Thursday 30 November 2017

TERRA ITALIANA FILM FESTIVAL

IN GRAZIA DI DIO (QUIET BLISS)

Walked out. Supposed to be a comedy but not even remotely funny. The indebted family during a crisis, a loafer daughter, an untalented actress didn't attract me in any other way either.

LA VITA IN COMUNE (THE ARK OF DISPERATA)

Watchable. My heart sank when I realized it was by the same director - Edoardo Winspeare - as the previous one from which I had walked out. This one's still not funny but with endearing characters. The only mildly amusing bit is early on and is connected to the town name - Disperata - a tourist gets the answer to his whereabouts but not understanding it's the name he tries to console the inhabitants. The later part with a criminal turning into a poet and an inept town mayor were charming. They created an atmosphere like in Jarmusch's "Paterson". The monk seal towards the end is my favourite though.

Tuesday 28 November 2017

CICHA NOC (SILENT NIGHT)

Walked out. The acclaimed portrayal of rural Poland is a depiction of drunks, potheads, smokers, vulgar teenagers, liars and family fights. I was happy to leave the cinema and get back to the more friendly reality. Besides it was so plain and boring I decided if I were to fall asleep at the cinema I'd be better off going home instead.

LABIRYNT SWIADOMOSCI

Recommended. Mystical riddles better than in "Da Vinci Code". Should be shown at multiplexes and not at limited screenings at indie venues. Technically perfect, with top-notch music. Impeccably acted in main roles and episodes alike. The director, Konrad Niewolski, is a pothead who believes in all this so the plot rings true within the movie even for sceptics like me. Most importantly kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning till the end.

JUPITER HOLDJA (JUPITER'S MOON)

Recommended. Built around the current influx of Syrian refugees - planet Jupiter has four moons, one of which is called Europa - but played out like nothing before. Hungary looks like a war zone. A refugee after being shot develops a superpower. At the same time he doesn't act like a superhero. He's portrayed more like an angel, with the way he moves and some people react to him, but without any particular moral qualities. "What is he?" is the question you keep asking yourself.

I'm adding a comment about a year later when I had a chance to ask the director, Kornél Mundruczó, about the film. The story behind the movie harks back to the time when the director, at the age of 13, read a science fiction book about a flying man. First the storyline was meant as a utopia but the refugee crisis occurred and history caught up with them, future became the present. So the scriptwriters: Kornél Mundruczó and Kata Wéber asked themselves: "shall we make the film at all?" They did and they showed the chaos and uncertainty Hungarians felt at the time through camera moves. As for the angel part, the director is of the opinion that it's hard to live without faith, whether the Church represents faith is a different thing. As for his view on refugees, he believes that a man who needs help needs that, not a kick. By such treatment we don't demean them but ourselves. Politicians dehumanize them. Dorota Chrobak asked him about cruelty common to Hungarian cinema. The director explained that the conflict of poetry and reality came from Hungarian tradition. It's present in folk tales and in Bartók's works. Unlike French or Romanian cinema, which is built on realism, mixing reality with poetry is typical for Hungarians. Scriptwriter Kata Wéber added that black humour was common in Hungarian society and that could be seen as brutality.

حادث النيل هيلتون (THE NILE HILTON INCIDENT)

Watchable. Less than 2 hours but drags like 3. European viewers care about solving the crime more than anyone in the Egyptian movie. You can almost smell the stench of Cairo: sprawling, all built-up, most edifices dilapidated, virtually everyone chain-smokes. Paying extra-marital affairs are rife among the rich and powerful. A topless scene astonished me - I didn't expect this in an Arabic film. The whole city's corrupted. Only deals are made, justice is impossible. Money changes hands constantly. The ending implies Mubarak's responsibility as Tahrir Square rebels beat up the police officer but you get the feeling nothing ever changes in this country.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART

Watchable. The selection of classical music, mostly Czech and a bit of Straus, deprives the film of all emotions. What could be an involving assassination plot here just drags. The Nazi gives his wife a cold shoulder - the naked bum of Rosamund Pike doesn't enliven things - and commands Einsatzgruppen in cold blood. Whatever he does appears passionless instead of feeling callous. Jack O'Connell lacks both the talent and the looks. Beautiful, even if slightly aged, and acting more distinctly Rosamund Pike saves the story. The ending with Czech insurgents is protracted and as dull as the rest of the film.

The last one seen courtesy of Cinema City.
JUSTICE LEAGUE AT IMAX 3D

Watchable. I saw the beginning on a regular size screen and Imax looks better, even with its lame visuals and average 3D. Combat scenes sounded way too loud though. Darker times, darker Themyscira - no more sunny Italy pictures. Bruce Wayne overtly admits his superpower is being rich. A new hot act is introduced - Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/Flash. Hottie Ben Affleck still plays Batman. I'd rather Michael Caine were Alfred. Jeremy Irons looks like a dismal, dishevelled old chap. Rudimental plot but at least it's a direct continuation of "Batman v Superman" and "Wonder  Woman". No humour apart from the fragment where the police question three criminals bound by the Lasso of Hestia which is a bit tongue-in-cheek. The best and very important scene is at the end of the credits. Glad Lex Luthor's out. The next installment has an outlook for being better.

