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On this page: COLONY | LOVE ME TENDER

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 6.Aug.26

Colony
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir Yeon Sang-ho
scr Yeon Sang-ho, Choi Kyu-seok
prd Yeon-ho Kim, Hailey Yoomin Yang
with Jun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rock, Shin Hyeon-bin, Go Soo, Lee Kang-wook, Kim Jong-tae, Lee Hyun-kyu, Lee Joong-ok, Kim Hyung-mook, Choi Kwang-il
release Kor 21.May.26,
UK/US 28.Aug.26
26/Korea 2h02

CANNES FILM FEST

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A decade after his Train to Busan reinvented the genre, Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho comes up with another new take on the zombie movie with this tense action thriller largely set within an infected Seoul high-rise. With its soapy plot threads, the script pulls the audience into the melodrama as chaos spirals out of control around enjoyably messy characters. And genre fans will enjoy the particularly yucky gore.

Launching a bio-terrorism attack, Suh (Koo) confronts his former boss Kang (Kim Jong-tae) at a conference, infecting him with a contagious mould that turns him into a ravenous, twitching marauder. Trapped in the building are scientist Kwon (Jun), her ex-husband Han (Go), security officer Hyeon-seok (Ji), his wheelchair-using sister Hyeon-hui (Kim Shin-rock) and many others. But these slime-spreading infected have a quickly learning hive mind, and Suh controls them. Meanwhile, Han's current wife Gong (Shin) is investigating Suh's lab and talking by phone with Kwon to devise a plan to end this rapidly escalating nightmare.

Kinetic camerawork gives the film a slick, propulsive style that pulls us into the middle of the action, which occasionally flares spectacularly into desperate fights, escapes and chases. So the film feels like a white-knuckle ride as we travel with this ragtag group through increasingly slime-filled hallways and stairwells. Personal issues add some interest, but are generally elbowed aside for more violent mayhem. At least they offer a bit of subtext.

Because of these entangled back-stories, the actors can stir emotional reactions in between the fight for their lives. Although this is fairly limited to explosions of revenge or some very nasty bullying. But of course we know the writers will give shadier characters their just desserts. Through it all, Jun and Shin are able to create strong female heroes who can see the bigger picture beyond their own awkward history. And Koo's Suh is a superbly cool-headed master villain.

If any of the plot threads had amounted to something, the film might have worked on multiple levels. But it's fairly clear early on that the tortuous interpersonal dramas, including Suh's motive, are little more than window dressing. Even the bullying thread, which involves an outrageously self-involved idiot, goes where we expect. Although the grisly twist that comes with it is a heart-stopper. Indeed, this is a movie that isn't afraid to keep the audience flatly horrified. Bring it on.

themes, language, violence 22.Jul.26

Love Me Tender
Review by Rich Cline | 3.5/5

dir-scr Anna Cazenave Cambet
prd Raphaelle Delauche, Nicolas Sanfaute
with Vicky Krieps, Antoine Reinartz, Monia Chokri, Viggo Ferreira-Redier, Feodor Atkine, Ji-min Park, Oumnia Hanader, Anna Sigalevitch, Manuel Vallade, Aurelia Petit, Samantha Le Bas, Julien De Saint-Jean
release US Oct.25 afff,
Fr 10.Dec.25, UK 7.Aug.26
25/France 2h14

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Anchored by another superbly involving performance by Vicky Krieps, this Paris-set drama is sharply well-observed, creating a tactile vibe as it unpicks the central character's complex web of thoughts and feelings as she goes through a seriously painful situation. Writer-director Anna Cazenave Cambet takes an internalised approach that delves under the surface, so even if the film is far too long, it is full of bracingly insightful details.

Lawyer-turned-author Clemence (Krieps) has finally decided to tell Laurent (Reinartz), her estranged husband of 20 years, that she has started dating women. They share custody of 8-year-old son Paul (Ferreira-Redier), who suddenly doesn't want to see her. And now Laurent is suing for sole custody based on homophobic slurs. As the court case drags on for more than a year, Clemence desperately misses Paul. And she feels like it's impossible to get on with life, because there's likely to be yet another setback. But time and a budding relationship with Sarah (Chokri) offer some hope.

Plot points are offered in voiceover, as Clemence reads from her journal. Her other relief valve is taking long swims in a local pool. Clemence maintains a wry relationship with her elderly father (Atkine), but her loneliness is vividly apparent, even reflected in her nights out with friends, or with hookups she keeps at arm's length. And as she plots a difficult path through this situation, she begins to explore the very meaning of the word "mother".

Krieps adeptly reveals the weight Clemence is carrying, determined to get through each day even when everything feels unbearable. So she quietly begins to change the way she lives. When they finally get a chance to see each other, her scenes with Ferreira-Redier bristle with intense closeness, and she reminds him it's fine to be angry about their situation. Her messy relationship with Chokri's emotive Sarah is powerful. And Reinartz has unnerving presence as a nice man who turns into a cruel monster.

When a girlfriend asks her how she could have ever married a man, Clemence simply replies, "It's what we did back then." She is shaken by how even the courts are so willing to treat homosexuality as an illness, even though that is illegal. And even people close to her make astonishingly thoughtless observations based on false stereotypes. Fighting this injustice is exhausting, and Clemence isn't sure that she still prefers the truth of war to the hypocrisy of peace.

themes, language, sexuality 6.Aug.26

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