Ukraine in Arabic | Independent, dark movies the stars of Cyprus Film Days
Kiev/ Ukraine in Arabic/ “Cruel,” directed by France’s Eric Cherrière, is the quintessential “film noir,” delving deep into the mind of a serial killer. Its anti-hero Pierre splits his time between temp jobs and caring for his Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Feeling invisible, haunted by memories of his childhood, Pierre kills at random to assuage his melancholy.
“In every film noir there is this idea that there used to be happiness, but that’s over now. In “Cruel”, childhood is this lost happiness,” Cherrière told Euronews.
“To me the film noir is an existential genre – it can really tell the story of one’s existence, all the way to its cruel ending.”
Cruel in a different way is the Israeli production “Valley” – the first full-length feature film by Sophie Artus – about three teenagers struggling with friendship, love and hate.
It’s a poignant film, portraying violence between teenagers in a way that could make many parents cringe.
“I don’t propose any answers. I am not teaching, you know, something. I don’t want to tell. But what I want to do with my film and I think it works well, it is to give the opportunity to the people to think about it (the issue of violence),”.Artus said.