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dartana
Reviews
Dronningen (2019)
Good film
A good film. Great casting and great acting.
Everyone played their role well. The story was not predictable nor cliched. It felt real through most of it.
My only gripe might be that the second half didn't seem as believable. I don't think that is how it would have gone down. He would be VERY unlikely to speak to his dad, and if he did it would have only been because he was under a huge amount of emotional distress, which they didn't show that he was.
Then when she challenges his version of the story, I think he would have done more to show that she was lying. He would have focussed on all of the details, things that would have shown that he wasn't making things up, and he could have just said that someone saw them - an easy verification.
Still, this aside, it was very well done. I was very involved and I believed the other parts of the interactions. Also, it was interesting to watch my own perception to the badness of what was going on morph. At the beginning you are hoping it will happen because it is so exciting, in that way you are caught up with the characters in those early stages. And then when everything starts to unfold, you realise how bad it was. Its the same journey you go on with Ana Karennina - captivated by the moment, you lose sight of the morality, just like they did.
Blue Velvet (1986)
Too much for me
Lynch had a series of nightmares and decided to sew them together to make this film, is what it feels like.
There are some great moments and scenes in this film. But then it just goes too out there for me. I prefer something that feels more coherent, has a deeper sense of meaning. Some of the times, I even thought that some of the choices made were cheaply surreal. If you show us something grotesque it is an easy way to give us a strong reaction, but it has to be in service of something else, and I guess by the end that I didn't think that it was.
I gave this a 7 originally, but then decided I had only done so because it was Lynch so have downgraded to 6.
Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)
good
I might not be a fair person to review this, because I basically missed when watching it what was going on and my girlfriend explained to me afterwards. I thought it was typically French and symbolistic but she pointed out that it was instead two timelines in a more literal sense overlapping.
My overall impression it was good but I didn't love it. Something about it that all felt a little contrived. Like how they first meet, and the ongoing relationship. I thought the actors were still good, but maybe it was lacking some natural rapport. Things felt a bit artificially constructed; like how she interacted with her boyfriend and how they engaged for parts of it. Still, a visually engaging film, and I don't regret watching it.
Would maybe say it is closer to a 6 in the emotional impact that it had on me but a 6 just looks too mean.
Blow-Up (1966)
spunky
Loved this film. Had an edge to it. Fun personality... Youthful, exuberant, and a vibe that it managed to create. I realise I haven't said much apart from a bunch of positive sounding adjectives. But one of the things that was great about it was it really gave you a very real flavour of London at this time in the arty sort of world. I think one of the things that makes it work so well is the protagonist who has his own value structure that is different to the rest of the world. He has the type of art based success that many would probably dream to have; his own studio, surrounded by beautiful girls, but he is somewhat jaded and bored with it, and so he just doesn't take any of it too seriously. He does things to amuse himself; be it following people and photographing them, by teasing people he probably ought to be professional around. I almost consider the plot a secondary feature to the pull of this film, I could have happily watched him continue about his life without it.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Amazing
A truly original film. It boggles the mind how Kuafman came up with all of this. There is also real heart in this film. Struggle, belonging, feeling alive, hopes and dreams. It touches them in a close and personal way.
For the first 30 minutes of this film I thought it was reaching depths of truth and shining a mirror up to us all in a beautifully strange way, and with humour and heart. If it had continued on that arc it would be a 10/10.
I loved the tiny ceilings of Lester corp and the surreal office place set up. It nails what the culture of corporate america actually is, a strange compartmentalised faction of reality.
The negative: I just didn't like the love triangle arc that it ended up taking - I don't know what it was trying to show. There was no growth of character there was no complex conclusion. You could think about the set up of the film as being an ingenious way to explore this being questions about what it is to be being human, but then it almost felt like the set up devices ended up taking away from the human questioning side. Plot stole form meaning.
Still, a dazzling film and I feel a bit mean giving it a 7.
La double vie de Véronique (1991)
Doesn't Come Together
There are some beautiful moments in this film, things that make you feel like there are depths of truth that are being reached but it doesn't all come together.
In the end it feels a randomly generated series of scenes pieced together that don't form a bigger whole. Picture this: a man walking his dog with a baguette underneath his arm, cut to a girl playing frisbee by herself fetching the frisbee each time she throws it, cut to another girl who looks like the first but isn't who steals the man's baguette. Drama. Intrigue. Mystery. Or more likely - something that just doesn't make sense. And this is the camp that the film belongs to.
It is a dangerous move when you abandon many notions of narrative - sometimes it can pay off big, but for me, this didn't make it. Still as I said moments of beauty and maybe you'd get more out of the overarching project of the film than me....
Almost Famous (2000)
A journey into the land where morals are squiffy, cool rules supreme, and the party never ends.
Great film.
A journey into the land where morals are squiffy, cool rules supreme, and the party never ends.
Anyone who has been close to the world of either celebrity or music stars will recognise themes explored here. The people at the centre of this network have the power and this gives them licence to wield it and act in ways you'd never normally see in the rest of life. Everyone else is fighting to get to the centre - and people are willing to give a lot to get there.
With the protagonist you see the painful juggling act between authenticity and acceptance. Everyone wants to be part of the in crowd, but once you are in there - is it all worth it? Are the relationships real enough? Do they have longevity? Probably no to both, but yet even knowing that it is hard to resist.
On the one hand you could just come down on the side that it is all vapid and you should turn your back on it. Several characters in fact conclude that. Or you could say that the journey is all worth it despite there never being a happy ultimate destination. And other characters conclude that. The thing that makes this film great rather than good is that it shows you both are true.