera which gives us a pretty intimate view of what is going on, if one wanted to know how it is to be right there, next to Ivan and Anora while she performs for him, one couldn’t get any closer, we are voyeurs and some may recoil at the situation.

Anora and Ivan meet in his place, we have seen Ani’s shabby little flat and the contrast couldn’t be bigger, Ivan the quasi boy lives in a palatial very well guarded place, clearly his personal endeavours (that up to this point have been a non stopping hedonism) aren’t the source of this wealth.

Ivan takes Ani to his room and they have sex (very explicit scenes), Ivan is cute and Ani takes a like of him, so they start to meet, the situation is profitable for Ani and there is mutual attraction, although at times Ivan seems more interested in playing video games rather than in the pretty woman in front of him. During these dalliances Ani tries to find out what Ivan does for a living but the only thing she gathers is that his dad is rich and powerful with lots of talk about him in social media.

Ivan and Ani are hitting it on so well that he invites her to his lavish New Year party, Ani attends with a friend from the strip nightclub, by now it is well known she is a prostitute amongst Ivan acquaintances, they don’t seem to mind at a all, they are rather amused by it, after one more sex session during the party Ivan has an idea, to hire Ani for a whole week for $10000, Ani accepts without hesitation and leave everything behind (not that she has much to leave) to take this oportunity.

So immediately they are of to Las Vegas with some of Ivan’s friends and they have the time of their lives: gambling, drinking, drugs and sex without restraint. During all this surreal exhilaration it transpires that Ivan needs to go back to Russia in order to fulfill the future his parents have in mind for him, but amidst all the exhilaration he decides to propose marriage to Anora, she accepts after not much convincing, thinking that her blue prince has appeared in th sorry form of Ivan, being already in Vegas getting married quickly poses no problem.

On returning to New York Anora leaves her whole life behind in order to start married life, but this bliss doesn’t last, news have reached Ivan’s parents about the situation and they aren’t pleased, they reach for help in NY in the form of Toros, who is actually a Christian Orthodox priest and two threatening minions of his, Garnik and Igor, the latter two are sent to Ivan’s home to check what the situation, Garnik confirms that the young couple is now married and this causes a fit of anger, Igor, much calmer simply introduces himself, the gangsters realise that this calls for their boss and they call Toros who has to leave a baptism uncompleted in order to attend to this unexpected emergency.

Ivan finally realises the seriousness of the situation and leaves the place to the anger of Toros on arrival to Ivan’s house, he realises the situation is getting out of control when Ani gets very anxious and starts to scream, the gangsters start to restrain her trying to quiet her down but this is not possible until Ani is tied down and gagged and left vulnerable and in total indefension, although she manged to inflict damage to the gangsters, specially to Garnik, Igor tries to calm Ani down but with very little success.

Now that Toros feels in control of the situation he ungags Ani and offers her $10000 to help them find Ivan and walk away from the marriage, she accepts perhaps because she really has no choice, the odd group start to drive around NY with Ani leading the way on the basis of what she knows about the possible places where Ivan could be, after several failed attempts to track Ivan down, and Garnik getting very sick due to a concussion caused by Ani earlier on, they finally get news that Ivan is in the nightclub where Ani used to work as a stripper, they arrive there and after a fracass they manage to get Ivan who is totally wasted (drunk and probably stunned as well).

Toros is mad but tries to take control of the situation, he organises an annulment with the help of a lawyer friend but the judge realises Ani is being forced into this situation and throws the group out of court.

While all this is happening Ivan’s parents, Galina and Nicolai, took a private jet to NY and arrive into town, under parental pressure Ivan accedes to get divorced and dismisses Anora as just a escort, this makes Anora furious and she agrees to the divorce for a fee, the annulment is thus completed, Anora is accompanied by Igor back to NY and she is allowed to stay one night in Ivan’s place so she can gather here stuff, they talk at great length about what has happened and develop some mutual rapport, Igor has been the most sympathetic character towards Anora all along in any case.

Ivan shows up, Ani calls him a rapist and all kind of names.

Next morning there is a blizzard, Ani and Igor leave Ivan’s palatial surroundings, Igor somehow rescued Ani’s wedding ring and gives it to her, he drives her back to her flat, they are parked in front of it now knowing what to do, suddenly Anora jumps on top of Igor, she starts to caress him and he, shocked, starts to reciprocate, finally Igor gathers the courage to try to kiss Ani but she rejects him and breaks down in tears.

Anora is not the kind of film one would expects to win an Oscar to best film: explicit nudity, characters whose moral and ethical compass is erratic to say the least, partially spoken in Russian, gritty, sometimes difficult to watch. Hollywood is growing up, although I was still surprised when this film took such major accolades there.

