Atarrabi and Mikelats (2020, Eugène Green) (Patreon)

51/100

Anyone awaiting Green's new deal will be forever disappointed—this is another of his deliberately stilted, stubbornly anachronistic fables, heavy on lines spoken directly to camera (but not to the viewer) and utterly devoid of conventional psychology. I find this formal approach delightful, so am always on board at the outset, and often to the end; La Sapienza eventually lost me via excessive architectural analysis, while his latest, after a promising dualistic setup (derived from Basque legend), leans too hard on the tediously Good side for my taste. No doubt that's dictated to some degree by the source, but it still squanders a magnificent contrast—Green found brothers who not only both excel at flatly delivering his declamatory dialogue but also provide exactly the visual balance this tale requires, which is to say that one of them looks like a cruelly warped version of the other. As depicted here, the legend does very little with its ostensible dichotomy, sticking close to Atarrabi on his noble, self-sacrificing quest to receive's God's light while only occasionally checking in with Mikelats back in Satan's nightclub. My guess is that Green studiously keeps red out of the former's scenes (while drowning the latter's in it), but that's the sort of detail I'm apt to miss, thanks to my defective L-cone. In any case, things turn very earnest indeed once Atarrabi "escapes," and nothing ever comes of the reveal that Le Diable was in no way fooled by the sieve's ruse, having installed a video feed. (Trust me, that gobbledygook makes sense if you've seen the movie.) Like the topless bathing maidens who turn into male [currently acceptable term for individuals with achrondoplasia] when spied upon, it seems like a wry goof, and those are in short supply throughout A&M's long second hour. Mostly, though, it's just that I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun. 

(And that's finally a wrap on NYFF '20. I'm almost certainly the only person on Earth who considers French Exit that particular lineup's best film.)