Blonde (2022)

An abstract artistic look at the life and essence of Marilyn Monroe through the prism of some events of her life, real and imagined.

'Blonde' would normally be categorized as a biographical film, but the mix of fiction and fact and the fluid, dream/nightmare-like and abstract style puts it in a completely different category - abstract semi-biographical drama? Ana de Armas offers us a completely vulnerable Marilyn (Norma Jean more precisely) and a victim of the environment in which she grew up and in which she thought she wanted to live, possibly very close to the essence of the real person, which was probably much more than the silly blonde she was sold as by the production companies that kept her under their control. The film is long, in some places it reminds one of a David Lynch film, in others it just reiterates the reality of the perpetual female drama, but it is very much worth experiencing.

Director:  Andrew Dominik    

With: Ana de Armas, Sara Paxton, Evan Williams, Xavier Samuel, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Fisher, Julianne Nicholson, Tygh Runyan, Toby Huss

Rating: 9/10

Fighting with My Family (2019)

An entire family lives off the small wrestling shows they organize, but the daughter of the family gets an extra chance to become famous in the same field.

Fighting With My Family is a family film, half of it a comedy, and the other half a biographical drama. The mark of the unexpected director in the person of Stephen Merchant is felt thouroughly in the dialogue and the situation comedy from the first half of the film, in the second half the attention being directed  at the story of the real Paige, ignoring the ups and downs from her career that followed what we see here.

Director:  Stephen Merchant     

With: Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn, Florence Pugh, Nick Frost

Rating: 7/10

Find Me Guilty (2006)

A word by word dramatization of the longest trial in the history of the United States, namely the trial against the Lucchese family where an individual in particular leaves an important mark - Jackie DiNorscio who decides to be his own defence lawyer.

An interesting piece of history in an engaging and enjoyable movie. A semi-comedy drama that turns mobsters into nice guys who from time to time commit a bit of homicide. It doesn't really paint anti-heroes into heroes, but it does show something about things that are important in life, things that should include honor and unbounded love for one's family.

Bonus: Vin Diesel is unrecognizable and quite impressive.

Director:  Sidney Lumet      

With: Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Ron Silver, Alex Rocco, Linus Roache

Rating: 8/10

The Iceman (2012)

The story of the well-known contract killer Richard Kuklinski, who managed to lead a family life in parallel.

An dispassionate account of the history of the famous Iceman, in which the most intense element is the unwavering gaze of Michael Shannon who portrays him, effectively carrying the entire production on his back. Without any other exceptional element, the film efficiently tells an interesting story, avoiding going into too much detail that could find causes or excuses for his turning into the cold-blooded killer.

Directed by: Ariel Vromen

With: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta, Chris Evans, David Schwimmer, James Franco, Stephen Dorff, Robert Davi

Rating: 7/10

A Royal Affair / En kongelig affære (2012)

The real story of the affair between Queen Caroline of Denmark and her husband's personal physician - Johann Struensee.

A fascinating love story which has changed Denmark forever. Having the king's ear, Struensee introduced enlightenment ideas that, although they lasted a short time, paved the way for change for the next generation.

A beautifully made period film, brought to life by wonderful actors. Mads Mikkelsen is fascinating as always, Alicia Vikander is perfect in the balance of fragility and strength she shows, very believable as the English princess and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard is wonderful in the role of the king who has some mental issues, credible in his weakness but also when showing authority.

An easy to learn and enjoy history lesson.

Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel

Based on a novel by: Bodil Steensen-Leth

Featuring: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, David Dencik

Green Book (2018)

A typical Italian-American becomes the driver of a genius African-American pianist on his tour through the South.

After the initial shock of learning that the movie is directed by one of the Farrelly brothers (Dumb And Dumber; Me, Myself And Irene; Stuck On You; There's Something About Mary; Movie 43 and so on), you'll enjoy a perfect movie, pleasant, honest, with very different people in more or less common situations for most of the population. Viggo Mortensen is unrecognizable, perfect in portraying the Italian-American Tony Lip and Mahershala Ali is divine, bringing to life a lonely character, superior in intelligence and knowledge and perfectly aware of it who slowly breaks the barriers raised by himself between him and the rest of the world. Many would easily benefit from trying to learn something from both these very different personalities.

