jherr Reviews

Cargo 200 (2007)

Probably a bit darker than it needs to be

[6/10 · 18 April 2008]

In my opinion, Malenkaya Vera is a better film at showing the decay of the USSR in it's last days. It's also more accessible to the foreign viewer. There was a lot that was lost in translation in Gruz 200, and it requires more knowledge of Soviet history to truly understand the film. That said, the look of the film was very good. The soundtrack is effective too. The disco scene at the beginning was one of my favorites, especially with the guys doing the robot in the background.

Balabanov is heavy handed as usual, but then that is part of what I enjoy about his films. He is truly an original filmmaker. He should also be commended for trying to put an end to unwarranted nostalgia for the Soviet Union.

Quiet Flows the Don (1957)

Great Cossack Epic

[8/10 · 28 December 2007]

I would highly recommend this film to anyone that is interested in Cossack history and culture and/or early Soviet history. However, if you don't already have an interest in these areas, you will likely find the films very slow and boring. All three parts take some patience to watch due to their length and pacing, especially the first part which really isn't all that exciting and is more of a soap opera as others have mentioned.

A couple bits of advice for the foreign/western viewer:

1. The first part may not be as exciting as the last two, but it introduces you to all the characters in the film and fleshes out their relations to each other. To get the most out of the parts 2 and 3, it is important to make an effort to put names to faces and note how each character is related to each other.

2. The films were made for audiences that already had some knowledge of Cossacks and this period in history (WWI, Russian revolution, and the civil war). There are scenes that take place in parts 2 and 3 that no background information is given on, and if you are not familiar with the history will be somewhat confusing. It is highly recommended that one do a little reading online on Cossack history during this period before viewing this miniseries. It would also help to have a basic understanding of Russian revolution and subsequent civil war.

Blind Man's Bluff (2005)

Cold hearted parody of your standard russki gangster flick

[8/10 · 16 November 2007]

This is one of the best Russian comedies I have seen in a while. Russian comedy can be a bit too subtle or sappy sometimes and as a result not very accessible to the foreign viewer. This movie doesn't have that problem, although it is obvious that a lot of the humor is still lost in the translation, even more so if the movie is dubbed. The comedy is brutal and unapologetic. In fact, there were times that I thought the violence was a bit too much, even for a dark comedy. If you don't have a stomach for violence, you will likely not be able to enjoy this film.

Loved Nikita Mikhalkov's performance in this film. I think this is the first comedy I have seen him in and he makes a great comedic actor. The scene between him and the architect was probably the funniest for me. The poor, poor Russian middle class, they have always gotten the short end of the stick.

Schizo (2004)

Good Kazakh Flick

[8/10 · 3 February 2007]

If you are sitting at home and thinking: "you know, I would like to see a film dealing with life in present day Kazakhstan. Something with a fairly clean, simple plot, good direction, nice visuals, and a storyline that takes its time", then I would highly recommend this film.

It should be noted that this is a slow film. There is nothing really that happens in the film that is surprising if you are somewhat aware of the living conditions in central asia. I would say that the film's best feature is that is seems to do a pretty good job of giving the viewer an idea of what life is like in rural Kazakhstan.

Svoi (2004)

Different type of WWII movie

[7/10 · 2 February 2007]

This is a WWII movie that deals more with the dilemma many people dealt with who lived in areas like Finland, the Baltics, Poland, the Ukraine, etc. Basically, they found themselves sandwiched between two totalitarian regimes. While some obviously saw the Nazis for what they were, to others, the Nazis where seen as liberators from Stalin's repressions. For instance, if your whole family had either been sent off to the gulags or starved to death due to Stalin's collectivization of agriculture, anybody who would free you from the people who perpetrated that sort of evil had to seem like saviors.

Best I could tell, the movie takes place either in present day Finland or the Karelia region of Russia. One of the characters in the movie is referred to as a Chekist. To those who may not be polished on their early soviet history, the Cheka was the predecessor of the NKVD. Actually by the 40's, the Cheka had already been incorporated into the NKVD. Anyway, this is an important fact to know to understand the relationship between two of the characters in the movie and why they distrust each other.

If you have seen the Finnish film Kukushka and liked it, you will likely also enjoy this film.

Sisters (2001)

Great, Original Russian Drama

[10/10 · 2 February 2007]

I really liked this one. I have been on somewhat of a Russian movie bender for the last 4 or 5 months. Most of the movies I have seen have been unremarkable, basically repackage Hollywood with a Russian veneer. However, there have been a few films that have stuck out as something different, films that could only be made in Russia.

I have never been to Russia so I cannot say that the film has any bearing in reality. However, the film seemed real, in the same way that reality can be stranger than fiction. One of the things I loved about this movie is that none of it is filmed in Moscow or St. Petersburg (as far as I could tell). That is pretty rare for a Russia drama that deals solely with the human condition. You get to see a lot of the small town and semi-rural (dascha) parts of Russia in this movie, which is much more interesting than seeing St. Basil's Cathedral for the umteenth millionth time.

