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Reviews
Providence (1977)
A complex movie, made charming and great by great performances
Providence is not an intellectual or artsy film, in the usual meaning of the word 'intellectual'. Is more a literary movie that experiments with the idea of an author, who is not only a novelist, but a playful and cynic god. In this sense, Providence is reminiscence of an idea exposed by the great Spanish writer and thinker Miguel de Unamuno in his novel Niebla: the author can play God inside the world of his creations, make fun of his characters worries, reactions and words.
In Unamuno's novel, the idea is exposed with undeniable clarity. In Providence is far more complex, because there are also more psychology, absurdity and surrealism. Viewers can find a sarcastic but profound treatment of problems like adultery, Oedipus Complex, family hatred, social classes, pessimism and murder.
But, in my opinion, Providence is a great film, not by Resnais pompous direction or by the much complicated literary ideas exposed in the story: this film contains one of Dirk Bogarde's and John Gielgud's best performances ever. Bogarde, the master of extreme elegance and excessive but charming mannerism, and Gielgud, with his mastery in giving words an independent life -as Derek Jacobi does-, bring humor and irony to this very pretentious work of Resnais.
Koroshiya 1 (2001)
A critic-proof movie:
I wanted to destroy Ichi the Killer, because I was tortured by the gallons of blood and the tons of bowels purred inside my TV. But the filming (absolute style), the main villain (the blond one, that even scare me when I first saw the DVD box in a video store) and the way I was shocked, against common sense and sanity, made my conclude that I was a another victim of this film.
Ichi the Killer is a definitive Knock-Out. Is not the kind of Bergman, Almodovar or Truffant movie that your artsy or intellectual teachers would celebrate, neither is the Friday 13th kind of trash that one of those pseudo-sadistic, nutty friends of our high school could enjoy in an indolent summer night.
Is a movie made to disturb all kind of mentalities. Is a deep travel into psychosis, sadomasochism and all kinds of anti-social behaviors. Those who appreciate great films will be terrified by the angular shots, the completely disconcerting rhythm compulsive is an underestimation, the characters (there's not an accurate adjective to describe them: creepy, schizophrenic, sadistic, psychopathic
I could go on for pages).
And those who think they're though because they have watched hundreds of cheap horror movies would find themselves begging for the end of some sequences.
I will give this five stars, you give'em the rest. Is not that I think this a mediocre film. By no meaning! Is just that this movie crushes every theory and is beyond ovation or condemnation. Finally, please take this advice: don't watch Ichi the Killer alone. Is not a horror movie,is brutal absurdity, depicted without mercy and with the great style,proper of a great director. Why watch with company? Because, in case you lose your sanity while watching Ichi the Killer, someone will take you to a sanitarium quickly.