MrHlad

A Nordic indie film of the traditional cut. But very good. Rúnar Rúnarsson has made a film that can be all the more powerful the less you know about it. A tragic accident has occurred in Iceland, claiming the lives of several people, and now it's time to mourn. Young art student Una has also lost someone she cared about, but finds herself having to bear the heavy loss alone despite the fact that all her friends and comrades are suffering around her, she had something more in common with one of the victims, something that fate ended decisively. Rúnarsson is in no hurry to get anywhere, practically the whole film follows the protagonist in a situation that can't lead to anything good, it's just a question of how many people she can hurt in the end. We'll probably hear more about the expressive and charismatic Elín Hall in the future, plus the director relies on long takes during which Hall has to sell her emotions in a significant way several times, but usually only with her eyes, and it's extremely impressive. You know what's going on in her head, but no one around her does. Moreover, Rúnarsson shoots in a similar way to Paul Greengrass, so When the Light Breaks is a very intimate and personal film indeed, but one in which crucial things aren't or can't be talked about. And at the same time, you get the feeling that all the things under the lid are uncontrollably coming to the surface and will touch you too. A powerful drama that manages to be moving, sad, chilling and sensitive without imposing itself in any way. Formally, it's also pretty audience-friendly and for me personally, probably the most enjoyable film experience of this year's festival.

It may be sad, but I stick to a few rules during the KVIFF: go to films that aren't from exotic countries (Somalia and the like are better not to try), go to films that are ideally in the Hotel Thermal and the surrounding area (yeah, I'm lazy), go to films that aren't in the main competition because they tend to be exceptionally good. Three Days of Fish is a co-production between the Netherlands and Belgium. So okay. It was just in the Hotel Pupp and in competition, so I was nervous. Fortunately, unnecessarily. It's not a revelatory film, neither in form nor in story. Peter Hoogendoorn made an intimate drama about a father and son who only see each other a few times a year, and at least you can see in the dad that it could be less often because he considers his son a not very capable loser and gave up on him a long time ago. And his attempts at rapprochement are met with disinterest. But during those three days he gets a chance to see that things are not so bad with his offspring, but it may be too late to do anything about the broken relationship. The whole thing is reminiscent of Vladimír Michálek's drama Of Parents and Children, the dialogue and situations are obviously authentic, the actors are convincing and it's nice to watch. An enjoyable ordinary drama, with a premise and restrained delivery that can be very affecting.

Out of all the films I saw in the KVIFF this year, The Taking was the one most people walked out of by far. I reckon the first part disappeared after they found out it was a documentary. And the second when it turned out that this documentary wasn't going to be a classic. But for a fan of movies, especially westerns, it's a real treat. Alexandre O. Philippe has already screened his documentary Lynch/Oz about the famous fairy tale and its influence on Hollywood, and he also made a documentary about William Shatner, You Can Call Me Bill. He is long-time filmmaker and The Taking is now three years old, and Philippe has come to Kalový Vary for a series of films in which one of the subjects is the iconic Monument Valley. And that's the subject of The Taking. The desert full of stone titans has become somewhat of a hallmark of westerns and other films, and Philippe tells the story of how this place in the middle of the American wilderness has become an icon that to some extent symbolizes America itself, and not just for filmmakers. How John Ford, Ridley Scott and other greats worked with it and how audiences perceive America itself through their films. Philippe is paying homage to a place we all know from the silver screen, a place that is no longer just a 'pretty location' but something much more. And perhaps something very different than it should be. A wonderful spectacle for film fans. For anyone else, a rather strange and seemingly a bit pointless thing. Fortunately, it's mainly the film fans who come to Vary.

When you arrive in Karlovy Vary on Friday afternoon, you are glad that there is something left from the Friday programme and you go to see a film from Georgia, hoping for a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Crossing is the story of a retired teacher, Lia, who travels to Istanbul to find her niece Tekla, who has been disowned by the rest of her family. She sets off with young Achim, who hopes to find a better life in the Turkish capital. Neither of them speaks the language, neither of them knows where to look for what they have come here for. So they wander the streets, hoping that, with the help of a social worker who specialises in helping trans people, they will eventually succeed in their quest. Crossing is a slow-paced drama leaning heavily on the atmosphere of the grimy alleys of a Turkish big city where the outcasts and the lost hide. But the search itself is mind-numbingly dull and, above all, predictable. It offers no emotions, twists or surprises. It's as if director Levan Akin hopes that the wandering itself will lead to some kind of payoff, a reconciliation with fate or a finding of a place in the lives of a few desperate people. Sadly, all this fails to mix together in an interesting way. Crossing is a typical festival film, the likes of which a person who is the least familiar with them will have seen at least ten. I finally got bored by the pointless ending.

