"Don't tell anyone" (Gæsterne)
The thriller by Christian Tafdrup (“Awakening”, “Debutants”, “Terrible Woman”) is dedicated to the story of two families from Denmark and the Netherlands who met while on vacation in Italy.
At first, communication is perfect: new acquaintances find a common language and a lot of interesting topics and have a great time.
A few months later, one family invites another to visit.
It would seem that what could go wrong?
As a result, guests will be in for a lot of surprises, as they are revealed, the picture transforms from a drama into a full-fledged thriller, almost crossing the line of horror.
The actors do an excellent job with their roles, convincingly playing their characters, the suspense is pumped up intelligently, which is facilitated by both good camera work and a tastefully chosen soundtrack.
The icing on the cake is a very memorable explosive and somewhat crazy ending.
"Decision to leave" (Hyeeojil gyeolsim)
The plot of the South Korean detective film "The Decision to Leave", filmed by the author of the legendary "Oldboy" Park Chan-wook, revolves around a detective who investigates the death of a young man who fell off a cliff.
The widow of the deceased cooperates with the investigation, but gradually turns into a suspect, and the policeman is torn between duty and feelings for her.
The Decision to Leave is a philosophical, multi-layered picture in which a detective story and a relatively banal move with a romantic relationship between a police officer and a suspect are skillfully intertwined with a semi-mystical drama where it is not always clear what actually happens in the film and what is a figment of fantasy heroes.
The female lead, Chinese actress Tang Wei, did not know Korean, and refused to memorize lines without understanding their meaning.
Therefore, in preparation for the role, she actively studied Korean, and hid the flaws of pronunciation with emotionality and facial expressions.
In addition, the girl lived for some time as her heroine, working on the image and inventing the story of her character.
The film won the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for Best Director.
Read more about the film in the material RT.
"Goliath"
The plot of the crime drama by Kazakh director and screenwriter Adilkhan Yerzhanov takes place in the fictional village of Karatas, where the crime boss Poshaev (Daniyar Alshinov) controls all activities.
One day he executes the poor man's wife Arzu (Berik Aitzhanov).
The head of the security guard (Dmitry Chebotarev) is assigned to look after Arzu, but it seems that he is heartbroken and does not think about revenge.
“Goliath explores the nature of power and the nature of submission.
The idea of revenge, which at first glance is impossible, the plot about the confrontation between a “big” person and a “small” one - they have been floating around for a long time.
I was looking for their reflection in the plot, over the course of two years the script was rewritten several times.
The film has a very thin line between art and genre, there is a risk that this balance will not be perceived, but there is also hope that it will be appreciated, ”said director Adilkhan Yerzhanov.
"Far Close"
Boris (Evgeny Syty) is an elderly geography teacher at a simple Khabarovsk school.
His life is an endlessly repeating "Groundhog Day", with the usual schedule and routine.
Everything changes when son Misha (Philip Avdeev) gives the hero his old smartphone and thus opens up the world of the Internet and social networks to him.
Boris adds a woman from the Moscow region named Nadezhda (Elena Yakovleva) as a friend, with whom he has similar interests: both souls cherish in their gardens.
Boris decides to visit a new friend and asks his son to take him.
On the way, the heroes are waiting for a lot of adventures and problems.
In particular, old conflicts are revealed between father and son and the reasons for their separation from each other are clarified.
The film by Ivan Sosnin is a kind and slightly idyllic drama, seasoned with elements of comedy, a story about family, relations between relatives and what is really important.
At the Window to Europe film festival, Sosnin's work received the prize of the Commonwealth of Journalists media congress for the script.
"My son's mother"
The dramatic thriller directed by Ilya Maksimov (“Shapovalov”, “Brothers”, “I'm not afraid anymore”) tells the story of the spouses Mark and Kira, who lost their child and decided to adopt.
In the orphanage, they find a charming boy named Vic and it seems that fate smiled at the young people, but suddenly the child's real mother, Marie, appears.
A seriously ill woman offers Mark and Kira an unusual deal: to live with her and Vic in her mansion until she dies.
The woman explains this by her desire to make sure that the new parents are suitable for the boy.
In practice, everything turns out to be much more confusing, and now Mark must conduct an investigation to figure out what is happening.
“We once proved to the market that we can make horror films.
Now our task is to do the same in the psychological thriller genre, in the best traditions of world cinema.
"Gone Girl", "Girl on the Train", "Hand Rocking the Cradle" - all these paintings were references for us.
We worked hard on the script, because in this genre, details and nuances of plot twists are very important.
We tried to avoid inaccuracies that could undermine the viewer's confidence.
I am sure we will be able to make a breakthrough in this genre,” promises producer Dmitry Litvinov.