Slow month, I must confess, but I'm glad I was able to catch up with some movies which were on my watchlist for quite some time!

Of all of these, my top three is without a doubt:

WOLFWALKERS (Ireland, Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart,2020)

This movie is a narrative and visual triumph! It gives a run to its money both to Disney (but tbh was it that difficult?) as much as to Studios Ghibli! I'd like to be able to avoid comparing it to Princess Mononoke, however it's impossible, because this movie is JUST AS GOOD! Set in Ireland, in and around Kilkenny, in the 16th century, it narrates the adventures of a young English girl, daughter of a wolf hunter charged of clearing the forest of the wolves which threaten the farmers which are slowly but surely encroaching on their lands. And those wolves are actually led by "wolfwalkers", close to werewolves, but not exactly... The conflicts here are multiple: between modernity and traditions, between Nature and human industry, between the young and the old, the polytheistic world of nature and the monotheistic world of the English city... It's moving, funny, scary, fascinating, beautiful and a treat for kids and adults alike.

ANOTHER ROUND (Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg, 2020

Mads Mikkelsen is a hero of mine and one of the most recognizable face of Danish cinema. This face of his is so instincly recognizable as a baddie (Marvel, James Bond...) that we actually forget sometimes that he can act and share feelings just as much as anyone else, and even better, and ... believe it or not... he can even DANCE! You'll have to wait for the end of the movie to see him move his body, but in the meantime make yourself ready to be moved by this story of 4 teachers, friends, who decide to test a theory that humans are inherently born with an insufficiency of alcohol, and decide to do their work, life with a constant supply of alcohol at hand. The results are both... exhilarating, dangerous, and liberating. However, this is not a movie celebrating alcohol, but LIFE.

NIGHT MOVES (USA, Arthur Penn, 1975)

Last but not least, here comes one of the most famous moustache of cinema, in a movie unfairly forgotten by time. Which is a pity because this is an awesome detective movie, far from the clichés of the genre. Gene Hackman's character is charged with finding the daughter of a rich actress. Which he does in the first act! Then things go strange... and wild... as a Rohmer movie... Time stretches and slows... And suddenly everything coalesces into a third act with one of the most terrifying face off in the history of movie. Quite a gem, propelled by elegantly written characters and actors at the top of their game.