Movie reviews

AFRYKAMERA 2018

SOMEBODY CLAP FOR ME

Watchable. Idi Amin, "the last king of Scotland", built roads but inflicted torture. Current Ugandan president Museveni wants to silence the dissatisfied: "The problem is people who don't even have enough to eat are very talkative". The true issue is politicians are more than 60-70 years old so "only want to exhaust the system" while 76% citizens are young. Traditionally young ones won't speak before the elders. In poetry they will. Arrests, interrogations, beatings are not mentioned directly but the youngsters speak out against the regime. An interesting viewpoint is that white volunteers are brought in instead of creating jobs for the locals. Women are awakening from the rape culture too. And they are subjected to more violence than we are in Europe. One more issue is ethnic identity - a female who's "not white enough to be British, not Indian enough to be Indian, not black enough to be black" is such an exmple. War music of the tribe Museveni hails from is used in the animated sequence. Wonderful music features in the whole film. Kampala appears to be the centre of quality poetry maintained in the African oral literature tradition. It's recited in open-air clubs with kiosks. However, lacking commentary, you have to pick out the important bits. The movie maker explained a lot herself... after the screening, not in the film itself.


THE MERCY

Watchable. Confounding and depressing. Typically real life adventure stories are about victories or at least glorious failures. This one's about a total failure. A homebody set out on the open sea and miserably failed, not only incapable of handling the ocean but also cracking under the pressure of media hype. A true story which is a plus. However it left me dejected for a bigger part of the day.



AFRYKAMERA 2018

FELICITE

Watchable. Very African: the creaky recording ruins the music from minute one and the night is truly so dark you can only see people's silhouettes. In the first hour Félicité's determination to get money for her son's operation is just a pretext to exhibit today's Congo: dirt, stench, littered dirt roads even in a city, paint flaking off walls, greed, corruption, misogyny, violence against women, impunity and cruelty of the rich. The second hour comprises of dreams, drunken debauchery and a sad love affair. The first hour would have been enough.



PANDAS AT IMAX 3D

Recommended. It's all cuteness. From newborns to adults. And black bears too. You just want to reach out and pet them all. The closest you can get to pandas without travelling to China. Or maybe at all.

BENT

Watchable. A pretty standard thriller about a murder case leading to unravelling international espionage but decently made and well-paced. What's peculiar is it's made according to the 80s rules: a tough guy, a few naked women, dealing with the jet set. The ex-con investigating Jennifer's death is both in disgrace and favoured by everyone, excluding the police, at the same time. The whole thing looks good in the southern sun. 

THE DEATH OF STALIN

Watchable. Filmed in London, Kiev and Moscow. Based on historic events but showing the absurdity of the dictatorship. And any dictatorial system for that matter. On a more serious level it explains a crucial period in Russian and Soviet history. Now I understand that the assassination of Beria prevented an even harsher regime. Sharp satire but so true I wasn't able to laugh. Includes Beria's pedophilia and details like parents collecting their daughter from his residence afterwards. Brezhnev's character shows up in the final scene. I'd love a sequel. With a plethora of great British actors, including Michael Palin as... Molotov but my favourite was Jason Isaacs as Zhukov. The soundtrack consists of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. 

PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST

Walked out. Dubbing like in a children's movie. Theatrical acting. Brown hues like in virtually all religious films.

NIE WRACAJ DO MNIE W SNACH (DON'T HAUNT MY DREAMS)

Walked out. Amateurish, especially the cheap "period" costumes.Theatrically delivered lines. Nonsense ones. All in all a cheap grotesque.