Reviews

Cute and comforting – that's how one can describe this movie. The kind of "cuteness" that 'Cinema Paradiso' or 'The spirit of the beehive' or 'The grand highway' presents you with.

All-too-well-known characters, all-too-well-known days, but how much of a character resides beneath the surface? How much of a "special day" resides underneath a humdrum-'everyday'? - This movie is an authentic documentation of all our 'could-have-been' dreams of mundane 'everyday's. Doesn't matter if you are not a farmer in Switzerland, doesn't matter if you are not familiar with country life, you'll still be able to relate yourself perfectly with the main character, you'll still want to have your own small moped.

The movie has a number of strong points, the best to me being, sense of restraint of director Yves Yersin. As a result of this pinpoint precision, despite an inviting subject matter, the movie never imposes abstractness on viewers. While it never drifts too away from reality, it doesn't dwell merely in the reality. – Not many films can be attributed with this rare quality.

I recommend this movie strongly, it's a real gem.

How come some films make us so sad and yet, we appreciate the sheer beauty in them? The film 'A Saturday On Earth' is one of those serenely depressing movies. In my opinion, it is an absolute masterpiece.

Films are meant to be saga of images, at least primarily. But very few works can make images talk. In fact, the absence of saga of talking images is so pervasive a trend in modern movies that only rarely one gets to experience the taste of such a chronicle. 'A Saturday On Earth' is one of those rare and pleasant aberrations. This entire movie is a continuous journey across detached (but not independent) images; each of which, like a separate Haiku, depicts the contrast between bleak interiors and dazzlingly lit verdant green pastures of French countryside.

This movie is a veritable exhibition of filmatic restraint. Character studies, when performed from the perspective of sensitive restraint, often results into poetry. Its no wonder therefore that poetry drips from many of the scenes of this work. Delightful photography and the non-linear mode of presentation of the entire collage merely heightens this poetic appeal. From the (apparently) chaotic introductions to characters in the beginning, a story slowly emerges. From a set of trivial coincidences, the sense of coherence emerges. Thanks to deft editing, one can pick up the broken pieces of unifying thread between the frames. – As a result, in the end, the (apparently) random sequence of frames nicely form a pretty little sad story.

I reiterate, to me, this movie is a modern masterpiece.

This is not exactly a neat and slick production in the Hollywood sense. You may find ample number of "rough edges" here and there, but there's heart in this work. Sheer honesty of the entire effort will touch you.

Harmony of perceptive (as well as intelligent) camera work with crystalline conciseness of direction, ensured that wrecked and derelict outdoor is reflected from interiors of Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroue; - regularly. – Such consistency is not easily achievable, but the script-direction combination pulls it off here.

Structure of the movie is such that every time one starts to (slowly) slip into a nice little groove of a story-like niche, it is abruptly broken; apparently telling the viewer that probably it is too early and too unrealistic to feel the trance of a storyline when one's survival – and merely that survival itself – can be hailed as an achievement. The detached self of the viewer, therefore, is made to stay in his/her realm of logic, - throughout. In other words, viewer is prohibited to enter the realm of his/her emotion. – Such Brecht-like treatment of the subject matter adds a rare dimensionality to this film.

This is one of those nonconforming "serious" movies that won't bore you ever. In fact, to me, not a single shot of this movie is redundant.

You might not find it to be a "feel-good" movie, but most certainly you'll have an unmatched and unforgettable cinematic experience. Watch this movie.

Watch this movie, you'll like it. This is funny, but not blunt; sensual but not pornography; fable-based but never too far away from "reality".

If you merely watch it to have a nice funny time, you can have it all the way through. But if you are film-buff, with inclination for "serious stuff", believe me, there's something in for you too. For example, just have a look at the very first shots. The sense of color contrast and sheer idea of perspective of the 5 opening minutes will make you remember Jodorowski's 'The Mole'. Title music sets you up appropriately with lots of typical Arabic movements. A look at the set and costumes will suggest the presence of adequate sincerity that should mark a period movie.

Humor forms the pivot of this movie. But its not cheap and blunt humor. Director Antonio Margheriti has done a good job by maintaining the level of subdued humor (almost) intact throughout the entire course of the movie.

Filming fairy-tales, and that too extremely popular ones, isn't the easiest of the jobs. In many of the cases, they tend to become stale. But this one stays afloat all along. It seems to me that staleness of the contemporary fairy-tale movies can largely be attributed to the use of unbridled and incessant stream of 'special effects'. Pleasant absence of these dreadful 'special effects' makes this movie even more watchable. Primitive versions of 'special effects', as have been tried in a few cases here, do not let your jaw drop in assessing the absurdity, it merely makes the viewing enjoyable.

Nonetheless, even with all these features, movie becomes tad monotonous as it progresses; but the uni-dimensionality of the fable would have to be blamed for that. Mind you, level of this monotony never reaches (even half of) the threshold as to prompt you to not view it.

There's a thin line that separates erotic story-telling from pornography. This line was never breached here. As a result, the film remains pleasing till the end.

All the basic ingredients of a good movie can be found here. While one shouldn't call it a masterpiece, this can surely be considered within the select set of top-class fable-oriented and/or fantasy-oriented movies.

All in all, if you want to spend a lazy weekend afternoon with a movie that does not demand a great level of concentration and is funny without being cheap, this fits the bill perfectly.

This is a difficult movie to follow. If you want to relax on a weekend with this one on the screen, you will probably make a wrong call.

Remember Jodorowski? 'The Mole', for example? Visual appeal of this movie is almost as stunning as that we found in some of the Jodorowski movies. Here I am talking about 'visual appeal' in all its avatars. Starting from spectacular cinematography, to astonishing the sense of perspective; starting from subdued yet suggestive use of colors to startling montages - 'Jovana Lukina' will present you with ample eye-catching goodies. The fact that this work is highly stylized, helps in appreciating these visually appealing aspects. This is not all. If you have a background in proscenium theater, you will enjoy the stellar use of typical theatrical formations too. One gets an idea that, probably, a lot of time was spent during the casting of this movie too; which lends (almost) each and every character of this movie with their distinct archetypal looks. - This movie helps the viewer to learn many things.

Why then, after writing all these nice words, I call it a "(rather) forgettable" movie? - Simply because, classic films provide something for the grey-matter too. In that front, there's nothing else other than thundering silence that this movie can present you with. The script is so poorly written that at times, you would be tempted to say "to hell with this nonsense". But one cannot entirely blame poor script, the basic storyline underlying the script is so lousy that at times you feel like asking yourself "did they at all want to be serious?" – There's nothing wrong in having minimal dialogue; but dialogue should at least imply something deep. Shallow conversations couldn't hold the depth of visual appeal of this movie; - that's a shame.

Performances, in general, compete with scriptwriting and story in their astonishing level of incompetence. At times they were so unprofessional, preposterous and ludicrous that you might wonder "haven't these guys ever acted even in their annual school shows?".. As a result, almost all the characters of this movie, all throughout the duration, hover over the murky boundary between being improbable and unlikely.

An absence of suggestive music completes the long list of absentees, without whom a creation cannot expect itself to be called a 'movie'.

Cinema is an amalgamation of all the art forms; imagery, however brilliant, cannot make movies by themselves. I understand that all movies might not necessarily delve into "realism"; but that does not imply an overwhelming lack of every other cinematic factor, barring, of course, the stunning visual appeal.

Merima Isakovic, in the character of Jovana, is good looking. Her beauty, not dazzling but classical, helps the viewer to go through scores of mind-numbing yet visually attractive scenes.