Sunday 29 November 2015

KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE (1996)

Watchable. Beautiful visually, full of elaborate costumes and scenography, with obligatory Indian music, at the same time quite sad - 5 people suffering from unrequitted or forbidden love in one movie!

CZERWONY PAJAK

Watchable. The whole film is built on understatements, really - the whole film. Lots of protracted silent scenes so it's easy to switch off your focus and miss the essential. The only plus of it is that when after long silence you suddenly get the killing, it makes impression. There's also a good effect where first you hear the killer's hammer and later the same sound when his coffin is put together. The story is fictitious but based on the knowledge of criminal profiling and forensics. The topic of a serial killer is certainly sensational but here the execution of the movie is just annoying.

Saturday 28 November 2015

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - (NOC IGRZYSK SMIERCI) THE NIGHT OF THE HUNGER GAMES

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013)
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 1 (2014)
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2 (2015)

Recommended/watchable/watchable/watchable respectively when re-seen. The first instalment, even though I had seen it the most times, still bewitches not only with the visuals but also with the plot. There are always details you won't remember. Other parts are still fun but without the 'wow!' effect when seen again.

Thursday 26 November 2015

AFERIM!

Watchable. A black and white film presenting a world old gone: full of overt and widely accepted racial predjudice, sexual abuse and slavery. Original but disturbing at times. Clearly power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Part of unknown history of Gypsy slavery in Romania. It's the Romanian Oscar candidate.

Thursday 19 November 2015

WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL

I went to a meeting with two film editors: Agnieszka Glinska and Marcin Kot Bastkowski. Here are some funny quotes:
"Czasem film wygral festiwal, a jakby jury to zobaczylo, to by sie zdziwilo." ("Sometimes a film has won a festival but if the jury saw it, they'd be surprised.")
"Kiedys mialam sytuacje, ze rezyser nie chcial przyjsc do montazowni, bo nie chcial patrzec na to, co zrobil." ("I once had a situation where the film director didn't want to come to the editing room because he didn't want to look at what he had done.")
"Teoretycznie moglam tu dorysowac lub dopisac, ze mialo byc to, tylko nie mialam tego nakreconego." ("Theoretically I could draw or write something extra here to show it was to be there. The thing was I didn't have it shot.")
"Ktos kiedys stwierdzil, ze film to aktor i operator. I siedz tu w kinie 20 godzin." ("Someone once said that a film was an actor and a cameraman. So go and sit 20 hours at the cinema.")
 "Co pani robi, kiedy pani chce cos zrobic w jedna strone, a rezyser cisnie w druga?" "No, to musi byc, jak ja chce." ("What do you do when you want to do it one way and the director pressurizes you the other way?" "Well, then it has to be the way I want.")
"Kto z panstwa widzial ten film?" "Aha, 1 osoba. I to jest moj syn." ("Which of you have seen the film?" "Right, one person. And it's my son.")


LEGEND

Recommended. Tom Hardy speaking Cockney in a double role - well, I had never liked the actor before but here he's unbelievable and the role(s) is Oscar-worthy. Very London-oriented. I guess not everyone will understand it. But Londoners will. It builds the legend of East End and tells a bit of history of what London was like in the famous 60s. It's also about emotions, family, love. A beautiful and moving story. With some tasty bits like all the cuppa scenes.

WOMAN IN GOLD

Recommended. Seen again. Loved it all the same. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, is brilliantly acted, has sharp dialogues and a moving, based on facts, story.


ADWOKAT W ROLI GLOWNEJ (ADVOCATE IN THE LEADING ROLE)

INHERIT THE WIND (1960)

Recommended. Brilliant, often humorous dialogues, like between a darwinist and a biblist: "Your views have evolved". A great, clever courtroom drama.

...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (1979)

Recommended. A great courtroom and outside-courtroom drama about law and ethics.


11 MINUTES

Recommended. Never mind the plot. The cinematography itself deserves an Oscar. Nothing I have seen before. Just like years ago in Aronofsky's "Pi" the world was a system of interconnected characters and events, here the same effect is achieved in the most film way - visually through cinematography and editing.

THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY

Watchable. I'm not into sadism or masochism, not lesbian, not fond of aging people and hardly interested in entomology. Yet, this film sustains a lot of erotic tension. With no nudity! That's an achievement. Well-structured with clever subtle twist of action.

AGNIESZKA

Watchable. The first part is very much like drab Polish movies of the 80s. The second part is more modern and a bit of a psychological thriller. Unfortunately terribly stereotypical - the main character is a strong woman indeed but working in sex business and specialising in ball busting.

