6 December 2024.
CONCLAVE *****
This film is perfection! (Notice the rare 5 stars). Everything about it is just right: the acting, the dialogue, the setting and its gravitas. You feel you are actually in the Vatican with magnificent cinematography, assisting in the process of choosing a new Pope. That’s what the word Conclave signifies – the highest orders of the clergy locked together in the process of picking the next leader of the Catholic Church, with all it entails.
There are the centuries-old rituals of the Cardinals coming together in completely sealed off chambers and halls, with no access to the outside world for the duration of the voting. It can take weeks of deliberations and intrigues between the different factions, especially the conservatives versus the liberals. It’s actually a microcosm of the outside world, with all its ambitions, jealousies, wheeling and dealing, along with some subtle back-stabbings.
Ralph Fiennes plays the senior Cardinal who has been given the task of leading these secret ballot proceedings. He is an honourable man trying to do his best at this crucial moment, while different stumbling blocks keep coming his way as he tries to negotiate through some unsavoury whisperings and secrets. He is, as usual, brilliant. Stanley Tucci plays another Cardinal, a trusted friend of his, along with John Lithgow and Sergio Castellitto as opposing contenders to the role of Pope. Isabella Rossellini plays a quiet nun who knows more than she is saying. They are all excellent, as we, the audience, follow the proceedings with bated breath up to the astonishing finale.
The grandmaster who pulls it all together is Edward Berger, the German director, who two years ago gave us the powerful, multi award-winning “All Quiet On The Western Front” (still on Netflix) in a completely different genre but equally unforgettable. There is a mastery to Berger’s work that is awe-inspiring as he takes us into these opposing themes that pull us in and make us forget the outside world. That is perfection and it’s monumental, each time.
Once again, this has to be a top Oscar contender, along with “Anora” and “Emilia Perez”.
WICKED **1/2
This film is getting a great deal of coverage and media hype building it up as the next super blockbuster, a musical similar to “Barbie”s success story.
Even the critics have fallen in line to laud its wonders. Oh please – it’s really much too long, too hectic and too obvious. Its sets and vistas look like shoddy, Technicolor fantasies from old Disneys, the choreography is a mishmash of mass movement and the storyline is a feeble reworking of the “The Wizard of Oz” idea. And they are snowballing this into the Oscars?!
Now for the good news – the two lead female singers are opposite delights – the lovely blond Ariana Grande as Glinda, who plays the supposed good fairy and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the supposed evil witch (her quiet ballads are some of the best moments of the musical), whose main problem is that she was born green. And, of course, the prince who comes between them – played by Jonathan Bailey – ultra-charming and a super dancer. But their frenetic entourage gets silly and tiresome, though for a moment the appearance of the always quirky Jeff Goldblum seems a needed respite, though he doesn’t have much to work with.
The main story tries to explain the unlikely friendship of the two young women at a university of magic – there are so many ideas lifted from “Harry Potter”, “Oz”, “Legally Blonde” or even Kermit the frog…
What more can I say – for me it was somewhat entertaining but exhausting, certainly not in the league of such musical greats through the ages as “Singing in the Rain”, “Chicago” or “La La Land”. Let’s not lower the bar for profits, and let’s not forget excellence.
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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