Filmmaniak

A prison drama set in a single cell, in which a father of a family, suspected of anti-regime activities, lies on one bed, and on the other a seasoned informer, both a good and evil police officer, who is supposed put harsh pressure on the father and force him to confess. The raw film also contains a few brutal scenes of unpleasant physical violence, but there are really only a few of them and most of the time, the main character is attacked psychologically. The film criticizes the Romanian totalitarian regime of the 1980s by depicting uncompromising and reprehensible manipulative methods, which were used to absolutely humiliate even those who were basically innocent during police and prison interrogations. But the film does the same thing for two hours, so after a certain amount of time (surprisingly relatively short) it starts to become quite dull.

At first, this realistically conceived drama seems to be a story about the search for identity in a society that is not very friendly toward significant physical differences, to which people often react aggressively or derisively. Unfortunately the film abandons this concept relatively quickly and instead escapes to a much safer space of a dreamy, fabulously imaginative world, governed by its own rules, and in which man's reconciliation with himself is much easier. The main protagonists of the film are thirteen-year-old, precocious and bizarrely thinking children, yet who behave like adults in many respects, and they are in a senselessly stylized environment composed of random motifs, and they are followed by the police and John Turturro in the very special role of a crazy carny.

A mysterious film about the gradual discovery of the almost sectarian functioning of families with alternative education and the boundaries we are willing to go beyond in an effort to survive in life in spite of ourselves and our surroundings. The film is deliberately shot in a clinically cold way in all respects, including acting, all of the locations and the overall atmosphere, but it also lacks greater dramatic intensity and a stronger focus. The problem is also in the character of the main protagonist, who initially opposes certain rules of the strict family in which she works as an au pair, but eventually learns to accept them apathetically, and thus stops looking into the further details of the toxic background of her employers. The long wait for the point of the film only ends upon the postscript before the end credits. It gives purpose to the film retroactively, and you will also learn what the film was about; or rather, what could it have been about if it had been bolder and sharper, and if it didn't end with just a few disturbing hints.

A masterful combination of thriller, social satire and absurd black comedy. The brilliantly escalating, initially very funny and later surprisingly exciting and chilling film is wonderfully written, develops in unexpected ways across unsuspected plot twists and perfectly expresses its opinion regarding class differences in society, and to the lifestyle of its two contrasting layers. This film amounts to intelligent and brilliantly directed top entertainment from start to finish, with director and screenwriter Bong Joon-ho in his best form since Memories of Murder. I definitely recommend not finding out anything else about the film and watching it as soon as possible.

This socially engaged film follows the rebellion of several Algerian students against attacks by conservative extremist groups, trampling on women's free rights in the name of religion, which forces them to wear the hijab and observe religious customs. The spontaneous and energetically filmed feature, filled with natural actresses, tells the tale of characters who love their country and do not want to leave it, and are therefore forced to fight by all means against the oppressive and binding regime, because resisting even at the cost of potential victims is necessary in order for any social change to ever occur. However, the value of the film as an important political expression is in this case significantly higher than its plot and narrative qualities.

A lonely walking odyssey across the United States, whose closemouthed protagonist travels from New York to Russia without money and without documents, without an obvious plan, without knowledge of the language, and with only a small backpack. The film contains a certain poetry, shown by footage that does highlights the director's documentary past, and in which a persistent and steadfast young girl appears as an unconventional guide to various locations. Otherwise, however, the film is a somewhat shallow commentary on the disintegration of America and its values, in which the same thing is said over again for two hours and unfortunately quite superficially (attention is drawn, among other things, to the simplicity of the demolition derby, the vulgarity of southern horny rednecks, or the oppression of the Indians). On the other hand, the protagonist meets a few people who are nice to her and try to help her a little, thus representing a remnant of the humanitarian principles that American society still maintains. The highlight is the metaphorical conclusion with whaling, but you have to be patient to get there.

An American remake of a Danish film, essentially a copy thereof, except that the genders are switched and, most importantly, this time it is US dollars that save poor children in Indian orphanages. The emotional melodrama about the differences in the problems of the First and Third Worlds, about securing a future for those you care about, and about deciding whether to give preference to your own child over other children who also need your help, depends significantly more on the adapted script and quality actors than the film’s average direction, which does not add much value to the original material. The characters hide various secrets from each other, which you can usually guess before they are revealed, and instead of exposing family relationships, a more significant component of the film seems to be numerous sentimental encounters and weeping farewells.

Marko Škop works well with the characters and the environment of a village where the people all know each other, but the same people also don’t like it when someone isn’t on the same wavelength as them. The film is drama about the need to confide and about a family dealing with the moral dilemma related to a tragedy that disrupted the Christmas calm in the village, and about the activities of a youth group that forms a militia. The film focuses on the themes of homophobia, father-son relationships and dishonest church dignitaries. However, the film takes its time getting the plot moving and has an open ending, where someone does the right thing, ensuring that things finally get going, but the film doesn’t end up showing them.

The film is not exactly a complete portrait - for example, Man on the Moon or Goya's Ghosts are mentioned only in the final summary of Forman's filmography, and the film focuses on many of his other films only to the extent of communicating their basic idea and summarizing the context of their origin. For laymen, however, the engaging and factual documentary, half in Czech and half in English, is a great introductory insight into Forman's work (and fully understandable to foreign and American audiences, which is excellent), while experts will appreciate the passages dedicated to Forman's childhood and personal life, which is accompanied by fantastic archival materials and unique video recordings from the private property of the Forman family.

This originally and poetically recounted Icelandic drama excels through an excellent camera and the performance of Ingvar Sigurðsson in the lead role, combining masculinity and stubbornness with subtle sensitivity. The well-directed and subtle film deals with the psychological transformation of a widower who, while babysitting his granddaughter, drives away his grief by building a family home, and his response to the shock of going through his wife's estate as an unexpected substitute for mourning is silent defiance, followed by a noisy eruption.