Un jour mon Prince viendra: One and a Half Prince the romanian hype

The form of this film is technically a romantic comedy, 

albeit a particularly straight-faced one.

Yet there are plenty of moments that elicit a smile, 
but not in an outright funny manner.

" One and a half Prince" presents relationships with no hint of movie conventions.

As this film has an instinctive realism, 

an ear for the way real people talk and interact.

It possesses a knack for drawing multi-layered 

and always drwas appealing performances out of its cast. 

Here characters talk and talk,
frequently about their emotions and what they want. 

It remains though necessary to read between the lines, 

to pick up subtle cues, 

to understand that what they say they want 
is not necessarily 

what they actually want. 

Ana Lungu lays bare the romantic complications of a young actress and three men, 

two friends and a potential lover, 

with consummate skill.

She turns the film from a conundrum to a poetic, 

free-flowing treatise 
on relationships and connections.

"One and a Half Prince" is shot in a naturalistic and minimalist style.

What more appropriate expression for its organic, 
unhurried 
and unrehearsed quality?!

It has long stretches of dialogue that unfold,
performed with effortless ease by the cast

( Iris Spiridon, Matray Laszlo, Istvan Teglas, Marius Manole)

and it reminisces of Richard Lanklater or Eric Rohmer.

The characters eat, drink, travel, pay visits to cemeteries, 

seemingly carefree and revelling in their youthfull age.

But they also indulge with sincerity 

in their emotional insecurities.

Which are exactly ours.

One may accuse " A one and a half Prince" of being circular, 

meandering 
and ambiguous.

But this is a film whose sum 
is more than its parts.

And it articulates deftly the uncertainty of loving someone
—and being loved in return.

Yet,

 it is also about embracing the future

 as life charts its own course.

Giulia Dobre

My first reviewed Lanthimos: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

From the director of Dogtooth & The Lobster comes another weird, 

whacky & wicked concept.

Unravelling its plot with patience, 

with an air of mystery & a sense of foreboding, 

infused with a warped sense of humour, 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a crazy, demented & uncomfortable psychological horror

 that’s consistently engaging, 

thoroughly unnerving 

& fiendishly amusing.

The story follows a cardiac surgeon 

who secretly develops a deep & empathetic bond with a teenage boy, 

acting as a father figure to the young kid with whom he shares a past connection. 

The two even invite each other to meet their respective families 

and all appears to be going well for the time being. 

Things, however, take an unexpected turn 

when one of the surgeon’s kids falls mysteriously ill one day, 

but if he is to save his family, he must confront a past mistake and make an unthinkable sacrifice.

Co-written & directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is as bizarre as his previous works.

 Lanthimos takes his time to set up the premise.

He focuses on establishing the secretive relationship between the surgeon & the young kid 

without offering any details about the origin of their bond.

 Nevertheless, an uneasy feeling is detectable in those moments, clearly conveying that something is about to go wrong.

The script packs a simple, straightforward revenge plot 

but what makes it such an intriguing sit 

is its peculiar tone & ominous vibe. 

Character interaction is zany, lines are spoken with deadpan expression, 

and it brims with a discomforting quality. 

Its eccentric wit is another element that makes you laugh & feel disgust at the same time. 

It has a very polished look & feel. 

Cinematography encapsulates the film with a sinister atmosphere.

Camera is manoeuvred in a very controlled fashion.

Its use of colour palette & excellent lighting is worth a mention as well. 

Editing keeps things tense & gripping throughout its 121 minutes runtime.

The film features a faithful cast in Collin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic & Alicia Silverstone, and all of them play their idiosyncratic characters with sincerity. 

On an overall scale, 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is as fascinating & compelling as it is disturbing & surreal. 

The film is not without its shortcomings though, f

or there are moments that linger on longer than required,

 and few dialogues exist only for their effect instead of serving the plot.

 I found it more accessible & involving than Lanthimos’ last film which for me was dull & sterile. 

Those who are familiar with the director’s filmography know what to expect. 

As for the newcomers, they are in for a hellacious ride too. 

