Movies
Visions of Europe
I like a good anthology, but when there are too many directors and the project is a little too vague or open-ended, it's difficult to turn it into something coherent (not just a random bunch of shorts bunched together). Visions of Europe is a miss in that regard, but it's still worth checking out. The title is pretty self-explanatory. 25 directors from 25 different European countries were given the chance to direct a short film about Europe. They were given free rein, which means you'll find many different ideas and approaches here, though few are actual straightforward narratives. There are some pretty familiar and respected names (Tarr, Boe, Greenaway), but most of the directors are pretty niche and have limited appeal outside of their bubbles. There's a handful of memorable shorts, the rest is pretty forgettable, but it's at least quite varied and the shorts are well short, so it never gets too dull.Read all
A biography that is mostly fictional. It's certainly not the first film to pull that trick, but I never quite get the point of these films. Generally speaking documentaries are better suited to learn about a person, still, if you opt to make a feature film, why would you adapt the life of a person and add a bunch of scripted stuff that never happened? The film tells the life of Elsa Andersson, a young girl who grows up on a farm, but dreams of becoming an aviator. Her parents, nor the people in her village really understand Elsa's fascination with the sky, but she is determined to follow her dreams, even though her father would prefer if she stayed on the farm. There are some flashes of quality here, mostly some dreamier moments in between the more traditional drama parts. Performances are decent, but the plot is awfully dull, the styling feels a bit bland and the runtime is inexcusable. It might've been a better film if they'd gone full fiction, this felt like a contrived and lazy attempt to pay homage to Elsa Andersson.Read all