Concorto Daily – August 17, 2024

LAST DAYS OF SUMMER – STENZIN TANKONG
As seen by Virginia Marcolini

On the boundless Himalayan mountains, a young shepherd leads his village’s goats to pasture. A mysterious sound begins to disturb their quiet, but no one seems to be able to hear it besides him and his brother. He, however, must focus on finding a wife to secure a place in the village’s social hierarchy, and the auditory hallucinations make him prey to general derision. It is only a shaman who will believe his words and guide him on a journey into the unknown to unravel the origin of this mystery.

ULTRAVIOLET – VEERLE DE WILDE
As seen by Virginia Marcolini

Ultraviolet introduces us in medias res into the life of Mathilde, a young girl approaching adolescence who has to come to terms with her mother’s overwhelming psychological problems. She does not know how to approach the idea of a mother she sees but no longer recognizes, and she is shot through with guilt that she exorcises by groping around trying to discover her own femininity.

The director gives us a sensitive but candid portrait of a young girl’s awareness of her own body, desires and insecurities. The complexity of the theme is examined and encapsulated in a series of simple portraits that allow us to witness her growth: confusion and overwhelm make way to security and emancipation. Mathilde is now in full control of what is happening and finally decides to visit her mother.

LES BELLES CICATRICES – RAPHAËL JOUZEAU
As seen by Virginia Marcolini

It has been an endless summer for Gaspard, swimming in memories of Leila and their now-ended relationship. The two decide to meet again in a bar after some time, and amid initial awkwardness and clumsiness they slowly begin to recognize each other. Overwhelmed by a touch of nostalgia, Gaspard finds himself reliving moments of lost sweetness. But they are brief moments, for the gray strangers around them, like a Greek chorus, scrutinize him and severely judge his attitudes. In order to escape all those eyes, Gaspard and Leila take refuge under the tablecloth, in their own world of vivid colors where you can cry and where never verbalized incompatibilities emerge. The time has come to pay the bill, separately, and to leave that little shared place to finally let go. The scars left behind become beautiful to touch and to remember.

MONTSOURIS PARK – GUIL SELA
As seen by Francesca Marchesini

Guil Sela plays with different levels of meta-cinema. The viewer observes the “Montsouris” park and the different people that crowd it, examines the characters closely in a voyeuristic way and eavesdrops on conversations. Filmmaker and viewer overlap occasionally, and Sela operates on this boundary, skillfully portraying the semiotic concepts of embrayage and débrayage: who is talking? With whom? Who and what does the text refer to? And above all, what does the cinematic image mean? 

OYU – ATSUHSI HIRAI
As seen by Eva Olcese

Under the guise of retrieving a lost basket, a man goes to the public baths on New Year’s Eve. A strong sense of melancholy emerges in the milky, smoky atmosphere, fueled by overheard conversations, by the invitation – addressed to him by a stranger – to stay close to his mother, and by observing the methodical gestures with which onsen users cleanse themselves. Like in his previous short film (2020’s Return to Toyama), Hirai draws inspiration from his own biography to tell the story of the small town of Toyama, a declining port on Japan’s north coast from which he has long since moved away. Not without regret.

ET SI LE SOLEIL PLONGEAIT DANS L’OCÉAN DES NUES – WISSAM CHARAF
As seen by Virginia Marcolini 

In Beirut, at a waterfront construction site, security officer Raed must prevent passersby from accessing the sea. Attacked on the one hand by citizens who suddenly find themselves deprived of the sea and on the other by his speculative-minded boss, Raed finds himself hanging on to this role he does not know if he wants to embody. As the horizon becomes more choked with construction work every day, he experiences a peculiar encounter, perhaps a dream or a symbol of his desires. 

The film is a poetic and surreal portrait that explores more intimate themes, such as deprivation and memory, as well as social ones, such as gentrification, through strong visual symbolism. Set in a metaphysical landscape suspended between dream and reality, the director uses little dialogue, rarefied, communicating mainly through images. Just as in a dream, the characters, barely mentioned but deep, express the inadequacy of words, and the suggestions created leave an intense emotional impact in the viewer.