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Photo: Paramount Pictures
In cinemas from January 13:
»Scream«
For many years, director-producer Wes Craven made a lot of money luring en masse teenagers to the movies and showing them, in ever new variations, the en masse butchery of teenagers. Because shocks in the movies were often followed by hoaxes that were both grotesquely overdone and as mundane as a morning shower, the carnage didn't have to be taken too seriously. Now, more than six years after Craven's death, there is a sequel to his "Scream" hits.
The new part is a meta-horror film in which the characters who are being pursued by a killer constantly talk about the rules of this genre and how one should behave accordingly in order to at least die last. Some old warriors from the previous four parts of the cinema series, which began in 1996, are back (such as Neve Campbell or David Arquette) and take part in the teasing hustle and bustle. They expand the range of suspects and the number of victims.
In the film, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, you're constantly expecting a pop-up from a bookmaker asking you to place your bet on who's going to be hit next.
You also catch yourself wishing to press the stop button in between to get a cold drink before the next dead person.
It doesn't matter, there are a few exciting scenes in between, but they lead to a very wild finale with a lot of overkill.
Lars Olav Beier
»Scream«, USA 2022. Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gielet.
Book: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick.
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Neve Campbell, David Arquette.
114 minutes
»Spencer«
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's death. If you just want to keep her in good memory, you shouldn't watch »Spencer«. With an impartiality that perhaps only a Chilean director and an American film star can have, Pablo Larraín and Kristen Stewart approach the iconic woman and complement her idealized image with images that have almost psychedelic qualities.
On a Christmas weekend in 1991, »Spencer« condenses the crisis in Diana and Charles' marriage.
Years of unhappiness and neglect in the royal family have taken their toll on Diana, and her life is increasingly dominated by bulimia and paranoia.
But there is no trace of rescue, or even just her husband.
Left to her own devices, Diana immerses herself in her own version of the story.
And thanks to the brilliant collaboration of Stewart, Larraín and cinematographer Claire Mathon, you can't help but feel yourself immersed in Diana's visual frenzy, in which she's always princess and always happy.
Hannah Pilarczyk
»Spencer«, UK/D/USA/CHL 2021. Director: Pablo Larraín, script: Steven Knight.
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Jack Farthing.
117 minutes
Read our in-depth review of the film here
»pleasure«
At the Los Angeles airport, Bella (Sofia Kappel) is asked what brings her to the USA: "Work or pleasure?" After a brief hesitation, she replies: "Pleasure." to gain a foothold in the local porn industry.
But what is work and what is pleasure is perhaps really difficult to separate.
"I just like cocks," Bella says after a few weeks with her roommates.
The other young women have also moved to LA to shoot porn.
Now they have to realize together that entering the industry is difficult and the question of why you want it at all is becoming increasingly difficult to answer.
Only Bella remains certain that she has what it takes to be a star.
The Swedish director and author Ninja Thyberg has described her feature film debut as the first film about the porn industry from a female point of view. This manifests itself both in its female protagonist, cast like all the others with an actual professional from the industry, and in its imagery. You see a lot of erect penises in »Pleasure«, but the camera never looks between a woman's legs. But that was about it, because Thyberg is primarily interested in transitions: from Bella's greed for social media fame to her ambition to become a porn star, from a
sex scene previously agreed to be
rough
to actual humiliation, from envy to violence.
Approaching the industry with the idea of limits that apply to everyone is useless, suggests Thyberg: it undermines the subjectivity of those involved.
Rather, it must be about recognizing, verbalizing and respecting the individual moment when something is no longer in order.
In Pleasure, Thyberg follows Bella to the point where she can finally say for herself that something is wrong.
Hannah Pilarczyk
»Pleasure«, Sweden 2020. Written and directed by Ninja Thyberg.
Starring: Sofia Kappel, Kendra Spade, Evelyn Clare, Chris Cock.
109 minutes
Streaming January 14:
»The Tragedy of Macbeth« (on Apple TV+)
In the popular genre of the »Macbeth« film adaptations, William Shakespeare's drama of hunger for power and decay has taken place in a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant, during a gang war in Chicago and in the Mumbai underworld. Great film directors such as Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa and Roman Polański worked on the material. That's why US director Ethan Coen may have wondered if the world really needs another film adaptation; in any case, his brother Joel made the first film without Ethan with his »Macbeth« version.
The result, to be seen on Apple TV+ from January 14, feels like it has been sandblasted: Coen takes the play back to its theatrical origins, removing modernization, alienation and the clutter of earlier edits. Completely staged in the studio and in reduced black-and-white images, the archaic pull of the parable about guilt and free will has its full impact again. Even age does not protect against cruelty in Coen's film; with Denzel Washington in the title role and his wife Frances McDormand, the central couple is no longer young, but has a fantastic cast. And yet Kathryn Hunter, who plays the three witches in person, steals the show with an uncanny physical presence.
Oliver Kaever
»The Tragedy of Macbeth«, USA 2021. Written and directed by Joel Coen.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Kathryn Hunter.
105 minutes
