Deborah Young - The Film Verdict

Evil Does Not Exist

Posted by Deborah Young | Sep 4, 2023 | Festivals, Featured, Toronto 2023, VENICE 2023 |

Starkly opposing views of nature collide in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ which, despite its portentous title, is simplicity itself and in a minor key after ‘Drive My Car’.

The Palace

Posted by Deborah Young | Sep 2, 2023 | Featured, Festivals, VENICE 2023 |

The Palace, Roman Polanski’s appallingly bland black comedy about the filthy rich, is set in a fancy Swiss hotel on New Year’s Eve 1999, and not the least bit funny.

Stolen

Posted by Deborah Young | Sep 1, 2023 | Festivals, VENICE 2023 |

The rich/poor divide in India is staggeringly vivid in Karan Tejpal’s first feature ‘Stolen’, the desperate search for a stolen baby that is powered by exciting chases and the constant threat of violence.

An Endless Sunday

Posted by Deborah Young | Sep 1, 2023 | Festivals, Toronto 2023, VENICE 2023 |

Dazzling camerawork and an exceptional trio of teenage actors dangle from a weak narrative thread in Alain Parroni’s intense first feature about underprivileged kids growing up without a future.

Dogman

Posted by Deborah Young | Aug 31, 2023 | Festivals, Featured, VENICE 2023 |

In a multi-faceted role, Caleb Landry Jones dazzles as the survivor of an inhuman childhood who believes only dogs can love him, in Luc Besson’s calculated, over-the-top yet poignant shaggy-dog story.

Author: Deborah Young

Evil Does Not Exist

The Palace

Stolen

An Endless Sunday

Dogman