WONDER

Watchable. Terribly sappy. Even though it's about bullying at school, isolation, feeling inferior or overlooked, here the bully gets punished, in addition immediately has remorses, the kid makes friends along the way and everyone wants to make up with others. On the other hand it shows how a bullied disfigured kid can react: "It takes a lot of plastic surgery to look that good" and, even more importantly, how bystanders should behave. Ah, and the kid has a cool quilt with a picture of an astronaut uniform which, when he covers himself, gives the impression he's in the suit. All in all it's mawkish but with role models, well-paced and apt for middle and high school students.

TOTEM

Walked out. I couldn't stand the vulgarisms. It depicts everynight life of lowlifes. F-worded conversations of drug dealers and pimps mix with extremely loud techno in seedy clubs. No wonder guys sitting behind me stank of weed. Only such viewers may be interested.

Monday 27 November 2017

FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

BAAHUBALI MARATHON

BAAHUBALI: THE BEGINNING
BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION

Recommended. The highest grossing Indian production ever. Followed by a launch of a training application helping you get Baahubali's muscles or, for lazy ones, an app letting you attach moustache and muscles to your photo. The movies contain: heroes flying in suspended motion, battle elephants, queens and kings (in that order), Tollywood songs, glamorous palaces and a spectacular mountain with waterfall slopes. Each part has some innocent humour early on before it turns bloody and full of glory. Power struggle amidst oriental opulence and music you hear in your head on the way home. It has a Dolby Atmos version provided the distributor and the properly equipped cinema decide to make use of it.

At the end of the 5.5 hour long marathon people were applauding the films clapping their hands and a guy shouted: "Encore! Encore!"

NIGHT FILM MARATHON - MARATHON OF SUPERHEROES WITH LEAGUE

Because of the "Baahubali" marathon, I had to skip re-watching "Batman v Superman". I also decided to leave "Justice League" for Imax. So I saw only:

WONDER WOMAN

Watchable the second time round. I caught some jokes I missed the first time, e.g. " We have to get you back to school before another teacher resigns" but the ones I liked before were less funny now. The main lessons from the movie are: you have to believe in yourself and men are unnecessary for pleasure.

Sunday 26 November 2017

SECRET SUPERSTAR

Recommended. Bollywood has taken on tackling domestic violence. When you get to see patriarchy Indian way, or at least Muslim Gujarati way, it's heart-wrenching. Physical and economic abuse is sanctioned by tradition and with the added insult of arranged marriages. All of that is played with the accompaniment of the title 15-year-old singer's ballads. The movie's got Dolby Atmos but in Warsaw was presented in 5.1 instead. There's a mid-credit song clip.
UNDER THE SEA AT IMAX 3D

Recommended. The best 3D ever, with the picture coming out towards you. You can almost kiss a seal. Pleasant music: partly mellow western sounds, partly slightly oriental. Gentle, beautifully voiced female voiceover in the Polish version. While the smallest children cried when one fish swallowed another, primary school ones, or some younger, will love it. And so will adults. The colourful depths around Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, north of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef bring order back into life and let you unwind.

HAPPY DEATH DAY

Watchable. Slasher fun where a first year medical university student has to figure out how not to get killed at the end of the day after which she wakes up over and over again. "Groundhog Day" for teenagers, with faster action but little suspense. Just light entertainment.

Saturday 25 November 2017

ACH SPIJ KOCHANIE (LULLABY KILLER)

Watchable. As for a crime story, it lacks suspense. A characteristic but unpleasant music piece gets repeated several times throughout the film. It attempts to play with the genre both with a visual motif and with the person's identity: the murderer touches his hat the way detectives do in cinema noir, then you hear him addressed as "judge", then you are told he's just on a Misdemeanour Court. Far too little to make it interesting.

THOR AT IMAX 3D

Watchable. Way too loud. I had to cover my ears several times. Besides the fantastic 80s-inspired music sounded a lot better in Dolby Atmos. For the visuals even Imax seemed to small at first. But at least it lets you see details like Thor's nose squashed against a window pane or the Sakaar ruler's painted nails. The story's not that thrilling the second time round. Nevertheless some jokes still amused me, e.g. when Thor suggests Doctor Strange could have sent him an email: "Do you have a computer?" "No, what for?" Chris's brother Luke Hemsworth is a stand-in for the actor playing Thor in the performance in one of the early scenes hence the semblance. I wonder if the Asgard refugees will reach Earth in the next movie or if that huge object from the mid-credit is going to be the basis of the plot.

MOTHER!

Watchable. At face value a class B horror, it's a metaphor of modern world tensions.  The isolated house looks like a separate country where two factions fight. On the one hand we have a man whose only job is it to write and even when he doesn't, he still won't do housework because, as he puts it, "writing is what I do". She does everything around the house and gives all her love to the man, which is never enough for him. He "can't even fuck" her properly but demands a baby. A female guest insists they should have children and her own sons turn out to be criminals. There's another power struggle once the baby's born as the baby is all the woman has but the man claims it's his. At the same time, when the house gets inundated with visitors, whom he appreciates and she doesn't, they behave not like guests but like refugees: when in a small number, they disobey house rules, hit on the woman against her will, sneer at the mention of it being "her house", the landlords have to clean up their mess, one con pretends to be a doctor, they commit a crime inside their house, mourn the death of one of their sons who got killed by the other in a fight, the husband reiterates "they've got nowhere to stay"; when en masse, they tell her to dress appropriately, pillage, demolish, grope her, say their prayers in one of their rooms, blow up, then the police lash out at her. With its poor execution, the movie gains in value in hindsight.

