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On The Sea (UK)

By Golu
This one's a beautiful, tender, quiet romantic drama with a moody atmosphere, set in a tight knit Welsh fishing community. It's a touching story about a man waking up sexually in the middle of his life, and how he, his family, and everyone around him deal with it, which makes it emotional and sentimental without ever getting over the top. The slow burn plays out against a landscape that's as bleak as it is gorgeous, where quiet, closed off men are stuck inside rigid ideas of what masculinity should be. Some people might be reminded of "God's Own Country," but I think both films are lovely in their own way. Jack is a middle aged guy who co-owns a mussel farm with his rough around the edges brother Dyfan, and the tension between the two of them is simmering under the surface right from the start. Dyfan's three sons all help out with the work, while Jack's sulky teenage son Tom keeps skipping out. Jack's been with his wife since they were both 16, and...
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Haut Perchés (French) [Don't Look Down]

By Golu
This film feels like a theatre idea turned into a film. The closed room setting, the way too have focus son the dialogues in an apartment, I thought this would be something interesting from the synopsis I had read, but boy was it disappointing.

Five strangers (4 men and a girl) have come together for a mysterious attempt at closure with an unseen man locked up in the room next door. An ambiguous tension is created around their intentions and his fate. Each of them has been in a painful relationship with him, whether sexual or not. Slowly they each share their most secret fantasy and an anecdote about the reality of their relationship with him. Each fantasy reveals some kind of sadomasochistic desire. Each real life anecdote illustrates that the reality of cruelty and manipulation in a relationship, however banal the circumstances, is neither fulfilling or fun. Somehow, for their own reasons, they all put up with it, just so that they could spend their time with him. But what happens privately with that man in the room stays private and their secret.

The biggest problem of the film, according to me, is no resolution. The film ends as open as it started. It is so heavy on dialogues throughout the film, that as an audience you do not get any breather, which, for me, became extremely tiring after a while. The plot is ambiguous and the motivations and desires of these individuals are not clear. I mean, we are not even told why each of these people think that he’s the worst and deserves punishment. We never go into that discussion. They discuss his personality traits but none of them actually go into detail about why he’s such a terrible guy. This film could possibly work in a theatre setting with some additional urgency and tension thrown in. As a film, this was very disappointing. (3.5/10)
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luigi43 said…
If a movie has to be developed from the watcher , it isn't worth spend time and money ! I think that the conductor is a very sly one!
March 24, 2021 at 3:53 AM
Golu said…
I am not sure I understand your point. Can you elaborate more, please.
March 24, 2021 at 9:07 AM
luigi43 said…
Better if the end is clear , not open and according every interpretation. But this is just my opinion.
March 24, 2021 at 9:29 AM
Golu said…
A closed ending would have made it slightly better for sure
March 24, 2021 at 12:17 PM
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