If I need to tell you what a great year for movies we just had in 2022, you might be perusing the wrong website. Sure, there may be a lot fewer movies hitting theaters than we're used to, with the theatrical distribution model still recovering from the industry-crippling pandemic, but that just means there was a little less garbage to sift through. However, even with fewer movies at the multiplex, trying to piece together my list of favorite films turned out to be quite the difficult prospect.
Figuring out my absolute favorites toward the top of my list was quite easy, but determining what movies were going to end up towards the end of the list, especially when it came to shifting films outside of my Top 10 Films of 2022, was a lot more challenging. Trying to determine which movies fell just outside of my list was extremely difficult, and there are...
Figuring out my absolute favorites toward the top of my list was quite easy, but determining what movies were going to end up towards the end of the list, especially when it came to shifting films outside of my Top 10 Films of 2022, was a lot more challenging. Trying to determine which movies fell just outside of my list was extremely difficult, and there are...
- 1/3/2023
- by Ethan Anderton
- Slash Film
Netflix’s masterpiece, Athena, was shot mainly on the Arri Alexa 65 by cinematographer Matias Boucard AFC. Boucard utilized this extra-large sensor to enhance motion and storytelling in long takes, and within extreme environments.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena: Children of Men
Athena is a 2022 French epic action tragedy film directed by Romain Gavras. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, the film examines inequality and police violence in a French banlieue community. The film had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2022, where it competed for the Golden Lion award, and was released on 23 September 2022 by Netflix.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix
It was praised for its acting, score, direction, and technical aspects, especially regarding its cinematography. Athena’s Dp is Matias Boucard AFC, who used the extra-large sensor of the Arri Alexa 65 to enhance motion, and camera kinetics,...
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena: Children of Men
Athena is a 2022 French epic action tragedy film directed by Romain Gavras. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, the film examines inequality and police violence in a French banlieue community. The film had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2022, where it competed for the Golden Lion award, and was released on 23 September 2022 by Netflix.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix
It was praised for its acting, score, direction, and technical aspects, especially regarding its cinematography. Athena’s Dp is Matias Boucard AFC, who used the extra-large sensor of the Arri Alexa 65 to enhance motion, and camera kinetics,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
The leaves are withering, the air is turning crisp, and film festival season is well underway — which means even more foreign-language movies to receive raves on the fall awards circuit before getting promptly buried on a streamer. But don't let that happen to "Athena," a staggering French drama that is in danger of falling into the Netflix abyss, crowded out by your "Gray Men" or "Kissing Booth's." Or check out one of last year's forgotten festival darlings in Céline Sciamma's "Petite Maman." And because spooky season is now here, we have a horror anime classic making their streaming debuts, alongside a cyberpunk anime classic. Plus, "Little Women," but make it crime?
Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.
Athena – Netflix
Country: France
Genre: Action drama
Director: Romain Gavras
Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.
"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...
Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.
Athena – Netflix
Country: France
Genre: Action drama
Director: Romain Gavras
Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.
"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...
- 9/27/2022
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
This review originally ran in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
For those still under the erroneous impression that police brutality against Black people and other communities of color exists as an exclusively American form of racially motivated violence, “Athena,” an explosive drama (figuratively and literally) from French director Romain Gavras, son of legendary auteur Costa-Gavras, disproves it.
Over the course of one fateful day in the aftermath of the brutal killing of a boy of Middle Eastern descent at the hands of a group of white men — either comprised of cops, members of a far-right clan, or perhaps one and the same — chaos erupts in the disenfranchised Parisian neighborhood of Athena, as young people revolt in response to such injustice.
Almost immediately dropping us into the action, Gavras opens “Athena” with one of cinematographer Matias Boucard’s incredibly impressive one takes that carry...
For those still under the erroneous impression that police brutality against Black people and other communities of color exists as an exclusively American form of racially motivated violence, “Athena,” an explosive drama (figuratively and literally) from French director Romain Gavras, son of legendary auteur Costa-Gavras, disproves it.
