Film reviews: Neighbouring Sounds | Babeldom | The Red And The Blue | It Was The Son
Neighbouring Sounds (15)
***
Set in a middle-class neighbourhood largely owned by one elderly man (W J Solha), Kleber Mendonça Filho’s first feature dips into the small daily dramas of those living in the block as they fret over their safety. A dope-smoking housewife gets her sexual kicks from the washing machine, a real estate agent hunts the thief who broke into his new girlfriend’s car, tenants debate the future of their narcoleptic doorman, and a private security guard on a single street plays both good cop and bad cop to his clients.
A former film critic, Filho uses urban sounds as part of the storytelling and sources of tension; a dog barks incessantly and children can be heard in a playground while heavy machinery grinds on the nerves. It’s a remarkable, understated fable about social strata and urban paranoia, although its stretches of plotlessness may push patience at 124 minutes.
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Babeldom (15)
***
Paul Bush’s documentary meditates on our urban future with a blend of history, philosophy, pretty photography and maths. Ambitious, gorgeous, and often as impenetrable as an algebraic equation.
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Wednesday to Thursday
The Red And The Blue (TBC)
****
Giuseppe Piccioni interweaves the stories of three teachers at a school in Rome, all trying to change their pupils’ lives in very different ways. An elegant treat, starring Riccardo Scamarcio, Roberto Herlitzka and Margherita Buy.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Friday; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, 24 April, as part of the Italian Film Festival
It Was The Son (TBC)
***
Daniele Ciprì’s Venice Film Festival prize-winner is about a Shameless-style family torn apart by a cash windfall. Toni Servillo is the head of the family in this boisterous, uneven black comedy.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Saturday; Dundee Contemporary Arts, 21 April