Verj (1992) User Reviews

fantasies of a young girl

[mrdonleone · 7/10 · 14 December 2009]

now, what can I tell about end that's a bit decent? nothing at all, but please let me try. it seems like rape on film and that's really ugly, because we generally try to understand the title of what we're seeing, and in this case, the word 'end' could be... a guy's 'end'. but very soon we understand we're watching two women. not only that, we see them do a lot of things together. from the moment we understand 'end' is not about rape at all, that it was an illusion for the eyes, the first images, we can sit this one through without any hard feelings (if I choose my words correctly). from the second act in this short film (if we can talk about acts in a short matter), we realize time, place and the action of the subjects. it's all weird things that follow, so this is my interpretation of the movie: everything we see, is imagination, the part of understanding life through the eyes of an innocent little girl. so yes, some things may seem quite strange, especially if you're younger than 10. the world can be a creepy place to grow up in. this movie is creepy too, but it's definitely art, no question about it. some may recall Jack Smith's use of black images in 'Blonde Cobra', here there are shots that look alike, but, unfortunately, Peleshian's 'End' never reaches the quality of a Jack Smith masterpiece. and what about the ending of 'End'? well, it's perhaps the most obvious thing about it, because it shows us we're witnessing the climax of a girl, fantasizing about things she has yet to learn, and experiences she doesn't have already.

Minimum expression, maximum effect, great montage!

[shusei · 10/10 · 24 August 2003]

This film is some kind of a Revelation. Quite simple, but ultimately strict structure of the film is dedicated to one clear concept: Life is short, you are send somewhere you can never know,while you are wasting your life, and the End will come suddenly, no one can escape from the death and the judgment of God. Amazingly enough, this film is made up of the most ordinary images, that can be seen anywhere in the world, if the railway goes among the rocky mountains,if the passengers are from various nationalities. In fact, the film was shot in Armenia, the motherland of the director, but here it is not so important, unlike in his other films,for example, "Four Seasons". All the images, shot in black and white, are "real", without any special effect, sometimes by trembling handy camera,but they are all under strict control of the author. Namely, he knew exactly what must be shot and how they must be composed.

This film must be seen. Any attempt to analyze it is vain, because it contains minimum components,which can have meanings only by the magic of montage by the Master.

Pretty bad way to end it

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 27 July 2016]

"Verj" or "End" is an 8-minute black-and-white film from 1994, so it is already over 20 years old too and this short live action film was the last (and probably final) work of Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Peleshian, so the title makes sense. What does not really make sense though is the film itself. I personally found it very weak and nothing I saw in here was interesting really. What I heard was not as bad, but the music and sound were only slightly better than the visual side of the film. I wish Peleshian could have gone out on a high note, but he did not. This is probably the weakest work I have seen from him so far, but I also ended up not really liking most of the other stuff, so I may be a bit biased. Anway, major thumbs-down for this one here. Watch something else instead.