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Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, "The Room Next Door", is a poignant and visually stunning exploration of friendship, mortality, and dignity in the face of death. Adapted from Sigrid Nunez's novel *What Are You Going Through*, the movie marks Almodóvar's first foray into English-language cinema and features Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in deeply compelling roles.

The story revolves around Ingrid (Moore), a writer, and Martha (Swinton), a former war correspondent facing terminal cancer. Martha asks Ingrid to be present in the adjoining room as she plans to end her life through euthanasia, setting the stage for a reflective, intimate narrative. Almodóvar skillfully avoids making the film a polemic on euthanasia, instead focusing on the emotional layers of their friendship, filled with shared memories, unspoken tensions, and moments of humor. Swinton embodies Martha's serenity and acceptance of her fate, while Moore captures Ingrid's anxiety and inner turmoil as she grapples with the reality of Martha's decision.

The film balances heavy themes with moments of levity and beauty, showcasing Almodóvar's signature visual style, from bold color palettes to evocative, intimate framing. The performances are to be praised, and Swinton and Moore's chemistry is riveting as their characters navigate the complexities of life and death. Still I have hard time to believe their friendship beacuse there is something contrived and forced.

Anyway the director's exploration of mortality is as rich and thought-provoking resonating with themes from his earlier films like *Pain and Glory* and the film is an unforgettable meditation on what it means to truly show up for someone in their final moments, making.

The Substance is a film that tackles a pressing issue in our society: aging, particularly in the entertainment industry, where staying perpetually young and attractive is almost a prerequisite. This modern form of enslavement affects everyone to varying degrees, depending on one's moral compass. Director Coralie Fargeat, part of an intriguing wave of French filmmakers exploring horror (think of Julia Ducournau's Titane), crafts her narrative around an actress who has risen to fame and now hosts a successful morning show. However, she's unceremoniously replaced by a younger newcomer.

Elisabeth (an extraordinary Demi Moore) spirals into despair and turns to shadowy figures promising to restore her beauty and youth. She succeeds, but at a steep cost, creating a doppelgänger-Sue (Margaret Qualley, previously seen in Yorgos Lanthimos's films)-who is as successful as she is sinister.

Without giving away spoilers, the film shifts into splatter territory towards the finale, but along the way, it draws from a rich tapestry of references: Cronenberg's body horror, Wilde's *The Picture of Dorian Gray,* and Wilder's *Sunset Boulevard.*

This isn't a film for everyone-those with weak stomachs might want to steer clear-but it's a work that will endure. It serves as a powerful commentary on the spectacle-driven society Guy Debord critiqued, a world now amplified by social media, where the relentless pursuit of appearance consumes us all.

Simone Petralia's film addresses an important theme: the story of a love affair in a sober and poetic manner, without excesses, with a clear demarcation between the "happy days" of a couple lived outside, in freedom, and the present days that take place inside a house.

The female protagonist, an actress (Anna Galiena), speaks, recites, gestures, and takes the stage, while the male protagonist, a director (Franco Nero), is silent and moody. These two roles reflect the fiction of cinema and the reality of life.

An illness brings the two closer in a different way than in the past; love becomes the intangible touch between two hands, care, and a final gesture of love that cannot help but touch the heart.

The film indirectly cites a poem by my beloved Emily Dickinson:

Those who are loved do not know death, because love is immortality, or rather, it is divine substance.

Those who love do not know death, because love makes life reborn in divinity.

A must watch for anyone who loves life.

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