marac Reviews

La Jetée (1962)

Watch "12 Monkeys" instead

[5/10 · 5 January 2017]

This is basically a slideshow with off-screen commentary, disguised as a movie. The story is based on one great, ingenious idea, which has been unfortunately buried under its tedious form. Fortunately almost 30 years later this idea has been resurrected by Terry Gilliam, who filmed the same story in a brilliant movie called "12 Monkeys".

I strongly discourage you from watching this short film, if you haven't seen "12 Monkeys" yet. This is the same story and "12 Monkeys" is much much better movie. The plot of both films contains one very powerful suspense, so the film seen as the second one would not have the impact it should have had. Trust me - you don't want to ruin your experience of watching "12 Monkeys" without any knowledge of the plot.

I added 4 stars to my rating just for the said ingenious idea. Otherwise, I would give only 1 star, because for me this "film" is just a failed experiment on the verge of watchability.

Las letras (2015)

Disgusting impudence

[2/10 · 30 November 2016]

Watching this movie was one of the most disturbing experiences I had recently. Not because of what I saw on screen, but because of what I did not see.

All descriptions of this movie that you can find online, tell you that this film is a documentary, supposedly telling the haunting story of a man who was randomly pointed out by corrupt authorities as guilty of killing some policemen and sentenced to 60 years in prison. The title "The Letters" refers to the letters he wrote from behind bars.

It is true that from time to time we hear some letter-fragments read to us by a narrator. But except from these random fragments, which would be completely meaningless for someone, who did not read the description beforehand, we learn nothing of the actual story. Instead, the film-makers feed us with long random shots of landscape, people staring pointlessly at the horizon, children wandering aimlessly here and there and so on. Instead of any commentary, we hear disturbing experimental music, which is actually the only good element of this movie, albeit only adding insult to the injury.

I understand that somebody may have a sick predilection for "arthousy" pretentious film-making. I really do. There are worse deviations in this world.

But using a real-world tragedy of an innocent imprisoned man as a mere excuse for making an 80-minute long random mix of prolonged camera shots, is a shame...

Everything we learn about the subject of this self-claimed "documentary" is from reading the description. Nothing in the movie itself directs the viewer to the point of these letter-fragments that are read from time to time or shots of bodies on the road.

In my humble opinion, the director of this movie deserves a strong kick in the butt for this cinematic insult. A really strong kick. Maybe next time he would use his brain before he feeds on some other tragedy as an - in his own eyes perfect - pretext for another piece of self-absorbed film-making diarrhea.

Unless the film-makers have nothing to do with these surrealistic descriptions of this movie, and as long the said descriptions have been planted by some wicked enemy of theirs. And these letter-fragments are fictitious and their movie does not pretend to be a documentary at all. In that case my sincere apologies and condolences.

As you can see, I rated this movie 2 out of 10 and such is my loathing for it that I feel the need to explain myself. These two points are for the already mentioned very good music and for clever editing. If not for these elements, I would rate it 0/10.

On a final note... I have seen recently another Mexican film called "Tempestad" by Tatiana Huezo. Go watch it, if you haven't seen it. This is a real documentary on tragedies of common people in Mexico. It is filmed and composed in a slightly similar manner, but at the same time it actually tells the stories that are there to be told and treats its subjects with respect, not as a pretext for a pointless poor-man's art-house movie exercise.

Going Places (1974)

I felt like throwing up

[1/10 · 19 March 2015]

Pathetic. Repulsive. Stupid. Worthless. Pointless. It filled me with a strong urge for pissing on the director and defecating on the script writer. And no, I'm not particularly proud of that feeling.

This is a movie for people who find pleasure in watching women getting beaten and raped, breast-feeding mothers getting molested, 16-year old girls getting their virginity taken and women's vaginas and underwear getting sniffed. And the perpetrators getting away with all of that with a flamboyant charm and not a trace of reflection.

Oh, did I mention people keen on watching suicides committed by pistol shots to the vaginas? Yes, this is a movie for you, guys. Bon appétit.

Yes, I have seen a lot of movies, where even more distasteful things were shown. But those movies had actual plots. They were filmed to tell some story or to send some message. Showing those awful things had some purpose. The purpose other than filming sick fantasies of the perverted script writer.

I believe this was the most disgusting movie I have ever seen. I'd like to warn especially those people that are now thinking "Great, I love disgusting things, I love shocking value, I love Tarantino - this is a movie for me". Trust me - it is not. I was thinking the same and now I'm filled with disgust. I'm disgusted with the creators of this turd, I'm disgusted with people that praise this movie but also I'm disgusted with myself - for not being able to predict how terrible it is and for wasting two hours watching it till the end. Don't duplicate my mistake.

