#zff2021

Daniel Brühl will preside over the jury for the 17th Zurich Film Festival’s Feature Film Competition. The German actor is well known for his roles in Goodbye Lenin, Rush, and The First Avenger: Civil War, and more recently for his directorial debut Nebenan. He is joined on the jury by the former director of the Berlinale Dieter Kosslick, the British producer Andrea Cornwell, and the Swiss director and screenwriter Stéphanie Chuat.

The other ZFF juries include the Documentary Film Jury which will be headed by British Oscar-winner Asif Kapadia, and German director Sönke Wortmann will lead the Focus Competition Jury.

The complete programme and tickets for the 17th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 23 - Oct. 3) are available now on the ZFF website.

Great Freedom

[Zurich Film Festival 2021 - London Film Festival 2021]

Austria, Germany, 2021

117 Min

Director: Sebastian Meise

Cast: Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich

In postwar Germany, Hans is imprisoned again and again for being homosexual. Due to paragraph 175, his desire for freedom is systematically destroyed. The one steady relationship in his life becomes his long time cellmate, Viktor, a convicted murderer. What starts in revulsion grows to something called love.

We find ourselves transported to a post-war Germany where paragraph 175 is in effect. This same paragraph also made it possible for a long time after the Second World War to prosecute homosexuals in court and sometimes to sentence them to prison.

The definition of a label is rather negative: ”a classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive.” History has shown how people have dramatically been impacted by social etiquettes and restrictive laws. With Great Freedom, director Sebastien Meise transports us in a post-war Germany where the world rips off the Nazi labels of the military uniforms.

For Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski), freedom of love is still not on the table. Labelled a pervert per Paragraph 175, he is continuously sent to prison for being who he is, for love and desire. Cinematography by Crystal Fournier delivers melancholy, tact, bringing to light the talent of Franz Rogowski throughout the decades, three timelines gracefully put together along with the production design.

Labels stick to people like tattoos, and prison becomes a part of Hans’ life. His character breathes life, desire but prison becomes his routine, a kind of safe place. With resilience, patience, and thirst for life, Hans finds a way to build a friendship with his cellmate Victor (Georg Freidrich). Hans is so used to the constant shift between short phases of freedom and longer periods of imprisonment, that freedom seems an unreal feeling. Great Freedom is a sublime love lesson, a powerful voice for the LGBTQ rights' fight in Germany.

Grade: B+

1 - Spencer & The Power of the Dog

3 - The Worst Person in the World

4 - The Hand of God

5 - Great Freedom

6 - Mass

7 - President

8 - The Souvenir Part II

9 - Red Rocket

The Worst Person in the World

[Zurich Film Festival 2021]

Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, 2021

121 Min

Director: Joachim Trier

Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Hans Olav Brenner, Helene Bjørneby

Julie is almost 30 and has no idea what kind of life she wants to lead. Overwhelmed by all the possibilities, she keeps changing her mind. She drops out of medical school to try her hand at psychology - or maybe photography. Her confident 44-year-old boyfriend, Aksel, a long-established comic book author, has always wanted them to have a child together, but Julie just isn't ready. When she meets the young and energetic Eivind at a party one day, her life faces another turning point.

A film that wonderfully captures the feelings of life's insecurities. Making a decision and then changing your mind with or without regret. To take a risk and change your life forever, to retrace your steps, to move forward. It's a film about the back and forth of youth. It reminds us of the social pressures experienced by young people facing the future. The pace of life differs from person to person. The desire to build a family is not necessarily a required step to achieve happiness in life.

The breakdown of the plot into 12 chapters brings a more or less variable pace to the film. It reflects well the insecure side of the main character Julie. Renate Reinsve shines as Julie, with all the emotions experienced through these years. Trier delivers an urban social story with lightness and gravity.

Grade: B+

The Power of the Dog

[Zurich Film Festival 2021 - London Film Festival 2021]

UK, 2021

126 Min

Director: Jane Campion

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee

Brothers Phil and George Burbank are large-ranch owners living in 1920s Montana. Although inseparable, the two could not be more different. In stark contrast to the worldlier George, the more solitary Phil prefers to resist anything new and stifles his feelings with alcohol and loneliness. When George marries the widowed Rose and moves her and her son onto the ranch, his brother feels betrayed and declares war on the unwanted intruders.

ZFF Review - After a long wait, Jane Campion is back with a film about toxic masculinity based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage.

Divided into several parts, the film offers quality storytelling on a tale that needs time to experience that toxicity and the journey that leads to the ending point. The main quality of the film is the work on the characters with a thorough analysis where nobody is left out. We can easily have a perspective of each character and in this way, we can understand and feel their vulnerabilities. The evolution of Peter's character is an intriguing balance between silences and observations, while the recurring toxicity of Phil's character seems never-ending.

Jane Campion has done a remarkable job on the subject as well as on the style. A breathtaking aesthetic with incredible photography and lighting backed by the score of the talented composer Johnny Greenwood. A must-see.

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BFI LFF Review - Jane Campion doesn't use any gloves to bring to life the novel of Thomas Savage (1967) about the sadistic story of Phil Burbank. Toxic, clever, and a bully, Benedict Cumberbatch's character is fascinating, always looking for someone or something to castrate like his brother George (Jesse Plemons), his sister-in-law Rose (Kirsten Dunst), or his new nephew Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a medical student.

Patience and study are life virtues. Jane Campion's new film The Power of the Dog marvellously embodies those. With a meticulous study of characters, Jane Campion dissects all the character's weaknesses to deliver a masterpiece about toxic masculinity and bullying. We waited 12 years for a new feature film from Jane Campion and it was worth the wait.

The Power of the Dog will certainly be studied for ages for its message, cinematography, the quality of its scenario, and the dissection of its characters.

Grade: A