NinadeL

I don't count myself among the die-hard fans of David Cronenberg, and although I’ve been keeping an eye on hims since the days of Crash, but I've never been particularly fond of him. So what is Cosmopolis like? Ordinary. In the context of Cronenberg's work, not particularly alarming, not particularly revelatory. But his collaboration with Robert Pattinson apparently appealed to him, and so we got even more of it with Maps to the Stars...

I was first introduced to Auburn's "Proof" at the Prague City theater. The film is of course a more substantial perennial that we can return to at any time. It's charming to watch the dramatic construction of the text as handled by Madden and Paltrow, who have already proven their compatibility with each other in Shakespeare in Love. The subject matter is self-supporting, and the dialogues have good ideas and pace. Of the theatrical texts that have been adapted by Hollywood, Proof is one of the better ones. It is definitely worthy of your attention.

The famous Tinto Brass appeals to his audience mainly with such flicks as Salon Kitty or Caligula. If he decides to devote himself to an Albert Moravia novel, an almost moralistic story emerges. Because Moravia is the high end, Brass is the low. However, if you have a bit of sensitivity in your body and a sense of humor, you will laugh happily at all the lascivious cleavage and butts of the pretty Italian girls, who are definitely not chaste like the Virgin Mary. Then, in the library, you will find something with this description: "A sprawling psychological novella following the problems of a thirty-five-year-old literature professor burdened with an Oedipus complex."

This is a very funny collage.

As a series, it might not be bad. Yet as a standalone film, it rides the wave of films with unreliable narrators, and that perpetual dreamlike atmosphere and the combination of Lynch and his favorite films just makes for a new collage. However, the latent Sapphic themes and the crush on the Paramount gate are elements I’m always interested in.

Quite an impeccable miniature by Josef Kluge.

Žaneta Fuchsová, Lukáš Bech, and Ota Koval are all in fine form. This time in a variation of a Josef Lada children’s book. A pleasant modern fairy tale working entirely in the intentions of the normalization break out of children's and youth productions. The scene with the cow at the metro station is magical, as is the sequel joke with the little plug, as it traverses the housing estate, pushing a baby carriage with an even smaller plug.

I'm afraid that the whole phenomenon of The Girl on the Train is much more interesting than the thriller itself. However, the net product is a good female drama that shows that it is realized through a female lens. Well, why not? Actually, hip, hip, hooray. But all the PR hype, unfortunately, sells something else entirely, i.e., almost that it is a horror movie about an unstable mysterious woman who perhaps commits some crimes on a train in the moonlight or something. It would be worth analyzing if the product itself is not that good or if the promotion just doesn't believe it can sell the project without manipulation to a recipient who appreciates the topic/genre/whatever. I think it really misses the mark and that's a shame.

At the end of the first epoch of Greta Garbo's sound work came the adaptation of a 1929 play by Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello. The not-so-happy resolution of the substance failed in the opening chapter supposedly set in Hungary in 1925 (originally set in Germany). In fact, it almost even hilariously failed wherein Garbo was supposed to be styled as a cabaret singer (Lola Lola style), and also sadly failed in the all-too-implausible ending. Nevertheless, As You Desire Me deserves some rehabilitation. The film, which was made despite Greta’s reluctance to remain in Hollywood, opened the way for the pleasant Garbo/Douglas couple. The two later sparkled together twice more, in Ninotchka and in Two-Faced Woman. Though they began as a beginner and a legend respectively, with the novice Douglas being led by a sovereignly passive performance from Garbo, giving a lot of space to the bold theme of amnesia and the return to one's former life without the recovery of coveted memory. However, it took only a few years and he became much more confident. He picked up experience alongside Marlene Dietrich in Angel and was the star of Arsène Lupin's comeback. As You Desire Me thus offers various good aspects, including a genuinely interesting decadent costume that exposes Garbo's back or gives her a rare opportunity to wear her hair blonde, but if history willed it and Garbo never returned to Hollywood, then that wouldn't be enough. Luckily, the next year Queen Christine arrived, but that's another story...

The combination of Vera Brittain and Alicia Vikander is absolutely perfect. The cruel arc of 1914-1918 lived through with all the emotions that came with it. The lost generation, the suffragettes... everything in its place. Formally and in terms of acting it is also flawless.