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Reviews
Canaan Land (2020)
Worth watching
I rarely watch movies these days. Not because there are no movies which are produced well. All the money and craftmanship put into them, all the visual effects are impressive, but I'm still bored. I repeat it, I'm bored. Because my soul is not touched. I'm looking for stories where my human experience and also my deepest longings as a human being are explored. I'm looking for credible portrayals of redemption, of a "much, much greater love" (song at the end of Canaan Land), lifting my spirit, amazing me, making me think. I'm looking for characters that show me what love and life are all about. Canaan Land is such a rare film. It's been made with a tiny budget, but I prefer it over so many multi-million dollar productions because of that.
The Hangover (2009)
Funny Funny Funny
I think I don't have to talk about the story here too much. Most will know it. But I must say The Hangover is one of the very few movies to make me go to the cinema more than once to watch it. I wanted to laugh with all the other viewers. All I can say is I laughed a lot. As a guy who was still in his thirties back then this was the kind of humor that made a lot of sense to me 😉
Mother's Day (2019)
The presence of the past
The style and aesthetics of the movie took me back to my childhood. Everything seems fine as Mother's Day is approaching but the pain below the surface is tangible. But so is the unexpected sense of relief from the worst part of the pain at the end of the film. While flashback memories of the past are haunting the main character, it is also a sudden intuitive imagining of a past before the past (her mother's childhood), which changes the present in a redemptive way. Wonderful acting, wonderful directing, wonderful script.
I, Tonya (2017)
Tonya Harding Humanized
Tonya Harding was one of the must stunning figure skaters in the history of the sport. I always felt sorry for her. Whatever was her part in the Nancy Kerrigan scandal, and what she knew or didn't now, the penalty of lifelong exclusion from the American Skating Association was too harsh in my eyes. She was portrayed as a witch in the media, which is clearly not a very nuanced approach. This movie shows her perspective as well as that of her former husband. The movie humanizes Tonya Harding, which is a good thing. She deserves this in my eyes. It shows her achievements, her difficult upbringing and background, her troubled marriage. But it is also funny and makes you laugh. The acting is wonderful, Margot Robbie and Allison Janney do an extraordinary job.
The Chosen (2017)
Most relatable Jesus ever
I learned of the existence of this new Jesus feature series by chance through a Facebook friend. I have watched different Jesus movies before, but somehow many of them left me with the feeling that I couldn't really identify with the characters depicted in them. The characters were flat and two-dimensional, and Jesus somehow felt unreal and detached from reality. Not so in The Chosen. The story telling makes the characters (and the first century) come alive in their uniqueness and individuality, it becomes easy to identify with them and to understand why Jesus meant so much for them. I was surprised and excited when I watched The Chosen for the first time, and I am still enthusiastic about it. I can't wait for season two to be released.
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Cathartic
This movie has continued to be one of my all time favorites for a very long time now. The topic of capital punishment is presented in a nuanced way which shows all the different perspectives on this question possible. The movie does this by drawing you in, by causing the viewer to oscillate between sympathy and antipathy, with every aspect of the story that is revealed along the way. Watching Dead Man Walking is a cathartic experience. It challenges you to think and to come to a moral and ethical conclusion which is aware of all of the complexities of the matter. It is a film about the sanctity of human life and its spiritual implications, told in a way which makes you hold your breath.