Over the course of one fateful day in the aftermath of the brutal killing of a boy of Middle Eastern descent at the hands of a group of white men — either comprised of cops, members of a far-right clan, or perhaps one and the same — chaos erupts in the disenfranchised Parisian neighborhood of Athena, as young people revolt in response to such injustice.
Almost immediately dropping us into the action, Gavras opens “Athena” with one of cinematographer Matias Boucard’s incredibly impressive one takes that carry...
- 9/23/2022
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Wrap
The Film Circuit begins with Telluride, a small but perfect film festival in the mountains of Colorado as simultaneously Venice unfurls the films that will soon be released in the wonderful arthouse cinemas of Europe, followed closely by Toronto whose films foretell the coming year’s Oscars nominees. It is a very exciting time to be on the festival circuit.
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
- 9/10/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
It’s always tempting to fetishize single-shot sequences — to look for visible seams in their making, to wonder how many times it took to nail the final take, to get caught up in the meticulous, Milton Bradley’s Mouse Trap choreography of it all. Some are great, some are merely show-offy, and others go from bravura to self-indulgent simply by outstaying their welcome by 30 seconds. It’s usually just look-ma-no-cuts razzle dazzle, a bit of filmmaking virtuosity designed to have viewers wondering, “How did they do that?” The more pertinent question,...
- 9/8/2022
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Is reinvention overrated? For at least 45 minutes, Athena (named for the fictional area where the film is based as well as the goddess of wisdom and war) threatens to be Romain Gavras’ magnum opus, but the building blocks haven’t changed. Look at his earliest music video, released in 2002: high rises, young men, tracksuits, BMX tricks. Then look at his work on Justice’s Stress, released seven years after: high rises, young men, tracksuits, only this time with Molotov cocktails and a strain of nihilistic chaos. Even as his most acclaimed work took him to bigger budgets and distant places, Gavras has never strayed far from his core ideas; his career has been an ode to finessing and amping up.
Just wait for the opening sequence, where Gavras, in a single take, moves a tornado of action all the way from a police station to an apartment block that...
Just wait for the opening sequence, where Gavras, in a single take, moves a tornado of action all the way from a police station to an apartment block that...
- 9/4/2022
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Romain Gavras’ immersive modern tragedy Athena just had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, receiving a 4 1/2-minute standing ovation in the process.
The French film had people applauding and whooping from the start of the end credits before the crowd stood for the ovation.
The kinetic story begins just after the death of a young boy, in unexplained circumstances, throwing his three brothers and the whole of the eponymous Athena housing project outside Paris into chaos.
Venice Film Festival Photo Gallery: Chalamet, Blanchett, Iñárritu & More
In a star-making turn, Dali Benssalah plays Abdel, a soldier in the French army who is called back from the frontline after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, and finds his family torn apart. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), he...
The French film had people applauding and whooping from the start of the end credits before the crowd stood for the ovation.
The kinetic story begins just after the death of a young boy, in unexplained circumstances, throwing his three brothers and the whole of the eponymous Athena housing project outside Paris into chaos.
Venice Film Festival Photo Gallery: Chalamet, Blanchett, Iñárritu & More
In a star-making turn, Dali Benssalah plays Abdel, a soldier in the French army who is called back from the frontline after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, and finds his family torn apart. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), he...
- 9/2/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Designed as something akin to a Greek tragedy for today’s moment, Venice Film Festival Competition title Athena is a torrent, an inundation, a cascade of rage, fury and frustration over the realities of life for a particular group of French families. Such conditions exist in most societies, some more dire than others, but here the wages of pent-up anger are presented with a single-minded intensity and extended duration that would be hard to exceed.
Following in the powerful wake of the 2019 Oscar-nominated sensation Les Misérables, which was also set in a teeming eastern suburb of Paris rarely seen by outsiders, director Romain Gavras and his co-writers Elias Belkeddar and Les Misérables director Ladj Ly use undiluted adrenalin and immersive you-are-there camerawork to plunge you into the middle of a classical drama for modern times. The Netflix-backed film grabs you by the throat and barely allows you a moment for a gasp of air.