Amazon UK sponsorship links:

• A book about Russian Oligarchs wouldn’t go amiss: https://amzn.to/431LIEz

• Get the film: https://amzn.to/433e5lF

• And if you want to see where Sean Baker, the director is coming from, you can check Red Rocket (also in a previous #LFF, my review in Tumblr here: https://www.tumblr.com/allyear-lff/681006080686424064/red-rocket-355-venue-curzon-soho-date), then you could not say Anora was out of form or a surprise: https://amzn.to/3Sr3ImQ

Venue: Royal Festival Hall & Kinepolis, Valencia
Date watched: 9-Oct-2024 & 23-Dec-2024
My rating: 8.5 out of 10
5 of 168 films to watch.

Strengths

• Masterful acting.

• Beautiful sets.

• Great costumes.

Weaknesses

• Some parts of the plot are truly implausible.

• Female characters seemed decorative, they have a central role in the plot but they have very little screen time.

Summary

When the Pope dies the cardinals of the Catholic Church turn from shepherds of souls into shrewd politicians, this forced change of role brings all what is wrong in politics in full view: people hide their past for different reasons, some others ponder carefully what is the best path to steer the church in the direction they think to be the best regardless if their methods are ethical, what is sorely missing is a strong enough voice calling for compromise and consensus until an outsider starts to make inroads into the cardinals’ consciences.

Musings with plot spoilers

As you can see I watched the film twice, once during the festival proper, and once more when joining somebody else that had not seen the film (the second time translated into Spanish, which was absolutely horrible, especially with characters from all around the world whose accents are very specific to who they are, all reduced to Spanish accents, I find this a minor form of vandalism, but I digress already).

So, we are thrown right in the middles of the action when Dean Lawrence (or “Diacono” as he is often called, it is Rome after all, played assuredly and convincingly by Ralph Fiennes) rushes to the room in the Vatican City where the Pope is very ill, he arrives just after the Pope has died, so the name of the film hides no surprises, we are about to witness a dramatisation of a Conclave, the procedure followed to elect a new Pope.

Lawrence and his close friend , Bellini (Stanley Tucci in one of his best roles) are truly saddened by the Pope’s death but are under no illusions about the political fracass that lies ahead of them.

Lawrence, given his position in the church hierarchy, realises that he will be in charge of organising the whole thing, something he doesn’t relishes but for which the departed Pope believed he was particularly well suited, a backhanded compliment of sorts since this confidence talks of bureaucratic rather than ecumenical brilliance.

So Lawrence proceeds to direct the whole affair, the room of the Pope is sealed although not locked, the cardinals start to arrive in a procession of colorful characters from all around the world and the political discussions start almost immediately.

Lawrence is consumed by these discussions and all the logistics of preparing the Sistine Chapel for the Conclave when he’s informed that one of the likely front runners, the scheming Tremblay, was fired from his prominent position within the hierarchy by the Pope the very day he died. He has no time to delve into this since the cardinals are about to be sequestered inside the building, nevertheless he asks an aide to dig about this matter to see what he finds. He’s troubled by all this when a most unexpected problem arises, a mexican cardinal nobody knew about, Vincent Benitez, shows up ready for the jamboree. Lawrence checks his history of sacrifice (and his papal papers) and accepts him as one of their own.

From this point on we witness the political machinations and misfortunes of the cardinals shown as having at least a chance in hell to become Pope, and in a race with only one winner most candidates experience only misfortune.

Looking at the previous paragraphs I see I started with Lawrence most of them, this is careless but fitting, hes is our tortured Sherlock in robes the likes of whom we have not seen since Sean Connery in “The name of the Rose”: Lawrence derails the chances of two candidates by following his natural curiosity, the initial frontrunner in the ballot, Nigerian cardinal Adeyemi, is out out of contention when Lawrence uncovers a past that would make Adeyemi’s papacy untenable if discovered after his election, Lawrence also clips the wings of Tremblay after doing detective work which ultimately exposes him as a corrupt schemer.

But the resolution of the Conclave is shaped by external events, terrorist attacks unleash the most reactionary candidate, Cardinal Tedesco, in a bid for power based on fear, anger, xenophobia and conservatism of the worse kind, but this is counterbalanced by Cardinal Benitez that has been hiding in the shadows in quite a literal way, in great degree thanks to his apparent lack of interest in becoming Pope himself and presenting a more humane and positive role of the church in today’s complex and dangerous world.

The ending may not please most catholics but it was cinematically surprising, although the arch of the character achieving the papacy stretches credibility from the very start he appears in the scene.

Women? Only two characters of note with brief appearances, Isabella Rossellini does as best as she can with the small role she gets as the highest ranking nun on site, she provides vital clues to Lawrence to derail two of the papal candidacies, but the film is about patriarchy central and it stays firmly so.

I liked the film in spite of its shortcomings, one would imagine that it could be plodding given the seriousness of the topic but in reality the script makes it quite pacey taking us from situation to situation quickly but not breathlessly.

Amazon UK sponsorship links:

• Haven’t you seen the film? Get it here (or the book from which the script is adapted).

• This film belongs to Ralph Fiennes, in any other year he would be the undisputable favorite for all the acting awards (he already got a BAFTA), you can enjoy his histrionic genius by browsing his available films.

