AFI Fest - FilmRoot

New Order (Nuevo Orden) – AFI Fest 2020

New Order starts with a chaotic montage of images. There’s a modern art painting, a naked lady covered in green paint, and plenty of lifeless bodies. Each image flashes up on screen for half a second as bold orchestral music plays in the background. It’s a disorientating and sensationalist start which gives us a sign of the chaos to come.

The film relaxes for 15 minutes after the opening as we enter the safety bubble of an upper class wedding in Mexico City. There’s a lot of mingling and small talk. It’s a world which feels a lot like the exclusive Mexico City world shown in The Good Girls. Everyone is focused on their business and completely oblivious to the lives of the public outside of their social sphere.

However, some ominous signs start to appear that connect to the chaotic opening montage which the film uses to build unease. The tap water starts running green; the judge for the wedding is late; and one guest appears with a green splodge on her shirt. Meanwhile the bride disappears to help out one of their former maids. The outside world is getting closer to their upper class bubble.

It’s not long before the bubble bursts and some outsiders splattered in green climb over the walls surrounding their property, symbolic of the wealth divide. At this point everything suddenly goes mad as the security guards turn on the wealthy family and start raiding the house for valuables alongside the home invaders. It’s not particularly clear who the invaders are, but from who they’re targeting it seems like it’s an anti-rich uprising. From this point on the film descends into nihilistic chaos that reminded me of Todd Phillips Joker. It’s not really clear what the nihilism is supposed to represent besides a vague: rich are bad, and the poor victimized and it’s never really clear why everything is happening. As a result, the second half comes across as a bit sensationalist and provocative and without too much depth to back up the action.

If you’d like to see some Mexican political movies with a bit more depth check out the satirical critique of Mexican politics in Luis Estrada’s The Perfect Dictatorship, and the horrifyingly real nihilism in Amat Escalante’s Heli. There’s also Children of Men and Sons of Denmark if you want to watch some more chaotic near future dystopian movies.

Head to our AFI Fest Hub for more reviews and short films from AFI Fest 2020.

Quick Recap of AFI Fest 2024

AFI Fest continues to shine as one of the premiere film festivals in Los Angeles. The programmers do a great job of curating the best films from the 2024 festival circuit whilst introducing international films from first-time filmmakers that run along side the big red carpet premieres. The 2024 edition was no different. Outside of the camera grabbing U.S. features, there was a litany of international gems. Find a recap of our favorites below.

Our Top Three from AFI Fest 2024

1. Sujo (Mexico)

Sujo starts with narco-violence in remote Michoacan, so I was expecting this to become the latest pessimistic and bleak narco-flick that festivals have been gobbling up over the last ten years. However, this film explores an alternative narrative, in which Sujo (the son of a hit-man) is carefully guided away from his father’s fate despite all the temptations. His journey is posed as an allegory for the history of modern Mexico, in a similar way to Innaritu’s Bardo from 2023. It presents a hopeful future, despite a traumatic recent history and the plans of fate, with the help of dreams and magic.

2. La Cocina (Mexico/U.S.)

La Cocina is brimming with energy. It’s present in the editing, the acting, and the dialogue and makes the film captivating despite the small set. The lead dominates the camera with the control of his body, expressions, and voice to create a character you cannot look away from. Everything is captured brilliantly in this one-set recreation of a stage play. The only thing holding it back from being one of the greats is that it feels limited by the restrictions of the stage. It doesn’t quite feel like it has truly transferred from the stage to the cinematic medium (similar to the limited space in Birdman and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Despite this, La Cocina is still one of the year’s most engrossing dramas.

3. No Other Land (Palestine/Israel)

Israel’s encroachments on Palestinian territory date back to the country’s formation. However, the encroachment is typically overshadowed by developments in the conflict in the international news. No Other Land intimately documents Basel Adra’s lifelong protest against Israeli settler encroachment. In the film, Basel is joined by a sympathetic Israeli that helps to publicize their struggle. The footage places you within their struggle, which is at times shocking and appears increasingly hopeless. However, Basel’s calm words encouraging patience for activists worldwide is the message everyone should take away from this enlightening documentary.

Honorable Mentions

Santosh (India)

Santosh is a gripping thriller that follows the plight of a police widower that takes her dead husbands job to stay afloat and gets caught in a web of sexism and classism. She battles with the prejudices of others as well as her own, as she seeks to re-right the wrongs done to her.

Second Chance (India)

A wonderfully low-key fish-out-of-water story featuring a city girl living in a home-stay in the Indian Himalayas. The humble way of life in the mountains helps to ground her after a tumultuous break-up so she can re-find herself before she returns to reality.

Viet and Nam (Vietnam)

The slowest film I watched at this years AFI Fest, Viet and Nam features a few narrative segments that each touch on the hopelessness of life in contemporary Vietnam. Whilst the message is bleak, the pictures are gorgeous, especially the dark shots deep in the mines which merge the underground with the celestial.

Thank You for Banking with Us! (Palestine)

This Palestinian family drama features a housewife that is pushed into a new lease of life with the help of her sister following the unexpected death of her father. Politics are in the background as the film centers on the awakening of an ordinary housewife overwhelmed by the expectations of her role as a woman and mother.

Another year, another great slate of films from AFI Fest. We strongly encourage everyone to check out next years edition. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here.

Paris 13th District – AFI Fest 2021

If you’re a secret fan of love triangles but actually an art-house film snob, Paris 13th District is for you. You have your art-house credentials, with Jacques Audiard directing and Celine Sciamma writing, as well as a smooth black and white film. But you also have a light, free-flowing script with lots of sex that doesn’t slow down, making it an easy watch for anyone wanting to tune out.

