“Little Things Like These”, “The Murphy Law” and two other films from today in cinemas

Four date Thursday (21.11.2024) in with Killian Murphy stealing the show and Marion Cotiyar impressing. Angel Franzis’ new film “The Murphy Law” is also premiered today. The truly remarkable drama “Little Things like This”, with an amazing Killian Murphy and the tender dramatized documentary “Little Sad Girl” with the overwhelming Marion Kotiyar, will thrill the demanding cinemaphils this week. With them they premiere in cinemas and Angel Franzis’ Greek comedy “The Murphy Act”, with Katya Guloni and the film “The Kitchen” from Mexico. Small Things like These (“Small Things Like These”)) Social drama, Irish production of 2024, directed by Tim Millants, with Killian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Farley, Emily Watson, Syran Heights, Claire Downe etc. There are some films in which all go perfectly in filming, with the chemistry developed between all the factors, behind and in front of the cameras and this eventually comes out in a unique suggestive way on the large screen. This happens in the last film, starring the Oscar Killian Murphy and director of Beglo Tim Millants, the excellent series “Peaky Blinders”, dealing with a huge scandal, the extensive confinement of girls who were unwelcomely pregnant in structures under the supervision of the Catholic Church, a sad story that began in the mid-18th century and was silently closed in 1996. Killian Murphy, after reading Claire Keegan’s wonderful book of the same name, will gather, immediately after completing his filming “Openheimer”, an excellent team of associates, to carry it to the large screen. His close associate in theatre for over 20 years, Eda Walsh, for the wonderfully studied script, Millants, who used the text with an unprecedented confidence and yet modernist, stage designer and director of photography – Dutch master Frank Fan den Eden, working as a body, with an eye and with an incredible attachment to the spirit of the film. That is, all these little things, but also the unspeakable or what the script implies, which highlight a crime of duration, for which the Catholic Church never apologized. A story that had to be told again, without denouncing tone, as in other film metaphors, but as a silent explosion of a man who must fight his traumatic past and the hypocrisy of society. At Christmas 1985, in a small working town in Northern Ireland, Furlong continues to work hard from dawn, supplying wood charcoal to the local homes and shops. When he returns home to his wife and five daughters, he always follows a small ritual in the bathroom. Fills the tub with hot water and rubs the charcoal out of its skin, so it sits at the dinner table completely clean. The sequel will be a small rest, family warmth and discreet affection with his wife. Furlong has no similar memories as a child, as his single mother had found refuge as a housekeeper on the estate of a wealthy woman. There he will grow up, as a “bright son”, as his classmates called him. His mother, however, was one of the lucky ones, since most of the girls who became pregnant undecided ended up in the monasteries of the Catholic Church, the notorious “Laundries of Magdalene”, who took advantage of the work of the girls and who often “disappeared” or died under inhuman conditions. It is not a few times that he saw disgraced parents pushing their daughters into the monastery and like all the residents of the small town, so he, too, was lowering his eyes, succumbing to the common secret of a hypocritical society. At Christmas Fairlong’s wound opens and pain reaches the bottom of his soul. When he finds himself in front of a discovery in the coal warehouse of the monastery, his conscience reacts, but he is not a hero, he is always a “bitch”, who worked hard, made a family and must protect his daughters. Avoiding any suspicion of melodramatism, Millants, with the help of the script, focuses on silence, social paralysis in the face of the church’s imposition, but also the tooling of poverty. A complicity that covers the houses, manipulates the doors, seals the windows, leaving the gray frozen atmosphere to wander around events and hideous secrets. Millants, with the help of van de Eden, create a restrained underground drama, illuminating with Ireland’s melancholy grey and rotten colors the scene of the village, in which crows dominate. In the tents of the monastery, the cold blue that freezes the blood. An excellent film, which may have left the Berlin festival without special distinctions, beyond the second women’s performance award for Emily Watson, but will probably receive several Oscar nominations. And especially for the interpretations, as Watson is shocking, as Mother Mary, stripping her unrepentant look, the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, while on her side she will have a remarkable cast. But there is also the chapter Killian Murphy, a huge actor, evolving into a worthy successor to Daniel Day Lewis, who can with a special naturality carry with his fragile face, countless emotions, circumscribe with his blue gaze the psyche of a quiet man, an anti-hero who should fight with his demons to lift up his stoned body and resist something far superior to his powers. A few words… It is 1985 ahead of Christmas in a small town in Wexford County, Ireland. Bill Furlong struggles as an coal merchant to support himself, his wife, and his five daughters. On Christmas Eve, while coming out to deliver coal to the local monastery, he makes a discovery that forces him to face his past and the complicated silence of a city controlled by the Catholic church. The Kitchen (“La Cocina”) Social drama, a Mexican production of 2024, directed by Alonzo Ruispalasios, with Raoul Briones, Runi Mara, Anna Diaz, Odd Fer, Laura Gomez etc.What can hide a kitchen of a busy restaurant, who are the ones sweating over hot pans, pots warming, endless hours, to reach the exquisite dishes in decorated dishes? Alonso Ruispalasios (“Gueros”, “Museum”) invites us to look behind the kitchen door of a New York restaurant, focusing his interest on the missing workers, basically immigrants without the necessary legal work papers, who struggle for the day and believe they can live the dream for a better life. Based on the same-named play by the British writer Sir Arnold Wesker, who had rocked the waters in the 50s-’60s, with his radical works for the working class, the Mexican, admittedly talented, director makes a drama that flirts with the comedian, to highlight his political observations on the exploitation of workers and especially the most vulnerable, illegal immigrants. At a New York tourist restaurant, serving hundreds of tourists every day, under the direction of an evil owner, in the kitchen they work, at incredible rates, mostly illegal immigrants. When they disappear from the fund of $800, all employees will be considered