AngryOcean Reviews

The Baby of Mâcon (1993)

Is this how man gives birth to art?

[9/10 · 6 November 2021]

In a terrible city full of hunger, disease and other misfortunes, people are unhappy and hungry, children are no longer born, God has taken his eyes off the people living in it. And only a miracle will help them. The birth of beauty from an ugly womb is something that people don't expect at all. They don't believe; they condemn and distort the truth as a result of creating a very bizarre picture of reality. But still, here he is, a beautiful child, glowing with grace. He is a new savior, a prophet. The child is presented with the most beautiful and expensive clothes, he is dressed in his glory. Things and their incredible cost are listed. But here is a rosary of glass, just glass. Human life is expensive, but easily devalued. Spiritual value is instantly replaced by material value: incredible gifts are asked for receiving a blessing from a child. And the lives of those who are unable to bring such a gift are disposed of right there. Life is a gift too, isn't it?

Everything ugly, scary, is closed from the greedy eyes of those who are at the top of the world - next to a wonderful child. The human body is as nasty as human nature. The church ridicules it, the church itself is also ridiculed: a cardinal cow appears in the frame! See how important he is in his position! But here we also see a seed of truth - a human priest who has doubts about the cause of universal joy. The child brought a natural and human harvest to the terrible city. But is it a child? However, everyone wants to get a piece of the miracle for themselves. Holy relics of the living - an auction of body fluids for the spirit of people. Here He is - their salvation is eternal and light, endless, mortal. And now, at the height of happiness mortem tuam annuntiamus, Domine. Beautiful clothes are dismantled, again listing them, but now each of them is equal in value. No clothes left? Hoc est enim corpus meum! And there was no child left.

But who brought him into this world? Where is your mother? Isn't that Maria? Volcanoes of lies and sorrow burst from under the cover of happiness. Now people see: lust, greed, fear, envy, lies! They want to punish, kill lies! But they don't have the power - the lie is strong. And then they come up with a solution to the problem: violence over violence. False Maria dies in suffering, not having lived to the planned execution. Disappointment is seen on the faces of the people. Pity.

The film is amazing in its detail, beauty, absurdity, and ridicule of the church of the dark times. But is it only the dark ones? Great music and vocals are reminiscent of the very music of heaven. Eternal Liturgy. The theater stage is the center of the action. Richly dressed and well-fed people are watching the tragedy of a wonderful child. These same people also address the viewer. Cinema on stage, in the theater hall, around a real spectator. But are you sure that you are the real spectator here?

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Sir Falsegod's world

[9/10 · 6 November 2021]

From the rotten streets where dogs fight for raw meat, we find ourselves in a magnificent and somewhat mysterious world - to the kitchen of the best restaurant in the city, and then to the restaurant itself. On this path we meet a man punished for some sins; a boy singing lines of psalm 51; an unhappy woman and a kind cook - the master of the kitchen. But after all, we are in the restaurant! Therefore, let's forget all the bad things and enjoy the evening! The first day. A company sits at a large table, led by an obese man, intercepting any initiative of any of his interlocutors, becoming a little more noticeable than himself. Around the festival of light, glorifying food and the main God-man at this festival of life. But beware of his anger, for then you will have to make a sacrifice that this God doesn't want at all.

And there was evening and there was morning - the second day. This is where the vault of the film is created, its main problem. Sacred separation of one from the other: here is a good, here is a bad. Good people, good food; bad people, bad food. The viewer is reaching out to the good, but there is a chain around his neck, which is firmly held by the hand of the bad. Remember your place! God is always looking at you! But this God is blind in his splendor. He plays with food while others play with life. But everything is suffering, for sin has already been committed, even though the world has not yet been fully created.

Three four five! - the orchestra in rhythm with the clatter of a knife. Time is compressed, events are rolling down on us like balls of fire: here are creatures of the sea, creatures of the land and vegetation on one plate; here are the light of the vault of the sky expressed in two lives invisible to God; here are fish, reptiles, and birds, gliding in the space of a magnificent kitchen. But God received his sight, and he did not like what he saw. He threatens to find, kill, and eat the one to blame for the rupture of his beautiful world, full of happiness, music and his superiority over other creatures.

It's time to hold the execution! To show how bad everything good is, what the viewer sympathizes with, how good and fair everything bad is. And there was evening and there was morning - the sixth day. God kills with a grin on his face. But is he... afraid? Afraid of whom? There's no-one to scare him. After all, it was he who created and fastened with nails his well-fed world. We don't see this, but nails are surely driven into the bodies of people who make up this strong and at the same time shaky structure of the world. God is dissatisfied, God demands sacrifices, and he received the sacrifice now and will receive it on the day of resting from all the work that he did.

Seventh day. The restaurant is closed to visitors. Welcome, God, who stole the happiness of life from everyone. People are dissatisfied, people stand against God, behind whose back there are only two people. And then they brought the calf that he had killed on his altar. But not to appease God, but to end his existence. The sacrifices of true God are a broken spirit and a broken heart, but not a calf. God-man is also not happy with such a sacrifice, but he must accept it. Accept the sacrifice and then accept the death.

Greenway draws us into the tense atmosphere of world creation in a restaurant kitchen through the sine wave of music and words. The rhythm devours the viewer. The abrupt change of light from red to white and from white to red throughout the film is in consonance with the sound range of the picture. Psalm 51 that sounds throughout the entire scene reminds of the desire to be clean. "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow," but it brings us back from the joy of the feast to poisonous sin. The Gog-man desires a decent, clean life, but achieves only its likeness by carrying on his back two trucks with rotten food to stifle any other manifestations of purity except for the one he desires himself. Only in his restaurant is the best food, only he achieves righteousness, but only he knows what's behind it. And that one day they'll bring him a bill. Until then, enjoy your dinner, Sir Falsegod. Bon appetite!

