Korean cinema, perhaps the most interesting of the East Asian, at least in its modern form, sends us another great film, this time from an old friend. ‘Old Boy’ genius creator Park Chan-wook is back with a hybrid detective story that also fits into a gripping love thriller. A detective undertakes to investigate the death of a rich man who is found dead at the foot of a mountain peak. The evidence points to suicide, but the persistent policeman soon begins to suspect the wife of the deceased. The problem is that while doing so, he feels an irresistible romantic attraction to her.

Chang Wook guides the viewer through the screenplay maze, not in the sense of obscure or tortuous, but in the sense of different layers as Hitchcock’s textured plot meets subtle emotional nuances and inevitable tragedy. The heroes here try to escape their fate, but forces far beyond cold logic dictate their actions. At the level of the image, all this is expressed in a combination of closed and open plans, and some of the latter are distinguished by rare poetic beauty and expressiveness.

The film of the week that will grab the most viewers’ attention is undoubtedly DC’s new superhero adventure starring Dwayne Johnson. The American star plays here an ancient Egyptian or Mesopotamian hero – it’s not entirely clear – who abuses his god-like powers, resulting in him being sentenced to eternal bonds. However, in our time, they will be broken and a group of other heroes, the Justice Society, will rush in to curb his rampant action.

Obviously we’re dealing with an anti-hero here, a kind of “Terminator” in its most invulnerable form, who of course crosses the road when faced with an even more terrible enemy than himself. The special effects and action are certainly impressive, but they didn’t have anything in store for us that we haven’t seen over and over again. De Johnson, wearing a tight-fitting wetsuit that accentuates his bestial silhouette, also adopts the Schwarzenegger recipe, preferring action to words.

The great Jerzy Skolimowski returns after seven years with an original film about social observation, which, however, is shot from the point of view of a four-legged hero. Eo, the circus donkey, manages to escape and from there embarks on a long journey through the Polish and Italian countryside. Along the way, he will get acquainted with the two sides of human nature: gentle and compassionate on the one hand, cruel and paranoid on the other.

Skolimowski won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for an unusual film that starts with a playful premise but then touches on very serious social issues. The main one is related to the relationship of man to nature, with successive examples that a pretty donkey meets on its way. With a consistently bittersweet style and a “packed” hour and a half runtime, his film is somewhat sketchy, but ultimately hits its mark.

In the tradition of Italian films such as Gomorrah and Matteo Garrone’s Dogman about the modern mafia, Jonas Carpignano signs such a drama with a charismatic female protagonist. A young Swami Rotolo manages to stand out – and win corresponding festival awards – as Chiara, a teenage girl whose father mysteriously disappears on the night of a family reunion in Calabria.

As a series of events point to her father’s (still unknown) connection to the mafia, Chiara will do her best to hunt him down and demand an explanation. Carpignano essentially creates a film about violent coming-of-age here, which is also punctuated by appropriate moral dilemmas as family ties and harsh reality come into conflict. The camera stays focused on the face of its protagonist for the longest time, or follows her intently as she, with almost childish ignorance of danger, plunges into the dark world from which she has so far been protected.

Tad, Emerald Plate ★★½
ANIMATION (2022)
Directed by: Enrique Gatto
You may hear: Panagiotis Kapodistrias, Stefanos Georgopoulos

The hero of this colorful animated comedy adventure is a humble archaeologist. Tad desires the recognition of his colleagues, but his clumsiness stands in the way of his dream. When he accidentally destroys a rare sarcophagus, a spell is triggered that endangers the lives of his friends. Thad and Sarah then embark on an adventurous journey that takes them to the ends of the earth to save them and stop the curse of the Emerald Slab.