Viraldice

Paolo Sorrentino loves breasts. This is striking to anyone who has watched The Great Beauty, Youth or Loro, in which naked female flesh is as integral to his set decoration as whooshing dolly shots are to his cinematic language.

Among other things, The Hand of God is the story of the patient zero of boobs, which belong to Patrizia (Luisa Ranieri) aunt to the Chalamet-esque protagonist, Fabietto Schisa (Filippo Scotti). This Naples-set coming-of-age story is a portrait of the artist Sorrentino as a young man, before and after a tragedy of worst-possible-nightmare-so-couldn’t-really-happen proportions replaces boisterous family life with a lonelier path.

We’re introduced to the sprawl of the Schisa family through Patrizia one night as she waits in a long queue for the bus that’s never coming while wearing a white strappy dress – braless, naturally. A limo creeps up beside her, containing a strange old man who knows all about her and whisks her away to see ‘the little monk’, a local urban legend who can, apparently, make dreams come true.

As a result of this unexpected detour, Patrizia is late home and her husband flies off the handle. Cut to Fabietto on a scooter with mum Maria (Teresa Saponangelo) and dad Saveria (Toni Servillo), roaring through the night, cracking jokes.

Theirs is a bubble of good vibes despite being en route to a scene of domestic violence. Saponangelo and Servillo cause mini lightning storms of delight for every moment they’re on screen, even in scenes that are otherwise hard to parse. Completing the family is older brother Marchino (Marlon Joubert), an aspiring actor who loses his ambition after Fellini – whose presence looms large off-screen – tells him he looks like a waiter from Amarcuri.

Like the sport played by the icon hanging over its title, The Hand of God is a game of two halves. In the first, there is rarely a quiet moment in vignettes that span Maria’s incorrigble appetite for pranks, brotherly bonding, such Marchino asking Fabietto to choose between having sex with Patrizia and Maradona being signed by Naples and – more weightily – the discovery of an affair. An extended family is drawn crassly, with Sorrentino othering physical difference, reaching for cheap jokes that are clearly inspired by Fellini, and yet Fellini himself could not have carried them off in today’s world.

Still, the dynamic of the central four is a pleasure incarnate. Equal parts funny and warm, each actor brings a specific dynamism that, when combined with the rest, crackles with life and love. Time passes like a rippling summer breeze in a mode that does not quite equal the cinema of Mia Hansen-Løve but is comparable to the way she makes forward momentum feel like a delicate pleasure. Then comes the transformative incident. The film quietens down and in Fabietto’s words, “I don’t like reality any more.”

The Hand of God is the autobiographical origin story of a filmmaker that exudes the warm intimacy that such personal storytelling enables. It’s this intimacy that coaxes audiences in-the-know to be forgiving over gauche streaks, such as Sorrentino’s view of female flesh as either sleekly pornographic or ridiculously grotesque.

With most film festivals celebrating the long-awaited return to in-person screenings, ArteKino remains a torchbearer for virtual viewing. The festival takes a love for cinema and opens it up to the European public – with no advance Covid tests required – by offering another edition of robust programming to discover.

Europe-based audiences with the inclination to seek out exciting new films and catch the hot new auteurs before they’ve exploded onto the scene have a selection of 12 features to choose from in the 2021 ArteKino line-up: from festival favourites to unsung gems that, despite critical success garnered at festivals, haven’t had the ease of finding distribution in movie theatres.

From 1-31 December, viewers across 32 European countries, including the UK, can explore the selection in six close caption languages (French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Polish) accessible through arte.tv and ARTE Cinéma on YouTube. Being entirely free and unequivocally promoting participation, viewership lies at the heart of this collaboration between cultural programming channel ARTE and screening platform Festival Scope, giving viewers the chance to vote for our favourite film to win the ArteKino Audience Award. So all there is left to ask is, what does this year’s programme have in store?

The curated selection combines poetry and politics, subjectivity and authenticity, innocence, loneliness and struggle for survival, offering a snapshot of the eclectic spirit at the core of contemporary European cinema.

Gender and hardship are central to this year’s thematic undertakings. Call Me Marianna is Karolina Bielwka’s first feature-length documentary, and it swept four awards at Krakow before winning the Zonta Club Prize at Locarno. We enter the private sphere of a 40 year old Polish trans woman who has legally had to sue her parents in order to pursue sex reassignment surgery. The film expresses the turmoil of being trapped in a prison of flesh that doesn’t feel yours, as much as the solace that gender affirming surgery can offer to a trans person living in Poland.

Another emotional documentary on women whose courage doesn’t waver lies in Masha Kondakova’s documentary Inner Wars, which takes the filmmaker directly into a warzone. The ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia is presented through the eyes of three Ukrainian women on the frontline who are also consistently fighting on the front against patriarchal standards and the media’s caricatured representations of women in the army.

An unexpected relationship forms the basis of Nathalie Biancheri’s kitchen-sink drama Nocturnal, in which an emotionally stunted yet sensitive brute in his 30s forms a precarious friendship with a 17-year-old student, providing a compelling portrait of flawed masculinity and a remarkable performance by British actor Cosmo Jarvis. In Süheyla Schwenk’s Jiyan, a similar unlikely relationship develops between a young mother and her aunt-in-law, after a young couple moves from Syria to Berlin to provide a better life for their unborn child.

With an intimate portrait of her brother and mother, Paloma Sermon-Daï’s Petit Samedi looks at a painful relationship with addiction and dependence which intertwines the personal and familial. A family living in the idyllic Southern Italian countryside, where Sara Summa’s The Last to See Them takes place, lives its last moments of quotidian simplicity with an overarching sense of foreboding. Maternal love and its shifting meanings are also explored in Jonas Bak’s atmospheric Wood and Water, a psychological investigation of a woman who, upon entering retirement, abandons her solitary life in rural Germany to travel to protest-ridden Hong Kong.

