Göteborg Film Festival 2022 reviews and thoughts

Göteborg Film Festival 2022, according to me, Martin.
Covid-19 keeps sticking around, though fortunately not as vehemently as last year. Therefore, the cinemas are open again, albeit with a bunch of restrictions, such as closed rows, vaccine passes and more
organised seating and queueing.
The less than optimal capacity,combined with both the popularity and the effectiveness of last year's streaming functionality resulted in the mix-and-match solution I requested, wherin the festival experience can be combined with the comfort of home viewing.
List of my viewed films will be added to https://www.imdb.com/list/ls532159556/

rWinnersr180

Nominees (winners presented way further down):

Best supporting actor:

Vinette Robinson, Boiling point
Sophia Heikkilä, Pahanhautoja
Jacek Braciak, Zeby nie bylo sladów
Carolyn Bracken, You Are Not My Mother

Best leading actor:

Claudio Santamaria, Freaks Out
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Tomasz Zietek, Zeby nie bylo sladów
Sheila Vand, Land of Dreams

Best ensemble:

Boiling point
Zeby nie bylo sladów
Freaks Out
Land of Dreams

Best director:

Shoja Azari, Land of Dreams
Jan P. Matuszynski, Zeby nie bylo sladów
Gabriele Mainetti, Freaks Out
Philip Barantini, Boiling Point

Best film:

Land of Dreams
Zeby nie bylo sladów
The Lost Daughter
Freaks Out
And as per usual (it's a tradition, or an old charter, or something....), it seems proper to announce
This year's.....
….cinema: Draken

….low-point: The 83% filler in "What do we see...."

….shortage: Animation

….best seat: Middle of VIP row at Biopalatset

….cinematography: Land of Dreams

….reading: Retromancer, by Robert Rankin

….most uneven: Holy Emy

….set/production design: Ruva

….theme: Disorder

….vignette film: Goldflakes from the sky

….weather: Mostly fine

….screenplay: Iuli Gerbase, A Nuvem Rosa

….should be caught at the cinema: De Uskyldige

….Bechdel spread: 48%

….transport: Trams, bike, feet

….Lost item: None

….Skarsgård: None, that I could see

….Speech: Vinette Robinson's in Boiling point

….documentary: Who killed the KLF

….dancing: You are not my mother

….rising star: Beppe Bargo
And, who won? Well:

Best supporting actor:

Sophia Heikkilä, Pahanhautoja

Best leading actor:

Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter

Best ensemble:

Boiling point

Best director:

an P. Matuszynski, Zeby nie bylo sladów

Best film:

Freaks Out


Inu-ô

Musictale by Masaaki Yuasa, JPN 2021

Creative animation and storytelling served in innovative and somewhat discerning manner

4 biwas of 6

fbt4


L'événement (Happening)

Terminationdrama by Audrey Diwan, FRA 2022

Direct and no-nonsense, well-done and gripping in places, yet not too engaging, partly due to the story having been told plenty of times before.

3 needles of 6

pbt3


Who killed the KLF?

Rockumentary by Chris Atkins, GBR 2021

Standard form documentary but with exceptionally interesting characters and story.

4 million quid of 6

fbt4

Zalava

Exorcismish by Arsalan Amiri, IRN 2021

Sometimes funny, sometimes gripping, sometimes unstructured demon flick where human superstition is the real monster and the lead charactar looks like Borat.

3 jars of 6

fbt3


Passion

Domimentuary by Maja Berg, SWE 2022

Beautifully shot but immensely boring

2 feathers of 6

pbt2


Boiling point

Culidrama by Philip Barantini, GBR 2021

Tense and probably accurate depiction of what can happen with too much stress and a necessary reliance on others collide.

4 Michelins of 6

pbt4

Pahanhautoja (Ruva)

Avienationhorror by Hanna Bergholm, FIN 2022

Overt symbolism in creepy but predictable reverse body horror with brilliant set design.

3 eggs of 6

pbt3


Freaks out

Mutantiare by Gabriele Mainetti, 2021

Probably the best Italian actiondramedy set in WW2 since La Vita e Bella, and with X-men vibes and beautiful cinematography, brilliant music and spotgon pacing to boot.

