Change Your Image
iabosco
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Mindhorn (2016)
Mindhorn Tries But Ultimately Fails
There is enough about this film that could convince anybody about it being great, the truth is that it is not, but certainly Mindhorn tries. There is a certain charm surrounding the film, the same charm one could get from watching an amateur on-stage play, with all its quirks and antics that ask to be loved.
Characters are underwritten and the plot is rushed when convinient, what could be clever inputs and story ideas end up failing, betraying itself, contributing to the film failing to reach into a life of its own. There are clear and several sparks of genuine comedy, but these sparks die before producing more of a reaction, the viewer will find itself mildly chuckling continously, ultimately failing to burst into tears as the film so much desires. Depending on crude for crudeness sake jokes, unclever banter between characters that never evolve from what we are delivered within the first act and story points that just keep randomly connecting to each other for the script's convenience, Mindhorn ultimately fails on delivering.
In a world full of franchise studio films fueled by Hollywood starpower and CGI, Mindhorn exists as an independent british comedy film which struggles to tell its own story. This film could be something that critics and audiences genuinely enjoy, it clearly chases after the approval of both, but it ends yearning to be something its not. The cheap looking cinematography reminiscent of a TV series, and the more than messy script which unapologetically rushes its finale drag it down constantly, resulting in a kind of weird lost TV pilot for an 80's inspired kitschy comedy that failed to fly on its own.
Decoder (1984)
A Violent Art-House Collage
Based around a simple premise circling around a burger shop employee who discovers the power of weaponized industrial noise music and its capability of inciting riots against the government in West Germany, Decoder brings together the efforts of multiple underground artists in this rich and enthralling sci-fi hidden cult gem.
Decoder compensates its lack of technicality (which the film itself is never afraid of exposing) with a great poetic quality present all through the film and with a very inventive dreamlike cinematography focusing especially on lighting, creating haunting scenarios and succeedinñg at delivering a unique vision of a dystopian West Germany that never was but lives within the film's own vision. The particular cast of characters drive the film's themes, along with heavy symbolism and a great soundtrack counting with the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten and Psychic TV, Decoder truly is a cinematic countercultural manifest, which demands more than one viewing in order to catch all of its quirks.
This is a film that never shies away from presenting its own vision, championing itself above the apparent downturns that could play against an independent film by fully utilizing its resources to its artistic benefit, this film is the definition of a cult classic.