I never thought I would live in a country where Fascism is in front of my face. It is embarrassing to realize that you are among a small percentage of people who are rational in a world where everyone is starting to act irrationally. It is embarrassing to be an American right now when the whole world knows that we are a country that has lost the plot as our dumbass dictator gets a free plane from Qatar as a bribe right in front of everyone. It is not just him that this country is dealing with but also people of Congress and who are heading the many departments in the cabinet as they are all a bunch of fucking imbeciles. Yes, this is the world we live in now, and I am waiting for when everything falls apart. Fortunately, we do have a new pope in an American in Pope Leo. At first, I was not happy about the idea of an American pope but Pope Leo has managed to piss off the MAGA crowd and those dumb overly-religious folk so there is some hope at least for the time being.
Last month, I mentioned getting tickets to see Nine Inch Nails this coming September but given how things are economically. I will be sitting out this time around mainly because tickets are too expensive and I feel like I would be overspending on not just for one ticket but also for the merchandise, gas, parking, and other things. It is bad that it is going to be at the Gas South Arena in Duluth as I do not like driving to Duluth as I went through that in 2008 as I just do like driving on the highway. Especially on Spaghetti Junction as I get very anxious about driving on one of those tall bridges as well as the awful traffic there. Plus, I get lost easily in getting out of Duluth as that is another reason I will not go. Honestly, it sucks that I will not be going as I was not only hoping to see NIN again but also get some t-shirts and merchandise for myself as well as my niece and nephew to show my love for the band to them. Plus, I wanted to freak people out in their reaction to a six-year-old and a four-year-old wearing NIN t-shirts.
This year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival I felt was lackluster in comparison to previous editions. The person I blame for this is its head programmer in Thierry Fremeaux as he is a fucking asshole who really loves to kiss Hollywood’s ass. Based on the coverage of the festival thanks in part to Indiewire and the Film Experience, this year’s festival lacked something that I noticed during all the coverage. Then I realized that it was the lack of booing and dramatic reactions to films which made Cannes in the past so fun to read about. This year’s festival had none of that as I read reports over long standing ovations as that felt odd and unnatural. It has me thinking about Wim Wenders’ experience back in the mid-2000s when he premiered one of his films at the festival where he got this long-standing ovation but after a few minutes. He got overwhelmed as he felt it was overkill. Personally, I would have rather gotten booed than get a standing ovation as I want to gain notoriety is more of an accomplishment than being praised.
Still, the festival did get me excited for a lot of the films that played at the festival such as Ari Aster’s Eddington, Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love, and Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater. The directorial debuts from Scarlett Johansson, Harris Dickinson, and Kristen Stewart also got good notices as I hope to see them soon, yet it was the films that won the major prizes that has me elated as none of those films are American. This year’s Palme d’Or winner in It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi as Panahi is now the fourth filmmaker to win the Triple Crown of the 3 major European film festivals that includes Berlin and Venice. The Dardenne Brothers continue to be favorites at Cannes with their newest film Young Mothers as it won the Best Screenplay Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize while Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize. Oliver Laxe’s Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling shared the festival’s third-place Jury Prize. Nadia Melliti won the Best Actress prize for her performance in Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister which also won the festival’s Queer Palm award.
Finally, Kleber Mendonca Filho won the festival’s Best Director Prize for his film The Secret Agent which also won Best Actor for Wagner Moura, the AFCAE Art House Cinema Award, and the festival’s FIPRESCI prize. Another thing that happened at Cannes that has me excited is a sequel to the Dogme 95 movement in Dogme 25 founded by May el-Thouky, Milad Alami, Isabella Eklof, Annika Berg, and Jesper Just with the blessing of Dogme 95 co-founders Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg that include a new set of rules that can be seen here. With the lack of originality in cinema where everyone is making sequels and remakes of old movies. This is what the film movement needs even though it will not last like Dogme 95 did before but at least it is a step in the right direction in making original ideas.
In the month of May 2025, I saw a total of 20 films in 10 first-timers and 20 re-watches with one film directed by a woman as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge. An improvement over the last month although it has not been easy trying to find the time and energy to watch a lot of feature films. One of highlights of the month has been my Blind Spot film in Limite. Here are the top 5 first-timers that I saw for May 2025:
One of two shorts from omnibus films that featured the work of Victor Erice is a three-minute short film starring Ana Torrent from Erice’s first film The Spirit of the Beehive as his segment for the 2012 omnibus film 3.11 Sense of Home in which filmmakers make a 3 minute and 11 second short about the Tohoku earthquake and the tsunami that followed on March 11, 2011. Erice’s short has Torrent talking about humanity as she records her monologue on a laptop as she is about to get ready for a stage performance. It is a simple yet effective short that is about the power of solidarity and the human spirit.