5 cannons of 6

fbt5


Svart Krabba

Icecapaids by Adam Berg, SWE 2022

Skillful and tense, but predictable and plot-holey.

3 skates of 6

fbt3


Aurora

Expectancy by Paz Fábrega, CRC 2021

Sweet, laid-back,refreshingly anti-melodramatic and honestly kind of boring.

3 drawings of 6

pbt3


France

Shallournalism by Bruno Dumont, FRA 2021

Honest and superficial at the same time, France tries a lot, and fails more often than it succeeds.

2 helmets of 3

pbt2


Holy Emy

Hellashealing by Araceli Lemos, GRE 2021

Beautiful and uneven, sometimes incomprehensible, yet fascinating.

3 fishes of 6

pbt3


Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt? (What do we see when we look at the sky?)

Near-miss-narration by Aleksandre Koberidze, GEO 2021

With almost painfully slow tempo the tale is told (literally, as they use voice-over narration and rarely any dialogue) so ineffectively that one wonders what could have happened in the hands of an editor.

2 balls of 6

fbt2


Zeby nie bylo sladów (Leave no traces)

Despairdrama by Jan P. Matuszynski, POL 2021

Excellently paced, told and acted reality based drama about corruption and the malice that follows.

5 bugs of 6

fbt5


Startsladden

Celluloidrelay by numerous, SWE 2021-22

Short film collections usually consist of both duds and gems, sometimes to the extreme. This year, it's more streamlined, with no real standout in either end of the quality spectrum other than the stellar performance by the young nephew in Den Japanska Illusionen.
Josef, 3/6
En sol i natten, 2/6
Bromance, 3/6
Den japanska illusionen, 4/6
Pitch, 4/6
Nattpass, 3/6
Vi var barn då, 4/6

3.3 mixed media of 6

pbt

The Lost daughter

Disconnection by Maggie Gyllenhaal, USA 2021

Close, intense and phenomenally acted in a drama in which you still genuinely care for a deeply flawed main character.

5 orange peels of 6

pbt5


Land of dreams

Reverie by Shoja Azari and Shirin Neshat, USA/GER 2021

Surreal and with well established mood, along with clever writing and spot-on acting, experienced in exactly as hypnotized state as is possible to be.

5 disguises of 6

pbt5


Grosse Freiheit

Prisonpetting by Sebastian Meise, AUT 2021

Well-acted, down-to-earthy and even-paced, but honestly rather dull.

3 fags of 6

fbt3

The Beta test

Psych0mystery by Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, USA  2021

An arseholey protagonist and not too obvious twists make for an interesting but not that masterful satirical (bordering on darkly comedic) take on American Psycho.

4 purple envelopes of 6

fbt4

Hytti nro 6

Romcompartment by Juho Kuosmanen, FIN/RUS 2021

Familiarity and honesty, but drags towards the end

3 compartments of 6

fbt3


Så jävla easy-going

Add-entity drama by Christoffer Sandler, SWE 2022

Cute and not overly sentimental or preachy, with a good heap of bonus for being shot literally in my own hoods.

4 crêpes of 6

pbt4

A Nuvem Rosa (The Pink Cloud)

Solosocial by Iuli Gerbase, BRA 2021

Bottle episodic drama the hits close to the home, for obvious reasons.

5 VR glasses of 6

fbt5


You are not my mother

Hexhorror by Kate Dolan, IRE 2021

Ari Aster-esque creepiness leads to rather run-of-the-mill horror towards the end.

3 bonfires of 6

pbt3


Un lugar llamado dignidad (A place called Dignity)

Cilicecult by  Matías Rojas Valencia, CHL 2021

Creeping, creepy and uneasy, showing the harsh reality of unchecked religious authority.

4 sackcloths of 6 

fbt4


Nobody has to know

Strokesuggestion by Bouli Lanners, BEL/GBR 2021

Beautiful landscapes frame sombre acting in a somehow sweet tale of gaslighting.

3 dalmatians of 6
 

fbt3







(c) Martin Smedendahl 2022