Monday 29 August 2022

KONIEC SWIATA CZYLI KOGEL MOGEL 4 (EGGNOG 4)

Recommended. Hilarious bits include situation humour like a grapple with a policeman and witty lines, e.g. someone who finds herself at a yoga class: "Że usiąść? Ale muszę się tak splątać, czy mogę normalnie?" ("That I sit down? But do I have to tangle myself like this, or can I normally?"). The set design: both interiors and exteriors is spot on. So is acting. The comedy is in the style of the first two parts. It showcases the diversity of Poland and contains political and movie Easter eggs. I laughed many times.

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

Watchable again. The initial music and sound effects are superb. The deep generational shift from "Women used to be so easy to control" is manifested. The new Agent Smith is hot (Jonathan Groff). But I still couldn't get it. And it felt protracted even when I was watching fully awake, with complete attention.

ドライブ・マイ・カー (DRIVE MY CAR)

Recommended. Or lead my life - that's the concealed meaning. About creating theatre - in an original way, because each actor performs in their own language - which was always a huge no-no to me. But the movie is hypnotising. Also the two male actors, from two generations: 西島秀俊 (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and 岡田 将生 (Masaki Okada) are hot. Japan is depicted as neat and quiet, even in a bar, music is subdued.

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES 

Recommended. A study of 11 little power struggles taking place during small talks. This black and white film becomes more and more fun as you follow each separate story, some with recurring actors, all with repetitions of the check pattern and lines, especially the one about coffee and cigarettes not being healthy. You witness the twilight of the era of smoking allowed in public places - shot in 2003, when the first smoking bans were being introduced - and the time when the black drink had bad fame, before its health-preserving properties were discovered. Some big stars of the time appear: Iggy Pop, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett who's fabulous as two cousins, a fair share of black actors too. A variety of American and foreign accents are spoken.

Monday 22 August 2022

SCREAM (2022)

Recommended. The hottie Skeet Ulrich from the original "Scream" and Melissa Barrera grace the screen. There are masterfully planned Easter eggs, cameos and red herrings aplenty. ("Stab" is the film the movie characters watch in "Scream 2"."Always shoot them in the head or they come back" is from "Zombieland". "For Wes" is clearly for Wes Craven, the late creator of the "Scream" franchise.) This time the rules of a requel are listed. The plot keeps you guessing who the killer(s) is/are.

Wednesday 10 August 2022

VERDENS VERSTE MENNESKE (THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD)

Watchable. The only reason for an Oscar nomination for this oddity I can fathom is the actress who's a Dakota Johnson look-alike - Norwegian Renate Reinsve. While the protagonist's relationships are: off, on, off, they all feel fake, no one's relationship is like that in real life. Director/co-writer Joachim Trier seems to have a specific approach to emotions, reflected in the on-screen couple: he verbalizes feelings, she can't feel. I like the fact she lives not having kids. The second half hosts a handful of visual effects - she walks through the film of her life - the only truly original sequence. Other than that, it presents revolting socialising ideas like urinating, though at least the details are spared. Still, it's gross. The slow pace of the film is exacerbated by slow music. And it's overtalked.

CICADA + Q&A WITH THE MAKERS

Watchable. The flirt between two men is definitely different than it would be between a man and a woman - or at least if you want it to work. It's engaging but all terribly sex-oriented. On the other hand, the tenderness like between the guys is rarely seen in straight couples. The story's quite perceptive. I felt touched twice and my eyes welled up. A huge downside is it's overtalked.

I saw a bigger part of it at the cinema but the movie's available predominantly on Outfilm.pl.

The writer/director/producer Matthew Fifer (Ben) was molested as a child. Usually when he confesses people react by saying they were molested too. Matthew's parents watched it together with him but in a different car (in a drive-in). Most of the film was shot in Matthew's apartment. Sheldon D. Brown (who acted Sam) had got hurt in a drive-by shooting, had ended up in hospital and had a scar but the production budget was low so they wrote that into the character. The actor had never been on screen before, having only acted in the theatre. The Church is a big part of black Americans' lives which makes it hard for them to come out. The makers wanted the film to be funny at times - in my view they failed at that. Originally the film had another hour. Luckily that was cut out. 

Monday 8 August 2022

SUKIENKA (THE DRESS) + Q&A WITH THE MAKERS

Watchable. The Polish actors' short film nominated for this year's Academy Awards is a realistic yet extraordinary story. While normally I'm put off by the Polish tendency to shoot dramas about disabilities, the country's film-makers have become kind of experts in the field. Dwarfs' sex is not a common topic, to say the least. Actually I've never seen it tackled by the cinema before. The aggression and the man's dubious motivation for the intercourse are striking. On the other hand, women supporting each other put the incident in a wider perspective, where it's male domination set against women's solidarity. The ending is ambiguous - has she just been replaced or is she seeing herself were she bigger? It's an impressive film but no Oscar quality in my opinion. It's all somehow mediocre: the story, the setting, the acting and technicalities.

