There is no doubt that 'Another Round', widely recognized in the 2021 awards season, causes some strangeness in the Brazilian public's first with the story. After all, the plot follows a group of teachers, all of them friends for years, who decide to drink alcohol doses before classes. It's like an experiment, to understand if it will increase performance, joy and yield. Obviously, a lot goes wrong and we even have some escapism for humor. But it doesn't matter: in the direction, we have Thomas Vinterberg. Repeating his partnership with Mads Mikkelsen after 'The Hunt', the filmmaker seeks to investigate the dilemmas and problems of unlimited alcohol consumption - a real issue in Denmark, where teenagers drink and are encouraged to drink from an early age. It does not fall into banalities, nor into any sentimental drama. In 'Another Round', there are good questions about life, masculinity, ego and easy escapism, always with an interesting atmosphere created by Vinterberg. And I already advance: the final sequence with Mikkelsen is already one of the best scenes in cinema in 2021, full of life and meanings through a single dance.
Denis Villeneuve already can be considered one of the great names of science fiction in cinema. After 'Arrival' and 'Blade Runner 2049', the director adapts one of the most complicated andcinematic version in 1984, by the surreal mind of David Lynch, which was not successful, but has its merits. Villeneuve's version manages to impress with its beauty and development, which make the narrative even more attractive than in the literary work. Throughout almost three hours, we follow Paul Atreides' (Timothée Chalamet) journey on the planet Arrakis, a deadly place, which is the only source of a precious spice that dictates the rules of the galaxy, also known as Dune. The feature has a good rhythm, does not tire and manages to level well the most poetic scenes with those of action. It works very well as an introduction to the plot, since it brings only the first part of the book. If by chance the script does not attract you, the visual of the production will certainly leave you breathless. 'Dune' also has a very strong political context, which can easily be compared to territorial disputes for oil in the Middle East.
What happens when one of the most acclaimed directors of our time, Steven Spielberg, decides to make a new adaptation of one of the most famous musicals of Broadway and cinema? The result is the new version of 'West Side Story'. Spielberg is impeccable in his work: at the same time that he is, as much as possible, faithful to the original material - a version of 'Romeo and Juliet' set in the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York, with Capulets and Montagues replaced by Puerto Rican immigrants and descendants of European immigrants during the mid-1950s - the filmmaker brings all his cinematographic language, his unique way of, through images, highlighting emotions, expressions and events. However, the director makes an interesting twist: he adds a larger bed (in relation to the 1961 adaptation) of social criticism, highlighting gentrification and making it even clearer that these young people are not enemies of each other, but rather victims of much larger social gears than all of us. Rachel Zegler is great as Maria, while it is extremely beautiful and touching to see Rita Moreno (from the original version) on stage. But it is Ariana DeBose, as Anita, who really steals the show. The cast also includes Ansel Elgort ('In Rhythm of Escape') as the protagonist Tony, as well as Mike Faist and David Alvarez as the leaders of the Jets and Sharks gangs. Recommended for those who like musicals and for those who are ionate about Steven Spielberg's work.
