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Il capitale umano (2013)
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
When it comes to go to the cinema I am always hesitant, I prefer to go on my own and I am OCD about the location, the seat and the quality of the projection. Anyway there still is a bunch of directors who is able to drag me to an actual cinema and Paolo Virzì will always be a member of this inner circle. The Human Capital based on an American book and transposed into a chilly Lombardy. Two families the first bourgeois and the latter loaded raiding the present economy are linked by their teenager children and by a terrible accident that could change their life. The film is split in four chapter (three named after the lead character and the fourth which is recapitulatory and conclusive), and this narrative technique is old and overindulged, but I understand the choice made in order to play up the thriller side of the film. As for the "something new", I loved this new setting, Virzì for his first time has gone north exploring the phony world of private school, party and high finance, avoiding triteness with his choice to shoot in Brianza. An honourable mention goes to the cast and especially to Gifuni, Bentivoglio and Bruni Tedeschi. Here we come to "Something borrowed", without being pedantic Virzì draws fully from the experience of Elio Petri(Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), Luchino Visconti(Conversation Piece, The Damned) and Tonino Cervi(Portrait of a Bourgeois in Black) without forgetting his origins as a comedy writer interested mostly by the south side of Italy ( Ferie d'Agosto, Ovosodo etc...). And finally "something blue", looking back to Virzì's previous production the depression has always been a main theme. In the Human Capital Valeria Bruni Tedeschi is clearly clinically depressed, she lives in a golden cage, killing her time in futile occupation to fulfill her substantial lack of joy, with her big blue eyes and her hoarse voice Bruni Tedeschi really nailed her role, and spiced up a film which wasn't able to totally get me but I still cannot define a bad film.
Plush (2013)
No, no, no, and no again.
Someone must have the bravery to put down a couple of lines about this film, I'll sacrifice myself. A couple of hours ago I run into Plush, I've seen the trailer, and it looked alright, I've checked the director, and I just flicked Lords of Dogtown, so I went ahead unaware of how many films Hardwicke screwed up in the last 8 years or so. Plush is about a young rock star wretched for the lost of her beloved brother; insecure about her talent, she seeks comfort in her new guitarist,Enzo, whom seems nice, just a little weird he's going to turn eventually in the obsessed kind of lad... His rebus dictis, here we come to the sore point: this film is trite-fair, just a bunch of cliché about showbiz, bisexuality, daddy issues, Oedipus complex, being a nobody-gets-me artist, sex, drugs and so on. Samuel and Browning seemed to try hard but their efforts was cut short by the nonsense and the absurdity of the script, and that's a pity, because Samuel was really good as Ian from Adore and Browning knows how to get her job done. Photography wasn't that bad for at least 40 minutes, but when the film turns out to be a thriller or sort of, everything starts to sink.Even the music was annoying. The director puzzled me with nonsense addiction of black and white footage,predictable camera moves, some shabby light filter. Properly cut and edited,this film could have been a really good video for MTV, but nothing more.
Only God Forgives (2013)
Neon lights on lucid tiles: solving the mystery behind Only God Forgives
In may Only God Forgives was premiered at Cannes. Critics appeared to be torn, someone claimed the film to be a masterpiece, the majority decided to put themselves on the slippery slope making comparison with Drive and Bronson. Only God Forgive is about revenge, family loops, jealousy, violence and somehow also about love and takes place in Thailand. I truly believe this is a pretty good film, cinematography is gorgeous maybe the best of 2013 till now, I loved the strong colour blast of neon pink and neon blue cyan, and the way modern lightning was combined with Chinese lanterns. Every scene seemed to be pinpointing thought. The editing was pure poetry. Costumes were great. And Scott-Thomas's performance deserves the Academy nomination for sure. Not to mention the amazing soundtrack, maybe bold but really brave. And here we are to Gosling's acting. His performance is shallow, Ryan dreams and Ryan wants to fight, exactly the same face, he even avoided to blink, until his beaten up eye forced him to wink till the end of the film. I think Julian could have been a great character but Gosling just can't nail it, hoping he will have better luck with his directing experience. Refn confirms himself as a top director with the special gift to explore violence as a state of mind, avoiding rhetorical questions he's able to land to the highest peak of poetry and the lowest ruin of disturbing human behaviour.
Pieta (2012)
Great expectation leads to great delusion
Essentially I'm a great fan of Kim Ki-duk since I was fifteen and a teacher brought my literature class to see Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring, so when he won the golden lion in Venice I was really excited that finally this great film-maker earned the praise he deserves from the western world. Unfortunately in my humble opinion he earned it with the wrong film. Pietà is shallow, weak, the cinematography is awful and annoyed me a lot. This film tries hard being something new compared to the previous production of Kim Ki-duk but misses unbelievably the spot. It's predictable, prosaic, and it owns Park Chan-wook too much without being able to reach his poetic peaks; the squalor, the violence are faked and almost for their own sake. The major twist is clear from the beginning and the entire script could have been handled in a better way. Jeong-jin Lee (Gang-do) had one facial expression all film long, he looked like someone injected him with botox few minutes before the shoot. Min-so Jo struggled to make some efforts but unfortunately the Italian dubbing killed her performance for good (by the way dubbing is going to kill me too). This film is overrated, plagiarized and also boring. Don't waste your time : choose to watch and prepare yourself to love instead one of the great works of Master Kim such as 3-IRON, The Bow, or the Samaritan.