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igor-29
Reviews
Ni na bian ji dian (2001)
a breath of fresh (an languid) air
What a wondrous experience - sitting through something that poetic, uninterrupted, relaxed and self-contained. The protagonist seems just as oblivious to the world around him and the director of the action-oriented industry he ostensibly is a part of.
Gosford Park (2001)
torturous
Whoever managed to watch this protracted miracle of boredom to the end certainly deserves the badge of endurance, if not courage. It's much easier to get involved into a turtle race than into this movie. Each particular scene/snippet of dialog/facial expression may be mildly entertaining but two hours of nothing but that!!
Do lok tin si (1995)
best surprise in ages
I expected to see just another mediocre japanese-style shootout when I was renting this. Was I wrong! That's by far the best unexpected discovery I've seen in years. The movie is both artsy surrealistic, cruel, action-driven and almost sentimental at the same time - quite an achievement. Beautiful formalistic sets are right in their places and actually do convey the mood of the movie, not the director's ego.
L'ennui (1998)
the title expresses all
I am somewhat confused about what is wrong with this movie: the cinematography is fine, most actors are reasonably good, but sitting through the two hour movie was quite a challenge due to (surprise!) l'ennui:( I guess the problem lies in the highly predictable and repetitive plot and trite dialogs. And the philosopher sounds more like a bored and disappointed teenager than a scholar.
Romance (1999)
stunning
Quite a remarkable achievement indeed. Beautifully shot, with great cast, the movie leaves a powerful and memorable impression, even explicit sex scenes aside. That is not to say that those scenes are inappropriate, quite on the contrary, they form the very essence of the story evolving around Marie's vehement dissatisfaction with her sex relationship with Paul, whom she loves (or so she thinks). Marie being the main character investigated in the film, Paul's motivations are not that clear and are never really explained. This does not make the sight of him having solitary dinner with a Bukowski book instead of being in bed with Marie any less entertaining.
One of the most remarkable new movies shown in NY within the last year or so, it well deserves its (somewhat scandalous) fame.
Santa Sangre (1989)
a beautiful kitsch
One of the best movies ever made, a perfect kitsch stylization with lots of "holy" blood (or paint?), fear, lust and despair. You will find larger than insanity love story, life-long operetta-style vengeance, religious fanaticism and Marcel Marceau-inspired pantomime. Amazingly singular and not like any other director, Jodorowsky is always wandering on the border between desolate tragedy and visually stunning grotesque and you'll never know if the border is crossed. Disturbing images and music will keep haunting you until you appease the cinema demigods by watching all Jodorowsky movies you can get a hold of.
eXistenZ (1999)
rather tame
Much less entertaining and more commercialized than previous Cronenberg movies. The script's idea is far from original and the plot is somewhat predictable; the movie, however, is still quite enjoyable, mostly due to Cronenberg's trademark weirdos dispersed lavishly throughout the film. It's also incomparably more original than The Matrix.
Yin shi nan nu (1994)
good aperitif but a boring movie
A superb food saga and nothing much beyond that. The characters are incomparably more languid than the meals they are consuming.
Exotica (1994)
all pretense and no substance
After watching the movie, my feeling was of a porno flick with all explicit scenes cut out by the editor. The atmosphere of a porno movie is maintained by a fragmented plot with sketchy characters whose only reason for existence seems to be their gravitation towards a certain night club. The feeling of suspense is supposed to be conveyed through a total lack of expression on actors' faces and dimmed lighting in the club. This is the first Atom Egoyan's movie I've seen and I am deeply disappointed.