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet-Lifeline
From the 2002 anthology film series Ten Minutes Older for The Trumpet section of the two-part film series is a rich 10-minute short film by Erice set during the Spanish Civil War. Shot in a small town, the short follows a family during a quiet day as children play outside while a woman sleeps while her baby is also sleeping until he cries. Originally shot in color, the film would be presented in black-and-white as it plays into the simplicity of a life as well as the things that bring a family together during the darkest of times.
Tram
As part of MUBI’s animation special is a short by Michaela Pavlatova about a trolley conductor who drives many men to their stops as she thinks about their penises. It is an 8-minute animated short that is not for children. Still, it has a lot of imagination as it plays into a woman’s desire and imagination in wanting to get laid.
Aqua
One of four short films by Gints Zilbalodis that I saw on YouTube as this one from 2012 is a 7-minute short that follows a cat boarding a boat during a flood. The short is a test-run for his 2024-award winning film Flow as it carries the same sense of raw computer animation and hand-drawn animation. The short is a showcase of what Zilbalodis can do with the limited resources he has as it is a must-watch for anyone that loves Flow.
The Keys to Freedom
From Wim Wenders is this four-minute and 19-second documentary short film that has Wenders travel to Reims, France at a place that is now a school. Inside the school is a museum where World War II ended in Europe where 2 German officers signed the surrender with 2 keys being the centerpiece of this short. The keys belonged to the mayor of the time as he lent them to the leaders of the Allies at the time and after the treaty was signed. The keys were returned to its mayor. Wenders comments on the symbolism of the keys as it relates to what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean here hoping that these dark times would end.
Inaudible
The second of four short films by Zilbalodis that I saw on YouTube is about a musician who lost his hearing after being struck by lightning. It is a short told in a non-linear presentation where it plays into a man who is a street cleaner that is unable to hear other locals play music as well as express himself through his trumpet. It is a touching short that shows Zilbalodis who knows what to do to tell a story. Not through dialogue but through music where it plays into this man’s despair as well as his own sense of longing to play.
Rush
The third of four shorts by Zilbalodis is a one-minute and twenty-five second short about a young man trying to cross the street during the Xmas holidays. It plays into the idea of patience and this man’s lack of patience where he nearly gets himself killed. There is an element of humor that Zilbalodis does while he also plays into the idea of why everyone should look at the crosswalk signals.
Followers
The fourth short by Zilbalodis that I saw from his YouTube channel is a 7-minute short about a thief who gets caught as he escapes from prison where he finds a young schoolboy pickpocketing a passenger on a bus. The short plays into the parallel journey these two take part in as they come together to escape from the authorities and those they stole from. It is an incredible short by Zilbalodis who knows about the complexities of human beings and behaviors that includes the difficulty of wanting to do the right thing.
Andor (season 2, episodes 5-12)
What Tony Gilroy and the writers and filmmakers of this series has created is something that I doubt will ever be topped in terms of what Stars Wars could be as it is the best TV program that the franchise has created. Notably in the third block of three episodes in episodes 7 through 9 as it relates to the events at the planet of Ghorman including its massacre and the aftermath in which Mon Montha denounces Emperor Palpatine for what had happened. Genevieve Reilly brings a lot of weight to Montha as a woman stuck between a world of materialism and the political turmoil that would eventually lead to her exile from the Senate and become a leader of the Rebellion. Diego Luna continues to be the drive of the series as the titular character while highlighting what made Andor into the fearsome yet complicated character that audiences would see in Rogue One. Reilly and Luna are not just the standouts in the series that has made the show great with Stellan Skargard’s Luthen, Denise Gough’s Dedra Meero, Faye Marsay’s Vel, Adria Arjona’s Bix, and Kyle Soller’s Syril continuing to deliver great performances.
The show also feature some breakout performances in Elizabeth Dulau as Luthen’s longtime assistant Kleya who is tremendous in the second season with the last 3 block of episodes displaying her willingness to survive as well as be a key player in the Rebellion. Even in making uneasy decisions where the 10th episode learn how she and Luthen met and what she would do for the Rebellion. Another actor who stood out is Anton Lesser as the ISB leader Lio Partagaz as he is a rare villain that does not seek glory or ambition but rather to ensure a job is completed. A man who is rational in an organization filled with irrational people such as Ben Mendelsohn’s Orson Krennic and other figures in the Empire. Lesser’s final scene as Partagaz is one of the best as he plays a man who has a revelation about the Rebellion based on Nemik’s manifesto from the first season where he realizes what is to come. It is a show that has raised the bar of what a TV series could be like as well as in playing a role in one of the most popular film franchises ever.
