Popular reviews

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★

  There isn’t a horror director alive who wouldn’t kill to create frames as tense, ominous, and viscerally captivating as those of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili, who applies her talents toward elemental character studies about rural women suffering under the yoke of patriarchy at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains.

  Her debut feature, 2020’s masterful “Beginning,” tells the story of a disillusioned Jehovah’s Witness who starts to unravel after her church is firebombed by extremists in the very first shot, a static tableau held for several minutes before its Haneke-like remove is shattered with a molotov cocktail. Kulumbegashvili’s even more accomplished and terrifying follow-up “April” — which concerns a hospital obstetrician whose career is put at risk when a rare stillbirth…

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  Review by Tomás Oliveira

  “I fell asleep and when I woke up it was still the same shot”
  -Sebastian

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  Review by shookone ★★★

  Bela Tarr meets Cristian Mungiu, and they take a sip of Lars von Trier's red wine. Georgia's patriarchal structures get a baseball bat up their arses. "don't you fuck with morality, bitches!" it yells through the wide lensed spaces of emptiness. reciprocal Kulumbegashvili fucks with your patience meanwhile.

  some images are fully mental, the final one might be the most beautiful of the festival - can't remember ever having seen one that has 8 levels of horizon and colors in one celluloid painting.

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  Review by Robert Daniels ★★★★½

  Heavy Chantal Akerman vibes in this exceptionally gorgeously shot pro-abortion film.

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  Review by FedVal ★★★★½

  VENEZIA 81 #29

  
  
  

  
  Le immagini di alberi e prati fioriti durante la primavera. I lunghi piani sequenza della protagonista che vaga di notte per le strade della Georgia, la ripresa di un furioso funerale in cui impazzano tuoni e vento, la ripresa cruda e realistica di un parto e la scena di un aborto lunga ben 15 minuti. Sono solo alcune delle caratteristiche che compongono la storia dell’ostretica Nina che, oltre al lavoro nel suo ospedale, pratica l’aborto per le giovani donne dei villaggi vicini, difendendole così da eventuali punizioni e derisioni.
  Senza attingere troppo dal crudo realismo di film simili (in primis Diwan e Mungiu) il film della regista georgiana Dea Kulumbegashvili si compone di un impianto marcatamente surreale…

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  Review by JimDangle ★★★★★

  Fuck

  An entirely unpleasant and stressful viewing; a surrealist prologue is the only introduction you get before you’re violently thrown into the world of these characters. And fuck is it ever a cruel one, overflowing with 10-15 minute takes that (quite often) feature characters staring directly into the camera lens, further unravelling any mental protection you could’ve walked into this movie with. It’s almost as if at any moment, one of them would say: “you’re seeing this, right? Please tell me you’re seeing this”—- I’ve never spent so much time in an auditorium desperately trying to escape the eye-sight of the characters.

  An effortlessly courageous work that will, very sadly, probably never see proper distribution because of just how brave…

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★

  don't think this all comes together in the end but with a week's hindsight I am still quite moved and unnerved by what's here

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  Review by barbiest ★★★★

  people who thought saltburn was too disturbing will CRUMBLE when they see this

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  Review by detectivezinc ★★★★½

  It’s very possible that this could be a surprise Golden Lion winner. In stark contrast to the energy of Baby Invasion, April exudes a deep sense of static beauty, with numerous long, still shots that last 10 to 20 minutes, capturing the pain and anguish of childbirth and abortion in a way that offers an intensely immersive experience. It gives the audience ample time to reflect on the complexities of abortion. While it may prove divisive, much like Under the Skin with its dark, haunting visuals, the film remains utterly fascinating. The ending is particularly striking. At first, I thought it might be a disaster, but resisting the urge to walk out and sticking with it revealed it to be a true masterpiece.

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  Review by Gabriele Niola ★½ 5

  Even the monster woman was having enough of it in the last scenes

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  Review by Maxine Sheridan ★½

  Dea Kulumbegashvili’s APRIL is a tediously paced complex story that is well intended yet unable deliver as expected. It includes beautiful visuals with a square aspect ratio, powerful performance from Ia Sukhitashvili and impactful message. Long shots were mesmerizing. But the storytelling is a real struggle, there isn’t enough explanation of what’s happening and there isn’t enough motifs for the great motive of the story.  Also, not so captivating for people to end up talking about it but the concept was actually not bad.

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  Review by arasarf ★★

  #29 Venezia81
  Sei al festival del cinema di Venezia. Sei seduto nelle prime file di sala Darsena. Dopo mezz’ora ti guardi intorno e sei l’unico sveglio. This is cinema.