first2nd2002 Reviews

Box (III) (2015)

Two losers find unlikely solace in each other

[9/10 · 2 November 2015]

Box is clearly not a film about boxing despite a number of really well-crafted scenes in the ring and the gym. The kind of scenes where you can smell the sweat and the anger and, sometimes, the fear of getting beaten up. But, that aside, it could have been named 'Theater' just as well because the other focus of the movie is this artsy milieu with its dusty stages and intellectual pretentiousness.

So, he's a 19 year old boxer with good looks and low prospects, she's a small-town actress in her mid-30 with an annoyingly histrionic husband who probably cheats on her. He's got nothing to lose, she's lost the will to pretend, and they allow themselves to get caught in each other's gravity, so to speak. This is what this movie is really about and everything else is just background. While it may seem less than enough to justify yet another "love comes where you least expect it" story, the writer/director achieves such level of intensity in showing the chemistry between the two, with such economy of words, that the movie fully holds its own. The two leads are excellent, especially Hilda Peter whose amazing screen presence is crucial to creating the magic.

The Legend of Zorro (2005)

Worthless anti-French propaganda

[1/10 · 11 February 2007]

The script must have been written by Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush themselves. How on earth can a Zorro movie turn out to be in fact about how the French conspire to destroy America to prevent it from becoming a world superpower? All the clichés are there, the French bad guy actually uses a vineyard as a cover for his diabolical conspiracy. I kind of expected a happy end with the good guys emptying bottles of French wine on the street and eating 'freedom fries'. But no, the movie ended with an even greater goof, a Catholic priest remarrying the Banderas and Zeta-Jones characters. Just another propaganda flick pretending to be family movie. Hollywood rules!

Confesiune (1995)

Terrible movie

[1/10 · 14 September 2006]

Corny, full of clichés, poorly directed and acted. There are certain movies who, despite being all that, still appeal to the child or at least to the masochist in you. Not this one. Confesiune is not even bad enough to be worth being remembered for that and director Marius Sopterean is far from being another Ed Wood. Actors try (but not too hard really) to imitate corny characters I must have seen in at least a thousand bad American action movies. The bad guy is particularly annoying. I'm already too bored to continue. The bottom line is, this movie was a complete waste of time and the only use for it I can think of would be for cinema students to see what to avoid doing.

A doua cadere a Constantinopolului (1994)

One of the worst comedies ever

[1/10 · 16 January 2006]

Four years after the fall of communism Romanian cinema seemed to have lost all sense of direction. Hesitating between violent communist regime-inspired dramas and western-style (or rather what they imagined to be western-style) comedies Romanian movie makers were experimenting. This is the first Romanian movie in which I've seen a naked woman. Unbelivebly poor direction, acting and photography. It's a shame an exceptional comedian like Dem Radulescu got involved into this project. But the worst surprise is the direction, as director Mircea Muresan is the author of the more than decent "Ion: The Lust for the Land, the Lust for Love" and of the excellent "Toate pînzele sus (Full Sail)" TV series. Toate pînzele sus was a must for any boy that grew up in the '70 and '80.

Lisa and the Devil (1973)

wrong title for this movie

[7 November 2005]

I wonder why that movie is listed as the House of the Exorcism instead of Lisa and the Devil. The movie, initially released as Lisa... is one of the milestones of Italian horror cinema, a subtle mix of Gothic and baroque settings, multiple identities and an occasionally blurred line between reality and fantasy. Unlike his gory followers in the eighties, Bava does not find the source of horror in the alterations of the body but in the loss of reference points delimiting reality from hallucination. Bava's horror is sublimated, in a very poetic (or should I say Poesque) manner, into a magnificent nightmare. Unfortunately, producer Alfredo Leone believed the plot was too complicated for pop-corn eaters and three years later the movie was re-released as the House of the Exorcism with the additional scenes shot by Leone himself. The add-ons turned the original into porridge, trying to capitalize on the success of William Friedkin's Exorcist and losing every inch of logic on the way. That's why I'd rather make a clear delimitation between the two titles and I won't vote for the House...

Asta-seara dansam in familie (1972)

Excellent comedy, probably one of the best ever made in Romania.

[8 July 2003]

This is probably one of the best comedies of the golden age of Romanian cinema with Dem Radulescu at the top of his form, a good script and the funniest dialogues. However, you have to speak Romanian to fully taste this piece of work.