Following in the powerful wake of the 2019 Oscar-nominated sensation Les Misérables, which was also set in a teeming eastern suburb of Paris rarely seen by outsiders, director Romain Gavras and his co-writers Elias Belkeddar and Les Misérables director Ladj Ly use undiluted adrenalin and immersive you-are-there camerawork to plunge you into the middle of a classical drama for modern times. The Netflix-backed film grabs you by the throat and barely allows you a moment for a gasp of air.
- 9/2/2022
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Pardon my French, but the first shot of Romain Gavras’ “Athena” — a sketch of a Greek tragedy transplanted into a housing project on the outskirts of Paris — is absolutely fucking insane. Even in a digital age where dazzling long-takes have become a dime a dozen (and all too easy to fake), the oner that ignites this roman candle of a movie about a police siege on a poor neighborhood is something else. It stands out for its fiery violence, for the ground that it covers, and for the incandescent energy that explodes off the screen like the molotov cocktail that Karim (Sami Slimane) hurls into a crowd of cops and reporters who’ve gathered for a press conference at the local precinct.
The news of the day is personal for the young agitator: Karim’s 13-year-old brother has been murdered, and a video of police officers beating him to death has gone viral.
The news of the day is personal for the young agitator: Karim’s 13-year-old brother has been murdered, and a video of police officers beating him to death has gone viral.
- 9/2/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Venice film festival: A staggeringly good opening set piece is the high point of Romain Gavras’s gritty thriller about police racism
Romain Gavras’s new drama-thriller is about racism, violence and injustice in the Paris banlieues – broadly in the tradition of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables. It’s spectacular and immersive, with a sensational opening. But it gets bogged down in its own one-note, one-tempo uproar and open-ended parkour camerawork – impressive though that is – and suffers from a number of sneaky false-flag get-out clauses that feel like a cop-out.
It tells the story of four brothers of Algerian origin in the same tough Athena housing estate. Idir has just been killed by a bunch of cops – or guys in cop uniforms – for daring to talk back, an atrocity captured on a viral video. Abdel (Dali Benssalah) is a decorated army hero, Moktar (Ouassini Embarek...
Romain Gavras’s new drama-thriller is about racism, violence and injustice in the Paris banlieues – broadly in the tradition of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables. It’s spectacular and immersive, with a sensational opening. But it gets bogged down in its own one-note, one-tempo uproar and open-ended parkour camerawork – impressive though that is – and suffers from a number of sneaky false-flag get-out clauses that feel like a cop-out.
It tells the story of four brothers of Algerian origin in the same tough Athena housing estate. Idir has just been killed by a bunch of cops – or guys in cop uniforms – for daring to talk back, an atrocity captured on a viral video. Abdel (Dali Benssalah) is a decorated army hero, Moktar (Ouassini Embarek...
- 9/2/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
There is no Athena housing project in Paris. That’s a name invented by “Athena” director Romain Gavras and partner in crime Ladj Ly for the banlieu apartment block that becomes a kind of makeshift fortress in an epic standoff between residents — first- and second-generation Black and Arab immigrants tired of being mistreated — and the French national police. Naming it thus lends what unfolds there a classical resonance, one that ties Gavras’ astonishing third feature to the tradition of Greek tragedy, though the situation could hardly be more timely.
“Athena” tells the story of four brothers, one murdered on camera by a group of unidentified men in police uniforms, the three others torn about what to do next. Who were these assailants, shown stomping an innocent 13-year-old to death? Why does the French police seem to be protecting the culprits? And what will it take to obtain justice?
These questions...
“Athena” tells the story of four brothers, one murdered on camera by a group of unidentified men in police uniforms, the three others torn about what to do next. Who were these assailants, shown stomping an innocent 13-year-old to death? Why does the French police seem to be protecting the culprits? And what will it take to obtain justice?
