KONTINENTAL '25 - MIFF 2025

 

As per the MIFF guide: “Amid a spiralling cost-of-living and housing crisis, Ion wanders the streets of Cluj – from a surreally abandoned animatronic dinosaur park to teeming hubs of tourism – scraping together the little he can to get by. When officious bailiff Orsolya, who thinks she’s the good cop to the armed gendarmes flanking her, shows up at the basement space Ion’s unofficially claimed as his meagre corner of the city and insists he move on, it leads to an all-too-avoidable tragedy. Badly shaken by the consequences of her actions, she seeks forgiveness; but it remains to be seen how deep Orsolya’s convictions are when it comes to effecting change – especially when she’s so easily distracted by former student Fred.”

Going in to Radu Jude's “Kontinental '25” I was hesitant and a little worried that this may have been a film that was going to be a hard watch. Knowing Jude's love of experimentation, I thought that this film could've gone down the “too arty for its own good” path, and that I would then hate the experience of it. I was also concerned that it may be too smart for me or go completely over my head, however nothing could be further from the truth and I ended up quite enjoying “Kontinental '25”. It was much lighter and funnier than I was expecting, even though it also shines a light on important social issues that exist in Romania (and the broader world) today, but it does so in such a natural way, you never feel like Jude is beating you over the head with his “message”.

I was immediately put at ease with the film as it begins with an extended opening as we follow a beggar named Ion who wanders the streets of Cluj, picking up cans and plastics along the way, whilst he asks for money from anyone he happens to pass by. His constant mutterings to himself and the way he goes into “performance” mode when he asks strangers for money is all very funny stuff and you cannot help but find yourself endeared to this poor man, once an Olympic gold medal winning athlete, now left with little but the clothes on his back, thanks to his addiction to alcohol and slot machines. Initially, it is hard to understand exactly what Jude is doing with this opening to the film as we spend a long time with Ion as he aimlessly wanders the city, but it soon becomes apparent that he wants us to relate and care for this poor man, so that we truly feel the enormity of the tragedy that is about to unfurl. By the end of this long sequence, my fears of hating “Kontinental '25” were gone, and I knew that this would be a positive cinema experience for me.

It is pretty well known by now that “Kontinental '25” is Radu Jude's riff on Roberto Rossellini's “Europe '51”, which is a film that I have not seen. That film is about a grief stricken woman who is determined to do good in the world, after a suicide that she feels responsible for. This situation perfectly describes the events that also happen in “Kontinental '25”, as Orsolya wanders the streets of Transylvania, seeing happiness and despair throughout the city, often living in close proximity to one another, as she questions why some people get everything, while others get nothing, all while trying to work her way through her own guilt over the recent suicide of Ion, and her complicitness in the unfairness all around her. “Kontinental '25” is basically a series of long conversations Orsolya has with a number of other people (from her friend, her priest, her Hungarian mother, and her former student), as she talks about her guilt and seeks solace and understanding. It is through these conversations that Jude holds a mirror up to Romanian society exposing a lot of the societal problems and inequity of his country. At times it is an uncomfortable watch, but I am sure this is exactly what Jude is going for here.

I have to be honest and say that I know literally nothing about Romania, today or it's history, so these conversations were very interesting and enlightening to me. Topics brought up were the hatred between Romania and Hungary, the theft of Transylvania by Romania from Hungary and the fact that they have destroyed it, the fact that so many people live homeless and in squalor whilst at the same time construction is constantly ongoing for the richer areas of town, to name but a few. These topics come up naturally in conversation and never feel forced at all, and I must say that I did find it amusing how Orsolya has to detail the suicide exactly to each person because of how unusual the method was to do it. It is dark humour, I admit, but it's funny nonetheless.

One aspect that I found very interesting was just how negatively Romanian's seem to act towards foreigners in their country. When Orsolya's name and picture end up in a news article, she is bombarded with negative anti-Hungarian comments under the story, that are just horrific. Also, the fact that Fred (Orsolya's old student) has written on his delivery-pack “I am Romanian”, because the delivery drivers from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (which is the majority of them) cop such a hard time by other drivers on the road, is quite scary, although it is played for laughs in the film.

