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williamjack2
Reviews
Martyrs (2008)
Vile, pretentious twonk.
I think that about covers it. But while we're on the subject if you want martyrdom of a female heroine watch Breaking the Waves. If you want a sense of visceral horror watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In fact watch anything in between. Both films show you can move or shock an audience without needing to endlessly (oh so very endlessly) brutalize women like steaks under a braising hammer or even shave their skin off in search of what's on the other side...but hey maybe I'm just old fashioned. It's a shame because the film starts promisingly and looks like it might bring a sensitivity to the subject matter of abuse and build character relationships in a paced and involving manner. Nope. In the same way that the film appears to first be one thing then another then another...but not in a good way - any early seeds of promise are trampled underfoot. And, boy, do the joins show...how do we change it into something other than standard torture porn fare? Cue weird, strange lady from shady organisation with sinister aims (yaaawn) with creaky Bond villain-esque dialogue 'we were, you might say...less organised in the past.' Yup so was indie-car but at least they go round in circles to an ultimate end. Sadly this just putters up its own self importance until I was left with nothing but a feeling of two hours wasted and the need for a shower. Yeck for the stale torture porn and double yeck for the attempts to dress it up as a metaphysical meditation. Bad doggy!
The Future (2011)
Still thinking, still affected...
Hmmm...the summary title says it all. Not quite sure what this film is saying or trying to stimulate you into thinking about: lack of purpose in modern life, the small actions on which lasting love lives or dies, how much of ourselves do we show to each other, emotional paralysis in an atomised first world, the value of human connection above all else, is man designed to run on any other fuel than god, artistic frustration and how beautiful creation can take place as much in your living room as the main stage at the Met, people looking for a place in a senseless world instead of just getting on and helping people... On the downside the dialogue and some of the acting is of the low-burn, snail pace that can destroy any sense of mood or tension...but on the upside there are perhaps 10 moments of absolute beauty, each worth admission alone, and Miranda July is an open wound of a screen presence. And I'm still thinking about the end and all the bits in between. Personally I'm prepared to be slightly confused when I come out highly affected and thinking...
Melancholia (2011)
The king is dead...no really he is.
As someone who would list 3 Lars Von Trier films amongst my favourites of all time and another 2 in the like-a-lot category I can only assume that a reputation management company is being used to load the scores on IMDb. This film suffers (chronically) from:
- A ridiculous sense of self-importance. - Clunky redundant dialogue. - A plot that could be easily stenciled on a grain of rice - with plenty of room left for cast and production credits. - Pointless character meanderings. - Cardboard cut-out performances. - Ridiculously overstated symbolism. - Afternoon soap style dialogue and family 'dramas'. - Painfully slow development of not very much. - The utter waste of a powerful concept. - The direction of Kiefer Sutherland to a familiarly meat-headed performance. - The direction of Kirsten Dunst away from what could have been a brilliantly dead-eyed depressive performance into a jellybean counting seer of doom. - Everything about this film is patchy - unfortunately the patches are of cataclysmic dullness and bad creative decision-making amongst the mediocrity.
Sadly this continues LVT's drift from the Dogme brilliance of Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark and the more stylistically elegant Dogville back to the indigestible and overwrought Europa trilogy. You have been warned...