Change Your Image
igorlosic
Reviews
Zimna wojna (2018)
East West
Reminiscent of Unbearable Lightness of Being through another prism, the film offers great atmosphere, cinematography and scenes, romantic melancholy, doomed love, and jazz in a place and time when history dictates the lives of artists and lovers - what's there not to like?
È stata la mano di Dio (2021)
Cinema!
Sorrentino is a visual master, sometimes excessive but always cinematic. Yes, the first third of the film occasionally looks like Fellini on steroids (Amarcord on crqck?) but that is also how the the protagonist experiences his world, before the major dramatic event of the film changes everything. By the end it all falls into place, and like all Sorrentino movies, the imagery, sound, and some of the scenes linger long after the film is over in your mind, enriching you for a profound aesthetic experience and making you think about a place, a time and a destiny - what Cinema at its best does.
Relatos salvajes (2014)
Brilliant
Why isn't this film on all top 10 lists of recent movies? Great writing & acting, original and funny, with biting social commentary. One of the best films I've seen in a while. Yes, it was nominated for for a foreign language Oscar but still, it's virtually unknown to the wider audience. Is it just a conspiracy to keep the tedious mediocre mainstream productions front and center or what? Anyway. Great film, highest recommendation.
Nomadland (2020)
Same as it ever was
A lot has been written about Hollywood repeating the same formula over and over again but the same is happening on the other end with so called arthouse films and this is a good example of it. This quasi-documentary social-realism approach has been new in the 60s, with hand-held cameras, sparse music, no back-and-forth cutting and no frills storytelling, and it's been repeated ad nauseam in art cinema since. It's still very much in use in European and other intl. Films. In some cases it can actually produce interesting movies, like in some of the more successful Dardenne pictures, or, if you can't stomach subtitles, Ken Loach and early Mike Leigh films. But in most cases nowadays it's just flat and boring, where the lack of a filmmaker's imagination and originality tries to hide behind this tired stereotype, still popular with so many film critics and festivals.
If you like slogging through this, you will probably like Nomadland. I don't think there is anything new or noteworthy here. It's a film - and filmmaker - who check a lot of boxes of our current moment, hence the accolades. Inequity and brutality of uncontrolled capitalism can be shown in so many different, more original and interesting ways - for example, Parasite and - gasp - Squid Game. What Nomadland is ultimately about is summed up in one of the secondary character's lines, when she says that she will be 62 soon, she has worked since she was 12 and her social security will be 550 dollars and she's homeless. That's sad, heartbreaking and infuriating. There are so many ways a filmmaker could have chosen to tell this story. The director chose the most "safe" and ultimately boring way.
The Comedian (2016)
Escapist entertainment
The good: If you want an escapist flick to get your mind away from the barrage of bad news, without artistic aspiration, it's a totally OK movie. It's occasionally funny and an easy watch overall. Also does a good job capturing the NY comedy scene. The bad: The forced plot twist & ending are completely ridiculous. If you take it for what it is, it's a totally fine movie if you need a distraction after a tough day, but that's all it is.
Druk (2020)
Not sure about deserving an Oscar but a good film
Mid life crisis and how to overcome it could be the title of this film. Vinterberg is good with these subjects, although, in my opinion, he never again reached the height of Festen - aka The Celebration. Here the alcohol is an interesting story device., but it is really about re-discovering purpose and enthusiasm in later life, focused on men, and tied to a specifically Danish environment. One could say not much is new here underneath the drinking experiment and the film drags a bit at points, but overall it's a very solid film and the upbeat ending makes it all worthwhile.
Bourek (2015)
Chill
The film is the equivalent of consuming Adaem's (the Turkish dude) merchandise, sitting back and watching the sunset over the sea. If you can't enjoy that, you have a problem.
Juzni vetar (2018)
Average B movie with Plenty of Cliches
A thriller about tough guys, criminals and corrupt cops in Belgrade, with some car chases and shoot-outs, the film is not bad technically, but is full of cliches and a lazy plot. The main guy, Maras, and his gang steal expensive cars with foreign license plates. The plot starts when Maras unknowingly steals a car packed with drugs that were supposed to be delivered to the main kingpin of Belgrade. Problem is, Maras steals the car from a Bulgarian thug, who is supposed to deliver the dope, while the thug is making out with a busty "sponsored girl" (a Belgrade term for silicone-enhanced chicks who hang with thugs), standing in front of a kiosk on a street in broad daylight, his car keys and wallet just lying there on the kiosk shelf. Maras takes the keys and takes the car, the thug notices only then and shouts distressed while Maras drives away. Now, if you're a bad*ss gangsta driving kilos of cocaine from Bulgaria to Belgrade and you're THAT clueless... I mean, really?
Now everyone is Iooking for Maras and the car with the dope. There are some brutal interrogations, chases, killings, etc. which keep the film moving. However, next problem is that all the characters are also total cliches - Maras's alcoholic dad, who can only shout, the sadistic kingpin, the corrupt cynical cops who are in on the deal, etc. Everybody curses like crazy (which is actually pretty realistic) and acts macho all the way - but the only thing saving the film from the weak storyline are the actors - some of them are great Serbian actors - they are good even with the one-dimensional characters they are given to play.
Some character dilemmas and ponderings follow in acts 2 and 3, but again, everything is very obvious and plays on the surface only. There are no surprises here, it's mostly painting by numbers. The ending also completely strains any believability. Maras manages to outsmart the brutal kingpin and his gang of hard-core criminals in such a silly way that it's laughable.
Although the insanely high imdb score and some of the reviews are likely paid for, the movie is a box office hit in Serbia, and some people really like it. I've heard someone say that the scenes of the shoot-outs and car chases look great. Well, yes, it strives to look like a Hollywood movie made in Serbia - If that's enough to make a movie good, maybe - but there is nothing really original in this film. This ain't no "Pusher" or "Drive". It's an average B movie. If you want a good thriller from Serbia watch "The Trap" (Klopka, 2007), and for a film about Belgrade criminals with more substance, try "The Wounds" (Rane, 1998). Given the times we live in, however, I'm sure there will be a South Wind 2.