reini-2 Reviews

There Will Be Blood (2007)

References to Eureka and 2001

[10/10 · 23 February 2008]

Similar to epic storyline of Nicholas Roeg's "Eureka" (1982-84), this is one of the most interesting epics in the last decades. In the first speechless quarter I waited for the "2001"-like jump-cut to something referring to the famous bone being thrown into the air, merging to the spaceship with the Richard Strauss music. Well, "There will be blood"'s music is more effective, and its story doesn't need such artificial separations into three different parts. The magic is the same. The raising oil-blood is even more effective than the bone scene.

Finally we are over the realism of the last 20 years, 60-80's overpowering film rhetorics always influenced P.T. Anderson more than contemporary colleagues. Scorsese might be a Coppola Wannabe, Anderson is the real master. And Anderson thankfully didn't made any references to the dreadful 50-style epics, which other critics always refer to.

Confort moderne (2000)

Political correct female crime story in TV quality

[2/10 · 12 November 2001]

Quite interesting story, but badly told and of very poor quality.

A married woman in her midage leaves her family in the search if she committed a murder. This naturally evolves to a psychological study. Formally kept back as it happens to be popular nowadays in French and Austrian films, an authentic - ugly heroine and setup, economic in its words and emotions, which might fail to keep you in the cinema or tv screen.

Not as bad as the typical US or German TV production, but almost.

Haixian (2001)

Typical far-east existentialism

[6/10 · 22 October 2001]

This might be the typical far-east existentialism everybody knows and likes/dislikes. But this one is different. It is a chinese dissident film, secretly filmed with a small DVD camera, and you don't see any cheap camera pictures. Great landscape (china in snow), great colors, great light, just our two main heros try to commit suicide. First she, then him. The girl, a prostitute travels to the touristic seaside to bring her depressing life to end, the police officer tries to hinder her, but fails. The seafood doesn't sexualize any contacts, not as promised, and the film is boring most of the time. But of great alternative-touristical interest, so you'll sit through it.

Canasta de cuentos mexicanos (1956)

mexican-american tourism advertising

[3/10 · 1 September 2001]

This old and poor mexican-american tourism advertising film of the awful 50'es is the current record holder of the worst film showed in the shortest period of repetitions on Austrian TV (Feb 2001, Sep 2001). This might reflect the current situation of the austrian government. "Nobody loves me, but look how beautiful I am. Let's hire a foreigner and let's make a wonderful movie of our country." The Austrian counterpart was called "1.April 2000 (1952)" and is by far funnier to watch than Canasta.

Dil Se.. (1998)

Unbelievable

[10/10 · 4 August 2001]

The problem with Hindi cinema is its very strong formalistic framework where it has to fit in. It must pass the censors, must be made for a billion of mostly analphabets and must contain a great number of song and dance scenes. Mani Ratnam is one (and only?) director who constantly extents this genre to embrace the producers, the popular audience and the critical and political aware intellectuals with his strong political claims ("Roja", "Bombay"). This one now beats it all and everybody (in India) talked about it. Such an end was not seen before in Hindi cinema, and all fits perfectly well (despite to what some other critics said). And it works even if you know the end before (which most do).

It's my current favorite. Technically superb, very sophisticated content, big fun and emotions. An american version would have been a typical political thriller about an unlucky love to a female terrorist, but Mani Ratnam gives us 300%. Not just the Indian Spielberg or Tsui Hark, this is more. Go for it.

Bombay (1995)

Spielberg, Listen

[4 August 2001]

This movie is often compared to Spielberg's "Schindler's List", as the one and only movie which actually works in this context and how Spielberg could have made it to express his strong pathetic and political emotions. What a shame that "Bombay" haven't got such a big audience.

The true life epos tells us the story of the Muslim-Hindu conflict 1995 in Bombay from the viewpoint of a young Muslim-Hindu couple doomed to leave their home town and families. This movie was made in the south, in Madras, shortly after the riots, and was immediately synchronized in Bombay to Hindi for the big audience. During the next three hours (the typical hindi movie length) everything works out fine, until the last thirty minutes where the Bombay riots suddenly break up everything. Mani Ratnam is the one and only director how dares to bring a song (every Hindi movie is a musical) during the very realistic war scenes, where such a scene actually works. Scenes where you are immediately reminded to how you would have shaken your head or laughed if this was just "Schindler's List". Imagine the jews singing in the last 30 minutes. Or the Trier train dance scene (for which you have to see "Dil Se") cut to the end. Not so here. They sing about the cruelty of war. Stop fighting. Crying, laughing, singing, dying, very close together. Where Trier sinks into unbelievable and childish anti-dead sentence pathos, Ratnam is still with the people, full of positive power. Incredible. A must see from one of the most important directors world-wide.

Gfrasta (1999)

angry short. perfect

[10/10 · 10 April 2001]

Sometimes 10 minutes are enough to tell everything. This is a perfect piece of art in the new viennese-realism style, without any bells and whistles, reduced to its minimum. One of my all-time favorites.

I guess you have to speak german pretty well to understand the dialect. Wonder if it's still that perfect for a subtitle reader.

Manila (2000)

Big Disappointment

[4/10 · 3 November 2000]

I've expected a lot from Manila, I even wanted to go to the premiere in Locarno. I thought this would have been the second best movie this year right behind the "Dancer in the Dark". Oh boy, what disappointment with both. "Manila" tries to cover the typical german character traits abroad we all know of: modesty, tolerance and cowardly. The only typical Karmakar trait is that there are still some good things in germans, as shown in the grand finale. The problem with the film is not the content per se, the content is correct, crowds of germans are truly hard to stand abroad, the problem is the quality of the film. Karmakar didn't want to realize that in his childish reaction to the Berlinale rejection. This is his first feature with a big cast and another author. The cast does grossly over-acting, the book (Bodo Kirchhoff) is over-simplifying and just bad. "Manila" is just a typical almost-province stage-drama by Bodo Kirchhoff, nothing more. We'll have to wait for the next good Karmakar, the "Himmler-Project". This has only one actor, should be manageable.

Together (2000)

Much better ending than Fucking Amal

[8/10 · 3 November 2000]

Angelo is right, this is much better than Fucking Amal, because it is funnier, and has a better story and finally an ending. Love to listen to Abba's "SOS" and to see good old commune life-style. Had a lot of good laughs, one of my best movies I've seen this year, right behind "Eureka" and "You Can Count on Me".

Warheads (1993)

War as profession, war as drug

[10/10 · 4 July 2000]

Interviews with mercenaries, in private training camps and in real world situations, Gospic, Croatia. War as profession, war as drug. The two main characters are the German retired foreign legionnaire Lieutenant Aschenbrenner and British mercenary Karl. Karmakar first movie tries to portrait people which you wouldn't normally talk at all as ordinary people in exceptional situations. Only sometimes the whole insanity shines throw. A moral masterpiece, commenting but not condemning.