Beware a sarcastic nose-on satire where the affluent well-off creatives throw up (figuratively and literally) on the ultra rich (who applaud them in real life). I really liked The Square, the director's previous film, but this one is just trite, simplistic rubbish with cardboard caricatures as characters, an episodic, messy storyline dressed as an unconvincing allegory of sorts. Reviewers were split and some booed when it won the Palme d'Or - the win was a surprise, but from there it spread, and now it's nominated for an Oscar. It obviously has a big push from somewhere or someone to become commercially successful beyond the so-called arthouse circuit. To each its own, but this film left me exhausted (way, way way too long and slow) and angry at its ineptitude masquerading as arty parody. Avoid.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Zenith
(2010)
In the eye of the beholder
29 January 2023
A risky genre-bender that brings the story's central question back in the end to the viewer to answer, it's a rare film that dares this somersault. What do I mean? Commercial narrative movies mostly plot a storyline that ultimately plays to the expectation to entertain. Rarely does a film slap us in the end to wake up out of the trance of watching a movie and re-think what we've seen. Like the Schrodinger cat experiment, we'll only know the answer if we open the box, but the film only leads us to the box. Sometimes that's a gimmick, but given the subject matter, here it's a clever device to get us to rethink everything and reconsider the crucial question of the story. Of course it will alienate many viewers who will watch it because of the "thriller" and "sci-fi" taglines, since it uses the genre formulas only as disguise. Cinematically, it's well done, playing around with standard movie tropes and conventions and crossing some lines but not going overboard. It's a shame Peter Scanavino settled for Law and Order. Based on this performance he could've done much more. Jason Robards III is eerily reminiscent of his late father and David Thornton is brilliant. Why aren't they more present in mainstream movies? Bottom line, recommended if you're up for a subversive cinematic experiment in form and content.
The dreamlike quality of cinema
25 January 2023
My first thought while watching Bardo was how similar of an experience it was to Malick's Knight of Cups. The wide angle long takes, subjective reality and fragmentary storytelling have a similar methodology, but Bardo stands its own ground. Yes, it is too long and at moments painfully drawn out but some of the scenes, set ups and images are mesmerizing, like Bosch paintings come alive.
Yes, it might be narcissistic and self indulgent, but so what? It's a memorable film that touches on many themes, from belonging, identity, fame and success - which is adulated, frowned upon and envied, all at same time - to life and death, and love - and all that in a thankfully nonlinear way, and not another boring predictable Hwood biopic dramatization - which seem to be the only films being made nowadays, besides sequels, prequels, superheroes and goblins.
In short, if you like cinema as a visual medium, still have the patience to sit through a slow moving film filled with visual metaphors and symbolism, I would recommend.
Yes, it might be narcissistic and self indulgent, but so what? It's a memorable film that touches on many themes, from belonging, identity, fame and success - which is adulated, frowned upon and envied, all at same time - to life and death, and love - and all that in a thankfully nonlinear way, and not another boring predictable Hwood biopic dramatization - which seem to be the only films being made nowadays, besides sequels, prequels, superheroes and goblins.
In short, if you like cinema as a visual medium, still have the patience to sit through a slow moving film filled with visual metaphors and symbolism, I would recommend.
Glass Onion
(2022)
shmetaphor
25 December 2022
Spending half a billion dollars on a movie that's supposed to have an empowerment message of eat the rich (white man) is the equivalent of billionaires riding private jets while claiming to be climate activists. Yes, the film is a silly "activism" allegory for dummies of how a black woman smashes the dumb exploitative billionaire's (tech bro) stuff, with an emphasis on art stuff - after all, it's all Eurocentric toxic masculinity dang anyway - did I mention that this simplistic morality play's ending cost half a billion dollars?
You could feed a third world country for that.
Political commentary was a cool undercurrent to a solid murder mystery in "Knives Out." This here is an embarrassment. Padded with celebrity cameos and over the top set design and costumes, it tries to capture a certain contemporary milieu but fails in its Hollywood myopia. It reminded me of how the dreadful movie "Hackers" tried to capture the hacking culture of the 90s. The murder mystery story here is just a meaningless wrapper to all these shallow metaphors. Don't bother.
You could feed a third world country for that.
Political commentary was a cool undercurrent to a solid murder mystery in "Knives Out." This here is an embarrassment. Padded with celebrity cameos and over the top set design and costumes, it tries to capture a certain contemporary milieu but fails in its Hollywood myopia. It reminded me of how the dreadful movie "Hackers" tried to capture the hacking culture of the 90s. The murder mystery story here is just a meaningless wrapper to all these shallow metaphors. Don't bother.
The White Lotus
(2021–2025)
Season 1 was great satire, season 2 painfully drawn out meh
16 December 2022
Cringeworthy characters and awkward situations with biting dialog and observations in Season 1 were a spot-on commentary on our present moment. It was also refreshing that, despite their shallow narcissism, each character displayed a human side and weakness in the end, which saved them from being only representations of their class, gender and racial stereotypes. Mike White is obviously very familiar with the Connecticut-Hamptons upper class and their verbiage - overall, Season 1 was original and very timely. Season 2, on the other hand, is shallow and boring. It could have been told in 2 episodes or be a (flat) TV movie, instead of the many, many, many drawn out scenes where the characters just sit or stand around exchanging meaningless platitudes. On top of that, each scene has to cut to overlong transitions of Sicily landscapes, the sea, paintings and sculptures, all to foreboding music. The characters are not interesting, their conflicts revolve around sexual desires and preferences and the dialog is dull and predictable. What happened, Mr. White? Season one Yay, season two Nay.
