Crisp Criticism - "Grace of Monaco", "Under the Skin", "Ida"

by

Julien Faddoul

Grace of Monaco

Biopic on Grace Kelly during her years as Princess of Monaco.

Cloying and assaulting biopic that reeks of grandiose pomposity from the first frame on. Both the political and Hollywood endeavors are slackly handled.

d – Olivier Dahan  

w – Arash Amel

ph – Eric Gautier

pd – Dan Weil

ed – Olivier Gajan

cos – Gigi Lepage

p – Arash Amel, Pierre-Ange Le Pogam

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Paz Vega, Milo Ventimiglia, Parker Posey, Derek Jacobi, Frank Langella, Olivier Rabourdin, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Geraldine Somerville, Robert Lindsay, Nicholas Farrell, Jeanne Balibar

Under the Skin ***

An alien journeys through Glasgow.

Ostensibly (being the optimum word), Glazer has made a film about how and why humanity seems to arbitrarily assemble itself into groups and the loneliness that both leads to it and the effects from it. The first hour is astonishing, the second, repetitive, with its star giving a truly bold performance.

d – Jonathan Glazer

w – Jonathan Glazer, Walter Campbell

ph – Daniel Landin

pd – Chris Oddy

m – Mica Levi

ed – Paul Watts

cos – Steven Noble

p – James Wilson, Nick Wechsler

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Paul Brannigan, Adam Pearson

Ida **

Before a novice takes her vows, she and her Aunt, a judge, search for the site where her Jewish parents were buried after being murdered during the Holocaust.

Striking, concise, exquisitely composed (in Academy ratio) film on the peculiar consequences of Polish lives after World War II. Immaculately made as it is, it lacks the complexity to dive into its subject as deep as it wants to. It’s a spotless film, if not entirely a flawless one.

d – Pawel Pawlikowski  

w – Pawel Pawlikowski, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

ph – Ryszard Lenczewski, Lukasz Zal

pd – Marcel Slawinski, Katarzyna Sobanska-Strzalkowska

m – Kristian Eidnes Andersen

ed – Jaroslaw Kaminski

cos – Ola Staszko, Agata Winska

p – Eric Abraham, Piotr Dzieciol, Ewa Puszczynska

Cast: Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza, Joanna Kulig, Dawid Ogrodnik, Adam Szyszkowski, Jerzy Trela