Movie reviews

SZATAN KAZAL TANCZYC (SATAN SAID DANCE)

Watchable. It's like an orgiastic party: pretty girls (Magdalena Berus, Hanna Koczewska, Marta Nieradkiewicz), cool guys, lots of nudity with or without sex, plenty of alcohol and drugs. I guess the director must be bisexual. A number of times the film appears to be a commercial of the no-longer-existent Nowa Jerozolima club in Warsaw but there's little techno in the film and in fact a great techno tune - energetic "Year Of The Dragon" by DJ Akme - features only in one, final scene. The story and the music start in the 80s. Oops, did I say 'final scene'? In the cinematic version it is. But the fun thing is it's composed of 54 two-minute pieces which can be arranged at random to create the same story. There are references to the director, Katarzyna Roslaniec's previous "Bejbi Blues" (the commentary that nowadays having a baby is in fashion is to the point) and to "Il racconto dei racconti" ("Tale of Tales") - no more depth. It also ridicules contemporary mothers who want to have a baby and maintain their earlier lifestyle at the same time. I wonder if the movie will ever get an interactive release enabling viewers to mix and match the 54 pieces.

BIKINI BLUE

Watchable. Amazing cinematography. Each frame looks like a painting. Lianne Harvey has something Scarlett Johanssonish about her look. Tomasz Kot imitates a British accent pretty well.  The story's secondary to the picutres. I learnt the Martians, whose invasion scared people in the 50s, symbolised Soviets - the Red Planet was communism. But that's just on the margin of the film.

FLASKEPOST FRA P (DEPARTMENT Q: A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH)

Watchable. A very good thriller, with the right dose of tension, likeable police and a perfect balance between action and quiet moments. Just a couple of scenes don't make sense, e.g. a police office running with a gun in his hand and, even worse, dropping it. Luckily unique Danish landscapes play a large part in the story and compensate for those movie-intended inadequacies.


WEGIERSKA WIOSNA FILMOW 2017 (HUNGARIAN FILM SPRING 2017)

EGYMASRA NEZVE (ANOTHER WAY)

Watchable. Early on you hear that the shot woman wanted to murder the one in hospital so you expect a crime story. Then it gets political, in addition historical - Hungary in communist times, finally the two women, including the married one, have an affair. So that got me intrigued enough to continue watching. However, both the script and the acting are so toned down nothing reflects the supposedly violent emotions.


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - THE NIGHT OF HORROR

JOHNNY FRANK GARRETT'S LAST WORD

Watchable. Based on a documentary so, indirectly, on facts. Provides no scares. The court case is the highlight. Mike Doyle plays the best-looking guy on the jury, Andrew Redman so doesn't get killed too early. Intriguing, makes you wonder how they really died. It's just not scary enough for a horror and with too many scaring attempts for a fact-based drama.

DANS LA FORET (INTO THE FOREST)

Watchable. Psychological rather than a horror and very mysterious. A father takes his sons to a forest where he plays a weird game with them. The horror part works out the worst, they should have limited the story to the mystery which is truly gripping.

BODOM (LAKE BODOM)

Watchable. A slasher movie about teenagers in the woods? Yes, but with good twists and turns. It plays with the genre bringing a puzzle, tension and surprises. A few motifs are still worn out, though,  and the ending, while not bad, is not as meticulously enacted as the preceding story.

FEBRUARY

Recommended. Mystery without scares. But the mystery stands out and the story is like nothing before.


WEGIERSKA WIOSNA FILMOW 2017 (HUNGARIAN FILM SPRING 2017)

A MARTFUI REM (STRANGLED)

Watchable. A very involving crime movie, about a serial killer, where the story of the investigation unfortunately gets diluted by the communist political background.