Lost scene ★★★½
DRAMA (2020)
Directed by: Zhang Yimou
InterpretationsCast: Yi Zhang, Haosong Liu, Wei Fan

On the Cinobo platform, we choose the latest work by Chinese master Zhang Yimou, a film with political commentary, but based on a deeply human story. In Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, a labor camp inmate escapes for the sole purpose of watching movie news, showing his only daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in years. However, when an orphan girl steals this reel, things get complicated and the entire village is forced to work to save the precious moving images. A love letter to cinema, a bold commentary on a country’s political history, and sometimes an artistic masterpiece, Imou’s film captivates without being overly complicated.

Rings of Power
FANTASY (2022)
Creator: Patrick McKay, John D. Payne
InterpretationsCast: Morfyd Clark, Ismael Cruz Kortova

The most anticipated (to date) television program of recent years has finally arrived to send us back to J. R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy world. As you know, we are here thousands of years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, so most of the heroes of the trilogy are not in the new series. Of course, this does not apply to everyone, as immortal elves such as Lord Elrond or Lady Galadriel also saw these times. The last, fearless warrior is also the first to realize that evil is starting to move again in Middle-earth, begins to face it face to face. Where the evil put our friend Sauron again, he is … an old caravaneer.

The huge budget and scope of the Amazon series is evident from the first episodes, where special effects (mostly) and large sets create an impressive world, with different angles that are presented to us one after another. Both the visuals and the aesthetic of the series are very different from those of Peter Jackson, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if Lorde didn’t appear on screen, a bit more “sterile” and stylized than we’re used to. The rest of the story here, with the forgery of the “Ring of Power” title, has only just begun, while special mention should also be given to Morfyd Clark; the Welsh actress in the title role of Galadriel conveniently stands out from the rest of the cast, and it’s one of the strengths of a series that has so far been a mixed bag for (demanding) Tolkien fans.