J*A*S*M

This time, Mike Cahill (I Origins, Another Earth) really dropped the ball. Bliss is fantasy sci-fi with a message that is either a very banal allegory or utter nonsense; it depends on how you understand the ending. I’m actually not fully sure about whether it ends with both resolutions open, or whether it went all in for the more mundane option. Either way, I don’t care because neither of the alternatives is satisfactory. I’m actually surprised at myself that I watched it till the end, because the first half hour was already annoying. Repulsive characters doing nonsensical things, and it all looks awful. And the performances… let’s say that Salma Hayek’s creation is something you have to see with your own eyes to believe how awful it is. :D

Nothing against it, but better watch the Icelandic original.

A microbudget project made for microbudget festivals so enthusiasts can welcome it with the acknowledgement that the creators probably have talent. Maybe, on the basis of this, a patron of the cinematic arts will give them some money so they can show more. That said, I don’t think there is any reason to watch A Ghost Waits with the expectations of a “regular” film.

If you’re between 13 and 17 and your brain is between your legs, this new Polish comedy that can be summed up with the words “wine, women, music, and blood” could be your “film of the year”. For everyone else, it’ll be a harmless funny mixed bag, good to kill the boredom. In any case, Netflix hit the bullseye, this is ideal for their teenage target group – it’s stupid and that’s why they’ll love it. There’s one thing I’d love to know, though: how many rounds do the weapons used in this film can realistically fit.

The responses abroad are (for the time being) positive, but I have very mixed feelings about it. Ojeda has made a clear effort to build an atmosphere, even though the setting in a funeral home conspires against it, but it didn’t work on me. I felt it was dead and stiff, which is fitting given the premise, but I don’t mean it as praise. The cinematography is jerky, the actors only stand like planks and the script delivers one lifeless dialogue after another. In other words, The Undertaker's Home felt somewhat semi-amateurish in many aspects. As a debut, it can be appreciated as an OK attempt, but it needs to be honed next time.

Saint Maud is certainly very well made and Rose Glass enters the stage as a director worthy of attention, whose work should be followed. Her debut is a dark psychodrama with an unpleasant, slightly horror atmosphere. I expected that, so I’m not disappointed, but I would have probably been more satisfied with a tiny bit more pure genre joy. Another good thing is the reasonable runtime.

One of those typical heart-warming films about an unlikely friendship that brings together two people who on paper have nothing in common. In this particular case, it’s an ex-convict played by Justin Timberlake and a young kid with transsexual tendencies played by the newcomer Ryder Allen. Nice, but nothing special.

The Little Things is very well put together. When they reveal the cards at the end and we can see the concept as a whole, what the creators actually wanted to do, it looks like a very good idea. It’s a pity that the film never goes deeper and we don’t get to experience the search for the murderer of young girls together with the detective. If the viewer had been more emotionally invested, the resolution would have been like a slap in the face and The Little Things could have become a new thriller classic. The way it is, though, I can appreciate it rationally, but there wasn’t any real enjoyment.

I really enjoyed this. Serious, adult horror and an atmospheric delight. The story is about an Iranian couple living in the US who get lost on their way to a friend and have to spend the night in a hotel. The guy is grumpy because he has a toothache and the woman is grumpy because the hubby was driving under the influence and wasn’t paying attention, and they ended up there. A ruined night. And they still don’t know that the hotel where they’re staying in is like a blood brother of the Overlook from The Shining :) First of all, The Night is a very well made movie, the atmosphere is thick from the start, even when nothing weird is happening yet, and it holds throughout. The actors are excellent, too, and the script has a couple of good ideas. The end is a bit too “festival-y”, so people expecting a clear mainstream resolution might end up disappointed, but I think the fans of more ambitious stuff will be satisfied.

A beautiful drama about a group of amateur and professional archaeologists digging burial mounds in Suffolk shortly before the beginning of WWII. A very attractive topic and I found it refreshing that the film focuses mostly on that motif, without getting into any big subplots (I was actually afraid that there would be some sort of romantic storyline). Basically, it’s a film about death, about what was, and about what remains after us with beautiful cinematography and a superb portrayal of the atmosphere of the impending war.