STANDING STILL

FOTO: static.rogerebert.com

French-Canadian co-production about the substitute teacher coming from nowhere to take over the class that was traumatized by the former teacher suicide inside the classroom has all the ingredients of the European small scale drama, but somehow fails to fulfill all the potentials of it.

Acting is mediocre, plot is practically non-existent, but there are some quality questions opened when it comes to children’s trauma, growing up and relationships inside the classroom.

”Monsieur Lazhar” could have been a great school drama, but it isn’t. It’s just decent.

MONSIEUR LAZHAR - 4/10

LUKEWARM ARTSY

FOTO: hetfilmgesprek.nl

Dardenne brothers have child delinquency as the main subject of their movies, so ”The Child” represents no exception. The tale about the young hoodlum living on the outskirts of Paris, selling everything from babies to the goods he steals is a trademark European indie style drama.

Jeremie Renier is good as Bruno, while all the other characters aren’t pretty much developed. That goes for the plot itself, which is just plain heavy, leading nowhere.

”The Child” is a decent Belgian drama, but just a bit overprized (Palme D’or 2005).

L'ENFANT - 5/10

THERE’S SOMETHING FABULOUS IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

FOTO: billedbladet.dk 

Danish are the European Koreans when it comes to movie scripts. Denmark has apparently become a problem-free society, so the cineasts  tend to deal with the only remaining subject: disecting the family relationships.

And when it comes to family relationships, nobody does it better than Susanne Bier. Each and every one of her movies dealt with some twisted and unthinkable outside-the-box plots in the lives of common and civilized people.

”Second chance” won’t tell you much from its internet synopsis, but I guarantee it will blow your mind in the first fifteen minutes of it. Heart breaking and unimaginable decisions leading to unthinkable consequences will grip your heart and your soul firmly and won’t let it go until the very end.

Casting is as always when it comes to Danish modern cinematography nothing short of superb (Nikolaj Lie-Kass, Ulrich Thomssen and even Nikolaj Koster-Waldau) and the camera has that vintage ”dogma” stamp to its shake and close angle.

”Second chance” is a great drama with a big ”D” and a must see in this movie season.

SECOND CHANCE - 9/10

DARK, BUT HILARIOUS

FOTO: www.graffitiwithpunctuation.net

Argentinian runner for this year's best foreign language ”Oscar” is an omnibus of different tales based on the crimes from passion that differ in length and quality, but are joined together present one dark and cynical comedy. Some of the stories are just plain heavy (battle on the highway, hit and run) while the others are hilarious (towed cars, wedding).

Almost every significant Argentinian actor is there, led by the Ricardo Darin and each and every one of them gives their small contribution to the film as a whole.

Overall, ”Wild tales” is one of the finest representatives of quality Argentinian dark comedy.

WILD TALES - 8/10

DARK, BUT FUNNY

FOTO: static.rogerebert.com

John Michael McDonagh is one talented screenwriter and director. His filmography led me to ”The guard”, dark humored tale of the corrupted and politically incorrect policeman who likes drugs, alcohol and prostitutes and who, by chance, becomes the final obstacle between the trio of ruthless Irish drug smugglers that obtain heroin for the Ireland via Atlantic.

Brendan Gleeson is great in his lead role, while Mark Strong and Don Cheadle present a decent backup. Script is harsh, insulting and quite funny from time to time, but still falls short in terms of consistency.

”The Guard” is one solid dark humored comedy with an attitude.

THE GUARD - 6/10

PLAIN AWFUL

FOTO: www.filmovanje.com

Serbian movie is the only thing with less quality than the Serbian football. All the disadvantages of the modern Serbian movie are quite obvious, even inside trilateral co-production with Korean and Japan.

Overacting, ridiculous lines of the naïve script, cheap backdrop of Belgrade and a pathetic story of a successful tenor coming parts with his life after the thyroid gland surgery is just unwatchable.

”Tenor” is a waste of your precious free time and your hard earned money and deserves none of your attention.

TENOR - 1/10

DARK MULTINATIONAL GORE

FOTO: static.rogerebert.com

Cary Fukunaga is one superb moviemaker. Mix of cultures in his genome obviously led to some very interesting intertwining of the preferable styles and genres, mixing thriller with the noir.

However, in ”Sin nombre” everything is not noir, but pitch black. Subject of a renegade gang member trying to run from Salvador to the States is sometimes just too gruesome to watch, without any ray of hope until the very end.

Cinematography and action are really good and the concept that revolves around the freight train carrying immigrants is just great.

”Sin nombre” is a hefty and heart-chilling thriller for those with the stomach to take it.

SIN NOMBRE - 6/10

LONG LIVE KOREAN SCREENWRITERS!

FOTO: kofan.com

Americans used to know how to make a quality thriller and sell it to the world in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but they lost it. Koreans found that craftsmanship at the turn of centuries and revived the genre in the most beautiful way.

”Montage” has a superbly original script, built around the ageing case that has haunted the victim’s mother and the detective in charge of the case for a decade, but refuses to die off. Suspense is really high throughout, even though the action sequences tend to repeat themselves. The twists are powerful and unexpected. Even the ending isn’t your typical one, defeating the boring American ”safe” concept. When you add some superb cinematography and original angles to it, you get one really prominent movie.

”Montage” represents an absolute recommendation for the genre lovers, as well for everyone else.

MONTAGE - 8/10

SMELLS LIKE TRUE DETECTIVE

FOTO: cines-verdi.com

Detective movies/series has turned dark in the recent years, following the global trend of Scandinavian crime noir. ”La Isla minima” is the Spanish interpretation of this fashion, settled in the marshes of central Spain in first post-Franco years.

Crime itself is as expected, brutal and mysterious. Atmosphere is adequate for the subject and all the needed milestones in the plot are there, creating solid amount of tension throughout the movie. This is also the main problem for this flick, the predictability and the almost 100% safe ending.

However, „La Isla minima” is one solid detective crime thriller and a true representative of the latest fashion in the genre.

LA ISLA MINIMA - 6/10