Change Your Image
la_montespan
Reviews
Idi i smotri (1985)
this is cinema
I won't go into too much detail because other users have gone into much more technical detail but it's important to reiterate the complete brilliance if this film.
I probably watch this movie about every two or three weeks and every it has the same effect every time, read total amazement, heart palpitations, panic attacks, vomiting, paranoia, psychotic episodes etc. etc. (figuratively speaking).
I think I have thought about this film everyday since I first saw it about 6 months ago, of Florya's face in the forest, Glasha green dress, the twin girls, the church, the Hitler trap, the swamp, the flying bullets. And the music is equatable to taking shelter from an earthquake in an amplifier.
This film will change your life. There can't possibly be a better compliment than that.
Dorian Blues (2004)
Rubbish
This film doesn't even deserve one star.
The writing is horrendous, the plot is directionless and the story has been done and done much much better. Visually it's hideous.
Basically it's the old case of "the original stuff wasn't good and the good stuff wasn't original" except there really wasn't anything good at all about this film.
The character of Dorian must be one of the most painful protagonists ever. He's not endearingly weird or even dorkily cute, he's just hopeless and the brother isn't much better, he just has better social skills. There's no character arc at all. You just hope Dorian dies alone and his brother has a drug overdose. Maybe he did actually, I don't even remember.
It's not comedy-drama because it's not funny and it's not a drama because it's laughable. Tragic tragic tragic and completely cringeworthy.
Shelter (2007)
Awww cute
There are already plenty of comments but I thought I'd add my two cents.
This movie is what "Tan Lines" should have been. Hopeful rather than desperate, Shelter is one of those cosy-inside movies. The drama isn't too dramatic, just enough to keep it interesting. The best thing about it is that it's completely realistic. The sister, Jeanne, in particular is completely believable and Sean is just so likable. Zach is just the right combination of melodramatic and responsible.
Setting + photography is appropriate and the music is a great addition but the writing is what makes this film far above average of its genre. Nice performances too, again completely natural.
And thank god there isn't any unnecessary surfing.
The only downsides were a pretty miserable montage about half way through and the generally superfluous conversations Zach has with his non-girlfriend Tori that don't really add anything.
emotionally satisfying and nice looking film ++
Les amants criminels (1999)
Le Lapin Malin
I saw this film about 2 hours ago and I thought definitely merited a comment. Classic Ozon, it's got it all- dark humour, enough sexuality to satisfy even the most European of film goers, suspense and pathos.
The film follows the story of Alice and her boyfriend Luc as they subsequently kill their classmate, go on the run and end up being imprisoned by a seemingly psychotic although rather sentimental woodsman.
The story is fragmented: the immediate events and flashback sequences. These flashbacks are initially really well placed and effective as they progressively provide further and further insight into how the couple come to be where they are, their motivations and especially the nature of their relationship. The pacing is great in the first 3 quarters of the film though as past and present catch up to one another the film lags a little due to repetitiveness and a pretty useless dream sequence.
Presented from the first frame as the driving force, Alice is in control. She convinces Luc that the beguiling Said had his friends gang rape her and is now blackmailing her into having sex with him for fear of photos of the incident surfacing.
The first act is seemingly pretty serious- the violent murder of Said, the lengthy process of transporting his body to bury it, the panicked arguments of the two and the robbing of the jewellery store. This is all really enjoyable due to the humour and the absurdity of the situation: Alice walking around the supermarket in a blood-stained dress with a giant shovel and Luc shoving cookies down his pants. While burying the body, we are made aware that someone has seen them do it. This is foreshadowed earlier so it's pretty expected but only as the two realise they're being watched do things begin to escalate. After getting lost, Luc stumbles on the woodsman's cabin. Hungry and desperate, they break in only to be caught red-handed by the odious woodsman himself.
The second act sees the story take a darker turn as the woodsman locks them both in the cellar. Now it gets interesting as the woodsman reads Alice's diary. Now we're introduced to the series of flashbacks. These are particularly effective in establishing Luc and Alice as a somewhat dysfunctional, mismatched but close couple. Luc is completely endearing as the pragmatic virgin, the essentially good guy swayed by the oversexed, demanding and manipulative Alice who parallels Julie in Swimming Pool. Said is great as the playboy of ambiguous sexuality who fascinates them both and who's only real crime is of having a one track mind. We follow Luc and Alice as she conceives of the crime and he plays along, initially hesitant but persuaded by the love he has for Alice and the red-herring rape photo fabrication.
Reading the diary and gauging Alice pretty aptly, the woodsman warms to Luc and frees him from the cellar, supposedly because he "likes his girls with nothing but muscle and skin over their bones and his boys soft and round". Here begins the relationship of Luc and the woodsman which I personally find as interesting as that of Luc and Alice. Chained by the neck, Luc hasn't much more freedom than Alice but slowly the woodsman proverbially reins him in.
The final act sees the escape of Luc and Alice from the woodsman, albeit with his quiet consent, and the subsequent capture of the two after an idealised love scene (this presents a quasi-epiphany for Luc) and a rampant chase through the woods. Luc is caught by the police but urging Alice to go on without him, she eventually is stopped by the river and gets her brains blasted out. This I didn't care about in the slightest but when the woodsman is arrested and violently apprehended Luc is seen screaming from the paddy wagon to let him go I pretty much cried a bucket's worth.
The script is great, especially enjoyable are the fights between Luc and Alice as well as their lighter moments (after robbing the jewellery store Alice complains they should have robbed the bakery, they could have gotten croissants).
The cinematography//lighting//directing largely matched the tone, there was some excellent juxtaposition and some beautiful shots (Luc's fingers on the headboard, Alice's bedroom) although there were some frustrating cuts, including the later flashbacks, and some self-indulgent drawn out sequences (the blood- every time). The editing fell short at the end as the audience really awaits a wrapping up of loose ends rather than just reiteration. Also somewhat frustrating is the lack of distinct character motivation. I just can't believe someone would kill someone because the wanted some drama. This isn't Murder By Numbers, although it is Ozon and this is ultimately not really the crux of the film.
Basically the great elements are the relationships of the three leads, whose performances, especially Jeremie Renier's, leave nothing to be desired. In no way does the script or the acting allow for a two dimensional view of the pairings. Never do you get the impression the relationships are merely predator/prey or leader/follower.