Movie reviews

THE PREDATOR AT IMAX 3D

Watchable too. Makes a significantly bigger impact on the large screen. 3D helps a little as well. The sound is sufficient but nothing to compare with the virtuosity of Dolby Atmos. What I can add to my previous review is that the earlier movies are referred to as if they really happened and this one provides an explanation why. Autism is presented as "the next step in the evolution chain".

BERGMAN - ETT AR, ETT LIV (BERGMAN: A YEAR IN A LIFE)

Watchable. About all his life, not just one year. Interesing enough as it shows how a talent in one field doesn't transfer to character traits. Bergman was both an acclaimed film director - although in his time just showing sex on the big screen was a challenge enough - and a bully at work. He also had affairs and children with a number of women. Clearly a product of the patriarchal era. I guess the documentary would make a bigger impression on me if I had seen any of his movies. I'm not much interested though. The excerpts looked archaic enough. I'm much more into new technologies in movie-making.

SUI DHAAGA. MADE IN INDIA

Watchable. Just one song - played twice. In one scene what was to be a language joke results from the scriptwriter's poor English so can be funny only to a less educated audience. But the plot is truly Bollywood - about a family and with surprises along the way. The story contains a few real life undertones: big businesses taking advantage of small ones, exorbitant hospital bills in India ruining poor families, sewing machines for the poor sold on the black market. Yet here, like one of the protagonists remarks, the machines are from China so he sells Indian clothes back to the Chinese market. 

Whistles and torches from part of the audience (Indian teenagers to be specific) were a serious disturbance.

7 UCZUC (7 EMOTIONS)

Recommended. A screening is like a group katharsis. The film starts with a middle-aged guy talking about his issues which imply his suffering from BPD but what follows is how everyone spent their childhood last century. Painstakingly rendered reality of a few decades ago. Disturbing, especially killing a dog. For some reason all characters use a specific language, with repetitions characteristic of hesitant people, especially those from the lower end. Middle-aged or even elderly actors are casted as children which makes the whole movie quite unique and at the same time leads to theatrical-style exaggeration. 49 actors in total. Cezary Żak, famous for his early role of a tram driver, here makes a cameo as a train conductor. Also my friend Beata Wójcik appears in the movie - as one of the class, she's the girl jumping in the ending and she's really good in the small role. The core idea is the validation of children's feelings. The result is powerful and thought-provoking.

NIE ZOSTAWIAJ MNIE (LEAVE ME NOT)

Walked out. Do leave - the cinema! Protracted and depressing. About a 17-year-old with no aim in life. The sound is not synchronised with the picture and has an aftersound. The same lame song is played over and over again. Conversations about nothing. Accidental editing. The film lacks a point.