CRACHE COEUR (RAGING ROSE)

Watchable. No taboos in this film about adolescents (e.g. the girl masturbates). Quite refreshing, very life-like. Great music by the director Julia Kowalska's younger brother Daniel Kowalski. If I didn't quite like it, it's because of shabbiness and the closeness to real life which is both a plus and a minus.

BESTIA (1916)

Watchable. Simplistic plot even if the story is relatively involving. Expressionistic acting for the silent movie looked quite funny.

LE TOUT NOUVEAU TESTAMENT (THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT)

Watchable. The Polish Oscar candidate ("11 Minutes") is much better. The trailer implied a comedy but there was only one funny scene in the film ("Is this God? I imagined him differently"). The film is very sad and depressing, about child abuse. Full of stereotypes, e.g. Icelandic Jokularsson plus an Eskimo. The last few minutes are the best - a completely new, cheerful even if tacky vision of the world, including e.g. pink sky with flowers scattered on it and gravity switched off. The world is created on a computer.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - NOC DEPPA (THE NIGHT OF DEPP)

I skipped "Dark Shadows" which I had seen before.

Depp is quite an actor, capable of pulling off a few distinctly different roles. Each of them convincingly.

BLACK MASS

Watchable. The first half an hour was so dull and boring I considered walking out. But James "Whitey" Bulger was clearly a dangerous psychopath (20 on Hare's scale is a likely guess) which made the remaing 1,5 hours more and more interesting. At some point you just find yourself glued to the seat.

THE LONE RANGER

Watchable. Beautiful views of New Mecixo fantastical rock formations, characters resembling those of the "Pirates of the Carribean", handsome Armie Hammer and action make it fun to watch. Could be a bit shorter though.

THE RUM DIARY

Watchable. The best of the three films of the night. Involving from scene one in which Johnny Depp is the most realistic drunk ever. Then he meets a beautiful lady (stunning dyed blonde Amber Heard ) and her manipulative husband. The story itself could be clearer and the drug-taking scenes were less interesting to me. Seems like one lowlife got extremely lucky.


BURNT

Watchable. Standard American artisanship - accents don't matter to them, acting is good and the plot good. Dialogues could be more humorous. On the whole, it's one of several movies-about-restaurants.

LARJUNGEN (THE DISCIPLE)

Watchable. Finnish Oscar candidate? Is the 2016 Oscar race for the best dog abuse award?! In this film one disturbing dog scene only. The whole film is Strindberg-like: set in the Åland Islands hence the characters speak Swedish, a family in which the relations turn more and more perverted, slow development, increasing brutality. But I've read and seen it several times before.

IL RACCONTO DEI RACCONTI (TALE OF TALES)

Recommended. In my opinion the year's best movie. Finally in the 21st century these unusual tales from the 17th century could be filmed. Modern day make-up, casting, costumes, access to locations in Italy, acting, special visual effects made it happen. Visually stunning, with powerful stories.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF HORRORS

None of the presented four movies was scary. In other terms the quality varied.

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

Watchable in parts. Best to wait for a DVD so that you can fast forward from time to time. A mixture of interesting scenes and good CGIs with lousy ones and ridiculous visuals. The human part of the plot was more comprehensible to me than the magical part.

DEMON

Watchable. I couldn't fully grasp the story. The film is very chaotic. At the same time it's well acted, with some witty lines, e.g. to a son: "Uzyj swojego mozgu choc raz. Po 30 latach." ("Use your brain at least once. After 30 years."). All shot in almost black and white.

THE GALLOWS

Watchable in parts. Some scenes are fun, predictable but fun. Most of it, though, is a camcorder record which is just completely overused by movie-makers.

THE VATICAN TAPES

Watchable. The best of the four. It has an interesting story, made look plausible by the opening Church officials' statements. Good acting helps enjoyment. The whole Antichrist motif is nothing new though.


ASIAN HORROR NIGHT

None of the presented three movies was really scary. But all of them were innovative, at least to a European viewer.

FAK WAI NAI GAI THOE (THE SWIMMERS)

Watchable. Beautiful cinematography. Intriguing story being part-horror part-crime. Unpredictable too.
Chutavuth Pattarakampol as Perth is a true hottie. The ending is protracted.

DEO WEB-TOON: YE-GO SAL-IN (KILLER TOON)

Watchable. Too many twists in the protracted ending. Other than that it's an involving detective story.