I'm not a huge fan of this series and somehow trying to make it a genre revelation seems a bit ridiculous. It's like an attempt by people who have seen like four horror movies in their lifetime. The concept of "keep quiet and don't kick anything or we'll get eaten" wore off about halfway through the first film, and the second one was OK mostly because of the actors, but overall I feel like this series has overstayed its welcome since the end credits of the first one. And that's the feeling I get this time around. Day One, at least formally, doesn't really move anything forward. The scares and horror scenes are based on the same old ideas, but because we've known the ideas for so long (not that they're exactly brilliant), it's not scary at all. You just know what's going to happen in such-and-such a scene, and that after a minute of careful walking and whispering, someone's going to get pushed and the monsters are going to eat someone. But extra points won't be given out for the new stuff either. I appreciate the effort to try and plant unheralded heroes in a trite world, and the leading duo are very capable actors, but unfortunately, the combination of horror and moving melodrama doesn't really work. We don't know the heroes. We don't care about them and we don't care what happens to them. Whatever it is. Well, what happens to them is ultimately rendered so melodramatically that it comes across as ridiculous. A pointless film that adds nothing to a franchise that has already missed the moment when it could have ended with dignity. Or move on to somewhere else. Somewhere much further, because this is going nowhere.

Mike and Marcus are back, and since the captain calls from beyond the grave to tell them he has another case for them, they won't be bored. But you might be a little. The fourth outing of the Bad Boys attempts to build on previous installments not only in style, but more importantly in story, and sometimes overdoes it with the nostalgia, references and recalling small details from twenty years ago. The heroes haven't moved anywhere, they repeat what they've always done, just with a lot of new completely useless characters and the most boring villains of the series around them. The action, however, is top-notch. It just needs a little more care next time, even in the scenes where no one is shooting at anyone.

Furiosa was still a child when she was taken from her home. She grew up surrounded by violence and madness, but she never stopped wanting revenge. In the wasteland, a war is brewing between two armies of brutal dictators, and Furiosa intends to be on the front lines. George Miller returns to a harsh post-apocalyptic world, but in a slightly different way than you might expect. There's still plenty of action, and there are so many ideas in a single scene that other Hollywood blockbusters could live off of it for years. However, this time around there are more complex characters and, above all, a greater effort to immerse yourself in a world full of chaos and discover that it too has its own order. Miller delivers another one of his visually lavish and uncompromising visions, and he knows he can afford not to pander to audiences who expect nothing more than more of what they got last time.

To be honest, I have to say that I got exactly what I expected. And while I wasn't looking for a miracle, I definitely intended to enjoy a smart, good-looking sci-fi adventure at the cinema, and that's what Wes Ball delivered. This is the first installment of a new planned trilogy, so a lot of time is spent on world building (which has changed quite a bit from the last film) and introducing the main characters. And just the first scene with them is enough to blow you away, because Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes looks gorgeous, and Ball also makes great use of the attractive setting of the ruined cities that nature is taking back. But that's just the beginning. What's most interesting about Ball's new release is the ape society itself, hinting at the ways and directions in which the new civilization and each ape community is evolving. Noah is also quite a likable hero, different from Caesar and to some extent a bit more ordinary and with simpler motivations, but he serves well as a guide in the journey through a world we actually have to rediscover, as does his human partner Freya Allan, with whom it's unclear for a long time how they will work with her. The only problem is that because of the long exposition and introduction of the world, there is not much time for the plot itself, which is a bit rushed in the last third. The ambiguous villain could have done more interesting things with a better script, and the moral issues facing some of the heroes deserve more space, but again, I understand that you can't cram everything into two and a half hours. What Ball has crammed in is amply sufficient for a satisfying sci-fi adventure that can easily stand alongside the previous installments. And I hope he gets a chance to continue telling his story

Stuntman Ryan Gosling must find a lost movie star in order to save the film of his beloved Emily Blunt. And for her, he'll go through hell. David Leitch delivers an entertaining tribute to the stunt craft and all those who practice it. He combines great action with surprisingly even better romance, a nice bit of wit and humor, and the obvious joy of goofing around on set with the friends he's spent his entire career with. And it's great to watch.

Zack Snyder must have gone definitively insane because he made not one, but two completely useless movies with nothing in them. The first one at least had a stupid recruitment of heroes, the second one is based on slow motion shots of farmers in a field and one poorly shot fight. You won't care who survives and who dies. You can't count how many slow motion shots Snyder crams in. You'll just sit and wonder where the filmmaker who was poised to be the new genre star after 300 has gone. It's a harrowing film. And slowed down most of the time.