peppyaiolov Reviews

Viktoria (2014)

The Best Bulgarian Movie After 1989, because...

[10/10 · 14 February 2016]

Viktoria (2014)is the best Bulgarian movie after 1989, because it is honest and personal "coming of age story" about the transition from socialism to liberal democracy in Bulgaria, told from unique female perspective.( And if this is not enough it was shot from the best cinematographer, edited from the best editor( Alexander Etimov 1976-2014 RIP) and scored from the best film composer in Bulgaria at the time.) You cannot argue with the film because it is pure emotion and vision. It is not a statement, it is a dream. Even if you not agree with it's surreal picture of communist Bulgaria, you must accept it as a personal memory. This film is an apology for every man's right to have his/her own opinion and memory of the changing world around. Victoria is the best Bulgarian movie after 1989, not because it is showing a new way to make cinema, but it is showing a new way (for Bulgaria) to tell stories. A way to tell your personal stories, without vanity and fear. A way to be completely honest and sincere, not only with the audience, but mostly with yourself. This film is not about "Art", it is about Life. Life as a personal and very intimate experience. In Bulgaria for many years life and art were collective, it is a trend that it is going on even now. People and artists still do not have the courage to speak for themselves honestly. They always "represent" some "public opinions". They "create projects" which are expected to be liked from their "target audiences". ( specially film festival audiences! ) It is not very different from the times before 1989, when art and life were a "project" for collective well-being. In the past all the "stories" needed to be the "correct" ones and this trend continues in another way today. Today life and art are just a "project for personal well-being", which doesn't include honest storytelling. You are not allow to just "be" yourself, to tell your story, the way you feel it. You must "create" yourself using a lifestyle model. It looks like to be a completely free man who is able to tell the story of his/her life as he/she feels it is equally difficult thing in both sides of the Berlin wall. In my opinion this is what makes the movie "Victoria"- The Best Bulgarian Movie After 1989! Because it gives you perspective from the "both sides" and makes you think about your personal experience in this period and find out how confusing was for all of us, but still how we miss it and love it. At the end "we really don't know life at all" but still we can love it. Because it was Our Life, the live of our parents and grandparents, it was not a lifestyle model. The naked truth is that we were happy kids in communist Bulgaria, as much happy, as the kids in the "other side". Happiness is not a political concept, it is not in our desires, it is not about lifestyle and social position. Happiness it is a feeling from the childhood when we first discover the world and it is deeply connected with the image of our mothers and fathers.Great cinema teach us that Life is Beautiful (La Vita è Bella 1997), even in a concentration camp, if we are with a loving parent. The way to happiness always goes backwards, with the years... As the director Maya Vitkova said in an interview: "My goal is people from the audience to call their mothers after the film is over!"

"I've looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose, and still somehow it's life's illusions I recall, I really don't know life at all." Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now from the LP "Clouds", 1969

P.S. The world really needs more "woman's touch" in 21st century cinema and not only in cinema. Call your mothers and do not write hateful reviews, please. Keep Calm and Surrender To The Divine Feminine! :)

Shelter (2010)

The first film of Bulgarian New Wave?

[10/10 · 16 May 2012]

All the European countries had their film waves - Italian,french,English,polish,czech,German,romanian waves, but no Bulgarian.

To have a "wave" in cinema you need a group of films which are alike, at least five let's say. Until now in Bulgaria we do not have five films in a same year or even two or three years which are alike.

All of Bulgarian films are strongly personal and not like the others. Their characters are strong personalities closed in their own life.

Podslon (2010) is film about the lack of communication within the family and specially between generations before and after communist regime. This is a big theme for Bulgaria and I only hope that other four films will join this "first of a kind" Bulgarian film and will create at last The Bularian New Wave in Cinema.

For the last two years this didn't happened and it seems like lost cause.Anyway I strongly recommend Podslon(2010) for being a real cultural artifact from contemporary cultural discourse in Bulgaria.

Podslon(2010) shows the quiet and grey "real" of Bulgarian life without trying to create "hyperreal" cinema experience,just to amuse audience.

