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Reviews
Victoria (2015)
Young love in desperation
Victoria is told in an original way. Entirely a one-shot film, at least how it seems, starts off from a club where Victoria (Laia Costa), young Spanish woman who works in a cafeteria nearby, is dancing and having a good time. She meets a young German man, Sonne (Frederick Lau), is spending time with his three friends.
Victoria wishes to go home because she has to open the cafeteria early in the morning. However, there seems to be mutual attraction between them, she accepts Sonne's invitation to spend some time with him and his friends.
After Victoria is allowed to leave, Sonne wishes to spend a little more time with her in the cafeteria. In the cafeteria she shows a remarkable gift she has with piano. Intense moment between them ends up in her frustration telling that she was never good enough a pianist to proceed in his career. However, Sonne is both fascinated and astonished.
This all is an intro to where the story is leading the viewer through these two characters. One of Sonne's friends, Boxer (Franz Rogowski) has recently been released from jail. He owes to a boss of gang, and to pay his debts, he should rob a bank. As he can not do it by himself, he needs assistants. As one of the four friends OD's or gets too drunk, Sonne asks a favour from Victoria.
Victoria is a beautifully shot film in the fashion with Oslo 31. august. A journey of a person from the night til dawn in urban settings. Both leading actors do brilliant work with carefully choreographed camera work. The enormous amount of work done to be able to shoot the film in the manner it has been shot, pays off. This is the reason why Victoria will remain in the film history and will be remembered.
As beautiful as the film itself is, there is a weakness: irrationalism of the characters. Even though what happens in the cafeteria is magic, there are moments where the viewers is left with thoughts, what should these characters in that moment do. And as the viewer might be saying out loud or in one's thoughts: "Don't do it." The character does it anyways. This reminded me a lot of the logic of the characters in horror films. As Victoria is a dramatic love and crime story, that fact might leave the viewer cold.
However, the film must be one of the greatest made in 2015. For cinematography's sake, this a must film for an enthusiast. Someone who waits for action-crime story might be feeling there is not much going on. But the tension created through the one-shot-technique keeps the viewer tightly seated and on board. As the story-line left me as cold as it did, at the moment I will give the film a 7, but through time it is possible it becomes an 8.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Crime mystery set in snow storm in wilderness
Quentin Tarantino has not ever been one of my favorite directors, nor storytellers. Admittedly though he has directed some very brave and edgy films that I do like. Among them are Django Unchained, Inglorious Basters and Reservoir Dogs.
The story of Reservoir Dogs is set in mainly one place, a storehouse. The scenery is simple, dialogue is well-flowing, characters are well-developed and it could as well be a stage-drama. To tell the least, the plot line of The Hateful Eight is developed pretty much in the same way as in Reservoir Dogs. Men with names of colors are changed into one man of color: Samuel L. Jackson, and one with ethnicity: Demlan Bachir.
Tarantino has his reputation on his side. Actors like viewers know at least a bit what to expect from a Tarantino-film. Everything is technically well done, and Morricone's score is as good as in any of those older western movies and The Untouchables (1987). Everything is just in the right place, everything is done in the manner of Tarantino.
What escapes from the most reviewers is the fact that the film is labeled the film as crime mystery. What does it mean? After lengthy intro during which the characters are built, over 1,5 hours of running-time, there is a sudden kill and poisoning. And this is a starting point of a psychological crime drama set in the cabin in the wilderness. When you should start focusing on what was said during the film, who are these people who now accommodate the cabin. Whom you or the main characters should trust, and whom not.
Structure of the film could have done in many other ways. But I believe Tarantino knew exactly how he would be doing the film: with a really long intro and a lot of talking during which most of the viewers get bored and miss hopefully what most of the talking was about. I would have preferred shorter introduction like most of the viewers, but I must say at the same time, once again Tarantino has done a great deal with characters and making a western movie that is not actually at all is and mainly is not a western movie.
I understand the disappointment of many who do not like this kind of storytelling. I don't like it much either. Also over half of the running-time seems like meaningless dialogue until - this is in the very essence of cinema storytelling from which any director or screenwriter could learn from.
7/10
The Avengers (2012)
Attack of the creatures of another dimension
I am a big fan of science fiction. I have not been such a big fan of all movies based on comic books. I am not such a big fan of sequels either. The Avengers was a must-see-film for me, for several reasons, but most of all, I enjoyed both Iron Men, Captain America, and a bit of Thor as well. Hulk did not do the trick to me.
The Avengers brings all these superheroes together. Their opponent is Thor's evil half-brother, Loki. His main goal is to get a magical stone, or cube, that would open the gateway to another dimension, to Asgard, where other, even more evil forces await to be released, and freed to the world of the humans.
