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rand_corp
hobbies: films, music, my children
favorite artists in alphabetical order:
Arcade Fire
Coil
Current 93
David Bowie
Ella Fitzgerald
Klaus Nomi
Kraftwerk
John Cale
Johnny Cash
Led Zeppelin
Michael Nyman
Miles Davis
Noir D�sir
pulp
Titus Andronicus
the sisters of mercy
the velvet underground
favorite movies, in no particular order:
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)
I don't get it
First let me say I'm not someone who usually cringe at the fact of having to think while seeing movies, I love Tarkowsky movies for example, Berghman is also a favorite.....but this? The positive points can be summed up easily: the photography is splendid, and the music is perfect....does it make a good movie? I used to think so, but this one is a perfect example of one that (for me) doesn't make it.... maybe it's because I'm too dumb? possible, but I don't think so.... Tarkwosky for example also used very long shots, but what he never did was filming 5 minutes of the exact same image of two people walking (and I mean just their heads, because in this movie there are a lot of those shots, but sometimes it IS effective), the general result is plainly boring, even with the intelligent undertones (which are done in a way that, while intelligent, is above all very pedantic)
you also always feel that the director is making some of the long shots not for the aesthetic, or symbolic effect, but just to spare on budget....
I'm very disappointed in this film, because I really liked the first 30 minutes or so, but it just went on and on, without even keeping the same level as in the first scenes....
While reading the very praising comments on this page, I also get the feeling some people just try to see much more in the movie than there is to it...when a movie is slow and arty, it doesn't necessarily mean it is very profound....yes it is an allegory on musical theory placed in the context of a small town, which is quite interesting on itself, but it does NOT make a profound movie....except for people who absolutely want to make some sort of intellectual masturbation out of it, but then it's not what you find in the movie, but what you find in yourself....an exercise that, in my opinion can be made much more effectively while watching "Stalker" or "Solyaris" than Werckmeister Harmonies, that owes much to Tarkowsky, but cab never equal it's level....
Geoul sokeuro (2003)
disappointing
The last few years we've exposed to a lot of Asian horror movies, from Takashii Miike movies to Korean masterpieces as "a tale of two sisters", most of these movie share one single characteristic, they are incredibly aesthetic.....this one doesn't fail in this field, except for a few little mistakes, the movie is beautifully shot unfortunately it's not enough to make a good movie....
while for example "audition", aforementioned "a tale of two sisters", or ab-normal beauty (my favorite three movies of the kind) this one lacks substance....it seems everything was made just to get beautiful mirror effects....
the story itself is full of cliché's, and while it still works the first 30 minutes, the next hour I surprised myself at wondering when this would finally end, the ending was quite a huge disappointment too (even though I won't give spoilers about it, let's just say it didn't work for me)
I give this 5 out of ten points, and I feel I'm being quite mild....
Sei mong se jun (2004)
absolutely loved it, don't get how anyone could call this one empty, to me the best pang brothers movie yet
PLOT Janey(Race Wong) is a young, talented and beautiful art student who witnesses a car accident in which a woman dies, at first she feels repelled, but then can't stop herself taking art pictures of the scene, from there on she gets obsessed with pictures of death, first asking people to kill animals in front of her so she can take pictures....and then it goes wrong...
COMMENTARY this is simply one of the best movies I've seen in recent months...it's visually beautiful (like always with the Pang brothers, but this one is way more esthetically well-made than for example "the eye"...which I thought was already visually very good at the time), but for once, it also has something to tell, it has substance an not just a way to show how good they are... this is a movie about voyeurism,growing up,the limits of art and aesthetics of death, as well as a critic to the extremes in which society pushes further and further the limits of what can/ought to be seen, and the sexual attraction of blood and death. furthermore I loved the sexual tension between the main (female) characters, even though nothing visual appears on screen (which you wouldn't expect anyway since the two are in real life twin sisters,OK, to be completely honest I would, but that's just me ,and anyway I didn't know that when I saw the movie ), the acting was (except for one character) overall very good, the direction is almost flawless(the only minor point being a few flashbacks that in my opinion add nothing to the movie),and above all:it works, which is something a lot of movies lack nowadays...you get sucked in by the story as surely as can be, even my girlfriend, who normally doesn't like horror movies that much (well, she's starting to now ),
the only thing that bothered me was:
MINOR SPOILER the end was so predictable, it doesn't matter that much, because even if you know "who does it", it's still 20 VERY unnerving minutes... but it's still quite irritating to have a flaw in the movie put where it shouldn't be in such a good movie...the only part of the movie I could describe as horror anyway,even though the movie is classified as such as a whole. MINOR SPOILER ENDS
CONCLUSION the best movie I've seen at the Brussels festival, by far, and even with a few flaws present, one of the best movies I've seen in ages 9/10
Gusha no bindume (2004)
has it flaws, but overall quite good
This is certainly not the best Japanese movie ever, there are a bit too much technical flaws (could partially have been due to a bad tape though, I've seen it on the Brussels BIFFF festival), and a bit too many cliché's in the plot, and the gore was a bit too soft(for a movie advertised as a horror movie, that is) it doesn't really have something to stand out from the rest of the new Japanese movie....except for its atmosphere...really liked the atmosphere, which had a lot to do with the decors, which were very well put together.... the two people who I went to see the movie with hated it, mainly for the flaws I've mentioned before, but I guess this is a typical case of "if you concentrate too much on the flaws you'll hate it, otherwise it just might grab you, and you're in for a very enjoyable ride"
So to be brief: I loved it but I can't really recommend it...still I'll give it an 8, mainly to promote a talented filmmaker which I'm sure will deliver a few brilliant movies if he gets the budget he deserves