Reviews

Well, if only this could be as great as the book... The Yursky film proved that there can be a proper adaptation of this novel. In fact, it was very watchable. But this dud is overly long and plain boring. Also, there are too many actors who can't act. Menshikov, being a decent actor, is an exception, but even he overacts more often than not. It doesn't seem like he wants to be in this movie. The others, though, are much, much worse. And the director is most at fault, as she turned this yarn into an unfunny attempt at farce. I don't know who is so patient that he can sit through all these episodes. I definitely wasn't.

I didn't expect much, but, all in all, it is not a bad film. Very strong performance by both leads portraying a city girl and a country girl as lifelong friends, and the storyline is rather moving. The writing at times is a suspect, as it often gets overly ridiculous. The man obsessed with hens, etc., etc. The depiction of country life is bordering caricature. With a better writer, this could be a seriously good film. But even what we've got in the end is very watchable and engaging.

This combination of fantasy, musical, extravaganza and silliness doesn't really work. It could be a brilliant satire, a "The Good Soldier Svejk"-like grotesque; it could be something similar to Milos Forman's "The Firemen's Ball", but, unfortunately, it isn't. The basic premise had the potential; the idea of turning guns into clarinets and vice versa was a good one. However, the directors were too obsessed with playing it safe in Communist Czechoslovakia and making the viewers "have a good time". In the end, silliness prevails, and the film doesn't live up to its cult status.

I heard about this adaptation of the novel by James Hadley Chase made in the late 60s but only came across the DVD very recently - and it was a German DVD, with both English and German-language versions. Overall, it is a decent film noir, with very good actors in it, even though we don't see them very often in English-language films. Lang Jeffries is excellent as a man consumed by greed; the Chilean actor Daniel Emilfork also very convincing as a creepy policeman, and the Italian Gianni Rizzio (who I remember from his cameo performance in "The Name of the Rose") as the underworld kingpin. Francesca Tu is OK as the leading man's girlfriend. So what can I say about the film today, exactly 50 years since its release? It is very watchable, and deserves to be seen. I hope it will be restored for the next edition, as it looks rather bleak on DVD. So if you like film noir and have a chance to watch this particular one, do.

This one is really made in bad taste. What exactly is it? A musical? A silly science fiction piece? A fairy tale for the adults? The only thing, they get bored after just few minutes of watching. The actors grossly overdo it, and the whole thing tumbles down into farce. Could have been so much better! Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" gives a good example of how this kind of film should be done properly. As for this one, it provokes no emotions and creates no ideas. Weirdness reigns supreme, and it is not a good kind of weirdness... I've seen quite a few excellent Romanian films but this isn't one of them. My verdict: a complete waste of time...

A farcical comedy with a few very good actors which is supposed to be funny; the only thing, it is not. Made in Russia in 1980, it was announced as a Russian-Finnish co-production, although all the leads and supporting actors are Russian. Is it authentic? I visited both countries, and my opinion is, the Russian actors in this film don't look like Finns and don't behave like them. Such Russian stars as Leonov, Nevinnyy and Vitsin are wasted, and silliness creeps in from the very start and then builds up and clogs up everything. The director, Gayday, made quite a number of really witty situation comedies. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. Try 'Twelve Chairs' or 'Kidnapping, Caucasian Style', instead.

In 1988, two inseparable twin sisters from DDR, Isabel and Doreen, travel outside the country for the first time. They go to the sports camp on the bank of Lake Balaton in the socialist Hungary, then a part of the Soviet block. The sisters accept a lift from two young men from Hamburg in Western Germany, and get castigated by their supervisor for communicating with "the enemy". One of the sisters gets romantically involved with one of the men. Will she abscond with him or will she stay?

Director Robert Thalheim did a great job making the film very watchable and creating tension towards the end of the film. The two actresses portraying the two sisters, Friederike Becht (who appeared in "The Reader") and Luise Heyer in her first role, were terrific. I also liked Hans-Uwe Bauer as the supervisor; his take on this character is very believable.

All in all, this is a great little film about the divided nation, or, if you prefer, about "the German - German problem", as the Germans themselves like to call it. Whichever countries the Soviets laid their hands on, they spread there the ideology of hate indoctrinating children with the views that all the westerners are their enemies. And this is not very different from the state ideology of Putin's Russia that brings chaos and destruction to the neighbouring countries.

It is one of the best films I've seen this year, which proves that low- budget films can be as good as lavish Hollywood ones. Of course, it is an homage to Ken Annakin's "Across the Bridge" (1957), which, in its turn, was an adaptation of Graham Greene's short story. It also has a banker who commits embezzlement and flees to Mexico, even though the banker in the newer film is a much more likable person - at least, Aidan Quinn makes him that. Both bankers achieve redemption in the end, but in very different ways, and this is where all the similarities end. Aidan Quinn, Mario Van Peebles and Andy Garcia are very good matches for their roles; actually, the whole actors' ensemble is impressive. Somebody described this flick as an action movie; in fact, it is not, even though tension builds up towards the end. Another reviewer doubted that the FBI budge could make such a profound impression on Mexican police and mercenaries; my take on it is, it surely can, especially if you don't forget that the events take place very close to the US border. Overall, it is a very good film, and I was pleasantly surprised with its quality (which includes camera work). It comes highly recommended.

I am a big fan of Polish cinema, so I decided to watch this flick on DVD (luckily enough, it was subtitled). I couldn't be more disappointed. Clichéd characters, a cheesy love story, all those not-so-funny jokes... And, what is worse, the actors turned it into a complete farce. The only thing that seemed OK was the camera work. As for the writing, it was shockingly bad. They made much better films in the past. If you want to watch a good Polish comedy, find a copy of Sexmission, a great science-fiction comedy directed by Machulski (I liked it much better than his famous Vabank). Don't waste your time on this dross!

It is arguably the most boring film I've ever seen in my life. Boring and pretentious. European cinema at its worst: no plot, no nothing. I wonder how the director started filming having such an empty script. The stilted monologue of the Portuguese woman who explains things to her daughter makes you feel uncomfortable, simply because you know most of the things, and don't really want to know the rest. The whole first part of the film sounds like a bad documentary from an educational channel: we could have read a guide-book, instead. If you want to watch a good film with an educational background, find a copy of Sophie's World: this is a great film. In the second half, Catherine Deneuve, Irene Papas and Stefania Sandrelly excel in a small talk, and so does John Malkovitch; they wouldn't stop for ages. You begin to anticipate some kind of deus ex machina, and here it duly comes in the form of a bomb. The Talking Picture isn't even bad, it is awful. Avoid!

I must admit to being quite surprised that some people think this film funny. In fact, this is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen: stupid, pretentious and containing some meaningless pseudo religious rubbish. There were wonderful films in this genre (religious comedy) - "Life of Brian" would be a good example - but this movie isn't one of them. It has some good actors in it - notably Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman - but they were unable to save the film. If you don't want to waste a couple of hours of your precious time, avoid this boring stuff! It won't offend you but it will make you yawn...