balagesh Reviews

Thank You, I'm Sorry (2023)

This movie manages to portray a stifling subject in a moving and liberating way

[10/10 · 31 December 2023]

This movie is both an excellent illustration and a perfect refutation of everything we know about toxic relationships. The mechanism of refutation is CHANGE. On the traumatised side, it's hard to listen and then apply the advice to everyday life, but on the other side, those who caused the suffering... well, I wouldn't say it needs a miracle, just it is unlikely that anyone will get to the point of thanking and apologising. But why not? Sometimes everyone can get together for one big photo and somehow things fall into place.

With a logically structured script and unique characters brought to life by excellent acting, the movie manages to portray this stifling subject in a moving and liberating way.

Sueños Ilegales (2022)

A touching, honest story

[9/10 · 13 August 2023]

What an extraordinary story this is. How fabulously wonderful. What kind of film was it? I don't know, maybe not the most brilliant work in the history of cinema, but with its simple and natural way it kept my interest throughout and never once did I feel it was lying to my face, that in a wonderful world, like this, those who persevere will get there. He didn't lie, he didn't deceive me, but he managed to keep my faith in the miraculous. It is about a refugee, an illegal immigrant. Who made it. Not someone who was raped along the way. Not someone who was arrested at the border or killed crossing the border. Not about someone who suffered humiliation after humiliation in various jobs, often from people like him, and ended up on the streets - either starving or dealing, and soon found himself in the sights of the police as a petty criminal. Not someone who is forced to give up everything, even his talent, because he had to work. Not someone whose talents are tied to his mother tongue, his country, or who still needs to learn and educate himself. And this is just a short list of who this film is not about. It's been a long time since I saw a film that moved me. This story has touched me now.

Julia and Julia (1987)

The real fun is to rethink the story

[7/10 · 29 May 2023]

At the heart of the story is Juliet's gliding back and forth between parallel realities and parallel destinies. The script resolves the ending very elegantly, when I'm a bit lost as to which version of life we are in. This is typically a story that inspires me, makes me think. I wonder if the other Juliet experienced things in a similar way on the other side? Or: I should write a novel in which the two characters leave a diary to each other, and help each other this way.

Another thought: Sting plays a very aggressive character. It's very odd today, repulsive, but I don't think the metoo has done away with this male type as an ideal.

The film doesn't delve into anything deep, but maybe that's why it manages to remain inspiring. It leaves room for the imagination.

Replicas (2018)

Lame, still provoking extremely uncomfortable feelings

[1/10 · 26 May 2023]

When I was a kid, I once collected and cut out pieces of a jigsaw puzzle from a newspaper. And I glued the pieces together. My persistence was very commendable. I tried to cut around them as accurately as possible along the line and glued them to a thick sheet of paper. I spiced up the zig-zag cut and the gap between the pieces with bold colouring. In my defence, I must have been about six years old. This excuse cannot be used by the film makers. We can expect more from adults and professionals than a picture of zig-zagging details, seen from the right distance, coming together at the end. Much more.

And I haven't even complained about the silly explanatory texts disguised as conversations. Or the software visualisation of the brain, where everything was labelled far beyond the user-friendliness of Windows. And most importantly, I didn't mention that this is the rare film that, although lame, still makes you feel extremely uncomfortable.

Purgatory #Breakthecycle (2021)

Elementary representation of the domestical abuse

[6/10 · 22 May 2023]

Energy invested in education can never be enough. Domestic physical and psychological violence is unfortunately a priority issue. This short film is intended to serve this educational purpose. There are no special tricks or twists here. Accuracy and clarity are the key features. Of course, even such functional tools can be judged in relation to a large toolbox, in terms of its own functionality. It is possible that the more shocking scenes could have a greater impact, but I think it is important to make such elementary representations. They should now just be made available to a wider audience.

Psychic (II) (2018)

Would it be better as a novel?