Venue: BFI Southbank
Date watched: 9-Oct-2024
My rating: 8 out of 10
4 of 168 films to watch.

• Strengths

  • Kathleen Chalfant’s performance as Ruth is tremendously accomplished.

  • Filming in a real location related to the film’s topic contributes to its realism.

  • Positive social message in spite of a very thorny topic.

• Weaknesses

  • The characters could perhaps have been developed a bit more, specially Ruth, from whom’s past we get to know relatively little.

  • The premise of being a film happening only in the present puts a straitjacket in the development of the characters, one or two flashbacks could have been useful.

  • I wanted to know more about Steve, Ruth’s son, and Vanessa, Ruth’s carer.

Summary (in collaboration with AI engine):

Familiar touch is a bittersweet film that subverts the coming of age genre by placing the transitional age of the main character between late adulthood and old age, the confusion that comes to many in old age a suitable replacement for a different kind of confusion as experienced by teenagers growing up into adulthood.

The film portrays Ruth, an elderly woman showing increasing signs of dementia, during her transition from independent life to a care home, she has a feisty spirited personality which in some situations becomes a hindrance, she proves a handful to manage for her son and her well meaning carers.

Musings with plot spoilers (AI aided based on my personal notes):

The film opens with our elderly protagonist performing mundane tasks. Everything appears unremarkable until a subtle detail in her routine is highlighted, foreshadowing the events to come. Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant delivering a sensitive and insightful performance) is beginning to forget things (some minor, others far more significant), this compels her son, Steve, much to Ruth's dismay, to place her in a care home.

As we try to grasp the situation, Ruth begins to flirt with Steve, signaling that something is amiss (although we intuit that they may be mother and son this has not been made explicit), she is placed in a welcoming care home where the staff strives to make her feel comfortable, however, Ruth recognizes this is not her home and creates mischief at every turn, sometimes deliberately, sometimes due to her confusion stemming from her illness.

Despite the efforts of Vanessa, her primary carer, who is helpful and understanding, and the doctor, who is sympathetic and patient, Ruth remains unsettled, she can be both cold and flirtatious, developing a crush on her doctor, which makes physical examinations a constant challenge.

In her initial days at the home, Ruth attempts to demonstrate that she doesn't belong there. She showcases moments of sharp memory, such as recalling a complex recipe and taking over the care home kitchen, much to the delight of the other residents who are very appreciative of her cooking skills. These moments of lucidity are starkly contrasted with episodes of profound frailty, as when she recognizes Steve as her son, only to immediately express her certainty that she will forget this later.

Desperate to understand her circumstances, Ruth, during a moment of stress, leaves the care home and wanders off. She is soon found attempting to take items from a shop without paying. Her carers retrieve her, and in a rare moment of clarity, she asks if she will remain in the care home for the rest of her life. Upon confirmation, she appears to accept this reality for the first time.

With Vanessa's departure for university studies, Ruth faces further adjustments. However, she seems to have gained a better understanding of her situation, at least during her lucid moments. In one of her final lucid moments in the film, she enjoys the company of her family, recognizing them for who they are, and smiles at the doctor, like if acknowledging his identity as one of her carers, the flirtatious smirk gone from her smile.

A post-screening Q&A with director Sarah Friedland and Kathleen Chalfant (Ruth) offered interesting insights into the film's creation. Friedland explained her intention to subvert the "coming-of-age" narrative by concentrating in a different part of people’s lives, she was also interested in keep ing the film firmly focusing solely on the present, eschewing flashbacks.

She also highlighted the collaborative process, both in front and behind the lens, with staff and elderly residents of the care home, noting that they learned filmmaking skills and actively participated in the production.

Chalfant, a seasoned professional, shared her perspective on crafting Ruth's complex portrayal, I really think her work was deserving of more recognition, specially considering that this performance received an award in the Venice Film Festival.

Amazon UK sponsorship links:
Ms Chalfant’s career has been mostly in the theatrical scene, so it is only fair to point to an interesting monologue of hers, you can find several other books to which she lends her voice: A woman of the World

Ms Chalfant has a prominent role in the series The Affair as Margaret Butler, the mother of one of the embattled protagonists.

The topic of dementia is increasingly urgent, films like this opera prima are certainly welcome, I checked several book offerings and this seems one of the more apt in order to learn about it: A Pocket Guide to Understanding Alzheimer's Disease and Dementias.

Venue: Curzon Soho Cinema
Date watched: 9-Oct-2024
My rating: 8 out of 10
3 of 168 films to watch.

• Strengths

  • Complex plot that doesn’t get bogged down by its own complexities.

  • Touches of humour, mystery, magical realism, drama, this is an ambitious film.

• Weaknesses

  • The relationship between the parents of the portrayed family is only sketched, it could have been interesting to know a bit more about them, specially about the father which is a cypher in spite of his undeniable relevance.

  • I didn’t get the supernatural aspect, but that is a personal quirk, I don’t like such treatments.

