THE TALE OF SILYAN – ★★★★
A very well-made documentary about an ageing farmer in North Macedonia, showing the joys of everyday life and family, as well as the struggles in a more modern world to make ends meet. It’s paralleled with the story of Silyan, a young man who, when cursed by his father for wanting to leave his village, is turned into a stork. Similarly, as the farmer loses his family to the increasing calls of emigration abroad for economic opportunities, he rescues and cares for a stork. Plenty of lovely moments in this, and some incredible footage.
ROSE – ★★★★☆
By no means a feel-good film, this has been the highlight of my festival so far. A black-and-white film, excellent acting, and a compelling story set in the 17th century about a woman who, after presenting herself as a man to fight as a soldier in the Thirty Years’ War, went on to claim land by adopting the identity of one of her fallen comrades. Moving and recommended, especially if you’ve liked Sandra Hüller’s previous work, or the black-and-white films of Pawel Pawlikowski such as Cold War and Ida.
PRESSURE – ★★☆
Sometimes when watching films at home, and the script is predictable enough that we can predict what the characters will say or do, we’ll call it out and, when right, give each other a high-five. If this film about the preparation of the Normandy D-Day invasion was watched at home, we’d likely have had sore hands. Brendan Fraser’s talent was wasted here. It was nice for a change to recognise a small cog in the operation (being meteorologists) as opposed to war heroes of a more typical nature, but I felt this was Hollywood-ised just a bit too much.
EXTRA GEOGRAPHY – ★★★
Nothing particularly wrong with this British film set in an exclusive girls’ boarding school, but I’ve probably seen enough coming-of-age films around high school-age girls with their cliques and power dynamics. If you enjoyed films like Booksmart, Heathers, Mean Girls, etc. (none of which I disliked), then perhaps this will offer something to you.
