WLR #3

La Chimera

Directed By Alice Rohrwacher

There are moments when the quiet of an empty cinema is a gift, and then there are times when a packed house, with its shared energy, transforms a film into a communal experience. For La Chimera, I had the theater to myself, (subtitles), and the solitude matched the film’s spirit. A two-hour Italian fable starring Josh O’Connor felt like the kind of European cinema that thrives on understatement and whimsy, the movie mystical and deeply human.

O’Connor, plays Arthur, fresh out of prison, a man whose strange talent—using branches to locate buried Etruscan treasures—places him back with his ragtag crew of grave-digging thieves. His performance is striking in its softness, his angular features and intense gaze lending a haunting quality to a character who is both vulnerable and enigmatic. There’s a quiet charisma to him, he kind of looks like a more buffed up Troye Sivan, so it’s easy to see why he’s headed for mainstream success, soon to be starring with Zendaya in Luca’s next project.

The film flirts with the supernatural—Arthur’s ability to find treasure feels more like magic than talent—but it never leans too heavily into fantasy. Instead, it focuses on the human drama of ownership, of belonging. Can the dead truly own anything? And if not, does that mean everything belongs to everyone? These are the kinds of questions the film discusses without ever settling for easy answers. It’s a thoughtful meditation on loss and legacy too, presented in a way that feels distinctly European.

In an era of increasingly frenetic, blood-soaked cinema, La Chimera is a welcome relief. The film speaks a beautiful cinematic language—its pacing, its musicality, its sense of restraint—it offers reflection that’s absent from the big-budget movies dominating theaters. Props to the director, a badass female by the name of Alice Rohrwacher. I look forward to seeing the rest of her stuff, past and future.

Three-and-a-half stars.

Challengers

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

 "Dude, you f*** my girl, bro?" is the opening volley in a film that feels like Match Point for Gen Z, only without the Woody Allen—but yes, there’s a decent chance you’ll walk away from this film with a woody. A movie drenched in sex and sport, pulsing with a uptempo Trent Reznor soundtrack. It’s sleek and sexy, but never crude; every glance and movement feels meaningful. The film is so on point, you’ll probably want to go home and ____ with your date.

Luca’s direction is deliberately unsteady—a technique that works wonders here, giving the film a wide, wobbly looks that feel right on the court. It's a grand slam of a movie, a thrilling look at competition and sensuality. The shots? They hit with the precision of a Federer backhand, the intensity of a Nadal rally. Lolz. And for the Gen Z crowd? Let’s say this one’s sick—not Novak no vax sick, though. Forget that dude—Federer and Nadal will always be the real GOATs. But the entertainment level here? Straight-up McEnroe. It’s an ace, no doubt. Game, set, match.

And then there’s Josh O’Connor. Coming off La Chimera and now this? The man’s got serious heat. His performance is as nuanced as it is electric, earning him whispers of an early Oscar nod for supporting. It’s too soon to tell, but the lad’s cookin’.

Three-and-a-half-stars

Sasquatch Sunset

War crimes by The Zellner Bros

I don’t want to get angry. Sasquatch Sunset is a farce that nobody should pay to see. The filmmakers don’t care about you, they don’t care about comedy, they don’t even know the most basic principles of humor: it hinges on connection and timing. Not feces piled high. Not aimless nature-gazing. Not vanity projects that sounded good when you took LSD, once, in college.

The characters, if you can call them that, are all the same, reduced to flat caricatures of Sasquatch? Sasquatches? Sasquatchi? Regardless, if I was one of these creatures and saw this id be pissed. The filmmakers think all you do is laugh at your own pee, your own poop. If you want to make this film you can. You can go to Spirit Halloween, grab a mask, and shoot this on your phone in the park, but you might get arrested. The Zellner’s should be arrested.

And then, there’s that baby. The inexplicable scene where they shake the baby violently made no fucking sense. Provocation empty! Message unclear guys. I hated that movie.

Zero Stars