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dkmountainpark
Reviews
Ljubav i drugi zlocini (2008)
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Perhaps I am missing something from this movie. I sat in front of 6 Serbians who laughed and hooted throughout the movie. Another couple of reviews (on this site) indicate "What on earth is happening in Serbian film and how can we seem MORE?". I say, "What on earth is happening in Serbian films and where is the closest exit so I can leave".
I kept noticing a bunch of disconnects throughout the movie which irritated me. Milutin was fond of Besa me Mucho, supposedly because it reminded him of a previous love. This is understandable...
However, his daughter sings this song often also. Not sure why the daughter sings this song. Perhaps she sings this song to forge a connection to her mobster dad? And why is she chronically depressed and always on the verge of jumping off a building? Is this due to her living in this dismal environment. This theme is never explored or developed.
Stansilav also sings Besa Me Mucho. Why? Is it that this song evokes memories of a happier time? But this happier time was 14 years ago which certainly was no happy time in Serbia as this was during the war. There is a comment late in the movie (from Milutin's old love) that Stanislav looks like Milutin. This seems to intimate that Stanislav is Multin's son. If so, then Stanislav's mother is also Milutin's ex-lover. It is all so very convoluted.
Also, don't know why Milutin left this supposed love of his life (that we see later in the movie) to marry someone else (the mother of his daughter). Was the someone else pregnant? We never know why he left this grand love to take up with this other woman. Perhaps this was meant to point out we often don't know the best parts of our lives until they are in the rear view mirror.
Stanislav and Anica are a little more interesting, but again, Stanislav has been in love with this woman for 14 years supposedly for not much more than watching her nice breasts and seeing her romp in the concrete jungle courtyard in year's past. Oh yes, he also saw her naked body years ago after she had made love to some guy (who then got up and left). She hit the exiting lover over the head with a ladle and Stanislav thought this was engaging. Yes, don't we all hold fond/erotic thoughts of the opposite sex..especially if we are lucky enough to view them nude hitting a lover over the head with a kitchen utensil? These activities from Anica are certainly enough to peak a teenage boy's fancy, but not enough to sustain a love for 14 years.
The end is predictable. Milutin has to go (he is dying) and Stanislav gets killed. Yawn, yawn, snooze, snooze. I would cross this off my list of "must-see movies".
Mutluluk (2007)
My Favorite Seattle Film Festival Movie
Great movie and was particularly appealing as it covers so many topics/ angles/contrasts. It deals with many opposites.
Starts out with the portrayal of life in rural Turkey and ends up juxtaposing this with the new modern Turkish cultures and views. The opening scene of a barren lakeside with the lively visual of the teaming sheep being herded is breathtaking. It is still burned in my brain.
Displays people at their most inhuman and unfathomable to their most caring and compassionate. One moment you are repulsed by the depths of depravity that man can descend too and then rewarded by the caring and sublime that one can attain. You view parched, barren rocky landscapes then are treated to a seascape that makes you want to book an immediate trip to the Aegean.
There is a minor love story at play and all times the wonderful score interjects itself in the background. The scenery is transcendent. A must see.
Máncora (2008)
Unsettling
If I had viewed this in my 20's/30's I probably would given higher marks than now. The bohemianism, sexuality, beautiful faces and bodies, scenery and drugging would have been stimulating and enthralling. I notice that the under thirty crowd almost unanimously rates this a 10 and the over 30 rates it 6 or less.
I agree wholeheartedly with the Sundance Film Festival's review of this film. I left the theater underwhelmed. As one mellows, this kind of film appears frightening instead of exciting. It reminds one of all the near misses in this period of life, the drug trips that almost or did go bad, the effect of too much "intimacy". It is appealing that this film shows that Xime and Santi appear to come out okay on the other end (as they are basically good people), but still kind of portrays a fairy tale ending which is probably not really in sync with reality.
While there are some that have lived these lives and come out okay on the other end, there are seemingly many more who don't seem to recover from the detritus of these kinds of experiences. This film seems to glamorize this lifestyle which is my main objection to this film. I don't think it is accurate and no matter how you slice it, a brother is a brother (whether he is "step" or not.). Sleeping with your step-brother is just not cool. However, it is cinema, so I guess one should leave it at that.