greekhero Reviews

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Authentically British, is it not?

[10/10 · 29 June 2011]

Absolutely hilarious, authentically British comedy, probably one of the best of its kind.

No wonder they surely know how to have a good laugh once the whole matter is their own rusty extravaganza in being quite faithful to traditions, utterly and stubbornly conservatism and yet at the same time being at ease making fun of them.

Warning! A wide variety of strong British accents are generously employed!!!

It is no use (merely pointless) to mention all those funny and apt works of all dearly having taken part in making this quite entertaining movie. Albeit Alec Guiness cannot be spared being mentioned. 'Brilliant work, mate', I would have said that to him, if he was still alive, a great actor of fantastic caliber and outrageous range of terrific roles.

Vivre sa vie (1962)

Is youth to be wasted?

[10/10 · 28 June 2011]

"Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux" is another one by Godard ("A bout de suffle" was the previous) about wasted youth, going down and losing any sort of control (plans, dreams, perspective, whatever) over life.

In this case it is a brief and intense story of a young beautiful woman (Nana) confused whether to pursue the acting career and at the same time desperately trying to make the ends meet and therefore opted to prostitution instead.

Youth is a time when we are particularly fragile and vulnerable, when lifetime opportunities are mixed with risks of failing big time, and many factors, events, acquaintances may influence our choice and chances. Yet we are fully responsible for what we do and the current state is the consequence of our actions. In one scene Nana says the more or less same thing.

She is not dumb, spoiled and empty-headed chick, on the contrary, however her choice and actions led her to the downfall and no one cared or tried to help her like it usually happens in life, sad and sometimes cruel and ordinary thing. And the genius of Godard revealed in making it rather disturbing and thought-provocative in the minimalistic and very expressive way. One might also find it especially poignant as we all have our moments wasted perhaps not so dramatically.

Anna Karina is absolutely stunning in this film, her yearning eyes filled with melancholy, confusion and sadness and fragile beauty are captivating.

Jules and Jim (1962)

Love and friendship could not be better combined in one piece

[10/10 · 25 June 2011]

This was my third movie by Truffaut I saw and enjoyed a great deal. He truly was a genius story-teller. And this time it is about friendship and love, the things that make us feel happy and satisfied with living. One should learn to appreciate them, cherish them, care for them and protect them from fading away. But what is friendship anyway, how do you define it, describe it, measure it and show it? I found one of the best examples in this masterpiece. Two friends always enjoyed the company of each other and never got bored of each other. What is love then? Again another best example of so called true love without being possessive and egoistic, in this case accepting no matter what the choice and attitude of beloved one.

Nothing is constant in our lives, it starts, evolves and eventually ends. Anyway, there is something magical about Truffaut's movies.

My Zinc Bed (2008 TV Movie)

mixed feelings

[10/10 · 12 April 2009]

staged play adapted to TV - always stirs up the mixed feeling - differences in all kinds and aspects and first of all, the target auditory. for me it is no wonder why it has got so low rating, confusion is the reason.

the movie as well as the play, deal with one of the most complicated things in life - addictions and that is not just the case of merely a one specific kind - addiction to alcohol. i may only guess that it could be replaced with the other thing freely and still has the same meaning and sense - what is the nature of addiction, why we are addicted to something and the reasons of it. very often - i would not be exaggerating to say that practically always we have got the wrong ones, as it happens with one of the main characters - the poet.

and here i just may lay my theory out, just as subjective as it can be. addictions are just the consequences of suppressed things in our own nature - it could be anything - feelings, emotions, wishes, willings, needs, various sorts of experiences and so on - you name it.

you suppress it, you try to wipe it out, destroy, get rid of it and then you finally succeed, it would be most likely going to be replaced with something else - something much worse actually. and very often - yet again would not be a huge overstatement to say in all cases - it might lead to long way to self-destruction, total or near total elimination of any sense of living.

i cannot say that for sure whether that movie or play succeeded to make that clear, i gave 10 out of 10 just because i believe that everyone who were engaged in making it tried to do their best to tackle with that notoriously sophisticated subject (well, the entire psychology was actually founded to explain it). and i may be mistaken but i can hardly remember a movie or a play that has dealt with more or less the same stuff.

and much moreover of it i really enjoyed it much. the plot and the acting are much above the average - i believed them and felt empathy for the all of the characters.

brilliant try but cannot be 100% certain if it was successful

Revanche (2008)

perfect in any sense of it

[10/10 · 18 March 2009]

i saw that movie and should say that i am going to watch it again many times as it is just thrilling and stunning as it could possibly be despite of being primarily about just ordinary people lives.

and yet it is truly a masterpiece and it is a shame that it did not get an Oscar, probably other nominators were quite competitive.

there is no need to tell about the plot and the background of it. it is pretty ordinary (and that probably makes it quite realistic) so it could have happened everywhere and not just in Austria and so it applies to the main characters.

the key word for that movie is imperfect (yet i still believe that movie itself is excellent) that nothing is perfect or ideal and people always make mistakes and if something may go wrong it will definitely go wrong.

because we are human beings after all - with our emotions, irrational thinking, affections, etc. we can't be just logical and cold and pragmatic thinkers all the time - no one can actually, yet there are some exceptions who just prove the general rule.

i encourage everyone to watch and enjoy every moment and scene of it without concentrating on other trivial moments such as East-European prostitutes and human trafficking, etc. of course i do not doubt that those things are significant but this is not the case, that is just a background.

Blindness (2008)

astonishingly real, kind of a warning or lesson

[10/10 · 9 March 2009]

at first i got bored and had a thought that i was watching a sort of Sci-Fi movie about another end of the world as it actually is partly about. briefly it is an antyutopia. that is why it is so scary, so real and in the same time so symbolical and yet leaving a bit of space to hope or a kind of a light in the end of tunnel.

then as events suspiciously went to the dirty staff (or revealing the evil nature of human being) i actually almost predicted the following.

and in this case i can gather that in the film more important is the notion of taking responsibility. or to be more specific the unwillingness of let's say intelligent, tolerant, advanced in all sense of that word, people to act in a way of "action-reaction" in the situation where a compromise is not the right direction and solution until after all of casualties, damages physical and moral they were forced to reply.

whether it is going to be late, i suppose as a matter of discussion, however, and i guess, many would agree with me to have more or less the same feeling that why it took so long - why they/she had to pay a dear price before actually trying to end the unbearable and disgusting way of behavior and treatment.

certainly you can always try to find a good excuse to refer to the ultimate means, however, sooner or later you are going to have to settle that with your conscience.

to make my point clearer i would like to draw analogy with Britain and France conducting an appeasement policy toward the Nazy Germany before the WWII -then instead of standing up properly against consequent Anschluss they tried to justify it and not act until it was too late and so costly.

as it's been said - who has the power or ability or something that others do not have, should take a responsibility or liabilities as he or she are the only last hope (defender, protector, whatever) for others.

the movie is excellent and worth watching for as it gives a lot to think and learn for example about the nature of responsibility at least.

Good Dick (2008)

just impressed

[10/10 · 8 March 2009]

i was just impressed with that movie and looking forward to new stuff from Marianna Palka(director, script writer and actress). it's a fragile, subtitle, tender and sensual, touching story. it seems a bit vague and uncertain with lots of missing points and holes but that just makes it more realistic and so specifically attractive. you might just guess about the reasons of her acting weird and never going to know what was underneath. however it is also a love story where patience and taking ones you're in love with as they are make wonders or miracles if you like. it is a sort of a fresh air for me as i have not seen something like that recently. good stuff, really. strongly recommended to watch and appraise.