POMO

Gus Van Sant knew what to film and how to film it in order to cause an uproar and spark a discussion. He didn’t come up with anything new in terms of filmmaking, nor did he creatively express anything. But I’m still giving Elephant four stars, because it made my blood run cold.

Something like Singles, but more authentic and more appropriate for a European. Buddy is about the sorrows and joys of youth. For viewers under the age of 20, it’s about nothing; for those over 30, it’s pleasantly nostalgic. And for me (25), it’s pure pleasure that brought sincere tears to my eyes without even a single sentimental scene. Four and a half stars.

A powerful and always topical idea, carried by a film that, at its core, repeats the same sentence again and again. If there was supposed to be an escalation of bleakness and impending climactic tragedy in all of this, I didn’t see it.

It doesn’t try to outdo the black-and-white original, but goes its own slightly B-movie way, which is less ambitious, but all the more entertaining. By the standards of the modern (and color) form of the horror genre, it does well with its morbid humour and more visceral brutality. It is also pleasing with its criticism of society in the more literal, almost cartoonish climax.

Hulk is fresh and innovative in its details, but it’s inconsistent as a whole. As the minutes pass, its large number of excellent (not just action) scenes and praiseworthy psychological dimension are transformed into a dramaturgically unbalanced and muddled mishmash. The second half of the film would need some relief from the “family drama” and to let the brilliant action and adventure go full throttle. Then it would have been a hell of a movie. The action scenes in the desert are outstanding.

In this remake of William Castle’s classic 13 Ghosts, atmosphere and fear have been replaced by dynamic editing and bloody make-up. And the classic source work with a gothic treatment became another bit of modern bullshit with a polished lens on the camera and nothing in the director’s head.

A notable film experiment for which the innovative Mike Figgis deserves praise. But if you’re looking for entertainment, emotional engagement or an adrenaline rush, you’re not going to find it here.

A fragile, intelligent and honest psychological study of warped interpersonal relationships. Enjoyable, uplifting, well acted. No big tears or overwrought dramatic scenes. But it doesn’t make much of an impression on the viewer.

A guy drills a hole in the top of a shaved head, inserts a straw in it and starts sucking out brains. The victim is a woman tied to a chair, whose teeth he had pulled out earlier. And that’s just one of the scenes this film serves up as if on an assembly line. It’s supposed to be twisted splatter fun, but it’s not. It's just disgusting and perverse. It’s also a case of shitty filmmaking. Boring, primitive trash.

Excellent actors and a lot of apt truths on the issue of man & woman that aren’t often spoken out loud. But as a whole... ugh! If Jean-Claude Brisseau seriously meant this, he needs to wake up and realise it’s 2003. And if he meant it ironically, he completely undermined the resonance and seriousness of an otherwise promising, very topical subject. The film is thus somewhat reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut. But Stanley Kubrick didn’t leave me in doubt for even a second, left me breathless for the duration of his film and took me to the moon.