Lantimos' new film certainly "has its moments", but it is certainly one of the weakest achievements in his filmography so far. It's not a point-blank shot, but it's far from hitting the center of the target. It is obvious that Lanthimos rushed the new film without paying enough attention to the script, and that he filmed a three-hour bizarreness that is, more or less, an end in itself.
New film Jorgosa Lanthimosa has arrived at ours movie theaters. How, please? Already? Well, aren't they? Poor creatures was in distribution seven months ago? They did, which did not prevent the Greek from hurrying and presenting his next feature-length work to the audience All faces of goodness.
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Lanthimos is undeniably on the rise. Poor creatures were premiered in Venice a year ago, at the beginning of September 2023, winning the "Golden Lion" on that occasion, which was followed by a successful showing around the world (the film earned 117 million dollars during its theatrical distribution, making it Lanthimos' most commercial film), and then, as cherry on top of the cake, Poor creatures received two "Golden Globes" and four "Oscars".
All faces of goodness had their world premiere in May 2024, in Cannes, and on that occasion Jesse Plemons won the best actor award for his triple role in this film. It's certainly not a bad achievement, especially since Plemons is an outstanding actor and deserves to be rewarded for his work, but, overall, the reception at Cannes has already signaled that the new film is significantly behind the previous one in terms of scope.
As for Serbia, All faces of goodness opened the 31st Palić European Film Festival, and now they have found themselves in regular cinema distribution. I watched the film again a few days ago and the impression is very similar to the first time I watched Palić: Lantimos' new film certainly "has its moments", but it is certainly one of the weakest achievements in his filmography so far. It's not a point blank shot, but it's far from hitting the center of the target. It's obvious that Lanthimos rushed the new film without paying enough attention to the script, and that he filmed a three-hour bizarreness that is, more or less, an end in itself.
Film buffs around the world, including those in Serbia, have embraced Lanthimos since his third directorial, a festival favorite. Canine, a film that was screened and awarded at Cannes in 2009. They followed Alps (2011), another achievement in Greek production, and then the transition to the "higher league" and Lanthimos' "Hollywood phase", which is still ongoing. It is interesting that Lanthimos' departure to America did not make him renounce his specific author's poetics, so he still remained the "king of the bizarre". There was a succession of films that, to a greater or lesser extent, retained his dislocated and extremely specific approach to the seventh art, while at the same time bringing an upgrade to the existing poetics. That's how they arrived in front of the audience Lobster (2015) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) Favorite (2018) and, as the creative peak of this sequence, mentioned Poor creatures (2023).
A specific sense of humor, often dark and cynical, remained the trademark of the new film, just as Lanthimos' extremely unusual approach to the film's narrative is again there. All faces of goodness are a triptych in the segments of which the same actors and actresses play different roles. The first story follows a man (Plemmons) who is drawn into a dangerous game of unquestioning execution by his boss (Willem Dafoe). In the second story, Plemons plays a new character, a police officer who is convinced that his wife (Emma Stone) is not really his wife, but an alien sent to replace the real one. The third story follows members of a mysterious sect (Stone and Plemons again) who are instructed by their leader (Defoe) to find a twin who has the gift of reviving the dead.
In addition to Plemons, Dafoe and Emma Stone, each segment features Margaret Quoley, Hong Chow, Mamoudah Atti and Joe Alvin, while the third story briefly and bare-chested features Hunter Shaffer, a rising young American trans actress, celebrated for her participation in the series Euphoria. It's a perfectly fine division, with Plemons excelling in each of the segments, and that's where we get it wrong: Lanthimos can clearly afford to work with top actors, and he's using it. In terms of production, this is an excellently put together film: effectively shot (Robbie Ryan), edited (Yorgos Mavroparidis), and with effective music (Jerskin Fendrix), in which Lanthimos is once again in his own right as he works with proven collaborators. The main problem is, as usual, in the script.
It's Lanthimos A favorite i Poor creatures co-wrote with Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara, and both of these films offered narratively more conventional stories. Another screenwriter with whom Lanthimos often works is his countryman Efthimis Philipou, "in charge" of Lanthimos's more extravagant and twisted narratives (Canine, Alps, Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer). The new collaboration between Lanthimos and Filippou fails to match the previous film All faces of goodness it lacks the compactness that graces their previous joint achievements. Instead of focusing on a single story, fleshing it out and shaping it, this time they offer us three confusing sketches, none of which have roundness and conviction. That concentrate of their bizarreness is hard to "swallow" when it is offered to you in the form of a film lasting two hours and forty-four minutes. Watching gets tiresome very quickly, no matter what All faces of goodness they have some great decorations and parts. Jorgos and Filipu "wanted a lot, started a lot" here, apparently not paying too much attention to the taste and wishes of the audience. But good. Lanthimos is currently in such a position that he can do whatever he wants. The problem will arise only if this excess turns into practice.
It should be noted that Lanthimos is already working on a new film: the premiere of his new direction has been announced for 2025. It is a realization Bugonia, a remake of the South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the green planet Yang Jun-hwan. The script for this film was written by Will Tracy, with whom Lanthimos is collaborating for the first time, and the film stars Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone. I'll keep in mind that Tracy wrote the acclaimed series Heirs movies Menu, it will be interesting how this collaboration will affect Lanthimos, and therefore which face will be revealed this time. Maybe someone we haven't had a chance to see so far? If so, it will be a reason to celebrate, so we will All the face of goodness therefore even easier to forgive.
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80 films are coming to the 32nd Original Film Festival, many of them with awards from the Cannes festival. It is organized by a citizens' association, without a dinar of state money
Tomorrow "Zvezdara Theater" will celebrate the 400th performance of "The Book of Milutin" by Nenad Jezdić's monodrama. Plays that have been in the repertoire for more than a decade are currently being played in Belgrade. The musical "Some like it hot", even - three
More than 400 artists and cultural workers signed the request of the Initiative for Free Culture, which calls for the dismissal of all the leaders of cultural institutions in Pancevo.
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The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
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