Lisa e il diavolo (1973)

	Also Known As: Lisa et le diable
	Year of first release: 1973
	Director: Mario Bava
	Actors: Elke Sommer, Alida Valli, Sylvia Koscina, Alessio Orano, Telly Savalas, Gabirele Tinti
	Country: I, E, D
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 30.10.2016, arte.tv 7plus, French version
Synopsis: Lisa Reiner (Sommer) is a tourist in an ancient city. When she gets lost, she finds an old mansion in which to shelter. Soon she is sucked into a vortex of deception, debauchery and evil presided over by the family members, the Countess mother (Valli) and her son Max (Orano) and by the mysterious housekeeper Leandro (Savalas).
Review: As I read that arte.tv was broadcasting one Giallo by Mario Bava, I could not resist. This one was very good. I liked the ambivalent role of Telly Savalas who seems to be the devil then just a servant. And then Max falling immediately in love with Lisa, and the mother who is obviously reluctant in letting anybody staying in her mansion. The atmosphere is the main characters of the movie, with the strange mansion, the plants inside the house, the wax mannequins everywhere, the statues spread over the house and the garden, the chapel, and the darkness.  Lisa's role might be quite exaggerated in her nervousness but this is finally normal in a Giallo and part of the game. The problem being not to be authentic but to increase the suspense. And as Master Alfred said, Mario Bava succeeded in building figures of bad guys that make the movie better than if the good actors would be the good guys.  As in many Italian movies of the 60s and 70s, there is no real original version, as actors are talking in several languages, so that any version seems a bit strange for the voice and sound tracks.
Rating: 6 /10

Rosemari (2016)

	Also Known As: Framing Mom
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Sara Johnsen
	Actors: Tuva Novotny, Ruby Dagnall, Laila Goody
	Country: N, DK, D
	Genre: Drama, Melodrama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.11.2016, CineStar 5, NFDL2016, Norvegian/Danish with English subtitles
Synopsis: Unn Tove (Novotny) marries the wrong man. During her wedding reception, a baby is born in the bathroom of the restaurant. Unn Tove finds the newborn girl and turns her over to the authorities. The two meet again 16 years later. Unn Tove is now the mother of two daughters and works for a local broadcaster. Rosemari (Dagnall) is trying to track down her birth mother. Unn Tove decides to help the young woman in her search and shoot a report about it.
Review: The plot is intriguing but the story is even more suspensfull and melodramatic than expected. It begins with an emotional meeting and the quest for Rosemari's origins brings the melodrama as it goes dirtier and more underground. Unn Tove shares these emotions only with her ex and eternal love and with her best friend and colleague Hilde (Goody). She is actually also looking for her own story, for a way to handle her own life and her own love. The last scenes might be typical for Scandinavian life, SPOILER to face any disaster of life with resilience even if this is extremely dramatic and sad. The melodramatic script is very emotional and this is made visible on the screen via the very emotional acting of Ruby Dagnall. The role of Hilde is very refreshing as it brings the funny touch with a very black humour. This black humour is actually the bare realistic analysis she does of her friend and of other people. And this is very funny because it is also true. And her way of talking makes it hilarious. This contrasts with the very dramatic story and balances it with subtlety.
Rating: 7 /10

De standhaftige (2016)

	Also Known As: Walk With Me, Die Standhaften
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Lisa Ohlin
	Actors: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Cecilie Lassen
	Country: DK, S
	Genre: Drama, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 04.11.2016, CineStar 3, NFDL2016, Danish version with English subtitles
Synopsis: Thomas (Følsgaard) is stationed in Helmand Province in Afghanistan; his unit is fighting the Taliban under terrible conditions. When Thomas steps on a landmine, both his legs must be amputated in an emergency operation. While undergoing rehabilitation in Denmark, Thomas focuses all his energy on getting back to the fighting as soon as possible. At the hospital, he meets Sofie (Lassen), who is there looking after her critically ill aunt. The ambitious ballerina refuses to be deterred by the brittle manner of the soldier, whose damage extends beyond just his body. She offers to do a training programme with him and the two soon discover that they have feelings for each other.
Review: After her good movie Simon och Ekarna, I wanted to watch this movie by Lisa Ohlin. It seems like Denmark is really moved by its involvment in wars as this movie follows Krigen, The film was inspired by a real project, in which the dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet use Pilates to help soldiers wounded in Afghanistan recover both mobility and independence. And actually the idea is so good, that it is exciting for this to watch the movie. The struggle of this idiotic ex-soldier is not that pathetic because he is ambitious and this makes his struggle interesting. And apparently charming as well, as this initiates the romance with the dancer.  The acting of Cecilie Lassen is good. She is very touching in her look.
Rating: 5 /10