Summary (in collaboration with AI engine): the film portrays a Vietnamese family living ia a big housing estate and their turmoil during a major family crisis.

Tam, the mother grapples with her husband’s infidelity in the full glare of the community while Ha, her daughter, pursues a chimeric future studying abroad which ignores the needs of those closest to her, there is a supernatural presence that little by little becomes all embracing in a way that leads to an inconclusive and unexpected ending.

Musings with plot spoilers:

I am using an AI tool that is helping me to put order in my ideas, I hope you like the results.

The film centres in the two female characters of a dysfunctional family, Tam is the mother, she has a demanding job as a wedding planner while doing most of the domestic chores, Ha, her daughter, is a vivacious 20 year old woman who passes her time dreaming about going to Europe to study and sharing these dreams with a young man, Trong, who is ambiguous about her plans of emigrating together for very strong personal reasons. Although Ha’s father, Than, has a pervasive influence in all proceedings he is a ghostly presence who says and does little during the film.

Tam learns about the infidelity of her husband during a dreamy sequence related to football during which the dalliance of her husband with ayoung woman is narrated as if it was a match.

Tam decides to sleep with Ha from then on, with Than hardly reacting, Ha tries to find peace and quiet in Trong’s flat, which conveniently overlooks her own, but she is in turmoil about her parents and about her future and overwhelms the well meaning boy with her dreams and problems.

During the middle of this mayhem communication with Than ceases entirely and also the women notice a leak in the ceiling, they put a bucket under it to catch the water and move on with their problems.

Tam is distraught and hires an internet shaman-healer of sorts, although the healer achieves nothing, except sacrificing an ugly fish from Than’s aquarium, the ceiling’s leak seems to react to these ministrations and gets much worse, to the point that the housing authorities are called to look into it.

The healer pushes Tam in a path that leads her to contemplate suicide during a comical sequence following a botched beauty procedure intended to regain the interest of her husband, Tam also embraks into an school reunion where she hopes to meet and old flame, she has a good time but is eventually humiliated when she learns the man she was lusting after only talked to her because he wants to get a good deal for the wedding of his daughter, Tam is back home disappointed and has a nightmare in which the water leak engulfs her, this feels her with terror that remains after she wakes up.

In the meantime Ha has filed her application to go to study abroad but is disappointed by Tran’s reaction, he didn’t file his because he has realised he is not interested in following Ha’s dreams, undeterred Ha communicates her decision to leave Vietnam to her parents, which adds to Tam’s sorrows, desperate she decides to ask the healer to perform another ceremony hoping Ha changes her mind, but this seems to annoy the creature living or emanating from the water leak, it is like if the presence has had enough of the drama and puts an end to everybody’s tribulations in an unexpected way.

The film has many readings, some may find it a feminist fable in which women face the different crises to the greatest of their abilities while men obstruct or oppose their plans, there is certainly a generational divide between the older characters who see their future at home and the younger characters that look abroad with rose tinted glasses.

The supernatural aspect is frankly bizarre and although leads to an interesting ending most of the time it just puzzles but not in a good way, I think the film would have been more interesting as a straightforward drama but kudos for trying to do something different.

A bonus, maybe. An AI generated podcast about this film based on my personal notes.

I think it is interesting until around 6-7 minutes. One can’t tailor this a bit more tightly yet. The future is unavoidably wild.

Topical Amazon sponsorship links:

• Vietnamese cinema has few films that make it to the West, sadly when one searches for Vietnam and films what appears is mostly US films about the Vietnam War, so it is great to have new films that have nothing to do with that disastrous conflict, anyway I have seen a couple of Vietnamese films which I can recommend, I think the film that occupies this post is a worthwhile addition.

  • Cyclo

  • The scent of the green papaya

• Food was an underlying presence in the film, it wasn’t a protagonical subject but several scenes happened while sharing a meal, including a confrontation because table manners, Vietnamese food is delicious so perhaps it is wort it to suggest a book about it here.

  • Vietnamese: Simple Vietnamese food to cook at home

Venue: Curzon Soho Cinema
My rating: 6 out of 10

• Strengths

  • Isabelle Huppert.

  • Interesting references to South Korean culture.

• Weaknesses

  • Isabelle Huppert (film is too much of a Huppert vehicle).

  • Characters are poorly developed.

  • The situations are implausible and cringeworthy at times.

2 of 168 films to watch.

Date watched: 9-Oct-2024

Summary:
Huppert portraits a quirky French immigrant in South Korea earning a living by teaching French to unsuspecting well off locals, she is in a weird relationship with a recluse aspiring poet with mummy issues.

Musings with plot spoilers:

La Huppert is something of an acquired taste, sometimes in films like Elle or The Piano Teacher she is untouchable, one of the best actresses of her generation, but some other times she takes on films that perhaps would have been better avoided, which I think is the case here.

This film is languid and character-driven, it unfortunately falls short of its potential (unfamiliar location for Western audiences which could be interesting, characters whose lives aren’t explored fully in spite of tantalising glimpses , intermingling of normal people from different cultures), its central premise, exploring themes of loneliness, connection, and cultural identity, is promising, but the execution is lackluster.