YIEUTJIB JOMBI

Watchable. Here zombies are a containable and curable disease. The five short films vary in quality: from downright ridiculous, like the zombie/human couple in love, to quite good like the one about finding your way back to the society after you've eaten people when ill.


THE PROGRAM

Recommended. Not just another gripping headline story of a journalist investigation. It changes your view on doping in sport. As the doc in the film put it, now we're able to bypass physiology. The point is, not everyone is born strong but winning is in your will, not body. Besides, Lance Armstrong donated lots of money to a cancer foundation which wouldn't have been possible without his doping-based victories. A clever film showing there are two sides to each question.

I AM MICHAEL

Watchable. A dull film about a controversial issue - a gay activist turning Catholic and straight. Too many protracted scenes.

SPECTRE

Recommended. Nothing short of perfection and cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema deserves an Oscar. Unmissable first scenes. The whole thing is just killing in opulence. The plot is smart and some, even if few, lines are hilarious e.g. Bond asks Q to make him disappear and says: "I'll send you a postcard" to which he responds: "Please, don't". Ah, and another brilliant, multi-layer title.

DHEEPAN

Watchable. There is a story so it's quite easy to follow but it's just about immigrants trying to build a new home while troubled by their war past which gets reignited by French gangs' shootings.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT WITH LISTY DO M.

I skipped "Listy do M." which I had walked out from a couple of years ago. So I ended up watching:

LISTY DO M. 2

Watchable. A few funny scenes like with the sheep in a shopping centre: "Wiec to jednak pana owca." "Przepraszam, nie rozpoznalem na poczatku." ("So it's your sheep after all." "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize her at first.") make it better than part one. It's touching at times too. But the plot is far from perfect. The cast also doesn't always act out the humour of dialogue lines.

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Watchable again. "No one wonders how is crack doing or is cocaine mad at me" and the accompanying changing room scene are the highlight of the film. Together with the beating up of the gyn. The rest is well-paced and easy to follow but not entirely funny.

LOVE, ROSIE

Recommended again. Rosie's best friend and her lines like "It's great being your best friend. You think your life is fucked up but look at you and it puts it in a perspective." are my favourite. Sam Claflin and Christian Cooke as well as Suki Waterhouse and Tamsin Egerton are hot. The plot is contrived and heart-touching.


FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

BIG FATHER, SMALL FATHER AND OTHER STORIES

Watchable. The story is dull. It's mostly loose scenes from the countryside and from the city plus a few disturbing facts, like a rape, dullified too. I watched mostly for the exotics of Vietnam: both nature and culture.

BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING

Recommended. Tollywood which is very much like Bollywood minus the change of language from Hindi to Telugu. The most costly Indian production ever - 40 m $, it earned 9 m $ worldwide on its opening day. 90% of the film are CGIs. And it's all top-notch: the fairytale-like story, the music, the opulence, the visuals, the clear-cut characters. I'm looking forward to part 2 to be released in autumn 2016.


SLOW WEST

Watchable. Typical western motifs, brutality but also a lot of humour resulting from a clash of cultures.

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 3D

Watchable. Brilliant twists of action, CGIs, music, scenography (shot in Paris, Berlin and Atlanta - I wonder where). Unfortunately mutants look like pale Giger's aliens and act like zombies. It also gets annoyably politically correct at times.

MACBETH

Slept through. Lullaby-style music from the beginning to the end. Monotonous recitation. Dull darkish colours.


FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

ANINO SA LIKOD NG BUWAN (SHADOW BEHIND THE MOON)

Watchable. It's all talking - 3 people, 1 place. It should be a short story or a theatrical play, not a film. But the dialogues are full of twists and turns.

DIE XUE JIE TOU (BULLET IN THE HEAD)

Watchable. A light take on "Deer Hunter" - this time by John Woo. Violence here looks like in "Miami Vice", one of the characters even wears a white suit, so even pastels have been derived.

Monday 16 November 2015


L'OMBRE DES FEMMES (IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN)

Watchable. Contrary to the title it's awfully chauvinist. It's watchable just because stories of betrayal normally are.


PERFORMER

Watchable. I'm not sure what the whole is about but it's a string of top-notch avantgarde artworks. Great visuals and music.

EL CLUB

Watchable. Partly uninspiring, partly brutal (especially for animal lovers). The subject is interesting because it's about priests' sins, mostly paedophilia.

Sunday 15 November 2015

I'm clearing part of the backlog reaching... summer. I've finally put my notes together.

