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Reviews
Oppenheimer (2023)
Pretentious and overrated
For a movie that tries so hard to be original, it is abysmally banal.
The music and sound effets are atrocious. The dialogues are ridiculously contrived (I mean some of them are so unnatural, it is actually funny). The narration is all garbled, it's a mess of timelines, irrelevant and undeveloped characters.
I can't believe they actually tried to create suspense for an event that happened in the past (the bomb test). I mean, the viewers probably know (or can guess) that the world did not come to an end back then.
Overall, Oppenheimer is a huge disappointment, and boy do I feel bad for people who went to see it in a theater.
Strana Oz (2015)
The epitome of tragicomedy : makes you want to laugh at all the inappropriate moments
This is hands down the best tragicomedy I've seen for the past couple of years : the stuff that happens on the screen would be terribly depressing if it wasn't so funny. From the start, I should say that this movie is not for people who get easily offended by obscenities. Also, I'm not sure whether the non-Russian-speaking audience will fully enjoy the movie : it depends on how well the dialogues are translated.
----- SPOILER ALERT ----
The storyline loosely follows that of the Wizard of Oz : Dorothy being Lena Shabadinova, a taciturn and somewhat naive girl who arrives in the city of Ekaterinburg from a small village. She's found a job selling cigarettes, alcohol and snacks from a kiosk for 15 000 roubles a month (which is more than twice her salary in the village). Her first shift is due to start on the New Year's eve, except she doesn't know how to find the Torforezov street where the kiosk is situated. On her quest to find it, she goes through a series of awkward, bizarre and dangerous encounters, first with "the Scarecrow" who has no brain, then with "the Tin Woodman" who has no heart (and who accidentally leaves Lena his dog that I'd say is the same breed as Toto), then the Cowardly Lion (who is a progressive but pervy man by night and an oppressed and despised husband by day), and finally a "witch" who is not really evil herself, but has a vicious family. After all the mishaps, Lena doesn't quite say "There's no place like home", but seems determined to return to her village.
Meanwhile, Lena's colleague whom she's supposed to replace at the kiosk (played by Andrey Ilenkov, the co-writer of the script) keeps waiting for her there. He is accompanied by his friend Duke, a dodgy character who looks like he's just returned from prison. The two men drink, engage in comic quasi-philosophical (bordering absurdity) discussions and just pass the time, until Duke descends into delirium and destroys the kiosk.
--- END OF SPOILER ALERT ---
Overall, I'd say the movie is a biting , if somewhat surreal, satire on contemporary Russian society, and will definitely not leave you indifferent.