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markmellon
Reviews
Durak (2014)
Who are you to mess with the system?
Durak is a gem of a movie. It showcases a rare combination of suspense and philosophical questioning, rendering it a very entertaining film that leaves you thinking about it way past the end credits.
The characters in Durak are well developed, even those that do not get a lot of screen time. We get to know them, see how they live, understand their priorities and their motives. Deeper than that though, where the movie really excels is in exposing the nature and mighty power of the highly entangled system of corruption and how each individual character is both its co-creator and its puppet.
In a city with a corrupt council, a 9-floor high building block is about to collapse. It needs to be urgently evacuated. The corrupt city officials face the prospect of criminal proceedings against them if hundreds of tenants die under the rubles. Will they be able to rise above the profitable network of kickbacks and favors that they have been milking for a long time? Or have they been diving too deep into the sweet scum of corruption to get into the surface on time to actually do something useful for their poor citizens?
What about the poor citizens themselves? Living for decades in a dilapidated building under miserable circumstances, one would guess that change is what they desperately need. But 30 years is a long time. It is time enough for people to get used to the situation, to get to know to hate it, but also to cling to it at the same time as the only tangible piece of reality that still belongs to them. Reality in the form of a derelict pile of bricks that nevertheless stands as a barrier between their life on the one hand and death lurking in the snowy streets on the other. A pile of bricks where corruption also thrives, with a thread made of vodka and violence menacing the residents but also structuring the network of reality around them. Will they be willing to forgo everything and start anew or are they also too entangled to a mighty system of their own, unable to leave it behind even in the prospect of imminent death?
The force that poses these questions and stirs things up is the protagonist, Durak. He sees reality as it is and is determined to do something about it. He has no other choice, letting things be and following the song of the Sirenes of corruption is just not like him. He is the Socratean fly that sends ripples through the system, that forces the system to face its own stink and atrocity. What does that make him? The Hero or the Fool?
Do not be mistaken and take a comfortable distance from this movie, classifying it as an interesting depiction of corruption in Russia. This is not about Russia, this movie is about you. In whatever place you might live, it's you that is also noticing the web of corruption around you and the injustice, the desperation and the misery that it causes. It's you that decides to silently take part in it, in little or greater measure, or at least let it be and try to make a living somehow. It's you that keeps thinking from time to time that someone needs to do something about it all, that you need to take action to help people, to help yourself. But what would that make you? The Hero or Durak, the Fool?
5 to 7 (2014)
A movie where every line spoken is a cliché
When I decided to see this movie I was aware that it played a little bit on stereotypes. American vs. French culture, clumsy writer vs. ex-model trophy wife and so forth. Boy was I in for a surprise!
The script of this movie is a feat of creative writing. It proves that yes, you can actually write a movie script where every single line spoken is a cliché and where every single character is a superficial caricature. The clumsy writer says all the things "clumsy writers" say. The beautiful French adulteress responds with everything that we would expect from a "French adulteress". They have an affair, but everybody is cool with it because this is how they do it "in France". You get the picture.
The screenwriter evidently thought that his little gem could find itself in no better hands than his own, so he decided to also direct the movie. This leaves us with the added bonus of visual clichés in addition to the linguistic ones. Look, when an actress behaves all the time like she's some kind of Venus walking on earth, it's not sexy or sensual, it's just cheesy and banal. And yes, you dear director, I think it's your fault that she does it like that.
The movie could have been promoted from a sad parody to a watchable run-of-the-mill romantic comedy if the actors had helped it a bit. But no, the actors are not really acting, just reading the miserable script. So, sad parody it will be.
My advice is save your precious time for something better. This is just a pretentious trashy movie that thinks of itself that since it has a "French" theme it must definitely be full of high culture and refinement. No, sorry, it just doesn't work like that.