Reviews

I really don't want to write a lot about this movie, because I have some feeling that I don't know too much about Nordic mentality.

Like I said, to me, the whole movie seemed weird and usual at the same time. I tried to compare Isak and Folke with two regular humans ... one comes from the city or urban area, and another one is from a village being a little traditional or, being of that sort of a mentality. So, both of them, like every other human being, have prejudice and stereotypes about one another, and it's time to see how would they get along...

What I loved the most is the whole process of getting to know each other, and that cold but yet warm care about one another, because in the end, we are all humans, nevertheless of where we come from...

It was really heart warming story about new friendship.

OK, first of all, my opinion is that any movie that enters, in this case, IMDb top 250 represents some sort of institution, a thing you can look up on, a piece of cinema art, etc. but then again, I see that I'm wrong, because a lot of people give straight 10s to any kind of a movie that come out...

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate the "Juno"... I just couldn't get along to it... I was waiting for some big/capital scene or sentence that would add some spice to the whole movie... unfortunately, there wasn't anything new or shocking to me... also, I tried to look through the eyes of 16 year old pregnant girl, or a teenager, to get some lesson or a fact from this film, but after it had finished, I felt the same way about everything... I might not be familiar with teenage pregnancy (or, to put it this way, i haven't make a mistake yet), but i saw it, and talk about it, a lot of time...

So, in the end, my recommendation to anybody that hasn't watched this movie is don't be to rushy to watch it... it's something that is not new, entertaining, or too funny, but if you have hour and a half to spare, go and see it... if you don't, your not missing anything...

5/10 just for the effort

What do you need for a good show??? Or a good and interesting party??? Isn't the whole life one big party??? For me, it is. But it doesn't have to be glamor, loaded with muscles and tits, covered with action and adrenalin... my party is kind of a Dylan Moran's "Black Books", filed with unusual ordinary people (Bernard, Manny and Fran), living unusual ordinary life and having day to day unusual ordinary troubles...

If you prefer sitting home thinking, talking, drinking and having a good times with your friends rather than going out to the big club, you'll love "Black Books".

Even if the show is set in a bookshop, which is usually boring place, it doesn't necessary mean you can't have fun in it. The most important thing is that even small and slow places go with everybody else, so it all becomes kind of a messy when you press fast forward...

We have Bernard Black, the Owner of the Black Books, weird, angry, scared and filthy guy, who doesn't like people, reads his books, smokes his cigarettes, drinks his wine and usually, doesn't give a flying f**k for anything or anybody else. Next there is Bernard's "slave" and flat-bookshop mate Manny, kind of a cool, nice, sometimes dumb, but all in all, kindhearted person that is the opposite of Bernard's persona, but because of his "norwegian hippie" kind of a look, we rarely see him in better social position than Bernard. And, the last fellow to this crew is next door shop owner Fran, classic, sweet, good, "want to do something with my life", kind of a woman. Altogether they represent one family and they try to get through the everyday life in their own way...

So, tie your seat-belt, light your cigarette, and get ready for another piece of little paradise, "Black Books".

You have to see it through the eyes of transitional society. I guess than, that people from Eastern Europe and Soviet Union don't need this description of "what's going on during post-communism"...

For me "Klopka" represents great acted documentary, rather than piece of art...

Belgrade is like any other capitol (with over 1,000,000 people) in this world, so the mentality is pretty much the same. You have a lot of problems, a lot of noise, pollution, anger, etc. going on, and all that is speed-ed up with fast forward, which doesn't mean that you can't enjoy other landmarks of the city. Also every large city has ghetto, but in this city it spreads from entrance till the exit, covering 90-95% of the territory. That is life in the transition. A group of people holds fortune, for others there are small paychecks, joblessness, bad surrounding, gangs, etc. all in all, big concrete jungle, and since heart pumps blood, the things are pretty much the same in the rest of the country...

In this movie we see an "average" (or if I can call it "middle class") family struggling from day to day, or how we like to call it "surviving till tomorrow". Life is almost exactly the same in every other Serbian family. So each day brings new problems, but this day a big problem knocked on you door and said "Your kid has heart problem, it's serious, he can die any time soon... he's going to need a heart surgery". Surgery usually costs a lot, but in this country, it can't be done, and you haven't earn that much money in the past 5-10 years... facts are facts, get ready, go... what are you going to do? It's all about life value/price, love for your family, love for your child, depression, anger, betrayal, sadness, and everyday transitional life. Crossroads and dead ends everywhere you go, no matter what you do, and you don't have enough time to think about it at all, you must go with the flow... sadly, that's the true face of Serbian reality, and yes!!! the transition is not a boundary, it can happen to me, you, anybody else... the question is how you gonna deal with that?

Wow... I watched this movie for the first time in 2007, and since than i have watched it over 10 times... now, let me explain my affection toward this gem...

1. Ambient (10/10) - the setting is great! The whole movie is set in Budapest metro, so you have kind of a spooky dark environment. There are neon lights, tunnels, elevators, train, a whole bunch of "everyday" people and control crew...

2. Music (8/10) - soundtrack for this movie was done by Hungarian band "Neo", and they, actually, did a great job. You have blend of romantic jazz, drum & bass, electro kind of a music, which totally fits the movie...

3. Characters (9/10) - in one word, awesome!!! Every person in this movie that have more than 3 minutes of lines spoken is unique and different, and they all are trying to get along with one another and make the day...so we see those everyday little emotions like struggle, love, pain, fear, laughter, happiness, etc. kind a like in real life and real society... you are who you are, and you just trying to get through the day, and do that thing over and over until you die... maybe it's pessimistic and hard, but you still get up every day and face your life problems... that's exactly what these guys do, plus they have the ultimate problem and that is interaction with different everyday people...so having a bad day is usual thing for this small crew...

4. Symbols & Metaphors (9/10) - another blend of things you can see and accept in your own way... they are weird, usual, strange, spooky, terrific, bad, good, but altogether, they are occasional...like in everyday life, different things resembles different stuff, when somebody sees a black cat he/she will probably have some OCD ritual against bad luck, and yet i'm gonna walk by... so, that is the whole point of this movie, to watch it, to identify with somebody on the screen, and to think and talk about it for a while...

To me, it was like a mild punch in the head by a stranger...he/she did it, you felt it, it hurts a bit, you wonder "why me?", and usually you continue with your life... but all in all, it's still a experience