TERMINATOR: GENISYS 3D

Watchable. Actors are getting fatter and fatter - the fattest Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese ever. Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn were slender! The film plays with the famous scene of landing in 1984 and with the "I'll be back" line. The highlight is 2 Arnies: the young one and the old one fighting against each other. A contemporary twist is Skynet which, in this installment, is due to be released as a new operating system, widely awaited as it's to connect and master all.

PIXELS 3D

Recommended. Very funny, e.g. the power struggle between the gamer and the smart lady on entering the White House and perfectly 80s. Great light entertainment.

TRAINWRECK

Watchable. Not very funny. The whole film is based on a gender swap: women act like men ("It was only sex. Why is he calling me now?" and her girlfriend: "I'll call the police.") and men act like women ("I have to watch 'Downtown Abbey', all my mates will be talking about it tomorrow.") which is interesting but not very amusing.

AMY

Recommended. A great film even if you're not a great fan of Amy Winehouse's voice. It clearly shows how love killed her. A beautiful tragic story of her love for a wrong guy.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF BOOKS

There was only one film I hadn's seen before:

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Watchable. Old English literature has its charm even if the story is hardy plausible, at least nowadays, and the acting is second rate.


A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT

Watchable. Too western. Promoted as an Iranian horror, it's neither Iranian nor a horror. Arash Marandi looks good playing Arash and I liked the vengeance for abused women ideology. Other than that, it's slow, weird and how westerners imagine Iran. With needless nudity.

DANNY COLLINS

Recommended. Having read the synopsis I thought the story might be sombre. Luckily it's all told in jest. Dialogues are a delight, e.g. "You were married to Mary-Ann? Really? What was she like?" "I don't remember." or "I'm here as your friend, not your manager." "I want to cancel the whole tour." "Sorry?!". It's all so cheerful, optimistic and funny. Great acting too.

EFTERSKALV (THE HERE AFTER)

Recommended. A quiet film with no music and few words. It shows how one crime leads to a series of other crimes - this time aimed at the perpetrator. A powerful yet sad story of harassment.

EN DUVA SATT PA EN GREN OCH FUNDERADE PA TILLVARON (A PIDGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE)

Watchable. More like a theatre of absurd than a film. Consists of separate scenes and you never know how each of them will develop. Well acted.

KRAFTIDIOTEN (IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE)

Watchable. A gangster comedy which is not very funny but has some amusing bits, e.g. "You'll go to hell!" "See you then.", in a wintry Norwegian scenery


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF MUSIC

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

Watchable. Not a worldwide phenomenon, nevertheless a fascinating story of an investigation - looking for a musician who changed South Africa without ever being there and without knowing it. A curious local thing.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS

Watchable. You can feel the Coen brothers' work here - the action forms a loop. Other than that you just follow a musician's miserable life. The lead actor could look better too.

I skipped "Amy" and "Begin Again" which I had seen before.


MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

Watchable. The ending is funny - combined with the beginning ot the film. Unfortunately Simon Pegg is not in the only comic scene. Actually his part, however significant, is not comic. A great talent wasted. In addition the whole movie plot is rubbish. I spent most of the film considering walking out.

MIA MADRE (MY MOTHER)

Watchable. The strength of the film is its weakness at the same time. It's very down to earth in how it shows our daily problems.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Watchable. It's never completely lousy due to the superpowers the characters manifest but never fascinating either as the powers are weird rather than useful: extendable body, body armour, invisibility (better, but not used in any eye-catching or surprising way) and self-inflammable body. X-men they aren't.

LOVE 3D

Watchable. Finally someone says the truth - that no one likes children, including their parents. The film isn't shocking, taken the amount of porn on the internet. I'd rather say cinema has reached the level of the internet. It's about a guy who's fallen in love in his own way. None of the threesome looks hot enough to deserve 3D nudity. But, like all Gaspar Noe's films, it's got its rhythm. You just enter his disturbed world and sit there till the final credits.

SINISTER 2

Watchable. Scary from scene one but in fleeting moments. Interesting casual family story background. Chaotic, especially in the beginning. Maintains suspense. Full of atrocities which one of the kids is forced to watch.

LA GIOVINEZZA (YOUTH)

Recommended. Smart, tongue-in-cheek, beautiful visually and musically. I'll happily see it again.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF HORROR WITH SINISTER 2

I have seen all the films already but as I quite enjoyed "Sinister 2" and I had walked out from "Sinister" I decided to give the first part another chance.

