LIGHTS IN THE DUSK

 The miniatures of Aki Kaurismaki are among the best European art movies of the last forty years though calling them 'art movies' is putting them in a very narrow bracket since their content alone gives them a universal appeal. These little stories, funny and sad in equal measure, deal with the most understandable and basic of subjects, human relationships, though admittedly Kaurismaki does choose oddball characters and sets them down in the most unprepossessing of locations.

"Lights in the Dusk" is about a lonely and unpopular night-watchman, (Janne Hyytiainen), who wants to break away from the life he leads and start his own business though basically that's a pipedream. He starts to date a young woman he meets in a bar but in typical Kaurismaki fashion it's a very monosyllabic relationship, (she's actually been planted in his life by a crooked businessman for his own unscrupulous ends).

This is an observational film about the kinds of people other filmmakers wouldn't think of observing, shot in the sharp, neon colours Kaurismaki favours, (his characters are like people in an Edward Hopper painting). Since robbery is involved you could call this a thriller and any other director would have concentrated on the 'action' but Kaurismaki is more interested in 'inaction', in what isn't said and what doesn't happen, and yet it's never boring. Kaurismaki has the knack of making us care about characters who are often no more than cyphers. it's a potentially grim little story and perhaps not a very likely one but as always Kaurismaki has the last laugh. Ultimately there is a lot more humanity here than initially meets the eye.

FIRST COW

 Kelly Reichardt doesn't make movies that move or if they do, they move very, very slowly and "First Cow" is no exception, (it has just won the New York Film Critic's Best Picture of 2020). It begins in the present day before moving back in time to the Oregon of the Old West where a cook to a bunch of trappers and a Chinese immigrant he meets hiding in the forest strike up an unlikely friendship before going into business together making cakes with milk which they steal from the cow of the title.

This is an art-house western and no mistake, moving at a pace that makes Terrence Malick seem like an action director, (did we really think it would be otherwise?). Of course, you could say that Reichardt, who shoots the film in Academy Ratio, gives us the truest picture of life in the West since Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller", though Reichardt doesn't go in for 'star' names, (the nearest we get to 'stars' here are Toby Jones, Ewen Bremner, Scott Shepherd and Rene Auberjonois in his last film role). The cook is John Magaro and the Chinese man is Orion Lee and you will be forgiven if you haven't heard of either of them. and yet for all it realist trappings it often feels like 21st Century people playing at being cowboys. That said, and despite its funereal pace, this is a western like no other, (it's certainly the most original since Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man"). Of course, you might also be surprised that a movie like this is being tipped for Oscar glory but then, 2020 has been a year unlike any other and it's independent movies like this that are stealing the limelight. It's also Reichardt's most accessible film to date.

THE LANDLORD

 I'm not sure this satirical comedy about race relations in 1970's America would be made today, times being what they are. Let's just say that if it were made today it would almost certainly be directed by an African-American director and the satire would be even more pointed. Unfortunately for many people the stereotypes are just...well, too 'stereotypical'. It was a Norman Jewison production but directing duties were handed to his former editor Hal Ashby, making his directorial debut.

It's about a white yuppie, (Beau Bridges, very good), who buys a tenement building in an African-American neighbourhood as an investment but finds he just can't get rid of his tenants and that, as he gets to know them, he becomes a little too involved in their lives and problems. Here is a movie about as subtle as a sledgehammer and it's often hard to shake the feeling we are meant to laugh at these characters, both black and white, rather than with them as if sending up the rich white folks makes the racist jibes seem funny.

About midway through it takes a somewhat melodramatic and unlikely turn that might seem even more offensive than the comedy but in its favour you can see that Ashby was prepared to take chances, (as Jewison had done with "In the Heat of the Night"), and risk being offensive if that's what it took. The performances throughout are excellent, (Lee Grant was Oscar-nominated as Bridges' mother), and while today we have to view it as a period piece and something of a curiosity, it's also a striking debut and deserves to be better known.

A HIDDEN LIFE

 You know that when Terrence Malick tackles the true-life story of an Austrian conscientious objector during World War Two it won't be like anyone else's true-life story and it certainly won't be a 'biopic'. In recent years Malick has been severely criticised for what many saw as pretentious doodlings in the world of music and show-business, as if what creativity he might have had had dried up and he was just making expensive, personal home-movies. Actually, I'm a big fan of both "Knight of Cups" and "Song to Song" even if I did find "To the Wonder" unendurable. Now Malick has made an anti-war film in a way that only Malick can; five minutes into "A Hidden Life" you know you are watching a Terrence Malick film. Diehard fans will, of course, love it while his detractors will be groaning in their seats and crying, 'Oh no, not another one'. Ten minutes in, however, and you can see that while all the Malick tropes are here, this could be a movie that harkens back to "Days of Heaven", if a 'war' movie, not quite as guttural as "The Thin Red Line" and again, in typical Malick fashion, voice-over or narration seems to dominate much more than conversational dialogue.

Visually it's extraordinary, (the DoP is Jorg Widmer), but then you knew it would be and yes, it is very slow, (as you knew it would be), and it is three hours long but it's also beautifully written by the director and beautifully acted. August Diehl is superb as Franz Jagerstatter, the conscientious objector while Valerie Pachner is equally good as his wife and there are excellent supporting performances from Karl Markovics, Johan Leyson, Johannes Krisch and Franz Rogowski. This is certainly no self-reflective doodle from some inward looking artist with nothing left to say but confirmation of Malick's stature both as a film-maker and as a thinker; it is also incredibly moving in a way Malick's previous films never were. If there's a downside, even for Malick aficionados, it's that it does require a great deal of patience and it could certainly do with a trim here and there but Malick is not the kind of man to make concessions. This will be loved and loathed in equal measure but if you are prepared to give yourself over to it, the rewards are considerable.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

 You could best describe "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" as an art movie, as opposed to strictly an art-house movie, and 'a women's picture' since it deals both with painting and the very deeply felt relationships between women and it's one of the most beautifully made movies ever made on either subject. The period is the 18th Century, the setting an island off the coast of Brittany and Marianne is the young artist employed by La Comtesse to paint a portrait of her daughter Heloise but without Heloise knowing she's being painted. Both women are exceedingly beautiful in that plain, simple way women were at a time before Hollywood glamour distorted our image and both actresses, (Noemie Merland as Marianne and Adele Haenel, the director's partner, as Heloise), perform with so much simplicity and grace as to appear not to be acting at all. Naturally a bond grows between them and they fall in love.

Celine Sciamma's film, (she made "Tomboy" and "Girlhood"), is not a conventional LGBT romance any more than Jane Campion's "The Piano" was a conventional heterosexual romance. Yes, it's a love story between two women but it is so much more; it's a film about female friendship, trust and the ability of art to break down barriers. Heloise, first seen from the back in a blue cloak, (she could be Sarah Woodruff in "The French Lieutenant's Woman"), thinks Marianne has been hired purely as a companion and initially treats her curtly, (she most certainly doesn't want that portrait painted), but in time they grow closer. Marianne has found her perfect subject while Heloise has found her truest companion.

There is also a third main character, a young maid, also beautifully played by Luana Bajrami, who becomes Marianne's confidante and her mistress' friend. This is a movie made by women about women that is both delicate and strong and very modern in its outlook. It's the decor and not the dialogue that tells us we are in the distant past and like a good, post-modern look back at history isn't afraid to be funny now and then. Aimed perhaps at an art-house audience this is a film that deserves to be seen by everyone; a masterpiece.