Une fille facile (2019): A little dormant gem on Netflix, Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl is a coming of age story that turned out considerably more wholesome than I expected. Leaving prejudice at the door, it tells the story of 16-year-old Naima’s summer with Sofia, her older cousin, who is, as many would surmise, the easy girl. But Sofia is portrayed as someone who knows what she wants and is perfectly in control, a couple of attractive qualities, particularly for a teenager. As a proper adult, anyone who deems “Carpe diem” worth tattooing proves anything but in control. Then again, I sure don’t carpe that diem. What makes the movie stand out is its ability to find nuances and fit them in the greater story of what drives us to choose who we want to become, the power of perspective and its relative nature. Don’t worry about the harsh IMDb rating. 8/10
The Nest (2020): It might be a slow movie that lacks the WOW-factor, but everything about The Nest is taut and tidy. Jude Law and Carrie Coon make for a perfectly unhappy couple, who struggle with the desire to be wealthy and successful – or at least he does. The movie shines when it dares to do the unpredictable and tread into the mystical realms of its protagonists’ warped minds, which happens a bit in the tail-part, leaving a distinctive taste with it. Not quite as good as it could have been, but solid all around. 7/10
Psycho Goreman (2020): One of the best, absurdist 80s-90s throwback movies I’ve seen in a while, PG is a lot of gory fun if you’re up for this kind of thing. A world-destroying monster is found on earth by two children, who have the ability to control it using a magical stone. Well, I say two, but the dynamic between the sister-brother duo leaves all the controlling to the former. Good and evil prove relative in a story led by its characters and focused more on intrinsic family tensions than saving the world. Which is not unlike my philosophy of trying to take care of my microverse. 7/10
Rose Island (2020): Based on the true story of Giorgio Rosa’s Rose Island, we get a romanticized version that sometimes feels pertinently foolish and other times simply foolish. An engineer by trade, a strange fellow by nature, Rosa built a platform in international waters, called it an island and declared it a sovereign nation. Whether activities being run on the island were legal or not remains unclear. Sure thing, Rosa managed to draw the attention of not only the Italian government, but also of the girl he was trying to impress. I’ll let you figure out how it all ends and only note that the whole thing lacked bite, while frequently entangling itself in familiar tropes – yet, thankfully, proved just entertaining enough for a lazy Sunday. 6/10
Wind Chill (2007): Going back in time to when Emily Blunt did bad movies, I came across Wind Chill. To tell the truth, it was Clint Mansell who brought me to it and for what it’s worth, the movie does have a good score and an appropriately unnerving atmosphere. Some of the scary moments even work, but the plot is shabby and I am definitely no fan of ghost stories. Particularly underwritten, phoned-in ghost stories with flimsy characters. 5/10
tributarystu 