Donbass

Donbass

Cannes

CANNES 2018: A BALANCE

By Mónica Delgado

It’s been over a week since the Golden Palm was awarded to Hirokazu Kore-eda Shoplifters, an event which closed a festival that kept its classics leitmotivs in a low key: miserabilism, cruelty or the overrating of a cinema with messages and big issues had its few peaks. Even if this year the program was better in quality compared to other edition, the jury, presided by Cate Blanchett, was discreet when awarding common themes, like the award given to the unambitious Kore-eda film, a plain family drama without any major stylistic attributes. Point aside was the jury prize to Capharnaum by Libanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, a fact which confirm that despite the good films that made this a noble edition, remains a liking for the kind of films that look to edify consciences through stories of misery, war and refugees.

READ MORE »
Cannes

CANNES 2018: DONBASS BY SERGEI LOZNITSA

By Mónica Delgado

Donbass is the name of an Eastern Ucranian territory which is described and critiqued by Sergei Loznitsa, in a key of absurdist tale about the crisis of that country and Russia, its big opposition. The acid humor pours in thirteen episodes, whether in usual situations about politic negotiations and others due to quotidian life in wartime. Meetings from different politicians, public workers and civil society, and also weddings or hospital dates, are part of simulacra machinery (actors are paid to create news) that the filmmaker uses as a prologue and epilogue, to enclose the facts of war in the realm of falsehood or “post-truth”.

READ MORE »
Cannes

CANNES 2018: DONBASS DE SERGEI LOZNITSA

Por Mónica Delgado

Loznitsa recupera en Donbass hechos que usuarios suben a redes sociales, y trata de simular las formas en que son captados, es decir retoma la estética espontánea y vibrante de algunos videos extraños y populares de Youtube, que van dando cuenta de una sensibilidad social enajenada y efervescente.

READ MORE »