On thing I don't understand is why is Peeter Simm so celebrated as a film director in Estonia almost like he's the greatest filmmaker ever risen on the shores of Baltic Sea. His best film is children's movie 'Arabella' (that itself is wonderful film actually), but rest of his work is mediocre at best, and 'The Lonely Island' is even worse. This could be his worst film of all times, and it is very close to be one of the worst Estonian film of all times (there are quite close competition on that place, but I can't say for sure as I haven't seen all the films).
The film had a nice general idea about loneliness and show different people and stories and how they are all tied together - similar formulas have been tried many times before (and with much better results). What we have here is a mess. No direction and sloppy editing can confuse the viewer at first, but when he gets used of the rhythm (or lack of the rhythm of the film) it is possible to follow the stories. As all the stories progressing one short scene at the time and they are all mixed together, we are shown too much unnecessary stuff and no useful information what could help viewer to understand the characters better.
Then the actors - what' with all that dubbed voices. I understand that there were Latvian and Belarussian actors in it, but all the dubbing made the film sound ridiculous (it already looked ridiculous). Even the voices of Estonian actors were coming through like some filter that muffled and distorted them. Even the other sound were added later - like the police cars sirens (it is a film, but reality the sirens are different, or a super bike sounding like motor cross bike (that is the final drop for me to give one star to the film), and all sorts of that stuff.
There were two or three brilliant moments, but the vanished in this mess like a drop of water in the desert.
The film had a nice general idea about loneliness and show different people and stories and how they are all tied together - similar formulas have been tried many times before (and with much better results). What we have here is a mess. No direction and sloppy editing can confuse the viewer at first, but when he gets used of the rhythm (or lack of the rhythm of the film) it is possible to follow the stories. As all the stories progressing one short scene at the time and they are all mixed together, we are shown too much unnecessary stuff and no useful information what could help viewer to understand the characters better.
Then the actors - what' with all that dubbed voices. I understand that there were Latvian and Belarussian actors in it, but all the dubbing made the film sound ridiculous (it already looked ridiculous). Even the voices of Estonian actors were coming through like some filter that muffled and distorted them. Even the other sound were added later - like the police cars sirens (it is a film, but reality the sirens are different, or a super bike sounding like motor cross bike (that is the final drop for me to give one star to the film), and all sorts of that stuff.
There were two or three brilliant moments, but the vanished in this mess like a drop of water in the desert.