One trick pony
21 October 2022
If you want a "meta" film watch Being John Malkovich. Or for that matter Nic Cage in Adaptation. But this ain't no Charlie Kaufman script or Jonze directing. Not even a watered down, C version of something akin to that. It feels like a bunch of studio salespeople and hacks got together and slapped someone's "what if" idea onto an utterly predictable and tired cliché of a story. The beginning was promising but it went downhill fast. Like someone already said, if you take out the Cage movie references and "meta" quotes, there is nothing left, only a boring movie without purpose. Cage has made more great films than most actors can dream of in his better days. Better to watch one of those again than this. A missed opportunity, but a plus point goes for the shamanic thespian ability.
Drive My Car
(2021)
Zen filmmaking
29 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Excellent. The film manages to connect a literary experience with a cinematic execution and keep the attention to details and all the subtleties of the story. Up to the third act and the climax it was perfect. The visit back to the village and the resolution felt somewhat underwhelming - it's expected and less poignant than some of the other surprising revelations and moments throughout the film - still, it didn't take away from its overall impact.
A note on some of the reviews I had read before watching: people who expect a westernized plot driven storyline should skip this film. It is not too slow, you are just used to something different. It's silly to compare this film to Godfather or Inception, it's like comparing a boat with a bird (what?) Finally - this is a BIG SPOILER - the end is obvious, why so much confusion? He gave her his car. He was able to leave his past behind. She had said to him "driving is all I know how to do."
What a beautiful film.
A note on some of the reviews I had read before watching: people who expect a westernized plot driven storyline should skip this film. It is not too slow, you are just used to something different. It's silly to compare this film to Godfather or Inception, it's like comparing a boat with a bird (what?) Finally - this is a BIG SPOILER - the end is obvious, why so much confusion? He gave her his car. He was able to leave his past behind. She had said to him "driving is all I know how to do."
What a beautiful film.
Clever
26 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
No, it's not a masterpiece. It's clever and imaginative. But it's too long. Too much of everything everywhere all at once. The unrelenting Kung Fu and over-the-top action becomes boring after a while. And the farting camels. Oh, there were no farting camels? But the butt plug fight... No, it was the - what again? Lots of gags that are funny to 14 year olds. Have you seen the one where they... wow, never seen that in a movie - snicker... A great Kung Fu master shows restraint. So does a great filmmaker. Not here. Just because you can think it, you don't have to say it, let alone film it. And humanizing the irs, who take from middle class folks hard earned money to give to bloated military contracts so that some devious people can get rich... Alright, that's going too far now. Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent, so is everyone else in the cast. And the "message" is at least positive - open your third (googly) eye and realize that compassion and love is what you need, and it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor and what your life is or could've been materially. Throw everything you can think of and a kitchen sink in to tell that story and you got yourself a movie.
Slick, Manipulative, Half-Full
24 September 2022
Oslo is clean, homes are very nice, people are civilized and healthcare seems excellent. Sorry, those were my first envious impressions, coming from the US. As for the film, the director's technique is very slick and manipulative but overall the glass is only half-full - or half-empty, depending how you look at it. The film is just a rom-com - without much "com" but OK - spiced up because it's about Millennials in the 2020s, but there is really nothing new here.
I don't know why so many reviewers here got upset with the main character. She doesn't know what she wants and is searching for herself, but that's a common theme, and it's not unique for Millennials - and some people haven't figured it out even when they turn 30, or that's when they realize that they made the wrong choices and then make even worse choices. You could start with so many films from the 60's and work your way through all those films from the 80's to now, tackling this subject...
Everyone wrote that the acting is great, and there is no question about that. The issue I have is with those stylish gimmicks in the first 2 acts - the voice-over, the freeze frame, the rewind, etc. - it's a sophomoric display of "look at me, the director" narcissism - and Ok, so that's the style - but then the third act becomes a standard over-the-top melodrama trying very hard to make the viewers sob. That's what I mean by manipulative. Trier oscillates between stylish overconfidence and tired sentimentality to achieve his goal. Luckily for him, the actors are outstanding. Which saves the film.
Worth watching, but overhyped by critics.
I don't know why so many reviewers here got upset with the main character. She doesn't know what she wants and is searching for herself, but that's a common theme, and it's not unique for Millennials - and some people haven't figured it out even when they turn 30, or that's when they realize that they made the wrong choices and then make even worse choices. You could start with so many films from the 60's and work your way through all those films from the 80's to now, tackling this subject...
Everyone wrote that the acting is great, and there is no question about that. The issue I have is with those stylish gimmicks in the first 2 acts - the voice-over, the freeze frame, the rewind, etc. - it's a sophomoric display of "look at me, the director" narcissism - and Ok, so that's the style - but then the third act becomes a standard over-the-top melodrama trying very hard to make the viewers sob. That's what I mean by manipulative. Trier oscillates between stylish overconfidence and tired sentimentality to achieve his goal. Luckily for him, the actors are outstanding. Which saves the film.
Worth watching, but overhyped by critics.
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