If you want to see the real Bulgaria,watch Podslon!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Americanization of Lisbeth Salander or The Rebel Sell

[5/10 · 29 February 2012]

If this film was made back in 2008 it would be a bomb, but is is not...it is just a remake.I do not believe that they wanted to make their version of the book .It shows that they are making their version of the film also.The film is an Americanization of Lisbeth Salander and specially of unique Noomi Rapace.

This film is a living proof of the fast times that we live in.In the last century Hollywood waited for 10-20 years before making a remake.Now 3 years are enough for the "short memory" of contemporary society.

The good thing is that the film it proves something else. The good story is priceless and people what to hear and watch it again and again and again...

In the center of the story and the books and the films is Lisbeth Salander and she is a REBEL WITH CAUSE. Lisbeth unites Lilith, Medusa, Nemesis and Persephone in one female force that will avenge the all misogyny in the "man's world".

You can't not love Lisbeth ! She knows what she wants - to fight men like a man.Compare Lisbeth to her SISTER IN ARMS Charlotte Gainsbourg's character in LvT's "Antichrist". LvT just needs better stories. In his film the theme of "womans revenge" is taking place in allegorically twisted garden of Eden, but Lisbeth is here and now.

Lisbeth is image of the the hidden demonic woman side.In the world were all the MALE REBELS are "without a cause" , boring and repeating each other,the character of Lisbeth Salander is REAL, UNIQUE and SCARY.

So the REBEL like Lisbeth SELL WELL!

The American film is good , but is second.It is like "A Fistful of Dollars" (compare to original "Yojimbo") for witch Kurosawa wrote to Leone: "It is a very fine film, but it is my film."

Elena (2011)

Great, Great Zvyagintsev again !

[10/10 · 23 December 2011]

First I'd like to say that I really understand the point of all disappointed Zvyagintsev fans after his two previous films:Izgnanie and Vozvrashchenie .These movies were "global", not only Russian, but "for all people".

This movie is strictly Russian and thats why people did'n like it. In my opinion this movie shows the real greatness of this wonderful director Andrey Zvyagintsev. He could continue making "global" movies "for the world". like Iñárritu or for the end of it like LvT, but he is a Russian and he made film about the moral situation in Russia.

In 2009 Zvyagintsev was offered 8 million $ from producer Oliver Dungey to make a film for the end of the world like "The Sacrifice"1986 .I guess that LvT took the money and did "Melancholia".Instead Zvyagintsev did "Elena", and this is the end of the world for him: "the end of the world as we know it" as Charles Foster Kane is saying."Elena' is the end of the "moral world" as we know it, at least for Zvyagintsev.

This film is about existential values, no other values exist in post-communist, pseudo-religious Russia.There are only TV values.We can only hear the "TV preachings" throughout the movie and actually see the screen just at the end when the family stays at the apartment of the killed man.So what happens: A rich man is killed by his wife who is a former nurse, because he do not to put her in his will and the family of her unemployed son with three kids will stay without support.

"The last will be first." says Elena just before to kill in cold blood his husband. The mother will do everything for her child and grandchildren. Love is evil,like Zizek says.In the name of love ,millions of people has been killed.The love towards one is hatred towards somebody else.The main principle in universe is scarcity, Sartr says.There isn't enough love nor yet enough money for everyone.So what we people do? We kill.We kill for money,we kill for love ...we kill for oil!" A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up." like they say in the Bible.

This movie is a mixture of "The Shop on Main Street"1965, "Crimes and Misdemeanors"1989, "Uzak" 2002 and "Cargo 200" 2007 so before to judge "Elena" please watch these movies first.

I think that "Elena"it is a real 21-st century film.It is film about "The banality of evil". Evil which is part of us all, the evil of everyday life. It is an open question of the moral values of the contemporary society. The question is coming from Russia and from all the former communist countries : How to live now ,when the "evil empire" of communism is dead. Where is the moral superiority of the capitalism? In the "world with TV Religion" is it OK to kill an old and ill man and to take the money in the name of children?

GREAT GREAT FILM.THANK YOU ZVYAGINTSEV.

Melancholia (2011)

Now I really like Antihrist!

