ianfire50 Reviews

Dancer in the Dark (2000)

A truly beautiful film.

[13 October 2002]

The director is a brilliant young talent.

But it is Bjorks performance as "Selma" that is the heart and soul and beauty of this film. Selma is beaten down by life; a disease means her eyesight is slowly degenerating to blindness, she never knew her father, her son will get the disease too unless he has an operation. So Selma saves money, gets it stolen by her neighbour and ends up in Prison.

This film is about how despite all life and the external world may try to to crush you and hurt you, if you believe in yourself and love your family and friends, our human spirit can soar above this petty world and be victorious.

Its also about the greatest, purest form of love known in human existence:

the love a mother has for her children.

And the fact that a mother is willing to sacrifice her own life (here, literally) for her children.

Bjork's fragility , her unconformity in a conventional world, her sense of humour and joy are ultimately what make this film so moving.

I have an instinct that the people who dislike this film have become too cynical and jaded by our society of greed and violence.

And the people who love it (like me), give me hope because they still believe in innocence, in honesty and trust, and havent forgotten the joy of truly being alive, and what true love and courage really means.

Stardust Memories (1980)

excellent!

[10/10 · 28 May 2000]

Contrary to popular and critical opinion, this is Woody Allen's Best film. Yes, better than Manhattan or Annie Hall and all the others (about 30 i think). It is his best film because it is his most truthful, and it's angry. Critics dont like it because it attacks critics. But it is inventive, brillantly imaginative and purely cinematic, the narrative is almost non-existent and the film is really feelings put onto celluloid, in this sense it is a very PURE film, and probably autobiographical. Although no doubt Allen would deny this! I love the off-beat characters , and its also a very atmospheric film. I have seen about 25 Woody Allen films and think this is the most honest of them all.