Fences (2016)

Slo naslov: -

Država: ZDA

Jezik: Angleščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 139',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Denzel Washington

Scenarij: August Wilson

Igrajo: Denzel Washington,Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Mykelti Williamson, Russell Hornsby, Jovan Adepo, Saniyya Sidne

[ENG]

Denzel Washington directed and stars in this adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, which centers on a black garbage collector named Troy Maxson in 1950s Pittsburgh. Bitter that baseball's color barrier was only broken after his own heyday in the Negro Leagues, Maxson is prone to taking out his frustrations on his loved ones. Both Washington and co-star Viola Davis won Tonys for their performances in the 2010 revival of the play. Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, and Mykelti Williamson round out the supporting cast.

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Denzel Washington and Viola Davis know their parts here backward and forward, and they, along with the rest of the fine cast, bat a thousand, hitting both the humorous and serious notes. But with this comes a sense that all the conflicts, jokes and meanings are being smacked right on the nose in vivid close-ups, with nothing left to suggestion, implication and interpretation. 

[Todd McCarthy, THR]

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The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Slo naslov: -

Država: ZDA

Jezik: Angleščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 104' ,  Imdb

Žanri: Komedija, Drama

Slo recenzija: Filmoljub

Režija: Kelly Fremon Craig

Scenarij: Kelly Fremon Craig

Igrajo: Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Ly Richardson, Blake Jenner, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Hayden Szeto, Alexander Calvert

[SLO]

Načelno ne ravno moj kos pite: komična drama o odraščanju sedemnajstletnice. Že marketinška lovilna fraza pod plakatom za film scenaristke in režiserje Kelly Fremon Craig je videti predvidljivo saharinsko, mukotrpno klišejsko in ceneno kokičarsko: "Srednješolsko življenje za Nadine postane še neznosnejše, ko začne njena najboljša prijateljica Krista hoditi z njenim starejšim bratom." Pričakovati je torej nič manj kot standardna, romantično duhovita, politično korektna hollywoodska najstniška jajca, kakšnih smo videli že zilijon in so si vsa podobna kot jajce jajcu.

Ampak potem — presenečenje! Celovečerni prvenec Craigove (trivia: Edge of Seventeen je samostojna skladba ameriške pevke in avtorice Stevie Nicks, nekdanje članice uspešne britansko-ameriške super-zasedbe Fleetwood Mac), ki je bolj kot najstniški film pravzaprav zgodba o natanko določeni najstnici, je ob osvežujočem scenariju (in cenzorski oznaki R) duhovit, avtentičen in iskren predvsem zaradi slednje. Ime ji je Hailee Steinfeld ... -Filmoljub

[ENG]

Everyone knows that growing up is hard, and life is no easier for high school junior Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), who is already at peak awkwardness when her all-star older brother Darian (Blake Jenner) starts dating her best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson). All at once, Nadine feels more alone than ever, until the unexpected friendship of a thoughtful boy (Hayden Szeto) gives her a glimmer of hope that things just might not be so terrible after all.  -STX Entertainment

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Moonlight (2016)

Photo: Official Site

Slo naslov: -

Država: ZDA 

Jezik: Angleščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 111',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Barry Jenkins

Scenarij: Barry Jenkins

Igrajo: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris, Jaden Piner, Jharrel Jerome, André Holland

[ENG]

Three time periods - young adolescence, mid-teen and young adult - in the life of black-American Chiron is presented. When a child, Chiron lives with his single, crack addict mother Paula in a crime ridden neighborhood in Miami. Chiron is a shy, withdrawn child largely due to his small size and being neglected by his mother, who is more concerned about getting her fixes and satisfying her carnal needs than taking care of him. Because of these issues, Chiron is bullied, the slurs hurled at him which he doesn't understand beyond knowing that they are meant to be hurtful. Besides his same aged Cuban-American friend Kevin, Chiron is given what little guidance he has in life from a neighborhood drug dealer named Juan, who can see that he is neglected, and Juan's caring girlfriend Teresa, whose home acts as a sanctuary away from the bullies and away from Paula's abuse. With this childhood as a foundation, Chiron may have a predetermined path in life, one that will only be magnified in terms... [Imdb]

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Barry Jenkins' Moonlight pulls you into its introspective protagonist's world from the start and transfixes throughout as it observes, with uncommon poignancy and emotional perceptiveness, his roughly two-decade path to find a definitive answer to the question, "Who am I?" 

[David Rooney, THR]

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Boris sans Béatrice (2016)

aka Boris Without Beatrice

Slo naslov: Boris brez Beatrice

Angleški naslov: Boris Without Beatrice

Država: Kanada

Jezik: Francoščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 93',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Denis Côté 

Scenarij: Denis Côté

Igrajo: James Hyndman, Simone-Élise Girard, Denis Lavant, Isolda Dychauk

[SLO]

Via Liffe

Samosvoj, s satiričnim podtonom podčrtan psihološki triler, ki se giblje na meji med realnim in domišljenim, daje univerzalni zgodbi o pritiskih sodobnega sveta poseben pečat.

