Get ready for another weekend with lots of different genre to watch like dance (In The Heights, Physical), an Icelandic mystery (Katla) and our favorite with the excellent new Pixar film, Luca!
Check out our mini-reviews and have a great weekend!
You can still have a longer list of the releases under the “This Friday” section on the homepage.
In The Heights
WHY
Director Jon M. Chu offers us a new dance movie with In The Heights after having directed Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D by taking us to the Washington Heights neighborhood in Upper Manhattan in New York City! We follow several members of the Latino community in pursuit of their dreams for a better life and mainly that of Usnavi (Anthony Ramos). The film opens with a beautiful and dynamic introductory sequence allowing us to get to know most of the characters of the film. Note that the film is the adaptation of the stage musical of the same name by Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The latter makes several appearances during the story. Fans of this kind of film will really enjoy following this story and its many really cool dance sequences. For the others, it will be a little long (more than 2 hours) but the choreographies are very pleasant to see and the songs rather nice. The direction of Jon M. Chu is really interesting, he multiplies the visual ideas with long continuous shots but also with many seamless and creative transitions. The director also pays homage to the aquatic ballets of Busby Berkeley and also to Fred Astaire during a superb dance sequence on the walls! Ready to dance?
WHAT
A feature version of the Broadway musical, in which a bodega owner has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother’s fortune.
WHERE
Katla
WHY
Are you ready for a trip to a small village in Iceland in the middle of a volcano eruption? That’s what Icelandic producer and director Baltasar Kormákur offers us with Katla. Named after the volcano, this series is full of mysteries and popular beliefs as some people start to come back to life from the glacier. It’s hard to tell you more without spoiling the fun of discovering who these people are. You should know that their return will also bring its share of hidden truths and that one of them is particularly terrifying. The characters are all really interesting with very different motivations and reasons to stay (and for some to come back) in this deserted village. It is also very cool that the different characters keep their original language. The gap between the life in this village and the “big city” works very well. Visually, the volcano transforms almost everything into gray levels and we appreciate the various sequences in the vast expanses of Iceland. The harshness of the climate is very well rendered and brings a great tension when the storm arrives. Ready to solve this mystery?
WHAT
In Iceland, after the subglacial volcano Katla has been erupting constantly for a whole year, Gríma is still looking for her missing sister who disappeared the day the eruption started. As her hope of ever finding her body is fading, the residents of the surrounding area start to have visits from unexpected guests. There might be something hidden under the glacier no one could ever have foreseen.
WHERE
Luca
WHY
With its new film, Luca, Pixar offers us a radical change of style and genre by taking us along the Italian Riviera during the Summer holidays! Its Italian director Enrico Casarosa had already offered us a very touching short film in 2011, La Luna, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. The themes of these two films are very similar as well as the artistic direction. We follow a young boy, Luca, who is growing up and is curious to discover the world despite a big problem, he is a sea monster! Fortunately he transforms into a human as soon as he gets out of the water. This discovery will bring a lot of adventures and tension with the humans of the village and with his own family. The two worlds are afraid of each other. Our first encounters with Luca are really funny, especially with his underwater herd! We follow with great pleasure his discovery of the human world and his various characters. They are truly typical and really endearing and some are really crazy (special mentions to the uncle of the abyss and the cat). This film is a true declaration of love to the Italian culture and to the curiosity and desire for knowledge! You will absolutely want to buy a Vespa at the end of the movie! The art direction is really stunning especially during the night sequences in the village but also during the dreamlike sequences. This is the perfect summer movie, don’t miss it and be sure to stay until the end of the credits to discover a surprise!
WHAT
Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Disney and Pixar’s original feature film “Luca” is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay) shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, Alberto (voice of Jack Dylan Grazer), but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.
WHERE
Physical
WHY
For its new series, Physical, Apple TV+ takes us back to the 80’s in San Diego, California! We follow a depressed stay-at-home mom, Rose Byrne, who is in the midst of a breakdown. The brilliant idea is to be able to hear her “voice” in her head and I have to tell you right away, it’s really amazing. This one speaks without complex and without any restraint. The gap between this voice instructions and Rose’s actions are really excellent! We recognize ourselves in her in many situations. The American society isn’t spared by betting everything on the appearance, nothing must come to hold the perfect image, and on hypocrisy! This vitriolic portrait is perfectly mastered especially in the pilot directed by Craig Gillespie, a regular of this kind of portrait (I, Tonya and Cruella). Fortunately Rose will find a way to get back on track when she discovers aerobics, which is then in its early days! But she still has a lot to do, especially with her husband’s life choices. The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant as well as the different sets and cars. It’s a real pleasure to (re)discover the 80’s!
WHAT
Set in the idyllic but fragile beach paradise of sunny 1980s San Diego, “Physical” is a half-hour dark comedy following Sheila Rubin, a quietly tortured, seemingly dutiful housewife supporting her smart but controversial husband’s bid for state assembly. But behind closed doors, Sheila has her own darkly funny take on life she rarely lets the world see. She’s also battling a complex set of personal demons relating to her self-image… that is, until she finds release through the unlikeliest source: the world of aerobics.
WHERE