SINISTER

Watchable. Silly and boring. But when you have learnt the story from part 2 and have taken to the Deputy So And So's character it's bearable. Only the final sudden Bughuul's appearance was scary.


THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

Watchable. The American, Russian (acted by hottie Armie Hammer) and British spies are endearing and so is the ending of the main plot (the warhead) and of the whole film. The rest is just fine. David Beckham has a cameo as a projectionist and is unrecognisable and quite good.

ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING

Watchable. It's really funny but the humour is often of more vulgar quality e.g. "I want a penis all women admire. Make it white." or based on the 'be careful what you wish for' rule. Simon Pegg as good as ever. The film's very British too.

THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED

Recommended. Really good entertainment: great views of the St. Raphael area, especially the road along the coast, club music, action is fun, good looking actors of both sexes. The transporter shows his more human face too. Simply a well made film.

OBCE NIEBO (STRANGE HEAVEN)

Recommended. A great film: based on true events, full of suspense, very well acted, showing cultural differences as well as surreptitious racism, a deeply moving story. Swedes should see it.

ZYC NIE UMIERAC  (LIFE MUST GO ON)

Watchable. A story of a terminally ill sober alcoholic won't exactly glue you to the screen unless it's enacted by Tomasz Kot. He's the biggest asset of the film.

KARBALA

Watchable. A fascinating story, great music, incredible scenography (I just couldn't believe that Iraq was recreated in Zeran, Warsaw, Poland). Unfortunately the main actor is barely plausible acting like an undecided army commander - when he says "Zachowac spokoj" ("Remain calm") looking nervous himself it's hardly convincing, also some of the Polish utterances are so muddled I couldn't make out a word.


BOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL

ENGLISH VINGLISH

Recommended. A pleasing to watch family movie with language issues. I obviously loved the English class subplot as much as the romantic and family side of the film.

ROCKSTAR

Watchable. The story is not too clever and is partly set in Prague but it's typically Bollywood meaning it evokes emotions and has lots of music. Gets better and better as the film develops.


MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

Watchable. Being a great fan after part one I managed to see the disappointing part two full of annoying zombies. A plus is that now the mystery of what's going on is finally resolved. Now the viewer knows what the factions are and what they're fighting for.

GIOVINEZZA (YOUTH)

Recommended. Visually impressive. Some scenes, like the one with the Venetian St. Mark's Basilica or with Miss World, are breathtaking. It's funny at times and full of peculiar characters.

SICARIO

Recommended. It raises brutality to a whole new level, like "Old Boy" did years ago. The open ending implies a sequel. But how will they beat the brutality of part one?

SAUL FIA (SON OF SAUL)

Recommended. Harrowing, brutal reality of concentration camps.

MISS JULIE

Walked out. A far-fetched story, pretentious, theatrical acting, slow pace, an ugly head star.

THE INTERN

Recommended. The digital generation gap is shown in a humorous way by great actors. The story is moderately funny, e.g. snoring scenes, very heart-warming and deeply involving. Great light entertainment. There's a fantastic scene mocking "The Taxi Driver" too.

CHEMIA (CHEMO)

Watchable. Starts with two infantile adults doing silly things and talking jibberish like 5-year-olds. Then you get sarcastic doctors and are able to follow the hero's journey through breast cancer which are the only reasons not to walk out. Most ridiculously, it's a musical about a deadly disease. Just add the ghastly costumes and scenography.

RICKI AND THE FLASH

Watchable. "Danny Collins" it isn't but it's an interesting broken family story and well acted too. Shame it wasn't funnier. Very American-rock.

SOUTHPAW

Watchable. Very good and involving. Predictable at the same time. Good music by Eminem but just twice.

VACATION

Recommended. Laugh-out-loud funny throughout. Chris Hemsworth showing off his six-pack, car adventures, the rollercoaster - all are gems of comedy.

THE MARTIAN IN 3D

Recommended. "Gravity" was nothing. Here the views of space and the survival struggle are breathtaking. Humorous comments on the situation enliven the film.

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE

Watchable. Well acted by beautiful main acts. Sometimes funny like the mother holding her kid and telling the couple not to get themselves a baby, sometimes clever like the lines about commitment: "Then I get all that 'you're scared of commitment!' No, I don't want to commit to you!" and cheating on a girl in order not to tell her that in her face or on a casual, sex-based relationship: "To him you're like cocaine or crack. Nobody wonders 'how is my crack feeling'."