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My first and very enjoyable encounter with Kore-eda. It has elements of road movie, detective story, comedy and family drama. A young mother abandons her child at a baby box, the child is then taken in by two men, Sang-hyun and So-young, with the intention of selling him or her. The very next day, however, the young mother returns for her child and joins the two men in their search for suitable buyers or surrogate parents. All this is observed from afar by a pair of policewomen who intend to catch the middlemen in the act. Their journey together is full of humour, but also very poignant. Child abandonment is a very strong and controversial topic with two sides, and this film manages to offer the perspective of both: the one who abandons, but also the one who has been abandoned. We get to know the inner motives of the protagonists, and the initial condemnation that certain characters and the viewer feel towards the young mother, but also towards the middlemen, gradually turns into compassion and understanding. Broker is kind, human, full of emotion and empathy, full of sadness, but at the same time a caress to the soul.

Triangle of Sadness is definitely one of the most notable films of 2022. It can be divided into three parts, which are very different, but seamlessly linked and form a complex and harmonious whole. We first meet the model Carl and his influencer girlfriend Yaya at dinner, or rather at the end of a dinner, when the bill is due. Thanks to this scene, we can get an initial picture of the dynamics of this couple (who has the upper hand and who is manipulating whom), but it also opens up the topic of communication, which is of course absolutely crucial to the functioning of a relationship. The second part takes place on a luxury cruise ship. Here, too, we gradually get to know the supporting characters, be it the deck or cabin crew, and some of the passengers. This part is probably the most memorable, not only because of the terrific Captain's Dinner, which unleashes both an external natural oceanic and internal human digestive storm, but also because of the incredibly interesting characters; here's where the social satire is most marked. In the third part, on the island, the story takes on a completely different dynamic as the clearly defined roles in life are reversed, with money and social status losing all meaning once survival is at stake. The first two parts had much more momentum and were perhaps more entertaining, but the last one is the most thought-provoking and can offer much more than just an interesting and for many contradictory or unclear finale. This film will definitely entertain you, probably even disgust you a little, the interesting dialogues will keep your attention and also make you think. So for me, Triangle of Sadness has everything a quality film should have.

It's been a long time since a film managed to evoke so much sadness, regret and compassion in me, and it's all the more surprising that it was Darren Aronofsky who did it. I know he's a highly respected director, but his films are not among my favorites, and I don't feel the need to revisit them (except for Requiem for a Dream). This film probably won't be an exception, but it definitely appealed to me more than his previous works. Apart from the very captivating music, the film stands mainly on Brendan Fraser's performance, which is incredible; considering how he pulls everything together with his voice, his face, his facial expressions, his eyes – the performance was incredible. Sadie Sink is undoubtedly a talented young actress, but unfortunately I didn't like her character. Of course, I understand where her anger, resentment, bitterness, maybe even hatred stems from, but I couldn't find my way to her. She was evil from start to finish, and the hint of reconciliation in the last second of the film wasn't enough to mollify me. Nevertheless, this is an interesting and novel piece of work, and one that emotionally swayed me quite a bit.

Louis Garrel is undoubtedly a bearer of great talent. As a director, he managed to freshly combine a family drama with a heist romantic comedy. And as an actor, he is very unique, in that he is very low-key, but at the same time memorable and incredibly believable in expression and emotion. He plays the concern for his mother and best friend very sensitively, and is also very convincing in his distrust of his mother's new partner. These are qualities that can be observed in all his fellow actors. Above all, though, I'll single out Noémie Merlant, who is amazingly cute, likeable, and even though she's a goofball, she's believable. All of this coupled with an inventive script full of comic but also dramatic scenes combine to make a film worth seeing, and not just once.

An extraordinarily compelling documentary about two courageous people who were united not only by their love for each other, but also by their love for the scientific study of volcanic eruptions, which was their life and fateful mission – undoubtedly a beautiful and fascinating hobby, just a bit unpredictable and full of pitfalls. While the vast majority of people run from this destructive element, Katia and Maurice Krafft tried to get as close as possible, and thanks to them, we can witness some incredibly beautiful and breathtaking footage.

It's time someone took the fight to save the planet firmly into their own hands – and why not the children? We tend to underestimate them, but they often hold up a mirror to us, and thanks to their innocence and selflessness we have a lot to learn from them. And the ease with which they communicate and conduct relationships is an inspiration. The beginning of the film, when the parents discover what their son has sold them, is wonderfully comic and funny. It's all so fresh, delightfully naive, utopian, critical.

A brilliantly escalated psycho conversational drama. I really appreciate the gradual unveiling and escalation of the seriousness of the conversation between these two neighbors, it makes you wait a long time to see what will come out of it. And even though it's not very comedic in the end, I had a lot of fun when Bruno somehow always felt the need to criticize Daniel's works (putting down his acting performances, but also the scripts themselves) and how Daniel tried so hard to pretend that he wasn't affected at all and that he didn't care about the opinion of some ordinary viewer. And how he kept trying to leave, but kept coming back because he needed to know more; in that respect I found it hilariously funny, otherwise it was rather creepy. The direction and the acting are great. Daniel Brühl clearly has talent.

This nice conversational drama offers a lot to think about and is full of the contrasts the main protagonists embody: young, confident, relaxed, spontaneous Leo Grande tries to fulfill the sexual desires of the older, uptight, stubborn and not very confident teacher Nancy, who is mostly very nice, but at the same time very unlikeable and intrusive for my taste. Emma Thompson plays her brilliantly as expected, and I must say she has my great admiration, she revealed herself with refinement. I guess one of the main ideas would be that it's never too late to change and try new things. Most of the scenes and dialogues felt very real to me, except for the last one with the former student in the hotel restaurant, but never mind, I forgive this little thing because I enjoyed the film overall.

The moment we abandon the attempt of genre pigeonholing, which is not even possible, because Parasite has something of everything, this is mainly a proof that it is still possible to make a completely novel, unpredictable, funny, touching, but also at times chilling and shocking film. In a nutshell: an emotional roller coaster. The story gradually builds up and serves up such twists and turns that you will be left with your wits about them, and you won't even dare to guess what kind of finale it will lead you to – for me it is bittersweet.

It's perhaps a bit of a shame that the film takes on more criminal cases to crack than it can handle in its running time. We have a missing girl, an attempted insurance fraud, a girl raped on the subway, a fire and the murder of an elderly woman. Less is sometimes more, as we know, which is why this film would have benefited from dropping one line and developing the others more deeply. Once the second half gets into the interrogation of the two suspects and the reconstruction of the crime in question, the film picks up momentum and becomes very suspenseful. This is mainly due to the performances of Léa Seydoux and Sara Forestier, thanks to whom the viewer has no idea whose side the truth is on, something crucial for the crime genre. Roschdy Zem, on the other hand, as a well-mannered and even-tempered chief, brings light and insight to a dark, corrupt city and twisted cases, and his calming presence makes you believe that everything will soon be all right.