Filmmaniak

The only thing worse than finding a spider in your apartment is losing a spider in your apartment. Just such an event in the film results in the infestation of a whole apartment building with venomous fiddlebacks (or whatever they were) from the basement to the attic, where the spiders multiply at a startling rate, each time growing significantly larger than their antecedents, in which case the film flirts a bit with science fiction at the end. The realistic setting of an apartment building in a social housing estate and the fresh, energetic approach of the young filmmaker are exactly what the arachno-horror genre need. After the long exposition with the introduction of the characters, the action gains proper intensity, which it constantly escalates so that some scenes border on being unbearable, especially for people who are repelled by spiders. Absolutely everyone will squirm in their seats. Vermin is the best spider horror movie since Arachnophobia from 1990.

The best Czech comedy of recent years, She Came at Night elevates the theme of warped family relations to a world-class level by associating itself with elements of more disturbing genres such as horror and the home-invasion thriller – a genre built on the oppressive premise that the intimacy of the main protagonists’ home will be disrupted by an intruder from the outside. In this case, that intruder is the inconsiderate, manipulative, touchy, self-pitying and emotionally extortionate, though also tragically lonely mother, who forces her way into the apartment that her son shares with his girlfriend. The filmmakers made the absolute most of a simple idea, modest resources and an intimate setting. The film is based on familiar and precisely observed dialogue and situations arising from familial cohabitation, whose unpleasantness rises to absurd levels. The narrative is systematically conceived so that every scene offers comedy and anxiety at the same time and can be interpreted metaphorically as a probe into the issue of failing intergenerational communication. The intertwining of these two tonally different moods, when eruptions of loud laughter frequently and regularly alternate with intense chills down the spine, works seamlessly and harmonically in She Came at Night.

A drama with horror elements about a Philippine cleaning lady and single mother who manages to find employment and housing in an opulent British household, which on closer inspection hides numerous secrets. The film is a distinctive and stylistically bold social criticism including the motif of immigrants trying to fit into society and themes associated with post-colonialism. Here you will find filmmaking techniques that are typical of horror movies about haunted houses, though these are used as a means of emphasising the real horrors, which are the experiences of immigrants, who regularly encounter prejudices, generalisations and condescending attitudes. Rooted in anger at society’s behaviour toward minorities, Raging Grace is the debut film of a director of Philippine descent who, despite a few stumbles in the narrative, clearly and forcefully formulates his thesis, acknowledges the culture of his ancestors and tells about the living conditions of many people through the authentically portrayed characters of the mother and daughter.

No words, and yet so much emotion. The friendship between a dog and a robot in 1980s New York has only just begun when the two protagonists are separated from each other (due to consumer negligence and underestimation of the effects of corrosion) and the film tells their stories separately. However, each of them has the same dreams about the other, from which the film gets its title. After the initial joy, the plot takes a quite sad turn, so the prevailing feeling from the film is rather melancholy, which is reversed in the end, though that does not entirely involve a fairy-tale happy ending. Though the animation is simple, it contains a very large number of endearing and funny details and works very effectively with the characters’ facial expressions and body language. The film will also be appreciated by adults (perhaps even more than children) who have life experience and are aware that true friendship requires a joint effort and is a commitment to looking after one another. Robot Dreams is deeper and emotionally more complex than it may appear at first glance.

A modern witch hunt whose protagonist is an oriental healer who is actually a charlatan sponging off of the suffering people who trust her, only to become a victim of mob hysteria arising from prejudices and slander, which have devastating consequences for her. Set in a big city, Hood Witch is a realistic drama about the ruinous impacts of the actions resulting from religious conviction, in which the protagonist’s fight for survival becomes a fight to save her son. The film succeeds in eliciting compassion for the protagonist even though it depicts her in anything but a positive light at the beginning. It also offers well-written characters, powerful situations, a lot of exotic animals and one scene whose unpleasantness will make your toes curl.

A Zen spiritual film with a magical atmosphere and emphasis on the motif of sleep and dreams. Watching it is akin to having a transcendental experience. After the first half, which takes place among monks in a Laotian monastery and the surrounding area, the film invites viewers to take part in accompanying the soul of a deceased elderly woman into the next life. The second half of the film comes with an endearing point and a fundamental change of location, though it also contains unnecessary additional literalness and less interesting action. Full of poetic melancholy, Samsara is a remarkable meditative film that offers deep thoughts and several original and understated creative concepts. Ideally, however, it would have ended shortly after its original, unconventional and long-resonating middle section.

Despite the subject matter and the title, Sharksploitation is a very serious documentary about the depiction of sharks in the history of cinema from the 1930s to the present day, as well as about sharks in general and how films have negatively shape the image of sharks in society. The film offers very nicely and entertainingly composed mix of talking heads (ranging from filmmakers to experts in marine zoology) and clips from every possible film with sharks, naturally including the biggest trash flicks (though rather towards the end). Plus a heap of little-known stories from the film industry and debunking of the biggest myths about sharks.

A powerfully effective and imaginative horror movie about various sleep disorders including extreme somnambulism, when a person become dangerous both to themselves and those around them. The nightmares of the married couple are conveyed from the perspective of the anxious woman, who is legitimately worried that her sleepwalking husband could kill their newborn. The suspensefully constructed story is then gradually given unexpected dimensions, offering both plot twists and small islands of effective situational humour.

Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’s most extravagant film yet, and that’s saying a lot. One of the most distinctive contemporary filmmakers properly broke free of his chains and, furthermore, had a lot of money to bring his far-out visions to life. The result is a complex, impertinently entertaining and bountifully bizarre comedy with a Frankenstein motive about one woman’s emancipatory journey to get to know the world and herself. A woman with the body of an adult and the mind of her own unborn child, whom we follow through a narrative arranged in chapters during her travels around Europe, as she breaks every conceivable social convention, gradually tripping up the patriarchy and finally putting a knife in its back as she undergoes complete accelerated development from a curious toddler to a naïve adolescent to an eloquent intellectual with her own clear opinion on the state of things. With its intelligent dialogue, well-thought-out concept, topical subject, intoxicating visuals, gripping acting performances, devilishly morbid ideas and a lot of nudity, Poor Things is like a fine wine. Oscar nominations are inevitable.

Temporaries is a devastating social drama about a group of Guatemalan labourers who are repeatedly imported into a Canadian food factory without knowing their rights and working conditions, and are thus grossly exploited to the point of physical breakdown in a poorly thought-out and unjust system that eventually beats down everyone, including not only the suffering workers, but also their callous Canadian employers, who must meet quotas and are existentially dependent on cheap labour. The whole issue is seen from the perspective of a sympathetic interpreter who is the only one to see the workers as individuals, while also being aware of the other side’s problems, which makes the film powerfully empathetic without sliding into moralising judgments. The strong plot based on a topical and socially important issue further benefits from its gradual build-up of intensity and emotional conclusion.