Gangleri – filmreviews

It must have been decades since I saw this film, since I didn’t remember much of it. I got a Lynch release of the cleaned up 2000 version and I have no old version to compare, but the sound and visuals are indeed amazing. “Eraserhead” is a truely ‘industrial film’. The soundtrack would in terms of my music reviews section be called “industrial dark ambient” or something, the setting is in some desolate industrial landscape and the pressing atmosphere is amazing. Since this is a Lynch, there is hardly a story and the scenes get weirder and weirder. “Eraserhead” might not be Lynch’s best film, but it is a lot better than I remembered.

So, three weeks ago we paid a shitload of money to get on the Schilthorn. This is one of the higher mountains of Switserland and on top is the famous Piz Gloria turning restaurant. The restaurant owes its fame partially to the fact that a James Bond film was filmed there, so when we came back, my girlfriend ordered this oldie on DVD. I am not much of a Bond fan, but the films are not really boring. OHMSS has a ‘one time Bond’ in George Lazenby, a not too great story, but some nice chasing scenes on ski and bob sledge and of course some lovely ladies. Also it is nice to see some locations where we were recently (besides the Schilthorn, the city of Bern for example). Not such a bad watch, particularly when I think of it that the film is quite a bit older than myself.

Yes I rented this film because of the cover, but seriously, also the description of the film on the back looked interesting. The girl you see on the cover is only in the film for a few minutes when the I-figure perceives absolute beauty (or however it was put exactly). The cover also shows another aspect of the film.
Ben is an art-student who suffers from insomnia since he broke up with his girlfriend. Nights last endless and times seems to slow down beyond belief. When Ben decides that he can also spend his sleepless nights making money, he goes to work nightshifts in a grocery shop. There he meets some weird people with even weirder habbits of killing time. As an artist, Ben sees beauty everywhere and he finds a way to easily make thousands of scetches and paintings. With his own voice as voiceover, Ben comments the whole film and the viewer is granted with magnificent imaginary.
That being the core of the film, I can add that this British film has great and subtle humour about everyday life. The filming is at times hilarious and so are the events that pass the revue.
“Cashback” is a wonderfull film with nice humour, a good look on our empty lifes and all that layered with very fine visuals and even though with a common story, some unexpected scenes.

This film seems to be an incomplete one, apparently it only shows the middle part of a story. We get acquinted with a “domain” with a big wall around it. On this domain are five houses, inhabited by young girls the age of each is represented by the colour of the ribbons in their hair. The ribbons do not just give their age though, they also seem to give the girls rights and duties. The film has a dreamy and mysterious atmosphere and the events that take place are all quite out of the ordinary, which makes you wonder where the girls are exactly, why and what is the purpose of their stay. Some hints are given throughout the film and the last scene seems to give a suggestion, but actually, there are but questions raised and none really answered. “Innocence” appears to be a nice look in the minds of young girls, since the film could represent the way they would say what happens to them. Surely no film with an easy story line, a nice ending that solves all questions, so I suppose it is for arthouse lovers like myself.

This horror opens with a pretty explicit and gruesome torturing scene. After the opening titles it is one year later and three students want to go to Mexico to have some fun before they go to college. The film quickly develops from a thriller, to a pretty dark thriller to of course the horror elements that were announced in the cliffhanger. Not very surprising, but especially in the thriller parts, the pressing atmosphere is well done. As for the gory scenes, I still wonder why every director thinks (s)he has to put it in the films. “Borderland” has its moments, but overall it is not my kind of film.

A British thriller/action film in which a man after coming back from the army, discovers that some small-town local junkies have been making fun with his “mentally challenged” brother. He desides to teach them a lesson.
The film is highly acclaimed, 8 out of 10 on IMdB and a raving Dutch review of the DVD release grumbles over the fact that the film has not been shown in cinemas. Personally, I don’t find the story or acting above average. The “thugs” are funny, the payback is put together nicely, but overall I think this is just a film to watch on TV some time.