Iris is a French woman that feels like parachuted in Korean society, we see her engaging with people wanting to learn French (two Korean women in different stages of their lives, both wealthy beyond most people’s dreams) in what seems like a semi fraudulent way, when we think these relationships may be the topic of the film the plot changes in what is a completely different idea exploring the weird relationship of Iris (now in her mature years) and Inuk, a much younger man, described as a poet who has issues to resolve with his mother.

The first half of the film has little to do with the second half, so time invested in the beginning of the film eventually feels like time wasted.

The characters, while intriguing on paper, are underdeveloped and lack depth, the protagonist, remains enigmatic throughout the film, her motivations and desires unclear, her past unexplored, the supporting characters, all Korean, are equally one-dimensional and mostly serve as background to Iris’ story.

The film's pacing is slow and deliberate, bordering on tedious, the long, meandering conversations (in English) fail to be interesting, interactions with the students are repetitive and non credible.

Ultimately, the film is a missed opportunity, it struggles to find its rhythm and leaves the viewer yearning for more substance, for example the relationship between Iris and Inuk is a puzzle, one never understands why these two people are sharing a flat lets say, their declarations of love looked laughable.

One only for Ms Huppert’s fans like me.

(summary produced with the support of AI based on my personal notes taken during the viewing).

Amazon sponsored links of interest:

• A couple of Isabelle Huppert’s films

  • Elle

  • The piano teacher

• Korean topics

  • If you are interested about Kimchi which has a minor role during the film.

  • Korean poetry ( by Yun Dong-ju) , the poet is referenced twice in the film, this could have been explored better.

Venue: Cine Yelmo Campanar, Valencia.
My rating: 9 out of 10 (Pluses: strong topic presented in an interesting fashion, great acting, direction and editing. Minuses: a bit melodramatic in places, the main villain is a bit stereotypical, we don’t get to understand why he is like he is).
Film 1 of 168 to watch.
Date watched: 1-Oct-2024

The film was premiered in Spain a few days of its showing in #LFF2024, it was the first time since I attend these festivals that I saw one of the festival films prior to the the festival itself, in reality that isn’t such a feat since one can go to Cannes, Venice, Berlin or San Sebastian festivals, all before London, and one would catch a good number of the festival films. But I am not a part of the jetset, so a lucky break allowed me this privilege.
I used Google’s AI (Gemini) to do some of this work, but it is all based on my 1072 words of notes taken during the film and organised by hand to feed them to this beast (only for later having to tame the output, it is an interesting experience).

Summary: A young politician's promising career is derailed by a powerful figure's relentless sexual harassment and abuse, forcing her to confront the devastating consequences of speaking out in a fiercely patriarchal society.

Plot and musings (without major spoilers):
The film chronicles the harrowing ordeal of Nevenka Fernández, a young politician who suffered sexual harassment and assault, Nevenka's initial excitement and ambition about her political career quickly turned into a nightmare as she faced relentless intimidation, the film delves into the complexities of power dynamics, the challenges of speaking out against abuse and the devastating impact on Nevenka's life despite the courage it took to expose the abuse.

Plot and musings (with all kind of spoilers):
The film is a harrowing cinematic exploration of the devastating impact of sexual harassment and abuse, it follows Nevenka Fernández, a promising young politician, as she navigates the treacherous waters of local politics, initially she is welcomed into the fold of local government, in spite of the misgivings of family and friends about Ismael, the council leader, who has a reputation as a womaniser.

Nevenka is given a position in the local list of the party in power and is elected, in spite of her lack of experience she is given the 3rd most senior position in the local government, to the dismay of most of her new colleagues which attribute her meteoric raise to her looks.

Ismael, a charismatic yet manipulative figure, initially welcomes her but starts romantic advances using charm and inspiring pity about the cancer and death of Conchi his wife, Nevenka is sympathetic and attracted to him, against her best judgment they eventually have a consensual fling which she regrets almost immediately, although she tries to make a clean break from Ismael he starts a campaign that escalates from subtle coercion and mockery to outright bullying and intimidation, Nevenka, caught in a web of fear and false sense of duty, finds herself increasingly isolated and vulnerable, with only a few friends noticing the situation.

Nevenka tries to stop Ismael again only for the harassment to intensify culminating in a horrific act of sexual violence, engineered to the smallest detail by Ismael, to which she finds herself unable to stop.

The aftermath of the assault is a stark portrayal of the systemic failures that often protect abusers and silence abuse survivors, Nevenka is rescued from a state of total despair and isolation by a few loyal friends that help her to go away to Madrid where she can gather her thoughts with the support of Lucas, an university friend, eventually Nevenka gathers the courage to come forward from the hand of a sympathetic but realistic lawyer who comes with a strategy of maximum impact knowing this will have a big mediatic footprint.

Nevenka’s accusations are met with disbelief, skepticism, and even blame (including doubts about her own self) and a media campaign by Ismael who is a well known figure in the local media landscape.

