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Reviews
Salaam-E-Ishq (2007)
Good stuff, over-stretched
Salaam-e-Ishq is the second new Indian movie i have ever seen, and so I speak from a western view point. This movie is quite good, especially the first 2 hours. The characters are diverse, and so are their stories. Many dialogs are absolutely hilarious. Passages from comedy to drama episodes are done carefully, and the movie rolls by in a dynamic, entertaining way. However, towards the end of the second hour the movie starts to stretch. Some scenes are unnecessary, and some songs are too long and could have been saved for the ending. As a result, by the time the conclusion comes, one starts gazing at the watch. Also,towards the end, the drama is in some cases exaggerated and not every actor and actress manage to pull it off well. For the rest of the movie, performances range from excellent to satisfactory. This movie should have been edited down to about two and a half hours and would have been perfect. Still, it's a good one to see with your friends, or someone you love. The great comedy and the diverse issues make it worth it.
Dubravka (1967)
Dubravka's summer brings her both new friendship and new challenges
This is an excellent movie, and a very underrated too. First, it is the kind of serious approaching-adolescence stories that are funny, touching, sometimes troubling and, overall, the most memorable. Dubravka is a wild, boyish Crimean girl ( the movie is beautifully filmed and presumably set on the Crimean coast, Soviet-era southern paradise) who is struggling not to lose her childhood dreams and illusions while discovering the adult world that is so often mean, cruel and unfair. Yet some things, like friendship, endure beyond. The movie's strong is in staying a children's movie while frankly showing adult and family problems. Some scenes are very powerful. I would recommend this movie to anyone, but notably to pre-teens, especially girls. But although it tackles issues that are still valid, it is old and romantic, and being set in the Soviet Union might not be understood by all.
I misteri della giungla nera (1991)
A compelling adventure
This is actually a rather interesting miniseries. I saw it when i was 8-10 years old and re-watched it many times. what keeps you hooked is really the atmosphere, the details, the lovable characters and the subplots.
In the beginning, a palace of an Indian rajah is attacked. A young boy, the prince, is saved by his father's warrior, along with his nanny and her daughter. They have to flee as the rajah and his wife are dead and the palace devastated. The warrior decides it is best to leave that life behind, so he becomes a fisherman and pretends to be the boy's father.
Some years later, a British colonel arrives to India with his two daughters. As they visit the city,they see a parade and the new rajah(who is also an evil magician), ride an elephant. He will greet them. But later, the colonel's younger and most beloved daughter will disappear. Most of the events take place years later, when the characters grow up, the Indian prince meets the English girl...
From there, many developments follow, and it is interesting to observe both real drama(colonel's anger and grief, the family conflict, another character's alcoholism) and the more mysterious events, trapped between magic, illusion and imagination(the evil's magician hypnoses, the cult of Khali, the eclipse, etc.)This series is not to miss, especially for children, because you really get to care about the characters. And despite some scary and sad (an important character dies) moments, it all ends well.