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The personality of private investigator in a film noir

[7/10 · 6 November 2021]

We are expecting a sufficiently quick immersion into the atmosphere of the film. The eventful first minutes entangle us with lies in such a way that it becomes quite difficult to recognize the truth in this film. And if the truth is still there, when will we see it? Impatience increases and falls. Behind every scene, the truth seems to be hiding and now it is already close, but no, it was a lie again. Or is there still a spoonful of honey in this barrel of tar-and-lies?

The main hero is a private investigator working in a bureau, whose space he shares with a colleague and a secretary. From the first shots, he appears to us as a man, courteous, kind, confident in his superiority over others. And, although this confidence sometimes seems put on, he still holds fast to this particular trait of his character. He easily recognizes lies and always seems to know what to do. Even the death of a colleague at the very beginning of the picture doesn't have much effect on him, at least the viewer doesn't see this and can only guess what is in the head of this cunning man. It's worth paying special attention to cunning - a quality necessary for an investigator. But there's no good cunning without a fair share of imagination and memory. The character is skeptical of everything that he manages to see and remember. His imagination branches into several supposed situations, which, in turn, tries to represent the mind of the viewer. Sometimes fatigue is visible in him. Pity for those who, as he believes, are victims of circumstances. But he never tires of reminding us of his superiority, giving preference to rational feelings: curiosity is above regret; long-term joy is above momentary impulses; self-interest is above justice, but justice is above love. Having all the listed features, his personality is an ideal tool for investigating crimes. But still, it remains very clear that he is just a very lucky person. And no matter how much the viewer sympathizes with the one who should embody justice and the law, this investigator is too conceited of his own wit. Being at the peak of emotional superiority, when a good set of cards turns out to be in his hands, he runs away from disappointment with a bad set, showing that he is completely untouched by failures.

He easily switches from neglecting the people around him to carefully heeding their thoughts. It's necessary to highlight the extraordinary sociability of this hero and a fairly large number of connections, which, of course, is necessary for a private investigator. Traits that cause disgust based on how we are reminded again and again of his attitude towards all these people. They are valuable to him, but still neglect prevails here. In turn, some people really appreciate him, others lie to him to pretend to be the first. A person who is constantly in such conditions is forced to live in a lie, no matter what kind of anxiety lies bring. But it seems that the investigator enjoys such a life, he always knows the truth. He is there, and here, and his attention bites into the world around him, sometimes ignoring parts of the world that are not worth it at all, which he does not tire of reminding them about. As a result, the sympathy nurtured from the very beginning of the film falls apart by the end. Now the sympathy belongs to the other characters of the picture, and the investigator becomes visible through and turns out to be not a very pleasant person.

The personality of the main hero undoubtedly leaves an imprint on the course of the film, which is quite natural. Flirting with a viewer waiting for a solution, but never getting the desired outcome - admiration, ending in neglect. The expected spoonful of honey dissolves in the water of reality, leaving the rest of the film's characters and the viewer alone with their existence, sweetened with honey water, but not honey.

The Reflecting Skin (1990)

Dirt sticks to the skin gradually

[6/10 · 7 October 2021]

I would like to start with the color gamut of the film. Dirty, muted colors: yellow, green, black. The first scene, the scene with the inflating of the frog, like the first brush stroke on the canvas and this stroke is a great feeling of joy, anticipation of adventure, but contaminated with pity for the frog, which three boys inflated and blew up in front of a woman whose clothes and skin were stained with blood because of it. This is the third dirt. A third layer of dirt, if you like. Dirt sticks to the skin gradually. At the end of this scene, sympathy for the woman is visible on the face of the main boy, but he rather quickly stops looking at the woman and runs away. The boy seems to be throwing something bright from his face and again covered with dirt of a small, insignificant death, but growing throughout the film.

The people of the little protagonist's family look emaciated and drained. The mother is unhappy with life, she hates reality, she expects the eldest son to return from the war. Looking forward to the return of a better life. The father reads a book about vampires and asks his son to bring water. Two times, one dialogue template. Thirst for water, thirst for blood. The frames of this family reminded me of Grant Wood's American Gothic. But the picture is order, life; frames are chaos, death. A clean black car rushes into the incessant alarm of reality, like Langorier. Why is it so clean when it was driving along a dusty road among yellow, thorny fields of rye? And here we have before us the first victim of the growing death - a man, the father of a family. Longing for the dead seems artificial and therefore frightening. The protagonist sees some kind of game in this: the vampire killed his father. There are a lot of animal bones, machine bones in the frame. And death, again. It seems that something is lurking there, in the corner of the frame, but you cannot see, you cannot notice. Two identical women with a dead seagull in their hands are teasing - come on, you can look behind the frame, you can see! But they slip away just like the mystery.

Returning to the colors, they become highly saturated and evoke some feeling of horror of noon. The eldest son returns home, but the mother's life is not getting better. The eldest son glitters among the dirt and dust of the fields. He falls in love with a woman who lives next door. But there is anxiety and fear all around. We hear him describe the war he saw. Bright, bright light. Probably a nuclear bomb. The light in the frame is like the light of the bomb. Is this man dying too? We can only speculate. But we know for sure that Langorier came for a new death. The light of the sun dazzles, the yell of pain is deafening, and the last frame plunges us into the blackness of despair and incessant grief.