The legal battle that ensues is a painful reminder of the challenges victims face in seeking justice, Ismael is such a dominant figure that few witnesses are willing to testify to the situation, all her former colleagues are neutral or openly in favour of Ismael, some other people rely on Ismael for the success of their business and can’t help Nevenka’s cause.

When all seems lost the prosecutor, who in theory should be prosecuting Ismael, launches himself in a sadistic pursuit of Nevenka’s recollections, she is reduced to such a state of fear and confusion that makes clear to all people present how the abuse has happened, the prosecutor is reprimanded by the judge but by allowing Nevenka to testify, in spite of the traumatic experience, her case has been made and won.

It would be satisfying to known that Nevenka could move on after this, but she couldn’t find any jobs in Spain and had to move to the UK (with Lucas with whom she marries) leaving the life she knew behind her.

As for Ismael he lost the trial and a subsequent appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court, he became the first politician in Spain to be convicted of sexual harassment, but after ending his sentence he returned to local politics as if nothing had happened.

( The list of al #LFF2024 ‘s films can be found here: https://allyearlff2024.substack.com/p/the-list-of-lff2024s-films )

First London happened, I was intending to write reviews the same day that I watched films or the day after at worse, but first of all I had to stay in the outskirts of London (Heathrow airport to be precise) to get decent cheap accommodation, by force this translated in time during I couldn’t do much but commute (I can’t write in the tube, others may, I can’t). Then London is not home anymore, so visiting is like letting a child lose in a candy shop, I went to watch several exhibitions in the mornings when there were no films in show: British Museum, National Gallery, Courtauld Gallery, even Dulwich Picture Gallery, a Batman exhibition in Covent Garden and some scattered shopping (we don’t have Irish Jumbo Oats in Spain). Mea culpa.

So having taken notes for all the films, most of them quite detailed, some other not so much (Christopher Reeves Superman documentary for example is easy to summarise) I didn’t post anything here. So far all my fault.

So I was intending to start doing this once back home, but back home I had to do other stuff but writing, namely watching more #LFF2024 films :-D and preparing for what was to follow.

I have never had any suregery before in my life, it was nothing serious but they told me I was going to be 2 months out of circulation, 1 month forced to walk very little, 1 more month without doing any strong physical efforts. I naively thought they were exaggerating, I was thinking, fine, I’ll write all my reviews after the surgery, but that is not how things panned out, for a couple of weeks I have been unable to sit to write, just about now I can tolerate a couple of hours, 2 weeks after surgery, but I am still on a bit of pain and still paying visits to hospital to deal with post surgery care. No, nothing serious, just one of those things one gets with ageing, but I dread when one gets something actually serious. Oh well.

And last but by no means least, I live in Valencia. Yep, that Valencia.

Although my town was nos seriously affected by the now infamous DANA it is hard to sit down to write when the images on 24x7 TV show places where one has been (Alfalfar where our local Ikea was flooded, Bonaire shopping centre where one of the most modern cinemas is -or used to be?- ) totally destroyed by floods. It is really heart breaking, also as it happens the major coordination centre is in my village so there is a constant buzz of choppers flying above.

The situation has affected me in small ways, nothing like the horrors families are suffering in the areas affected directly or tangentially (the beaches are a disaster of debris carried by the floods), for example the metro system is destroyed, partly because several lines were directly impacted (stations and rail tracks destroyed) but also because the control centre of the whole system was flooded (and as a person whose background is corporate IT I don’t get why there was no failover control centre, but I digress), so with no metro I have no way to get to the cinemas in town (I don’t have a driving licence), something that at the moment I can’t really do given my health situation, but goodness knows when the metro will be back, with taxi trips costing €20-30 per trip I won’t be able to do it (it is bad enough I stayed in town one night to watch “The apprentice”, which was in #LFF2024, prior to my surgery).

Nevertheless I just watched my first #LFF2024 film (Anora, the restless Cannes Film Festival Palm D’Or winner) post London, post surgery and post floods thanks to my SO driving me there, enduring a film that is not of the kind she likes and driving us back. Respect to her.

Never watching films has been a more optimistic way to face the future, cultural institutions have been with their backs against the ropes (to use a boxing cliche) since the pandemic, cinema experienced in theaters is under real threat, and here cinema in original language is a rarity indulged by few of the theatres, I gladly paid my entrance hoping it helps somehow.

But enough of excuses, I will start to post about the films.