Es Esmu Seit (2016)

	Also Known As: Mellow Mud, Ich bin hier
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Renars Vimba
	Actors: Elina Vaska, Andzejs Lilientals, Ruta Birgere, Edgars Samitis
	Country: LV
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.11.2016, CineStar 1, NFDL2016, Latvian with English subtitles
Synopsis: 17-year-old Raya (Vaska) and her younger brother Robis (Lilientals) have to live with their grandmother. The old lady (Birgere) sells off the family apple farm to pay off family debts. Raya is enraged; she cuts school and doesn’t do any homework. Then one night, she comes home late and finds her grandmother dead on the floor. To avoid ending up in a juvenile home, Raya and Robis secretly bury the body. From then on, they must make it on their own. They find themselves increasingly short of money and food, and Raya has to take responsibility for her brother. She comes up with a plan – she decides to find their mother, who emigrated to England, and bring her back home. Her English teacher Oskars (Samitis) will help her thanks to her good marks.
Review:  The originality is in the plot. How manage these kids to survive without adults? The movie becomes a diary of the answer to that question. At the same time they are both growing and she is becoming an adult. A lot of the harsh situation of Latvian people is depicted. Being forced to leave their country to make money, people staying in Latvia abandonned, extreme poverty of the elderly. The romance with the teacher is not really bringing the story further apart from giving to Raya some quiet moments. The casting for both young actors required to meet 2000 teenagers, as confirmed by the director during the Q&A after the movie. The acting is blowing. Elina Vaska can be tough and charming from one scene to the next. I am pretty sure that she will be cst in other European movies soon. Andzejs Lilientals's role is slightly secondary but played with authenticity, as well as the interactions between both.  The directing is good. Making these actors act like that, and having a subtle camera driving to follow the characters. These are very positive points.
Rating: 7 /10

The Entity (2015)

	Also Known As: Nilalang (Original)
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Pendring Lopez
	Actors: Cesar Montano, Maria Ozawa, Meg Imperial
	Country: RP
	Genre: Thriller, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 05.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: For a thousand years Forces of Evil have tried to take control of the book of Ishi by possessing people. In modern-day Manila mysterious crimes occur even after the serial killer supposed responsible for them was taken out.
Review: Movies from the Philippines are always interesting, in any genre. This one promised some action and the Japanese Adult movie actress Maria Ozawa (oh I just notice she also played in Tokyo Species, gotta see that one to find out if she is as memorable as Natasha Henstridge in the original Species). What I didn't expect was samurais, ronins and an ancient curse! Even more than usual in Filipino productions there is a mix of English, Filipino, Spanish and Japanese cultures and languages (the latter for Osawa in particular). But I found it very hard to get involved in the action maybe because it was too repetitive, or too slow and not helped by a soft soundtrack, or simply because it was ridiculous to see this curse jumping from body to body and obviously keeping the heroes for the end. A bit predictable too.
Rating: 3 /10

FantastiCozzi (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Felipe M. Guerra
	Actors: Luigi Cozzi, Caroline Munro (Starcrash), Sybil Danning
	Country: BR
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 04.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: The professional life of Italian director and producer Luigi Cozzi.
Review: This is a very specialized documentary about the work of one Italian director that is mainly known for his cheap copy of Star Wars: Starcrash from 1978, that has attained the status of cult meanwhile. But I learned a lot about him when listening to this collection of interviews he gave in 2010 and 2016 (he is indeed the only person talking in the movie): about how he started to love Science Fiction, about his friendship with the Master Dario Argento (that part makes me want to see all of his works again!), about his own editing of the Japanese Godzilla made at a time when it was allowed to modify so much a movie and resell it, about his SF Hercules with Lou "Hulk" Ferrigno, and about the fact that he owns (together with Argento) and runs a horror shop in Rome. If I had known that when I visited the Italian capital last year... Not particularly well done or original, FantastiCozzi however covers a golden age period for the Italian Genre cinema, and contains some interesting anecdotes by Cozzi, so it is worth watching if you are attracted by the History of Genre Cinema.
Rating: 4 /10

