Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Pictured : Lamenting the absence of a beach in Berlin, classmates Lux  ( Tristán López , left) and Jessie ( Carla Hütterman , right) in an anxiety-inducing rooftop scene featured in Austrian writer-director Sandra Wollner 's third feature, ' Everytime '. Still courtesy of Charades Film Sales (France) Early in Austrian writer-director Sandra Wollner’s third feature, Everytime , a study of grief and regret, there is a sequence featuring two young people on top of a tall building in Berlin that makes the audience anxious. We hear their conversation as the camera zooms in, as if mounted in an adjacent building. The couple in question are teenager Jessie (Carla Hütterman), who shares her bedroom with her ten-year-old sister Melli (Lotte Shirin Keiling) – a point of contention in the film’s opening scenes – and Lux (Tristán López), a classmate who requires help with his maths homework. The pair are looking at the sky and lamenting that Berlin doesn’t have a beach. ‘We have Wan...

  Pictured : Press attaché Marie ( Violet Braeckman ) negotiates the chaos resulting from football violence at the ill-fated 1985 European Cup Final held at Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium, in co-writer-director Teodora Ana Mihai 's third feature, ' Heysel 85 '. Still courtesy of Icon Film Distribution (UK) For her third feature (after La Civil and Traffic ), Heysel 85 , Romanian-born, Belgium-based writer-director Teodora Ana Mihai tackles the Heysel football disaster of 29 May 1985, the European Cup Final at which 39 people died and dozens more were injured before a ball was even kicked. The project was brought to her by Belgian producer Hans Everaert. Mihai re-worked the existing script with co-writer Isabelle Darras working from material by Lode Desmet, Matthias Lebeer and Everaert himself. The result gives a female perspective on male failure of leadership and, frankly, dignity. The match, held at the stadium formerly known as Heysel, in Brussels, went ahead, sev...

  Pictured : Catching your headshot. Model Mia (real-life model Mia Kidis ) sees herself on a billboard in a scene from the micro-budget Sydney-set drama, ' French Girls ', written and directed by Hyun Lee . Still courtesy of Melbourne International Film Festival Some people are great at getting free stuff. Others name their cat ‘Potato’. The micro-budget Australian film, French Girls , written and directed by Hyun Lee, shows us both kinds of people. This is not to put them in opposition. There are other types of people, who would (say) loan you a loaded gun, but these people are few in number. The people who get free stuff look like they don’t need it. That’s the secret. Those who donate want to impress them, to remain in their circle. On some level, people want to have attractive friends and to reward them. This is a symptom of our messed-up set of priorities. Lee’s film, apparently made for Aus $28,000 – or 28 bucks since the thousand is silent – is narrated by a gossipy, se...

  Pictured : Lady ( Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah ) drives a group of prostitutes to their next appointment in a scene from the Lagos-set drama, ' Lady ', written and directed by Olive Nwosu . Photo: Peter Okesun / Film Four (UK) Buoyed by sentiment rather than authenticity, Lady is a genre film that really ought to be a realistic drama. The Lagos-born, US trained writer-director Olive Nwosu has been steered towards choices that rob her debut feature film of grit and substance. The cast acquit themselves well, but this is a film where you never once enter the title character’s head. Nwosu privileges positive representation over truth and the result is two-dimensional. You can enjoy the images. Emotionally, you are frozen out. Set in Lagos, it tells the story of woman taxi driver Lady (newcomer Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah) who has been traumatised by her mother’s struggle to survive. Asked how she managed to afford her car, or rather who did she have sex with, Lady doesn’t answer. Her d...

  Pictured : Archaeologist Veska ( Yana Radeva , left) catches up with old friend  Saïd ( Syuleyman Alilov Letifov , right) in a scene from co-writer-director Valeska Grisebach 's Bulgaria-set drama, ' The Dreamed Adventure '. Photograph courtesy of ' Haut et Court ' (France) The Dreamed Adventure ( Das Geträumte Abenteuer ), the first film in nine years from German co-writer-director Valeska Grisebach, runs for 2 hours and 44 minutes. The duration might seem excessive but the slow rhythm of the film, focussing on conversations between groups of people and featuring authentic faces rather than actors, together with a mystery that Grisebach and her co-writer Lisa Bierwirth are in no hurry to solve – the disappearance of what appears to be the main character – not to mention the presence of shady types whose menace increases, keeps you riveted. Grisebach’s choices are unexpected. She stretches narrative form with a novelist’s touch. I was thoroughly absorbed. For t...

  Pictured : Ayka ( Reika Kirishima , right) is confronted with the father of her child who has morphed into a cat in a scene from the futuristic drama, 'Hot Spot', written by Robert Bolesto and directed by  Agnieszka Smoczynska . Still courtesy of So Films (Poland) / Focus Features (US) In the future, civilization thrives on jelly beans. That’s the premise of Polish director Agnieszka Smocynska’s fourth feature, Hot Spot , which reteams her with writer Robert Bolesto, who scripted her debut, The Lure . The year is unspecified – films generally get caught out tying themselves to a future date, from 2001 – A Space Odyssey onwards. Like most films about the future, Hot Spot (not a great title) is shaped by current preoccupations: artificial intelligence and migration. There are those who have access to resources, who sign up to being mentally joined to the Head, who instructs them daily to not waste water or sexual energy, and migrants who don’t, covering half their faces wit...