J*A*S*M

(49th KVIFF) A serious competitor to Wolf of Wall Street for the most profanities per minute. A perfectly acted, sped-up emotional rollercoaster with amazing video-clip sequences wonderfully supported by brilliantly chosen songs (which makes quite some sense: choose a strong and well-known song, and half the work is done) that brought goosebumps. I was excited throughout and said that if the ending blows me away, this would be the festival’s most intense experience. But it didn’t. The character of the neighbour is surrounded by secrets all the time, but in the end it was nothing. For now, only four stars, but I feel it will grow. I’d love to watch it again. /// Edit: Now I can say that Mommy is hands down the film I think about the most, by far. It’s a bit what Dolan wants… so what. If it works, I don’t see anything wrong with attempting to make an exceptional film. And this one is so impressive, that I know want to watch his entire filmography. The idea of changing the format of the image is great.

(49th KVIFF) Don’t be afraid that this will be the ungratifying, non-genre experimental type of art that only art-educated viewers can appreciate. This one is a smart, out of the ordinary, emotional and slightly perverted brutal black comedy that I wasn’t expecting to disarm me so completely. When the first twist comes, after a relatively normal dramatic beginning, I started to have fun and laugh, and didn’t stop until the end. Du Welz at his best.

(49th KVIFF) If I’d stayed for the debate and had the cojones, I would have told the actor’s delegate that people didn’t leave the theatre because it was a “demanding, but lyrically beautiful film that rewards an attentive and focused viewer”, but because it’s an insufferable, boring piece of shit about nothing. The first, and I hope the last, film that has pissed me off in the festival. One start for the joke about shagging with clay. Amen.

(49th KVIFF) That feeling when you’re sitting in the cinema watching a movie and suddenly realise that film history is being written.

(49th KVIFF) The relatively bizarre portray of Czech rednecks, with almost Twin Peaks dimensions even, and a funny joke here and there are a plus. However, like many other Czech films, Nowhere in Moravia is missing a clear theme or plot, something that is manifest, for instance, by the fact that almost any of the scenes of the last twenty minutes could have easily been the last, and nothing would be left unsaid (because, they actually never had anything to say). Most of the humour, as it’s the unpleasant habit in Czech movies, follows the template of famous actor speaking foully or behaving like an idiot = funny. Though, to be fair, the template here is enriched with the Moravian dialect. What an innovation.

(49th KVIFF) An overall nice, refreshing and entertaining dramatic one-off that manages not to take itself too seriously for most of its run. But it doesn’t deviate at all from the well-known and the average.

(49th KVIFF) Michael, Maggie, Domhnall, I love you all.

(49th KVIFF) The tempo is easy-going, but the atmosphere is gripping, with the dirt, the desert, the hirsute hero, the endless Australian roads, the isolated buildings and the redneck post-apocalyptic population. Pearce and Pattinson are great. And it’s got some balls, as the midget will tell you. So, pretty satisfied, though Tarantino’s hype (OMG! OMG! the best post-apocalyptic movie since Mad Max) was, as expected, exaggerated, if not downright bollocks, as it’s usual with him. The final twist is (especially for me, those who know me will understand) utterly absurd, though the protagonist’s prior behaviour gives it at least some motivation.

(49th KVIFF) Blind is a brilliantly shot and acted drama, but it’s biggest strength is undoubtedly its script, in particular, the way it tells the story through editing and lets the viewer figure out what is actually going on. I think that everyone in the theatre noticed “those things I don’t want to reveal” and realised their meaning, as well as their link to a completely different film. The moment I realised it, I was ecstatic. These are the sort of things I like in films, and I can’t wait to watch this one again. There will certainly something to discover.

(49th KVIFF) If on top of everything, The Monk was also in black and white, it’d be exactly the stereotype of what the average person who’s never been to the Karlovy Vary festival, but considers it a boring and snobbish parade of boring art, imagines as a festival film.