Monte Verità is a wild run towards freedom. A constant search for beauty in all its forms. A desperate need for love that never seems to find its own fulfilment. A story of female emancipation in which there is also a sincere tribute to the world of photography and art in general.
In Uncomfortably Comfortable we are never shown close-ups of the protagonist. He does not want to be filmed directly. Not even when he eats in his car. Meanwhile, however, his voice-over tells us his story. A difficult story, in which a severe trauma from the past has marked him forever.
Through numerous analogue films taken over the years and thanks also to copious use of archive footage and documents, Past Futures presents itself as a heartfelt and sincere documentary and is immediately striking for the strongly contemplative directorial approach adopted.
Extremely complex moral issues bring up secrets and grudges, while at the same time giving rise to merciless revenge. Side Effects and Risks stages all this in a never banal or predictable way (thanks also – and above all – to the play by Stefan Vögel from which it is inspired), proving to be a deep and entertaining film at the same time, which, however, precisely because of the particular directorial approach adopted, would seem more appropriate for television broadcasting.
Moonbound is all in all an enjoyable, colourful and, at times, adrenaline-fuelled feature film for families. A film with an international scope that, however, both in terms of the script and the realisation of the CGI pictures, suffers greatly from the comparison with other animated films made in the meantime all over the world. At the Diagonale’22.
Masking Threshold is the film we do not expect. A film with a hybrid form, which following an initial documentary approach slowly takes on the connotations of a horror film in a crescendo of tension and humour. Johannes Grenzfurthner drew heavily from the modern social media language and, specifically, from YouTube. His Masking Threshold thus becomes, at the same time, a deep, semi-serious reflection on the world we live in and on society. At the Diagonale’22.
Snotty Boy is an extremely sharp and mature feature film, which sees its workhorse in a grotesque humour. The portrait of a world – that of cartoonist Manfred Deix, but also of those who lived through the post-war period in small towns – that never really died. At the Diagonale’22.
Despite an interesting story and distinctly clever insights, Above the World stands out for certain stylistic and narrative choices that caused it to lose personality. At the Diagonale’22.
Luzifer is distinguished not only by its excellent spatial and image management, but also by a deep symbolism and a subtle ambiguity that we perceive from the very first minutes. At the Diagonale’22.
The Bastard King is potentially an interesting feature film, boasting an innovative directorial approach and successfully combining reality and fiction. Yet certain aesthetic choices have often made it didactic, cloying and decidedly unbelievable. At the Diagonale’22.