Change Your Image
myemailforschoothings
Reviews
Annie Hall (1977)
An enigma of undeserved recognition
What a disaster of a film this is. Ironic in that it's everything it touts it hates. It appeals to a certain kind of culture especially at the time of its creation that functions only a thin layer beneath superficiality. As though just because of its constant and worthless, meaningless postmodern cynicism it actually means something real. But it's pure emptiness - there is no feeling or human soul or spirit in any of the film, and the center of it all is Annie and Alvy, with not an ounce of love between them. Plus the latter is excruciating, nauseatingly painful to watch for two minutes let alone ninety.
It appeals to the mind, not to the heart. It is exactly the kind of intellectualism it claims to hate.
The movie staggers constantly, flickering between occasional bouts of experimental wonder (I loved the animated scene) and rabid pseudo-intellectualist circlejerking. There's some knowledge behind it, but it's only mere name-drops. And again, for a movie about love it certainly is totally devoid of it. There's no real communication between the two main characters, it's all fluff, all gimmick. No genuine emotion exists in Annie Hall the movie.
I almost take it as a personal offense that the slopped-up holier- than-thou script is regarded as one of cinema's greatest. If this is our best, I fear we're doomed.
Barton Fink (1991)
Insultingly (and ironically) vapid
Barton Fink is movie that proves yet again all you need to do is throw nonsense in a blender, do it with style and pretend it means something, and people will eat it up. I'm no stranger to symbolic and surreal movies (Eraserhead is one of my very favorites), but this is something (like Barton himself in the film) that bears no substance and is purely superficial. What makes it so much worse, and most ironic, is that the movie attempts to disprove that in its message but ultimately ends up being just as much a part of it (if not moreso due to its aforementioned intention and execution).
It's not surprising given its reputation among so-called """cinephiles""" but it's all the more frustrating because I fell for it. I admit, I was thoroughly engrossed by the film, largely due to its beautiful set design and unconventional narrative structure. Not to mention, it has some good bits of black humor as well, but beyond that there's nothing there. And in the end, it left me feeling dumb for having played along.
Krótki film o milosci (1988)
Should have been called "A short film about infatuation" or perhaps "A short film about longing"
Everything about this movie suggest the work of a pretentious young man who thinks his work is deep and moving. This was my first Kieslowski film, but if his other movies are anything like this, I'll be giving them a pass.
Our main character is Tomek, a creepy stalker whose mind seems not to have matured any further than the age of 12. We watch him spy on an older woman who's become jaded and views love as synonymous with sex. He harasses her constantly in the innocent and futile hope of getting her to talk to him. Eventually, he gets his wish and she falls completely head-over-heels for him. The whole thing is extremely unrealistic, and suggested to me that the director is a real insecure guy. The whole story and script play out like an personal sob-story of "Why don't girls like me? I'm such a nice guy! I'm kind and gentle and all they ever do is go out with jerks who give them sex!"
I'm kind of shocked how everyone fell under the director's spell here. Everyone in the reviews here is gushing about how this film is a wonderful portrayal of love. Love? Where's the love? Certainly not from Tomek. The argument could be made that his love is pure because he is pure of heart, but this isn't at all the impression I got from the film. He's obsessive, creepy, and honestly a bit scary. His "love" is clearly an infatuation, and is entirely baseless. He doesn't know this woman, and has only observed her through subversive sexual acts. The scene in which he asks his mother why people cry is laughable, and the scene in which he slits his wrists is completely unbelievable. Why did he do that? He was embarrassed that he splooged in his pants? Big deal. It's an insult to people who struggle with thoughts of suicide.
So what's the message here? "Love is more than sex!!!!!!!!!"? Yeah, well, obviously. Of course it is, and more than that love is certainly not how it's portrayed in this movie. The complexities and subtleties of love are not at all explored, rather the director wanks off in shots he thinks are deep and moving and poetic. Just because something is slow-moving, often silent, and utilizes an emotional violin soundtrack doesn't mean it's meaningful.
Huge disappointment.