The film that opened the curtain at the last Venice Film Festival hits theaters this week. Noah Baubach (“Marriage Story”) takes on the daunting task of bringing Don DeLillo’s eponymous great novel to the screen with two stellar protagonists. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig play Jack and Babette, who are raising… an army of kids in mid-1980s America that an environmental disaster is putting all lives at risk.

Baubach adapts the screenplay with the staccato, humorous tone we’re used to in his films, trying as much as possible to divide his forces between word and image. The second one is really excellent and, despite the pop style, gives us a bright Stranger Things-like version of the colorful 80s without the nostalgic filler. His story, however, is fraught with the horror of the end, the death that the heroes will finally face on the other side of the shiny surface.

The great Romanian director Cristian Mungiu is back with a very interesting film about modern European identity and the problems that its society faces. We are on Christmas Day in a multi-ethnic village in Transylvania where Romanians, Hungarians and some Germans have lived together for centuries. However, the arrival of a handful of Sri Lankan immigrants who come to work at the local bakery provokes a backlash, and soon the residents begin collecting signatures for their expulsion.

Mungiu is using the (theoretically) narrow microcosm of the village to create a much broader scenario and ultimately discuss important issues: The bakery is hiring EU-subsidized foreign workers because the locals won’t agree to work for low wages. On the contrary, they are racist towards visitors, although almost all of them have immigrant relatives in Western Europe. At the same time, members of the French public organization are counting … bears in the nearby forest. This almost surreal mix, while sacrificing something of cinematic aesthetics, manages with admirable powers of observation to outline the social unrest that is taking place at the moment, especially on the eastern side of the European map.

Based on the novel of the same name by Milan Fust, Golden Bear winner Ildigo Enendi (Body and Soul) tells a special love story that takes us back to the early 20th century. There, in a Parisian cafe, new captain Jacob Storr makes an impulsive decision to marry the first woman who walks through the door. Lucky for him, it’s the beautiful Lizzy (Lea Seydoux) who will actually agree to become his wife, starting a stormy relationship full of passion, jealousy and third parties (Louis Garrel) who will see it through to the end. Enyendi’s film beautifully recreates the era, giving it an epic feel that, unfortunately, carries over to a nearly three-hour runtime. However, there are some very well-done scenes here, plus the simply wonderful Léa Seydoux, who captivates the lens in every frame.

The directorial debut of Christos Passalis, which creates a love story with an “unhappy” texture: Aris comes to a small seaside town to get a job. There, residents spend hours listening to the voices of their missing loved ones through analog antennas. The only foreigner is Anna, with whom he falls in love. Outwardly cold, but actually a sensitive film about love, as well as the pain of loss and the mechanisms that people invent to cope with it.

Five devils ★★½
Directed by: Lea Misius
Interpretations: Adele Exarchopoulos, Daphne Patakia

A romantic thriller mixed with a supernatural element in this film starring Adele Exarchopoulos. Joan is the young mother of little Vicki, who has the gift of remembering and reproducing any smell and smell she wants. When her father’s sister enters the family’s life, her scent sends a little girl on a journey down memory lane full of shocking discoveries. Leia Misios’s (Ava) film is built around a clever idea that inevitably leads to some script compromises and conveniences. Exarchopoulos, as well as Daphne Patakia, are very good in their roles, and little Sally Drame is also excellent in a story that keeps the interest until the very end.

David Harbor, known to us in Stranger Things as Sheriff Jim Hopper, is dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, in a rather … non-standard image of his favorite holiday hero. On Christmas Eve, a group of armed mercenaries invade a luxurious mansion, taking the wealthy residents hostage. However, unfortunately for them, Santa Claus passes through the same house, who will take it upon himself to put the “bad guys” in their place.