‘Love Life’ Review: Koji Fukada’s Life-After-Loss Drama is Full of Tragedy But Strangely Lightweight

Salma Hayek and Francois-Henri Pinault looked elegant and comfortable at Balenciaga’s edgy fashion show. The couple wore matching dark outfits, with Pinault leaning towards navy colors and Hayek turning to something black and cozy. Salma Hayek pays her respects to Queen Elizabeth II and UK’s militarySalma Hayek & her daughter Valentina Paloma look stunning at Italian weddingHayek and Pinault were photographed holding hands as they were leaving the show.

Spoiler alert: This post discusses the entirety of “9-1-1” Season 6, Episode 3, titled “The Devil You Know.”)Unfortunately, Athena and Bobby are not going on that cruise any time soon. In a spotlight on the “9-1-1” power couple, played by Angela Bassett and Peter Krause, Season 6’s Episode 3 delves deep into the mystery that started it all.

killed. You can watch that above, but we’ll describe it for you too.“Before there was Dr. Oz, there was Dr.

Here are your Manchester United morning headlines on Tuesday, October 4.

Chris Cuomo's new NewsNation's show, , debuted on Monday with a promising change for viewers. Cuomo, who was fired from his CNN show in December, said his new nightly hour «won't be typical,» adding that he's «learned lessons good and bad» since his exit from the news network. «I’ve relied on my friends, my family, my therapist, and thankfully, it’s been the case that what doesn’t kill us, does make us stronger,» Cuomo said in his 15-minute opener.

Prue Leith, one of the longtime judges on The Great British Bake Off, has shocked fans with the revelation that she once drowned a bag of kittens as a child.

Here’s what the Try Guys said about Ned Fulmer‘s affair – Just Jared Jr Kanye West is getting a lot of backlash for his fashion choice in Paris – DListed See how Mark Zuckerberg‘s wife reacted to being at fight night – Egotastic Oops, Tyra Banks made a mistake during the latest Dancing With the Stars episode – Just Jared Jr

Ryan Coogler, the Black Panther screenwriter and director, almost quit filmmaking after the death of Chadwick Boseman.

What might have been the most exciting moment of Monday Night Football for the Los Angeles Rams’ faithful had nothing to do with the game itself.

Maddie and Addison, back again?

Joan Hotchkis, a veteran actor, writer, screenwriter and playwright, known for The Odd Couple and Legacy, died on September 27 in Los Angeles. She was 95. Her daughter Paula Chambers said Hotchkis death was due to congestive heart failure.

Billy Eichner is on the defense after the underwhelming results of Bros at the box office. The actor is clapping back at Twitter trolls that are using the performance of the romantic comedy at the movie theaters to attack the quality of his work.

, birthday girl Genevieve struggled, Michael thrived and two one-time villains tried to change the narrative, all of which ET is breaking down in the recap below.Things began with a new arrival on the beach, which spelled trouble for Genevieve. The problems didn't end there, as another girl seemed to threaten Genevieve and Justin's connection too.

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani ready to do battle during Monday's !The talented teen, who hails from South Carolina, was previously a semifinalist on season 14 of when she was just 11, but has returned to the stage for this season of the NBC singing competition, wowing the coaches with her performance of LeAnn Rimes' rendition of «Unchained Melody.»Both Blake and Gwen turned their chairs for Ansley, however, Blake was quicker on the draw, and dropped the block on his wife — landing her for his team!«I literally used my block on my wife,» Blake told the young singer, sharing how passionate he was about having her join his team. «You're stuck with me, I'm sorry!»Gwen didn't seem too offended by the loss, snapping a proud pic of the two onstage to show off their hilarious height difference. She praised Ansley's tone and told her she's excited to see her grow throughout the competition.«I'm super happy for you, because Blake is one of the greatest guys in the whole world,» Gwen gushed.When ET spoke with  coaches ahead of season 22, Gwen admitted that, despite the competition, she was having a great time being back on set with her hubby. «It's just pretty fun,» she admitted, referencing one of the pair's duets as she added, «Like, 'Happy Anywhere,' you know what I'm saying?»But while Blake claimed that he's «more competitive» and strategic with Gwen back, John Legend joked that having his wife on set is the country star's «kryptonite.»«She takes the edge off him just a little bit,» he explained.