These questions...
- 9/2/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
With his incendiary 2019 debut feature, Les Misérables, director Ladj Ly brought the urban unrest, the police brutality and the festering social and racial inequality of the Paris banlieue drama La Haine hurtling into the 21st century, its belly aflame with righteous anger and indignation. Ly serves as a writer and producer on Romain Gavras’ Athena, which is both a companion piece to those films and a thundering amplification of their themes. Where the earlier works built to stunning crescendos of violence, Athena is a live grenade, beginning in full ignition mode and dialing up its intensity throughout with virtuoso technique.
That latter factor will surprise no one familiar with the output of Gavras, son of renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, who made a mark with his dynamic music videos for artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z and M.I.A. His third feature is a...
With his incendiary 2019 debut feature, Les Misérables, director Ladj Ly brought the urban unrest, the police brutality and the festering social and racial inequality of the Paris banlieue drama La Haine hurtling into the 21st century, its belly aflame with righteous anger and indignation. Ly serves as a writer and producer on Romain Gavras’ Athena, which is both a companion piece to those films and a thundering amplification of their themes. Where the earlier works built to stunning crescendos of violence, Athena is a live grenade, beginning in full ignition mode and dialing up its intensity throughout with virtuoso technique.
That latter factor will surprise no one familiar with the output of Gavras, son of renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, who made a mark with his dynamic music videos for artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z and M.I.A. His third feature is a...
- 9/2/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film (15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy in what appears to be an act of police brutality. An all-out war sparks in an imaginary community called Athena. It’s the first French movie that Netflix is presenting in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways and clashing with one another. French star Dali Benssalah plays the older brother, Abdel, a devoted French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop...
“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways and clashing with one another. French star Dali Benssalah plays the older brother, Abdel, a devoted French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop...
- 9/2/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Athena Trailer 2 — Netflix has released the second movie trailer for Athena (2022). Crew Romain Gavras‘ Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. Romain Gavras, Ladj Ly, and Elias Belkeddar wrote the screenplay for Athena. Plot Synopsis Athena‘s plot synopsis: “It is difficult to fight anger; for a man will [...]
Continue reading: Athena (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Romain Gavras’ Community Under Siege & Siblings at War Film...
Continue reading: Athena (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Romain Gavras’ Community Under Siege & Siblings at War Film...
- 8/24/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Netflix has released a new trailer for “Athena,” the latest film from Romain Gavras which will premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival and hit streaming on Sept. 23.
Described as a modern Greek tragedy, “Athena” follows a French soldier named Abdel (Dali Benssalah) who is called back from the frontline after his youngest brother, still a child, is killed in an alleged police altercation. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), Abdel struggling to calm the rising tensions as Karim leads the town’s youth in a revolt against the police, turning their community into a fortress under siege.
Also Read:
‘Purple Hearts’ Enters Netflix All-Time Films List, Passing ‘The Irishman’ and ‘The Unforgivable’
Gavras, who the music video for Jay-Z and Ye’s “No Church in the Wild,” directed and produced the film.
Described as a modern Greek tragedy, “Athena” follows a French soldier named Abdel (Dali Benssalah) who is called back from the frontline after his youngest brother, still a child, is killed in an alleged police altercation. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), Abdel struggling to calm the rising tensions as Karim leads the town’s youth in a revolt against the police, turning their community into a fortress under siege.
Also Read:
‘Purple Hearts’ Enters Netflix All-Time Films List, Passing ‘The Irishman’ and ‘The Unforgivable’
Gavras, who the music video for Jay-Z and Ye’s “No Church in the Wild,” directed and produced the film.
