Malarkey

I admit that Volcano is quite an experience. Unusual, yet definitely an experience. The comments on this site comparing it to a post-apocalyptic film have a point. I could not understand that something like this was possible in Ukraine. Is it really? I still can’t believe it. As if anyone who could do something about it had forgotten about that piece of land, just as if people here had forgotten what humanity is or what emotions are. There are things and situations in this film that made me shake my head in bewilderment. This wasn’t helped by the main character Lucas, who didn’t show much common sense. He brought a lot what happened to him upon himself and at some moments it looked that he even voluntarily chose this. Not that I wished him ill, but still. Anyhow, it works as a poetic film, which moreover shows us something of the current Ukraine.

I was sorry that the director could not reconcile the absurdities like from The Big Fish with a typical family drama from a small Australian town. The film just didn’t know which way to go, and the same was true for its humor. It’s very unsure of itself for a long time and then serves you a scene that makes you laugh like crazy. And then there’s nothing for a long time again. Even though dramatically, I daresay it is a family drama so tragic and epic that you’d hardly find its match in cinema. When such a drama turns out well, it is an unforgettable experience. I won’t forget The Dressmaker either, but I’ll keep my rating at solid three stars.

I wonder what I was expecting. A group of financiers portrayed by great actors show humanity at its worst, unfortunately in a somehow boring story, which is not salvaged even by the best monologue of the film, which Jeremy Irons delivers in the end. And they say that recession is a natural part of the economy… :-)

The Turks are for me quality filmmakers who can make films that are both culturally very different from Europe but also films that are very relatable to European audiences. In this film, the main character is a young boy who avoids people and lives on the roof with pigeons he takes care of. Of course he is misunderstood, but he doesn’t mind. He lives in his pigeon world where no one disturbs him, and such a life is more than enough for them. He definitely doesn’t need any other people in it. But because people are generally afraid of everything different, they will make turn his life into hell. The liberating ending, however, impressed me so much that I have to add one more star to my rating. A very successful debut.

Nothing new under the Sun. A well-done routine. If you are looking forward to this, you won’t be disappointed. The only thing that might make you do a double-take is the Hispanic way of doing exorcism, which is sometimes very different from what we usually see.

I admit that the original film from 1970 didn’t impress me as much as this mini-series. I must say that the boys starting with Clooney did a really good job here. The absurdity of war is portrayed in a rather sarcastic fashion, there is something hilarious going on every other moment, and just when you get used to the light-hearted atmosphere, you get punched right in the gut and all laughter will leave you. It hasn’t happened to me in a long while to laugh so much at something only to be gaping at the screen a moment later, trying to accept the events that happened in the story. I bow down before the creators. That’s how you induce films with emotions, and this series really got to me in this respect. Moreover, Christopher Abbott is absolutely wonderful, and he’s perfectly complemented by the rest of the cast, including the locals, who will make you laugh despite the language barrier. One of my best cinematic experiences of 2019.

The Germans made some very good casting choices here. Frederick Lau and Oliver Masucci are for me the two most interesting German actors of today, and here they are pitted against each other. It’s a pity, however, that the film didn’t make much sense. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the ending seemed very primitive to me. But whatever. As everything else was alright, I won’t dwell on that much and award the film with a solid three-star rating.

If you saw Mr. Oizo’s Wrong Cops, then Wrong is rather similar to this. There are similar actors playing similar roles, and it’s all one big crazy ride. The whole time, however, I was waiting for some brutal scene that would cross the line of reality, like it happened with Wrong Cops, but nothing came. Nevertheless, there were a few original ideas, for example any scene with the cop or with the painter. Until you see this, you’d never be able to imagine something like this – trust me on that.

I decided to watch My Foolish Heart because I was curious about the combination of drama and jazz music. But to my unpleasant surprise I found out that this film is one of those I watch for a quarter of an hour without understanding a word of it. The narration techniques used here are completely incomprehensible to me. The investigator seems to be constantly high, there’s a hypnotic jazz musical background and the whole thing has this kind of delirium tremens vibe that makes film experts talk about such films for hours but they fly over my head.

I actually have no complaints here. Because the Czech distributor changed the title to the same title Deep Blue Sea has, I at first thought this was a remake of a 20-year-old action movie of the same name featuring a huge shark, so I was pleasantly surprised that this is actually a film about a submarine. Too bad that the action movies produced by Hollywood these days lack the soul they used to have in the 1980s and 1990s. There’s a lot of action scenes, the cast is alright, but something is amiss. The best moments were those featuring Michael Nyqvist as the Russian captain Andropov; his charisma added some charm which increased the film’s overall quality a little. Too bad this talented actor passed away.