milosxlazic Reviews

Bokeh (I) (2017)

Minimal and meditative experience that allows for a lot of contemplation

[10/10 · 30 March 2017]

When I saw the title, I knew that after I watched it I would certainly have a much stronger desire to visit Iceland, and now even in hopefully the same scenario. The plot is so alluring, it's something I could've caught myself thinking about in the past a lot. And of course, I would love the outcome of my struggle to be different, but at the same time, who am I to judge these two people for their choices.

Similar to the movie "Rester vertical" (2016), this one, as expected, abounds in picturesque photography that only makes so much more enjoyable the in the same way reduced a plot. So, what we have is beautiful photographic reduction and also reduction on the level of a plot, which doesn't provide too many fluctuations during the film, but rather allows for a lot of meditative contemplation: what would I do if I was put in the same situation, the most basic question I would ask myself. There's slight mood shifts and perhaps one change of course that introduces the mysterious and magical to the plot and also to the symbolism of photography, as if the film already didn't abound in these.

I can imagine many might have been stressed out by the ending of the movie because of their failure to identify with the characters' deeds, but I'm very happy that in the end, story wise it is not terminal. Throughout the credits, you can see one characters contemplating face, further wondering about the possibilities he has left on his hands to continue pursuing his creative goals. The only question is where will one find motivation for anything one does, actually whether motivation comes from within or from outside of us and so on. It's only very imaginative and enriching experience the film.

"They say that Gods' one and only voice is silence. He just must have more to say these days."

Deadpool (2016)

Perpetual death-drive's the allure

[9/10 · 30 March 2017]

I guess the reason it's so easy to divinate Deadpool is that his self- destruction, the normal humans' death-drive alike (as explained by psychoanalysis) actually drives him toward greatness, immortality even - this is what we're often driven to believe in our lives as well (besides immortality, guys, I hope no one is so naive).

Only when reality kicks in, we tend to stop, regain control, get back to our terms, realize that these self-destructive processes we put ourselves through as coping mechanisms might actually lead to perishing of our existence. On the most basic level, who doesn't like to get trashed of alcohol on a Saturday night for that matter?

This is where Deadpools' humor kicks in as another tool of success for this impeccable story, to help us cope with the inabilities that we face and fail to overcome, especially psychologically. Well not exactly the same inabilities, but hey, Deadpool might be immortal now but his face's ugly as life that he now has to live forever, so we ain't the only ones with problems.

Very captivating film without this pretentious effort of other superhero movies, but still full of glittery artifice and shinny CGI. No wonder a lot of people might be hardly waiting for the second part, and who knows how many more.

Tilva Rosh (2010)

Masterpiece social critique, portraying deprived youth living amidst transition

[10/10 · 28 March 2017]

Throughout the film, the self-destructive behavior of young punks playing the leading roles doesn't have a purpose or a goal as making a cool video clips or proving themselves to each other, but rather is a manifestation of the ongoing deprivation and failure to identify one-selves within the systems in which they are raised. The reason to this self-destruction becomes obvious upon later moments in the film, when their lives collide with an actual system.

The protests organized besides the main plot at the beginning may seem as an aesthetic addition to the dystopian atmosphere, while afterwards it becomes clear that the protests of their parents very logically intermingle their self-destructive behavior, even though none of the two might realize the connection.

The catharsic moment for me was entrance to the supermarket of a crew of skateboarders that accidentally found themselves in a passing-by protest, randomly knocking over things from the shelves, seemingly goalleslly destroying and consuming all found in their ways. This is obviously to symbolize the opposition towards the way the system is heading trying to organize and make orderly their lives, which outside the supermarket, or the employment bureau for that matter, are nothing like the capitalistic comfort these institutions promise.

The following scene happens in a room that has a dead-end street sign on the wall, an eye-candy additional to the preceeding scene, where the conversation is held between the friends, out of which one stole some oranges from the store being trashed, the act that the other denoted as unnecessary. The act of trashing the supermarket thus wasn't the act aiming to make any real damage to the actual store owner or chain, but it was rather a symbolic act against the seemingly orderly system that is being imposed, but failing to provide anything that would even cover over the initial lack. To prove his point, one of the two leaves the room and crashes the car of a friend who opposed the first at being so harsh against stealing the oranges.

To make a conclusion, all the acts in the film might seem completely disorderly, random, chaotic and very lifelike, but if one starts identifying and analyzing rather than enjoying the images for themselves, one might also realize the majestic connections and artistically great comments on societal, economical and financial situation among youth in a transitional country like Serbia, and the way the current situation might affect their lives and development.

