Change Your Image
robert_de_brose
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Beautiful Gothic vampire story by Jarmusch.
I just wished they went back to this kind of vampire movie making. It is indeed a little bit too cheesy with all the literary information and has a somewhat loose narrative, as others have already remarked. In fact, it seemed to me the story-line remained underdeveloped - lots of loose ends, lots of things that probably were designed to add something to the lore, but eventually remained unexplained. Probably this had something to do with the low budget and the difficulty the director had with getting funding for his project. That being said, it is highly poetic and beautifully shot, as already expected form Jarmusch. Both costume design and make up are perfect, specially the fangs, not overgrown, unnatural or vulgar, as in many modern movies, but discrete and in the 'right' size. Vampires are, after all, supposed to be very discrete beings as any other skilled predator. Sound track is amazing and fits perfectly to the mood the film is trying to set. Finally, Tilda is amazing in her role and one cannot help associating her looks with the vampire in Edward Munch's homonyms painting. Also, I think Adam should most certainly taken to be John Polidori, Byron and Shelley's friend, a doctor as Adam and the writer of one of the most famous vampire stories ever written.
The Mist (2007)
The Mist is a metaphor
When I see the Mist coming over the city, in the movie, I cannot help thinking about the mist that surrounded people close to WTC when it collapsed in that awful day in November 2001. From that mist too monsters, desperation and hopelessness have spread all over America and, fed by lies and fear, they haunted and preyed upon humans all over the globe, luring them into accepting any promise of salvation that could give them hope of safety. Since then how many innocent lives have been sacrificed to appease the Moloch our leaders have made us believe in? how much have we surrendered of our freedom and our rights into the hands of others we thought might give us some solace and guidance in dark times? and how terribly we have been deceived! The Mist has not been lifted yet, and it does not hover over only one country, over America only, it enshrouds us all and it bids us enter it and see for ourselves and take our chances rather than believing in the messiah next door. When all lights go out the only hope we have is to try to illuminate the path with the light of our reason and our humanity, which pays no regard to borders or countries.
Borderland (2007)
Don't cross the border
This movie clearly has an agenda, which could be summed up like this: Never, never cross the border (either physical or metaphorical). Let's shun everything that's on the other side with a wall or a fence or something else, let's pretend all "gringos" are evil, satanic, or drug dealers. All that is outside one's country's border (and specially US borders) is dangerous, malevolent and people there will hate you, or envy you or try to steal you or something else. The "based on true events" is only a perverse tag that can be pinned on anything to give it some aura of credibility or, in this case, just to help pushing the film's ideology down some naïve throats out there. The perversity of the film lies in the fact that it reduces countries, people and all else into very black and white stereotyped categories: Mexicans into disgusting people, Mexican police into a bunch of corrupt cops, republicans into the right-wing morons, democrats into almost hippie humanists and so forth. Is there anything good about the film? I hardly think so, but may be you think differently.
The Gravedancers (2006)
Scary movie?
Well the movie begins as a promising, serious scary experience, but as the plot unfolds it unravels into sheer comedy and makes fun of itself, which was kind of amusing to me, but may be not so for other people, specially if one is looking for a scared-the-s**t-out-of-me movie and this is why I rated it 5/10. The impression one gets by watching this movie is that either the director did not know where he was heading while the scenes were being shot or that the editors really tried hard to assemble their own version of the story, considering the discrepancy of how the movie begins and the way it ends, since it goes from aural depiction of the ominous into Ghostbusters-like cgi effects.
Marebito (2004)
This is not a horror movie
This film is the proof that cinema can accomplish great results with a digital camera. I believe, indeed, that some parts could not have been successfully carried out without the use of digital shooting. However, if you are looking for a gory, Grudge-like film you'd better consider looking somewhere else. This is more a psychological thriller than a horror story, it deals with the fantasies of a deranged man and his obsession with the occult, fantastic stories about ghosts and OVNIS, and the terror engendered by them, besides dealing with heterodox theories, such as the one who postulates that the Earth is hollow and is inhabited by superior beings inside who live in a capital called Agartha. It is a pretty much lovercraftian film, truly inspired by Lovecraft stories, such as "In the Mountain of Madness". But in the end we are faced not with supernatural horror, but with the reality a twisted mind is able to create on its own. Great film and worth seeing.