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Reviews
Darkened Room (2002)
I,m sorry...
...but this just isn't working and I am surprised to see how many people consider it good. On what grounds? There are some loose hints here and there, but the whole material is self-indulgent and unconvincing. Lynch's movies are generally intriguing because they generate a sense of confusion and yet, are very playful when doing that. There is some visual sense, there are some subplots, characters, ideas etc. But this is dull and yes, pointless. Because whatever there is to explore is either to "small", either too far-fetched, or simply told before in a superior manner. It's just Lynch exploring DV, nothing more so it should be treated like this. 1/10
Furia (2002)
Are u kidding me?
"The New hope of Romanian cinema"...if this is the new hope, then i wouldn't really like to see the saving hero of such a prolific cinema(Romanian cinema, that is). Now seriously, where should I start? 1. The crappy scenario: are you kidding me, this is not even believable not to mention it's high degree of stupidity 2. the Direction: what direction? This movie should have had psychological tension, at least that, since they have decided to make it look as trashy as possible. Oky, I admit, Radu Muntean is no Polanski, Hitchcock, Fincher or Lynch(the list could go on), but at least the minimum of effort would have been appreciated. 3. The language: Oky, I don't understand why (almost)every single Romanian director believes that if you make the movie as miserable and obscene as possible, then you have art. I don't mind explicit language or bad image quality as long as the final result makes it worthwhile. In this case, it doesn't. There is nothing to comment upon, since everything this movie wants to say was already told thousand times, the characters are far too thinly portrayed to become memorable, the "shocking events" that occur are also poorly illustrated and become unimportant. This film relies only on the self-induced emotions, on the "we must" hype. Someone was found murdered so "WE MUST" feel sad, frightened or panicked, someone went through this and that so "WE MUST" feel in a certain way. That's baloney. Because a movie is a piece of fiction, nothing is for real here. So the only true emotions are those that you discover when you wander deep into it's world(the movie's, that is)
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Legaturi bolnavicioase (2006)
I guess it's somewhat understandable...
...since there are only few decent Romanian movies that were launched in the past few years. And the subject of matter is also difficult to approach. Yet, this benefits from a better production than other Romanian movies, and the photography doesn't leave the impression of wandering he Garbage Empire. Yet, it is poorly acted and written, especially written, there is no insight, no character development, Tudor Chirila is very annoying trying to look charismatic when he actually isn't. The whole material looks to high-school-ish to work, it looks like it was written by a 15 year old girl who discovered literature and some taboo subjects, so confronting such a script few actors could handle the situation without making severe changes. In spite of all said above, this movie is not disgraceful, it is not like "Italiencele" or "Orient Express", it doesn't leave you wonder who had the uninspired to fund such crappy productions. It is just a bad movie that could have been far better.
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Garcea si oltenii (2001)
Are you kidding me?
You tell me that this is good comedy? It may be so, if you accept that acting like a stupid moron, trying your a** out to make people laugh, may be called some sort of comedy, maybe. But we are talking about cinema, not some street circus. This is a plot less piece of crap filled with cheap jokes, bad acting...in fact everything in this "thing" is so bad, I can't even dare to call it a movie
it may be inspired from Romanian reality, so what? I may take a picture of a dog crapping and will be equally better, I may even call it a metaphoric and elitist movie...
Sad, very sad
Profondo rosso (1975)
Another one of Argento's "masterpieces"
I don't understand why Argento is called the "master" of Italian horror. Most of his movies are artificial, laughable and the only thing good about them is the direction and occasionally , the soundtrack.
This one must be one of the poorest mysteries I have seen. It's stupid for a start and more than that, it treats it's viewers like they were 7 years old children. There is no psychological insight(again), the use of two(even three languages) is for originality's sake, not because of a strong reason, the acting is(again) mediocre and the whole film seems to be dragged out too long.
I have seen five of Argento's movies and all of them, except "Tenebre"(which was decent), were pretty bad. So I ask myself again: why this director gained the status of a cult figure?
6/10
Suspiria (1977)
Highly overrated
There is nothing to praise about "Suspiria" except the imagery, the music and some occasionally good direction. But it is not enough, because apart from these things the movie is plain stupid. With some ideas borrowed from Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby"(an infinitely superior film), and an artificial script, the movie fails to leave an impression because of it's lack of substance. There is nothing insightful here, characters are poorly portrayed, the lines are childish, and the beautiful sets and truly excellent music determined me to expect something more when in fact it wasn't. This is just a bad horror movie with a good direction, nice images and a very inspired soundtrack, that's all.
5/10
Italiencele (2004)
Another waste of time
Badly written and produced, this is not a movie, it is some sort of a home-made cinema about stupid people...There is no insight, no other idea except depicting the "Romanian reality", or that part of the Romanian reality that I don't think would or should interest somebody. While other directors try hard to make a decent film, some of them come with utter trash like this pretending that it's entertainment or, what is regrettably worse, artistic. It is sad to see, how directors that don't deserve to get their movies made, actually make it and hard working directors, that really have something to say are left behind, because it is considered that their movies wouldn't be "interesting enough". Romanians are used with filth and what is worse is that they seem to like it. They deny movies with and idea, with a strong direction in favor of crappy "home made videos" such as this one.
1/10
The Trip (1967)
Uneven
"You are about to be involved in a most unusual motion picture experience.It deals fictionally with the hallucinogenic drug, LSD.Today, the extensive use in black market production of this and other such "mind-bending" chemicals is of great concern to medical and civil authorities.The illegal manufacture and distribution of these drugs is dangerous and can have fatal consequences.Many have been hospitalized as a result. This picture represents a shocking commentary on a prevalent trend of our time and one that must be of great concern to all. "
It's true, in a way it deals with LSD, but it's not an unusual movie experience and the movie is far from being effective. Now there is a difference between analyzing the effect of LSD(or smth. else, u name it) and merely exploiting it.And this movie falls into the second category. There is no real plot an what's worse, there are no characters for which we should feel something. There are just shallow sketches, convenient reactions and hallucinations. If the movie wanted to be moralizing, it certainly falls short because of it's unilateral approach, and besides reality can offer far more cruel and convincing examples. If the movie wants to be insightful, it still falls, because of it's shallow perfective, lack plot and characters. There were movies that at some point,dissolved completely their plot, relying only on an more convincing psychological approach and they were more effective. But here we have a movie that, although it deals with a serious matter, doesn't offer the necessary psychological background. You can always feel that the actors are faking it, instead of being convincing in their roles.
My rating:**/*****
Ken Park (2002)
What a piece of crap...
This must be one of the worst and most ridiculous movies that I ever seen. No, not because some find this "shocking", but because the characters are "limpy" and there actions so hilarious(because their lack of reason) Besides that, Larry Clark should start to make other kind of movies, too. I thought "Kids" was pretty good, bully was O.K(but not as good as Kids), but this one... I understand that he wants to make it look real, but no matter how hard someone tries that, it is not possible. A fiction will still be a fiction. There is no way that someone can change that. This movie could turn out to be very good, with all his "shocking" scenes, it's director would have focused more on the characters. the eding is very good, but the beginning is predictible and without any power at all.
My rating: 2/10(* from *****)