Movie reviews

THE GENTLEMEN

Recommended. Starts with sounds of voices right over the opening credits. A brilliant gangster thriller with manifold 'who's playing who'. Gripping from the first to the final scene. All shot in dodgy corners of London and around but the plot's so attractive you don't need visual delights. Hugh Grant is barely recognizable as the reporter with an offer. Matthew McConaughey is the self-professed "king of the jungle" - clearly a reference to his earlier role in "The Wolf of Wall Street". There are other movie references aplenty. Coppola's "The Conversation" is named explicitly. The original content includes some mockery of classes mixing and mingling and how hard it is nowadays to tell who is who. All of that superbly acted by absolutely everyone in the cast. Top-notch hip-hop and fantastic dancing complete the picture. The hip-hop video runs again over the end credits.

VSECHNO BUDE (WINTER FLIES)

Watchable. Looks terribly amateurish: the pictures, acting, script, everything, including incongruous music. What's worse, the picture and sound often don't match so there's either something off technically or the artistic vision has gone awry. I got intrigued why the main protagonist had run and where from and who the retarded boy was but that never gets explained. Is there any idea behind this series of incidents? The movie doesn't seem to convey any message. The Czech title meaning "There'll Be Everything", the Polish title: "Kawki na drodze" - meaning "Jackdaws on the Road" - which was the original title idea due to some cultural connotations for the Czechs and the English one differ enormously.

The Polish producer, responsible for 10% of the film, finds it to be "European artistic cinema". They have made "Kamper" and "Córka trenera" ("A coach's daughter") before. Currently they're making 3 movies: a documentary about a family -  the topic is their main interest, a feature about a family and a science fiction one: "Echo w głowie" ("Echo in the head") is the working title. I'm looking forward to the sci-fi one.

L'EXTRAORDINAIRE VOYAGE DE MARONA (MARONA'S FANTASTIC TALE)

Recommended. It's painful but it's because the dog's life story, quite typical, presented through the animal's eyes and nose is so moving. The animation's extraordinary, as if consisting of a series of works of art. The depiction of the park in the final part is particularly beautiful. Love of dogs permeates the film. The movie's about life, our attitude to dogs and their to us. It falls into philosophical tones at times so it's certainly for adults. I'm not sure about children.

JAK POSLUBIC MILIONERA? (HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE)

Watchable. A very pleasant romantic comedy based on Dutch "Ellis in Glamourland" ("Alice in Glamourland") so it has a worldly feel. I don't recall seeing the original but from photo stills I can see that even the characters look much alike so I guess it's an exact copy. It's wonderfully cast, no exceptions. Anita Sokołowska, here as the taxi driver, is one of few Polish actresses who can do comedy, I laughed out loud when she was giving warning signs to the millionaire. Wojciech Mecwaldowski in turn, known from a few comedies, has got a rather serious role of a playboy this time which is surprising but with his great acting quality maintained. The plot is quite typical and predictable but the film, in warm, bright colours, is very pleasant and the story uplifting. Light, easy music, not exactly catchy but just fine. Makes you leave the cinema with a smile.

ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS

Recommended. A compelling, authentic rags to riches story. Ella Fitzgerald's childhood was just unbelievable: homelessness, reformatory institution, scuffles, possible abuse by her stepfather. Later, in spite of her tremendous innate talent, she struggled to play in big venues. Interestingly, another troubled superstar, Marilyn Monroe came to rescue. Ella, weighing 110 kilos, suffered from health issues as well. She lost both her legs 3 years prior to her demise. Yet she had such a strong will of life and performing that despite numerous traumas and illnesses, she lived till the age of 79. All that is presented with the black history of the US in the background. Shockingly, slavery turned into unemployment - once they had to be paid, social pressure was to hire whites. No wonder for Afro Americans everything was, and to a point still is, about race. Music-wise the movie turned out to be a great relief for me. After "Amazing Grace" - about Aretha Franklin, at which I struggled to sit through the film due to my dislike of jazz, I was apprehensive. But swing sounded more like rock and I even enjoyed it. Bepop with scatting - not to my taste - was bearable. Her ballads were soothing. The truth was she could sing anything, she was such a versatile and proficient singer. I'd never thought I'd be replaying jazz in my head like I was after the movie. In Poland wrong translation, where the translator fails to see the difference between a reform school and a school reform, detracts from the pleasure of watching. It's essential to ignore the subtitles.