Gangleri – filmreviews

For some reaon I keep taking out biographical films about artists. This is not consciously and I should pay more attention while choosing, because these films are not the most interesting! “Eisenstein” is about the Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein who was regarded a gifted filmmaker by the authorities after the Russian revolution. For this reason he had relatively much freedom under the regime and he even got to travel Europe and North and South America at state costs. Since he kept having critical views on the regime, his luck didn’t last.
“Eisenstein” is an alright film, based on the life of the director. It shows the early days of filmmaking, particularly in Russia and gives an idea of life in those days. The film is surely not bad or boring, but like I seem to keep saying in this section, it is alright to see on TV some time, but for the rest…?
-2-

Older than I expected, this drama about illegal immigrants in London. The Turkish Senay (Audrey Tatou) and the Nigerian Okwe are hunted by the immigration services while trying to build up a life in London. The two know eachother from a hotel they work in, which offers some shady services to their customers. Not a bad drama that you perhaps can watch on TV some time, but I wouldn’t really advice to buy or rent it or you should be a big fan of Tatou’s lovely appearance of course.
-2-

“Factotum” is a wonderfull film “about nothing”. Henry Chinaski is a poetic alcoholic and a writer. Since his art isn’t appreciated, he has several jobs during the film trying to make a living. Just as he hops jobs, he hops women, all of them good looking and a little thrashy. There is not much to this film, it is just Chinaski getting fired again, then drunk (or the other way around), hooking up with another woman and that for a few times. Still the film is highly amusing with great dialogues, monologues and situations and a razor-sharp view on current society. Very amusing!
-3.5-

It is not just horror that comes from Japan of course. Here we have a rather standard drama about the son of a jazz musician who gave him an American name. A loner, Tony in the end falls in love with a much younger woman and after many years they get married. Just when Tony gets used to being married to a woman who is his complete opposite in many ways he finds himself alone again, trying to substitude the loss. The story is quite original and (at least to me) shows the dawnfall/Westernisation of Japanese culture; for the rest the film is quite standard.
-1.5-

“Destricted” consists of seven short films that supposedly hold the middle between arthouse and pornography. This description may be applied to two or three of the films, but not to the rest. I had noticed the film at the rental, but put it back every time until the last. The box has some nice images, the idea could interesting, something different from those boring ‘right-on’ films, but would it really work? Well, there is a film about a man with a machine fetish, which is interesting from a cinematographic viewpoint. Also there is very fast compilation of images accompanied with fast drumming music. A weird pulsating film with very busy filming and montage that shows a man’s weird sexual preference and now and then a very nice girl. All alright, but nothing too interesting. Worse than that are downright pornos or a simple film of a man masturbating in the desert. Actually there is only one film that I found interesting both as a film and for the content. It is called “Balkan Erotic Epic” (by Marina Abramovic) which is presented as some sort of documentary about some very strange Baltic erotic folklore habbits (no idea if they are factual). The film has very bright colours, nice settings and a lot of humour. Another documentary contains interviews with young men who grew up with pornography (because their parents posess films or because they started watching the films with friends at an early age) and in the end, one is picked out to choose an actress to do something with which he wanted to try. Perhaps this one is interesting for sociologists and it shows a few things around the whole subject, but like almost any other of the films, it is just of a minor level and not too good a watch. Not knowing what to expect, the project still disappointed me. I don’t know for what audience the film is, since some films are too explicit for an arthouse audience and most others are not straight forward’ enough for people who enjoy the other genre. I will leave it to you if you are interested enough to go and see it. With seven very different films, there could also for you be one that is enjoyable.
-2-

A completely different film than “24 Hour Party People” which is from the same director. In the (near) future people live in cities and outcasts live “outside”. People have to have “warrants” for everything and there are forgeries going around. William is sent to Shanghai to investigate the fraud and falls in love with his suspect which eventually leads into problems with the totalitarian system that society is made off in those days. The red line of the film isn’t even that bad, the film itself is alright; it has a good atmosphere and the acting is fine. Irritating are the passionate love-scenes-with-close-on and the completely forced “future feeling” that supposedly should be made with throwing different languages through eachother. “Code 46″ is alright to watch on tv on an evening that you have nothing to do, but there are better films to see.
-2-

Hm, two not too great choices for this weekend I’m afraid. I wonder why I “Brick” was in the arthouse section. It is a detective/thriller about somebody who wants to help his ex-girlfriend and starts poking in the world of heavy drug criminality loosing the girl in the process. “Brick” has an alright story line and well built-up tension, but arthouse…? What is a big bummer too is that it plays on a highschool and all characters are teenagers. The “hero”, his girlfriends, the “muscles” all the way up to the almighty drug baron who runs his empire from his mother’s basement. The capital crime is telling the school director about the drug involvements of a class-mate, yet the high-drug-cheeses fear no tortures or executions. Not very credible. “Brick” might have been an alright crime film for a drowsy tv evening, had the setting been a more logical one. As of now I can only conclude that the film itself is just above medium level, but the highschool setting makes me give a lower rating.
-2-

“Pollock” is a biographical film (I suppose) of the American modern art painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956). He is portrayed as an active painter who only later in his life reaches recognition and becomes the American modern painter. Ed Harris takes much care in shooting how Pollock created his paintings and the development of his style. Also you get a good insight in the troubled person of Pollock himself. “Pollock” comes in the line of many other films about artists which are usually not too great and the same goes for this film.
-2-