DaViD´82

The book already makes it clear that the author is into hard sci-fi, problems, questions, disputations, proceduralism, analytical procedures, etc., which makes it interesting, distinguishing it from genre peers, but he can't wrap it up in plot (the outline works, the details don't), construction (he repeatedly plays on "now I'll explain my convoluted plans in incomplete detail"), build vivid characters (they're more vehicles for ideas, traits or actions than flesh-and-blood characters). It's undeniably interesting, but not fun. It's closest to Ted Chiang, but the latter doesn't lack some literary talent. So when you map 3 Body Problem in a way that forecloses disputation over issues, that doesn't revel in procedural procedures and bureaucracy, that "postpones it," it's a wonder it didn't fall apart like a house of cards. Yes, it's obtuse, naive and one-dimensional in places (which is also true of the book), not saved by thought-provoking reflections and solutions to the big problems of yesterday, today & tomorrow (as in the book), but the "big narrative science fiction" veil manages to cover it up deftly. So much so that despite the slow pace and all the above, it doesn't bore for a moment. And in the best moments (the big revelations of "We See All the People", the slicing of the tankers, etc.), which are not so few after all, it can even excite. | S1: 4/5 |

"This is a village matter, we’ll settle it internally." When this is essentially the unanimous opinion of the village in a case of gang rape, battery and death threats against a minor within the extended family, you would expect them to take the matter into their own hands and talk to the people concerned with their firsts. Well, no, the solution would be to marry one of the rapists off to the rape victim, as long as nothing happens to the boys, it's her own fault anyway, and who would want her now, yet a bad light will fall on the whole community... The desperate struggle of parents who defy convention and want to get justice for their daughter, drag the police and the courts into the solution and demand justice. But neither the community nor the state authorities are prepared for this, so they go "against the grain" in many ways. The most woke, gender and NGO ridden documentary far and wide. And that's just as well. Many scenes will give you chills, the father's look of despair in scenes like with the visiting attorney simultaneously handling several hundred cases is telling. Compelling, committed, necessary, worthwhile.

Beavers; hundreds of shaggy beavers. A quirky, playful, imaginative (and above all bloody funny) romp working with the poetics of silent slapstick. The authors manage not to stay still, gradually and constantly pushing the concept and each and every joke.🎵La La La La La🎵

Karel Zeman for the 21st century, or the emancipation of the Bride of Frankenstein through an original "porn satire" that manages to cut to the quick again and again; sometimes literally. Emma Stone gives such a masterful performance that if I were her husband, I wouldn't be doubly sure if she doesn't top it at home as well.

Like a spaghetti western from Denmark's bleak moors meets a romance novel while waiting for Godot (here in the form of a sprouting potato plant). A bad guy that is as charismatic and sleazy as life truths facing the main "I can't see the forest for the trees" good guy, who isn't such a guy after all. It's a straightforward, genre film, a bit long-winded around the middle, especially in the first half, nicely uncompromising, well acted and... And that's it. Which is far from little.

The politics of appeasement as seen through the lens of (non)romance, where seductive glances, sentences of mutual affection or any confession of feelings are out of the question. All the tensions that create sensuality are hidden in the simple addresses of "mister/miss" and distant compliments of a job well done. A character study of an individual seemingly devoid of opinions, emotions and personal life, very well written and very well acted. An individual whose personality is "I am here to serve". A sophisticated and subdued "just so" look at the great themes of life and history. Despite its apparent coldness (or is it because of it?), it is first and foremost about vivid characters and steaming emotions. And that, ironically, without any emotions at all; let alone steaming ones.

"Happiness is something anyone can have." Off the top of my head I can’t name any other film where the most depressing and darkest possible denouement is delivered as a beautifully lyrical wonder-not feel-good punchline. And this contrast of "uplifting chilliness" has bitten into me so much that I can't get it out of my head. Yet it's such a titanic detail, so much so that it's bullshit, you'd think. It trumps all other impressions. The positives (excellently constructed, enjoyably down-to-earth and subdued despite the gravity and magnitude of the themes, a phenomenal Sakura Ando) and negatives (especially the third part, which shuffles on its feet because you already know "where, who, why" by that point, and it's even clear what it's inevitably leading to). A traditional and yet in many ways different Kore-eda - maybe because this time he is not also the author of the script? As much as I wouldn't classify this as one of his best works, it's paradoxically the one that sticks with me the most, which I appreciate.

Laura initially mutters to herself to the nosy gossip, "I wish you'd stop talking." and I kept repeating the same thing to her in my head like a mantra. Her amazingly descriptive inner monologue is exactly the kind of book-radio-theatre redundant stuff that has no business on a screen where you're telling a story in pictures. It's an annoying element, not well-written, superfluous (Celia Johnson basically plays everything she says with her eyes anyway), and outdated by the time it was made. Add to that the fact that the uncharismatic Trevor Howard, here a seemingly charming individual, is rolled by Celia's acting in every scene like an ignorant pupil at the blackboard. Yet the film flows, looks good, and everyone else acts well, even if it doesn't work on an emotional level.

The coexistence of a quartet of (step)sisters, the veranda of their old wooden house as a cementing point between them, and two funerals. Kore-eda's inimitable talent for moving without even the slightest hint of any cheapness, pandering or emotional blackmail (and there are several scenes and themes that invite tear-jerking and would not have been avoided by other director or screenwriting aces) is felt here more than ever. No drama, no conflict, no great love or life twists, no plot. Only what more erudite reviews have aptly described as "the tired poetics of the everyday". It may not be to everyone's taste, and does run the risk of stretching two hours of "nothingness" into several interminable days, but I was totally won over. It was like sitting on that porch in the freezing cold, the spring thaw, while picking plums.

A few decades (starting in 1914) in a Japanese "silent household" where she would want him to take notice of her and not just be a kneeling subservient wife of reason in the corner. And he might secretly want that too, but he's building an empire for the family (how else) that she would want him to build on other more honorable foundations. But he must not lose face outwardly, and he cannot tolerate her defiance.... Add to that the intertwining of their fates of children, staff, neighbours, all against the backdrop of the Great Famine, the rise of the countryside, the feuds of the Yakuza clans, etc. If this seems like an overly melodramatic historical soap opera fresco for a filmmaker of Gosha's stature, you'd be right. However, the traditionally exemplary character detail and insight into ordinary life in that historical period elevates it to the status of a "great novel" (it's based on a novel, after all, and you can tell). That silent domesticity is not the result of arguments or raised voices, but instead of averted glances and the unspoken. Powerful, compelling, timeless, yet it stands in the shadow of many of Gosha's other films. Mainly because there are too many plot lines and character fates surrounding the central married couple. Thus, not all of them are given the necessary space (for example, it seems to turn into a full-blown yakuza flick in the middle, only to be abandoned altogether soon after), much of it seems lost or (thanks to the leaps in narrative by decades) feels unduly abbreviated. In that respect, it should have trimmed the source material more (I assume that wouldn’t be a problem), ditching characters and entire storylines, and just going to the marrow of the central supporting marital tension.