The soundtrack in this movie is probably my most favorite of any Russian movie I have seen. It actually works with the screen material and reminds me a lot of movies like Brat and Bumer. There are parts of the film that seem a bit unpolished and awkward, but overall, this is definitely one film to check out if you are into Russia films and culture.

Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)

This movie had a different effect on me

[7/10 · 12 January 2007]

As other have commented, the movie tries to apply a relatively even hand to both sides of the chechen conflict, possibly being a little more biased to the chechen point of view. What surprised me about this movie was that I came out of it more supportive of the Russian side of the conflict. Let me explain: Lets say you are a American living in present day Wyoming. Now imagine if there still existed unassimilated cheyenne indians in the area living out their old traditions and who would still periodically conduct war parties and scalp and kill anyone they found who was not a part of their tribe. If you are living in Wyoming, taking trips outside urbanized areas becomes quite harrowing. Such conditions would make one lose one's fascination of Indian culture quite rapidly.

Present day conditions in the Caucauses are not so much different than the hypothetical example given above. These traditional Islamic cultures can be extraordinarily savage and haven't progressed much in the last 1000 years. The only current technology they have embraced is that which allows them to kill more people.

The movie is well written and directed. It does try to be as honest as humanly possible with the subject matter. As a result, one is not preached to and allowed to make up their own mind, which is very rare in film.

Zhest (2006)

Had potential

[4/10 · 12 January 2007]

The first half of the movie seems promising but the last half is just muddled and incoherent. By the end of the movie, I couldn't wait for it to end.

It could have been due to the quality of the .srt file I found, but the dialogue seemed really lame and pointless most of the time.

The idea of a abandoned dacha village was kind of interesting. The early scenes in the village reminded be of Deliverance, sort of.

In the end, character development for most of the characters was non-existent, causing one to care less about the what happened to them. Still, if you have nothing better to do, it is worth watching just for the fact that Babenko is in it.

Day of the Full Moon (1998)

Like Slacker only with out the talking

[4/10 · 1 November 2006]

The movie format follows the same type of format as Slacker, where the movie jumps from one character to another, dwelling on each for a short period of time, showing some facet of life in Moscow. Also, just like Slacker, all the characters appear to be amateurs, and unfortunately quite often it is painfully apparent. Its pretty bad when a dog in the movie probably provides one of the best performances.

Unlike Slacker, the dialogue is very spare, with many of the characters never even saying a word. The movie is pretty slow and meandering. I like slow movies, but sometimes even this movie tested my patience.

I would agree with the commenter who said that the movie may be of some interest if you are not from Russia. Otherwise, probably not worth your time.

Babusya (2003)

Old Russia meets new (1990's were not kind to Russia)

[10/10 · 21 October 2006]

Many people in the West have a difficult time understanding why Russian's seem to be so indifferent or even supportive of the slow erosion of freedom currently underway under Putin's regime. Some of this is due to the fact that Western media makes Putin's "reforms" seem much worse than they really are. However, much of this misunderstanding in the West is due, in large part, to the West's ignorance of all the troubles the peoples of the former USSR have had to suffer in the 1990's. These troubles have shaken up society so much in Russia, that stability is what matters now, more than anything else.

This film does a fairly good job of presenting much of the societal upheaval that took place during the 90's in Russia, by focusing on the relationships of one family that had to live through them. The film portrays traditional Russian (rural) culture and its conflicts with the new. At times the subject matter can be very funny and at other times downright heart breaking.

The acting, writing, and direction are all superb. This is one of those movies that I would say is a must see for anyone that is interested in Russian cinema.

Elephant (2003)

What is the point of being pointless

[1/10 · 3 June 2005]

Movies I dislike fit into two main categories: those that are just dumb like "Dude Where's My Car" and those that try so hard and just fail on every level. This movie fits into the second category.

I consider myself pretty open-minded when it comes to movies. I try to go into watching one without any preconceived notions or expectations and just go with the flow, allowing the director to fill the void. That void still exists after watching this movie. I don't know how Van Sant ever got a reputation for being a good director because this movie has amateur written all over it. The dialogue I assume was supposed to be ad-libbed to make it seem more realistic. Complete and utter failure. The result was what you would expect when you take some kids that have no acting talent, point a camera at them, and say, "Go". As far as I can tell, that was the extent of the direction on this film.

The dialogue was not the only thing that was unrealistic, about everything else depicted in the film was divorced from reality was well. Let's just quickly list a few examples: 1. It has been a few years since I was in high school but I am pretty sure they still don't let you just walk around wherever you like whenever you like. The only time you could be in the hall was in-between classes and that period was only about 5 minutes long. Otherwise you had to have a note from a teacher. You could not just leave school whenever you wanted by going into the principal's office and saying you were leaving.