[5/10 · 21 April 2023]

I can imagine the joy I would feel if I read this story. I know the ideas are pure and perfect in our minds. They don't have to be embodied in strict forms with a lot of compromises - which is what actually happened with this story: it happened and it flattened out. The interesting ideas evoked were trivialised. Perhaps the problem was the missing director. I mean a trükk and experienced one. Who would not have been satisfied with the perfect performances of the actors. I don't know what exactly should have been done differently. I am not a director myself. Or it's possible that the restraint and puritanism was due to the will of the director? I might have shown such a suddenly rich con man to have some sort of bad taste. At least symbolically - and not just with the turban, which is a calculatedly applied advertising tool for their own followers. In this form, the scenes retain the character of a TV movie. The end result, while interesting, is not surprising, not disturbing, not even refreshing.

Nyúlcsapda (2020)

What about the Fox in The Little Prince?

[7/10 · 11 April 2023]

I tend to avoid dog-themed stuff, because the blind spot of humanity is just growing, and the dog cult has long since left the level of sacred cows, but this is worth checking out. It's a twisty story, and combines trauma healing, landmine awareness, self-sacrifice, heroism and more, all the way to The Fox of The Little Prince. The filmmaking is simple, clean and consistent. The opening dialogue in the village was rather clichéd and exaggerated, but what happened next in the forest is classic. It is interesting that the ex-soldier is a woman. It is not highlighted, but it made good to the movie. But the real strength of the short film is the inventiveness of the story.

The Levelling (2016)

A very moving, well-paced and honest film

[10/10 · 6 August 2022]

Levelling means working away the unevenness of the ground. But I had a feeling that there was another meaning in psychology. I found this, " Leveling is when people keep out parts of stories and try to tone those stories down so that some parts are excluded." (Wiki) I think this is the key to understanding film. Our protagonist returns home for his brother's funeral and has to decipher what has happened over the past few months. It's a fascinating investigation. And through the grieving process and the rather complex parent-child relationship, we get a multi-layered story.

The protagonist (and it doesn't matter her gender; in the story it doesn't matter that she is the girl of the two children) is thrown back into her past. I really liked the way the behaviour of the educated and self-conscious woman who is about to become a vet is replaced, even in a single scene, by that of a vulnerable but strong little girl.

Mindörökké (2021)

Made by a very conscious and sensitive artist

[9/10 · 20 July 2022]

A very conscious and sensitive artist is being wasted by the great Hungarian culture. A professional had to make a film in such a poor conditions as only students have.

Low budget should not be an excuse for a real genius. Here every scene and setting shows determination and unfolds the creative vision. The lengths and cuts are not accidental. The annoyingly long airport scene at the beginning is a good example of this: I simply lost patience, interest, somehow got stuck in my head on a track - and then when I couldn't even pay attention anymore: poof! It made me crazy.

Sensitivity: I'm not talking about the fact that he stepped out in the role of prophet. Many people saw that Putin or one of his successors would attack. That's not so important. A true sensitive creator always creates from what surrounds him. And Hungary has been exactly that for years: the devastated hinterland of a protracted war. From which more and more people are missing. Where the few live a vulnerable life. Where the enemy can somehow turn up at any moment. Where we have become lonely, distrustful, and gather only for defensive equipments, weapons, sandbags, strong cars. Where there is no planning for the future, and we have what falls from the sky. Where neither the past nor the future matters, because all that matters is the now, the forever.

Brian Johnson Meets Dave Grohl: A Life on the Road Special (2020 TV Movie)

As if they were not rockstars

[7/10 · 23 February 2022]

At the beginning, when they were checking the vans and looking around the warehouse section of the studio, the two rock musicians, who have weathered many storms, did nothing but pat each other on the back. This part didn't seem exciting at all. But fortunately it was just a warm-up. Everything changed when Grohl showed us photos taken before one of their last Nirvana concerts. The atmosphere. Then they sat down and had a very honest, clear and lucid conversation. The kind the average fan dreams of. Grohl talked about how he felt the day after Cobain's death. And the day after his famous broken leg. What his childhood was like, how his mother helped him. And how he copes with the success and with being a frontman. And about his work ethic. But it was the intimacy and not the information he dropped that was interesting. They talked as calmly and honestly as if they were really alone, away from the cameras, away from the fans. Grohl's peculiarity is that he has become the only non-extreme among the many extreme musicians. No frills, no mannerisms. No pretense. ;) It is his message: if I did it, you can do it.

