qtaran111 Reviews

The Northerners (1992)

Bizarre but wonderfully black comedy

[25 May 2004]

This is a great little film, by turns funny, surreal, with a couple of scary moments (especially with the vulture on the bed, the crazy bird from the shoulder of the monk statue, and after the hunter is blinded, searching the forest).

Parts are reminiscent of Delicatessen (rebellious postman, mad butcher) and others are straight out of a grimm fairy tale (the scenes in the woods), however it is always engaging and well-acted. Although I think Dutch people will get more from the socio-historic context of the story, I think everyone can identify with the mixed-up lives of "ordinary people" in small, soulless towns. Weird!

Nightwatch (1994)

better than the remake

[2 December 2003]

This is a great little film, with some genuinely creepy moments. Yes it is fairly predictable and not exactly original. However it makes up for its unoriginality with good acting and competant directing. The close-up of Ulf Pilgaard's (Inspector Wörmer) face when he realises that Sofie Gråbøl (Kalinka) was at the murder scene is both funny and terrifying as he weighs up his options. Anyway it is far superior to the US remake (it seems as though people are split on this: generally Americans like the remake, Europeans like the original). Stick with the original, 7/10.

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Crazy fantastic

[8/10 · 21 November 2003]

Superb campy trash romp through the filth of society! Who cares if the acting is wooden and the production "basic", the characters and their dialogue are brilliant. Surely Divine/Babs Johnson and Connie Marble are two of the best "female" characters in cinema history. Divine's politcal statement at Connie & Raymond's execution (see Embalmer's comment) had me in stitches. She surely is the filthiest person alive.

Intimacy (2001)

Disappointing

[22 September 2003]

This film disappointed me. The idea sounded intriguing and it was, however I thought this was let down by a poor script and bad acting. How some IMDb users can say it was well-acted is beyond me. Others have made simplistic comments that the actors were not attractive or that the sex scenes were un-erotic; yes this is true, but surely this is the point (and in the film's favour). In real life (this is cinema verité after all) sex is not limited to attractive people; furthermore I've found that generally soft string music does not play in the background whilst delicately filtered moonlight shines through the window as you get it on. Hang on, sounds like I'm singing the film's praises. As I said, an interesting and intriguing idea badly realised.

.but Timothy Spall was excellent as always.

Amélie (2001)

Fabuleux indeed!

[22 September 2003]

Wonderful, magical and delicious in every detail. From the very beginning, describing Amélie's conception, to the end showing her blossoming, this is a gem of a movie. Taking the typical Jeunet fantasy/hyper-real slant on life, this film has a real unique gallic charm. The cinematography is superb and the rich colours and detail help to flesh out Amélie's comic strip universe. Perhaps this is the antithesis of the dark world described in Delicatessen. And Paris has never looked so beautiful (even the Metro looks clean!) Superb. Can only the French do cinema like this?

Following (1998)

excellent modern film-noir

[9/10 · 22 September 2003]

This is a great film, and I wish more people had seen it. Superior in some ways to Memento, it can also be seen as a progressive step that lead to Memento. As some have said, at the begining the jumps between past and present are not always obvious, but I feel it works in the film's favour and adds an element of "what the hell is going on?" This only makes the ending more enjoyable and creepily satisfying.