That is all for May. Next month, I will do a review of The Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson with my Auteurs essay on Ryan Coogler coming in June as it is more than half-finished. While I am unsure which film I will make next for my Blind Spot film as well as whatever films I will review as it has not been easy to find the time to watch films. Especially as there are projects that I still want to do including something in July to celebrate my 25th anniversary in writing as I had done a decade ago with a list of my favorite films of the 21st Century so far.
Before I go, I want to express my condolences towards those who passed away this month such as Valerie Mahaffey, Loretta Swit, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Alan Yentob, Rick Derringer, Ed Gale, Peter Kwong, violinist Simon House, Michael Sumler of Kool & the Gang, Marcel Ophuls, musician Kenny Marco, James Lowe of the Electric Prunes, Michael Roemer, production designer Leslie Dilley, George Wendt, musician Chris Hager, songwriter Roger Nichols, Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, filmmaker Robert Benton, musician Larry Lee, Johnny Rodriguez, Jiri Bartoska, Joe Don Baker, filmmaker James Foley, makeup artist Greg Cannom, Jill Sobule, and the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal Sabu! One of the greatest pro wrestlers that ever lived and is the embodiment of ECW. We will miss you all. This is thevoid99 signing off…
Written, co-edited, and directed by Mario Peixoto, Limite is the story of two women and a man as they are lost at sea as they reflect on their past through flashbacks. The film is an experimental silent-film drama that explores three people on a boat as they think about their past and their uncertainty in their future. Starring Olga Breno, Taciana Rey, and Raul Schnoor. Limite is an entrancing and intoxicating film by Mario Peixoto.
The film is the simple story of two women and a man stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the sea as they contemplate their present situation as well as their own respective past. It is a film that does not have much of a premise where it plays more into the visuals rather than plot schematics. Mario Peixoto does not bring in a lot of dialogue aside from a conversation between a man on the boat (Raul Schnoor) and another man he meets at a graveyard over a shared lover. The usage of flashbacks allows Peixoto to bring in depth to why these people are on this lifeboat as the first woman (Olga Breno) is a fugitive who is still on the run while the other woman (Taciana Rey) has left her alcoholic husband over their unhappy marriage. The scenes would play into the many emotional turmoil that these characters would endure as they contemplate about their isolation on this boat in the middle of the sea.
Peixoto’s direction is stylish in not just his approach to the compositions he creates but also in the overall presentation where it is shot on location at Mangaratiba which is 50 miles from Rio de Janeiro. Peixoto’s usage of close-ups and medium shots added to the drama where he would also create some camera movements and repeated shots to play into the emotional states of the characters. Even in scenes at the boat where Peixoto uses some unique high and low angles to capture the sense of uncertainty as well as wide shots such as a scene of a woman looking afar at her surroundings on a cliff as the camera would then fly off in a disorienting state. Editing the film with cinematographer Edgar Brasil, Peixoto would infuse some unique stylish cutting that would become a precursor to the jump-cut that include some rhythmic cuts that add to the sense of chaos and turmoil that the characters go through. Brasil’s black-and-white photography would add to the striking visuals of the film as well as bringing a sense of mystique to the surroundings the characters are in.
The direction also has Peixoto use music to help drive the film with help from some original score music by Brutus Pedreira as it plays into the sense of despair that the characters go through. The film’s music soundtrack features pieces by Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Borodin, and Cesar Franck add to the visuals where it has this air of poetry into the images that Peixoto creates. The film’s ensemble cast that includes Peixoto as a man that the main male protagonist meets in a graveyard, composer Brutus Pedreira as a lover one of the women, and Edgar Brasil as a man playing piano at a movie theater. Other notable small roles include Carmen Santos as a woman eating fruit that the man meets and Iolanda Bernardes as a woman on a sowing machine. The trio of Olga Breno, Taciana Rey, and Raul Schnoor are incredible in their respective roles as the two women and the man stranded on the boat as they all lament over their situation and their past.
As part of the second volume of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project, the film is presented in a new 2K restoration on a print from the late 1970s in which its restoration was completed in 2010. Released both as a Region 1 DVD and a Region A Blu-Ray shared with Ermek Shinarbaev’s 1989 film Revenge. The Blu-Ray also features two special features with the first being a 2-minute introduction from Martin Scorsese about the film and its restoration with the usage of available footage including a few that have been damaged with one missing scene presented in an intertitle. The 14-minute interview with Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles as he talks about the film and what inspired Peixoto to make the film based on a photograph by Andre` Kertesz as well as the making of the film. Salles talked about its disappearance as it was a rare film to find until the 1970s as it was rediscovered by Saulo Pereira de Mello as its restoration took a long time despite the damage it endured due to poor storage conditions.
