In Paradise: Love we find all the constants of Ulrich Seidl’s cinema in a deeply intelligent, painful and merciless work. The cynicism and hypocrisy of human beings, the difference between social classes, but also – and above all – a deep loneliness and a desperate need for love are the absolute protagonists. Can there ever be an even faint chance of salvation? The director seems to have no doubt about it.
Smother has nothing to envy from past horror films and although it makes visions, hallucinations and perceptions its workhorse, it focuses mainly on the personal drama of the protagonist, classifying itself as a deep and never trivial feature film about parenthood. At the Diagonale’23.
First Snow of Summer, while suffering from excessive rhetoric and scarce originality and relying excessively on emotionality, undoubtedly can be easily enjoyed and, impeccable in its aesthetics, attempts in its own way to make its mark on the national film scene. At the Diagonale’23.
Wicked Games Rimini Sparta, through the story of three people, immediately becomes a picture of the era in which we live, of a sick world in which everyone seems to be hopelessly alone, destined never to find the longed-for serenity. At the Diagonale’23.
In Boomerang we find all the constants of Kurdwin Ayub’s filmography. Here too we notice a conscious and extremely mature approach to a young story about young people. A light and deep story at the same time. An extremely personal story that through the director’s innovative gaze immediately takes on universal connotations. At the Diagonale’22.
With Rimini, Ulrich Seidl once again gives us a merciless portrait of the world in which we live, in which no one is given a chance to save themselves, in which there is no hope for a better future, in which old songs from World War II still echo through the corridors of a shabby retirement home and act as a sad leitmotif in our lives.
Good feelings and stories with happy endings are always appreciated. Especially at Christmas time. And although Das Glück ist ein Vogerl does not stand out for special insights or directorial virtuosity, it works above all because of the excellent performances of the entire cast.
Intending – at least in his debut – to follow in his father’s footsteps (at least in part) by devoting himself to the horror genre, in his The Creepy House, Daniel Prochaska had fun drawing heavily on cult films of the past in order to make a light-hearted coming-of-age with disturbing implications, mainly for a very young audience.