2. What school district has the money to have empty schoolrooms that are used for nothing? 3. Nobody except a federally licensed firearm dealer can buy firearms through the mail. It is called the Gun Control Act and it was passed in 1968.

American public schools were realistically depicted in this movie about as much as the joy of childbirth was depicted in "Eraserhead".

With the given subject matter, I agree that the film should not be heavy handed in trying to explain the cause of such behavior. Such explanations would only be the result of the biases of the director and not allow the viewer to make their own conclusions. However, for this to work, you have to have a movie that is firmly seated in reality and takes the time for character development. This movie did neither.

Cabin Fever (2002)

Surprisingly Good

[17 November 2003]

Me and a few friends decided to go see this movie a couple nights ago, thinking it would be another stupid teenage horror flick. I figured we would all walk out of the movie afterwards commenting about how much the movie sucked and dogging on me for suggesting we see it. Boy was I wrong, this movie kicked ass. This is one of those movies that is so delightfully cheesy, gory, and odd that you just have to laugh and groan along with it. Just when you think the movie is starting to go into standard horror movie plot mode, some odd character will show up out of the blue or some odd event will happen to keeps things quirky and fresh.

You may enjoy this movie more if you are older and have a more cynical view of the blissful ignorance we all had when we were young. The end result of the budding romance was priceless yet so screwed up, especially with that dream sequence at the end that goes from happy times through a soft filter lense to the stark end result.

You also have to love the way the movie has all the elements of the old horror flicks: gore, violence, nudity, strong language, adult situations, etc., that the more recent teen horror flicks have been whitewashed of. Definitly not a movie for the little ones, but a refreshing reminder of the dorky ways of one's youth where my friends would be too embarrassed to rent a straight up sex flick so we would rent horror flicks instead just to see the brief shots of naked chicks, though we would never admit it. It's amazing we didn't turn out more screwed up that we did, now that I think about it.

So many delightfully odd characters in this movie too, with Dennis obviously stealing the show. Hell, any movie that has a kid with a mullet and a penchant for bitting and kung fu is a winner in my book. The big redneck with the little box was also great, you have to love characters that just make you scratch your head.

All in all, a good flick for those of you that like a good tongue-in-cheek horror flick with odd characters. One of those movies best watched with friends, making smartass quips at the screen that only your friends would find funny.

Basic (2003)

Only stupid people who think they are smart would like this

[29 July 2003]

SPOILER ALERT!!! I think the writer for this dreck broke every rule in the book on what not to do when trying to write a script that has any value whatsoever. I might be spoiling the ending here, but basically the movie's plot consists of characters telling multiple lies, which are presented to the audience as reality, so as to seem as though the plot has twists.

To put this in perspective, I could write a movie about a kid who kills his parents, but then we find out his parents aren't dead because the kid never existed, but then we find out the parents never existed because the story was just a dream some guy had after a hit of acid.

Pathetic.

28 Days Later (2002)

Some parts hard to believe

[29 June 2003]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Overall, the film was pretty good but there were some cultural influences that made if hard for me to identify with the characters and some of the plot line. Others will sum up the plot of the movie so I won't bother with a synopsis of the film.

**possible spoilers**

I don't know what it is with the prevalence of male nudity in British movies and television, but it did start me to thinking about the differences between American culture and the rest of the world, specifically Europe. So what does this have to do with the film? Well first off, if I were stranded in a city, surrounded by infected humans that want to kill me, I would not choose a bat or machete to defend myself with. I would find a firearm and make sure I had an ample supply of ammo for it. Why let the infected get within arms reach of you to kill them, when you can kill them from afar? Granted, this is England and people can't own firearms for the most part, so I could understand it if they were limited to Paleolithic era weapons. But then during the later part of the film, the main character, in a house filled with the infected, basically throws away a rifle he found and decides he would be better off bare handed. Why? While I am on the subject of firearms, it was also noted that the military guys in the film handled their weapons like, well, actors. Pretty much had to suspend all disbelief when `trained' soldiers started shooting from the hip.

Like most other movies I have seen, naturally the military guys are mean-spirited and messed up. Why make them out to be boogiemen, why not make them human like the main characters of the film? Why do films always have to portray military characters so one-dimensionally? Would real soldiers be so hard up after only one month without sex, that they would resort themselves to raping the first females they came in contact with? For a film that is supposed to explore the human condition, it completely failed on this aspect of the movie.

Finally, why did the main character go berserk at the end of the film and kill off the non-infected? Ok, I can understand him not being so fond of the idea of the soldiers raping his friends, but he seemed to go a bit overboard in trying to save them. After letting one of the infected loose, that obviously cause enough of a diversion that he could get his friends out without too much resistance. Why did he feel the need go out of his way to brutally kill any un-infected soldier he came in contact with? Did he really need to gouge out the eyes of one of the bad guys to save his girl? Once again, I found the film lacking in portraying real human emotions.

Overall, I did find the film interesting, and aside from its problems, was well worth the time to watch.