- 8/24/2022
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
"When they strike, we strike back. When they kill, we kill." Holy! Sh*t! Strap in – this looks Awesome! Netflix has debuted the full official trailer for Athena, the latest from French filmmaker Romain Gavras (The World Is Yours). He teams up with the talented filmmaker Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the script and co-produces this, to make a film about youth clashing with police in France. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos. This is premiering at the 2022 Venice Film Festival which kicks off next week and it looks like it's going to knock us out. It looks like Ladj Ly's Les Miserable meets La Haine meets Snyder's 300, with a "war" kicking off in the streets of Paris. Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. I really love these kind...
- 8/24/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
While making his name with his striking music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jay-Z & Kanye West, Jamie xx, and more, French director Romain Gavras has also proven prowess in the feature-length department with Our Day Will Come and The World Is Yours. He’s now back with Athena, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before coming to Netflix on September 23, and now the first trailer has landed.
Co-written by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar alongside Gavras, the film follows three siblings thrown into chaos after the death of their young brothers following an alleged police altercation. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, Gavras’ third feature looking to be a stylish, gripping tragedy.
See the trailer below.
Athena premieres at Venice and arrives on Netflix on September 23.
The post Athena Trailer: Romain Gavras' Venice-Bound Drama Finds Siblings at...
Co-written by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar alongside Gavras, the film follows three siblings thrown into chaos after the death of their young brothers following an alleged police altercation. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, Gavras’ third feature looking to be a stylish, gripping tragedy.
See the trailer below.
Athena premieres at Venice and arrives on Netflix on September 23.
The post Athena Trailer: Romain Gavras' Venice-Bound Drama Finds Siblings at...
- 8/24/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Justice will be served as anarchy erupts following a murder at the hands of a rogue police officer.
Romain Gavras’ “Athena” tells an all-too-timely tale of cop corruption, militant protests, and the intersection between nationalism and personal duty. The film premieres at the 2022 Venice Film Festival on September 2, followed by a September 23 Netflix release.
Per the official synopsis, after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, Abdel (Dali Benssalah) is called back from the frontline to find his family torn apart. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), he struggles to calm the rising tensions. As the situation escalates, their community Athena is transformed into a fortress under siege, becoming a scene of tragedy for both the family and beyond.
Gavras directed, produced, and co-wrote the feature along with Ladj Ly...
Romain Gavras’ “Athena” tells an all-too-timely tale of cop corruption, militant protests, and the intersection between nationalism and personal duty. The film premieres at the 2022 Venice Film Festival on September 2, followed by a September 23 Netflix release.
Per the official synopsis, after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, Abdel (Dali Benssalah) is called back from the frontline to find his family torn apart. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), he struggles to calm the rising tensions. As the situation escalates, their community Athena is transformed into a fortress under siege, becoming a scene of tragedy for both the family and beyond.
Gavras directed, produced, and co-wrote the feature along with Ladj Ly...
- 8/24/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Romain Gavras’ Athena will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, and we’ve got a first-look at the trailer for the immersive modern tragedy from Netflix — check it out above. Following Athena’s Lido bow, it will be released globally on Netflix September 23.
Athena is the third feature from Gavras, here teaming with previous collaborator Elias Belkeddar and longtime friend Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) on writing duties. Ly and Gavras are also producers.
The story begins just after the death of a young boy, in unexplained circumstances, throwing his three brothers and the whole of the eponymous Athena housing project outside Paris into chaos.
In a star-making turn, Dali Benssalah plays Abdel, a soldier in the French army who is called back from the frontline after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, and finds his family torn apart. Caught...
Athena is the third feature from Gavras, here teaming with previous collaborator Elias Belkeddar and longtime friend Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) on writing duties. Ly and Gavras are also producers.
The story begins just after the death of a young boy, in unexplained circumstances, throwing his three brothers and the whole of the eponymous Athena housing project outside Paris into chaos.
In a star-making turn, Dali Benssalah plays Abdel, a soldier in the French army who is called back from the frontline after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, and finds his family torn apart. Caught...
