The Night House (2020)

Beth is a recent widow looking for answers about her partner's death, an experience full of unusual experiences and worrying discoveries.

'The Night House' is a horror film with accents of drama and investigative film. Rebecca Hall and the hallucinatory mystery of the circumstances manage to raise the quality from a simple horror to that of a well-made film that deserves all the attention. The main actress (with some directorial intervention of course) manages to dazzle us with feelings that fill the viewer with doubts about the truth of the actions and information that's revealed, in a way that fascinates, keeps the audience in perpetual suspense and finally shocks them with the truths's suddenness.

Director:  David Bruckner      

With: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Evan Jonigkeit

Rating: 9/10

The Rite/ Riten (1969)

Three artists are interrogated by a judge under the accusation that their latest piece would have elements that escaped censorship.

An intense but short film, showing the conflict between authority and free spirit, highlighting the shortcomings of each through the hysteria and identity crises  of the individuals belonging to the two camps. Authority represents the rules followed without question by people who do not fully understand them, people who have their own weaknesses and temptations. The freedom of the spirit represents the human tendency towards liberation and spiritual evolution that alone can lead to savagery and lack of individual identity but under the control of the rules creates a necessary balance, something evidenced by the fear and vulnerability of the characters towards their judge. The final victory could be explained by the need for this balance where the human spirit is not canceled but controlled and the rules will not become the driving force.

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

With: Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erik Hell

Rating: 8/10

Paterson (2016)

A bus driver named Paterson - from the city of the same name - lives and observes his days in his special book of poems.

A beautiful, slow and captivating film about the simplicity of life. A true ode to the classical Greek philosophers, the film shows that you do not have to be simple to lead a simple life, you do not need all the latest modern things so that you become the slave of the times you live in, you don't always need witnesses and approvers to validate your special talents. The film presents the character during a marked whole week, where we see him satisfied, sufficient, only a tad disturbed when life almost forces him to give up his ideas, but immediately regaining his balance, an ability only made possible by his life philosophy.

Director/screenplay: Jim Jarmusch

With: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani