gudaulin

731: Two Versions of Hell is a type of documentary where the impact of the message is based solely on commentary, delivered by a neutral voice, which is in sharp contrast to the emotionally charged content of the film. The visual part could be completely absent, as similar information could be conveyed by a slightly modified radio program. The chosen dual perspective is interesting, saying that with a sufficient degree of cynicism and demagogy, anything can be relativized and justified, including gas chambers and torture devices. The visual component is only complementary, where the lively Chinese city of the present forms a counterbalance to the ruins of a concentration camp and a factory for the production of biological weapons. My overall impression, considering the weak visual aspect, amounts to 60%. However, the chosen unconventional form and provocative interpretation of the same event from the perspective of two warring sides make this a film that should not go unnoticed.

Vantage Point has such dynamic direction that I momentarily forgot about my prejudices toward action movies and even considered giving it five stars. But as the minutes went by, the simplicity of the film started to surface, with the script piling up one cliché after another and logical holes appearing in the plot. The moment when the kidnapped American president bravely started fighting with terrorists ultimately led me to give it a mere three stars. Nevertheless, it's not below average, as the film has a fast pace and offers a number of thrilling scenes. Overall impression: 65%.

Greenaway's film is one of those rare cases when, despite my undeniable stinginess, I would be willing to leave the movie theater after half an hour and forget the money because I saved a bit of my increasingly scarce time. The question is: is it possible to make a film that is supposed to deal with the dark sides of the human soul, sexuality, and the lives of wealthy people unrestricted by social conventions in an unbelievably boring way? Yes. Greenaway proves that with a little effort, it can be done. If I were a producer, I would rather burn the money in the fireplace than invest it in a similar spectacle. It is an immensely self-centered and difficult-to-digest film, primarily intended for the festival circuit audience, for the small circle of true intellectuals, and a considerably larger circle of those who think they are intellectuals so that they can eagerly debate the hidden meanings of the film after seeing it. At the beginning, one character asks another: "Do you think leading directors make their films to satisfy their sexual fantasies?" - the other replies: "I think most of them do." If Greenaway made this film to satisfy his sexual fantasies, then he is a very boring and eccentric patron. This film is neither provocative nor spicy, and in no way is it true to life, because I have encountered a fair number of bizarre characters, sociopaths, and nutcases, but I have never come across anything remotely similar to these film characters. Overall impression: 5%.

Where Wall-E attempts to suggest a depressive post-apocalyptic atmosphere in the first half, 9 fully develops its vision of a world devastated by war and does not care about the moods of the child audience. The visual aspect is amazing and because it usually plays a significant role in my rating, I lean toward a five-star rating, even though I have a problem with the philosophical aspect of the film and consider its outcome unsatisfactory. Where, for example, Avatar has a philosophy that is too primitive, the philosophical dimension of 9 is possibly too complicated and uncertain. 9 depicts the adventures of nine extraordinary beings with a robotic foundation who look like rag dolls combined with the idea of artificial machines from the late 19th century. The retro-stylization, which seems to come from late Jules Verne novels, along with the gloomy visual aspect in shades of brown, is exceptional for an animated film made today and it boldly disrupts the idea of a positively inclined film that parents go to see with their young children. The heroes of the story face monstrous machines, from which hatred and dehumanized evil of technology are evident at first sight, escaping human hands. The creators of the film seem to work with the concerns of today's inhabitants of the developed world, to whom technology seemingly gets on their nerves and they dream of a return to a simple life in harmony with nature. The battle of the dolls with the devilish invention is full of adventurous action and unique effects. The idea that the story should be heading toward is somewhat lost under their fire, but it was still a strong experience for me. Overall impression: 90%.

The Soviet film school essentially produced war films on an assembly line, but 9th Company follows more so the style and content of American war films from the 1980s. In other words, it is a combination of Full Metal Jacket and Platoon, which is also mimicked in the film's title. It is not a cheap imitation, but rather a very solid piece of craftsmanship and, truth be told, one of the best war films of the last decade. Thanks to the large investments in Russian cinema in recent years and coproduction, it is not a financially deprived film either, so viewers can enjoy the military equipment, generously conceived shots of the military base, and large-scale battles. As for casting, acting performances, and directing, I have no significant objections, and for about 70% of the film I thought I was watching a five-star film that stood out for its exceptionally high level of authenticity. I had the opportunity to speak at length with an eyewitness of the Afghan war, who spent eight years in the war zone, and his narrative aligned with the atmosphere of the film. The attack on the transport plane or the ambush of a military convoy in the pass perfectly fits the way the war was fought at that time. The plane destruction scene is also visually impressive. However, the final grand battle comes, which, from the perspective of a popular culture viewer, is again gratifyingly filmed and directed, but it is unrealistic and reminded me of heroic images from the Soviet era, like "the last heroic defenders of Sevastopol resist the fascist superiority." Ultimately, the closing credits depict the nature of this conflict far more soberly when it comes to the number of casualties. Similar open battles were exceptional in the Afghan war because they demonstrated better tactical preparedness and greater firepower of the Soviet army. It is similar, after all, in present-day Iraq. Otherwise, it is interesting to compare this Russian film precisely with American films about the Vietnam War. American films - even those with an anti-war orientation - depict their soldiers as winners, and if an American soldier falls, he must almost inevitably shoot at least ten Vietnamese soldiers before he dies. Russian soldiers die like flies. Bullets find them much more often than they do the Afghan rebels. The primary goal of 9th Company is to portray Russian soldiers as men who are not afraid to die but fulfill their mission and at the same time show that this war was not theirs. Their deployment was decided by the elders of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Today's Russia is not so much following the era of the Soviet Union as it is emphasizing pre-revolutionary Russia and particularly highlighting service to the country and self-sacrifice. At the same time, there is not a single scene in the film where an Afghan civilian clearly dies. The goal of the film is not self-flagellation like in American production; Russian soldiers, after all, fulfill the tasks assigned to them....Overall impression: 80%.