The reason why “Kontinental '25” works as well as it does, and never becomes dry throughout these long scenes of dialogue, is thanks to the wonderful lead performance from Eszter Tompa, who is just outstanding as Orsolya. She is just so natural and believable in front of the camera, and throughout the film she gets to showcase a huge number of emotions. She leaves you in doubt about how devastated her character is over the suicide, and you can see through her eyes how much it has affected her and how much she wants to do more. There is also a sense though that she is not sure that anything will change the situation which you feel when she goes and sees her priest. One character moment that I did find intriguing was when she is given the chance to visit a struggling family with her friend and give them help, and she refuses to do so, but instead sends her friend money. It is like she is saying that yes, she wants to do more, but she doesn't actually want to see the suffering with her own eyes. (It is easy to just send money to a cause, without seeing just how bad a situation really is and finding a way where you could help more). It is also interesting that Orsolya knows that her job and the roles she has to perform in it, are part of the problem as she is forced to evict these people who have no homes and are squatting in buildings just to survive, just so huge corporations can make more money by putting up more construction. There is also a telling piece of dialogue when she is on the phone telling someone where she lives and they must respond with something like “isn't that place a shit hole?”, because she replies with “oh, not the crap half, I'm in the nice part of town”, which shows her understanding of the world and her place in it, and that she doesn't want it to change, even though she claims she is all for change.

Radu Jude decided to shoot “Kontinental '25” with an iPhone, and again, I was expecting the film to look like garbage, but instead I was so impressed by how professional the film looked, although I will admit that any time something moved in the foreground, it struggled with focus very briefly, but this was really the only issue I had with the look of the film. It is colourful, bright, and you can see everything well, even during night scenes, and importantly, it didn't have that overly flat look that you get when you shoot things on your phone. I am assuming that the reason he shot the film like this was because he wanted to shoot quickly and because he was shooting guerilla style, he didn't want to draw the attention of people walking by during a scene, which is what would have happened if he used a normal camera to film. Again, the film looks really great. One thing Jude has also done is that in between each dialogue vignette, he gives us shots of the things from the city like monuments or important buildings or statues, and it works so well and gives of a real sense and atmosphere of the city itself. I will say though that the final montage, of shots showing unfinished construction and buildings in disrepair, does go on too long and needed to be shortened just a bit.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by “Kontinental '25” and found it to be quite entertaining and I was also impressed with the way Jude naturally layered in his social commentary within the film so it never felt we were being lectured to. The film is surprisingly funny, has an outstanding lead performance, and for something shot on an iPhone, looks magnificent. Through this film I truly felt I learnt quite a bit about Romania (by the way, I love that animatronic dinosaur park place) and it's political-social environment. It is sometimes an uncomfortable and even unpleasant watch, but overall I thought “Kontinental '25” was well worth watching and an interesting riff on “Europe '51”. (Incidentally, the poster for “Kontinental '25” is an homage to the poster of “Europe '51” which shows up in the background of one of the scenes in this film).

3 Stars.

 

1001 FRAMES - MIFF 2025

 

As per the MIFF guide: “One by one, a series of mostly younger women sit down in front of the camera on an empty sound stage in Iran. They’re in the process of trying out for the role of Scheherazade, the wise wife in the Middle Eastern fairytale who finally gets the better of the cruel sultan who has murdered so many before her. But as each gives it her all – some more comfortable than others with the audition’s gendered power dynamics – the increasingly insidious demands of the unseen director begin to feel, all-too-disturbingly, akin to those of the fable’s abusive tyrant.”

This is a very small Iranian film, shot without permits and what must have been a minuscule budget, but it goes to show just how much you can achieve with so little. Walking into “1001 Frames”, I had a pretty good idea as to what I would be seeing and how it would be portrayed. I knew that the film was about an audition process so expected quite a low-fi approach to the visuals, which is exactly what I got. Each girl is filmed on digital video, with the camera regularly moving as the unseen director sees fit, while instructing each actress through the process. It doesn't equate to the most visually appealing film, but it does give “1001 Frames” a sense of realism and a near documentary feel to the whole thing.