The action in the film, along with the SFX, is great. However, the storyline is not something you have not seen or heard before. Actually, there is very little new to the film. Also the decision to get all the superheroes or stars together, does not really differ much from Expendables, which is somewhat huge phenomenon, even though the script could be written by a 12-year-old.
The Avengers is a lot better than Expendables, but that does not mean, it is a whole lot better, and that it would be better than, lets say Iron Man. For me Iron Man alone stands above The Avengers. The film does not come better with bigger explosions, and a lot more heroes, than in the original film. But obviously, with fans of the 80's stars in Expendables, it is enough to bring them all on the screen at once.
What I truly enjoyed in this film was actually a few parts of the action. The one with Thor dropping out from the sky, or the parts in the end, with the heroes pretty much destroying most of the city-site.
All in all, it is certainly a-must-see for the fans of comic stars, science fiction, and action. I enjoyed, but not that much, that I would recommend it to everybody.
Rat King (2012)
Chasing shadows
Story of a high school graduate (Juri played by Max Ovaska) who is addicted to computer games. After her girlfriend (Mia played by Niina Koponen) threatens to leave him, if he does not stop playing and choose her, Juri gets frustrated and decides to stop playing. Soon after he is contacted by another player, that has been missing. Niki (Julius Lavonen) is a mysterious character whose appearance is almost identical with Juri's.
Niki seems to be troubled with a game he has been playing. He needs a safe place to stay at for some time. Juri decides to help him, and eventually finds web address tattooed on Niki's arm. Juri chooses to try where the address takes him, and he ends up playing a weird game, with different tasks. Niki decides to help Juri in his tasks, but at the same time, they end up changing identities, mixing them together.
The very beginning of the story seems distant and cold. Mainly because of the depressive and majestic movie score by Lauri Porra. Cinematography by Mika Orasmaa is dark and atmospheric. All this darkness seems to be a little too much, and the storyline ends up suffering from it. It seems clumsy.
Director Petri Kotwica has collected several awards in his homeland Finland, and abroad. He is one of the new directors on the front-line, seeking to succeed internationally. Rat King seems to borrow a lot from American High School thrillers, and lacks Finnish touch. One of the reasons may be that, the film has been filmed in Estonia. Even the country is neighboring Finland, the atmospheres and locations have different feeling to them. However, this is a reason, the film does not really 'feel' Finnish.
By the end of the film the story starts moving on. It gets intense toward the end, and the identity play gets to it's end, and makes the viewer gasp. The film has certainly has its thrill, suspense, and action, which is quite rare for a Finnish film. Even though it lacks originality, it may be one of the most entertaining films from Finland in 2012.
Funny People (2009)
Dead funny
The film tells a story of rising comedians (Rogen, Hill and Schwarzman) versus a seasoned veteran comedian and film star George Simmons (Sandler). Simmons is diagnosed with an incurable cancer, and he has lost his comedic edge. His jokes are grim and lifeless. He has seen Ira (Rogen) perform, and likes their edgy style, even if it is not always funny. Simmons decides hire group of three to write his jokes, but Ira owns the offer, and starts writing jokes alone.
Comedians seem to have all kinds of problems and they are not as funny as they seem to be on stage or in films. Ira writes jokes for himself and Simmons, ending up to performing before his master. They end up getting closer, and Ira gets his share of all the angst, hate, and frustration of a dying man.
Getting close to a funny man opens up a new world, that is shared with a viewer. In the end all that is as funny as a fatal condition, at which you should be able to laugh at, but you can't. Death and all the serious thoughts are masked and hidden. No one can tell, are you the funny man or that man who cries in secrecy, because they do not know the latter part of the personality.
Funny People does a good job in dealing with this two-faced business. Even if you once thought Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen are comedians, and they do comedy films, in this case you are wrong. Look deeper. Even if Hollywood produces a lot of crappy films - as is said already in this film - sometimes it also makes stories of half-truths, and depth. You are not supposed to enjoy this film, as you would enjoy most of the Sandler's and Rogen's films. This one goes to the dark side of a laugh.
Ralliraita (2009)
The art of comedy-writing
The film is about young juvenile, "Luumu" (a plum), (Olavi Uusivirta), who is sent to his uncle to work. His uncle (Heikki Silvennoinen) is a driver-instructor, former rally driver, and keen on getting laid with his new student (Satu Silvo). Uncle is working with Pekkarinen (Kai Hyttinen), who is building a car for a local rally championship races under name Team Susa. Again, Pekkarinen has a rival, family of Torppo, who owns a company which sells cars, and has it's own rally team. Older Torppo (Heikki Nousiainen) seems to be okay with the past, but the younger (Antti Virmavirta) seems to think that the team of Pekkarinen is a bunch of losers.