Boris Malinovsky se je v poslovnem svetu današnjega Quebeca uveljavil z neusmiljeno aroganco. A ko njegova prav tako uspešna žena, ministrica v kanadski vladi, zapade v resno klinično depresijo in je bolj ali manj priklenjena na posteljo, se začne njegov navidez popolni svet počasi rušiti. V osamljeni počitniški hišici, kjer za ženo skrbi mlada pomočnica, prejme skrivnostni klic in kmalu zatem se sredi noči znajde v gozdu iz oči v oči z neznancem, ki ga neprizanesljivo sooči z delom preteklosti, na katerega ni najbolj ponosen ...

Navsezadnje, navkljub družbenemu razredu, ki ga film prikazuje, resnično menim, da je Borisovo življenje univerzalno. Film je preprost, govori o človeku, ki ga obhajajo dvomi. Z likom sem moral sočustvovati, raje kot bi ustvaril nov film, v katerem buržuja popolnoma strem. Ostajam na tej človeški ravni, z ravno pravo mero humorja in ironije poskušam razumeti njegovo prizadevanje, njegov boj. Sem na njegovi strani, namesto da bi se šel igro cinizma. Boris ni umirajoča žuželka, ki jo opazujemo v steklenem kozarcu. Je eden od nas, če nam je to všeč ali ne. 

(Denis Côté) 

[ENG]

Somewhere in present-day Québec, Boris Malinovsky is going through life with ruthless arrogance. This is a man who, clad in tailored suits, seems to have it all. But then his world begins to falter when his equally successful wife, a minister in the Canadian government, is confined to her bed with depression and is cared for in their remote holiday home. There, Boris receives phone calls from a stranger who asks him to meet in the forest in the middle of the night. The mysterious man confronts Boris with the kind of questions he would rather not have to think about. Nonetheless, following their encounter, Boris tries to steer his life in a different direction. As he does so he feels increasingly persecuted and begins to eye his surroundings, which feel more and more alien to him, with suspicion. Will Boris be able to rid himself of his unbidden demons? After Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Berlinale Competition, 2013) Denis Coté undertakes a new foray into the genre of the idiosyncratic psychological thriller. Combining satirical precision with puzzling tableaux, he takes the viewer inside the mind of a man who is forced to confront his failures and increasingly loses control of his life. (Berlinale)

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Las elegidas (2015)

aka The Chosen Ones

Slo naslov:  -

Angleški naslov: The Chosen Ones

Država: Mehika, Francija

Jezik: Španščina

Leto: 2015

Dolžina: 105',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: David Pablos

Scenarij: David Pablos

Igrajo: Oscar Torres, Nancy Talamantes, Leidi Gutierrez, Jose Santillan Cabuto, Edward Coward, Alicia Quinonez

[ENG]

Sofia, 14 years old, is in love with Ulises. Because of him, in spite of him, she is forced into a prostitution ring in Mexico. To set her free, Ulises will have to find another girl to replace her…

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Combining immaculate formal composure with intrepid thematic sangfroid in a comparable manner to fellow new-school Mexican filmmakers Amat Escalante and Michel Franco, David Pablos makes a purposeful, largely successful play for attention with his sophomore feature, “The Chosen Ones.” High on blunt impact and low on even qualified hope, this story of teenage girls kidnapped and forced into prostitution coolly identifies a range of social and sexual inequalities in contemporary Mexico, and proceeds with indictment via vivid exposition rather than verbal rhetoric. The resulting film, while a little one-note in its dramatic development, is as hard to shake as it is to watch; distribution potential may be limited following its Un Certain Regard debut, but festival programmers will continue to give “The Chosen Ones” their nod of approval. (Guy Lodge, Variety)

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Tjuvheder (2015)

aka Drifters

Slo naslov: -

Angleški naslov: Drifters

Država: Švedska

Jezik: Švedščina

Leto: 2015

Dolžina: 92',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama, Krimi

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Peter Grönlund

Scenarij: Peter Grönlund

Igrajo: Malin Levanon, Lo Kauppi, Tomasz Neuman, Jan Mattson, Niklas Björklund, Nadya Sundberg Solander

[ENG]

When street pusher Minna can't pay her rent she cheats a few young criminals on a drug deal and takes the money. She happens to meet Katja, mother of a child who has been taken by the social authorities. Minna goes with Katja to an illegal residence outside of town, where a group of individuals have joined together to determine their own living conditions. Drifters is a social political drama thriller about the dealer Minna's struggle to survive in a society lacking solidarity and responsibility. (The Swedish Film Institute)

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HyperNormalisation (2016)

