Gangleri – filmreviews

I accidentally ran into a cult classic! I am reading a book with texts of John Dee (reviewed soon) and the compiler in passing mentioned that Dee is portrayed in this film. My regular rental proved to have this oldie. The box announces it as “Brittains first punk film”. That is nothing like the Medieval setting that I expected! That is to say, “Jubilee” opens with the historically incorrect scene in which John Dee and queen Elizabeth I conjur angel Ariel who shows them a glimpse of the future. This future is some sort of punk version of “A Clockwork Orange”. With weird music (punk opera?) and strange characters, Jarman obviously tried to push the limits of the permissible in his days. Nudity, sex, strong language and useless violence are the elements that make up the story. Some other controversies are added. Overall, “Jubilee” strongly reminds of “A Clockwork Orange”, but then with a punk(-like) attitude.

So what is the fuss around this film? Even though I had but little expectations for it, I was still disappointed. There is a thin story about a couple who loose their son and all the sudden the woman is afraid of Satan and the grass, oh wait, she already was before. The dialogues are dull and in bad English and the scene is not more shocking than an exploding head in a zombie-film. I think I missed something? So is “Antichrist” an awfull film? That would go too far, since Von Trier presents beautiful images, dark Lynchian scenes and a few interesting filmographic experiments. Personally I think that is all that is to it though.

Apparently I missed a Jeunet, his forlast one. “A Very Long Engagement” is not an absurd comedy such as his last film. In fact, it is mostly a drama, but with a few of the typical Jeunet weird humorous elements. Also there is this slightly surreastic atmosphere, just as in “Amélie”. Of course the presence of Audrey Tatou as main character adds to the comparison with Jeunet’s previous film. Mathilde either or not lost her fiancee in Word War I and she starts looking for him. “Un Long Dimanche…” has a lot of war-scenes, dreamy Jeunet-scenes of Mathilde’s time and a stack of actors that Jeunet always seems to call when he wants to make a film. Recognisable but different, “Un Long Dimanche…” is a very good film with great camera-work and colours, subtle humour and great findings in the story-line.

Charlie is one of the Kaufman brothers who write these highly original and very strange filmscripts (think of “Adaptation” or “Being John Malkovich”). Both also direct films themselves, that is to say, so far this is Charlie’s only film. “Synecdoche, New York” is not as strange as the two mentioned films, but Kaufman definately came up with another set of briliant filmographic findings. We follow Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hofman), an innovatory theatre director. His personal life does not entirely go as he wishes and life and his plays start to run through eachother. Kaufman did much better than the currently popular ‘what is true, what is not’ films, but as the film continues the number of characters becomes confusing, especially because there are chronological leaps. This does not take down the film though, the viewer just has to keep attention. The atmosphere of the film is quite depressive, following its main character. There are a few laughs here and there, but overall this film will not make you feel better. Summerising I can say that “Synecdoche” is an original film, quite good too, but not great.

Just over a week ago I saw a preview of this film in a New York cinema. Excited by the idea to see a Jeunet on the big screen we now pull a DVD off the rental shelve. So far the happy prospect…
Jeunet created another weird film with absurd characters and situations and great findings, but the setting is more realistic (relatively of course) as in “Delicatessen” or “City Of Lost Children”. An employer of a videostore’s life goes down when he accidentally gets a bullit in his head. With the help of new found friends he decides to take revenge on the owner of the factory of that bullit. If you saw a Jeunet film before, you will understand that this thin plot will be worked out into all kinds of crazy extremes. “Micmacs” is good and funny, but does not reach the level of the previously mentioned masterpieces. Still a much better comedy than the usual Hollywood stuff though and if you like Jeunet’s film, I suggest you just see this one too. Not as sweet as “Amélie”, not as dark as “Delicatessen”, Jeunet somewhere in between.

The “coming of age” phase of life has always been a popular subject for arthouse filmdirectors. In “Glue” we follow the adolescent Argentinian friends Lucas and Nacho during summer. We hear the hormones-filled thoughts of Lucas, see how Lucas and his friend pass their time and seek advance to girls. In the end, both boys find but one girl for their experiments. Nothing much really happens, I wonder why this film is rated 16+ or it should be because Lucas’ solo actions and the boys misuse of Lucas’ father’s glue. In any case, “Glue” is but anther arthouse film. Not bad, not really special either.

I have seen this film before, but that is possible since it is over a decade old. “Gummo” is a rather experimental film for its time. It is about the inhabitants of a small town that suffered a tornado. “Gummo” is brought a bit as a documentary and shows people who have nothing to do but to kill cats and have bad-mouth conversations about trivial subjects. Korine shows the low-life in their hard lifes resulting in humorous and provocative language and images and in an experimental filming style. The result is a very amusing film.

“Small Gods” is a nice, Flemish Dutch spoken, independant film from our Southern neighbours. A young woman is kidnapped from a hospital by a young man who takes her somewhere in a camper. The film is a slow and mysterious roadmovie in which little is said. Along the way another young woman is picked up and as the film develops, conversations and situations during the trip and Elena’s of the events to her lawyer, draw and faint picture of what is going on. Some questions are left unanswered. The film is quite minimalistic, has a few nice experimental scenes and a good, strange atmosphere. Also the story is descent, but unfortunately the acting is a bit poor. Overall “Small Gods” is definately worth watching if you like the stranger kind of film and since it is only Karakatsanis’ second film, I am curious for possible future productions.

Even though German, this film seems to go under a Dutch title. Wyss’ debut is almost completely without talking and is a very slow and minimalistic film with a lot of focus on the visuals. Somewhere high up a snowy mountain in a tiny community lives a devoutly Catholic family with four daughters. We follow the daily pattern of the family, but the community seems to have a ‘dark’ underbelly in what appears to be an ancient men-bond. If that was meant to be such, Wyss portrays two conservative sides of a distant community. In any case, great imaginary of snowy landscapes, some darker scenes and a descent soundtrack make Wyss’ short debut (70 min) a very nice film. I do not think “Winterstilte” will be for anyone, but if you like minimalistic films without much story, you might want to see it.

“Perfect Life” is a highly acclaimed, but nothing special Chinese arthouse drama. We follow two women in the hard daily life in China. We travel from the backstreets of some small town to the main streets of flashy Hong Kong and witness the contrast between traditional Chinese living and a more modern, Western one. “Perfect Life” is quite a sad film and like I said, a too typical arthouse film.