Political critique frames the hybrid doc Uppercase Print, a 2020 Berlinale favourite by prolific director Radu Jude. A forgotten piece of Ukranian history is dramatised through the theatrical conceptualisation of a Romanian teenager’s protest against the dictatorship of Ceausescu. Theatrical reconstruction is juxtaposed with archival footage and looks at state surveillance, the banality of dictatorship, and the vitality of Romanian youth.

Astute explorations of adolescence are to be found in LOMO: The Language of Many Others by Julia Langhof, a portrait of online coming of age and computerised teenage angst, as well as Ivan Ikić’s Oasis, where an unanticipated love triangle forms between three teenagers navigating feelings of desire and envy in a special needs institution. Blossoming teen friendships in the suburbs of Zurich is Karin Heberlein’s contribution to coming of age with Sami, Joe and I, while Marysia Nikitiuk’s tactful portrayal of innocence, fragmented identity and tragic romance in When the Trees Fall, looks at rural Ukraine through a lens of magical realism.

As you can see from this line-up, this is a selection of engaged and engaging works which seeks to explore the trials, tribulations and traumas of contemporary Europe. Watch them all and vote for the one which speaks to you the loudest.

ArteKino 2021 runs from 1 to 30 December. For more info visit artekinofestival.arte.tv

‘Tis the season for making merry and showing people you care – and whether you’re gifting a loved one or yourself after a tough year, we’ve got suggestions for the discerning film lover of any age.

Books & Games

David Fincher: Mind Games

Our brand new film book is the definitive critical and visual survey of master filmmaker David Fincher. We’ve once again teamed up with Adam Nayman (Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks, The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together) and Abrams Books to produce Mind Games, styled as an investigation into a filmmaker obsessed with investigation.

’Lil cinephile – A is for Auteur

The team behind Cinephile, the card game with endless playing possibilities, is back with a beautifully designed alphabet book. A for Auteur is perfect for movie buffs both big and ‘lil! Check out their fabulous bundles which include bespoke prints and apparel.

Green Knight: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game

A24 brings the Dev Patel-led Arthurian fantasy film to original tabletop RPG game format – join in on the adventure! A Dungeons and Dragons-type board game that comes with a Game Master’s guide, map of the realm, five character sheets and a 20-sided die.

The Curious Objects of Twin Peaks

If you’re a fan of cherry pie and damn fine coffee, then this charmingly illustrated deck of cards is well worth seeking out. This artful product in the style of the classic ’70s point battling card game will make for a super unique addition to your Twin Peaks collection. Let the battle commence!

Apparel

Girls On Tops

It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of a Girls on Tops tee’s chic simplicity. Champion your fave film industry woman from Claire Denis to Nia DaCosta, Céline Sciamma to Chloé Zhao, in 100 per cent organic cotton.

Badly Drawn Celebs

Fun unisex t-shirts and prints of your favourite celebs, directors, authors and musicians, but drawn super badly? This shop has got them all – Orson Welles, Agnès Varda, Jeff Goldblum, Adam Sandler, Meryl Streep, Poot Lovato and the list goes on…

Sliding Doors T-Shirt

This t-shirt collab between SSHH and ScreenSlate asks: ‘have you been looking for a t-shirt that expresses your Gemini duality and nostalgia for a time when ultra-rich narcissist film icons were adored unconditionally’? Then look no further. Short-haired Sliding Doors Gwyneth on the front, long-haired Sliding Doors Gwyneth on the back.

Blu-ray box sets

Mae West in Hollywood

Indicator/Powerhouse Films celebrate the magnificent Mae West in a spanking new and limited edition six-disc, ten-film box set. Includes a vast array of bonus features, a limited edition book and a double-sided poster with original designs from She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel.

The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection Vol 2

A must-have limited edition box set on New German Cinema’s wunderkind-turned-enfant terrible, with special features on each of the four discs included. Be immersed in Fassbinder’s strange and vast cinematic world with high definition digital restorations that range from Ali: Fear Eats the Soul to The Marriage Of Maria Braun.

The Hungarian Masters Collection

Second Run breathes new life into a selection of renowned Hungarian films – the perfect opportunity to engage with the genius of classic Hungarian cinema. István Gaál’s Current, Zoltán Fábri’s Merry-Go-Round and Miklós Jancsó’s Agnus Dei are given a fresh 4K restoration, available in a limited edition three-disc box set.

Magazines

Support independent and cutting-edge film journalism by treating yourself or a loved one to a magazine subscription. It’s the gift that keeps on giving – £28 for five unique LWLies issues to make their way to your doorstep throughout 2022, available here. You can also become a member of LWLies for additional perks.

Already got an LWLies subscription? Check out these other great film magazines:

Sight & Sound
Empire
Mubi Notebook

Cinema Membership Schemes

What better gift than free cinema tickets? After such a difficult couple of years for independent cinemas, supporting our favourite venues is now more important than ever. Our local, the indie The Prince Charles, has a variety of schemes to suit every need. You can also find similar schemes for Curzon, HOME in Manchester, and Filmhouse in Edinburgh.

Curios and Novelties

Looking for stocking stuffers or something to hang on the wall? Say no more – there’s plenty of great options out there to rep a film you love, whether it’s on your coat lapel above the mantelpiece.

Green Knight Tree Face Pin

Cinema ticket enamel pin by Betty Woodhouse

Moonrise Kingdom print from Spilt Milk Press

Virgin Suicides print from Tillie Rose Studio