Hello FG,
The weekly thread is back, so let's begin?
SUNSET (2018) - 10/10
As we know from history books, behind any major social cataclysm lies a multitude of reasons which led to its outburst. Tensions, resentments, exorbitant ambitions, irrepressible desires and many other levers of human behavior, similar to an insidious virus, painlessly sneak into the very heart of the society, starting slowly to poison its blood and insides before finally and irrevocably destroying it.
Regarding the First World War, everybody knows the event that caused it – the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, but fewer people are aware of the purely formal nature of this casus belli: by that time, social development in Europe has reached a dead end – old morals rotted and needed to be replaced. The result is, as is known, a momentous reconstruction of political landscape and a serious shift in the balance of power. The only thing that’s still shrouded in the fog of mystery is the answer to one simple question: at what exact moment in time familiar surroundings and way of life have come to a point of no return, from where you could see a forthcoming catastrophe?
Irisz - the lead heroine of Lásló Nemes’s demanding, but stunningly hypnotic film – has just arrived to Budapest, hoping to get a job at a celebrated hat shop, which was once a property of her parents whom she has never known. The year is 1913. Nothing seemingly portends the trouble. The downfall of the Austo-Hungarian Empire is just around the corner, however, sunny streets of the Hungarian capital are deceptively placid. Soon after her arrival, Irisz finds out that she has a brother, and in spite of insistent advices to leave the city from people she encounters, she embarks on a dangerous journey in order to find him, thanks to which she will find herself everywhere: from luxurious aristocratic manors to dark lairs of the criminal underworld.
Little by little, the central mystery becomes more and more blurred, the thread of the plot sometimes slides out of hands, and the distinct line between good and evil turns into a vaguely visible stain. Who’s a friend and who’s an enemy? Everyone is under suspicion. The frenetic violin continues to strengthen the suspense, while initial mild confusion blossoms into a full-fledged, chaotic, hallucinatory phantasmagoria.
Divine camerawork, creating an illusion of an absolute immersion into the world of the early XX century Budapest, superb locations, dazzling costumes, rich historical background which gives to the story a breathtakingly epic scope and the masterful use of narrative possibilities make this portrait of the society in turmoil a piece that you will want to revisit again and again in future.
US (2019) - 3/10
A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.
Dumb as a pile of bricks satirical horror-comedy which has fine moments here and there, but overall, way too boring and inconsistent in tone, and thus, can't be recommended. A disposable filler for a Friday evening that you can watch with one eye open, while napping in your chair after a long, exhausting work week. Sophomore slump for Jordan Peele, two-hour-long tribute to Lupita Nyong'o's beauty and waste of money for those, unlucky enough to buy a ticket.
GIRLHOOD (2014) - 8/10
It seems that the life of Marieme - a 16-year-old girl living in a gloomy Parisian ghetto - goes full stream ahead straight to the nowhere: she’s just been expelled from school for failing her second academic year; at home, she suffers beating from her abusive older brother who takes charge of his younger sisters, while their mother working day and night in low-level jobs, trying to pay the rent and feed her three children; and the only real prospect in life that she sees for herself is to be a maid just like her mom, and maybe, to marry a cute neighbor guy if he proposes. Her mirthless existence turns upside down the moment when she accepts the offer of three free-spirited gals to become a part of their clique. After having obtained a much needed psychological support, Marieme emerges from a cocoon of a calm and downtrodden kid, and morphs before our eyes into a brash, fearless warrior, determined to get what she wants and unapologetic about her own desires. The mist covering her future slowly lifts, but are these changes for good, or they lead to another abyss? The movie smartly leaves this question in the air.
By relaying on a standard coming-of-age set-up, Céline Sciamma makes a sprawling and moving parable with charismatic performances and killer music, transmitting a good message that femininity and masculinity are nothing but social constructs, which blend together under the pressure of the mercilessness of the real world and that sometimes, in order to gain respect you deserves, you have to punch someone in the nose.
Life is not for wimps: unpleasant, infuriating, but still important truth that often needs to be reminded.
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN (2018) - 4/10
Similarly to Michael Bay pandering to the appetites of 13 years-old male teenagers by showing incomprehensible, loud destructions and lustfully shooting hot babes in tight tank tops, Xavier Dolan tries to please poor tastes of spoiled, self-absorbed hipsters and pretentious French critics by using the same vicious assault on senses, bordering on audiovisual pornography, as his more famous colleague. His previous movies – exuberant, excessive and over-stylized – could, depending on one’s own personal preferences, annoy or mesmerize, but one thing you couldn’t NOT praise them for is that they always had a strong imprint of their author’s personality, which is a very good thing, because no one needs impersonal art. But, as “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan” proves, everything has its own service life: mommy issues and youthful hot-blood, which were so endearing once, now seem stale and dull.
I knew this movie is going to be bad as soon as I heard the first notes of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and saw that opening credits started to appear, and, I thought I knew in what way. I was prepared for a over-the-top, misguided, campy mess, and to be honest, I had a few laughs (granted, there are a number of badly directed scenes), but overall, my initial impression was wrong: this film is pretty bland.
It’s about a young actor named Rupert (Ben Schnetzer in a posh sweater) who has just published a book about his childhood correspondence with a now-deceased TV star John F. Donovan (Kit Harington) and on the occasion of that, gives interview to a snobbish reporter (Thandie Newton). The movie constantly jumps back and forth between two different timelines: past and present. So, Rupert’s attempts to explain to that arrogant gorgon that his struggles as a white, cis, privileged male from a first-world country are as important as sufferings of impoverished Africans alternate with episodes of his childhood when he was a 10 years-old bullied kid (a squeaky and shrill Jacob Tremblay) living with his mother (Natalie Portman playing a typical for a Dolan’s movie mom, i.e. impulsive hag without a sense of style) and the ones of John himself – a closeted actor who recently received an attractive big studio offer.
The saturated plot fails to lead any of the three storylines to a satisfying end. It seems that a lot of material have been cut during post-production; for example, from the movie, it’s never clear what exactly ruined John’s career: his sexual orientation or his dubious correspondence with a little boy. Dialogues are too much on-the-nose, and sometimes are so stilted that they sound like nails on a chalkboard. Xavier obsessively declares from the screen via the mouths of his personages some simple conventional wisdoms like “celebrities are people too and need privacy!” as if he’s arguing with an imaginary interlocutor in his head.
The scarcity of the content is even more visible amidst tacky visuals (every frame here looks like an overfiltered Instagram post, and the abundance of caramel hues will make your eyes feel itchy) and actors who strike poses and make faces to earwormy pop tunes instead of, you know, acting. Like every bad movie with a “message”, this one tries way too hard to persuade everyone that it’s more “serious” than it actually is, but don’t be fooled: “John F. Donovan” is a hollow, forgettable weepie.
What about you?
Submitted March 24, 2019 at 06:31AM by Romt0nkon https://ift.tt/2HDuEh2
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