Halmae ggoch (2007)

A touching documentary

[7/10 · 17 November 2014]

A young South Korean filmmaker (Jeong-hyun Mun) decides to make a documentary about the history of his family, talked into it by his mother. Soon he learns that he did not know much about it and the wounds inflicted upon society by the Korean war are deeper than it seems.

Ideological dispute between communism and capitalism turned into a bloody civil war, in which not only a neighbor fought against a neighbor, but the clash of ideas could have a tragic ending even within the same family. When the young filmmaker starts to explore the subject deeper, he learns that the divisions are still in place and people with leftist beliefs did not abandon them in spite of fear of North's aggression, laws of public security and widespread state indoctrination. They can even cheer on North Korean nuclear tests, because they are proud that "our people showed those damn imperialists!"

The story presented in this documentary unfolds rather slowly and can be a little tiring at first, but as Mr. Mun uncovers next layers of the long-standing conflicts, traumas and frustrations, we are driven more and more into the narrative and in the end no one should be left indifferent to it. Especially people blinded by the urge of condemning others for sins of the past should be forced to watch this great documentary. It shows vividly that in ideological disputes everyone has his own truth and the world is not so black-and-white, as some people would like it to be. And the pursuit of justice by the victims after many decades would not bring any good to anyone. Even to those taking revenge.

My rating: 7/10

Istoria 52 (2008)

Form over substance

[2/10 · 14 November 2014]

This thriller seriously suffers from the illness that could be summed up as "form over substance". Until the very end we do not know which events are real and which happen only in imagination of the protagonist. It doesn't really matter anyway, because this story - which could be easily summarized in no more than three sentences - is not absorbing, leaving audience uninterested in developments of the plot. One watches consecutive versions of this simple story with growing fatigue, the more so the ending of the movie can be predicted long before the obvious finale.

To sum up, "Tale 52" is boring for a thriller and too simplistic to be treated as a study of insanity. You will make better use of your time if you watch "Lost Highway" by David Lynch instead - the movie that is formally similar, but much much better.

My rating: 2/10

Kinnunen (2007 TV Movie)

Matrimonial comedy

[9/10 · 4 November 2014]

Amazing adventures of a Finn in Estonia. A Finn in search of wife. However, instead of a Finn, the filmmakers could have as well portrayed a green alien. Because behavior of the main character only remotely resembles behavior of a typical member of a human race. And that is my main problem with this very funny and cheerful comedy. The director unfortunately failed in his attempt to convincingly show why women (and particularly one of them) are attracted to this human alien, a loser completely devoid of charisma and charm, who would better fit playing anti-love interest. That is, however, only a small detail, which does not significantly ruin the positive perception of the movie. The movie that is full of optimism and unpretentious humor. Every beast may find its beauty - one could sum it up. It only takes a trip to Estonia.

A small disclaimer - when you read "very funny", you should think of Jim Jamrusch, not Jim Carrey.

My rating: 9/10

Full Battle Rattle (2008)

War games like you have never seen before

[7/10 · 3 November 2014]

In an artificial Iraqi village, built by the US Army in California's Mojave Desert, soldiers are training before being sent to Iraq. They are playing war games intended to simulate situations that may happen to them in real life in the war-ridden country. In scenarios prepared by trainers villagers are played by real Iraqi immigrants. It turns out that scripted role-playing in an artificial environment can trigger some real emotions.

At least these are the expectations that the makers of this movie try to induce in audience to encourage them to watch it. Yet the story unfolds very slowly and does not reveal any surprising concealed meanings. Don't get me wrong - this story is interesting, it is filmed professionally and it is fun to watch. But if one counts on discovering something that was hidden before the eyes, thinks he will be deeply moved by the unraveled behind-the-scenes mysteries or be left pondering over the shown inconvenient or previously unsaid facts - he will probably be disappointed. Unless he can be satisfied by the "touching", typically American ending, in which we wave good-bye to these brave young boys leaving country to die on the foreign soil.

Despite these complaints, I recommend watching this film, because this is quite an interesting picture, showing unknown to the public and unconventional way of training of the contemporary US Army. The movie succeeds in keeping ones attention and some scenes, often very funny, stay in memory for long. Just don't expect to see what the filmmakers are promising - "a full of sarcasm allegory of the war in Iraq". This documentary is straightforward to the bone.

My rating: 7/10

14 kilómetros (2007)

Partly horror, partly fairytale

[9/10 · 31 October 2014]

"14 kilometers" is a touching movie depicting hardships and sacrifices that Africans are willing to take to fulfill their dreams of a better life across the Mediterranean. The story is full of miraculous coincidences, but on the other hand, isn't it true that one needs to have outstanding luck for such undertaking to succeed? Spain lies only 14 kilometers away from Africa, but crossing this distance is more difficult for Africans than for Europeans to cross the globe.

