19 June 2020.
There’s a lot going on in the Geneva cinemas as they try valiantly to come up for air and win back cinephiles to their comfortable screening rooms and their attractive programming.
They are starting off with some films that had just been released when Corona hit, like DEGAULLE and Eastwood’s RICHARD JEWELL in the Pathé Cinemas. Both films are highly recommended – one with an elegant, historical view of deGaulle’s radical decision to move his “government” to England in May-June 1940, as he did not believe in Pétain’s defeatist attitude; and the other, a very American tale of a gentle hero turned into a villain by the rabid media.
Cine17 is screening A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD, the latest Tom Hanks’ film about the beloved children’s TV personality, Mr. Rogers, whose show ran from the late 60s to 2001. This is a film you simply must not miss in our chaotic, turbulent times, for it is exactly the opposite of hectic. Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers in such a loving, peaceful manner that you’ll feel yourself shedding all the anxiety and troubles with which we are being bombarded daily.
Rogers was apparently an honest-to-goodness saint of a man (you won’t find a wrinkle or a scandal here), who presented his show at a slow, gentle pace, caring deeply for his mini audiences, trying to give them a decent introduction to life and its many facets. In this film, he does the same for a very troubled journalist who has come to interview him. Despite the miseries of the journalist (should have had less of him and more of Hanks), this is a feel-good tale, the sort that will have you smiling as you swallow that lump in your throat.
This week’s other intriguing release, INICIALES S.G. is showing at the Grütli cinemas. Argentinean, it has that alluring, crazy quality for which that country’s films are known.
S.G. is a bit actor in more films that he can remember, dabbling also in porno flicks. Constantly in hot water for his fiery temper, he’s a lady’s man despite his disheveled look and huge nose which makes him look like a cross between Gainsbourg (his idol, and those initials), Cyrano and Pacino. And then a sweet American girl crosses his path, hanging on as his life turns into a twisted tragicomedy. Despite his being a hopeless loser, you can’t help being fascinated by S.G.
And don’t forget these UNMISSABLES from last week:
WOMAN at the NordSud – see review here.
QUEEN AND SLIM and the Billy Wilder retrospective at the Grütli – see reviews here.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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