J*A*S*M

51st KVIFF – you can find a similar topic in every other film from the Arabian world, and it always works: the rebellion of a young woman against the strict patriarchal order that will either end up well or not. Last year it was Mustang, this year is Sand Storm. This one is less artsy and less tense, but at the same time, more realistic. A nice 8/10.

51st KVIFF - completely off the mark. In a rational person, the “funny” sequences will probably arouse concern and fear. That psychopath commanding a radical, potentially terrorist cell in the forest should end up behind bars, instead of back in the family circle in the style of “we all love each other”. When it looks like the voice of reason will prevail (Frank Langella’s), it ends up being flushed down the toilet. I’m allergic to this alternative stuff, so I was hostile against this film from the beginning. The rating might be too harsh, but it comes from the heart. If you feel otherwise, you’ll be satisfied.

51st KVIFF - it moves on the verge of emotional blackmail, but I was so engrossed that I didn’t mind. A couple of times it made me raise my eyebrows and roll my eyes because it was getting a bit too close to a tear-jerker.

51st KVIFF - in probably every edition there is at least one film about how poorly practised religion breeds evil. This year is The Student, and it’s hard.

51st KVIFF - nothing against it. A pleasant human film with a welcome lighter tone than other tense dramas, but in a couple of days I will forget that I watched it.

51st KVIFF - a relatively interesting conspiracy documentary where you don’t know what to believe in, and whether the creators themselves are serious about those implicit conclusions or not. And an insignificant plus for the Croatian island of Pag, I recognised some of the places.

51st KVIFF - terribly uninteresting and boring. I slept through almost half of it, but, according to what my mate told me, I didn’t miss anything.

51st KVIFF - exactly what you expect from Mungiu, nothing more than that, unfortunately.

51st KVIFF - who would have said that the Germans could make something so funny and emotionally candid! Brilliant!

51st KVIFF - I feel that this film doesn’t provide a more in-depth image of the relationship of Clara with that flat, and as a result, for most of it, instead of understanding her motivations and sympathising with her efforts to preserve the place where she has lived all her life (which would be a relevant motif, if well developed), she ends up looking like a stuck-up neomarxist ecowarrior, pitted against the evil developers under the banner of “nothing will be built here simply because I don’t want it”. Perhaps a deeper knowledge of the realities of Brazil could help.