- 8/24/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Whoa!! Netflix has revealed the first look teaser trailer for a new film titled Athena, the latest from French filmmaker Romain Gavras. He teams up with the talented filmmaker Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the script and co-produces this, to make a film about youth clashing with police in France. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos. That's the only very brief synopsis available so far, and it sounds very similar to La Haine or Ly's last film Les Miserables (which rules) - from this footage, it looks like a combination of both. Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. It might premiere at a few festivals in the fall, but nothing has been announced yet. For now get a first look at some footage below - which reveals a quote to...
- 6/29/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
French hub confirms €200m investment in French series and features this year.
Netflix France has given a taster of the 25 original French series and films due to be launched on the platform this year at a press event in Paris on Thursday (March 10) and revealed a further 20 titles are in production.
The French hub, which officially opened on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, also confirmed it would be investing €200m in French content this year.
The Paris team announced two new French feature projects, the presidential election comedy En Place and Le Roi Des Ombres, a family...
Netflix France has given a taster of the 25 original French series and films due to be launched on the platform this year at a press event in Paris on Thursday (March 10) and revealed a further 20 titles are in production.
The French hub, which officially opened on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, also confirmed it would be investing €200m in French content this year.
The Paris team announced two new French feature projects, the presidential election comedy En Place and Le Roi Des Ombres, a family...
- 3/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Netflix today provided a taste of its slate of original French productions coming up in 2022, which includes 25 new titles for launch this year and 20 projects currently in production. The slate, selected and developed by the Netflix France creative team, reps a total investment of more than 200M euros ($221M) across 2022. The streamer recently signed a deal with the French industry in which it committed to producing at least 10 local films per year, investing about 40M euros ($45M).
Among the projects highlighted during a presentation in Paris today was Romain Gavras’ formerly untitled feature, which is now called Athena. An immersive and modern tragedy, it stars Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon and is co-written with Oscar nominee Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar. The logline reads: In the space of a few hours following the tragic death of their younger brother in troubling circumstances, the men’s lives will tip over into chaos.
Among the projects highlighted during a presentation in Paris today was Romain Gavras’ formerly untitled feature, which is now called Athena. An immersive and modern tragedy, it stars Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon and is co-written with Oscar nominee Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar. The logline reads: In the space of a few hours following the tragic death of their younger brother in troubling circumstances, the men’s lives will tip over into chaos.
- 3/10/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix unveiled its 2022 slate of 25 French Originals, as well as projects including the second and third opus of its action movie “Lost Bullet,” and “En Place,” a comedy series created by Jean-Pascal Zadi (“Tout simplement Noir”) and Francois Uzan.
The company said it will invest more than €200 million ($220 million) in 2022 in France. Out of these 25 titles, there are about 10 series, and approximately eight films.
The streamers’ French presentation was hosted at the Comedy Club in Paris to tease “Standing-Up,” a series following aspiring stand-up comedians directed by Fanny Herrero, the creator of “Call My Agent.” Herrero attended the press conference along with key Netflix executives in Europe, including Damien Couvreur, Sara May and Gaelle Mareschi.
Besides “Standing Up,” Netflix’s anticipated highlights for 2022 including Romain Gavras’s “Athena,” an immersive and modern tragedy played by Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon and co-written by Ladj Ly (“Les Miserables”); as well as “Rhythm + Flow France,...
The company said it will invest more than €200 million ($220 million) in 2022 in France. Out of these 25 titles, there are about 10 series, and approximately eight films.
The streamers’ French presentation was hosted at the Comedy Club in Paris to tease “Standing-Up,” a series following aspiring stand-up comedians directed by Fanny Herrero, the creator of “Call My Agent.” Herrero attended the press conference along with key Netflix executives in Europe, including Damien Couvreur, Sara May and Gaelle Mareschi.
Besides “Standing Up,” Netflix’s anticipated highlights for 2022 including Romain Gavras’s “Athena,” an immersive and modern tragedy played by Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon and co-written by Ladj Ly (“Les Miserables”); as well as “Rhythm + Flow France,...
- 3/10/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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