15 August 2025
LOVE – OSLO STORIES *** (vo Norwegian)
The Norwegians (and other Nordics) are taking over cinema in talent, discretion and modern relevance!
Here’s the third of the Oslo Stories trilogy by Dag Johan Haugerud. No need to describe it. It’s one more immersive and intelligent view of lives and relationships in Oslo, with intimate conversations, grainy views of the city and haunting music. To be seen and to reflect upon.
LOCARNO 78 It’s the height of summer, August 6-16, and it’s once again the Locarno Film Festival, in its 78th year!
It was a good cru this year, with a wide array of top stars to dazzle the audience on the Piazza Grande (seating 8000, nightly). There were some strong films amongst the experimental fare and a wonderful retrospective of classic films at everyone’s favourite retro cinema, the GranRex.
For star power, the festival started its first night with the beautiful, international Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani and her friend and countrywoman Zar Amir Ebrahimi, there for the opening Armenian film, “Le Pays d’Arto”. Farahani gave an eloquent offering of thanks for her Excellence Award in dedicating it to the public, who she said assured the ongoing importance of art and culture in our dire times.
The next morning she was at the popular Forum Conversation, where the general public can see and question all the invited stars, plus the cast and crew of the featured films, which is the exceptional gift of this open, public-friendly festival.
She enchanted the audience with her tales of having to leave her family and restrictive country, her rise to international fame, co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio in Ridley Scott’s “A Body of Lies” and her continuing battle to achieve relevance and freedom as an actress without a country. At 42, she has been in 68 films.
The Forum is the beauty of this festival which allows the audience to approach and discover the personality of the stars who are usually hidden behind bodyguards. There are none here in Locarno.
The cast of celebrities continued with the brilliant, elegant and amusing Emma Thompson who received an award for her career on the gigantic Piazza stage, accepting it in fluent Italian. She was there for her latest film, “In the Dead of Winter”, in which she plays with her daughter who portrays her younger self. This grim film was unfortunately not her finest work. An added plus of the Piazza evenings are the short clips of the star’s works on that huge screen, showing Thompson’s masterpieces such as “Remains of the Day”, “Howard’s End” or “Primary Colors”. The next day she also had her moment at the Q&A Forum, which was packed to the rafters. I had never seen it so crowded.
The roster of awarded guests included Jackie Chan, the action actor who spanned East and West with his Kung Fu and comedy films, including the ‘Karate Kid’ franchise, and Lucy Liu of the popular Ally McBeal TV series and “Charlie’s Angels” films.
Alexander Payne, one of America’s finest directors, received an Honorary Pardo (that lovely spotted feline representing the festival) for his thoughtful films about ordinary American life done with intelligence, depth and humour. You may remember some of his gems: “About Schmidt” starring Jack Nicholson, the unforgettable “Sideways” about a boozy bachelor weekend, “The Descendants” with George Clooney, and his last, “Holdovers”, with his favoured actor, Paul Giamatti. Payne has won an array of Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes for his consistent talent.
Unfortunately, I had left the festival before he arrived, but I remember his kindness and humility when I met him years ago in Cannes. I would have liked to see him at the Forum.
The next best feature of this festival is their yearly Retrospectives. This year it was called Great Expectations – British Postwar Cinema – 1945-1960, curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, an Iranian film specialist living in London but also working with the Cineteca di Bologna. To captivate the serious cinephile, he had chosen 45 titles of B&W melodramas, thrillers and comedies depicting the varied British life of those times. He was there to comment on the films at every showing, often with a special invitee to further study the angle of the work. And he edited the accompanying book on this collection of cinema nostalgia. He said his love of movies started at around age five when he saw Anthony Quinn in “Barabbas” in his provincial town in northeastern Iran.
The festival films that remain with me are:
SOLOMAMMA ****
A Norwegian film about a single mother who eventually meets her sperm donor. Superb, delicate analysis of our modern times.
THE DEAL ****
Another excellent Jean-Stéphane Bron work – in a thrilling, very balanced TV series about the 2015 nuclear talks in Geneva between Iran and the East/West powers. You can catch it on the TSR site.
SENTIMENTAL VALUE ***1/2
Another Norwegian gem – this time about an errant father who wants his daughter in his latest film, with Stellan Skarsgard.
MEKTOUB, MY LOVE ***
Abdellatif Kechiche’s latest view on the lives of a French/Tunisian family in southern France – as always, with palpitating sensuality. This time with a surprising American counterpart…
And a few of the delightful wonders of the British Retrospective :
FALLEN IDOL – by director Carol Reed, screenwriter Graham Greene, starring Ralph Richardson and Michele Morgan!
THE ELEPHANT WILL NEVER FORGET – a moving short documentary on London’s last tram.
THE ASTONISHED HEART – a tragic Noel Coward melodrama, starring Coward himself.
With excellent, Swiss-timed organisation, beautiful surroundings (the Lago Maggiore and those velvety hills) and a myriad restaurants, this is a plus holiday.
Great thanks to the artistic director Giona Nazzaro, who is breathing life back into the festival, and his devoted team!
You should try it next year – but reserve your accommodations well in advance.
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.
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Leave a Reply