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Murina (2021)
Sea, The Emancipator and The Confiner in one
It is good to finally watch a Croatian movie with realistic, believable characters and situations. The location, for once, was well used. The (mostly) calm, vast sea is in contrast with the tempest inside characters and them being confined to a lone home on the island. The similarity of the barren Kornati islands are in contrast to complex personas, all different from each other. Having small parts of the plot underwater was amazing, underwater shots are certainly underutilized in cinema.
The three main characters are well fleshed out, effectively using simple dialogues and body language. Majority of conversations like these certainly do happen in Dalmatia. Curcic, who is a Serbian-born Danish actress, had no accent at all, which was great. Lots of details ensured the movie feels authentic, for example it was crucial for the main character to know to swim well. Gracija and the director already made a short movie set by/in the sea, so it's not a surprise.
I only have few small things to complain about. The first one is the nudity (which I have nothing against), which felt forced with the camera angle that was used. In the interview I read, the director said she did it on purpose because there are certain expectations on how women should film and portray other women, and she wanted to break those stereotypes. In the end, her personal frustrations translated to few distracting scenes.
The second, more important, is the scene before the last, where the director went close to cheap sensationalism. I thought it wasn't necessary. I am fine with the last shot and how the movie "resolved", but a little bit less because of the scene beforehand.
For those who are not Croatians, the crosses on the island were made to commemorate the tragic deaths of young firefighters who died in an accident there more than a decade ago.
P. S. The director said she went "gentle" on Ante and that fathers are "much worse in reality in Croatia". What a sick and untruthful comment from a typical self-loathing modern feminist educated in the West.
Regardless of your or the director's ideology, the movie is absolutely worthy of your attention.
Junebug (2005)
Engrossing, but unnecessary and unsatisfying
First off, stop selling dramas with quirky characters and three potentially funny situations as comedy-dramas to attract broader audiences. This is a (humorous) drama.
Despite the off-putting, exaggerated naivety and silliness of the Southerners thrown in your face at first, the movie does a really good job at drawing you into the story and the relationships between the characters.
Unfortunately, we get no background on the conflicts between the male characters. Madeleine, a mature and a rational woman falling for George and hastily marrying him makes no sense based on what is laid in front of us.
The movie takes a quite dramatic turn from a light drama into a tragedy near the end. None of the conflicts are resolved in the end, we learn almost nothing new about the characters. It would have worked better as a slice-of-life movie without the tragedy and tension between the brothers being taken to another level. The artist subplot, while being the main motivator for the family visit and making up a good portion of the movie runtime, sort of goes nowhere. It is used in one important, but brief scene near the end.
In the end, it is one of those movies I call unnecessary. Did I enjoy it? I kind of did. But did I miss anything by not watching it until now? Absolutely not.
Embeth does her usual, by now tiring, sweet elegant woman schtick once again. I like her, but this was all too familiar. McKenzie and Adams are the standouts.
Beast (2017)
A great idea turned into a lemonade that never cuts deep
First of all, what is up with "Jersey is beautiful" comments? There were just few shots of nice island scenery, and some locations were shown several times.
The movie is generally slow, occasionally going for a meditative mood, mostly unsuccessfully. The people behind the movie were obviously aware of it and decided to spice it up with some cheap thrills. Think of the nightmare scenes, meeting with the girl Moll attacked, and the lights-off interrogation scene in particular.
The movie lacks any real, genuine suspense. It has the atmosphere of a middling drama despite the dark theme and the grueling murders. The dialogues don't cut deep enough to compensate for it.
Johnny Flynn as Pascal Renouf was the true highlight of the movie. He was so natural and the is he-is he not ambiguity works well because of him. I found Jess Buckley flat and disappointing considering the meatiness of the role. Something about her was slightly off-putting and she left me cold. The rest of the cast was all very solid.
I will say that the idea is great and the plot elements are fine, but unfortunately the movie doesn't work on either of the two levels I presume the director wanted this movie to succeed. While the partial failure of the suspense/crime drama angle, ie. Who is the real "beast" going around and killing can be forgiven, the "beast" inside us psychological angle is the one that completely discredits the movie. In short, the movie isn't deep. Remember that voice over about the killer whales at the very start, what was that about? It doesn't fit it in, neither tonally nor thematically (no, Moll is not a captive beast comparable to killer whales being in an aquarium).
