Cinema and Popcorn

Last sunday, the Oscars took place in a ceremony with no big surprises, no big thrills and no huge iconic moments... but it got some all timers as winners: Cillian Murphy 's win for Oppenheimer still amazes me (such an internal and subtle performance getting the gold), The Zone of Interest in Best Sound (chilling and perfectly balanced work), Poor Things in Best Costume Design and Best Production Design and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar for Best Live Action Short Film (marking Wes Anderson 's first Oscar win of his career). On the other hand, I felt sad for Lily Gladstone not winning Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon (such a soulful devastating performance), but Emma Stone was also a very worthy winner for playing the charismatic Bella Baxter in Poor Things . In a night Oppenheimer won big (and its Summer "nemesis" Barbie only took Best Original Song, turning Billie Eilish  into the youngest double Oscar winner in history), there were few films tha...

THE ZONE OF INTEREST It's not a movie that grabs you by the heart, but by the mind. There's two movies here: the one you watch and the one you can hear. It plays like a documentary feature in a way that you simply watch the everyday's lives of a German family whose patriarch is charged with the management of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The almost fairy-tale like life of the family hosting parties and taking care of a beautiful garden and a very confortable home contrasts with the horrific sounds of something you cannot see but you know it's coming from the other side of the wall that separates the family from the people in the concentration camp. Mica Levi's score will be haunting you for days, as it will the sound work. In the cinematography department, the camera angles create a detachment from the characters, making the audience a simple viewer, like you are watching a reality show. Still, it's a satire you can relate with multiple things right now...