FILM REVIEWS:
NOVELLE VAGUE (FRANCE 2025) ****
Directed by Richard Linklater
Having spent several years writing for Cahiers du cinéma, Godard (Guillaume Marbeck), not yet 30, declares, “The best way to criticize a film is to make one.” So off he goes, convincing George de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst) to fund a low-budget independent feature and whipping up a treatment — there was never a proper script — with fellow New Waver François Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) based on a news item about a gangster and his girlfriend. A meticulously and handsomely delivered black and white homage to the French New Wave aka NOUVELLE VAGUE, sees the homage paid through the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, also known in English as BREATHLESS. Cinephiles will definitely delight in all the film references as well as the depiction of New Wave greats like directors Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Agnes Varda and husband Jacques Demy. The film also depicts the idiosyncrasies of Godard, who shot BREATHELESS sans script and sand continuity, much to the chagrin of his financial backers, makeup artist and collaborators. Seberg wanted to quit many times, but Belmondo finds all this absolutely amusing.
Trailer:
SOLVENT (Austria 2025) ***
Directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner
An American expat joins a team of experts searching an abandoned Austrian farmhouse for historical Nazi documents that may be hidden within it. However, when they discover a secret buried deep in the home's bowels, the team is forced to confront an ancient, insatiable evil intent on consuming them and everything they hold dear.
Some of the pipe shots were taken in the plumbing system of Castle Leopoldskron in Salzburg, the filming location of “THE SOUND OF MUSIC. But that is not the only thing common. Both films examined Austria’s part in Nazism (Captain Von Trapp refuses to have or his family to have anything to do with the regime). SOLVENT engages with Austria’s struggle with its Nazi legacy, the idea of buried sins, and how past atrocities can seep into the present. There is also a weird inclusion of the Palestinian war in one segment.
The film intersperses various filming techniques, such as archival footage, B-roll, sound design, and disorienting editing to amplify psychological unease.
The film is not without humour, and the humour is unique in a weird way. When Christina is left in the basement with the pipe, she suddenly emerges all fucked up and kills off a fellow crew member, totally unexpectedly, but in a sort of hilarious way. Each of the characters that appear is also an oddity or misfit. The biggest goof is nicknamed Fish Folk, one of the crew whose grandfather owns the farmhouse. The question is whether the grandfather was a Nazi, which is assumed by the team. But a neighbour, who suddenly shows up during the search, claims that everyone is called a Nazi for any silly reason.
Written and directed by boundary-pushing filmmaker and actor Johannes Grenzfurthner (MASKING THRESHOLD), SOLVENT is a journey in horror as weird and odd as it is entertaining, told documentary style and narrated in the first person, unceasingly not only the incumbent horror but the black humour with it. A curiosity piece that works. The director aims to have the audience experience, firsthand hand the origin of evil. The film also gets quite nasty at times, showing what can be done, all vulgar things, with the pipe in the farmhouse. Included for one’s ‘pleasure’ are masturbation scenes which show no shyness in showing a naked penis on screen. At best, there are a few laugh-out-loud scenes.
The reason the film is called SOLVENT is explained at the start of the film, which contains lots of quotes, though one may argue the validity of the quotations.
The film’s camera techniques look like a combination of cinema verité, found footage, and grainy celluloid that does not always work. Not only is the narrative difficult to decipher at times, but it is also difficult to see too, what is going on.
The film has won several awards at various international film festivals, including Best Horror at the South African horrorfest and Nightmares film festivals.
SOLVENT is an Austrian film shot in both German and English. It premieres on VOD & DIGITAL on October 10, 2025.
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