Berlinale 75: Bong's back with "Mickey 17"

by Elisa Giudici

Bong Joon-ho rarely misses the mark—or at least, he approaches his projects with such precision that his return to the big screen after Parasite feels both carefully crafted and self-assured. Following a film that not only reshaped his career but also changed Oscar history by opening the doors to international cinema, Mickey 17 carries the weight of great expectations. It may not reach the towering heights of Parasite, but it reaffirms Bong's status as one of the most inventive and influential Korean directors on the global stage.

Interestingly, Bong Joon-ho was already a successful Hollywood filmmaker long before Parasite became a global phenomenon. Films like Snowpiercer and Okja demonstrated his ability to blend spectacle with social commentary, and Mickey 17 feels like a return to that style—for better and for worse. This time, he tackles the sci-fi genre again, weaving a narrative that is both thought-provoking and undeniably entertaining...

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Split Decision: “Dune: Part Two”

In the Split Decision series, two of our writers face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't. Today, Cláudio Alves and Lynn Lee discuss Dune: Part Two...

CLÁUDIO ALVES: As far as the Best Picture Oscar race is concerned, sequels are quite the rarity. Early year releases are even rarer. Yet, Dune: Part Two made it into the Academy's top ten, scoring four additional nominations - Cinematography, Production Design, Visual Effects, and Sound. Sure, by this metric, it pales in comparison to Part One, with its double-digit nods and six wins. But it's still a remarkable achievement. To be honest, I had a much better time with the sequel than with its predecessor. Part of it concerns a better grasp of what Villeneuve is doing in his adaptation of Frank Herbert's magnum opus, observing people as grains of sand in the winds of an imagined history rather than as characters. It's about the tragedy of going beyond personhood and the labor of building mythos and monuments, which results in a cold, mural-like cinematic experience that feels more coherent than its first chapter made it seem. In its alienation, I saw a purpose I didn't find in 2021.

I gather you had a different experience, Lynn. How does Dune: Part Two compare to Part One in your book?

LYNN LEE: It's funny, Cláudio - I completely agree with your assessment of what Part Two is doing, only to have the exact opposite response! To be clear, I don't hate or even dislike the film.  Quite the contrary.  I admire Villeneuve's craftsmanship and commitment to his (and I think Herbert's, though I haven't read the books) vision of Dune as ur-myth.  However, its coldness...what can I say?...left me cold.  Its alienation alienated me…

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Review: "Dune: Part Two" is more History than Story

by Cláudio Alves

Denis Villeneuve's second Dune movie isn't a sequel, not quite. As the full title implies, it's part two of one madman's attempt at transcribing Frank Herbert's seminal space opera on the big screen. And so, it starts almost at the exact point the 2021 film ended, with Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides seeking refuge among the Fremen after his Great House was dilacerated in a violent coup. The body of Jamis, the man Paul killed in ritual duel, is still fresh and carried by Stilgar's tribesmen as they guide the princeling and his mother, Lady Jessica, to the underground warren of Sietch Tabr. A prophecy is at stake, and enemy troops aren't nearly as deadly as the dangers waiting for them in the planet-sized desert.

Dread is everywhere, overwhelming, sticking in the throat until it feels like you're already being suffocated by the film before its epic imagery can get a chance to crush you. Villeneuve has done it again…

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Teknolust: Four Tildas is better than One

by Cláudio Alves

We live in a time when what was once conjecture is becoming a perilous reality, dreams of advanced tech crashing into the nightmare of actual artificial intelligence. Facing these newborn terrors of our digital age, the Criterion Channel looks back. Spanning fifty years of film history, a collection of 17 titles investigates how cineastes have approached the topic of AI, from decades when it was just narrative device or metaphor, to our present state of sci-fi as a direct response to concrete real-world anxieties.

This cinematic tasting menu of techno-cinema offers many gustative possibilities, though none more surprising than Lynn Hershman-Leeson's Teknolust. Criminally underseen upon its 2002/2003 release, the unorthodox comedy posits a scenario where Tilda Swinton plays four roles, mad scientist Rosetta Stone and her three cybernetic creations cum clones – Ruby, Marinne, and Olive…

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Almost There: Hong Chau in "Downsizing"

by Cláudio Alves

With The Whale in theaters and The Menu currently streaming on HBO Max, it's a good time to be a Hong Chau fan. For many of us, she's the best part of both productions, finding the humanity within the former's misery, acing the stylized line readings and deliberate oddness of the gastronomic-inclined latter. Thanks to those achievements, the Asian-American actress is back in the Oscar discussion, working through her second bid for a Best Supporting Actress nomination. The first time this happened was in 2017, when  Chau also proved herself the standout element of a movie with mixed reviews. Even those who hated Alexander Payne's Downsizing generally concede that her performance rises above the movie, shining brightly from within its failings.

Indeed, as Ngoc Lan Tran, Hong Chau is the best reason to watch the sci-fi satirical misadventure cum environmentalist existentialist crisis…

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