A bit of a heavy week, on an emotional standpoint, with three Oscars-nominated movies: The Brutalist, Sing Sing, and the documentary No Other Land.
The Brutalist
Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost.
The Brutalist is very good at times, but doesn’t really stand up as a cohesive work of art. It’s a movie that is more concerned about being important than saying something important. Yes, it’s about the assimilation of migrants in the U.S., but it’s also a non-Jewish director trying to make a vaguely Zionist film without really knowing how to approach the subject, with a main character who isn’t really religious but whom the film tries several times to attach almost forcibly to his religion. Was this really necessary? I’m not sure, but as I’m not Jewish, I don’t think I am in the best position to comment on the subject.
It’s obvious that director Brady Corbet had a desire to make a Great American Epic greatly influenced by the work of Paul Thomas Anderson, but the intent is too obvious for it to seem sincere. Is it the product of a form of pretentiousness? Or has Corbet been so paralyzed by the desire not to look ridiculous in the face of his influences that he’s come up with an impersonal product? Hard to say.
The part before the intermission is the best, while the part after unfortunately sinks into pointless script effects, culminating in an uninteresting epilogue that tries to wrap things up with a rather pretentious and overstaged Important Statement (without spoiling, a character says something and close-ups of the hero’s face “subtly” make us understand that it’s not true). On the whole, the film seems to want to over-support everything it says, like the moment when, after a scene in which the character is taking drugs, we are treated to an audio insert to explain what heroin is and why it’s dangerous.
There’s talent everywhere, both in front of and behind the camera, which kept me from hating the whole thing. But competence doesn’t rhyme with brilliance. And it may be unfair, but leaving the theater I couldn’t help but compare it to Killers of the Flower Moon, another long movie about America that is infinitely better in every aspect, in part because Scorsese approaches his subject with intelligence, respect and sincerity.
Quiche rating: 3/5
Sing Sing
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
I went in completely blind, and what a wonderful surprise! If the whole thing can sometimes seem a little academic, in part because the soundtrack is a little too present, that doesn’t detract from Sing Sing‘s innumerable qualities.
The fact that director Greg Kwedar decided to shot this on 16mm lends a real touch and texture to this prison world, as well as giving to the movie a timeless aspect that fits perfectly with the long sentences served by these prisoners. The photography is also splendid – it’s a real shame Pat Scola wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
But, of course, what touched me most of all was the heart of the film and its message. I’m a theater kid, so liberation through art obviously touches me, because we’ve all experienced it, these roles and exercises that allow us to break out of our shells and share things with those around us (when I was little, I was always trying to get roles for women characters lol). It’s a liberation that’s all the more important for these people who are literally locked up, and who can thus at least let their minds travel instead of their bodies.
There’s also a very touching comment on the importance of fraternity. The urgency of fraternity, even, in today’s world. Earth is hell and the universe is never fair, but it’s thanks to fraternity that we can hold on, thanks to all those people who reach out to us and give us the strength to extend it to others. It’s this humanity that drives us to get up every morning, to face up to a capitalist system that’s trying to isolate us more and more from each other. And it’s by capturing this humanity that Sing Sing manages to be a great film.
Quiche rating: 4.5/5
No Other Land
This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something that left me so sad and mad with rage. It’s something to know, but to see the terrible inhumanity of Israeli soldiers and settlers, those hate-filled little Nazis, confronted with the distress and resilience of Palestinians who don’t want to leave the land they’ve occupied for hundreds of years… it makes your stomach turn.
It’s very, very well put together, to the point where you’d think it was made by a team of seasoned journalists, but the choice of a first-person narrative reminds us that no, this is simply reality being shown to us by a courageous activist who still has faith in the fact that a camera is an important tool to obtain justice for his people. His discussions with his Israeli friend are also very interesting, in all their unspoken force.
I have the impression that one of the biggest lies we’re taught in school is that the Israeli-Palestinian situation is complicated, when in fact it’s just an apartheid state with sub-citizens who don’t even have the right to leave their territory or dispose of their land as they see fit. The only complicated thing is that we don’t dare enforce international law because we feel guilty towards them and they’re good clients for our weapons and technology.
I urge you to see No Other Land, and if you have any Netanyahu supporters in your entourage, people of the “it all started on October 7th” type, don’t hesitate to tie them to a chair and make them watch it Clockwork Orange style.
More than ever, free Palestine.
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