Thursday 23 November 2017

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER

Recommended. The atmosphere is so dense and intense you can cut it with a knife. Further culinary analogies are in the film itself: during a barbecue the stalked surgeon says, supposedly about a steak, "I don't like it overdone"; the stalker, refering to his way of eating spaghetti, explains: "I stick the fork in and turn and turn"; finally, in one of the last scenes, ketchup on French fries looks like blood. There are more metaphors. The whole plot is based on Iphigenia's, mentioned by a school teacher in the movie. The Greek tragedy told about a young woman whom her father has to sacrifice to appease gods so that a wind starts blowing to move sails of troops. Hence her father lures Iphigenia with a promise of marrying her off to Achilles. In the film the stalker boy acts as both Achilles and prophet Calchas, forcing the surgeon to sacrifice one of the children - the choice the father has to make adds to the tension, is it even possible to kill a sacred deer? - and seducing the girl who, like original Iphigenia, offers to sacrifice herself. The ending is ominous and chilling.

3. WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

우리들 (THE WORLD OF US)

Recommended. A thoroughly realistic picture of school bullying as well as of how things work between girls and how between boys. Nearly made me cry a couple of times.

터널 (TUNNEL)

Recommended. One person stuck in the midst of political and economic interests. The question of who and what matters more is asked in a compelling and entertaining way. Chilling corporate values, politicianst showed with a pinch of salt, a lovable main character and a hilarious Shostakovich joke once the tension has dropped.

The film's on general release too.


SCAFFOLDING

Watchable. About a secondary school student with a short fuse and a very irreverent attitude to teachers, acted by Asher Lax, no idea how old but looking 40, not 17. For a larger part it's a clash of values: his father and his peers: construction workers, see books as a waste of time, his school obviously perceives it differently. Asher resists attempts at educating him but... at some point you realize it's literature that makes him start questioning the status quo. At his final school exam he's asked how the ending influences the meaning of a work. So, of course, you know the ending of the film is going to reveal the whole point. The teacher's suicide and its long aftermath show how far-reaching our actions are, even without our awareness.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

RUSSIAN VR SEASONS

All 12 VR films looked blurry but, while only the first one was in 3D, all 12 looked as if they were.

Озеро Байкал: Зимний дух (LAKE BAIKAL: THE SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY OF EXTREME WATER)

Recommended. You can see a banya together with taking an ice dip as well as a Russian Orthodox Church with Asian-sounding music played inside. Makes you wonder at the exotics of the Baikal Lake area.

Между Петровым и Водкиным (BETWEEN PETROV AND VODKIN)

Watchable. A blend of black and white archival photos and colourful paintings. Makes you look around a lot but the story's quite niche.

Время Первых. Первый выход человека в открытый космос (SPACEWALK)

Recommended. The real Leonov, now 70 or 80, presents it to the other one, Pavel Belyaev, who's been to the Moon but has never done a walk. You learn interesting facts and see the original comonauts. The pencil scene from the full-length movie is recreated too.

История одного шута (THE STORY OF ONE JESTER)

Watchable. Unfortunately black and white - far too passe for such technology but you can experience your own funeral, see the coffin carried and buried, watching it from down below.

Вне тела (OUT OF BODY)

Watchable. A great short crime film which ends too abruptly.

VRability: Максим Киселев (VRABILITY: MAXIM KISELEV)

Watchable. The skyscrapers look better than the wheelchair ice dancing.

Открытый космос (THE SPACEWALKER)

Watchable. Your only chance to experience a spacewalk. I expected it would feel better but the Earth looked a bit like a flat surface.

В кругу семьи (IN A FAMILY CIRCLE)

Watchable. Random scenes showing four different couples, you just follow from one to another. You get to see good times and bad times.

Приключения Ам Няма, Незванный гость (OM NOM)

Watchable. Quite a nice cartoon for little children but again the technology seems wasted on animation.

Камчатка (SNOWBOARD KAMCHATKA)

Watchable. More about sport than the region. Bearable thanks to VR.

Эрмитаж VR. Погружение в историю (HERMITAGE)


Watchable. A fascinating museum, of which you see the main hall and the roof. The film's too slow, too long and verbose. If visiting it can take a lifetime, there's no need to restrict the presentation.

RT: Революция 360. Двор (REVOLUTION 360)

Watchable. Just because it's VR. The plot's rudimentary and it's shot in black and white.


ТРИ БОГАТЫРЯ И МОРСКОЙ ЦАРЬ (three heroes and the king of the sea)

Watchable. Lovely animated creatures, a crazy story of love. Very pleasant. Only the voices sound annoyingly old and murmuring and the music could be better too.

ЭКИПАЖ (FLIGHT CREW)

Watchable. A typical blockbuster where the first hour is pleasurable: about a handsome, cocky pilot, but the second hour starts with an airport apocalypse. From then on obstacles keep piling up and nonsensically lucky escapes follow one another. The nonsense lasts till the end.

ХОРОШИЙ МАЛЬЧИК (THE GOOD BOY)

Recommended. A crazy week at school and after lessons which is fun and perfectly suitble for teenagers.

