Frequent Godard-collaborater Fabrice Aragno’s debut feature Le Lac is a film to absorbed rather than to be followed like a conventional work. Renouncing traditional dialogue and narrative progression, Aragno’s work is a sensorial experience that prioritizes touch, sound, and image over words. Over the course of five days, we accompany a couple, Anna (Clotilde Courau) and Vincent (Bernard Stamm), as they join a sailing race across a vast lake. What unfolds is an exploration of intimacy, nature, and the moments in which life itself feels most alive.
Tag Archives: Switzerland
Visions du Réel 2025 Review: “Gen_”
In Gen_, director Gianluca Matarrese creates an intimate and layered portrait of Dr. Bini, an Italian fertility specialist whose clinic becomes a meeting point for a diverse range of patients. Cisgender men with fertility struggles, gay couples pursuing parenthood, trans people receiving hormone treatments, and people questioning their own gender identity all pass through his doors. The film moves through these encounters, observing with sensitivity and without imposing a fixed viewpoint.
Venice 2023 Review: “God is a Woman”
Andrés Peyrot’s “God is a Woman” is an impactful documentary that serves to empower a community, but also teaches an essential lesson about ethical filmmaking. Premiering as the opening film of the Critic’s Week of the Venice Film Festival, this Swiss-Panamanian creation avoids the traditional ‘outsider-looking-in’ approach, instead providing the Indigenous Kuna people of Panama with agency to shape their own narrative.
Locarno 2023 Review: “Essential Truths of the Lake”
Essential Truths of the Lake, the latest work from acclaimed Philippine director Lav Diaz, arrives at the Locarno Film Festival as a fascinating prequel to last year’s When the Waves Are Gone. It is a film of contradiction, complexity, and deep resonance, weaving political commentary, existential pondering, and a grounded police procedural into a textured and innovative work.
Locarno 2023 Review: “Manga D’Terra”
“Manga D’Terra,” directed by the Swiss-Portuguese filmmaker Basil da Cunha, takes its audience into the heart of a struggle that is both poignant and profoundly moving. It narrates the story of Rosinha, a character played with astounding authenticity by Elina Rosa in her acting debut. Her narrative, set in a strife-torn neighborhood of Portugal, marries social realism with elements of musical genre, culminating in a film that speaks on multiple levels about pain, desperation, dreams, and ultimately, resilience.
Cannes 2021 Review: Semaine de la Critique Shorts
In this article I will be looking at nine short films that premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Semaine de la Critique selection. A refreshing slate of short films from all over the world, made by the hottest upcoming auteurs in cinema.
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