The Try Guys are speaking out following Ned Fulmer's exit from the group after he admitted to having a consensual affair in the workplace. In a new video shared to YouTube Monday, titled «what happened,» the popular content creators addressed Fulmer's affair and revealed that they were «shocked» to learn about what he was doing behind the scenes.The remaining members of the group, Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld and Eugene Lee Yang, sat down together as they spoke directly to their fans and loyal viewers about how this incident has impacted them and how they plan to move forward as a group.«On Labor Day weekend, multiple fans alerted us that they had seen Ned and an employee engaging in public romantic behavior,» Kornfield explained. «We reached out to check on that employee.

returned Monday with a steamy, sultry night of dances all themed around the iconic James Bond film franchise — and the stars all stepped up to the challenge with some impressive, classy performances.Host Tyra Banks and new co-host Alfonso Ribeiro emceed the proceedings as returning judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli critiqued and scored the slate of celebs' exciting numbers, which were all set to some famed James Bond themes and tunes that encapsulated the timeless class of the iconic, tuxedo-clad spy.Here's a look at some of the best numbers of the night, and the celebs who are already leading the pack as front runners in the race for the Mirrorball trophy — and scroll to the bottom to see who got eliminated at the end of week 3!My fav part omgg her walk, SHE KILLED THATTTT @charlidameliopic.twitter.com/Eq6hq5oZjaThe show kicked things off by bringing out the season's best celeb dancer, and she didn't fail to live up to expectations. Charli was cheered on from the audience by her famous pals Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian, and it seemed like they provided some real magic.

coaches panel got a bit of a shake-up this season, and Gwen Stefani has some questions. Namely, about why she can't sit next to her husband, Blake Shelton!«How come they never put me and Blake next to each other?» Gwen wondered between performances during Monday's Blind Auditions.

Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice doubled down on denials he's feuding with Richie Anderson behind the scenes. The pair scored a huge 32 out of 40 for their energetic routine last week, but away from the dancefloor, the pair have been subjected to rumours about their friendship. Sources claimed the pair were struggling in rehearsals, but Giovanni hit back at the claims, insisting the two of them get on really well as he praised the radio DJ for his commitment to training.

Guy Lodge Film Critic If you found yourself wide awake in the wee small hours with personal demons rattling in your brain, and you picked up the phone to share them with a patient, neutral stranger, Tessa Thompson’s measured, calming voice is more or less exactly what you’d hope to hear on the other end of the line. As Beth, a night-shift volunteer for a crisis helpline, the actor’s naturally gentle, benevolent presence is the chief asset of Steve Buscemi’s minor-key chamber drama “The Listener” — not that she has a host of elements to compete with in what amounts, on screen at least, to a one-woman show.  Thompson’s unforced credibility isn’t shared, however, by a flat, superficial script that treats an assortment of mental health ailments as quirky conversation fuel. Each anguished call that Beth takes, over the course of one long, dark night of assorted souls, is written less like a recognizable human exchange than as an actor’s heightened audition piece, and played out as such by a voice-only ensemble stacked with distractingly recognizable names. Though the global pandemic is only incidentally mentioned, “The Listener” plays in all aspects like a project conceived in the most self-searching and self-indulgent depths of the isolation era. It’s hard to imagine audiences wanting to enter that headspace now.

Guy Lodge Film Critic At the 1987 Conservative Party Conference in Britain, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher issued one of the most grimly memorable quotes of her career: “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.” For many of us, it’s a line that now sounds so archaically out of step with contemporary life as to be comical — that “inalienable right” wording ironically appropriated by many a queer-rights cause — though you need only look at Florida’s recent Don’t Say Gay bill to know that Thatcher’s sentiments live among us still. A frank, piercing debut from British writer-director Georgia Oakley, “Blue Jean” is a Thatcher-era period piece that crisply evokes that climate of politically propagated homophobia without preserving it in amber: It effectively puts the past in tacit dialogue with the present.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Not many films hit an emotional crescendo around the publication of a Pitchfork review, but Bill Pohlad’s “Dreamin’ Wild” is sufficiently sincere and embedded in musical nerdery to make it work. As onetime brother act Donnie and Joe Emerson huddle with their family around a 30-years-late evaluation of the album they recorded as teenagers, one particular critical reference sends them giddily reeling: “To twist a Brian Wilson phrase,” it reads, “[the album] is a godlike symphony to teenhood.” For fortysomething Donnie, who has spent his whole adult life scrambling for anyone to listen to his music — let alone love it — the mere mention of his musical hero in relation to his work is a crowning triumph: Donnie, as played by a typically disheveled, downcast Casey Affleck, looks briefly, guardedly happy for a moment, and this often melancholic film is suddenly suffused with well-being.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Gianni Amelio was in his late sixties when he came out as gay a few years ago. The announcement preceded the release of his documentary “Happy to Be Different,” which worked toward an overriding sunniness in contemplating the trials and challenges of being gay in Italy at various points in the 20th century. In turning to a gay-themed narrative project, Amelio narrows the focus and dims the mood: “Lord of the Ants” takes as its subject the gay Italian author Aldo Braibanti, and the social and legal opposition he faced over his sexuality in mid-1960s Rome. Solemn, stately and perhaps a little stifled, it’s the kind of queer statement you might expect from a veteran filmmaker who wasn’t until relatively recently out and proud, and is rather poignant for that.

