gudaulin

I have a problem with Agnieszka Holland's work. She maintains a decent standard, so her filmography does not include outright disappointments, but she has never truly impressed me. I have never even considered giving any of her films the highest rating. A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story is based on a true story, with the whole case of a brutal murder of a transvestite and subsequent trial presenting major potential for a gripping drama with a moral appeal. Unfortunately, the result is a film that will fade from memory in a few days, unlike thematically related films like Soldier's Girl and Boys Don't Cry, which reliably come to mind even years later. This film deserves a fair 3-star rating and nothing more. Overall impression: 60%.

In the Shadow has become the subject of many articles and the focus of film critics and journalists, who mostly welcomed it positively and praised it as a step back into the spotlight for Czech cinema. The same was true for Czech films like Protector or Walking Too Fast, and in all cases, I had to conclude that my view is significantly more critical and that, despite certain positives, from a global perspective, they are average films. Of those three titles, Ondříček's film seems to me to be the weakest. However, to not just criticize, I can start with the positives first. Firstly, the cast. Ivan Trojan is probably the greatest acting discovery of the post-November era and handles his detective role brilliantly. The supporting actors are also very good. Secondly, the film's budget and technical quality. It has been a long time since I have seen proper film cinematography and not a cheap TV production. The cameraman plays with light and shadows, and especially in the first fifteen minutes, it is truly a spectacle. This is also related to the attempt, albeit inconsistent, to create the retro atmosphere of the 1950s. Of course, there are also mistakes - the crew puts oil lamps in every room because it looks beautifully stylish, but as someone involved in the field, I would like to point out that Prague was already electrified during the reign of the Emperor, and oil lamps were only used in peripheral rural areas in the 1950s (full electrification was completed in 1960). However, this is obviously a detail that is not significant for most viewers. But it is worse with the screenplay, which caused me to only give it two stars. It would have been a fine film if it had been written by an American screenwriter and directed by an American director. However, this was created by Czechs, who should be steadfast in terms of our history. Moreover, it is not a light genre film, but an ambitious piece that wants to confront the past. The whole construction of the anti-Semitic conspiracy is simply too fragile and poorly conceived. The film begins as a neo-noir but quickly transitions into a psychological drama and, above all, a political thriller. This genre combination simply does not work well because, in my opinion, the film ultimately fails in all these genres. It doesn't work as a detective story at all because, to put it bluntly, the final revelation of the killer is incredibly ridiculous. As a political thriller, it is superficial and if it says anything, it's only the long-known truths. Interestingly, the most powerful films about communist crimes were made even during the functioning of real socialism. I am criticizing In the Shadow for significant logical errors that spoiled my enjoyment of the film, but unfortunately, I can't discuss them without revealing that the gardener is the murderer. Just as an example - I can't make sense of the character portrayed by Sebastian Koch in any way. What did the screenwriter mean by that? Overall impression: 45%.

A man stands next to an attractive woman on the bus, whose hands subtly slide into a position where they meet his palm. Who wouldn't perceive this as a challenge, perhaps even to something more interesting? The man approaches the woman, but to his surprise, she rejects him. Her behavior doesn't have as simple an explanation as the man originally presumed. You see, this woman suffers from a remarkable quirk. Her hands are somewhat restless and engage in activities contrary to their owner's wishes. It's essentially nonsense, but well-directed and fortunately of reasonable duration. Overall impression: 50%.

A high-quality crime drama, where the central theme is burning envy, which, along with the absence of moral restraints, leads to the elimination of the more successful person and the perpetrator's attempt to pass himself off as the murdered victim of the crime. Rather than a regular crime story, it is an interesting psychological drama, further emphasized by the excellent performance of Alain Delon in the lead role. The point deviates from the source material, but that's not at all detrimental - this world is already filled with enough immorality, and such satisfying justice, even if it comes by chance, can sometimes be downright pleasing. I have not yet seen the later American remake, but a brief glance at the difference in the number of ratings for both versions clearly shows how immense the difference in strength and impact is between American and European cinema. Hollywood versions usually have ten times the certainty. Overall impression: 80%.