1. 2073 

2. Abiding Nowhere

3. After the Long Rains 

4. Aïcha 

5. All of You 

6. All Shall Be Well 

7. All We Imagine As Light 

8. Anora 

9. Apprentice, The 

10. April 

11. Architechton 

12. Assessment, The (late addition, not in the printed program)

13. At Averroes & Rosa Parks 

14. Audrey 

15. Baby 

16. Balconettes, The 

17. Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (BFI Player)

18. Bird  (Mubi)

19. Bionico’s Bachata 

20. Black Box Diaries (available on iPlayer at least until March 2026)

21. Blink 

22. Blitz 

23. Bring Them Down 

24. Bury your dead (late addition)

25. Cats of Gokogu Shrine, The 

26. Caught by the Tides 

27. Chain Reactions 

28. Churning, The 

29. Cidade; Campo 

30. Cocina, La 

31. Collective Monologue 

32. Colours Within, The 

33. Conclave 

34. Crocodile Tears 

35. Dahomey 

36. Dicianovve (late addition)

37. Direct Action 

38. Don’t Cry, Butterfly 

39. Eat the Night

40. Eight Postcards from Utopia (Mubi Spain)

41. Eephus 

42. Ellis Park (late addition)

43. Elton John: Never Too Late 

44. Emilia Pérez 

45. End, The (late addition)

46. Endurance 

47. Ernest Cole: Lost & Found 

48. Extraordinary Miss Flower, The 

49. Familiar Touch 

50. Fidai Film, A 

51. Fire of wind (late addition)

52. Flow 

53. Four Mothers 

54. Fréwaka 

55. Garanti 100% Kreol 

56. Ghost Trail 

57. Good One 

58. Grand Theft Hamlet 

59. Grand Tour 

60. Gutter, The 

61. Hanami 

62. Happyend 

63. Hard Truths 

64. Harvest 

65. Holloway 

66. I Am Nevenka 

67. I’m Still Here 

68. I’m Your Venus 

69. Invasion, The 

70. Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-89 

71. Joy 

72. Julie Keeps Quiet 

73. Kamay

74. Last Swim 

75. Layla (BFI Player)

76. Living in Two Worlds 

77. Look Into My Eyes 

78. Maldoror 

79. Manji 

80. Marco, The Invented Truth 

81. Maria 

82. María Candelaria 

83. Memoir of a Snail 

84. Misericordia 

85. Motherboard 

86. Mother Vera 

87. My Eternal Summer 

88. My Everything 

89. My Stolen Planet 

90. Nice Indian Boy, A 

91. Nickel Boys

92. Nightbitch (Netflix)

93. Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder, The 

94. Olivia & the Clouds 

95. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl 

96. On Falling 

97. One to One: John & Yoko 

98. Other Way Around, The 

99. Patrice: The Movie 

100. Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story 

101. Pavements 

102. Pepe (Mubi)

103. Piano Lesson, The 

104. Piece by Piece 

105. Praia Formosa 

106. Queens of Drama 

107. Queer 

108. Real Pain, A 

109. Rising Up at Night 

110. Room Next Door, The 

111. Rumours 

112. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass 

113. Santosh 

114. Saturday Night (suprise film)

115. Savages 

116. Sealed Soil, The 

117. Sebastian 

118. Seed of the Sacred Fig, The 

119. Seeking Mavis Beacon 

120. September Says 

121. Sex 

122. Shadow Scholars, The 

123. Shambhala 

124. Silent Sherlock 

125. Sister Midnight 

126. Skincare 

127. Small Hours of the Night 

128. Sofa, So Good 

129. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Êtat (BFI Player)

130. Stimming Pool, The 

131. Stranger Eyes 

132. Sugar Island 

133. Sujo 

134. Summer book, The (late addition)

135. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story 

136. Superboys of Malegaon 

137. Surfer, The 

138. Talk of the Town, The 

139. Tarika 

140. Thank You for Banking with Us 

141. That Christmas 

142. Three Kilometres to the End of the World 

143. To a Land Unknown 

144. Traveller’s Needs, A 

145. Treading Water 

146. Treasury of Human Inheritance, The 

147. Triumph 

148. Twiggy 

149. Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other 

150. Under the Volcano 

151. Universal Language 

152. Vermiglio 

153. Viêt and Nam 

154. Village Next to Paradise, The 

155. Wailing, The 

156. Watership Down 

157. Way We Talk, The 

158. We Live in Time 

159. Weekend, The 

160. Weightless 

161. When Fall Is Coming 

162. When the Light Breaks 

163. Who Do I Belong to 

164. Wild Robot, The 

165. Witches 

166. Wolves Come at Night, The 

167. Youth (Homecoming)

The water is muddier than one would imagine, this is what Google search says:

The length of a feature film varies by organization and time period: 

• British Film Institute (BFI) and American Film Institute (AFI): A feature film is any film that runs for more than 40 minutes 

• Screen Actors Guild (SAG): A feature film is any film that runs for 60 minutes or longer 

• Centre National de la Cinématographie in France: A feature film is any 35 mm film that is longer than 1,600 meters (5,200 ft), which is 58 minutes and 29 seconds for sound films 

But there is a definition that makes more sense to me:

• A feature-length film is a full-length movie that is the main event in a commercial entertainment program. The term "feature" originated in vaudeville when moving pictures first appeared, and was used to distinguish longer films from shorter ones that were often shown before them.