Photo: BBC

Slo naslov: -

Država: VB

Jezik: Angleščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 166' ,  Imdb

Žanri: Dokumentarni 

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Adam Curtis

Scenarij: Adam Curtis

Igrajo: Adam Curtis, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan

[ENG]

HyperNormalisation tells the extraordinary story of how we got to this strange time of great uncertainty and confusion - where those who are supposed to be in power are paralysed - and have no idea what to do. And, where events keep happening that seem inexplicable and out of control - from Donald Trump to Brexit, the War in Syria, the endless migrant crisis, and random bomb attacks. It explains not only why these chaotic events are happening - but also why we, and our politicians, cannot understand them. The film shows that what has happened is that all of us in the West - not just the politicians and the journalists and the experts, but we ourselves - have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. But because it is all around us, we accept it as normal. (From BBC iPlayer)

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Curtis continues to use the not-yet-fully-defined space of BBC iPlayer to expand his style, but he hasn’t created something so politically urgent since The Power of Nightmares. If you want to know how we got into this mess, how we’ve all been convinced to go along with it and what nightmare possibilities the future might hold, tune into Channel Curtis ASAP. (Robert Greene, Sight & Sound)

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Tower (2016)

Slo naslov: -

Država: ZDA

Jezik: Angleščina

Leto: 2016

Dolžina: 96',  Imdb

Žanri: Animacija, Dokumentarni, Zgodovinski

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Keith Maitland

Igrajo: Neal Spelce, Claire Wilson James, Tom Eckman, Aleck Hernandez Jr., Houston McCoy, Brenda Bell, Allen Crum

[ENG]

On August 1st, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes. When the gunshots were finally silenced, the toll included 16 dead, three dozen wounded, and a shaken nation left trying to understand. Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation in a dynamic, never-before-seen way, TOWER reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. (Official Site]

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Though its final act lacks the sharp focus of the moments leading up to it, Tower is a fascinating blend of suspense and journalistic inquiry. (Eric Kohn, Indiewire)

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Goat (2016)

Slo naslov: -
Država: ZDA
Jezik: Angleščina
Leto: 2016
Dolžina: 96',  Imdb
Žanri: Drama
Slo recenzija: -
Režija: Andrew Neel
Scenarij: David Gordon Green, Andrew Neel, Mike Roberts
Igrajo: Ben Schnetzer, Nick Jonas, Gus Halper, Danny Flaherty, Virginia Gardner, Jake Picking, Brock Yurich, Will Pullen, Austin Lyon, Eric Staves, James Franco

[ENG]

Reeling from a terrifying assault over the summer, 19-year-old Brad Land (Ben Schnetzer) starts college determined to get his life back to normal. His brother, Brett (Nick Jonas), is already established on campus and with a fraternity that allures Brad with its promise of protection, popularity, and life-long friendships. Brad is desperate to belong but as he sets out to join the fraternity his brother exhibits reservations, a sentiment that threatens to divide them. As the pledging ritual moves into hell week, a rite that promises to usher these unproven boys into manhood, the stakes violently increase with a series of torturous and humiliating events. What occurs in the name of 'brotherhood' tests both boys and their relationship in brutal ways.

*************

Based on a true story, Andrew Neel’s powerful drama Goat opens on a striking image: a slow-motion medium shot of a group of bare-chested young men, bobbing up and down, mouths wide open in mid barbaric scream. Though surreal and lacking context, the disturbing shot is a brilliant encapsulation of Goat’s harrowing exploration of masculinity, both its extremes and the fragility that lies beneath it.

[Anthony Kaufman, Screen Daily]

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Jack (2014)

Slo naslov: -

Država: Nemčija

Jezik: Nemščina

Leto: 2014

Dolžina: 103',  Imdb

Žanri: Drama

Slo recenzija: -

Režija: Edward Berger 

Scenarij: Edward Berger, Nele Mueller-Stöfen

Igrajo: Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jakob Matschenz, Nele Mueller-Stöfen

[ENG]

Although he is only ten years old, Jack is responsible for himself and his little brother Manuel and this fills him with pride. Their single mother works during the day and often goes out at night. There’s no father in sight. One day, Manuel burns himself with boiling hot water while bathing and Jack is blamed for the incident. It's reason enough for social services to put him in a home where he is dreadfully homesick. He soon gets into trouble and bolts, heading for home. He arrives back, only to find his mother is once again absent. Jack and Manuel roam the city in search of her. They sleep in parks and in an underground car park, run away from the police and encounter adults, some of whom help and others who are indifferent.

Edward Berger and co-writer Nele Mueller-Stöfen’s portrait of two children’s search for their mother is at once laconic and sensitive, poetic and full of understanding for the boys’ pain and loneliness. At the same time the film paints a panoramic image of Berlin: its boulevards and supermarkets, its nightclubs, bars and parks, but also the dreary outskirts far away from the pulsating centres.

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