Upon seeing that this was playing at the Music Box, I had enough curiosity to go view it with my father. I was totally unprepared for what I was about to watch.
The story is apparently attempting to be very stylish as to fit with its artsy theme, and it does deliver quite a bit on its action and development of its devices. From Ruben's relationship with each painting to the paintings themselves, it does play into the titular character's insanity quite well. At the end of the day, though, I really felt like something big was missing from it. As for the characters, Ruben experiences virtually all the strange things in this movie as part of his psychiatric journey into personal exorcism, the main focus of the plot. We have his henchmen (including Mimi), who provide great action and sometimes humor but are relatively hollow otherwise. They happen to be the principal characters, and the others aren't really worth mentioning as to not spoil your experience with this movie. Easily the best aspect of this movie is its animation; the unique design for its characters and the twists it employs on real art really do bring out Milorad's intent to make this movie as surreal as possible. The character animation makes the action engaging and makes it seem like there are legitimate stakes. The backgrounds capture the necessary feel of each location, from the calm of art museums to the secluded alleys of Paris.
This is a bewildering film, but it's not for families on account of its violence, language, and nudity. For those who love art, this movie will probably be one you would enjoy, but I wouldn't be surprised if you left with some level of disappointment. I really felt, again, like something big was missing from it. So while I don't think this movie is overall even close to bad, I wouldn't recommend it to the common film viewer.
The story is apparently attempting to be very stylish as to fit with its artsy theme, and it does deliver quite a bit on its action and development of its devices. From Ruben's relationship with each painting to the paintings themselves, it does play into the titular character's insanity quite well. At the end of the day, though, I really felt like something big was missing from it. As for the characters, Ruben experiences virtually all the strange things in this movie as part of his psychiatric journey into personal exorcism, the main focus of the plot. We have his henchmen (including Mimi), who provide great action and sometimes humor but are relatively hollow otherwise. They happen to be the principal characters, and the others aren't really worth mentioning as to not spoil your experience with this movie. Easily the best aspect of this movie is its animation; the unique design for its characters and the twists it employs on real art really do bring out Milorad's intent to make this movie as surreal as possible. The character animation makes the action engaging and makes it seem like there are legitimate stakes. The backgrounds capture the necessary feel of each location, from the calm of art museums to the secluded alleys of Paris.
This is a bewildering film, but it's not for families on account of its violence, language, and nudity. For those who love art, this movie will probably be one you would enjoy, but I wouldn't be surprised if you left with some level of disappointment. I really felt, again, like something big was missing from it. So while I don't think this movie is overall even close to bad, I wouldn't recommend it to the common film viewer.