“The Quiet Girl-The Silent Girl”
Rural Ireland, the 1980s. Cáit is the youngest of several sisters who live with their parents on a farm. Her mother is pregnant and overworked, and the father is more interested in drinking and gambling than in her daughters and exploiting him. And while the baby is not born, the silent, humble and observant Cáit is sent to the farm of her mother’s cousins, who have no children. There, the girl will receive the attention, affection and love that she lacks, she will become fond of her cousin and especially her cousin, and she will discover that there is a secret in that house where she feels so good. . Colm Bairéad’s debut feature and finalist for the Oscar for Best International Film, “The Quiet Girl” is an intelligent film, with few lines and extremely sensitive, all based on suggestion, tacit and expressive silences, which deals with sensitive issues (forgotten and affectionate childhood, the death of a child) with enormous delicacy, understanding, and a dramatic modesty that never compromises, but enhances, the emotional force of the story. As the patient and needy Cáit, the limpid Catherine Clinch puts the film in her pocket and takes it home.
“God’s Land”
Directed by the Icelander Hlynur Pálmason, “Terra de Deus” was one of the latest trends in European cinema. Set in the late 19th century, the film is based on the alleged discovery of seven glass photographic plates, dating from that time, in a remote coastal area of Iceland. Pálmason brings into play its fictional author, Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove), a young, photography-loving Danish priest who was sent to Iceland to build a church and bring the word of God to a remote region of the country. And who chooses to go through it in the most laborious and difficult way, on horseback, with an interpreter and local guide, to get to know it and photograph nature and people along the way. The landscape of Iceland, majestic and wild, transcendent and inclement, dominates the first part of the film, replete with the complicated journey of the priest and his companions. In the second part, after reaching his destination, he loses impact and visual interest and becomes predictable, just like the fate of the protagonist. “Land of God” is a good movie.
“Marlowe: The Case of the Mysterious Blonde”
Liam Neeson plays Philip Marlowe, the immortal private detective created by Raymond Chandler, in this film directed by Neil Jordan, also author of the screenplay with William Monahan, based on the book “The Black-Eyed Blonde”, written by John Banville under the pseudonym of Benjamin Black. Marlowe is hired by a sophisticated and elusive blonde, Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger), to discover the whereabouts of her ex-lover, who may or may not have been killed in a highly suspicious car accident outside an exclusive club in town. The detective then becomes involved in a story of drug trafficking and sexual debauchery among the rich and privileged, which also touches Hollywood. And he crosses paths with the likes of Clare’s mother, Dorothy Quincannon (Jessica Lange), an extremely wealthy former movie star, or the soft-spoken but cruel “gangster” Lou Hendricks (Alan Cumming). “Marlowe: The Case of the Mysterious Blonde” was chosen movie of the week by The Observer and you can read the review here.
Source: Observadora
