MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS - CZŁOWIEK, KTÓRY SIĘ GAPIŁ NA KOZY

Dziwny film w tradycji powieści Vonneguta (KOCIA KOŁYSKA) i Hellera (CATCH 22), ale usytuowany współcześnie w Iraku.
Strange, absurd, beautifully acted, clever, but without any step forward - static and weird.
My rating: ***

To the reader in Poland:
Nie rozumiem, dlaczego tak często polski tytuł musi się różnić od oryginalnego: nie człowiek tylko mężczyźni, bo to film o armii i nie na kozy tylko na kozły, nie gapili tylko wpatrują się.

SINGLE MAN - SAMOTNY MĘŻCZYZNA

dir. by Tom Ford, USA 2009

In its aesthetics strongly inspired by MAD MEN, about the same epoch (US in the 1960's) and with similar quiet narration. Nicely photographed but pretentious, flat and finally - too much of everything, but without any deeper meaning. False and boring.

Film mocno inspirowany amerykańskim serialem MAD MEN z tej samej epoki, o podobnej atmosferze i tej samej estetyce lat 60-tych. Serial jest tylko dużo lepszy, bo lepiej napisany. Jest w nim tez mniej samozadowolenia, które cechuje "Single Man" - ten fałszywy, pretensjonalny i nudny film można spokojnie opuścić.

My rating is: **

HARMONY AND ME - HARMONY I JA

dir. by Bob Byington, 2009, USA
with Justin Rice, Kristen Tucker, Pat Healy, Alex Karpovsky

Well acted series of lose scenes. Some of them funny, but all together they make no sense. Good acting (Kristen Tucker as Jessica!) and fine editing cannot save this utterly stupid, stoned film.

my rating: 0
seen at the Off Plus Camera Festival in Cracow, April 25, 2010

WHATEVER WORKS- CO NAS KRĘCI, CO NAS PODNIECA

directed by Woody Allen, USA, 2009
Very funny, especially at the beginning. But after a while you feel like watching a French stage play from 1920-ties - it is all known, predictable, untrue and finally - not so funny. The audience watches it all in horror: Woody Allen's movie with somebody acting as him - impossible. Especially if the man's grin is made from porcelain and he pretends to be limping. At the end you expect him to limp with both legs - well, you will wait in vain.

my rating: *

HAM, HAM - SZYNKA, SZYNKA

(original title: Jamón, jamón), directed by Bigas Luna, Spanish, 1992

Sexy, funny, primitive and refreshing.

HAM, HAM is a Penelope Cruz first film, with wonderful parts by Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli, Anna Galiena and amazing Javier Bardem. Almost 20 years later (seen on March 21, 2010 in Kraków, Poland) the film remains a real fun to watch.

my rating:****

3:19

directed by Dany Saadia, Spanish, 2008

Intelligent and gentle but hopelessly slow, almost paralyzed and aiming to paralyze spectators. Avoid it.

my rating: *

HURTLOCKER - W PUŁAPCE WOJNY

directed by Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2009

Full of emotion, strong and emotionally pure. Very well made, clear, direct.

Even if there are some people who complain that this movie has not much to do with the reality, what it brings - its frankness, brutality, complexity of images of alienation - is for spectator more than enough. Film is never reality, I even doubt that we want reality when we go to the movies.
Beautifully directed, acted and cut - HURTLOCKER grips you and remains with you for days after.

my rating: *****

AKANBO SHÔJO - DZIECI Z PIEKŁA RODEM

dir. Yûdai Yamaguchi, Japan, 2008

primitive and dramatically long, almost plain stupid in its narrative but visually new, sometimes even surprising, you will be rewarded if you watch it to the end

my rating: **

THE GHOST WRITER - PISARZ WIDMO

by Roman Polański, France - Germany - UK, English spoken, 2010

A real pleasure to watch - intelligent and somehow nicely foreseeable, well acted and beautifully taken. Art direction raises several questions though (America not America, small and green Baltic waters as the ocean?) and so does the music (music or better none?).
Nevertheless - a must to see.

Was this mildly anti-US administration film enough to put Polanski back to jail after 32 years? Or was it just a coincidence? Life in a bizarre way connects with fiction.

my rating: ****

THE LIMITS OF CONTROL

by Jim Jarmusch, USA, 2009
beautiful imagery and an unusual narrative: this is the post-Tarantino Jarmusch;
equally primitive, but without Tarantino's primitive freshness
at some moment (starting from the unhappy appearance of one of most the interesting actresses of today's cinema - Tilda Swinton) - the movie gets stupid and stays that way until its much delayed end

my rating: **

LOURDES

by Jessica Hausner, French spoken Austrian production, 2009

an intelligent and subtle film, beautifully acted by French actress Sylvie Testud, who is unforgettable in the main part and truly deserves an Oscar for her creation

pity the film's pace is unusually slow - it feels like a novella stretched into a feature

my rating: **

WHITE RIBBON - BIAŁA WSTĄŻKA

by Michael Hanneke, Germany, 2009
important, true, very sad, beautiful
for some people too drastic to follow
a masterpiece

original title: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte
my rating: ******

AWAY WE GO - PARA NA ŻYCIE

by Sam Mendes, USA, 2009

sometimes funny but mostly dull, pretentious, full of false modesty
you will be angry at yourself if you went to see it

my rating: *

FISH TANK

directed by Andrea Arnold, UK, 2009
well made and very well acted but staying on the ground level, without any attempt to say anything of importance, making you depressed and sad instead

all together - a devious and malicious movie

my rating is: *

TAKING WOODSTOCK - ZDOBYĆ WOODSTOCK

dir. by Ang Lee, USA, 2009
subtle, funny, timid, very little of what we do not know
well acted, very American - not always of interest in Europe

my rating: **