On this page: DECISION TO LEAVE | GODLAND | 1976

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Wei is magnetic in a wonderfully nuanced performance that ripples and echoes with intent, slyly subverting her femme fatale persona. She pointedly teases Hae-joon about his obsessions, including his soft hands and multi-pocketed clothing. Park Hae-il is terrific as the insomniac Hae-joon, who sees in her someone who isn't afraid to look at things directly. So he nervously hides from his wife that he's spending time with a prime suspect in a confusing case. As Lee's amusingly traditional-remedy obsessed Jeong-ahn observes, he needs murder and violence to be happy.

Along with Kim Ji-yong's spectacular camerawork and Cho Young-wuk's fiendishly clever score, Park deploys pretty much every eye-catching directorial trick in the book, with insinuating sets and lighting, plus essential tech like laptops, security cameras, mobile phones and smartwatches that add sharp angles to an increasingly twisty narrative. All of this deepens both the character interaction and the wider mystery. And while the film circles around unresolved murder cases, it's even more interested in unresolved relationships.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

14.Oct.22

Performances are introspective, digging into thoughts and feelings. Hove has a sympathetic presence that's strongly engaging, even when his temper snaps. Lucas' odyssey includes a crisis of faith, but this is cleverly more rooted in his identity than his beliefs. So the way Sigurdsson's knowingly confident Ragnar rattles him is fascinating. Sonne is also excellent as the smart, hopeful Anna, while Gudjonsson has visceral magnetism as seen through Lucas' eyes. And Hylnsdottir steals her scenes as the cheeky Ida.

If the film often feels perhaps random and slow, it's packed with strikingly powerful sequences that explore the connections between humans, culture, animals and the landscape. This reflects in Lucas' bleak journey into his own moral centre, as the purpose that seemed so clear to him at the start begins to blur due to his unexpected experiences. Where this goes is as harsh and relentless as the countryside itself, so the pungent ideas continue to resonate long after we leave the cinema.

themes, language, violence

28.Sep.22

As a woman whose calmly ordered world becomes increasingly imperilled, Kuppenheim is riveting to watch. Which makes Carmen's journey an intensely vivid experience for the audience as well. It's a textured, nuanced performance that transitions from the privileged ignorance to engaged terror. Most of the characters around her flit in and out of her periphery, as she worries about Sepulveda's intriguing, somewhat elusive Elias and begins to see the bigger picture for the first time.

Martelli cleverly plays with colours and textures, with bright blue skies and a newly painted blood-red wall that matches tonight's dessert. This is a provocative exploration of what happens when we take our head out of the sand and confront the truth about what we have allowed to happen all around us simply through disinterest. And the story is told in such a subtle, personal style that it can't help but leave us chilled to the bone.

themes, language, violence

10.Oct.22