POMO

Tod Browning excels as a storyteller. With a precise psychological brush, he presents to us handicapped beings as people who can love, desire, dream and feel envy. And he triumphs narratively by putting them in conflict with able-bodied people, who are the real “freaks”. However, these are only pieces of a puzzle that, as a whole, does not make a complete cinematic impact on the viewer, who longs for something more than merely seeing something that hasn’t been seen before (e.g. an armless, legless man lighting a cigarette). The plot is rather banal, with a lightweight conclusion. And other than the necessary acknowledgement of Browning’s courage to make something like this in the 1930s, what’s left is only an unusual experience and a subject for a brief discussion. For that reason, I’m not giving Freaks my highest rating.

The City of Lost Children is mandatory viewing for everyone who says Tim Burton is weird. This extremely strange fantasy will either completely captivate you or you will stare at it with your mouth open and it will leave you with nothing. I’m in the latter group of viewers, just as in the case of Delicatessen.

Train of Life is an intelligent, sophisticated and directorially original film. But it’s also cold. What you prefer is only up to you. I prefer the warmth of Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful, for example.

We spend eighty minutes watching a group of scientists and a group of soldiers in an underground bunker argue over who is in charge and whether it makes sense to conduct scientific research into the zombies that inhabit the surface. B-movie actors, B-movie dialogue. Actually, it’s not dialogue, but rather screaming. Constant screaming. The level of brutality is good, but the zombies themselves fall short of those created by Lucio Fulci. And after those eighty minutes of conversational misery comes a meagre reward. There is only one positive thing in Day of the Dead, namely the acting performance of the man hiding behind the mask of the captured zombie. If everyone had done their job with as much passion as he did, this film would have turned out better.

Anna and the King is a nice, delicate film, but it’s too long for the few quivers of emotion that it offers. The beautiful production design and the fluidity around the central duo triumph over the weaker narrative engine. Chow Yun-Fat is a charismatic king and Jodie Foster is great as always, though I would have preferred to see Cate Blanchett in the role of Anna.

If you once liked Rocky and you still haven’t grown out of it, you’ll enjoy 8 Mile. But I found it a bit boring and too simple. That’s not the fault of either director Curtis Hanson or Eminem, but of the system that rules in the gritty neighborhoods of America’s big cities.

Quills is brilliant in its visual aspect and acting, but inconsistent in its content. Cynicism and provocation conflict with dramatic romance and the credibility of the relationships. Mixed feelings from a haphazardly mixed cocktail. The filmmakers apparently thought that this contradictory content would ensure that controversy would inevitiably arise around the film. Maybe they succeeded in that, but it didn’t make Quills any better.

Kubrick embarked on several space odysseys because of existential questions, only to finally realise on the last one that the only thing that makes sense in life is a proper fuck. The question is whether he’s right. His brilliance and advanced age, and the not insignificant weight of the message – his last – confirm that he is. Eyes Wide Shut is three hours of psychological and stylistic ecstasy.

THX 1138 is a very distinctive and visually captivating depiction of an unhappy future in which microchips take command over human feelings, needs and desires. At first, the ubiquitous beeping, robotic voices and displays might get on your nerves, but once you get in tune with the story, a thrilling experience with a powerful conclusion awaits you, though it’s perhaps not as shocking today as it was at the time of its release.

Johnny English is an elegantly shot film, but it makes you laugh less than you would have expected. Natalie Imbruglia doesn’t know how to act with her eyes and John Malkovich is “terrible”! :-) Rowan Atkinson is fine and he looks surprisingly good in an elegant suit. I want to see him in a dramatic role!