Seen online. The dialogues were not always audible, in spite of great quality of the online version, with decent volume, some lines were just murmured so incomprehensibly I had to resort to subtitles. Funnily enough, I was reading the English translation in order to understand Polish dialogues. Cinematic reception might differ.

Scriptwriter/director Tadeusz Łysiak says he likes feminine cinema. He believes in 'losowość'.("randomness, stochasticity"). He may be right. The ending is different than planned. Due to a lack of light there's no scene of her walking through the parking lot where she sees her elongated shadow. He admits the existing ending can be interpreted in various ways. What mattered to him was for the film to be about feminism, exclusion and to be plausible. Gaming machines are illegal in Poland so it was hard to get a permit to shoot it. Many leading Polish actors refused to take the role of the man. First the producers were looking for an actor with a brutal look. The cinematographer wanted not to show the female protagonist's short height - from what I could see he failed miserably. As some point they are sitting at the same height as they're talking equal to equal. The scene was ad-libbed in a large part since the scripted dialogue sounded fake. In practice, first there was long silence, then they improvised the small talk. Just a few original sentences remained. Dorota Pomykała ad-libbed in the laundry scene too - she'd act anything as long as the camera was rolling. Anna Dzieduszycka, the dwarf actress, has had no acting school but 10 years of practice. The director's love acted the neighbour on the balcony. The film was available free on YouTube in the period preceding the nominations. Only two Oscar-shortlisted films used this sort of promotion - the other one was "The Long Goodbye". 

Thursday 4 August 2022

DEATH ON THE NILE

Recommended. After "Murder on the Orient Express" I was apprehensive of another Agatha Christie adaptation directed by and Hercule Poirot acted by Kenneth Branagh. But Ridley Scott's lavish production brings in a handful of surprises. It extends Agatha Christie's plot adding a back story on the detective, which puts a new angle on the character. It also goes beyond the confined space of the ship, instead offering tantalising panoramas of Egypt or shots of nature, with its predators menacing beauty. The story in turns showcases Hercule Poirot's acumen or forces you to guess as the riddle seems to elude him. Best of all, you are shown Egypt before mass tourism. Splendid cinematography emphasises the magnitute of ancient structures.

偶然と想像 (WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY)

Watchable. The first story is contrived and looks staged. The second is more realistic personality-wise yet unlikely in real life. The last, third one, is the most plausible, warm and endearing. In all three the characters mostly meet and talk.

Reviewed from the distributor's screener. Cinematic reception might differ.

Tuesday 2 August 2022

MAINSTREAM

Watchable. The first half feeds you ludicrously crazy nutters YouTubers' videos. In time you realize how viewers fuel the business and witness how people from the bottom end of the society relate to each other. The protagonist claims everyone's a performer in LA so striving for recognition underlies this ridiculous spectacle. Maybe you really "have to be dumb to be smart" (to earn). Andrew Garfield shows off his acting and dancing chops. Just like on YT videos, the film has add-ons e.g. a vomiting with glass hearts scene becomes an animated sequence. The movie has good bits. like the choreography at his "No One Special Special". Generally the music's fun, including the end credits song "Mainstream". Bar performers who are YouTube bottom end and often outrageous which is exemplified by his penis-pants.

THE CARD COUNTER

Recommended. Perfectly cast Oscar Isaac's poker face, prolonged shots, ambient music,  mostly by Robert Levon Been and Giancarlo Vulcano, create an atmosphere of peace and mystery at the same time. The story, at each turn, forks out and you never quite know which path it'll take.

Monday 1 August 2022

THE 355

Recommended. The plot, created by Theresa Rebeck, with its undertones, is so gripping and full of twists the star cast: Jessica Chastain, Bingbing Fan, Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Sebastian Stan, John Douglas Thompson are just the icing on the cake. The Atmos-recorded sound is superb: often surrounding, including coming from above, even when watched in ordinary 5.1, the music, the effects, the clarity. Thoroughly entertaining but also pointing out the truth some people put their lives on the line so that everyone else can live peacefully. The women solidarity and the actresses' prowess both send out a powerful feminist message. The finale sets the scene for a sequel and I'm looking forward to it. Aptly selected "Boys Wanna Be Her" song by Peaches is played over the end credits.