Distorted words of God ★★★
THRILLER (2022)
Directed by: Oriol Paulo
InterpretationsCast: Barbara Lenny, Edward Fernandez

Spanish creator of atmospheric thrillers The Body and The Invisible Visitor, Oriol Paulo, is signing another one for Netflix with strong psychological aspects and nods to the genre’s high standards. We are in Spain in the 1970s. The main character is Alice Gould, an elegant detective who develops a whole plan to end up as a patient in a psychiatric hospital and solve the mysterious death of a gourmet there. However, the experience of imprisonment in an institution, combined with some new events, will push her to her limits and make her question her own sanity.

Barbara Lenny excels in the central role of a psychological thriller designed to play with the viewer’s mind, but mostly through her characters. The latter, of course, are the inhabitants of a psychiatric hospital (prisoners, doctors and other staff), each with their own characteristics, which ultimately make up a colorful and charming canvas. Mental health, prejudice, humanity and cruelty are the themes that appear here, in a script that is clearly inspired by films like Cuckoo’s Nest and 12 Monkeys, but prefers twists, more or less successful, to its police dimension.

In the school yard ★★★
DRAMA (2021)
Directed by: Laura Wandel
InterpretationsPeople: Maya Vanderbeek, Günter Düret

The interesting debut of the Belgian Laura Wandel, whom we saw a few months ago in theaters, is also coming to the Cinobo platform. The first day of school for seven year old Nora, who is afraid of the unknown.

However, her own integration is relatively smooth compared to that of her slightly older brother Abel, who is systematically bullied at school by classmates. From an aesthetic point of view, Wandel’s film takes a very specific approach, lowering the camera’s “eye” to the level of a child’s gaze and in many cases blurring the surrounding space so that information reaches us through voices, whispers or screams – depending on which point. the school we’re in without necessarily seeing who’s saying it.

The notorious cruelty with which children often treat each other is at the center of the film here, which, however, also highlights other factors (teacher who cares, parent who intervenes, etc.) of everyday school life.