Often sad, at times amusing, Green Book demonstrates universal ways to counteract social obstacles that change or evolve from generation to generation.

Directed by: Peter Farrelly

With: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini

The Irishman (2019)

The personal story of a so-called Mafia assassin, as told by the actual person to the author of the source book. 

Of big proportions, with multiple narrative threads intersected at different points in time, The Irishman is a mammoth of a movie that only Scorsese could control. It presents the story of a real person - as told in the winter of his life - just as such, without showing any resistance or doubts about its veridicity. In reality, there are doubts due to the content being a bit sensational, especially around the details about the links with Jimmy Hoffa and his disappearance. 

A great effort and a very interesting story that brings together big names, some even returned after retiring from acting (Joe Pesci) or some without even one line of dialogue (Harvey Keitel). This is the third time that the two "giants" - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino - meet in the same scenes (the first time they were in the same film, in The Godfather, they did not actually share scenes at all, Heat is a recognised masterpiece and Righteous Kill did not rise to expectations), this time successfully and showcasing a beautiful friendship that really makes sense. 

Soaked in a lot of history and facts that can actually be verified, the film presents the Italian-mafia character as perceived and understood by Scorsese and also as he demonstrated it in other of his great successes. Less noisy (perhaps due to the slightly more historical character), less dramatic, much more subtle, the film suffers from the lack of an interesting main character. Everything is interesting around it, and all the other very colourful and well-written characters seem to have a natural respect as if born out of merit, but it never becomes obvious to the viewer why that is. And Scorsese, I think, was just as perplexed as he actually attempted to get his characters to explain in their own words the effect of this man as an irrefutable fact that everyone is aware of. 

Joe Pesci is wonderful, strong and fragile at the same time, Al Pacino is as bombastic as usual and very believable, and Robert De Niro worked hard to seem so boring, docile, humble and violent. 

The 3 hours are perfectly excusable. 

Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, Charles Brandt (book) 

Directed by: Martin Scorsese 

Featuring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Carnavale, Ana Paquin

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot (2018)

Fragments from the life of illustrator John Callahan in which we are presented with the history of his alcoholism, the context in which he became a paraplegic, the discovery of his artistic talent and the relationship with those closest to him.

A bit different from other biographies and less dramatic than you would expect given the subject, this film manages to attract and keep the audience's attention through sincerity, bluntness and more or less black humour. It's not trying to inspire mercy, guilt or regret, but only acceptance and objective empathy, managing to bluntly highlight the negative effects of self-pity and the importance of trying to help ourselves before counting on others.

With a great team of actors lead by the multi-talented Joaquin Phoenix, the one who actually steals the show is Jonah Hill, unrecognisable in an atypical role of a Jesus-like figure, a romantic but rational wise-man, full of profound truths about life.

Interesting to see Beth Ditto in an unusual role; I didn't even know she ever acts in movies.

Screenplay: John Callahan
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
With: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Beth Ditto

Coco avant Chanel (2009)

Un film lipsit de spectaculos, sincer si simplu care prezinta devenirea marii personalitati ce avea sa se faca cunoscuta mai tarziu sub numele de Coco Chanel. Audrey Tautou este minunata, portretizand la perfectie stilul taios, serios, migala, franchetea si sfiosenia episodica a unei tinere si incercate Coco. Se incearca o semi-biografie, nu prea incarcata de upgrade-uri fictive, fidela personajului real, prin care se transmite ideea de unicitate, atat a unei personalitati cat si intr-un mod mai general a unor diferite tipuri de Graal ce se merita cautate in viata, ideea de nonconformism si de putere de a sustine si exprima principiile si ideile proprii si de a trai sincer conform acestora.

Regizor: Anne Fontaine
Scenariu: Edmonde Charles-Roux (carte); Anne Fontaine, Camille Fontaine(adaptare)
Cu: Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain