Compared to the works of Eisenstein and Alexander Dovzhenko, this film will probably seem quite unremarkable to many viewers - if you've watched enough early Hollywood romantic comedies, the characters will be familiar and the plot predictable. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable enough watch set against the beautiful Caspian Sea, with gorgeous cinematography and sound. Recommended for hardcore film buffs but not for the average viewer, who would be better served viewing more well-known Russian classics or early Hollywood screwball comedies.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Son of the White Mare
(1981)
Surprisingly Straight Forward
16 April 2022
Watched this on Blu-ray. It was nice to look at and surprisingly easy to follow. Many older, foreign animated films can get quite complex, which can be a turn-off to some viewers, but this ended up having a simple enough plot and was easy to follow despite the heavy symbolism. In our opinion, this was both a positive and a negative; the opening was beautiful and captivating, but the story was so simple that the film began to feel repetitive despite the short runtime. Nonetheless, this is a movie every true film buff needs to watch. The animation alone deserves significant attention and praise.
The Midnight Sky
(2020)
Boring and Useless
21 June 2021
This was just not good. In a nutshell, the story-telling was poorly executed and the characters were, for the most part, not compelling. Those were really the two main issues and definitely the most important ones that resulted in us not enjoying this film at all. The story truly went nowhere and meant nothing. Were we expecting a masterpiece? No. But we were at the very least expecting to be entertained. If it had provided just that and nothing else, then we could have at least walked away feeling like we got something out of this movie. Instead, we were bored out of our minds by the thirty-minute mark, which is something we don't generally expect from larger budget Hollywood productions. We watch slow movies all the time and enjoy them, but this simply offered nothing. And honestly, we couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the ending, which is just sad. It was clearly meant to be profound and it entirely missed the mark. If you have anything else to watch, we would recommend avoiding this movie. It is unlikely to change your life or even provide an ounce of entertainment.
After the Curfew
(1954)
Rare and Worthwhile
30 March 2021
Found this film at our local library on Blu-ray (recently restored by Criterion, thanks to the brilliant Martin Scorsese). It was enjoyable for the most part, well done, and in general worth a watch if you're looking to expand on the number of foreign films you've see. Moreover, if you're someone who's interested in Indonesian history or just history in general, you also might enjoy this and find it worth your time.
The Headless Woman
(2008)
Fairly Average, Nothing Special
15 February 2021
The plot sounded extremely exciting when we read it, which is why we decided to add this film to our watchlist. However, upon viewing, it just wasn't anything special. Quite average really. Maybe we were expecting a pyschological thriller more like 'The Machinist' but this was completely not that. Hardly psychological and certainly not thrilling. Worth a watch if you have nothing better to do or are running low on movies to watch.
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