J*A*S*M

Heller doesn’t lack talent, he proved that already in his début Enter Nowhere. In his second film he delivers a solid monster horror story with a creature that terrorises a small town, first killing the pets and then inhabitants. It’s slow, sombre and with bleached colours. Heller is competent at building an atmosphere, but it’s a shame that when the monster is fully revealed in the end I was quite disappointed; it was better when all you could see were the claws or its silhouette. But the main problem I have (and the reason I’m sticking to a safe three-star rating) is that, given the premise and the straightforward script, Dark Was the Night is almost absurdly serious. Plot-wise it’s just and ordinary monster B-movie, and the script doesn’t even try to be original or creative in any way, but the characters at times act and speak as if they were in a Dostoevsky play.

(50th KVIFF) A unique spectacle. A beautifully narrative film with breathtaking visuals, where in one moment you’ll be so surprised and dazzled by the beauty captured on screen that you won’t be able to look away. At times a cracking comedy that made the whole theatre burst in laughter, at times a brutal and scary horror flick. I don’t know which of the three stories I liked best because each one has something going for it. The Neapolitan fairy-tales are quite something. 85 %

(50th KVIFF) This is exactly the kind of genre/non-genre that I don’t like, so the three stars are the equivalent of a much higher rating for other types of films. So, fine. White Nights is a poetic and also an almost documentary realistic film that slowly and non-violently – but also with some mysticism – follows the life of a Russian village and the mentality of its inhabitants. A life that remains the same in some places, but changes in others, leading to its conclusion. 65 %

(50th KVIFF) A western trip to a Romanian village in the first half of the 19th century. Very credible and very particular. The creators were surprisingly successful at recreating the life of that place during that time (or they were surprisingly successful at giving the impression that they were successful at recreating this reality – I can’t tell, I’m not a historian or an expert in Romania :D). The humour is effective mainly because of how they speak about things in a way that wouldn’t be possible today. An interesting story, though it could have been a little shorter. 75 %

(50th KVIFF) Fusi is certainly a pleasant character, but The Virgin Mountain is certainly not a pleasant film; after watching it I felt like putting a noose around my neck and jumping from a window – it was that depressing and sad. I can’t bear it when such a likeable character doesn’t find even a hint of happiness. In fact, I take it as bit of a low blow from the director and scriptwriter Dagur Kári, who conceived the film as a tragic-COMEDY with lots of very funny scenes. It seems that this year the Icelanders have decided to make us sad in Karlovy Vary (there’s another depressive thing from Iceland coming in KVIFF). A strong film, no doubt. 80 %

(50th KVIFF) I think this is my first film from Guatemala. Films like this are another reason why I like the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. Although it’s a not entirely original story about a young girl, María, who gets pregnant with a guy who’s not the one she’s about to marry, which somewhat complicates her life. For us here, the exotic setting and the nice and authentic Mayan cast are also a plus. I loved that the film avoided several plot twists that could be expected from similar films from developing countries with traditional families (María’s parents don’t exacerbate the situation as much as I thought they would), and I also loved that one final socially critical twist that I was actually not expecting. A weak four stars, mainly because of the ending. 70 %

(50th KVIFF) A true one-man show. David Oyelowo never leaves the screen and we don’t see any characters other than him (and I think we don’t even hear them, only he can be heard when he’s on the phone, but I wouldn’t swear on that). And yet, the film never manages to get boring. Oyelowo plays a sociopath and a killer who’d already had enough with his mother and has murdered her, and now he’s in peace. But because he’s alone he pathologically clings to the idea of inviting an old friend from the army to come over for dinner. The film captures his fall into a deeper and deeper madness. And surprisingly, it’s quite fun (with many dark tones, of course), because, despite everything I’ve written, the character is likeable. Not likeable in a way that I would have dinner with him, but rather, as someone has already mentioned in a comment here, as a poor bastard you feel sorry for. Definitely worth watching. 75 %

(50th KVIFF) Excellent conjugal drama. Based on the notes, I was expecting something more intense and expressive, but the drama takes place mainly within the character of Charlotte Rampling, who portrays it mostly through her expressions. That requires quite some attention and empathy from the viewer. Unlike this festival Romanians, 45 Years offers a real chance to grab on to something, to relate to the protagonist and feel her suffering. I understood her. 80 %

(50th KVIFF) At the beginning I was dismayed and thought of walking out as I’m not cut for such theatrically annoying and aesthetically awful things like this. But I resisted and the impression gradually improved. After about half an hour, the original plot, which up that point reminded of some vulgar sitcom from a commercial TV station of an Eastern European post-communist country, became something different, more self-confident and meta, that commented (perhaps quite accurately) on the Polish society of today. But the film still left a weird aftertaste, it simply failed to satisfy me. 50 %

(50th KVIFF) My worst experience in the festival, and not only this year. I can’t find words to express how slowly boring this film is! Several Mongoloid Russians, in long and mostly static shots, carry out a series of interesting activities like hanging out the laundry or washing dishes. The Gulls was my first movie that day, I had a good seat and could see the subtitles, but I’m still unable to identify what this film was about, because it actively did everything it could to be uninteresting. This kind of film is the cancer of festivals, but, as the average rating indicates, it has its audience, too – incredible. 5 %