Autor: Júlia Figueiredo

In a setting where the line between justice and barbarism dissolves, “Squad 36” plunges into the world of officers who betrayed their own badge. Olivier Marchal returns to the realm of institutional corruption with a dense thriller, in which a demoted commander faces — alone — the rotting machinery he once helped operate. The result is a story that confronts ethical collapse without offering relief — only the persistence of the abyss.

Amid dense jungles and urban alleyways, “Counterattack” follows a Mexican elite unit in direct confrontation with a ruthless cartel. Directed by Chava Cartas, the film is not content with simply unleashing bullets on screen: it aims to strain the moral boundaries of those who fight and those who command, challenging the codes that govern a war where no one escapes unscathed — not even those who believe they’re on the right side of history.

Amid inherited wounds and silences heavy with pain, “The Piano Lesson“ turns an inanimate object into a reliquary of ancestral memories. Directed by Malcolm Washington and based on the play by August Wilson, the film confronts past and present in a visceral clash between two siblings marked by loss, identity, vengeance, and survival. An intense, symbolic, and deeply human drama that echoes what was never spoken.

Amid emotional ruins and buildings on the verge of collapse, “The Love Scam” follows a clumsy father trying, without direction or brakes, to keep both his home and his dignity standing. Set in vibrant Naples, Umberto Riccioni Carteni’s comedy weaves together improvised affection, everyday farces, unlikely encounters, and stubborn illusions, crafting a comedic and melancholic portrait of the human urge to start over.

In an atmosphere that blends psychological tension with a wicked game of revelations, “It’s What’s Inside” turns an innocent celebration into a minefield of devastating truths. Greg Jardin leads the viewer through an emotional labyrinth where secrets and appearances collide uncontrollably, laying bare the cost of intimacy in an age of extreme exposure — and reminding us that not every truth is ready to be revealed.

Amid emotional wreckage and frantic chases, this action thriller stands out by shifting the spotlight from external enemies to inner demons. Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg reignite a bond eroded by time and rekindled under explosive circumstances, with restrained intensity. The film stretches the genre by balancing adrenaline with intimacy, memory with choice — and draws its power precisely from the silences between one gunshot and the next.

In a future where beauty is mandatory and aesthetic conformity is law, teenagers anxiously await the surgery that will make them “perfect” — at the cost of their own identity and freedom of thought. “Uglies” turns the obsession with physical ideals into a tool of social control, exploring how the uniformity of bodies serves the domestication of minds. Tally’s conflict exposes the perversity behind a utopia disguised as progress.

With raw grief etched into her every move and apathy as her only compass, a woman walks to the edge of the end, convinced there’s nothing left to lose. But chance — or malice — intervenes in the form of a kind stranger, turning quiet despair into a calculated trap. Caught between the urge to vanish and the instinct to survive, she’s drawn into a brutal game of manipulation and resistance, where each choice brings her closer to a new form of damnation.

When the grandmother unexpectedly comes into a fortune and announces a new marriage, the already unstable Italian family spirals into chaos. Desperate to protect the millionaire inheritance, they devise an increasingly disastrous series of plans to eliminate the suspicious fiancé, plunging into a chain of hilarious failures. In this absurd comedy, laughter springs from incompetence, greed, and family ties more twisted than tender.