Lapsis (2020)

Magic touch

[9/10 · 8 December 2021]

This is a cult film. Yes, the kind that everyone should see. Oh, sorry, at least know it and talk about it. The issues it touches on. Yes, because that matters for a good cult film made on such a modest budget. Its magical touch. What was previously completely invisible becomes visible. What was previously shown vaguely, incoherently, is now clearly in front of us.

The miracle happens during the viewing that we feel afterwards that we knew and understood it before. We knew it was exactly right. That's how it is.

Yes, and we forget that we didn't have it before, at least not in such detail, in such crystal clarity.

Anything that puts such a clear, plausible model in our hands is very much to be appreciated.

Beat the Devil (2021 TV Movie)

A very intimate monologue with the vivid authenticity of an inspired actor

[7/10 · 20 November 2021]

Ralph Fiennes, who shines in this solo performance, will be thought by many to have it easy: all he has to do is show his talent. But they ignore that few actors can do that. For an hour he talks and moves in an enclosed space, and we just listen and watch, not wanting to leave him, but wanting to stay with him... An old man's testimony about Covid, by the way. It's honest, interesting and his observations are still relevant today. Yes, there are many political implications. I imagined Akos Koszegi describing similar experiences in Hungary. (Boris Johnson is a schoolboy compared to Viktor Orbán. And Trump is an aggressive circus trainer.) But there are also psychological issues relating to illness, such as the question of recovery as a personal skill (character!), or the guilt of survival (here: rage).

I wouldn't call it a work of a genius, but it is a very intimate monologue with the vivid authenticity of an inspired actor.

Prime Time (2021)

The elegy of the insignificance

[8/10 · 1 November 2021]

The endless sadness of the film, especially the last scene, is perhaps only understandable in the eastern half of Europe. Here, where it always seems that something can be carried through - if not otherwise, then at least with the impulse of ultimate despair, in the face of the world's indifferent gaze. Here, where this effort, driven by lethargy, always ends in disappointment. This infinitely disappointed gaze sheds new light on Stockholm syndrome: the kindness of the hostage-taker is not enough, because kindnesses are permanently detached from their own context and lose their meaning. As our leaders waste our time with their protocolary acts, as our own indecisiveness degrades our big moments into filler, as empty smiles underscore our own insignificance... It all makes it so important that at least someone, at least that one damn hostage-taker, really needs us. Really. Us.

Bobby (I) (2006)

That's enough only for a newspaper

[4/10 · 24 October 2021]

School celebrations don't work mainly because of habit. Everybody lines up, all the usual poems are recited, the speeches are organised around familiar ideas. You can do your best, you can bring out the most talented, but it's still just a big school assembly. That's all Estevez could achieve. He replaced the people injured in the assassination with ordinary little people and showed a slice of their lives.

The US of 1968 is remote for me, so I was at least able to be fascinated by Bobby's thoughts. Almost certainly everyone involved in the making of the film has a personal connection to the day and time of the assassination. They must have had an incredibly vivid experience of this or any other assassination at the time. So have many American viewers, but as we widen the circle, there are fewer and fewer who have personal experiences... I'm far from '68 of USA, so I was able at least being impressed with Bobby's thoughts. But for me, it's just one of many sad events that failed to make a good movie this time. What was the mistake? The characters were at an important point in their lives, and we got to know those points - as points. Some of them developed into micro-histories, and emotional tension and complexity developed. Most, unfortunately, remained as photographs that could be explained by a one-sentence signature.

Forsaken (I) (2015)

Masculine mimicry and terseness

[3/10 · 22 October 2021]

American film history has a long tradition of ptsd about wartime experiences. Such stories are meant to explore the depths of the male psyche. If you look at the story outline alone, it may seem convincing, but the plot points are just ticked off. Masculine mimicry and terseness override everything. Except for Kiefer Sutherland's real character, because he doesn't have a despicable enough face for the role. And when the men do finally speak, they do so very loftily. It doesn't help that the many gaps are filled with solemn music. To make a good point: the set is a beautiful green.

The Italian Job (2003)

Family friendly, and thus overall uninteresting.

[5/10 · 17 October 2021]

A good film about safe robbers, with a nice twist and an impressive cast. Despite this, the execution is heavily superficial, i.e. Family friendly, and thus overall uninteresting. It is pleasant and professional, but has nothing particularly unique.

It is likeable, but impossible to hate or love.