Embers (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Claire Carré
	Actors: Jason Ritter, Iva Gocheva, Greta Fernández
	Country: PL, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 03.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: A couple wakes up in a decrepit apartment. They wonder who they are and how they got here, but so is the rest of the World.
Review: Embers is a Polono-American post-apocalyptic movie that could have been French or Swiss in fact given the way the genre is treated: very theatrical and close to the characters. I will always the remember Les Revenants in which the dead come back to life and the biggest issues are how to find them employment and how to reintegrate them in their former families. While I usually like a little more action, I have nothing against this approach when it is well done, like in the case of Embers. In fact it is more a Drama than anything else. The panel of characters we follow gives a good overview of the things that can happen to people in that Universe, and how one can survive depending on its character and the relationships he builds in his waking hours. The story progresses slowly and the dialogs are scarce, but this fits the mood further emphasized by the chaotic surroundings and the depressive music. Embers is a well-done more "intellectual" approach to the genre, and the best movie seen at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre 2016 Festival.
Rating: 7 /10

Daylight's End (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: William Kaufman
	Actors:  Johnny Strong (Black Hawk Down), Lance Henriksen (Alien, The Terminator, Millenium TV-series), Louis Mandylor
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 03.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: A pandemic has turned humans into flesh-eating zombies that live at night. The lone wolf Rowdy (Strong) saves the life of Sam (Chelsea Edmundson) and is half-heartedly welcomed in her group of survivors led by Frank Hill (Henriksen).
Review: Daylight's End belongs to the genre of fast-running infected zombie movies, but I couldn't help comparing this guy chasing zombies by dragging them into the Sun to burn to John Carpenter's Vampires with the excellent James Woods. The beginning has a taste of Mad Max and the main location in a prison reminds of ... John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13. The rest is a rather classic story of surviving in a post-apocalyptic infected World but with some originality, well-told and well-played amongst others by a rather charismatic John Strong and Lance Henriksen (Bishop in Aliens) as leader.
Rating: 6 /10

Tonight She Comes (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Matt Stuertz
	Actors: Jenna McDonald, Frankie Ray, Larissa White
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 03.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: Two girl friends arrive at the lakeside house of a third who is missing, but the local mailman is found there.
Review: I think this movie is supposed to be a kind of revival of the Horror / Splasher genre of the 70's/80's, I did see the connection (lakeside house, bunch of drunken young adults...) and in particular I appreciated the copy of one of my favorite murders in the Friday the 13th saga: smashing someone in his sleeping bag against a tree (in Part VII: The new blood)! Except that Jason is replaced by a girl shown totally naked, very likely with the sole interest of attracting the male audience. The music is also not bad, with some influence from the Italian genre. But the qualities of the movie stop there. It starts by looking a little cheap, then the second act in the house is slow and boring as hell, and the third act is outrageously gore and disgusting. A constant is the reactions of the characters that never make any sense. I was not expecting much from this movie and I didn't get much.
Rating: 2 /10

Hjartasteinn (2016)

	Also Known As: Herzstein, Heartstone
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
	Actors: Baldur Einarsson, Blær Hinriksson
	Country: IS, DK
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 03.11.2016, CineStar 3, NFDL2016, Icelandic with English subtitles
Synopsis: Thor (Einarsson) and Kristján (Hinriksson) live in small, remote fishing village in Iceland. They spend their summers as pleasantly as possible there. They kill time fishing off the harbour breakwater, fooling around at the junkyard or playing the slots. They trust each other – which is worth a lot in a village where you can’t really rely on the adults, and where even the smallest embarrassing moment rarely remains a secret in the community. But the two boys also realize that they are gradually changing. When Thor is at a loss as to how to get close to a girl from the town, Kristján helps.
Review: Even if the expected homosexuality of Kristján and Thor is the continuous subject, for me it is never confirmed by any of both friends. Their strong friendship and care for each other is. This depicts therefore rather the homophobia at different levels, from the parents, from school teenagers, from friends. It is very scaring to see the father angry against his own child and hitting him for bare suspiscion, not even words or talks about the homosexuality. And the mother barely defending her son.  Via the symbolic landscapes and the very close-ups the emotions are transmitted very well and full of subtlety. Gudmundsson spoke about "mirror of our emotions" for the lanscapes and "I like films with details" when asked about the close-ups during the Q&A following the projection. In addition the young actors are very good at it. Sometimes one can also see that they are indeed playing and having fun. But well, the major part of the movie is all but funny.  Even if the children are all quite abandoned by their parents, the landscapes provide intimacy and space for all, so that they finish to feel a lot of freedom as well, constrasting with the harsh home rules.  No need to say that the landscapes are beautiful, but the photography is. Also for the close-ups on the ear, on the nose, on the eyelash.
Rating: 7 /10