a documentary about avant-garde music legend Meredith Monk, titled “a concept album” in the opening credits. as such, the film is put into segments all named after compositions of hers putting those into perspective of her life and her body of work and how these works inspired other artists in some select interviews. not having known much about Monk beyond basic name recognition it was an interesting look into what her work is and how it was seen at the time compared to in hindsight, however i got the impression that the film was somewhat surface-level in it told me as a viewer, making me wonder how much i'd get out of this if i had already been a fan. however i was fascinated by what i've seen here and will listen to Dolmen Music soon because of this documentary.

8/10

a surprisingly darkly comedic film about the night that ended Lorenz Hart's career, the premiere of the hit musical Oklahoma! the first musical his former partner Richard Rodgers wrote with a different songwriter. as someone who isn't terribly familiar with musical theater nor has been a big fan of Richard Linklater's films i feel like this was very much not made for me, but i felt oddly compelled by the almost darkly comedic character of Hart, spewing out slurs like it's nothing, talking an ear off to anyone even remotely willing to listen, drunkenly bumbling about, knowing full well that his career might be over but still trying to get some jabs in and trying to get into bed with a student half his age. Ethan Hawke gives one hell of a performance as Hart, but other than that, people with an interest in musical theater and/or Linklater fans will probably rejoice.

7/10

with his previous two films, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Radu Jude and his radical style of ultra-contemporary rapid fire hypertextual spurts of dark humor and righteous anger quickly established himself as one of the most exciting filmmakers of the present day to me. so, when it was announced his new film Kontinental ‘25 would premiere at the Berlinale, i knew i had to see it as early as possible. instead of continuing this streak, this film is a lot slower than his previous two, nowhere near as grand as Do Not Expect Too Much, nowhere near as structurally experimental as Bad Luck Banging. Kontinental ‘25 is clearly a low budget production shot on a phone camera just a few months ago, maybe in October 2024(?), with a much simpler setup that allows for more character writing. a bailiff faces a moral crisis after a homeless man she had to evict commits suicide, realizing that she ended on the wrong side of history despite her best efforts to help people, as the eviction had to be done to make room for a new luxury hotel in town. the contemporary style is still there, same as the typical wit and anger of his previous films, but here it's more methodical, less willfully chaotic. the city changes, new apartments, new malls, new hotels, all while the characters discuss the suicide at hand revealing their hypocritical views on justice, morals, charity and war. there's big plans for the city and you're not part of the plan. no individual has the power to change that, the change has already started and we're all complicit.

9/10