A deranged, haunting & upsetting delight, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is worth your time .

giulia dobre

Icelanders strike again: WOMAN AT WAR (KONA FER Í STRÍÐ)

WOMAN AT WAR (Kona fer í stríð) (2018)

A gallery of grotesque and very human characters,

skies and faces blown by the wind,

and many many many sheep 
to animate the landscape:

the Icelandic Benedikt Erlingsson returned 

to the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival 

with another surreal comedy in “Woman at War”.

A few years ago he won hearts with his series of vignettes 

collected under the title “Of Horses and Men”.

With this mini-saga about a middle-aged choir mistress with a sideline in eco-terrorism,

he has ventured 

into more traditional storytelling,

but retained a wacky sort 

of an outsider humour.

Anchored by the brilliant and bold interpretation of the actress Halldóra Geirharodsdottir,

the film tells of the implications that individual initiative can have when fighting

the neoliberal monster

and the social stereotypes.

We are reminded of the ideas of Foucault or David Harvey,

as well as of the acts of terrorism and vandalism from films like “Die Dritte Generation” (1979) and “Night Moves” (2013).

Just that here all happens in an icelandic comic key that never loses its depth or anger.

Halla uses her bow and arrows to bring down high-voltage power lines connected to the aluminium smelters feeding off Iceland's geothermal energy.

 Nobody knows who she is.

Apart from the jazz band and the open-throat singers

who appear in key moments on screen

as melodic commentators,

fellow conspirators,

and sympathetic bystanders

offering accompaniment to some of the action.

They keep popping up in the sphagnum

like Greek choruses.

Like I said, it's wacky. 

Meanwhile, good-hearted Halla has been trying for years to adopt a Ukrainian war orphan.

 Just as she gets the news that a child is waiting for her,

the law closes her in.

On her terrorist actions she is shot from slightly below.

As she gazes up at the electricity cables above, she looks like Joan of Arc in a woolly jumper.

Geirharðsdóttir engages in a very physically demanding role.

Halla spends a lot of time bounding across volcanic crags

 and evading the surveillance helicopters which hunt her. 

Later on she saves herself

by hiding

under the fleece of a dead sheep,

just as in the previous film there was a horse lending its carcass

as a saving shelter.

And the Ulysses' Homeric stratagem comes to mind.

Erlingsson is also making fun

of what is probably an unheard of news for the Icelandic citizen,

given the wide natural spaces available and the reduced demographic pressure.

He ironizes the obsession of the contemporary Western citizens

to be an object of control,

from spy satellites, cameras closed circuit, drones.

He is also self quoting his pervious work by

bringing back the character of the Argentine tourist (Juan Camillo Roman Estrada).

He is here hilariously targeted due to its obvious extraneousness to the context,

subject to numerous checks of the local police.

The purpose of laughter here is to exorcise what may be the result of an ambient catastrophism.

Thus, the spectator laughs to see the same character being continually arrested instead of Halla. 

All these mishaps, however,

are the result of decisions made by a political regime that allows arbitrary arrests and stereotyping.

In the same logic,

the viewer is as suspicious as the heroine,

and becomes as paranoid as she is.

Halla will manage to do it all, of course. 

She blows up her last pylon, 

escapes and collect her new daughter.

It is a delight to always feel the fun the filmmaker and his team had while making “Woman at War”!

A comedy that manages to use a classic narrative,

including the two contrasting missions of the protagonist (the ecologist and the mother),

her helpers (sister, mole, cousin and landscape),

his bitter opponents (technology, politicians), 

but it bathes it an all-Icelandic humor.

A film that continuously oscillates between fairytale and a cruel tale. 

But supported by an unbridled imagination, 

by numerous variations 

on the theme of the landscape 

and those who live in it.

Benedikt Erlingsson confirms again 

that he is a precious talent 

for those who love to occasionally indulge in some clever grin, 

triggered by a scratchy satire,

seasoned with the right amount of malice.

Giulia Ghica Dobre- @24^th Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo August 16th, 2018