The box set featured a booklet that included an essay about the film entitled Memory in the Present by film scholar Fabio Andrade. Andrade’s essay talks about the film as well as Peixoto who saw this photograph and what inspired him to make the film as he would do it himself since other directors decided not to telling Peixoto to direct it himself. The essay also discusses its initial reception in Brazil where it was not well-received, but it was praised by other filmmakers including Orson Welles during a trip in the 1940s. The film would be lost due to the poor storage conditions in Brazil during the 1950s and 1960s where it would be confiscated by the police during a tumultuous period in Brazil’s political history. It would be Saulo Pereira de Mello who would save the film in the 1970s though its single nitrate print had deteriorated where it took years for the film to be restored in the best condition possible. Thanks to Pereira de Mello’s work, the film would find new life as well as be a major foothold in Brazil’s cinematic history.
Limite is a sensational film by Mario Peixoto. While it is not a conventional film in terms of its lack of plot and a traditional narrative. It is a film that is a ravishing look of three people stranded on a lifeboat as they contemplate the past, their present, and an uncertain future. Even where it plays into ideas that would become key elements that would influence cinema in the years to come. In the end, Limite is a phenomenal film by Mario Peixoto.
Directed by Victor Erice and screenplay by Erice and Michel Gaztambide from a story by Erice, Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes) is the story of an actor who had disappeared on a film set where a TV show revives the case of his disappearance where those close to the man are forced to confront the past and piece together what happened. The film marks a 31-year return to feature-length film for Erice as it explores a man’s disappearance as well as the film that he was working on until he left and never returned. Starring Manolo Solo, Jose Coronado, Ana Torrent, Petra Martinez, Maria Leon, Mario Pardo, Helena Miquel, Antonio Dechent, Jose Maria Pou, Soledad Villamil, and Juan Margallo. Cerrar los ojos is a ravishing and evocative film by Victor Erice.
The film revolves around a novelist who is asked to participate in a TV show about an unresolved case in which an actor disappeared on set more than 20 years ago on a film the novelist was making that was never finished. It is a film about a man who is forced to return to the past about the disappearance of his best friend with many interested to find out what happened to him and why he disappeared. The film’s screenplay by Victor Erice and Michel Gaztambide is straightforward in its narrative though it opens with the actor Julio Arenas (Jose Coronado) acting on a film set, and it would be the last time anyone would see him. More than 20 years later, his best friend in novelist/filmmaker Miguel Garay (Manolo Solo) is asked to appear in a TV show to talk about Arenas’ disappearance as well as the unfinished film entitled The Farewell Gaze that Garay was shooting with Arenas.
The film’s first act is set in Madrid where Garay visits an old friend in editor/archivist Max Rocaq (Mario Prado) as well as talk to Arenas’ daughter Ana (Ana Torrent) and a former lover in Lola (Soledad Villamil). The film’s second act takes place in Asturias where Miguel lives a simpler life as he spends his time fishing, translating novels for publishing houses, and living in a trailer with his dog Kali and Romani neighbors. It displays a man who once had an exhilarating life with Arenas only to stop authoring novels in favor of a short story every now and then while preferring to live in anonymity with a few people. Then he receives news emerged from the people at the show about claims that Arenas is alive as it adds a lot more intrigue. The script does play a lot of references into Erice’s own life and career considering that his second film was only half-finished when it was released only to make a documentary 9 years later about an artist and spent more than 30 years making short films instead of a feature-length film.
Erice’s direction is majestic in not just its simplicity but also in the way he presents layers upon layers of ambiguity into the film. Shot on various locations in Spain including Madrid, Asturias, and the provinces of Granada and Almeria, Erice creates a film that is a somber and meditative film that follows a man coping with the past. The film opens with a scene from the film-within-a-film in The Farewell Gaze where Arenas plays a man asked by this old man (Jose Maria Pou) to find his daughter. It is in this scene where Arenas walks out of the camera frame and never returns to the set making that film unfinished. Much of Erice’s compositions rely on wide and medium shots in not just getting the depth of field into the locations but also to play into the different cultures of Spain whether it is the modernistic tone of Madrid to the more simplistic world of the beach towns. There are close-ups in Erice’s direction, yet it only plays into intimate moments such as scenes in The Farewell Gaze while much of his work has him using medium shots.