This movie is the second feature film of the Spanish director Gerardo Olivares. The three main characters are played by teenage amateur actors and either they are very talented or they were masterfully led by the director, because there are no false notes in their acting.

The movie shows adventures of Violeta, a teenage girl from Mali, who runs away to avoid being married to a lustful old man. Another character, Buba, is a talented football player, whose talent is wasted in his native Niger, so he sets off for Europe with his brother, who probably dreams of becoming his manager.

Of course, it is easy to complain about the movie's theme - maybe instead of trying so desperately to get to rich and prosperous Europe, people of Africa could try to change their native countries, so they become good places to live in? Because it is not like Africa is a doomed continent, in which civilized way of life is impossible to implement. It would be possible. The problem with that lies in minds of its citizens, who in their mass - as societies - have not measured up to civilized life. But this is not a documentary movie about problems of post-colonial Third World, so for me that complaint does not lower the rating of this picture. Africans migrate to Europe and that is a fact - the film shows how this migration looks like. No less and no more.

As I already mentioned, the storyline is not free from some oversimplifications and wishful thinking. It adds a little unpleasant dissonance to this - mainly tragic - plot. If the director wanted to shock the audience, suggesting that he is picturing a fictionalized story, which might have happened in real life, he should not in a moment introduce deus ex machina resolutions, because all the meticulously built realism will go astray. Or maybe I am a little bit exaggerating - and definitely this issue does not significantly alter the tone of the film, which remains a strong illustration of the modern Migration of Peoples. Despite these minor flaws I highly recommend this movie. As a bonus, you can watch amazing landscapes of exotic Africa.

Maya the Bee Movie (2014)

Great movie for preschoolers

[10/10 · 31 October 2014]

No violence whatsoever, an uplifting message (hatred comes from fear and fear comes from lack of understanding), an intelligent story, beautiful pictures and animation, humor adjusted to the level of small kids. I found not a single flaw in this movie. My 3 and a half year old daughter was delighted.

Of course, and this results from the above, adults should prepare themselves for an hour and a half nap. This is not "Shrek", people. But this is no reason to lower the rating of a movie that is clearly directed at preschoolers.

Some people complain that they did not find it as amusing as the original Maya series 30 years ago. Of course they didn't! They were 4 years old back then and now they are 30+. So how could they feel the same emotions?

My rating: 10/10

Ze soboty na nedeli (1931)

Only for historians

[2/10 · 30 October 2014]

This movie aged terribly. If someone is particularly interested in the history of cinematography, he or she can watch it out of curiosity. All the others should stay away.

Supposedly this is one of the earliest Czech movies with sound, so at the time it was very technically advanced. But the script is horrible. It starts as a shallow and boring story about girls planning to have fun on Saturday night, but at least it is watchable. However, the last 15 minutes is a true Czech chainsaw massacre - the filmmakers added such absurd, badly written and badly acted melodramatic plot that ones brain hurts. The more so that for the first 50 minutes acting was quite decent (for a movie from the 30's, that is).

My vote: 2/10

The Medusa Raft (1980)

A strange movie - and not worth recommending

[5/10 · 27 September 2014]

I bumped into this movie by accident. I watched it only because I read its enthusiastic review here on IMDb. That is the reason I decided I must write my own review - to warn other people.

This is a strange movie - and not worth recommending. I think its biggest problem is jerky narrative. Consecutive scenes are connected only with presence of the same characters and their behavior is highly irrational. The most of the scenes are pointless, they look like a record of the screenwriter's stream of consciousness. It is a bit surrealistic, but if that was the filmmakers' goal, they failed miserably. It is possible to make a brilliant surrealistic movie - just think of Bunuel. Unfortunately, the makers of this movie lacked a sufficient dose of talent.

The topic chosen does not save this picture, either. More or less, it tells the story of three avant-garde rebellious artists, fascinated by communist ideas. They dream of starting a revolution: an artistic revolution, an industrial revolution, a social revolution - preferably all of them at once. Unfortunately all of this rebellion, all their pseudo-philosophical speeches are completely pathetic. If only they were presented with some irony, it could save the day, but they appear to be taken seriously. The result is the viewer is not laughing but instead he or she feels deeply embarrassed.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a particularly bad movie - it is watchable. However, with all those great movies ever made - more than one can watch in ones lifetime - I have a feeling I wasted time here. If I could get my time back I would rather watch again Bunuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" or "The Milky Way".