Movies this weekend: “The Stranger”, “Blue Thermal” and “The Old Men”

“Foreigner”: looks kill

Eduardo Galan Blanco

Moved by the pleasant memory of slutwe are getting closer to the extraordinary short film by the young American director Chloe Okuno Stranger which marks his feature debut. Like that short piece, An observer —the original title that would translate Awake— explores the male gaze as an element of aggression and is a pleasant surprise, unusual in the horror genre.

The fantastic Maika Monroe, actress specializing in suffering who survived a thousand morons — see Coming up and tau— here she repeats her uniqueness, embodying the partner of an executive director of Romanian origin who arrives in Bucharest for a new job. Alone, for days and many nights, in an apartment in the old town — this does not look like a movie to be sold in the Romanian capital, rainy, gray, dirty — she soon feels watched by a motionless silhouette that takes shape in the window in front of a prematurely old building with huge scabs on diseased walls. Tired of putting up with that watchful presence, one evening he decides to interact, ironically waves his hand and gets a response. Then the faceless man starts following her through the streets old Townin supermarkets or in the dark of the cinema where George Kennedy tries to kill Audrey Hepburn from Charade.

The director handles the narrative progression with great skill and a strongly textured atmosphere. Undisguised influences Refusal from Polanski or from rear window Hitchcock, enrich the daring content of the story that destroys the styles of the serial killer film, twisting the idea of ​​voyeurism. After seventy minutes, the great secondary Burn Gorman finally reveals his Keaton face, with unmoving eyes. And, as the writer Theodore Roszak said in his great novel Flickerthe absence of blinking means the death of life at 24 frames per second.

THE OBSERVER

United States-Romania-Abu Dhabi, 2022.

Director: Chloe Okuno.

Cast: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman, Madalina Anea, Daniel Nuta, Florian Ghimpu, Stefan Iacu, Flavia Crison, Ioana Abur.

Thriller / horror. 96 minutes.

“Blue Thermal”: “amateur” flights

Sabela caught

The starting point of the story about blue thermal it’s certainly quite old-fashioned: a girl starts her college life in Tokyo far away from her family, and her main goal in this new phase of her life is… to find a boyfriend. Fortunately, while that romantic drive is still there, the story takes off when the girl enters a sports club where she discovers her passion (and her high aptitude) for flying, accompanied by what appears to be a romance novel. calm (sports manga genre) aeronautical.

With his first film, Masaki Tachibana, a director experienced in anime series — a world in which he is quite recognized — points to the revival of air fashion Top Gun, although here he replaces US Army fighters with the gliders of a Japanese university club, and groups of shirtless military personnel on the beach with teenagers in overalls running through meadows. With an anachronistic hint of eighties and nineties film and an innocent soap opera plot (sudden sisters, apparent deaths…), this anime moves between different genres (basically: comedy, drama and romance) without over-committing to any of them, giving as a result. The result is a kind and didactic story that doesn’t really delve into any of its plots, pointing out interesting ideas that aren’t fully developed (the metaphor of the wind), while not losing sight of prioritizing an optimistic message.

At the same time, it is a technically very careful film, in which its flight scenes in which you reach the goal stand out. blue thermal of the title (the thermal updraft that allows birds and airplanes to soar in the sky). In short, a film for young people that this audience will like above all else and will entertain without further aspiration.

“BLUE THERMAL”

Japan, 2022.

Director: Masaki Tachibana.

Screenplay: Masaki Tachibana and Natsuko Takahashi (based on the manga by Kan Ozawa).

Telecom Animation Film Company.

Animation. 103 minutes.

“Olds”: goddamn grandfathers

Miguel Anxo Fernandez

There is a lot of talk about old age due to various circumstances. Now that’s a good excuse to slap the welfare society, which it is, but it depends… Old people are on everyone’s lips as soon as they ask. What if it’s pensions, what if it’s care, what if it’s loneliness and abandonment, what if it’s garbage… Oldthe second film directed by Raúl Cerez and Fernando González Gómez — is the previous one Passenger (2021)—, it’s not about that because it’s a genre film, but no one would deny that there is a generalized reproach hovering over the action beyond that supernatural force that seemed to suck the coconut out of these aging tenants. old men from Old They are, well, old, and they don’t see how they will come as soon as the action progresses. They look shabby, though they want to take their toll… and wow if they do! Knowing what both authors want to tell us, the way they say it is also worth paying attention to.

Shortly after following the recent billboard in terms of the Spanish terror, there is a significant jump in the quality of its formal finish. Careful artwork overall, judicious choice of scenery, effective use of light and color, and—importantly—careful casting, especially older ones, as is the case. As an example, the Basque interpreter Zorion Eguileor, a widower who, due to the dramatic death of his wife, is forced to leave his home to go with his almost always absent son. Its progression is well-directed towards a climax that is not at all expected, with an outcome worthy of the best B-series horror and also begging for a sequel.

From the first minutes of the film, we feel that something is wrong. These grandparents are weird and have all the hallmarks of bastards ready to spoil the fun of the first person, related or not, who comes within range. Oh, and it’s not zombies, luckily, we have plenty of that in the show of audiovisual horror.

“OLD”

Spain, 2022.

Directors: Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez.

Performers: Zorion Eguileor, Gustavo Salmerón, Paula Gallego, Irene Anula, Josele Román, Carmen Ibeas.

Horror / thriller / fantasy. 95 minutes.