Apparently this is an extension of director Mehrnoush Alia’s original short film “Scheherazade”, which I have not seen, but I am often very wary when directors attempt to turn one of their successful short films into a feature, as you usually find that the initial idea that worked so well as a short, and what made it so special, is often spread too thin in the feature version and thus it loses all of it's power. I can definitely say that is not the case here, as I found “1001 Frames” to be a very powerful film indeed, and one that continues to get more and more creepy as it goes along. As the title might suggest, “1001 Frames” sees young girls auditioning for the role of Scheherazade in a new adaptation of “One Thousand and One Nights”. In the original story, Scheherazade is known to save herself from being beheaded by her tyrannical king (and husband) by distracting him by telling him one thousand interconnected stories that take one thousand and one nights to recount. The parallel to that story to the one being told in “1001 Frames” is obvious, as the girls talk about themselves and their love for the role they hope to play, in an attempt to entertain a famous director who, unbeknown to the girls, has more than a movie on his mind.

“1001 Frames” is an intense look at the power dynamics and structure that actresses (and actors) are put under when auditioning for a movie. One interesting part of the film is that one of the women auditioning is the ex-wife of the director who “coincidentally” hasn't been able to find work in the industry since their divorce (even though she used to be a big star). The director claims he has nothing to do with this, why would he get her to audition for this movie if he had, but she is sure this is a power move to humiliate her on camera, and remind her yet again who is boss. This is the first hint we get that our unseen director may be more vindictive than he initially presents himself.

Whilst I was expecting to enjoy “1001 Frames”, I must admit that I was taken aback by just how successful and tense the film was in terms of being a thriller. Whilst the director's questions and requests all seem above board for someone casting a film at the beginning, as the questions start becoming more personal and the director's intentions more obviously insidious, you cannot help but feel a fear for these girls in the pit of your stomach. I found this amazing that director Mehrnoush Alia was able to achieve this just through dialogue and the actresses performances. She isn't helped by dynamic camera moves or scary music or sound effects to create an atmosphere, it is all done via the situation Alia has set up and how truthful her actresses have made it all feel. Once we then learn that the studio doors are locked and the girls are trapped, alone, with the director, you feel so ill for what is about to happen and cannot be stopped.

I want to mention just how great the ending of “1001 Frames” is and how cathartic to the experience it turns out to be. I do not want to reveal the end because, as I just mentioned, it is pretty great and deserves to be experienced unspoiled, so I'll just say, keep repeating to yourself “It is only a movie.....only a movie.....only a movie...”

There really isn't too much else to say about “1001 Frames”, although I should mention how well it has been edited, which helps enormously in the building of tension. Mehrnoush Alia edited the film herself, as we constantly change between each audition participant, although each girl is in the same part of the audition process when we move on to the next girl. So while the film does flow in a linear fashion, we are constantly cycling through a number of girls. As such we follow around six or seven girls hoping to succeed in getting the role of their dreams, and then fear for them all as we reach the end of the film. It is when the film gets near the end that it suddenly hits us that these auditions are taking place on different days, and we start to wonder if he has been successful in abusing the girls previous. It is quite a shocking revelation, that sends a chill straight down your spine.

Finally, I must mention how great Mohammad Aghebati is as our unseen director / tormentor. He is only a voice in the film, but he has so much presence within each scene. The way he manipulates the girls via the way he asks a certain question or re-phrases a request is impressive, if sickening, but the truly scary thing is how his voice changes when he is turned down or rejected and how quickly he can turn nasty and threatening when he doesn't get his own way. He is truly terrifying and yet we never lay eyes on him.

Overall, I thought “1001 Frames” was a very effective cinematic experiment. From a visual standpoint, there is nothing really to see (outside of a sense of realism), its not that kind of film, this is one for the actors and they all do a phenomenal job creating an unnerving situation that gets darker as each minute passes. It is a tiny film, but very successful in what it sets out to do. Once again, another Iranian film has impressed me.

3.5 Stars.

 

THE WAVE - MIFF 2025

As per the MIFF guide: “It’s 2018, and a movement denouncing sexual harassment is gaining traction at universities all over Chile. Julia, a music student in Santiago, is inspired to join the resistance, volunteering for her university’s testimonials committee. As she spends time recording survivors’ stories, Julia fixates on a confusing sexual experience of her own with her vocal coach’s assistant, Max. When her testimony gets swept up in the euphoric wave of the movement, Julia finds herself becoming an unexpected central figure of the protests.”