ПРО ЛЮБОВЬ.ТОЛЬКО ДЛЯ ВЗРОСЛЫХ (ABOUT LOVE. ADULTS ONLY)

Watchable. Five puckish stories, each less and less amusing. In the first one a policewoman gets a guy arrested because it's easier for her to talk to men this way - funny and with reasonable psychology beneath the surface.

Tuesday 21 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

БУМАЖНЫЙ СОЛДАТ (PAPER SOLDIER)

Walked out. Intellectuals philosophise and trainee astronauts are scared to go to the outer space.

АРИТМИЯ (ARRHYTHMIA)

Recommended. A paramedic does his best to save patients' lives as well as to rescue his marriage. The cases, alike his home situation, vary: from a hypochondriac, through a death, to dealing with a mum who's daughter first may die and then, if she lives, may be taken away from her for neglecting parental duties. A masterfully structured film that knows how to play your emotions. Tough questions are intertwined with light moments, like when instead of him sleeping in the kitchen his wife finds a strange man: "Who's that?!" "Igor from the trauma unit."

СЛИШКОМ СВОБОДНЫЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК (THE MAN WHO WAS TOO FREE)

Recommended. I finally learnt who Boris Nemtsov was and why he got killed. Yeltsin's favourite, the campaigner who elevated Putin to power, eventually got assassinated on his orders. Since Stalin and Beria no one so high up in the power ranks was killed. Till Nemtsov. The documentary, along the lines, proves Putin is a psychopath. Nemtsov was specifically told not to go to the theatre occupied by terrorists because... Putin was afraid support for him would increase further. And the hostages died because... harmless gas was sprayed in the theatre to put everyone to sleep so that the terrorists could be taken out. However, the president admitted later the authorities had failed to inform ambulance workers so... all those people had got killed while being rescued incorrectly.

Monday 20 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

КРАСНЫЙ РУССКИЙ AKA VERMELHO RUSSO (RUSSIAN RED)

Watchable. The two young women were fascinating in a way: partly due to their stately kind of beauty and partly owing to their smart observations about acting: "People watch you knowing you are not the person and trying to believe you are." - sounds insane, doesn't it? The film description in the catalogue is a bit misleading. The film is more about acting than the culture and climate differences  between Brazil and Russia.

ПЕТЕРБУРГ. ТОЛЬКО ПО ЛЮБВИ (PETERSBURG. A SELFIE)

Watchable. Another misleading description in the catalogue. Only the tale of varying interpretations of the horse vs. man sculptures on Anichkov Bridge is rooted in the very city. The first story is based in the theatre, there's nothing of the city there. The last one, about a mother and a child is not much of a local tale either. The remaining ones happen in the city but could take place anywhere.

МОЙ УБИЙЦА (MY MURDERER)

Watchable. Hard to make out what and why. The result of the investigation is surprising but still not perfectly clear. A chance to see Yakutsk and the region's nature although it looks like nothing to write home about.

КОРОБКА (THE PITCH)

Watchable. Top-notch sound and camerawork together with excellent music make teen football bearable. Inter-ethnic tensions are played between the games, on the edge of the main plot. A player wears a T-shirt with a Che Guevara caricature saying "patria o muerte" ("homeland or death") and there are some brawls in between. But while it's clearly stressed one team are "true Russians" and the other, darker, "immigrants" from villages, at least one born in the city, that plot isn't resolved in any way.


3. WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

초행 (THE FIRST LAP) 

Watchable. Only to see the Korean way of life. I was curious how relationships and family work in Korea. The only cultural differences I noticed was having meals at a European-style table, kneeling at a low table or on the floor and eating with lots of clicking and slurping. The story's about a happy couple. The girl tells her boyfriend she might be pregnant and... nothing changes.



FILM RESTORATION SUMMIT

90% of US classical movies are lost due to the tape deterioration. Around the world earthquakes and fires have caused destruction of movie material. Norwegians protect their film heritage storing the reels in a vault in a 9.5 km wide mountain in Svalbard, protected by polar bears and permafrost. 45 countries had signed a treaty forming a demilitarised zone there. Apparently currently the greatest threat to film archives is political but hackers pose a serious menace too. With all the protections the archives are easy to access if needed as the contents can be sent via cable for screening. Material in Poland isn't so secure due to weather conditions.

"The Great White Silence" from 1924 - a documentary about Scott's expedition was released in the UK nationwide through limited venues 2 or 3 years ago and "Shiraz" from 1927 is going to be released in February 2018 with a score by Anoushka Shankar. There are no bookings or precise date as yet. Britain showcased older Polish films and Martin Scorsese gave it much publicity saying why he loved Polish cinema, mentioning Wajda and Polanski, in "The Guardian"

People from the movie industry say that film has gone from celluloid to 2K which is "excellent" and then to 4K which is "amazing". The very first 1895 film by the Lumière brothers showing workers leaving a factory was shown. The worst time for the cinema, at least in Italy, was in 1950s-60s as then everyone smoked inside so the screen was shrouded in the clouds of smoke. In "Dolce Vita" Fellini was found reflected in an actress' glasses. Italy gained plenty of commercial as well as institutional sponsors and organised free screenings of old films in the main square of Bologna: Piazza Maggiore. Normally the screenings would gather a few thousand viewers but for "Metropolis" 70 thousand people turned up.



3. WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

비밀은 없다 (THE TRUTH BENEATH)

Watchable. Made by a Park Chon-Wook's disciplee so brutality is to be expected. The movie follows Hitchcock's rule that a film should start with an earthquake and after that suspense should keep growing. A few minutes in, on the first day of an election campaign a politician's daughter goes missing. Has she run off? Or is somebody behind it? The opposition, the candidate's driver, the campaign manager, the girl's school friend and a teacher are all part of the picture. No holds barred political struggle. Lots of red herrings. The action's fast, even too rapid at times, and full of surprises. While it's involving it doesn't enthrall, it's too fast to create suspense strong enough.

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

БОЛЬШОЙ ВАВИЛОН (BOLSHOI BABYLON)

Recommended. A British documentary about the Bolshoi Theatre where rivalry is fierce, most dancers are narcissistic but all strive working to a common goal, knowing they are part of the best ballet in the world, always supported by the authorities. The dancers enjoy such esteem they are exempt from conscription, even at war time.

ВРЕМЯ ПЕРВЫХ (THE AGE OF PIONEERS AKA THE SPACEWALKER AKA SPACEWALK)

Watchable again. Not so funny at the second time. But some one-liners are first-class, e.g. one of the cosmonauts was drinking alcohol just before the launch, then their boss enters so he pretends to be have been sipping tea, the boss helps himself to it and comments: "This tea was strong." or after a radio silence when asked how they were doing (in a spaceship): "We're still sitting where we were." In one scene the moon forms a background to a shadow of a spaceship flying in front of it the way bike riders did in "E.T." No mid- or post-credits.

ТРИ БОГАТЫРЯ. ХОД КОНЕМ (THREE HEROES. HORSE COURSE)

Watchable. Cute, suitable for children, with a pinch of salt. The characters are endearing even if frustratingly stupid at times. The tale has a moral. Very pleasant watching. Good music, with a great final song.

ПОСЛЕДНИЙ ВАЛЬС (THE LAST WALTZ)

Walked out. I hadn't known the composer (Oleg Karavaychuk) before and I'm not going to listen to his works in the future either. His music is overly simplified and each piece sounds the same. He, at the time of shooting, was an elderly man speaking, looking and moving like a woman.

Sunday 19 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

ТРЯПИЧНЫЙ СОЮЗ (rag union)

Watchable. Looks like it was meant to become "Trainspotting" for teenagers. Four fresh adults, totally immature and gone off the rails wreak havoc in a village. First I felt sorry for Vanya exploited by the thugs, then for the girl treated like an object. I liked one of the guys looking totally hot. Other than that the story is hardly involving. There's some merit to the movie showing social group psychology. But I'm concerned teens may see the hooligans as role models rather.

ОКТЯБРЬ (october: ten days that shook the world)

Watchable. The scarce commentary only informs who or where in a way assuming the viewer is familiar with the history of the October Revolution. But even being as ignorant as I am, you can become mesmerised with the pictures. Whether facial expressions and gestures or large-scale military operations, everything is edited to form a choreography.

ИСПЫТАНИЕ (test)


Recommended. A picture speaks a thousand words hence no word is spoken. A father, a daughter and her 2 suitors in the sunburnt plain of the Semipalatinsk region live a very simple, quiet life till nuclear testing starts. Both lyrical pictures, e.g. washed clothes in the wind - just unbelievable how something so mundane is made into an art form, and the semi-documentary nuclear tests strike with unspoken beauty.

After the movie I went to a Siwa performance: also part of Sputnik and also without words but full of fragrance. A perfect ending to the evening.


VELOCE COME IL VENTO (ITALIAN RACE)

Watchable. High octane fun with a feisty female as the main protagonist. Car racing intertwines with her family issues when she becomes responsible both for her younger brother and the older one who's independent but a drug-addict. All that is shown with truly Italian energy and vigour. Much better on the big screen than on a small one. Picturesque Matera looks lovely in the evening even at a race-speed. With no depth and predictable but dynamic. Funny ending.


3. WARSAW KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL

The two festivals: Russian and Korean ran concurrently this year.

해어화 (LOVE, LIES)

Watchable. A beautiful, if mawkish, story of love on the human level and of foreign rule on the state one. Set in the time of Japanese occupation of Korea, just like "밀정" ("The Age of Shadows") but completely different in the palette and storyline. Vivid colours dominate, brown hues are limited to the dark side of collaboration. The love and revenge plot is the central one. In the second part the historical part comes more to the fore. The moral is that a political situation changes and you have to pay for your misdeeds this way or another. Extremely well acted.
SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

ДЕВУШКА С КОСОЙ

Recommended. Totally hilarious. Created by two women: Viktoriya Bugayeva and director Olga Popova. In Russia Christmas is celebrated on 7th January in a Russian orthodox church, it's a religious holiday, not a common one like in Western Europe. Gifts are given on New Year's Day and on New Year's Eve a salad with compulsory peas is eaten. A boy stuck in the lift ("I'm calm." "You don't sound like you are") is forced to listen to the operator's "comforting" scary stories about people stuck in lifts, his girlfriend feels dumped and tries to kill herself, a few couples fight, a man is desperate to buy a tin of peas and a girl with a scythe is trying to find the right address which is the same block where all the couples experience strife. Plenty of funny accidents happen. Alexandra Ursuliak did her stunts herself while she was pregnant. 

