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Taxi Driver (1976)
Still fresh after 45 years.
"Taxi Driver" - riskily perceived for the first time - turned out to be unexpectedly current, fresh, still with the feeling that it was brilliantly made and quite pleasantly - without boredom - watched. Mainly due to the universal message: things are bad in the state, it is affected by a disease, like a cancer, spreading to wider and wider circles of society, and it is the duty of a citizen to stand on the side of law, justice and other established values and to express his opposition through vigorous actions. The protagonist of the picture - a former Vietnam War veteran - opposes himself in a specific way. He takes a gun in his hands and intends to use it against what he believes is the source of evil and decay, i.e. The presidential candidate in the next election. A timely assassination attempt thwarted by security causes Travis Bickle (the timeless Robert DeNiro!) to change the object of his "interest". He turns to his newly met acquaintances: the Hispanic pimp Sport (good Harvey Keitel) and the place and people associated with the business practiced by the gang. With one exception: not against the juvenile prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster's screen debut), whom he sympathized with and tried to help, including by taking her away from her "business" friends and from practicing "the world's oldest profession."
The controversy is that in order to fix the world, the hero himself inflicts pain and suffering on others, and it doesn't change much that his subjects themselves are involved in evil and lawlessness and are actually to blame for themselves.
As Chicago Reader reviewer Jonathan Rosenbaum described the picture in January 2000, "Perhaps the most formally gripping - as well as the most morally and ideologically problematic - film of Martin Scorsese's career." It is hard to disagree with this opinion. _Witek Rusin.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Ordinary robber or Robin Hood? Demystifying the legend of the Wild West.
An innovatively treated psychological story from the history of the American Wild West in the guise of an anti-western, refuting the myths sanctified by popular history, but at the same time suggesting a range of motivations that perpetuate the legend: Jesse James - a common thug, cutthroat and quite ordinary robber (at the same time a cruel and common murderer) is full of internal dilemmas and allows take his own life, only to later posthumously scare the public with his images and triumph in the press, and on provincial cinema theater stages in traveling performances he is killed again and again by the ambiguous and mysterious figure of Robert Ford. Subversive yet captivating, with minimalist (Philip Glass, Michael Nyman) and melancholy music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and captivating monochrome photography by Roger Deakins (Oscar nomination in 2008). A film surprising with its pronunciation and formal solutions, distinguished by good roles performed by: Sam Rockwell, Casey Affleck - worthy of the 2008 Oscar nomination (then Javier Bardem triumphed for the unforgettable role of Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men" by the brothers Cohen from 2007) and - in an unusual employment - Brad Pitt. A cinema not to be missed for viewers who feel ambitious ecstasy.
Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (2020)
Rather Besty than Baeautiful!
The powerful Helmut Newton (Helmut Neustädter, German/Australian fashion and nude photographer) behind his camera strips these not-so-weak women of their clothes in often surprising circumstances, in bizarre poses, often with frowning faces. They accept this, admire the resulting photographs and are grateful to him for allowing them in front of the camera, often pushing their way through the queue of those waiting their turn. Barely an attempt to expose an artist specialising in female nudes, which provokes contradictory opinions. Instead of an honest portrait and an insightful analysis of the artist's achievements, the adoration of female flatterers (not a single male reference!) from Anna Wintour to Isabella Rossellini, Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling, Marianne Faithfull, Claudie Schiffer and Hanna Schygulla to Susan Sontag. She was the only one - while having nothing for Newton himself - to distance herself decisively from the products of his work and allow herself to assess them critically ("...victims, as in Stockholm syndrome, fall in love with the abuser..."). _ Witek Rusin.
Race (2016)
Great and real story, but bad adaptation.
Nov 04, 2022
I came, I saw, and (metaphorically) I almost threw up. This is the 2016 biopic about Jesse Owens. Schematic, mega in the American, unbearable manner of grandeur and uniqueness of the overseas nation, as well as simple as not trying on the construction of a propaganda stick. It is a pity, because the story of the four-time gold medalist of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, the dark-skinned Jesse Owens, is a glorious story about the triumph of a diverse, often colorful human community on Earth over the sinister, Nazi ideology of the German state - the host of the Games hostile to any other race than Aryan. The filmmakers blasted the tubes of the propaganda narrative, and it turned out to be confused and jumbled. _Agata Gasior, Witek Rusin.
Chun gwong ja sit (1997)
Love as the tango dance
Wong Kar-Wai bittersweet and boldly about the unsuccessful, mutually toxic love of two young Hong Kong boys abroad in Argentina in search of a better life, with a pinch of tango, Astor Piazolla (the seductive compositions "Prologue - Tango apasionado", "Finale - Tangoasionado "And" Milonga for Three" play with the moments of coupling lovers and their separation, and so on), Frank Zappa (" Chunga's Revenge "and" I Have Been in You "- emphasizing the unstable relationship between Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po- wing (Leslie Cheung), their aggression and love flickering back and forth, Wong's elliptical short story sees them apart and then back together like a dance) and the 1967 hit The Turtles, from which the film took its headline. In some places it is boring, but quite interesting about the hardships of love as a common path to happiness. Well done by cinematographer Christopher Doyle (previously with Wai on "Ashes of Time, 1994, and later with Phillip Noyce, Yimou Zhang and Jim Jarmush) - pictures from travels, lof andscapes (including impressive photos of Iguazú Falls on the Argentine-Brazilian border) and the poor neighborhoods districts of Buenos Aires. Black and white photography is mixed with juicy, colorful in the right places where the action unfolds.
