Charlie is the super obese film protagonist in The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

The topics of the plot are touched on. The director's topics create an understood emotion: obesity, homosexuality, death, mourning, generational conflicts.

What does the Third World War have to do with Shakib's misfortunes, an Iranian man fallen into disgrace and with a broken life? The director Houman Seyyedi narrates his story in the film Jang-e jahani sevom - World War III.

Presented in the Orizzonti competition at the 79th Venice Film Festival. The film deservedly won the Orizzonti Award for Best Film and the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor to Mohsen Tanabandeh.

Shakib has lost everything. In the earthquake a few years earlier, his wife and children died.

Can a student have many qualities, like being a mathematical genius, winning a distinguished prize, receiving a scholarship, attending a school in the United States but, at the same time, being dishonest, corrupt, false and cowardly?

This is Arnold, a high school student in Bangkok. He is the negative protagonist of the film Arnold Is a Model Student - Arnon pen nakrian tuayang by Thai director Sorayos Prapapa presented at the 15th Bangkok World Film Festival 2022.

On the small Irish island of Inisherin, another conflict suddenly breaks out between two friends. The confrontation tears friends, families and inhabitants apart. This allegory is the plot of the film The Banshees of Inisherin - The spirits of the island - Almas en pena de Inisherin by filmmaker Martin McDonagh. The film was presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

What is the appropriate age to get married? For the twelve-year-old Iranian twins Marzieh and Razieh, their age is appropriate to get married: “Now we are adults, we must get married”. They are the protagonists of Alone, directed by Jafar Najafi, presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

The setting is southwestern Iran, in the province of Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari. A predominantly mountainous region and an agricultural economy with low income.

Two exuberant children are the protagonists of the joyful film Mountain Onion - Gornyi Luk by Kazakh filmmaker Eldar Shibanov presented at 79. Film Festival of Venice.

The director, despite his light tone, tackles complex issues: Kazakhstan's cultural charm and the attitudes of its children. In addition, there are heterogeneous universal topics: family, marriage, divorce and those connected with physical force and viagra.

Political occupation of state-owned companies has always been a country's prerogative. A state corporation has its own budget, follows civil rules, and manages millions or billions of dollars. The government and parliament often lose the control for these funds.

Sometimes, or more than sometimes, these multinationals finance parties or politicians. Therefore, one of the first tasks of any government is to take total control, appointing politically friendly managers at its command.

About the Maureen Kearney life investigative cinema. Jean-Paul Salomé directed an investigate film La syndicaliste - The Sitting Duck, starring a strong-willed Isabelle Huppert. The film was presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival

The vast outdoors is a symbol of freedom. The good and the bad ride through immense territories. These men are the heroes, the myth, anarchy, nihilism. They interpret the moral law in an infinite desert. Justice is not efficient. There are numerous, powerful and merciless enemies. Perhaps even the law is sometimes unfair. It is the West, unique, immortal, legendary.

These themes were modified with more mainstream ones, in Walter Hill's latest film, Dead for a Dollar, a western set between New Mexico and Mexico, presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

August 2014. The United Kingdom refused entry visas to the famous Ugandan singer Bobi Wine. How did a homophobic rapper, banned from the UK, manage to become Uganda's presidential candidate? How did he manage, after a few years, to be welcomed in the USA and England as a hero of political correctness?

The phenomenon is explained with skill by the directors Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp in the beautiful documentary Bobi Wine Ghetto President, presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

Bobi Wine is brilliant, devoted. He is fun with the crowd, docile in the hands of promotion but also divisive for Ugandans.

Scala was a very famous cinema in Bangkok. The most iconic. This phase of dismantling is narrated tenderly in the documentary Scala, by young filmmaker Ananta Thitanat presented at the Bangkok World Film Festival 2022 in which it won the Grand Jury Prize.

The documentary closely follows the work of tearing down the interiors and furnishings of the theatre. The style of the building was brilliant, with an extended foyer, staircase, and a huge chandelier. They removed the red seats and unclean curtains. When they fell, the dust rose; it was the dust of the history of world cinema.

Countryside, fog, lots of fog, a car driving on a gloomy road. Inside are two women, mother and daughter. The journey ends in emptiness. In a square submerged in a thick haze, the car stops in front of the Moel Fanam Hall, an ancient English noble mansion, transformed into a luxury hotel.

This is the beginning of the film The Eternal Daughter by director Joanna Hogg, presented at the 79th Venice Film Festival.

It is the spectator's entertainment, guessing the secrets of the fog, the origin of odd rattles, the improbable characters, the solitude.

Reviews, news and analysis from 15. World Film Festival Bangkok, 2.12 11.12 2022

A selection of the most important films from the popcinema.org editorial team.

Reviews, news and analysis from 79th Venice International Film Festival, Venice, 31.08 - 10.09 2022

A selection of the most important films from the popcinema.org editorial team.

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