The renaissance of the crime genre in France has been mainly associated in recent years with the name of Olivier Marchal, but in my eyes, my latest discovery Fred Cavayé surpasses him. I have already seen his film Anything for Her and I said to myself that this director has talent and is worth paying attention to. With his film Point Blank, not only did he not disappoint me, but he even very much surprised me. It is not a great work of art, but rather a perfectly executed work in the action crime genre. I have said many times before that action movies usually disappoint me because they rely solely on the action and do not care about the acting performances and especially the screenplay. That is not the case here. You don't have to hit your head with a hammer to accept any sort of nonsensical motivations, silly behavior, and stupid plot. It is a reasonably short adrenaline-filled film, where an ordinary guy and a family man are suddenly thrown into the world of crime and desperately struggle not only to preserve their reputation but also their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Not that I haven't found some minor logical errors here, but within the genre, they are completely forgettable details. Point Blank is simply better than the majority of much more famous action titles. Well-cast unknown actors, a screenplay that can surprise and, above all, not let you breathe, and dynamic direction make Point Blank an experience that only happens once in a while with an unknown title. Overall impression: 90%.

I consider Trainspotting to be one of the best British films of all time, but I admit that if Boyle presented Renton and his gang of ultimate outcasts, slackers, and drug addicts as conscious freedom fighters, opponents of the establishment, consumerism, and the iron lady, I would seriously consider abandoning it and taking a trip to the islands, where I would kick Boyle in the balls. Unfortunately, Nikolaev went precisely in this direction (regardless of the mechanical comparison of directorial qualities, where Boyle acts as a modern jet compared to Nikolaev, who stuck a few chicken feathers on his shirt, jumped around the yard eagerly, and clucked). It is a mixture of unwanted amateurism, naivety, pathos, and screenwriter helplessness. It's Gonna Get Worse sells a romantic view of the underground that deserves a much more sober look. Those pigeons actually wanted to slack off, drink, party, and fornicate a little - actually, quite a lot - and the state power was too stupid to leave them alone. There is nothing uplifting about what they did, and my empathy is frozen in this case. By the way, I remember an article where the editor went on about the case of the hijacking of a Czechoslovak plane to West Germany, and to his unpleasant surprise - actually, quite a big shock - he stated that the Secret Service, which conducted parallel investigations alongside the West German police, acted more correctly than the German investigator who considered the defendants to be a bunch of disgusting hippies. On both the German and Czech sides, there were bourgeoisie who understood each other quite well across the Iron Curtain. Maybe we should stop creating a mythology that is similar to the one created by the communists when they defended their regime, constantly going back to all those proletarians and the heroic struggle of workers on the barricades. Those real histories often correspond to the stale joke when a Soviet soldier, instead of shouting "For Stalin and for the people" heroically fell with a bundle of grenades under the tanks and yelled "That damn ice..." Overall impression: 25%.

The main benefit of this musical set in a competition for a new Broadway musical is the very decent choreography. Unfortunately, it doesn't reach the quality of the best musical pieces, such as West Side Story, Singin' in the Rain, or Cabaret. In particular, a comparison with Fosse's All That Jazz springs to mind, who literally overshadowed Richard Attenborough. West Side Story triumphs thanks to its more prominent music. while All That Jazz with its script and the performances. A Chorus Line is undoubtedly slightly above average, but there's a lack of a melody that would stick in my memory and which I would later hum or notable vocal performances. By the way, unlike the choreographer and director portrayed by Michael Douglas, I would probably choose differently. Overall impression: 70%.

From the long series of Christmas films in recent years, A Christmas Carol stands out like the Eiffel Tower. While Charles Dickens as the author of the literary original deserves credit for the final impression, it is a fact that Clive Donner skillfully and without hesitation transformed his story into a film. It is pleasantly emotional and reasonably moralistic. Even I felt the urge to improve, but unfortunately, that feeling passed after about an hour. Still, it was the most promising attempt in the last five years. The film does not feature top stars, but this only contributes to its authenticity; otherwise, the performances are convincing, as is the atmosphere of London in the first half of the 19th century. Overall impression: 85%. I have not yet seen the new version with Jim Carrey, but I strongly doubt it could offer more, except for visual effects. As for the story, Donner extracted the maximum from Dickens.

I have a problem with Agnieszka Holland's work. She maintains a decent standard, so her filmography does not include outright disappointments, but she has never truly impressed me. I have never even considered giving any of her films the highest rating. A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story is based on a true story, with the whole case of a brutal murder of a transvestite and subsequent trial presenting major potential for a gripping drama with a moral appeal. Unfortunately, the result is a film that will fade from memory in a few days, unlike thematically related films like Soldier's Girl and Boys Don't Cry, which reliably come to mind even years later. This film deserves a fair 3-star rating and nothing more. Overall impression: 60%.