Moll, or Buckley, as an actress, doesn't transform or change throughout. In what ways does the movie explore or hint at "the beast within us" theme? That she is attracted to Pascal because of his smell? That she had killer instinct when she smashed the rabbits head? That is incredibly superficial and infantile for any viewer with some experience and higher expectations.
The ending, where she liberates herself and becomes her true self, is awfully pretentious. It is the first time the movie becomes truly dark and the atmosphere reflects what is shown on the screen. Well filmed, but there is no buildup to end on a horror note nor is it in line with the characters' actions and their personas. I will give it credit for keeping the movie's ambiguity, though.
For me, there are two interpretations: he really is a killer and his "we are the same" was obviously him stating that they are both beasts, and maybe he was trying to make her change her mind by saying that. Personally, a more probable and a more satisfying ending is that he "confessed" murders and the dinner scene just to get over with and to please her in that moment, but he did not really do it. I am fine with both versions, except that...
Why did she kill him in first place and why in that crazy, risky way? Perhaps to redeem herself and become a "good" person, to avenge the victims. Or to satisfy her desire? It's a decision that I don't find plausible in any way. Moll is troubled, tormented and fragile, but she is not crazy. Attacking someone who bullied you as a teen is very different from what happens at the end here.
If she is the beast, where is the instinct? All her actions make sense for someone with her past and present. Killing Pascal is that manner is something a calculated person would do rather than an impulsive one.
I am going through some reviews and it is quite interesting how people view this movie differently: some call it a thriller, others a modern gothic romance (!), film noir (?), psychological mystery... Some call it gripping, others extremely slow and boring ;)
P. S. Several thoughts/ideas: Wouldn't she want to kill her mother instead? Perhaps with his assistance if she believed he was a murderer? Or the girl she attacked as a teenager after she caused the scene at the store? Two beasts taking pleasure in killing for two different reasons.
The Homesman (2014)
Uneven and occasionally bizarre
The movie appears to want to mix western cliches and break all of them at the same time. The opening scene shows Mary Bee (Swank) behind a plow pulled by two mules whom she calls "girls". It is supported by a sweeping music typical for some epic movies.
There are few very disturbing scenes, and the atmosphere could easily slide into horror. There are strong religious overtones and themes early in the movie, particularly referring to the insane women. However, all these amount to nothing and at some point they completely disapear. Shame, that could've brought another dimension to the movie.
THE twist: I am sorry, the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. As mentioned by others, there is no chance that Mary would be undesirable to that extent, and let's face it, if she was that desperate, she could've gone to other places to find a husband. Secondly, she is a devout Christian. Thirdly, she puts others before herself. She knows Briggs (Lee Jones) is an unreliable guy, and she promised to take care of women to several people. Finally, she just barely survived. You don't kill yourself in that moment.
I understand it happens abruptly in the book, but that's not an excuse. It almost becomes another movie after that. Or the movie becomes pointless.
I occasionally did not know how I was supposed to feel about what I was seeing. For example, when Mary Bee somehow found the way to the caravan in the middle of the night and screams at Briggs. It played out like a comedy. Actually, Briggs is a comedic character. Just think of the way he speaks to the three women after Mary hanged herself.
The palette of the mostly over-the-top famous cameos does not help the movie as well. Just contrast them with the insane women and their families from the first half of the film. It takes you out from the movie and you are more focused on well-known faces than on the story.
I am okay with the ending, perhaps because I already felt apathetic by then.
It is an interesting watch, and you should give it a go. I just feel that it is a missed opportunity overall.
A Greek Odyssey with Bettany Hughes (2020)
Insufferable
Gosh, this was made in 2020? From her looks, clothes, camera angles, shots etc, it seems like it's 1998. This woman, apparently a historian, gives very bland historical lessons, occasionally inaccurate, often trying to connect history and present just to make the whole thing seem deep.
Who is the target audience? Bored housewives? Anyway, the biggest problem is that this woman is in EVERY scene, she is unbearable. It's like a long self promo. I can't believe how bad this is. And I actually watched her on some history/documentary channels, especially from Egypt. She was bearable there, but not here.
SKIP.
Into the White (2012)
WWII parody
This is certainly one of the funniest WWII movies you will watch. The only question is whether the creators did it this way intentionally or unintentionally. It is basically like a high school teenage dramedy play. The actions and reactions of characters go beyond cartoonish and suspension of belief. Rupert Grint's expressions are just hilarious. The British captain does a great impersonation of everything cliched British. On the other hand, the 3 Germans landed from serious WWII movies. I had a blast until the last 15 minutes when creators remembered this was based on real-life events. The ending and the epilogue shows us this was actually a tragic story altogether.