Subordination of women and sexuality to religious sentiments and rituals is usually associated with Islam nowadays, but truth be told, world religions are somewhat similar in this regard, and if taken seriously, they suffocate any of them reliably. The heroine of the film is unlucky to be born and raised in a family of Orthodox Jews, where faith is taken deadly seriously and women are expected to serve their husbands and their faith. However, Sonia is not interested in sex during which her partner is constantly thinking more about Jehovah and not sinning, and she is also not interested in completely giving up other joys of life and personal goals, so conflict is imminent. During the course of it, she manages to earn the hatred of the parents, the contempt of the community she comes from, and the loss of property and child, but she gains freedom, dignity, and hope. And that is certainly not insignificant. The screenplay is quite mild and tends to smooth out the tense situations, but it is still a film worth watching. Renée Zellweger filmed it before she became a star with Nurse Betty and especially Bridget Jones's Diary, but here she proves that she is a promising actress. Perhaps only the star status of these celebrity actors makes it difficult for the viewer to see them as other, more ordinary characters than the ones that brought them to the top. Overall impression: 70%.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a film that has provoked remarkably contradictory reactions. Film critics nodded approvingly and spoke of the most fundamental music film of the decade, and perhaps the most fundamental film ever devoted to folk music. The music scene shook its head disapprovingly and claimed that it was not like that, or rather that it perceived that time, events, and places that were described completely differently. The reality is this: the Greenwich Village neighborhood has an exceptional place in American cultural tradition. It was the neighborhood of famous writers, freethinkers, and bohemians, where non-conforming individuals of all possible categories and social classes gathered. In the 1930s, they broke social taboos and opened the front door of the music club to African Americans. The local society consumed drugs and practiced free love long before the hippie movement emerged. In the early 1960s, the folk revolution started there. Numerous amateur enthusiasts emerged, clubs sprouted up like mushrooms after rain, and musical performances became common in bars and cafés. Folk blossomed and merged with rock and other genres. Today's musicians largely associate the birth of modern music, as we know it today, with Greenwich Village and the time period in which the film is set. In their eyes, it is an amazingly positive, innovative, energetic, and romantic matter. However, the Coens approached it from the other side. Every revolution has its victims and losers. Overnight, new stars overwhelmed familiar faces of the past, enthusiasts had no problem performing for free, and professionals found themselves without engagements. The directing duo loosely drew from the memoirs of folk singer Dave Van Ronk, who did not stand a chance in the fierce competition. In their interpretation, the story of the main character has a gloomy atmosphere; it is the story of a man who sinks to the bottom and doesn't know how to defend himself. It is a depressing matter where bleak prospects intertwine with the self-destructive character of the protagonist. Personally, I argue that it is one of the best Coen pieces, an intimate experience that I fell in love with. However, you will have to be okay with the fact that the film has a melancholic tone and a slow pace. Overall impression: 90%.

Let's face it, we watch movies mainly for the spectacle and entertainment. When Alexander Payne made his film About Schmidt, it was a film about a midlife crisis and therefore much more digestible to the average viewer than an intimate drama about old age, illness, dying, and loneliness, albeit with carefully measured subtle humor. This is simply too unpleasant a subject that we want to push out of our consciousness and not be reminded of it by a film drama. About Schmidt is a realistic film without cheap effects and shocking twists, with a slow narrative based on high-quality dialogue and Jack Nicholson's excellent performance. The screenwriter cleverly chose the main character's commentary in the form of letters addressed to a little boy in Central Africa, whom he sponsors. The way the events unfold after the protagonist's retirement is also how it happens in real life. The creators indeed chose a protagonist who is a member of the well-off managerial class in a significant insurance company, with decent financial security for old age, so average American retirees are certainly different and face many more problems. But it would be really difficult to make this kind of film in the American mainstream studio system, even though it was made possible solely because a star like Nicholson was involved. Movie fans will surely remember him from a series of epic films and various villains, where his expressive acting stood out, but in About Schmidt, he was able to display a vast range of emotions, and his performance might even be considered one of his best. Overall impression: 90%.

A very sparingly made film that relies on the impactful reconstruction of a real, brutal crime. The black and white camera dispassionately captures the perpetrators' narrative, the director uses mere hints where others would exploit the offered possibilities and realistically depict violence to increase attractiveness. It's exactly the kind of film that lingers with the audience for a long time and forces them to contemplate on the subjects of morality, guilt, and punishment. Well cast and acted. Overall impression: 90%.

What Blade Runner represents in the field of live-action film, A Scanner Darkly represents in the world of animated film. It's one of the few films that can materialize the world of the leading author of the sci-fi genre, Philip K. Dick, and present it in all its complexity. It is the essence of all the motifs and elements that appear in Dick's work. A paranoid atmosphere where the viewer doesn't know for a long time who is who, what are the motives of the story's characters, which side they are on, and what they are fighting for. It is a world of drugs that Dick was intimately familiar with - there is probably no drug that he didn't inject, ingest, or inhale. The motif of a superior who plays their own game - Philip K. Dick was immensely distrustful of authorities of this kind. Similarly, the motif of hallucinations, when the protagonist, at a certain moment, doesn't know what is real and what is imagination. A Scanner Darkly has a captivating atmosphere and interesting visual execution, where live actors were scanned and their animated counterparts are faithful replicas of their prototypes. Overall impression: 90% - as a fan of Philip K. Dick, I simply have to give a high score.

The film is about a band that is characterized as anti-capitalist, and it doesn't seem absurd to the musicians to perform in the Eurovision competition, which has been considered for many years as a symbol of the most bizarre and extravagant pop music, as a heavily commercialized tasteless show. This really scared the capitalist magnates... I remember how some bands and individuals from the music industry were able to truly provoke and unsettle the establishment in the 60s to 80s. This is a harmless storm in a teacup. They're a group that looks like a bunch of introverted students from a theological faculty, who came to preach about morality, without costumes. If this is what rebellion looks like according to millennials, then we're screwed, ladies and gentlemen, and the elites can relax. Being a pop star was never their goal, and they're successfully mystifying that and it's taking them a long time. A documentary about young rebels shouldn't be boring, but unfortunately, A Song Called Hate manages to do that. Not to mention how ridiculous the band members are in their authentic anxiety about their "bold" protest and what they are actually afraid of. Facing censorship and career pressures or even physical attacks today means holding different opinions and rebelling in countries other than Israel. The editors of Charlie Hebdo could say something about it. This group knows too little about the complex situation in the Middle East and the issue of Palestine, where I really wouldn't want to act as an arbitrator. Overall impression: 35%.