Critical Week: Outside the margins

A highlight this week was a special screening of John Huston's 1961 classic The Misfits, starring Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Thelma Ritter. Following a group of people who simply don't fit in, this is a staggeringly powerful film with strong present-day resonance. The final completed film for both Monroe and Gable, it was screened at the programme launch for Marilyn Monroe: Self-Made Star, a season at BFI Southbank marking the iconic star's centenary in June-July.

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Otherwise, there was Hokum, an enjoyably bonkers horror comedy starring Adam Scott as an American at a nutty hotel in Ireland. By contrast, the horror thriller Undertone is inventive, most notably with its layered sound mix, but neither fun nor scary. Laszlo Nemes' Orphan is a complex, textured exploration of post-WWII Hungary with a riveting central performance from teen Bojtorjan Barabas. I also saw quite a few more films over the final weekend of the 40th BFI Flare, and I attended The Offies, a gala night of awards and live performances celebrating Off-West End theatre.

Coming up over Easter weekend and the following week, I'll be watching Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in The Drama, Gaten Matarazzo in Pizza Movie, the Japanese anime romcom ChaO, a special screening of the short film Geronto and a live performance of Palatable Gay Robot at Udderbelly Boulevard.

Venezia79: Star power

Things are clearly winding down at the 79th Venice Film Festival, with only two more days of premieres at hand. Everything is feeling even quieter today with the news out of Britain about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, so I know I will be returning to a very sombre city. Meanwhile, the festival carries on. I spent a few hours yesterday at the Venice Immersive island, taking in six virtual reality productions (more on those later). And my jury met last night to discuss the 19 films contending for this year's Queer Lion (we announce our winner tonight). Here are some movie highlights...

Blonde
dir-scr Andrew Dominik; with Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody 22/US ****
Andrew Dominik takes a very big swing at the life of Marilyn Monroe, and frankly he'd have been crazy not to do so. It may be reductive to define one of the most iconic stars of all time by her unresolved daddy issues, but this is a complex biopic that takes on several pungent themes head-on. The film is charged with energy and passion, ambitiously visual and anchored by a fiercely layered performance from Ana de Armas. It also has strong things to say about celebrity culture, even as it relentlessly deals in myths.

Call of God
dir-scr Kim Ki-duk; with Abylai Maratov, Zhanel Sergazina 22/Kyr ****
The late Kim Ki-duk only just finished this offbeat romance before he died from covid. It’s an extraordinarily personal riff on how love can be so much like a dream, and occasionally a nightmare. Set in Kyrgyzstan and shot mainly in black and white, the film uses its surreal set-up to keep the audience’s expectations at bay, sending a young couple on a passionate odyssey that seems to encompass years in just a few days. And the film radiates with the idea that love is worth the pain. And that maybe the pain is essential.

Bread and Salt
dir-scr Damian Kocur; with Tymoteusz Bies, Jacek Bies 22/Pol ***
Bracingly shot in observational style, this Polish drama gets up close to its characters even as it neglects the narrative. It's an often harrowing depiction of a small town where young people think it's cool to deal in racism, bigotry and bullying. And the thoughtful central character draws us in, even if his journey remains stubbornly off-camera. Writer-director Damian Kocur has a terrific eye for real-life interaction, so the film has power as a document of a place and time. But stronger storytelling might have made it involving and moving.

Beyond the Wall
dir-scr Vahid Jalilvand; with Navid Mohammadzadeh, Dayana Habibi 22/Irn ***
Unlikely to be screened in its home country, this Iranian drama is a remarkably disturbing depiction of a harshly oppressive police state. But writer-director Vahid Jalilvand doesn't take a straightforward approach, blurring present action with flashbacks and other cutaways to create a more sensory approach to the situation. It's all played at a rather arch volume, including the quieter scenes, where more nuanced performances might have made it easier to identify with the characters. But the film is also bold and chilling.

Full reviews will be linked at Shadows VENICE FILM FESTIVAL page, eventually!