This movie received poor reviews and it's not hard to see why. On the other hand, audience eats up everything WWII and I generally find Norwegian movies have a higher rating than deserved here, so I am ultimately not surprised with 7.2 rating on imdb. I would recommend this to younger audience and those who like simple, straightforward WWII movies. For anyone more demanding, hopefully they can enjoy the "so bad it's so good" quality this movie offers.
Deadfall (2012)
Dinner gathering is the most ridiculous thing I've witnessed on the screen
Dialogues and interactions are awful, I was cringing and chuckling. The one between Eric Bana and Sissy Spacek was absolutely hilarious. Casting wasn't good either, Eric Bana tries, but ultimately fails and is allowed to go full camp for some reason. You've surely never seen a similar mass murderer on screen. Kate Mara as a policewoman was just laughable. Olivia Wilde just felt out of place. Charlie Hunnam does his tough guy shtick he's done before, but at least it's a good casting in his case.
The silliness of Kate Mara-Treat Williams father-daughter relationship has already been well-analyzed in a separate review devoted solely to it and relations between male and female characters in general, so I have nothing else to add cause it's spot on. The movie also throws in some very complex issues like childhood trauma, family issues?, getting new chances... but it's all just there to make the movie even worse with how it's handled. The most interesting relationship, the one between the brother and the sister, wasn't even explored.
And then that dinner scene... I have no words. Was this movie supposed to be a dark comedy? I can't recall ever seeing something as misguided as this. Ridiculous is an understatement for what I've witnessed.
In the end just seemed to enjoy shooting people down. It just made no sense at all after the great escape plans.
The movie looks fine, production is mostly very solid, some nice snowy shots, etc.. The draft perhaps seemed interesting on paper. It's honestly one of the worst "serious" movies I've ever seen.
Berlin Syndrome (2017)
Slow, and that's not a bad thing
First of all, typical horror fans who like jumping, screaming etc. STAY AWAY. Just going through reviews, you can see so many complaints how slow it is. This is a quite realistic character/relationship study and just because they don't talk much, it doesn't mean there is no character development. We do learn more about two of them with time, especially about him. There are actually many details, gestures and so on. Additionally, slow tempo allows us to soak up the atmosphere and analyze their characters and try to imagine how we would act in such situation.
Showing the story from both angles is something rarely seen in such type of movies, we get to see his human side and potential reasons why he is doing all of this. Quite original.
People who complain she had a million ways to escape... well, newsflash. You are forgetting emotions and previous trauma. She tried to escape once, it didn't go well. Would you dare to try again and suffer much worse consequences? This way she had a chance to prolong her life and see if something could come up, if nothing else.
The movie builds tension wonderfully, great camera work and sound. Teresa Palmer's performance added a lot to it, although she does not have much to work with actually.
The movie does drag a little towards the end, but it's nothing serious. What annoyed me that the script managed to avoid cliches and silly plot devices for about 90 mins and then we have the photo thing and silly running to add to drama. Because of these faults, my grade is B-.
Buna! Ce faci? (2010)
Don't believe the high ratings
This is simply a bad film. Starting with camera work, this is a TV movie level. It is not a romantic comedy. There is nothing romantic about the movie, it is about life & marriage problems mixed with sex. There is no comedy either, although I guess there were some attempts. The plot is totally unrealistic which doesn't match at all with realistic approach to acting, setting and so on. This movie wasn't particularly popular when it came out in Romania either, so I am really surprised to see such high rating here.
Mirage (1965)
Ruined by silly action
Mirage is a very witty, occasionally flat-out comedic thriller. However, it features a dark story and quite a few murders to be considered a full-blooded comedy thriller. This shift from comedy to crime drama often happens within seconds and just doesn't work. When Gregory Peck and Walter go to the basement, Matthau's character is almost killed but it all feels like a comedy, especially because of how careless the guy who is trying to murder them is. This is not the only time where Peck's character steals a gun from a bad guy. He actually does the same thing twice in two separate scenes to one of the bad guys. These silly things completely threw me off. The weakest scenes for me were with Gregory Peck and Sheila (D.Baker), melodrama absolutely had no place in this movie. Mirage is well-shot, fun, creative but after a while it all simply wears off because the story is not gradually revolved before us. It simply adds more questions, twists, turns, chases and murders until a viewer actually stops caring about who the main character really is. Shame, it started off so well.
P.S. The ending is unbelievably anticlimactic.