Rating since September 2013.
Favorite films = personal highlights of 2023.
Energetic camerawork and vibrant colours make this a lively dive into Nanjing's queer underground. It slightly falls apart in the middle due to some messy plot development, but it wraps up just fine.
Spineless aestheticization of migration. Italy and the EU go completely untouched. There are plenty of strong (non)fictional films out there tackling the same perspective, but that feel way more authentic, haunting and insightful. The complete opposite of Holland’s excellent Green Border, Garrone’s shallow take offers nothing new, and teaches us absolutely zero about the urge to migrate and the mechanisms behind human trafficking. Moments of magic realism miss the point. The last shot for sure feels powerful, especially due to…
Half baked suburbia drag that feels longer than it actually is. Hardly anything new is given to provide a fresh take on the subgenre, with barely any tension building up due to a weak ‘enemy’. There is little chemistry between Florence Pugh and Harry Styles. The few interesting concepts out there are just left on the floor, with a plot-hole-scattered ending that failingly tries to wrap it up somehow as a result.