kouneva Reviews

Last Flight Home (2022)

Extraordinary, fierce, courageous, one-of-a-kind documentary

[9/10 · 20 December 2022]

Words fail to express what a transcendental experience watching Last Flight Home was for me. It's an absolutely extraordinary, fierce, courageous, one-of-a-kind documentary.

I enjoyed learning about Eli Timoner. One of the most indelible lines was him saying how all banks turned him down, after he's given so much to so many earlier in his life. Above all, the love he gave to his family, and how much he was loved resonated through the entire film.

In our culture where death is a taboo I admire Ondi Timoner for her incredible courage to create such intimate, visceral, multidimensional experience of death in real time. Highly recommended!

Coming Clean (II) (2020)

A tour-de-force of documentary filmmaking

[10/10 · 3 April 2022]

"Coming Clean" is a gripping, breath-taking documentary on the opioid crisis. It presents the stories of its subjects with detail and empathy, while simultaneously showing a sweeping overview of the social and political implications of the crisis. Through masterful storytelling, haunting animation and virtuoso documentary filmmaking, it held my attention from the first frame to the last. Brava, Ondi Timoner, and thank you for making such a powerful and memorable documentary.

The Third Nail (2007)

Emotionally riveting

[9/10 · 15 November 2020]

A solid crime thriller / family drama. You care about the characters and their backstory. The impact of prison life is depicted in a powerful and realistic manner. Great performance by Chloe Grace Moretz when she was around 7 or so years old. Memorable visual storytelling. Recommended.

Devil's Whisper (2019)

Excellent story! Superb performances. Memorable, emotional film

[10/10 · 26 September 2017]

An outstanding supernatural horror film that tells a story with a big heart and soul. The film is fresh, unpredictable and the performances, especially Alex and Father Cutler are superb. The film balances greatly between the family storyline and shocking scares. The visual storytelling is exquisite and has many memorable and disturbing moments. There is no gratuitous violence in the film, although it delivers big time for the genre fans! There are many very scary scenes. Big emotional payoff! Every scene serves the story and propels it forward! Highly recommended to both horror connoisseurs and casual horror fans.

Tideland (2005)

Parenting, Madness, and Decay

[10/10 · 24 October 2006]

Thank you, Mr. Gilliam. You have a legion of loyal fans who cherish your genius, artistic vision, and your particular way of packaging deepest social critique as phantasmagorical, bizarre, dark, dystopian, unrepeatable feasts for the mind, soul and senses. Should I mention that "Brazil" is my #1 most favorite film of all times? TIDELAND shook me to the core and it's a movie experience I will always remember. In the LA's Nuart Cinema flyer, the movie was billed as a "celebration of child's imagination" but it struck me foremost as a metaphor of worst parenting, madness, and decay of our race -- expressed without subtlety, without compromise. Among many other things, I kept thinking that young children who are that severely abused develop split personality syndrome or schizophrenia. As the movie progressed and the dolls' voices became more jumbled and aggressive in Jeliza-Rose's head, I just could not stop thinking that this beautiful precocious child is doomed to grow up with serious mental deviation, a natural outcome of the kind of parenting she is subjected to. Next generation of madness. What a waste of life. I felt inspired, even urged, to get involved in earnest with child welfare. Perhaps because I just became a parent 3 months ago, these issues resonated so deeply with me. A truly remarkable, unrepeatable experience. All the other folks on IMDb have said great many other compliments, no need to repeat them. Watch this film! Besides the deeply pessimistic allegory on humanity, there are glimmers of hope. A genius, visionary director.

Dark Heart (2006)

"Support Our Troops" - what does it mean?

[10/10 · 7 April 2006]

Do you support our troops by just putting a bumper sticker "Support Our Troops"??? Kevin Lewis' film (which I saw at Method Fest'06) is a bleakest and most disillusioned vision of what happens to war veterans when they return home. It's a haunting movie that stays with you for a long time and makes you think really hard about that yellow bumper sticker that you pasted on your car and never thought too much about it. I must say the movie shook me to the core. I really enjoyed how pure and uncompromised the director's vision is, and how gritty and un-Hollywood the movie felt. I liked its visual style and pace, especially the lighting and hues, because they all made me experience the inner world of the veterans. Some of writing was pretty intense. Plenty of food for thought. Also, a few genuine surprises and twists. Awesome acting, especially from Taylor, Finn and the out-of-control cop. I highly recommend this film. It has a very contemporary feel, look, and resonates with our times. I only hope that most war veterans do not experience such sense of being disposable and forgotten, but even if one soldier did, it's a shame on our society.

The Ax (2005)

A Brilliant Satire of the Corporate Greed

[10/10 · 21 April 2005]

Loved it! Loved it! A terrific satire of the modern corporate downsizing which destroys a man's pride and then everything else. Better yet, this social satire is packaged as an absurd black comedy - serial killer story. A picture of the world we're living in. Don't take the killings too seriously. Obviously, they are a metaphor for the desperation of the man. It's a little bit like "Shock to the System" but I liked this one better. Whether you laugh at this movie today or not, tomorrow this will be the reality for most all of us when only endless service jobs will have remained. Or, flipping burgers. I highly recommend this socially conscious movie, as I applaud its director for the courage to make it. Bravo!

Date or Disaster (2003)

fresh and cathartic

[9/10 · 9 July 2004]

For those of us who have experienced horrendous first dates, "D or D" is a cathartic experience just as much as it is extremely hilarious and entertaining. I laughed like crazy even on 3rd, 4th viewing. For those of us who satisfy our sadistic need to watch public humiliation of folks on TV dating shows ("Average Joe," "Blind Date" etc) -- you will really get a kick of this movie. "D or D" parodies these dating shows (mostly Blind Date) and pokes fun at how cruel these shows are and how they make the daters look like complete goofs. I think it's also a good critique of TV dating shows and how they cater towards our basest and sensationalist instincts - watching a train wreck, watching a couple having a miserable date (with demeaning commentaries of the show host).

I especially liked the animation in "D or D" and the captions, but the acting is hilarious and the plot is both absurd and entertaining. Kudos to Richard Elfman and Daniel Schweiger, and everybody else involved. Enjoy the show. 9 stars *********

The Terminal (2004)

Entertaining, funny and utterly irresponsible

[13 June 2004]

"Terminal" is funny, amusing, and cute. Tom Hanks was superior and authentic - behavior, body mannerisms and voice inflection, down to smallest details (check out the notorious resourcefulness of Eastern-Europeans - making a bed from lounge chairs minus arm rests). I liked how Mr. Sp. touched on family relations, dysfunctional romance, and ethnic idiosyncrasies. I am a huge fan of Mr. Sp.'s towering genius.

BUT... while I laughed a lot while watching "Terminal," I ALSO thought that it was utterly offensive and irresponsible in its treatment of the subject of Eastern Europeans' exodus and immigration. Viktor was a goof and a warm-hearted idiot. He was an inconsistent composite Slavic archetype - spoke at least 5 broken Slavic languages; Krakosia sounds like the Polish town of Krakow; his Fodor books were printed in plain Russian (Polish hate Russians' guts and anything Russian).

What offended me is this: 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and mass immigration of E.Europeans into the US, the first-ever Hollywood film that touches this subject is an irresponsible drivel about a one-day visit to NYC of a misty-eyed, autograph-collecting goof. Sadly, it comes from the director who has a history of making magnificent artistic statements about subjects deserving of such treatments. "Terminal" COULD HAVE BEEN funny, metaphorical, amusing YET more considerate.