[9/10 · 8 October 2011]

I actually didn't watch Melancholia, because for a films like this i use one special player with 10sec.jump option.So I was jumping across Melancholia.One can't really speak about this movie.I understand people who liked it, probably they experienced the mood of the film,the actual melancholia.But that's all in the movie, only a mood.No story ,no real feelings ,no thoughts, no real conversations. LvT said that :"In Melancholia it's interesting to see how the characters we follow react as the planet approaches Earth." If I can comment this, first I will say there is no WE in "we follow" ,Lars von Trier is not with us he is not WE,he is from another planet,may be Melancholia.Secondly, who cares how the characters will react at the end of the world, this really egocentric.If the end of the world is coming which twisted mind is thinking only about himself closed in a medieval castle.Who cares about the characters if it is the end of the world.It is the end of everything.THIS IS THE END!The end should be the main event,the character not the two non interesting sisters.

At the end I can say that now I really like Antihrist, because the movie has great theme -The revenge of the women, but here I can't find theme ,only a mood-melancholia.

This time there is not afterwords for Tarkovski,but the film is using the basic idea of "The Sacrifice"(Offret)1986.Melancholia is not in a same league with Offret.Tarkovski is an author with clear ideas and goals in his art.Lars von Tries is just mad ,he is not genius...Still I will expect his next movie!

Road to Perdition (2002)

Silent Shootout

[10/10 · 27 November 2010]

Beautiful film.Chiaroscuro masterpiece.Conrad's Hall Magnum Opus .

The scene with the silent shootout reminds me of another great film noir "The Big Combo " ,and another great cinematographer John Alton .There are scene where Mr.Brown says to a guy with a hearing problem "- I feel sorry for you Joe.So I am going to do you a favor.You won't hear the bullets!" , and he removes his hearing aid . Then the Thompson's start shooting silently !!! The visual technique of low key lighting in film noir is very similar to the dramatic technique of "less is more" .The viewer must not see it all , must not knew it all.The covered is more interesting.Why we need so much "light" over the story and so much light over the scene .You tell something and you hide something - it is a binary opposition ! Black and white , good and evil , Ying and Yang ,zero and one .We live in a relative universe , a thing is a thing only related to something else. Light is light only because of Light.

The great movies speaks between themselves !

The White Ribbon (2009)

We Need Evil to Feel Good !

[10/10 · 26 November 2010]

If you need evil to be good ,you are evil yourself.You create evil just to be sure that you are not one.

Mimesis is in the origin of our culture ,art ,education etc.

You cannot induce any principles in children ,you can just give then example .If you give then as an example the picture of judging father , they will copy and paste this picture.

Instead of fighting "evil" ,just try to be "good" !

When you dance with the devil , he leads .Who are you to judge people. The biggest sin is to judge .To judge is evil. "Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast The First Stone...."

The film is great.Philosophy in pictures and sounds.

I see clear connection with Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Day of Wrath" .

Take only the children choir singing "Dies Irae" at the burning of the witch , and children choir in "The White Ribbon" singing "The old evil Foe, with seriousness he means. Great power and much cunning are his grisly armor. On the earth is not his equal."

The origin of Evil is fighting Evil !

THE EVIL DOESN'T EXIST ,WE CREATE IT TO FEEL THAT WE ARE GOOD !

WE NEED EVIL TO FEEL GOOD!

The Illusionist (2010)

Un Petit Bijou

[10/10 · 25 November 2010]

Tati is alive.What a wonderful feeling to see one of the great artists of Cinema alive again.This is the magic of Cinema.It is one of these movies that you cannot speak about .Just Excellent. Nothing is going on ,there are no dialog ,yet there are a simple story. The story is visual and stunning. If you are a fan of "Playtime" you will love it ,if not -PLEASE watch "Playtime"1967 .I think that is wonderful to see that different directors throughout the world reach the visual philosophy of nothingness .To watch Tati is almost like to watch Ozu. For me personally-ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER!

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 90% based on reviews from 114 critics, and reports a rating average of 8 out of 10. Its critical consensus is that The Illusionist is an "engrossing love letter to fans of adult animation, The Illusionist offers a fine antidote to garish mainstream fare."

