Let Her Out (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Cody Calahan
	Actors: Alanna LeVierge, Nina Kiri, Adam Christie
	Country: CDN
	Genre: Thriller, Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 02.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: 23 years after Helen (LeVierge) was born on the day of her mother's suicide, an accident changes her behavior and she starts to see and hear things.
Review: There is something interesting about the main character, and this interest keeps on growing until the kind of revelation of the cause of her troubles (spoiler, highlight to read: she has an unborn twin sister developing in her skull! How cool is that idea?!). Some scenes keep on being interesting, but unfortunately at some point the movie just starts following the clichés of the genre: girl running to lock herself (twice) in the bathroom, trying to help her "possessed" friend instead of escaping... to the excess. And I found the ending unnecessarily gore (am I getting too old for this?!?), stretched and followed by a music that didn't know what to do to go higher in pitch. I hope I managed to produce an objective review of the movie in spite of the awful experience the viewing was, because of neighbours noisily eating pop-corn the whole time.
Rating: 4 /10

Origin (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director:  Andreas Climent, André Hedetoft
	Actors: Rikard Björk, Emelia Hansson, Rafael Pettersson
	Country: S
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 04.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: Julia (Hansson) and her fellow biology students think they discovered a kind of miracle cure. When one of them gets sick, they will of course commit the mistake of trying the stuff on him.
Review: The synopsis of this Swedish movie reminds a bit of the 90's Flatliners with Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland and Kevon Bacon. There are less horrific visions in this one, but a soft psychological journey instead. In fact it is more a drama than anything else in spite of its Scientific and Fiction notes which don't make it a SF movie. All revolves around the same 3+1 characters so it feels a bit repetitive at some point. But in the end Origin is what you would expect from a Swedish movie about such topic: serious about the science, serious about the consequences of your actions, and deserved by credible young actors. If you are into this genre...
Rating: 5 /10

Child Eater (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Erlingur Thoroddsen
	Actors: Cait Bliss, Colin Critchley, Jason Martin
	Country: USA, IS
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 05.11.2016, Multiplex Lavalle, BARS2016
Synopsis: Helen Connolly (Bliss), daughter of the sheriff, is baby-sitting Lucas (Critchley) for one night in a house where atrocities were committed by an old man years before. The kid is scared.
Review: From the camera work, lighting, dialog and soundtrack in the first minute you can tell that this movie is going to take its subject seriously. A boogieman movie is always more scary when it features a kid that is not old enough to watch the movie he plays in. The most recent comparison that comes to my mind is The Babadook, and Child Eater has a totally different approach but unfortunately I was too often conscious of the mistakes characters make in all slasher movies and that I thought would have been avoided in that one: not switching on the light although you are in a creepy house, walking painfully slowly although you are looking for a missing child, turning your back to an open door from which just came a man who has been attacked... Some good aspects are the boogieman design and the lighting that remain frighteningly dark throughout the whole movie. And you can find everything you could expect from a spooky movie: monster in the closet, old house near the woods, abandoned summer camp, creepy old man and witch...
Rating: 5 /10

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