Zeby nie bylo sladów (2021)
People's Poland as in the picture, but in a poorly constructed script
Who contributed to the death of Grzegorz's high school graduate: the policemen against whom the only witness of the beating at the police station testifies, colleague Jurek Popiel or the ambulance crew transporting the wounded and suffering boy to a hospital in communist Poland, right after the abolition of the martial law in 1983? The government on an unprecedented scale unleashes the action of refuting the accusations that its services were involved in the death of a young man, discredits Jurek, manipulates the police investigation, controls the actions of the prosecutor's office and does everything to blame emergency service paramedics.
The course of this process of deception, deception, harassment, fabricating false evidence, influencing by any means to change the testimonies of witnesses (shaping the environment, intimidation) is a fascinating lesson in the recent history - totalitarian power in the countries of real communism and is the central part of the picture that occupies the most.
The remaining parts raise doubts about the overly extensive multithreading of the plot, and on the other hand, the school, even junior high school logic in the conduct of the action, especially the investigation by the policemen to conclusions as simple as a flail pattern. Exaggerated meticulousness in conducting many narratives does not inspire a positive image, which means that the film lasts almost three hours and the selection of the cast quite wrongly (Sandra Korzeniak as Barbara Sadowska, overhauled and without a shadow of emotion, Aleksandra Konieczna - extraordinarily charging as prosecutor Wieslawa Bardon, Tomasz Dedek - general Wojciech Jaruzelski, Robert Wieckiewicz as general Kiszczak, both playing caricatured characters like puppets or from a wax figures cabinet, Sebastian Pawlak as a medic Wysocki - his psychological reactions are unbelievable, although the leading roles of Tomasz Zietek (as Jurek Popiel) and Jacek Braciak - Tadeusz, Jurek's father, plus at least correct and fit as usual: Tomasz Kot and Agnieszka Grochowska. The lack of twists, suspensions, and other basic instruments in constructing contemporary entertainment cinema is striking.
For the sake of balance, the scenography (Pawel Jarzebski - stage designer and Malgorzata Zacharska responsible for the costumes) deserves exceptional approval for detail fidelity, which is meticulous and carefully recreating the realities of the Polish People's Republic of the first half of the 1980s.
Elvis (2022)
Icon in a golden cage
The story of the life and career of the greatest icon of popular music of the 20th century, "blown up" in a frenzy of colors, neurasthenic pace of action, spectacularity and shaky editing into a fascinating show of the 21st-century film stories about cultural heroes of our time.
At the same time, it is a devastating critique of the functioning of show business, exemplified by repeated manipulations and the pathetic fate of Colonel Tom Parker (good creation and excellent characterization of Tom Hanks), a mysterious and discredited character of unclear origins. The set design, musical setting, the excellent performance of Austin Butler as Elvis Presley, the presence of archival materials and the skillful interweaving of social and political events of that time in the fast-paced action of the picture constitute the serious approach of the creators and place the film at the top of the cinematographic achievements of the current season.
Lisbon Story (1994)
Aria for the cinematography and the city
The plot of the film consists of a journey of a sound engineer from Germany to the capital of Portugal (slapstick adventures while driving a car vividly resemble the events of a comedian's films) and his travels around Lisbon in search of a friend, a director who makes a film there and needs a professional to sound it . During his walks around the city, he meets various residents and visitors: a group of children visiting his friend's apartment with cameras in his hands, a hairdresser, a clean shoe, a fado team, and finally the director Friedrich himself (Patrick Bauchau). Conversations, events, reflections on the state of art, and cinematography in particular, form the basis of a gently moving picture.
Wim Wenders (The Salt of the Earth /Le sel de la terre, 2014; Paris, Texas, 1984; Wings of Desire /Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987; Buena Vista Social Club, 1999; and others) in a poetic walk around Lisbon ( as Fellini once traveled around Rome) in search of the essence of cinema as art, along with lots of quotations and associations taken from cinematography (the cover of the magazine with the image of Fellini, the name of the director Friedrich Monroe as the name of the famous actress, the appearance of the actor Patrick Bauchau - isn't it Jerzy Skolimowski in the bath?) and culture in general (mention of the titles of Beatles songs woven into the poetic text - Fool On the Hill and With the Little Help From My Friends). Delight over architecture, music (Madredeus), sounds of the city and beautiful women (Teresa Salgueiro).
One does not lock the door of his house to Teresa Salgueiro!
Movie Paradise! -WitekRusin.
El buen patrón (2021)
Javier Bardem elevates the cinematic farce above the unsatisfactory portion of the fun.
Spanish film farce on the foundation of employee relations in a medium-sized weighing company. The owner and the head of the enterprise is trying to recognize his company as a leader in the region and is waiting for the visit of the competition committee. However, there are dissatisfied, former employees willing to prevent him from trying to win the race for business honors. Others have problems with adolescent offspring and seek the help of the director. An instructive story of a patron who engages in interventions in the lives of many of his subordinates, including a young intern - a talented, fresh graduate of an economic university, but also the daughter of close friends from industrial circles. An exceptionally cunning person gives an experienced man a lesson in the consequences that await men who are easily affected by momentary emotions, despite their position, practice and sophistication. Were it not for the compelling performance of Javier Bardem, a comedy with an average amount of sense of humor from the Iberian Peninsula would not have aroused particular interest.