ИВАН ЦАРЕВИЧ И СЕРЫЙ ВОЛК (IVAN TSAREVICH & THE GREY WOLF)

Watchable. An inventive story mixing several fairy tale elements with a few modern ones. An egalitarian one too as here it's the woman who decides. Visually pleasant although the characters move somewhat mechanically. 

ДЕНЬ РОЖДЕНИЯ АЛИСЫ (ALICE'S BIRTHDAY)

Walked out. Nothing to look forward to in the story. Very infantile animation with ugly, grainy backgrounds.

I don't understand why adults with 2 kids pay less than a regular adult ticket price. They're surely 500+ beneficiaries so they can afford to pay more, not less.

ОН-ДРАКОН (HE'S A DRAGON AKA DRAGON - LOVE IS A SCARY TALE)

Watchable. Nothing much happens in the slow-paced fairy-tale with songs and prolonged sequences but what is clear is that the dragon symbolises male sexual desire and a girl should only succumb to it if she falls in love and marries him. At the same time it's her to decide who that'll be. The wooden village on the lake looks just like in the Middle Ages. Great attention was put to costumes. Beautiful wintry vistas. Good-looking men. The CGIs are decent too.

ЯЗЫЧНИКИ (PAGANS)

Watchable. Quite an ordinary story about one's beliefs being one's beliefs and nothing more. And no religion will save your heart broken by unrequited love.

КАК ВИТЬКА ЧЕСНОК ВЕЗ ЛЕХУ ШТЫРЯ В ДОМ ИНВАЛИДОВ (how viktor "the garlic" took alexey "the stud" to the nursing home)

Watchable. Like father like son. Both are bums. No wonder they despise each other. A common journey is bound to change that of course. The plot's so exploited I only watched it for the hot blonde lead and decent hip-hop as well as great techno in the soundtrack.

Saturday 18 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

Малыш и Карлсон (JUNIOR AND KARLSON)
Карлсон вернулся (KARLSON RETURNS)

Watchable. The cartoons from 1968 and 1970 look and sound archaic but the stories based on Astrid Lindgren's are nice for little children and only 20 minutes each.

САЛЮТ-7 (SALYUT-7)

Watchable. A typical blockbuster with obligatory cheese. Less ironic than "Время первых" ("The Age of Pioneers" aka "The Spacewalker" aka "Spacewalk"), with just one good joke about cosmonauts always having daughters, with little banter but also based on facts and approved of by the original astronauts. For all fans of the outer space also due to fascinating views of Earth from space, including aurora. Documentary scenes over the credits. 

КОЛЛЕКТОР (COLLECTOR)

Recommended. Engrossing and entertaining. One room, one guy and lots of phone calls. A few hours to solve a riddle and life-changing revelations along the way.
SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

ВРЕМЯ ПЕРВЫХ (THE AGE OF PIONEERS AKA THE SPACEWALKER AKA SPACEWALK)

Recommended. Wow! Such movies should be on general release. Another one based on facts, embroiled in Cold War politics and totally captivating. Time measured both ways adds to the tension. This film's in a bit lighter tone than "The Icebreaker". More like American blockbusters but set first in the outer space and then in the Arctic near Sakhalin. The production was consulted by one of the subjects: cosmonaut Alexey Leonov.

КАК Я ПРОВЕЛ ЭТИМ ЛЕТОМ (HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER)

Recommended. The two men at an Arctic meteorologic station in Chukotka kept me glued to the screen for two hours. Youthful frivolity is juxtaposed with gravitas and experience. One event sets off a series of reactions between the two. Everyday life: eating, bathing, work, fishing, a brief encounter with a polar bear combined with tension masterfully enacted by Sergei Puskepalis and Grigoriy Dobrygin make you wonder what's more extreme: the Arctic or people's emotions.

ЗООЛОГИЯ (ZOOLOGY)

Watchable. The tale of a woman who's suddenly grown a tail shows how the animal part of our nature is the source of our power. The power which can become a burden when others react with fear or inertion, if forced to deal with the unknown, or with perverted fascination. The one altered element of our reality doesn't make the story any less realistic. Quite simple. It also struck me how many Russian people were fat. With better looking actors it would be more pleasing to watch.

БЕЛЫЕ НОЧИ ПОЧТАЛЬОНА АЛЕКСЕЯ ТРЯПИЦЫНА (THE POSTMAN'S WHITE NIGHTS)

Walked out. The isolated village on a beautiful, vast lake is very ordinary, poor, with a few drunks, a kid, people breaking the fishing law. The portraits are disturbingly intimate, including a Peeping Tom scene which I just found appalling. I just didn't want to get so close to the bottom of the society that I avoid in real life two. You could almost smell the drunks. And you get to experience the awkwardness after seeing somebody having sex. A strange case of a film which was made so well I just couldn't stand it.

ЧАРОДЕЙ РАВНОВЕСИЯ. ТАЙНА СУХАРЕВОЙ БАШНИ (wizard of balance)

Watchable. Finally a cartoon which doesn't burden children with adult life problems. If there is any preaching, it's remarking, gently, that kids should learn. The tale is full of magic and wonderful creatures, with a travel in the clogs of a clock. Only the animation could be less sketchy and the music more modern.

