Change Your Image
Shawnabaca
Reviews
Idi i smotri (1985)
By far, one of the greatest war movies.
I'm not a fan of war, but I'm a fan of watching war movies and not for it's extreme violence, more so for its historical education and cultural value.
Klimov's storytelling is electrifying and a breathe of fresh air in portraying intricate and disconcerting content in a way that touches upon humanity. I have no idea what it was like to be part of a war as such, i can only imagine and yet without physically being there, as Americans we are so blinded by what really goes on out there in the world.
It's haunting to watch silly uniformed men with a little power take advantage, rob and ridicule people relentlessly for being Jewish. I found myself angry at times when watching this happen. Seeing fools being condoned for bad behavior because they are on the dominating side of war. It's cruel and bullying, yet it's probably true to what really happened out there.
And the protagonist Flor, who we follow through this journey, a boy caught up in the war trying to survive. The cinematic moments and dramatic pauses capture and bring the audience into Flor's every emotion turn. Just when you think it's over, it continues, another day of war, another day trying to survive. It's ugly and brutal.
It's heartbreaking to watch the German soldiers come in like Gods and have power over a culture of people stripping them off all their rights. I was angry when I saw the soldiers come in and eat their food, take their belongings all while the villagers watched in hopes that there weren't chosen to be exterminated. Horrific.
One of my favorite moments in the film is when Flor and Glasha are playing out in the rain despite being on the run for their lives. The most daunting is watching people being burnt alive while German soldiers make mockery of the happening. And watching Flor's face and his inner psychological torment happening. It's hard to look at this film and say that it is beautiful and unique to some of its other war movie counterparts but this movie is real and beautiful in every spoken sense of the word.
The score, along with the sound design, the editing, and the actor's performance is astonishing. The director's vision and storytelling is amazing, a true storyteller.
The ending is a true masterpiece in an attempt to try and erase this massacre from history but it's really hard to ever forget what happened. The real live footage of this genocide and the filmmaker's interpretation is genius. Really one of the most engaging war movies I've every seen, but not for the faint of heart.
Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
Great Surrealism Although Not My Cup of Tea
I want to start out by saying what I really loved about this film. I love the surrealism. What I appreciate the most is the director's creativity and use of transition shots and his setups. I love that he can take a simple subject matter and twist your thoughts swaying it towards another meaning taken out of context. I think a lot of people do this in reality, we think we hear something and our imagination takes us to the worst case scenario.
The cinematography is fantastic. I love the colors and the beautiful shots leading us from one scene to the next.
I'm sure what I'm about to say next is going to have Buñuel fans throwing cyber tomatoes at me. The first few story lines I was totally engaged in and felt like "Ha... there's a laugh at me for thinking that's what it was." Classic example would be the little girl with the photos.
I felt very bored very quickly with this movie, mainly because I didn't feel connected to any of the characters nor did I feel satisfied with any of the story arcs reaching a denouement. I'm am certain I will have someone comment on this review saying, "How can you not see the artistic value in this movie." I assure you that I see a lot of artistic value and pure genius of the filmmaker's vision for the movie and with that I cannot argue. For me, I tend to like stories that have a beginning, middle and end. I was left unsatisfied with the ending of this movie. Just not my cup of tea.
Dom za vesanje (1988)
One of the best foreign movies I've seen
I really was drawn into this movie right away. Ljubica Adzovic who plays the grandmother is deserving of an Oscar nod, her performance is superb at being the rock of the family. The main protagonist Perhan is a young boy who is coming of age and is driven by love. When he asks his girlfriend's mother for her hand in marriage, the mother shuts him down because he doesn't have any money. Perhan's sister has a condition that leaves her bedridden and when given the opportunity to take her into a big city with the town's gangster, who owes Perhan's grandmother a favor, Perhan embarks on a journey where he leaves his small town as a boy and quickly has to become a man.
This movie takes so many twists and turns and you honestly won't mind them because the filmmaker and actor's performances are so great, that it really doesn't matter. It's like watching years and years of their lives being squashed into a two hour movie but you will enjoy the journey. This is independent filmmaking at it's best and there is nothing about this film that feels contrived of pushed. Their family dysfunction is also centered around and filled with the love and togetherness that mold a family together.
The score of the film is fantastic and really drives the emotion of each scene. This ensemble cast is so well put together you forget you are watching a movie. it's a nice take on the style of the film as opposed to feeling like you are watching a movie where there are actors driving the scene. You will never feel this way when you are watching this film. It's a true gem.
La otra conquista (1998)
Magical Realism and Religion
One of the things I really appreciated about this film was that the filmmaker made a statue of the Virgin Mary a character in the film. It was nice to see what she looked like and felt like through the eyes of the protagonist, Topiltzin. This movie is shown through the lens of the protagonist, an Aztec man who is watching his culture be slaughtered and diminished as Cortez and his men take over the land and enforce Catholicism onto the Indians. The filmmaker collides both worlds by showing the tug of war between Aztec spirituality and the religious beliefs of the Spaniards. Topiltzin is forced to pray to a blonde statue he comes to know as the Virgin Mary, his new God.
It was honestly the first time that I ever looked at a religious artifact as the antagonist of a film. It made me feel guilty for feeling angst toward her and sympathize with the Aztecs.
This is a poignant yet poetic story that takes on the journey of the inner struggles of the assimilation told through the POV of Topiltzin. The film has nice tones and textures of Fellini and the touch of humanity that Renoir was known for. I enjoyed the historical value of the film and the message of being able to be put in someone else's shoes to truly know their pain. The color palette of the film has a magical feel to it and I enjoyed the filmmaker's use of magical realism.
I have also been a big fan of Elpedia Carrillo since I first saw her in the Predator. It was nice to see her in a film prior to her role in Predator. She was enchanting to watch, and it's easy to get sucked up into her passion for her people and her beauty on screen.