#eurofestsa

"Behind closed doors", a review of 'Love According to Dalva' on this year's European Film Festival in South Africa, 10-20 October 2024.

LOOKING just right, for Daddy. Zelda Samson plays the title role in Love According to Dalva, on this year’s European Film Festival, 10-20 October 2024. Photograph courtesy semainedelacritique.com SHE MINCES INTO the world with her highlights and her backless lace frock, all the bits and bobs of feminine je-ne-sais-quoi perfectly in place. She’s totally unaware of how crazily anomalous she is to…

"Eat together, stick together", a review of 'The Old Oak' on the European Film Festival SA in Cape Town and Durban this evening.

STRUGGLING community in cohesion. Yara (Ebla Mari), centre, is instrumental in creating a dignified space for all, in The Old Oak, on the European Film Festival SA 2023. WAR PRESENTS CASUALTIES on levels far wider than the conventional battle fields. There is the horror of a lack of closure, relentless vulnerability and ripples of hatred spewed in so many directions, conjoined as it often is,…

"Pretty Little Mother Earth", a review of Mavka: The Song of the Forest', at the European Film Festival South Africa until 28 October 2023.

MAVKA’s ally Swampy, the last of the kitty frogs in the land behind the mountain. Photograph courtesy imdb. Toss together the notion of undisguised good and evil, with a bit of lumpen docility in between; the forces of nature with those of easily corruptible and gullible humanity, blend it with hard-boiled yet utterly gorgeous computer-generated animation and a traditional Ukrainian and Slavic…

"Caged birds who will not sing", a review of 'Goodby Julia', the opening film of this year's European Film Festival South Africa, on 12 October 2023.

UNEDUCATED but no fool: Julia (Siran Riak) in Goodbye Julia directed by Mahomed Kordorfani which opens the European Film Festival South Africa, on 12 October 2023. Violent political conflict is always the ideal setting for very complex emotional tales of love and trauma. Mohamed Kordorfani’s first foray into film direction offers a clear and convoluted path of friendship between two women. It’s…

"Our house. In the middle of nowhere", a review of 'The Eight Mountains', on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October 2023.

MEN at work: Bruno (left) (Alessandro Borghi) and Pietro (Luca Marinelli) finish the mountain house that was Bruno’s father’s dream, in The Eight Mountains, on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October 2023. WE LIVE IN a world that can be so majestic to behold, it is like a religious experience all by itself, overwhelming and oft terrifying in its mix of wisdom, beauty and danger.…

"Poor man's medicine", a review of Tea Lindeburg's film 'As in Heaven', which features on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October 2023.

TO dream impossible dreams. Lise (Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl) in a scene from Tea Lindeburg’s film As In Heaven on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October. Photograph courtesy imdb. Picture the scenario: You’re on the cusp of adulthood, the eldest of many children. Contrary to your father’s wishes, you have decided to be educated. It’s the late 19th century and your mother…

"I am calling you. Do you hear me?", a review of Martijn de Jong's film 'Narcosis', on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October.

MY Daddy: on the other end of the phone line. Ronja (Lola van Zoggel), in ‘Narcosis’, on the European Film Festival South Africa, from 12 October. Photograph courtesy Imdb. LOSS. IT’S A wound that can open at any time. An absence that will change your life forever, in ways that you cannot fathom. The complexities of bereavement are under the loupe in Narcosis, an extraordinary and deep film from…

"Of jumping, falling and holding on", a review of Justine Triet's 'Anatomy of a Fall', on the European Film Festival South Africa, 12-28 October.

MY future is suddenly in the hands of curious strangers: Sandra Huller plays Sandra in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall on the European Film Festival South Africa, 12-22 October 2023. PUT TWO PASSIONATE intellectuals together in a remote chalet in the French Alps. Add an almost disabled tween and his seeing-eye Border Collie, and sprinkle more publishing success on the one than on the other,…