The brand new and recently inaugurated 2023, fully immersed in the awards season, continues to offer us in its first weeks of life some of the best films that we will be able to put in our mouths during the next 12 months, and this January 20 was not going to be less. In addition to what’s new from great filmmakers like Park Chan-wook and the closing of the ‘Evangelion’ saga, our rooms will receive the premiere of an extraordinary bombshell condemned to hit it at the box office. Let’s review all the news.
The premieres of January 20, 2023
‘Babylon’ (2022)
- It is the new film by Damien Chazelle, director of those two jewels entitled ‘Whiplash’ and ‘La La Land’.
- Its stellar cast is led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Jean Smart, and includes the participation of performers such as Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving or Tobey Maguire.
- Set during the transition from silent to talkies, ‘Babylon’ is a sort of bastard daughter of ‘Singing in the Rain’ shot to the brim with cocaine.
- It lasts for over three hours, and the title appears after a mind-blowing 32-minute sequence. Almost nothing.
Criticism in Espinof: ‘Babylon’ is an epic movie about politically incorrect Hollywood: Margot Robbie is imperial in Damien Chazelle’s craziest movie
‘Decision to Leave’ (‘Heojil kyolshim’, 2022)
- It is the new work of the master Park Chan-wook, author of feature films such as ‘Old Boy’, ‘Thirst’, ‘La doncella’ or ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengenace’.
- It is the South Korean candidate to represent the Asian country in the category of Best International Film at the next Oscar ceremony.
- According to Park, his inspiration is the Swedish crime novel series ‘The Story of a Crime’ by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.
- In ‘Decision to Leave’, a detective played by Park Hae-il falls in love with the main suspect in the possible murder of a man on a mountain.
Criticism in Espinof: Park Chan-wook signs an exquisite criminal thriller with the heart of melodrama, about the truth and the decision to leave
‘Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time’ (‘Shin Evangerion Gekijoban’, 2021)
- It is the fourth and final installment of the Rebuild of the legendary anime ‘Neon Genesis: Evangelion’.
- It is directed by six hands by Hideaki Anno —scriptwriter and creator of the original anime—, Kazuya Tsurumaki and Masayuki.
- The film, originally scheduled for a 2013 release, remained in the fridge until Anno finished ‘Shin Godzilla’ in 2016, though his mental health issues were putting it off.
- It was the highest grossing film of the year 2021 in Japan.
Criticism in Espinof: We deserve to be happy: ‘Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time’ is a hopeful closure for the legendary Hideaki Anno anime that we can finally enjoy in theaters