suspicious and have to explain, but also defend their work, so that they will not be sent back to their country. One of the cooks, Mexican Pedro is in love with American waitress Julia, who, however, cannot devote himself to him. With the manager looking for the thief, the chef constantly pushing the workers to continue seamlessly the production of food and the owner continuing to give false hopes that it will help them become legal workers, the situation escapes… Filmed in glossy black and white, reminiscent of “Roma” and with photo director Pablo Ramirez fascinated with lighting and shadows and with camera making pirouettes between the actors and narrow areas of the kitchen, Ruispalasios sets fire to the screen, with the silent heroes of the kitchen, of all races in the world offering cheap labor hands and finding a common language of survival. However, with an excessive complacency and falling into the trap of bigotry, but also his belief that he can talk about everything, drawing the length of his film to 140 exhausting minutes, Ruispalasios will lose the advantage of his skillful direction and lose the confidence of the viewer, from the initial promises he had made to him. He will lose the basic simplicity, the purity of what he wants to say, give taste to his images, as will cooks who do not trust their quality products – for Ruispalasius except for the direction of photography – and load them with unnecessary secondary materials and spices, causing swelling in the stomachs. A few words… Pedro, a dreamer young immigrant without papers, works as a cook in one of Manhattan’s busiest restaurants. When she finds out that Julia, the young waitress she’s in love with, had an abortion, will be led to an act that will cause chaos in the restaurant. The Law of Murphy Greek comedy, produced in 2024, directed by Angelos Frantzis, with Katia Goulionis, Andreas Konstantinos, Tonya Sotiropoulou, Thanos Tokaki, Nikos Kouris, Christos Sterigioglu, Konstantinos Markoulakis, Lydia Fotopoulou, Ms.Five years after its huge commercial success, if anything, unequal “Happiness”, Angelos Franzis returns to fiction, with a comedy, again having as starring his permanent collaborator, Katia Guloni, who is invited to lift on her back the entire film. A surreal existential comedy, with a heroine a failed actress, who dreams of great roles, but lands abnormally behind the cashiers of a supermarket or as a waitress in shops and must finally grow up by entering the adventure of a journey of self-knowledge, with many fluent and playing different roles over and over again. A tender story, about searching for ourselves, flirting with the absurd, an inner journey of the soul, in which all those who otherwise see the heroine, want it different, play roles to bear reality although it always lurks “the law of Murphy”. After an accident, Maria Alice, a failed actress in search of great roles, enters a reality where she is invited to play all the possible roles life could have given her if she had made different choices. Where is he? Is he dreaming, dead or fainted? Trying to understand what’s happening to her, but also finding the way out to her real life, she sees herself trying to fit in roles other people seem to have planned for her. On a journey of self-awareness, with many whimsily, Mary Alice will face herself and be called to answer the essence “To be or not to be?”. Franzis, again having alongside him in the script Katerina Bey, will have as the protagonist a familiar face, with fears, traumatic failures and also funny, especially when repeating patterns and behaviors, in order to succeed. A heroine who testes many identities until she finds her own and who tries to spell out her nightmares with humor, through the form of a comedy scrumbol, who lightly approaches the most heavy subjects, an existential bullvar, with metaphysical agonisms. Franzis’s film, has an interesting initial idea and several hilarious scenes, but after a point it shows to repeat itself, to anchor, to run out of powers and without helping it, relies solely on the acting ability of Gouliani, who flirts with a cheerful hysteria, and also has the support of some good co-stars, such as Andreas Constantine and Thanos Tokakis. A few words… A failed actress, Maria Alice, who after an accident enters a reality where she is invited to play all the possible roles she could have played if she had different choices. In her effort to understand what is happening, but also to find the way out to true life, she sees herself trying to fit into roles others have designed for her. Little Sad Girl (“Little Girl Blue”) Dramatized documentary, French production of 2023, directed by Mona Asas, with Marion Cotiyar, Marie Bounell, Jacques Boudet, Didier Flamand Mrs. Tender, deeply human and touching dramatized documentary, exploring with a separate directorial approach the motherhood, mental illness and wounds of a family trauma, aired at the Cannes festival and was nominated for Best Female Interpretation at the Cézar Awards, for Marion Cotiyar’s stagnant appearance. French Moroccan Asa, the drama documentary, boldly and gracefully, using the cinema to reconnect with Carol Asa’s famous photographer and mother, after death. Carol Asas, played by Kotiyar (due to her impressive resemblance to the director’s mother), was a famous photographer, but also a writer and occasionally actress, who in the 1950s will come close to huge personalities, such as Kami, Gene and Diras, living in a great time for intellect and arts. Years later, Asas, who was fragile psychologically marked by traumatic experiences, conflicts and unfulfilled desires, will commit suicide by hanging. Mona’s daughter will attempt to solve the enigma of her mother’s suicide, through the discovery of thousands of photographs, letters, notes and recordings. The director will use her mother’s personal records, bringing to life the painful and revealing story of a tortured soul, making the common witness of a touching journey through time and a trauma passed from generation to generation, combining intimacy and art, turning family records into a memory canvas. The film talks about mental heritage, loss, memory and multi-curricular mother-daughter relationships, a timeless theme for families. However, perhaps the most interesting part of the film is what explores Mona Asa’s relationship with her mother, as well as Carol’s pathological relationship Asas with her own mother, author Monique Lange, for whom she had also written a book. A fine film that brings out a rare emotional truth and attempts to revive the mother’s life and her relationship with men, the abuse and manipulation she experienced, through fragments of her history, which are gradually discovered and stimulate the spectator’s interest. Cotiyar, in an overwhelming interpretation, is disarmingly authentic, proving her pliable acting skill, but also the moral standing of an important actress.