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Best of Zurich Film Festival – The Lost Daughter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cj0F91C9wQ

A college professor confronts her unsettling past after meeting a woman and her young daughter while on vacation in Greece. Her obsession with the woman and her daughter prompts memories of her early motherhood. This is of course the synopsis of The Lost Daughter, the stunning book by Elena Ferrante.

In this movie there isn’t only the amazing screen play by Ferrante but the directional skill of Maggie Gyllenhaal and the sublime acting of Olivia Coleman. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But that’s not enough. The supporting cast of Dakota Johnson, Paul Metal Jessie Buckley, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard, Alba Rohrwacher and Jack Farthing are adding the spices to this tasty dish.

Coleman steals the show, of course. This morbid and taxing movie is rising above the standard movie fare thanks to her. It’s a joy to watch Coleman in anything she’s in – but this one is especially beautiful; if a bit sad.

Best of Zurich Film Festival – Aloners

Korea is all the rage. From Parasite winning the Oscar to Squid Game being a game changer for streaming and Netflix – the world is Korean now. One of their most promising directors ist without a doubt Hong Sung-eun. He just delivered a master class in great studio cinema with his oeuvre Aloners

Synopsis: Aloners follows Ji-na (Gong Seung-yeon), a credit card call centre employee who lives alone and has no interest in befriending her colleagues. Following the unexpected death of her neighbor, which goes unnoticed for days, and exasperated with being forced to train a super-friendly new employee at work, Ji-na begins to confront the reasons behind her behaviour.

Living alone as a choice is something people not only in Korea do more and more. But is it a choice and is it the better way to live? Do we need interaction with other people with friends and family? Or is a wold of soap operas and no interaction the better world.

Aloners finds answers to this questions. Shown at the Zurich Film Festival this was for sure one of the highlights and a movie everyone should watch.

This should be an easy choice for Koreas Oscar entry 2022.