Julia brings together irony, a couple of weak dramatic scenes and a lot of banality, perhaps the result of a certain superficiality, rather than a genre that, however light it may be, has been able to produce films that are altogether enjoyable. At the K3 Film Festival 2024.
Constant, pounding sounds, especially in the first part, are the absolute protagonists in Magic Glass, Mansur Madavi’s debut film, which for certain aspects even reminds us of John Carpenter’s They Live, as well as of Jacques Tati’s Playtime. And when the protagonist finally seems to break out of that vicious circle that is the unhealthy, capitalist society, he seems to everyone to be insane, potentially dangerous to himself and others.
In Das Manifest, Antonis Lepeniotis, through a sophisticated and minimalist direction, has staged a world in which there is no consideration for the human being and for his freedom. A world in which a ruthless police force has the last word at any cost. A world in which there is apparently no hope for a better future and within which one feels as if imprisoned in a real vicious circle.