As Pekkarinen, and all his subordinates, or employees, work in a hall which is owned by older Torppo, and younger Torppo is becoming the head of Torppo family, there is some friction between Pekkarinen and younger Torppo. This ends in a bet: Team Susa and all people connected to it, must find a new place, unless it beats Torppo team in the race. And so it goes, these two teams compete in the race, but before that, there is a minor problem: Susa's driver gets injured in practice, and Luumu becomes the driver, under construction of his uncle.
The story reminds of several other films made about racing. You might find some connections to Love Bug, or other films like that, or even Days of Thunder. However, Ralliraita misses two things, which would make it more noteworthy: firstly, the story and the dialogue lack originality. Most of the actors seem not to be in the right place, speaking in the manner, they clearly do not speak normally. This does not add anything to the humour, except certain kind of clumsiness. Otherwise, the humour relies on self-evident situations (e.g. a man knocks on the door, Luumu wakes up and opens the door. The man says: "Herää, tai no sä oot jo hereillä." (Wake up, or well you are awake already), which is not perhaps the right method for comedy. Secondly, the actors are not as funny, as they should be in this kind of "humour" film. They are not quite there in the comedy, which needs certain kinds of expressions, and living in the situation. For me it was more a dramatic film, and it becomes difficult to adjust in the genre in which this was supposed to fit in.
Watching the film reminded me of a concern, that has been raised in Finnish film industry: we do have good actors, directors, and technical skills, but we lack good writers. This film, may be one of the examples to prove the point. It is too dramatic to be a good-mood film, and it's way too clumsy, harsh, pointless to be a good dramatic film.
Kahlekuningas (2002)
Young boy turns from Rommel to Houdini
A teenager boy, Esko, with a vivid imagination lives near the border of Finland and Sweden. After a trip to Sweden, he gets into disagreement his old friends, and he meets Patrik, a boy across the border. They share similar interests to two different people: Esko is living through the tales about German war-hero Rommel, and Patrik is trying solve the secrets of Houdini, great handcuff king. By and by, Esko starts to get more interested in Houdini's tale.
Esko's family (father, mother, brother, and grandpa) live in the same house in rural area, near Tornio. All the other family members seem to live a little bit disconnected lives from Esko, they are part of the tales of Rommel, but also stories of Esko turning into a handcuff king.
Story seems rather simple, and all the technical parts do not promise a quality film. However, the persons are fascinating, and the story goes on forward smoothly. Also, a peculiar anecdote is that, the young leading actors are one-time actors on silver-screens, by far. Amateurs they are, but do a nice job, taking the stories of Rommel and Houdini to the end. There is also an encouraging message to deliver, but that is for every viewer to find out.
The Lovely Bones (2009)
Visually yes, story-wise no
I have been very curious about Peter Jackson's career. I remember seeing Bad Taste in the 80's, Braindead and Meet The Feebles in the beginning of the 90's. Never thought that there would be real talent, but he proved me wrong already with Heavenly Creatures and Frighteners in the mid-90's. Then came the big surprise and success with the Lords. And what then? Jackson obviously is very fond of stories with the dead and the underworld creatures. The Lovely Bones does not make an exception. It is a story of a teenager girl, who is about to get her first date, when on the way back home, she is killed. She wanders the spirit world, sees her family, is aware of her killer, and tries to find peace.
Story is not too original. The visual effects, and elements are, what Jackson knows well. He takes you to a world, that may not have been unseen, but definitely it is beautiful. Visually it tries to be somewhere there with Aronofsky's The Fountain, but does not quite reach there. Story-wise, it could be general remake of The Frighteners, but does not quite there either. All in all, beautiful film, but it does not have much to give. It does not have that usual entertaining touch Jackson usually has. Nor it gets inside the real feels, that young girl might have toward her killer. She speaks of hate, but you see that very little.
Maybe, if you have not seen other films of Jackson, than the trilogy of the Lords, then this could be given a try. However, if you have seen The Frighteners, and Heavenly Creatures, you can give it a shot, but it can be waste of time. Been there, seen that.
Inland Empire (2006)
Philosophical and metaphorical
I have enjoyed Lynch's Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. After watching IE once, I do not know where I have ended. LH and MD are already confusing, but this one is just somewhere out there.
Maybe that is what director David Lynch wanted to do. Maybe he also made a cinematographic multi-layered poem. That is actually where I have most of the problems with. I am not very good in understanding poetry, and when it gets longer and longer (IE, ca. 3 hours long), it gets also quite boring. I wish I had understood more, and as in poetry, you should go back to it, try to get a grab of it, but 3 hours... That is not so tempting.
Lynch's style of making film is quite original, in modern cinema. However, you are able to find, similarities in other works in film history. But none of the films have really lost me right from the beginning. In IE the story is told in a way which are easier for others to follow, but some of the people are left by the road wondering, what the heck happened. That may be the reason, why some of the people love it, and others do not get it.
I give Lynch's Inland Empire something from the mid-roads. I must say that these points go for Lynch, who has the courage to make such films. For the story, and the film itself, I give blank.