Erice also plays into the idea of the past where Garay’s time with Max has them talking about films in the old days and film projectors becoming nearly extinct while a scene at Garay’s home that he shares with his dog and gypsy neighbors has him singing a country/western song in English from a Howard Hawks film. Still, Erice maintains this sense of melancholia as it plays into regret when the film reaches its third act where Garay is given news about a man who might be Arenas. The film then becomes this study of identity where Garay would meet this man but with caution where he does not want to say anything that would be upsetting towards him but also for Garay. Erice also plays into the idea of what could trigger old memories as it relates to a picture this man is carrying as it is from the film that Garay was making. The film’s ending is an ambiguous one as it relates to the past with people who might know this man or had known him for a while witnessing something that is about loss, regret, identity, and the idea of miracles. Overall, Erice crafts a rapturous and enchanting film about a filmmaker trying to cope with the disappearance of his best friend and the past that continues to haunt him.
Cinematographer Valentin Alvarez does incredible work with the film’s cinematography with its low-key approach to lighting up some of the exterior scenes at night along with some sunny and naturalistic look for some scenes at the beachside areas. Editor Ascen Marchena does excellent work with the editing with some transitional fade-outs to help structure the story as well as some rhythmic cuts to play into the drama. Art director Curru Garabal does brilliant work with the look of Garay’s home on the beach with the small trailer that he sleeps in as well as the hotel rooms he would live in with all its space. Costume designer Helena Sanchis does fantastic work with the costumes as it is casual in what many of the characters wear while the costumes in The Farewell Gaze are more refined to play into its look.
Hair/makeup supervisor Beatushka Wojtowicz does amazing work with the look of Garay as both a younger man in the 1990s and the look of this mysterious old man he would later meet. Visual effects supervisor Juliana Lasuncion does nice work with the visual effects as it is set-dressing for some of the film’s locations as well as scenes in The Farewell Gaze. Sound designer Juan Ferro does superb work with the sound in capturing the layers of natural sounds at a location including scenes on the beach or at the estate for the scenes in The Farewell Gaze as it is a highlight of the film. The film’s music by Federico Jusid is wonderful for its understated and somber piano orchestral score that plays into the sense of loss and melancholia that looms throughout the film with a soundtrack that features available music on set whether it is tango-based music or the country/western song that Garay sings from a Howard Hawks film.
The casting by Pablo Ini and Pilar Moya is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles from Venecia Franco as the daughter of the old man in The Farewell Gaze, Jose Maria Pou as that old man in The Farewell Gaze, Juan Margallo as a neurologist Garay meets in the third act about the old man he meets, Helena Miquel as a news journalist in Marta that asked Garay to be on her show, Antonio Dechent as a gossip columnist in Tico Mayoral that Gary dislikes because of his thoughts on Arenas, Maria Granados as a nurse in Belen who works at a retirement home facility who believes that the old man who works there is Arenas, Petra Martinez as one of the heads of the retirement home in Sister Consuelo who is fascinated by the identity of this old man who works at the home, and Soledad Villamil as a former lover of Arenas in Lola who invites Garay for a drink as they talk about the past as well as lamenting over Arenas’ state of mind at that time.
Mario Pardo is excellent as Garay’s friend Max who is a film editor/archivist who kept Garay’s copies of his unfinished film while also providing some witty commentary about Arenas’ disappearance as well as saying a lot of things about cinema including a funny joke about Carl Theoden Dreyer. Ana Torrent is brilliant as Arenas’ daughter Ana as a woman who declines to take part in the TV special about her father as she is unsure about her father’s mental state as she is only seen once in the first and returns in the third act to meet the man who might be her father where she copes with his mental state. Jose Coronado is incredible in the dual role of Julio Arenas and the mysterious man called Gardel where Coronado provides this sense of liveliness as Arenas who would endure a mental breakdown that would lead to his disappearance while his performance as Gardel is restrained as a man who prefers to live in isolation. Finally, there’s Manolo Solo in a phenomenal performance as Miguel Garay as a novelist/filmmaker who was Arenas’ best friend as he laments over his friend’s disappearance and the past while confronts the idea that he is responsible for what might have happened. Even as he deals with the idea that this old man he meets is his long-lost friend where he ponders whether he should try to get this man to remember something or to just let him be as it is a somber and riveting performance from Garay.
Cerrar los ojos is an outstanding film by Victor Erice. Featuring a great cast, gorgeous visuals, and its compelling study of memory, loss, identity, and the idea of the soul. It is a film that explores the idea of who people were and who they are in the present as well as the idea of loss and regret as it relates to the past. If this film is Erice’s final feature-length film, then he goes out with a winner. In the end, Cerrar los ojos is a magnificent film by Victor Erice.