Yeah, I would need to want to pay for such a film, or see it as main event during a session of film watching, so BFI and AFI: sorry, nothing shorter than one hour entered my radar, there were several films, specially in the sadly depleted Experimenta path of the festival, that were more than 40 minutes and less than the hour, but is a no for me in what concerns to my project.

I definitely excluded short films (although some BFI presentations have managed to sneakily present collections of short films as features, I can remember about 5 or 6 from the top of my head, Japanese productions have been notorious for this) but I am happy to watch them if I can find them after the festival.

I am also excluding the experimental stuff shoehorned into the festival, that may be the future, but nobody is paying for VR films just yet.

In the next post I’ll just post the list.

But what is an obscure film? This is a question I have been grappling with since I started this exercise in #LFF2021, this becomes even more relevant if one lives in a place that is not as cosmopolitan as London, so this is my totally made up criteria of films to avoid during the festival proper:

• I tried to avoid the galas, they are expensive, take too long, and the films will probably be shown commercially.

• Avoided any films by big studios, those will probably have a commercial release of some sort, so I can catch them up later.

• if in doubt avoid films from Western European countries, these will be promoted by their respective countries, some of them will have commercial runs, French films are particularly well liked, UK films will be championed by the BFI itself and by streamers like MUBI or Curzon Home amongst others.

• There is a second tier of countries for which probably we will see some of their films commercially: Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Iran, so if in doubt avoid these.

• Regardless of origin if the producer is a streaming platform I avoided them, one would expect to see them on their services and some of them will have short commercial runs in theatres.

• Look for auteurs and big stars in small films to avoid them, their films have a better chance to be shown commercially.

• I avoided Spanish films because it is a dead cert they will be shown here, one of them is even premiering in Spain before #LFF2024 starts.

• I avoided the restorations, normally they will come out in digital format and I have seen a couple of the films anyway, I’ll give them the all year LFF treatment in due course.

And some criteria of films I try to catch:

• If a country has only one or two films it is likely they won’t have a commercial run anywhere, sad but true, I have watched excellent Indonesian, Iraqui and Guatemalan films in the past that were never seen again anywhere.

• I watch Chinese films if I can, they are almost never released commercially in the West.

• If I have to decide between a documentary and any other film I chose the documentary, they don’t have much wide appeal.

One will find inconsistencies no doubt, I used these ideas when I needed to choose between 2 or 3 films and I am satisfied with the results.

Anyway, this is my list of films to be watched during #LFF2024 in alphabetical order, I’ll publish all the films later so I can link from there to each review as they happen in the future.

• 2073

• A Nice Indian Boy

• A Traveler’s Needs

• Aicha

• April

• Architecton

• Blitz

• Caught by the Tides

• Conclave

• Don’t Cry, Butterfly

• Familiar Touch

• Grand Theft Hamlet

• Hanami

• I’m Your Venus

• Kamay

• La Cocina

• Manji

• Mother Vera

• My Everything

• Olivia & the Clouds

• On Falling

• Patrice: The Movie

• Pepe

• Rising Up at Night

• Seeking Mavis Beacon

• Sex

• Shambhala

• Sister Midnight

• Stranger Eyes

• Sugar Island

• Sujo

• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

• Thank You for Banking With Us!

• The Cats of Gokogu Shrine

• The Extraordinary Miss Flower

• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

• The Stimming Pool

• The Village Next to Paradise

• The Weekend

• The Wolves Always Come at Night

• Three Kilometres to the End of the World

• To a Land Unknown

• Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other

• Under the Volcano

• Who Do I Belong To

• Youth (Homecoming)

I am very happy doing this this time around, I will do nothing else but watch films during the festival (and collecting notes, and publishing hot of the press reviews) which has not been possible in previous years, I am looking forward to it.

2022 felt almost like a normal festival but it wasn’t until 2023 that the festival really came back to its old self, unfortunately it was also the year that after much postponement I had to leave the UK.

Bummer.

I decided to continue pursuing my task, many of the films are projected many months after the festival is over in the most unexpected places (I have seen a couple in my local community centre for example), inflight systems have provided a few surprises here and there, streaming in all its forms has been helpful, but thankfully the city where I live now has a few enterprising places that show good cinema from all around the world and this gives me the chance to watch films as they were intended, big features projected during the festival get normal releases, so overall I have watched 100 or so films from last year’s festival (although I am still writing about my progress in 2022).

So where are all those goodies from previous years you ask? Not here, at least not for now, you can find posts for my musings so far in Tumblr, the hooks for those musings are published in Twitter (every time with less enthusiasm because the place has turned into a cesspit) and now I want to write my musings here, which seems like a conducive place to get this going in a more serious way, and perhaps, one day, this becomes something self sustainable.

So here we are, I am not sure if my #LFF2024 ‘s posts will be only here (shepherded from Twitter :-( ) or also in Tumblr, doubling work doesn’t sound appealing at the moment.

My place in Tumblr is https://www.tumblr.com/allyear-lff where I will continue to post about previous years’ films, but for the #LFF2024 my focus will be here.

Wish me luck, I’ll need it.

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