Change Your Image
lilrichry
Reviews
Wer war Kafka? (2006)
neither fact nor entertainment
It is too bad that this effort produces so little of worth. Like most educated persons I have a working knowledge of Kafka and his work in literature and business. I hoped to have this knowledge fleshed out in some new dimension and instead found little to take with me. The actress playing his last love, Renata Stachowicz, was enjoyable to witness. Long ramblings about his inner distress were in no way news or in any way fulfilling to absorb. The many still images of old Prague were repetitious. The moderate presentation of the local jewry were somewhat interesting but played little role in Kafka's actual existence. The speaking "ghosts" in many scenes were distracting. I would like to have had all dialogue in the correct language with English subtitles for all. The mixture presented was confusing and distracting. I did feel that Max Brod played a significant role in Kafka's life and was good to learn about. The older actress playing Kafka's second (depicted) lover was distasteful enough to make one glad Kafka escaped her lightly. His family were important to him beyond his appreciation to them and were not shown in any helpful way.
I am sorry I wasted the time waiting for something better to happen.
La Môme (2007)
Muddling through greatness
La Vie en Rose La Mome The movie is about a fascinating voice and persona residing in a woman whose life is serial-tragic in almost all aspects.
A number of recordings of her singing exist and many were used to make this film. Not many movies of her are available and script writing had to provide these. From the age of 20 her life is fairly well known. From her birth and of her family before much is fabricated which is as it has to be and is well done. From a tragedy of life with her mother to the one with her father to one with an acquired "sister" the movie provides its own details. The trouble is that the director-writer seems to find chopping the sequence and re-chopping it before haphazardly putting the small pieces in random order (even reversed) will make things clearer or more interesting. Instead it seems like the output of a garbage disposal. He did add some actual dates but not enough to make a coherent study which would have had any kind of meaning. The inherent beauty of such an individual escaped me in this film which does not entertain.
Four stars out of ten. Might have been 7.5 if more sensibly sequenced.