This may be a completely different review than is normal for me, because some fourteen hours after seeing Sebastian Lelio's new film, “The Wave”, I still do not know what to make of it or how I really feel about it. I cannot remember a time before when a film has me so confused to the point that I do not know if I love it or hate it, so we are going to use this review to try and unpack my feelings on “The Wave” and see if I can finally come to some conclusion about it. One thing is for certain though, Sebastian Lelio is such a gifted director, and he has gone all out here for this musical about female rebellion and protest in Chile, I'm just not sure though if he has been successful with it.

I guess I will start with some of the positives I found “The Wave” to have, and first up is it opens and closes with very powerful scenes. The film initially begins with Julia in music class preparing her voice for her exam which is in a few weeks time. It isn't long before a commotion is heard outside of the classroom, before all of the girls in the class rush to join the demonstration that is being put on in the courtyard of the university. There the girls unfurl a massive banner claiming that the university protects rapists before beginning a mesmerising and very aggressive dance, denouncing the constant sexual harassment and assault that they are victims to, which the university officials do nothing about. The dance is long, the dance is loud, the dance is very, very powerful and acts almost like an anthem for the girls. I defy anyone not to feel pumped during this scene and feel for the girls and their plight for recognition and action. The staging of this dance sequence is sensational as Lelio and cinematographer Benjamin Echazarreta get their camera right in amongst the girls to capture the energy and ferocity head on. It is full of colour, and the camera swoops and glides amongst the dancers, giving “The Wave” a very impressive opening indeed. I should mention that there is a small prologue sequence before this and the opening credits that sees Julia enter behind a locked door with a male friend where, what happens behind these doors, becomes hugely relevant to the rest of the film, although we are never privy to the exact details. I guess I cannot really talk about the end of “The Wave” and what makes it so powerful, but I will say that it is almost at the opposite end of the spectrum of the beginning, when the girls wonder if it was all worth it? Was it worth the effort? Is change ever going to occur in their country? Whilst the heads of government and institutions are all saying the right things, will this change really filter through in a country that is so reticent to change. I actually found the ending really heartbreaking and depressing, although I felt it reflected a truth, sadly. One thing that is important is in the final image of the film, of the four girls hugging each other, representing that they would be there for each other and look out for one another always; female solidarity forever.

Whilst this demonstration makes an impact, it doesn't create change, and the girls decide to create their own committees to take down testimonials of women who have been abused or harassed by men on campus. Julia finds herself on this testimonial committee, taking down horror story after horror story of women's abuse. She is immediately disturbed when names of men she thought she could trust are revealed, but she still cannot bring herself to add her own experience (what happened behind that door in the opening prologue) to the testimonials she is taking. During these scenes, music is totally absent from the film, and it plays like a straight drama, except when Julia looks at men in a room or authority figures, as they break out in a ridiculously shot and choreographed dance, as if mocking the girl. It isn't until Julia finds her voice (and she isn't just using it to sing anymore) and tells her truth, that “The Wave” becomes a full-blown musical; it suddenly becomes a call to arms, with singing and dancing until the very end.

I have to say that Sebastian Lelio must have balls of steel to not only want to make a film about the “occupy” movement that took place in universities in Chile in 2018, but to then say that he wants to make it into a musical......honestly, that has to be a tough sell. But credit to him, he has backed himself in 110% and does not go into “The Wave” half-arsed. If he is going to fail, it is on his terms, and you have to respect that. What I do not know though is if by making his film into a musical, will he get his points across as well as he could have if he told this story as a straight drama, because I believe this is a very important topic, and he makes so many great points in “The Wave”, but I am just worried the message will be lost via the means he makes these points which is via song and dance.

As I have said, there are a lot of interesting points made in “The Wave”, such as the fact that Julia wants to be a part of the movement, but has no real urge to voice her own abuse due to how confused she is herself about the experience. It is revealed that she initiated some of the sexual contact between her and her friend Max, and even enjoyed it, but it was when she fell asleep on his bed, that he took advantage of her (because she had no way to give consent). She questions herself over whether she is to blame due to the fact that she initiated things in the first place, and this confusion is heightened when she finally goes to the authorities to report it and is essentially shamed and blamed for her part in it. It is clear that Lelio and the women of the film feels that this is the way their country handles sexual abuse, by never protecting it's victims but rather shaming them and condemning them. There is an interesting line in one of the songs where the girl's sing “this ain't no Me Too, this is South America, where our institutions never protect us”, which shows how they feel all alone when it comes to these matters. Again, when Julia meets with the police, they break out into these weird dance moves, surrounding her and getting in her face, and the facial expressions and dance borders on the grotesque, as they are essentially mocking Julia and her complaints or cry for help are ultimately being trivialised.