Thursday 16 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

ЛЕДОКОЛ (THE ICEBREAKER)

Recommended. Shot in Saint Petersburg, Murmansk and Sevastopol. Kept me on the edge of my seat. A little known picture of Cold War from the other side of the Iron Curtain with good attention to detail. The Soviet state impact on the stuck icebreaker is greater than that of the iceberg near the Antarctic. Details are emphasized not only in the scenography but in the action too. Most of all, it's a gripping thriller. Also a chance to hear a few good Russian songs, including the one over the credits.

Sunday 12 November 2017

SPUTNIK RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL

Organization-wise: it's was chaotic, with volunteers who don't know anything, voting cards often not delivered on time, sometimes the ticket desk opening later than the first screening starts, translations inaccurate, meetings conducted amateurishly. While normally all volunteers are friendly, on one occasion one of very organisers was rude to me. I went to the opening of superb Alex Andreev's art exhibition, accompanying the Festival, a part of which was in VR. As soon as I started watching the paintings, the woman demanded I give my goggles to some children and when I refused and attempted to continue browsing the paintings, she threatened me (behind my back, asking others aloud) with calling security. I'm glad she didn't interrupt movies that way. In the catalogue and the repertoire some running times or synopses were incorrect. On the other hand, the screening plan was quite convenient. In spite of different locations, you could generally get to each movie on time. Finding movies in thew catalogue sections was tricky. For an average viewer a genre division, e.g. comedies, thrillers, dramas etc. would be more practical than categories like: Kaleidoscope, Feature Competition, A Window Onto Europe and the like.

But the film selection more than makes up for these inconveniences. The movies are well-paced, with gravity or irony in the right places, extremely well acted, meticulously shot, with textured, natural-looking CGIs and catchy music. Most of all with psychology presented so inconspicuolusly each story makes an impact without wearing you down.

ТРИ ДНЯ ДО ВЕСНЫ (THREE DAYS UNTIL SPRING)

Watchable. A bit Soviet-style, with music just like in productions of that time. Slow, with an involving intrigue but with a deus ex machina saving at the end.

Wednesday 8 November 2017

THOR: RAGNAROK 3D IN DOLBY ATMOS

Recommended. Absolutely fantastic. Spectacular CGIs, a magnificent soundtrack and a story with lots of banter and gags. Director Taika Waititi is Kong in the movie, there's an obligatory Stan Lee's cameo and two post-credits: after the initial, colourful credits and one at the very end. I expect Thor and Loki to wreak havoc on Earth in "Thor: Infinity". The 3D is terrific, I'm going to see it at Imax next time. The Dolby Atmos sound made impression too, I'll miss that at Imax. The translation into Polish is inaccurate so it's best to ignore the subtitles.

Upcoming "Black Panther" and "Star Wars", judging by the sound in trailers, are going to have Dolby Atmos too.


Tuesday 7 November 2017

BOTOKS (BOTOX)

Recommended. Wow! Hard to believe a bloke made such a true movie mostly about women: perv medics, sweeping medical mistakes under the carpet, drunk paramedics, pharmaceutical companies bribing doctors, manipulative, unfaithful lovers playing games in private life. A woman doctor gets sacked for a sexual abuse of a patient, male ones don't, one is actually the head of a clinic. Patryk Vega, as usual, extracted all the pathology of the institution portrayed (the police or special agents in earlier productions, the national health service this time). And, as usual for him, he did it in a thoroughly entertaining, totally involving way. I laughed twice: when the operating theatre is aired before a control visit and then the controllers see a sparrow flying there and when a guy is buying flavoured condomes and can't make up his mind till the pharmacist finally asks: "Are you going to fuck or make jam for winter?" Very good music completes the picture.

THE SNOWMAN

Recommended. Sweeping snowy views of Telemark area, vibrant Oslo, colourful Bergen. Quiet and peaceful Norway and a gruesome series of murders. A well-paced crime thriller. Gripping, full of red herrings. Based on Jo Nesbø's book so heavy stuff.

Both movies seen courtesy of Cinema City.

Monday 6 November 2017

HALLOWEEN MARATHON AT CINEMA CITY

There were several different Halloween movie marathons all over the city. I picked one of various selections offered by Cinema City for the first night. The staff were all in costumes and the cinema decor included a fluffy black spider, pumpkins and skulls. The 3 movies were:

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)

Recommended. Acting David Lynch himself, with a cameo by David Bowie. Sheryl Lee acted as teenage Laura Palmer at the age of 25 and you can see that but it makes sense due to the number of erotic scenes. Very good music. An oniric feeling permeats the whole film. It just has a unique atmosphere.

The weirdest thing was to me seeing several teenagers walking out and coming back in and hearing their comments afterwards. I first saw bits of "Twin Peaks" when I was their age and for my generation it was a cult series. For today's teens it's not. What happened in between the generations that they don't get this style? Looks like Lynch won't have such cult following any more.

IT FOLLOWS (2014)

Recommended again. Very good music. I didn't find it scary at all this time but the unusual plot totally immersed me.

DON'T KNOCK TWICE (2016)

Walked out. The Polish "Baba Jaga" title attempts to bring it culturally closer to the Slavic people but fails miserably. The original "Don't Knock Twice" computer game is much closer to the movie. There's no gingerbread hut most importantly! Whatever the title is, however, it wouldn't save the movie no matter what. It's just total rubbish: no atmosphere or suspense, the scares appear too early and are shoddily made.