Paris 13th District isn’t deep. There doesn’t appear to be any hidden subtext to either of the character’s narratives. Some of the scenes even feel a little contrived, particularly the scene in a university lecture hall in which all of the students start watching videos of a chat room girl and making fun of Nora for looking just like her. In an otherwise relatable film of 20-30 somethings, this scene stands out – making you think that the writers might actually be a bit out of touch with the young adult’s reality. But luckily the depth isn’t needed thanks to the lightness of the film. It flows so smoothly that you won’t have time to think about why it was made.

The lightness comes from a range of things. Firstly, there’s the clean simplicity of the black and white film that takes away any noise. This is supported by the simple soundtrack with synth bursts that cleanly separate the breaks between each narrative. Secondly, there’s the free characters. Even though each one has their own problems – Emilie has family drama, Nora is bullied, and Camille has his own grief – they never feel serious. Instead they appear free to do anything they like – each one quickly changes their career as if it were starting a new day. Camillie suddenly becomes a real-estate agent after dropping out of his masters, Nora starts her law degree in her 30’s before dropping out to rejoin a career in sales, and Emilie doesn’t even feel burdened to work. Their free-flowing careers comes across as a bit of a jab at millennials from the older screenwriters of the film. All of them are played as fragile characters that change their mind and lack commitment. However, it does make the film feel lighter – they all live in a city in which their troubles don’t feel that serious and in which they can change their direction in an instant.

So if you’re looking for a light relationship drama with art-house credentials, Paris 13th District is worth a watch. Whilst it’s arguably a bit out of touch, it is an easy watch for anyone looking for a break from the more challenging film festival fare.

Head to our AFI Fest 2021 Hub for more reviews and short films from AFI Fest 2021.

Le Pupille – AFI Fest 2022

Le Pupille brings you into a Catholic Orphanage during Christmas in the height of the Second World War. Despite the frugal times and strict Mother Superior, the girls find joy in a few magical scenes reminiscent of the wonder of early cinema.

In the Catholic Orphanage, objects are a scarcity. Unlike the often stuffy materialism of today’s modern world, the girls in Le Pupille live in large rooms with very few things around them. This partly emphasizes the frugality of the war period, and in turn, distinguishing any warm nostalgia for Italian fascism, but it also sets a blank slate for the rare objects included in the movie to star. The radio and the giant red cake are enhanced by the absence around them, making them seem much more luxurious than they should be.

The frugality in front of the camera is also seen in the film’s production. The director, Alice Rohrwacher, shot Le Pupille completely on film, and therefore all of the special effects are completely VFX free. This gives the film a playful magic that feels like the wonder of the Melies’ silent films. In one scene a baby appears out of thin air (from one shot to the next), whilst a freeze-framed shouting Mother Superior conveys shock from what feels like the kids perspective in another. Unlike the seriousness of modern VFX, that often strives for digital realism, the old school special effects used here add wonder and magic to film. It encourages wonder rather than inhibiting it.

It’s this simplicity both in front of the camera (with the limited objects and distractions) and behind the camera (in the production process) that makes this short Christmas film feel so playful and joyful.

Head to our AFI Fest 2022 Hub for more reviews from AFI Fest 2022.

Joyland – AFI Fest 2022

Immerse yourself in the patriarchy embedded in a traditional family in Lahore, Pakistan with Joyland. Don’t let the upbeat title mislead you. Whilst there are some warm moments in Haider’s queer coming of age story, his awakening is framed as a privilege of his gender. The women are all victims of the patriarchy whether they’re within the family house or outside it.

Despite being confined to a wheelchair, the grandfather is still the head of the household consisting of his two sons and their wives, as well as his eldest son’s many children. Haider, the youngest son, holds the focus of the first half of the film as he transitions from a house husband supporting his wife, to a husband seeing other women and turning his wife into a house-wife. The focus on Haider is representative of the patriarchal society he exists within. The audience initially sympathizes with him because he’s looked down on by the men of his family for his assumption of traditionally female role. Because of this set up, his queer coming of age is celebrated as it feels like he’s finally able to come out of his shell. The focus on his budding romance with his boss are some of the happiest moments of the film. However, in the second half of the film, his queer coming of age is framed as his male privilege.

Whilst Haider is out finding himself, his wife, Mumtaz, has been forced by Haider’s family to resign from her dream job and assume the domestic responsibilities expected of a wife. Simultaneously her narrative is overshadowed by Haider’s. Her screen time slowly diminishes as Haider’s grows. Even her star entrepreneurial scene from the start of the movie – in which she uses phone flash-lights to complete her job during a blackout – is hijacked by her husband when he pulls the same trick for his crush later in the film. Mumtaz’s repression by the patriarchy is represented in the empathy and upbeat scenes that are given to her husband, at the expense of hers.

Joyland is a technically faultless film – something you’d expect from a Cannes winner – and captures the dynamics of the patriarchy in Pakistan perfectly. However, whilst its Queer Palm win promises a progressive or unique portrayal of Queerness, Joyland doesn’t really stretch any boundaries here. Haider’s relationship with Biba, the only queer relationship in the film, is sacrificed for a melodramatic finale. Her role, whilst played brilliantly, mostly exists to be the exotic temptress for Haider’s macho-turn.

Head to our AFI Fest 2022 Hub for more reviews from AFI Fest 2022.