One aspect of “The Wave” that you may find surprising is that it is not entirely one-sided, as it does look also at the right these men, who have been accused, have to defend themselves. Whilst I admit that it is skewed towards the plight of the women, Lelio does make the point that it isn't always so black and white, and without truly being there or without evidence, it does make it hard to know what exactly happened. Granted the point of this, I'm sure, is the fact that we need to believe the victims first, rather than just assuming it's in their head or just a misunderstanding, but it leads to a very funny and meta moment in the film, when the girls determine that to know the truth they should look at the script, because surely the truth is in that. They turn towards the filmmakers, as the camera moves back exposing the dolly-track below. They then demand to know the truth but Sebastian Lelio himself comes forward to explain that the truth is not in the script. When the girls ask who he is and he explains that he is the film's director, they are outraged and scream “why the fuck is a man directing this film?!!!!”. It is a hilarious moment, and a nice nod by Lelio to explain he understands the irony of a man directing a film about female empowerment and rebellion. He tries to explain how it is an honour to represent women in telling their stories, but they drown him out with song and dance, and the film goes on like normal.

Another thing that “The Wave” looks at is the actual machinations of organising a political protest and how all encompassing and time consuming it is on the people involved. Julia has no interest in becoming the figurehead of this movement, but when she finally comes forward with her story of abuse, this is exactly what happens. She is suddenly attacked from all angles and this is reflected in the dances towards the end and they way they are shot, with the dancers always coming head on towards Julia at pace, or the opposing factions essentially having dance-offs side-by-side to each other. The film also looks at how dangerous it is when everyone is not on the same page, and how destructive it can be towards the movement, when a single person attempts to get glory for themselves via talking to the media etc. It is very interesting stuff, and not the norm you find in a musical which are usually so fun and fluffy.

It is starting to become apparent to me that I actually loved “The Wave”, particularly by the way my body is reacting while I am writing about it. There is an excitement within me, and a need to watch it again, as I am reliving scenes in my mind. So what didn't I like about “The Wave” then? I must admit when watching the film I really hated those silly, grotesque dances involving authority figures and men (the perpetrators of the crimes in question), which I have spoken about already. I understood their function, but thought it was the wrong way about making this point. I felt it trivialised the matter, and wouldn't hold any weight on the viewer, but the fact that they are still so front and centre in my mind, seems to show that I was wrong about their worth. These dances intensify as the film nears its end, and I think they work much better then, but I am not sure it will connect with all audiences. The other main problem I had with the film is the strange, surreal touches that Lelio added to his film. Things where Julia tears away walls to end up in other locations or the exploding bubble gum, seem to be just a little too weird, and hold no real purpose in the film. Other than that I am realising I have less and less negatives towards the film than I initially thought.

The film making on display though, as I have alluded to already, is simply sensational. It takes a brave director to tackle a story like this, the way Sebastian Lelio has, and I have to tip my hat to him because “The Wave” is gorgeous to look, is catchy as anything, and the dancing is so energetic that I was exhausted just watching it. I am not privy to how many takes Lelio needed to film each dance sequence, but you assume it would be a fair few, not least due to the complex camera moves between the dancers themselves, but the ferocity with which each dance is attacked by the performers is just something else entirely.

Overall, I have come to the conclusion that I actually loved Sebastian Lelio's “The Wave”. It is an angry indictment on the treatment of women and victims of sexual abuse in his country of Chile, told in a hyper-realistic and very energetic musical. It looks amazing, pops with colour, filled with very impressive choreographed dance sequences, and most important of all, has something genuine and real to say. While I have now determined that I loved the film, I have to be honest and say that I am not sure it will find a huge audience, simply because of how different and unique “The Wave” actually is to anything else out there today. One thing is for certain though, after writing this review, I cannot wait to see it again and urge everyone else to at least give it a chance.

4 Stars.