19 September 2025
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER ***
This one won’t miss the Oscars, mainly because of its ‘prestige’ creators – director Paul Thomas Anderson ( BOOGIE NIGHTS, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, MAGNOLIA, PHANTOM THREAD), famed American postmodern writer Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland”, and a talent-heavy cast made up of such stars as Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Let’s see who’ll be on the nominations list…
And then the subject – wild revolutionaries attacking immigration centers, already years ago, and then bringing it up to the present, with a crazy bunch of characters, one more looney than the other. This is an action-packed loose train hurtling down recent American history, with all its vices and oppositions. It’s both deep and incisive but also a comedy of human errors – from drugs and sex used as a tool, to crazy DiCaprio desperately looking to juice up his useless phone, Penn as a deranged military officer, and del Toro as a super-cool protector of the immigrants.
It’s a dark comedy that bares all the various classes of American society, none of them very pretty. But it’s also a reverse father/daughter relationship gone awry. Its nonstop madness did not make me very comfortable….but then, that’s Anderson for you.
L’INTÉRÊT D’ADAM (Adam’s Sake) *** (vo French)
This very touching, reality portrait of one nurse’s deep caring for her four-year-old patient and his mother is a small gem of humanity. Directed and written by the Belgian Laura Wandel, it has the audience follow the desperate task of a nurse who goes above and beyond her duty to convince the young, over-protective mother of the little boy to let the hospital take care of her son.
Otherwise the social services might take him away from her. For the mother/son relationship is an unhealthy mutual need that has to be eased, but how…?
Veteran French actress Léa Drucker is superb in her role as the nurse (she deserves a César nomination), and she is in almost every shot. Anamaria Vartolomei is also excellent as the mother, along with an incredible performance by the little boy. The film never lets go of the tension and our interest, despite it never emerging from the corridors and rooms of a hospital in Liège.
LE CARAVAGE PERDU (The Lost Caravaggio) **1/2 (vo Spanish, English, French)
Caravaggio is one of the most admired and controversial artists of the Italian Renaissance. So when a painting is discovered that may be attributed to him, the art market and its top dealers go bonkers.
This purposely drawn-out documentary follows the Spanish family that has had this portrait in their home for decades, as well as the experts that are waiting to examine it and the dealers who are lining up to represent it.
An interesting venture, with some top names in the international art field, but somehow no better than the excellent “Fake or Fortune” show that has been on British TV for many years, presented by the erudite Fiona Bruce.
DALLOWAY (The Residence) *1/2 (vo French and English)
This is definitely not Virginia Woolf’s tale. On the contrary, it’s a cold, futuristic look at our relationship with A.I. in a sort of a modern artist’s retreat somewhere in France.
I was disappointed by its bland approach to the fears of machines taking over from humans, as they seep into our very thoughts. Cécile de France does her best as a troubled author in resident, but she cannot save the weak scenario. There’s an interesting (underused) character played by Lars Mikkelsen, brother of the more famous Mads – uncanny family resemblance.
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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