Bowie, Bowie, Bowie!
How can a single documentary capture the elusive figure of David Bowie, a chameleon who shifted personalities, forms, and gender, while crossing creative and personal boundaries? Brett Morgen’s approach in Moonage Daydream leans away from a conventional biography and toward an impressionistic mosaic. The film assembles a vast collage of visual and sonic material—clips from cinema, television, and stage performances, drawings, paintings, photographs, music videos, photo shoots, animation, ads, and, of course, dozens of songs—creating a polyhedral portrait that invites interpretation rather than a linear life story.
His aversion to expository clarity might throw some viewers off, yet the cinematic stance feels like a respectful tribute to an artist known for reinvention. While Morgen acknowledges Bowie’s darker chapters, including the substance era of the 1970s and moments of provocative iconography, the film wraps the audience in a whirlwind of sensory impressions. Moonage Daydream could turn nonfans into devotees and, for existing admirers, deliver pure exhilaration.
Diligence, respect and truth
After screening a new film at a major festival, a director often faces questions about how far to press a sensitive theme. In this case, the director approached a delicate topic—sexuality in a teenager with cerebral palsy—by prioritizing meticulousness and respect. The resulting work balances rigor with humanity as it follows Laura, a young woman in a Madrid dorm during her university years, and a paralytic child named David. The storytelling rests on patient, intimate scenes, including moments where two characters lie in bed listening to David’s favorite songs, captured with a documentary-like precision that reflects a deep commitment to truth.
The film emphasizes important conversations between Laura, still trying to understand her own path, and David’s mother. Truth becomes the through-line that anchors the story, allowing the audience to engage with doubts and emotions without being overwhelmed by a concrete thesis. The result is a narrative that feels earned, deliberate, and morally anchored.
Effectively applied formula
Another recent release revisits a pivotal chapter in the push for accountability against a brutal regime. The drama centers on the prosecutor and a team of young lawyers who fought to expose crimes committed during a brutal period of state repression. The ensemble is portrayed with clarity and energy by standout performances, and the film embraces the conventions of a classic courtroom melodrama: quiet heroes, shocking testimonies, a tight sense of procedure, clearly defined antagonists, and a climactic, cathartic speech supported by a rousing soundtrack.
Yet the movie avoids cynicism. It blends bureaucratic jargon with domestic life and bitter moments of loss, peppered with quiet humor. In doing so, it demonstrates that pursuing justice can be both a moral obligation and a meaningful step toward national healing. The production invites viewers to consider how legal processes, collective memory, and personal courage intersect to confront a painful past.
Pure childhood
Eskil Vogt, known for collaborations with a celebrated Nordic director, also directed a film that pushes the boundaries of horror by examining childhood through a stark, uncanny lens. Innocent uses fantastical cinema mechanics to explore the tension between innocence and awakening cruelty, following a cast of children who navigate a liminal space between good and evil. The director draws from a wide pool of influences to craft a uniquely atmospheric universe set in a Scandinavian urban landscape, where telepathic powers and a handful of central figures heighten the sense of dread.
The film’s cadence is cold, tense, and gripping, with a supernatural mood that bleeds into daily life. While it may echo the superhero genre in a quiet, unsettling way, it also pushes into darker terrains of human cruelty viewed through a child’s gaze. It uses a quiet, observational style to probe social divisions and racial undertones that flicker beneath the surface of northern Europe, oscillating between mystery and an abyss.
Six children and a castle
Much of the action in a notable wartime escape drama unfolds inside a grand French chateau on the Loire. The setting becomes a character itself, with rooms, columns, stairs, and towers offering hidden alcoves where hidden histories can unfold. An art conservator hides six Jewish children within rooms that shelter art from the Louvre’s collection as danger draws near. The Nazis search for these treasures, especially those tied to wealthy Jewish families, and descend on the estate with a chilling sense of inevitability.
This cat-and-mouse game lasts through the dominant portion of the film, shifting as the castle loses its safety and the children must find new hiding places. The narrative shifts toward a harsher realism as the young protagonists confront a brutal reality, challenging the audience with its moral weight and the resilience of those who endure.
Portrait of a Forger
A movie built around a counterfeiter presents a tantalizing premise. An art expert examines the forger in a tale that echoes classic biographical explorations of deception. The focus follows a real-life figure who thrived on duplicating masterpieces and selling them for substantial sums, a story rich with interviews, archival material, and the perspectives of those connected to the craft and its exposure to law enforcement. The result invites questions about authenticity, talent, and the moral ambiguity surrounding an infamous career.
When the filmmaker concentrates on the forger’s methods, the narrative still leaves room for doubt and curiosity. The examination of the artist’s process sits against a broader inquiry into the legitimacy of art, the thrill of the con, and the consequences for those who invest in dubious masterpieces. The overall tone remains inquisitive and sharp, inviting viewers to weigh the evidence and come to their own conclusions about the elusive boundary between genius and deceit.