“Zoom In, Zoom Out”: the debut film by Chinese director Dong Jie, from the Far East

Alternating between superbly crafted sequences and other moments that are a little too self-indulgent, “Primetime” is a feature film that is only partly successful: the reflections on television and the way we watch it are incisive, but the ideas risk becoming somewhat repetitive, and even the conclusion fails to live up to the excellent premise. Pattinson’s performance, however, is excellent.

“‘Whilst it is natural to fear becoming a victim of war, this story makes us realise that becoming a perpetrator is just as terrifying’: Japanese director Shin’ya Tsukamoto used these words to introduce “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?”, a film in the main competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Tsukamoto, who rose to fame with cult films such as *Tetsuo* and *A Snake of June*, has for some years now been devoting himself to war cinema, through deeply committed films with a distinctly anti-militarist slant: from *Fires on the Plain* (2014) to “Hokage – Shadow of Fire” (2023), the Japanese auteur’s work has shifted decisively towards this direction, which continues with “Mr Nelson, Did You Kill People?’, based on the true story of an American soldier returning from Vietnam.

Born into a poor family in New York, Allen Nelson enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of eighteen to escape discrimination and poverty. After serving at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, he was sent to the front line during the Vietnam War in 1966, convinced he could become a brave soldier. But what awaited him was not glory. On his return home, aged twenty-three, he faced tormented days and sleepless nights, haunted by memories of the battlefield. Terrified of loud noises and the dark, he saw his family ties fray until he found himself homeless. The only thread still tying him to the world is Dr Daniels, a psychiatrist working at a hospital for veterans who offers him support and therapeutic counselling.

As well as the battlefield and the account of the trauma that followed, Tsukamoto focuses heavily on describing the peace-promoting lectures that Nelson began to give: starting at the school where his stepson was studying and eventually speaking as far afield as the Far East.

As Tsukamoto himself points out, the film takes a different perspective from the typical feature films made on this subject in the past, focusing instead on a perpetrator who becomes a victim of his own actions.

The various strands of the narrative – the dynamic action on the battlefield and the more static scenes of the sessions with the psychiatrist – do not always mesh effectively, but the film nevertheless manages to move the viewer through the psychological transformation that takes place within a well-written and well-acted character.

A few minutes shorter would certainly have benefited the film’s overall running time (especially given the many endings), but there is no doubt about the power of Tsukamoto’s style, and we hope the film will soon be released in our cinemas too.

Finally, worth noting among the contenders for the Golden Lion is the film “15/18 (A Place to Heal)”, the latest film by French director Cédric Kahn.

Set in the adolescent neuropsychiatry ward of a public hospital, the film tells various stories of young people who have suffered significant trauma or gone through serious periods of hardship. It is in the first part that the film really comes into its own, coming across as entirely realistic both in its dialogue and in the performances of a cast that works perfectly together.

As it nears its conclusion, “15/18 (A Place to Heal)” loses a touch of its edge due to some less credible narrative choices, but the overall picture is nonetheless compelling and, on the whole, it can certainly be described as a successful film.

It is worth noting that Kahn is the first of four French directors in the competition: the others will be Florian Zeller, Nicolas Parisier and Stéphane Brizé.