Grief and guilt are the twin quiet rivers running beneath Koji Fukada’s ambiguously titled Venice competition entry Love Life, a delicately tangled story of generational conflict and the silences that, without being overtly aggressive, can drive people apart. Anyone familiar with the work of Japan’s greatest cinema maestro, Yasuhiro Ozu, will recognize the general territory. It is a space within which tectonic social shifts are disguised under layers of traditional social observance, often involving large meals, and where profound emotions may be — and often must be — contained within a glance.

The tragedy at the center of “Love Life,” the new film from Japanese director Kōji Fukada which premieres in Competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, does not come to disrupt a perfectly happy family. Cracks are visible in the facade of the life shared by Taeko (Fumino Kimura) and Jiro (Kento Nagayama) even before the fatal accident that claims the life of Keita (Tetta Shimada), her young son from a previous marriage.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Friendships can be as changeable and temperamental and outright dramatic as grand romances, though they tend to get a bland rap on screen — with friends, for most screenwriters, merely convenient constants, there to support protagonists through matters of supposedly more consequence. If substantial platonic relationship studies are rare, ones about men are rarer still. And if that comes down to a social convention rather than a cinematic one, that’s integral to the power and poignancy of Martin McDonagh’s searing “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a film that traces the tortured breakup between two best pals in remote rural Ireland with all the anguish and gravity of the most charged romantic melodrama — its high, unleashed emotions all the more startling in a world where men don’t speak their feelings.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has scored key territory deals on Japanese director Koji Fukada’s “Love Life,” which makes its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Set in contemporary Japan, “Love Life” is a character-driven film revolving around Taeko and her husband, Jiro, who are living a peaceful existence with her young son, Keita. When a tragic accident brings the boy’s long-lost father, Park, back into her life, Taeko throws herself into helping this deaf and homeless man to cope with the pain and guilt. Popular Japanese actress Fumino Kimura (“The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill”) headlines the film. MK2 Films has now sold the movie to Teodora (Italy), Imagine (Benelux), Leopardo (Portugal), Demiurg (Ex Yugoslavia), New Cinema (Israel), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact Films (India) and Encore Inflight (Airlines).