In Télérama, Cécile Mury gave the film a rating of four stars out of five. Mury compared it to the director's previous feature film: "This Illusionist is as tender and contemplative as the Triplets were farcical and uneasy. But we find the oblique look, the talent that is particular of Sylvain Chomet. ... This world of yesterday fleets between realism and poetry." Christophe Carrière of L'Express was not fully convinced by Chomet's directing, finding the story clever, but "blunted when Chomet lets himself be submerged by Tati's melancholy, delivering more of a homage to a master than a personal adaption. Nevertheless, it is otherwise a beautiful work, with impeccable graphics and provides some stunning sequences (based on carnivorous rabbit stew ...). One would have liked a little bit more, that's all."

Jonathan Meville of The Scotsman wrote: "Edinburgh's skyline has never looked so good, and if the city didn't exist it would be hard to believe somewhere so beautiful was real: if locals aren't inspired to take a walk up North Bridge or down Victoria Street after this, they never will be."Whilst also in The Scotsman Alistair Harkness commented that "Once you strip away the overwhelming wow factor of the film's design, the absence of strong characterization ensures the end result is bleaker and less affecting than was probably intended".

Tati's biographer, David Bellos, reviewing The Illusionist in Senses of Cinema was highly critical of Chomet's adaptation stating "the film is a disaster". "The great disappointment for me and I think for all viewers is that what Chomet does with the material is… well, nothing. The story he tells is no more than the sketchily sentimental plot line of L'Illusionniste. It's really very sad. All that artistry, all that effort, and all that money… for this".

Reviewing The Illusionist in The New Yorker, Richard Brody commented "Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) has directed an animated adaptation of Jacques Tati's 1956 screenplay, with none of Tati's visual wit or wild invention". "Chomet reduces Tati's vast and bilious comic vision to cloying sentimentality. The result is a cliché-riddled nostalgia trip. In French, English, and Gaelic".

Roger Ebert in his review wrote, "However much it conceals the real-life events that inspired it, it lives and breathes on its own, and as an extension of the mysterious whimsy of Tati". Calling it the "magically melancholy final act of Jacques Tati's career", he gave it four stars out of four.

Rapsodiya v byalo (2002)

One of the best Bulgarian movies !

[10/10 · 7 May 2010]

Absurd,Abstract and Felinisque.Really unique for Bulgaria.Must see.(for Bulgarians)Tedy Moskov should make more movies.I am totally agree with the previous comment ,You can't speak about this movie .You need to see it for yourself.It's not so funny,deep,dramatic,pathetic etc. ,but there is something about it.This "something" that makes the films to work on us. It is very rare to see it in a Bulgarian movie ,so I am very happy to find it in RAPSODIYA V BYALO.Maya Novoselska is prefect as always and I really feel sorry that there aren't many films with her ,so more people to watch and to know her ,not only in Bulgaria.There are also a lot's of famous actors in episodic roles.Some of the shots are composed as an art photography ,other as abstract pictures.There are really smart dialog and for the first time "swears" sound good in Bulgarian.(I mean that they are just in place ,not used just for "color")Like for example- -Our love is only platonic! - I don't know what is that ,but I really want to f*ck you .

Bigger Than Life (1956)

The Perfect Scene !

[10/10 · 23 April 2010]

In my understanding ,"Bigger than Life" is about a boy who understands that his father is not a hero anymore and the beautiful world (USA in the 50') ,can be a scary one. This idea was shown perfectly in the scene where Wally fights Ed around the house (the perfect American home),which is not tidy anymore.

When Ed is finally knocked out ,his son Richie ( really calmly) switches of the TV ,which is showing a merry-go-round. The fairytale is over for the boy .He is ready to accept the dark side of his father.(allusion with Luke Skywalker was not intended ).

I love that scene ,if it's not perfect is near that. A simple image which worths thousand words!

P.S. What is "bigger than life" ? Is it the "human" face of people without "the magic drugs" ? The dream is bigger than life , to keep the dream of the "beautifull world" alive , because without it ,the life has no meaning. Who wants to "exist" outside the "matrix" , in the infinite nothing ?