Samsara (I) (2011)

Appreciation of life in its entirety

[10/10 · 2 March 2017]

In this film I saw the most comprehensive appreciation of life in all of its aspects, through very strongly aestheticized images, which if we took outside of the context of tranquil and perfectly composed music, we might have red them completely differently. It's a film-making and artistic mastery which makes it clear that aesthetic context influences how we perceive certain conceptual elements of human cultures. So for example If I saw some of these images in real life, I might have not appreciated them as much as I did through this movie. This is also how this film might influence ones perception of this three-dimensional reality we live in. Another visual quirk of this one is that when we face the frames that actually resemble still photography, the filmed statues for example would seem as if they were slightly moving, under the influence of music or my anticipation of very subtle and calm camera movements that generally abound in this piece. I often wondered why are the most of films narrative and always appreciated music without lyrics and considered artistic music videos that would follow these songs the most attractive forms of film-making. This movie gave me exactly this in such a pleasurable way that I hoped it will never end. It's an overview of entire human culture, of mans both primary (natural world as his source) and secondary nature (culture), grasping with equal intensity all of the aspects of human existence, from birth, all different kinds of developments and death. It's the story mostly about the way we as a human kind have structured the symbolic order, but also of the in-bursts of the real, like natural disasters or human inability to control our constantly reproducing desires, that add up to the overall aesthetics of our existence on this planet that might seem harmonious and horrific on two ends.

Staying Vertical (2016)

Are we actually surrounded by wolves all the time, having to stay vertical?

[8/10 · 21 February 2017]

This film has such a strong quirk to it's plot that's easy to put in opposition to quirks & troubles of your own life. And the very ending is when the entire film unwraps before your eyes again; then the quirky plot ceases to matter and the message is absorbed with such intensity that leaves one gasping. All this beside an almost constant visual stun.

It Follows (2014)

"It" is an objet petit a: both object-cause and illusory fulfillment of desire

[7/10 · 14 November 2016]

"It" has so far been understood properly in review by Andrew Kingsley of The Darthmouth, where he stated that the film captures the abject, but let's not stop at Freud. As someone who has experienced a crippling, unfulfilling desire for another person, as a desiring subject myself, I could completely relate to the agonies of our protagonist.

As seen in one of the first scenes of the movie, she seems to have fulfilled her childhood dreams of driving away and having fun with a guy she likes. But, when he leaves her, she's left in a state of utter agony. Spoken in Lacanian psychoanalytic terminology, the "objet petit a" that served the purpose of an illusory object that filled the hole in the chain of signification for her was driven away from her and she was left "with her hands tied", to make it obvious that this object is illusory, thus the "objet petit a" remains only the hole in the signifying chain, waiting to be filled by another "objet petit a", or in English, whatever object momentarily comes to serve the purpose; or anyone else she might experience the same crippling desire for. This desire is never to be fulfilled, but only reproduced, as it is the essence of this hole in the chain of signification.

She being tied implies rape for many, but IMHO it symbolizes the suffocating and immobilizing feeling of inability to ever fulfill our desire for the other. The fact that Paul is the only one able to see our protagonists' "objet petit a", her object-cause of desire, is possibly because he understands very well his desire for her, as they knew each other from the young age. The film ending with the two of them holding hands is in this context a positive outcome for both of them, even though the scene seems grim. They might have realized that the crippling desire for the illusory "objet petit a" will follow them for the rest of their lives and the possible way to put an end to this agony is by coming to terms with this fact, settling down and accepting yourself and your partner as two lacking subjects. In that case, another illusory "objet petit a" appears, serving the purpose of "covering over" the hole in the signifying chain produced by insatiability of their desire. This object, at the end, might be: mutual understanding, friendship, love, or whatever signifier one would use to give a name to this illusory object.

To conclude, this is not the best horror I've seen, but I was lured towards it by rather smart plot that apparently did very well for me, according to a fact that I identified so strongly with the protagonist, even though the symbolical depictions of desire that goes after her were, well... Perhaps too graphical. But it was necessary for them to be able to murder their desiring subjects, as possibly a message from the director that we should look after ourselves in our pursuit to fulfill the desires, as this might take us down the roads of exaggeration in sex and drugs or whatever comes, only then possibly leading to rape, STDs' and unfortunate deaths. This is real-life horrific truth about how we function amidst the dialectic of desire, where actually only death is certain, as emphasisingly quoted at the end of the movie.