LUX FILM DAYS

120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE (120 BEATS PER MINUTE)

Walked out. They debate, throw fake blood, debate, hurl blood again and discuss AIDS all the time, even during sex.

I evacuated myself to Cinema City.

THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US

Watchable. Far-fetched, cheesy and mawkish but psychologically plausible and once the plane crashes - in a silly way - you want to know how they make it, don't you?


NIGHT FILM MARATHON - NIGHT OF HORROR

I went for just one movie I hadn't seen before and which had no general release:

DEAD AWAKE

Walked out. I left due to a technical glitch but I feel no need to see the rest. The tech problem actually spared me watching this rubbish. The premise is very similar to "Slumber". Predictable as hell. Have all horror directors got the same script?!


HAPPY FAMILY

Watchable. Overlong. It should finish when the family get back together. Dracula wears a Magneto-style helmet and cloak as sunray protection. The whole story tells you that various people can like you because of your unique features but you can be happy only with your family and if you're not, happy people see you as a monster. The animation stands out in places. Backgrounds look very realistic, with proper texture, whether file piles in the office or the London Eye area. The whole thing is OK but lacks humour or genuine depth.

JIGSAW

Watchable. What a load of rubbish! Only for die-hard fans of the franchise. Jigsaw's been dead and buried for 10 years and should stay that way. Each part with multiple game players was inferior to the ones with an individual focus. In this one, additionally, all players get killed off. Only the final part is so-so. The killer is again an ex-player trained by Jigsaw 10 years earlier. There are bloody traps aplenty from the start and no suspense or tension whatsoever. Enough to know that and spare yourself watching this nonsense.

The last two movies seen courtesy of Cinema City.


LUX FILM DAYS

WESTERN

Walked out. Railway workers' life with some tension between two nationalities which doesn't make the film any more vibrant. The harassment by invisible perpetrators is just like in several class B thrillers.


USŁYSZ SKOLIMÓW. BO NAJWAŻNIEJSZY JEST GŁOS

Watchable. Times have come when you need a special campaign to promote making phone calls with your mobile. The commercial looks pretty standard, emphasising family relations. Nothing in the spot explains that Skolimow is where the House of Artists is located or what the clip actually promotes. It's the start of a long term campaign which will include a release of audiobooks with fairy tales read by the retired artists and a 1% tax soliciting project. Will be shown online to target 30-40+ year olds buying their parents handsets for Christmas. The makers believe the group will recognise the actors from the video. I wonder if the more-Polish people know them. I don't.


MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE

Watchable. The ponies are each of a different pastel colour and the royal family are unicorns. They all have huge eyes and the evil-turn-good Tempest Shadow's eyes get bigger when she becomes good. The songs are mediocre. But the film looks cute, even the credits.

A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS

Watchable. I liked their exploits at the first time but their Christmas is dumber and more vulgar and their mums are over the top nuts. Stop the series, please!

THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE

Watchable. I liked: Jackie Chan, feature inserts, spacious sound. I didn't: Polish dubbing which means you see English and hear Polish at the same time, in addition by voices much different from the original, the silly story. Numerous film icons get recycled here: Darth Vader, Transformers, kung fu, a suspension bridge. There's one mid-credit.

A LITTLE VAMPIRE 3D

Watchable. Finally a children's movie with a story and decent 3D. Vigo is a cute boy who has been 13 for about 300 years. It's a very good production, I just reckon more humour could be extracted out of such characters, especially the vampire-fearing guesthouse landlords.

LEATHERFACE

Watchable. The beginning was class B, just like earlier "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", to which it is a prequel, but shortly after the introduction of the psychokiller, sadistic family, you get a full size plot and suspense. What I detested was that in this movie it's women who are the evil ones, including one necrophilian. Completely the other way round than in real life statistics.

The last five movies seen courtesy of Cinema City again.

Saturday 4 November 2017

LUX FILM DAYS

SAMEBLOD (SAMI BLOOD)

Recommended. On the one hand a harrowing account of a girl growing up treated like an animal, especially at a medical examination, and treated like an outcast when she plucks up courage to move to Uppsala. Swedes comment about the Sami: "They've got resources" but we see that completely different ones than in the Swedish society. The worlds don't match. She also loses her boyfriend as a result of a class divide. The movie's powerful but disturbing.


Thursday 2 November 2017

INXEBA (THE WOUND)

Watchable. First of all, Africa deserves better cinematography, here it looks terribly dull. Secondly, the story which at first focuses on the clash or modern and traditional life in South
Africa, where homosexuality is just one of the differences (non-existent or at least not-revealed in villages, acceptable in cities), soon turns very gay, with this subplot being simplistic. Set in mountains - hardly shown apart from the ending - rather mentioned in conversations for a bigger part of the film. An inapt remake of "Brokeback Mountain" unashamedly pitched as an Oscar candidate.

GEOSTORM AT IMAX 3D

Watchable. Just as I expected: a far-fetched plot with spectacular visuals, some of which made me cringe, and great music. The plot works on all the levels it needs in the genre. Real fun. Worth seeing at Imax 3D.

CONTACT HIGH (2009)

Watchable. Terribly amateurish but the story's so bizarre it's quite fun to follow. Leaves you with a contact high.