Guy Lodge Film Critic “L’Immensità” is director Emanuele Crialese’s first feature film in 11 years, and only his fifth in a quarter-century: The gifted Italian, best known to international audiences for his splendid, richly felt Ellis Island immigrant saga “Golden Door,” has never been one for unconsidered or impersonal projects. At first glance, then, one might wonder what drew him out of hibernation for a film that, with its trim runtime and small-scale domestic narrative, belies a title that translates as “immensity.” This 1970s-set story of a 12-year-old navigating his gender identity while his mother battles mental health demons is too palpably pained and heartfelt to be called slight, but it’s sensitive and peculiar in ways that feel fragile — occasionally splintered and swamped by an elaborate setpiece, or the outsize star magnetism of arguably its secondary lead, one Penélope Cruz. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic While waiting to pick up five-year-old Leila from judo practice, personable 40-ish schoolteacher Rachel introduces herself to another parent as Leila’s stepmom, before backtracking to awkwardly correct herself. Later, when a kindly stranger on a train remarks on the resemblance between the two, Rachel doesn’t bother clarifying, merely accepting the benign compliment. Her relationship to Leila is both unremarkably simple and complicated by an absence of clear language for it: She’s dating the girl’s father, and the attachment between woman and child has grown perhaps stronger than the relationship on which it depends. It’s the kind of delicate everyday situation that rarely occupies the centre of a film, and in the superb “Other People’s Children,” writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski negotiates it with warm intelligence and compassion.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Rather like the arc of the moral universe, “Argentina, 1985” is long, but bends toward justice. Effectively dramatizing the country’s landmark Trial of the Juntas, history’s first instance of a civilian justice system convicting a military dictatorship, Santiago Mitre’s broad, sprawling, heart-on-sleeve courtroom saga may draw from the same nightmarish period of history that has informed much of Argentine cinema’s most essential, haunting works — from 1985’s Oscar-winning “The Official Story” to last year’s “Azor” — but eschews any subtle arthouse stylings for a storytelling sensibility as robustly populist as anything by Sorkin or Spielberg. Small wonder, then, that Amazon Studios has boarded a film clearly aiming to be both a domestic smash and an international crossover hit — buoyed by the reliable star power of Ricardo Darín, his signature suaveness tempered by a walrus mustache and boxy ‘80s frames as Julio Strassera, the dogged prosecutor who took on this charged, against-the-odds case. Though a warmly received premiere in competition at Venice will set it on the right path, “Argentina, 1985” is, appropriately enough, a people’s film about people’s justice, balancing tear-jerking historical catharsis with touches of droll domestic comedy, and set to draw crowds on enthusiastic word of mouth.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Six decades into a career of over 40 films, the last thing you might request of a new feature from 92-year-old documentarian Frederick Wiseman is that it surprise us. Yet after a run of expansive, richly process-oriented observations of mostly American institutions and communities, his new film, “A Couple,” upends expectations of his work in what feels an almost mirthfully perverse number of ways. For starters, it’s laser-focused on just one person, not a heaving collective of human labor and activity. It’s short — very much so, in fact, barely stretching past an hour. Also, lest we be burying the lede, it’s not a documentary. Wiseman’s first ever narrative feature sees him collaborating with French actor-writer Nathalie Boutefeu on a biopic of sorts: a portrait of Leo Tolstoy’s anguished wife Sophia, dramatizing her marital dissatisfaction and psychic pain with with a lyrical, literate ear.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Just before director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “Oppenheimer” plants a fixed image of Ted Hall in the popular imagination, along comes Steve James’s sensitive, studious documentary “A Compassionate Spy” to preemptively set any records straight. Unpacking the life and work of the prodigious teenage Manhattan Project physicist who passed key information about the endeavor to the Soviet Union — cuing an adulthood dogged by suspicion and secrecy — the film demonstrates its director’s characteristic nose for strong material and knack for gripping, straightforward storytelling. If the filmmaking is more televisual than in James’s best work, with its flourishes limited to some unnecessary dramatized passages, that should be no impediment to “A Compassionate Spy” commanding a sizable audience on multiple platforms. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic The political activism of pop stars is, as a rule, on the restrained side. Those who make their allegiances clear still tend to keep all factions in their fanbases sweet by limiting divisive rhetoric, or filtering their politics through broadly palatable humanitarian causes; those who speak a little more frankly still risk the wrath of the public, the internet and their record labels alike. Yet for Ugandan singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu — better known to his adoring fans as Bobi Wine — there’s both everything and nothing to lose by getting a little more directly involved in national politics than most such celebrities would dare. Entering a presidential election against corrupt, long-ruling incumbent Yoweri Museveni is, he knows, both a folly and a necessary symbolic stand — a certain path to honorable defeat that “Bobi Wine: Ghetto President” documents with angry urgency and bitter gallows humor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The titles of Fukada Koji’s films almost drip with bitter irony. “Sayonara” seemed to be a farewell to human actors. Instead of being harmonious, Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize-winner “Harmonium” was pitch black and steeped in quiet violence. Fukada’s latest, Venice Film Festival competition title carries the moniker “Love Life.” But its subject matter is loneliness. The story starts out on familiar lines, involving a married couple where suddenly the ex-husband of the wife appears, potentially setting up the melodrama of a triangular relationship. But in Fukada’s hands things are colder and more painful. The newcomer is burdensome, deaf and homeless. His arrival triggers, not love, but fragmentation, individualism and loneliness.

Guy Lodge Film Critic “Gigi & Nate” begins with two leaps. The first is out of terror, when Gigi, a capuchin monkey at a sad-sack roadside petting zoo, tries to steer clear of her “caretaker.” The second is the sweet leap of boy-joy that 17-year-old Nate Gibson takes off a rocky ledge and into a pond. In this amiable, if unnecessarily manipulative, movie about the human-animal bond — as well as the different forms resilience can take — that fateful second leap will lead the young man and the monkey to each other.Gigi is rescued by a woman who works for an organization that provides service animals to people with disabilities.

Black Lightning actress Charlbi Dean has died at the age of 32 following a sudden illness.The star died in New York on Monday 29 August, however an exact cause of death has not been confirmed.The up and coming star has a starring role in this year’s dark comedy The Triangle of Sadness, where she played Yaya, one half of a model couple who are invited on a trip on a yacht for the ultra-wealthy, before things head downhill. In a recent Instagram post, Charlbi’s partner Luke Volker wrote how “proud” he was of his girlfriend for the role in the Palme D’Or winning film.