dragosiulian Reviews

The Way Back (I) (2010)

Truly disappointing

[5/10 · 27 January 2011]

I had high expectations for this movie, given the reviews and the trailer. I was throughly disappointed: the story is not credible, the characters are under developed, the ending is cheesier than a swiss fondue.

** SPOILER

I know it's (supposedly) based on true facts, but how am I expected to believe that all through their escape a guy carries several sheets of paper and a pencil, and draws all the time? That they cross the Himalayas in the middle of winter (the movie spends an entire 2 minutes on this feast).. That in the first 10 minutes in the Gulag the main character makes a friend that trusts him to try an escape -- who also tells him some people are informers? And I could go on..

** END SPOILER

Ed Harris delivers a solid performance, and together with the scenery is the only thing that somewhat saves the movie.

I saw the movie with a group of friends, and we all agreed on these points (so it's not just me).

Save your money and rent it, watch it at home if you can't live without. But believe me, you can.

Música cubana (2004)

Poor sequel to Buena Vista Social Club

[6/10 · 19 July 2005]

I went to see this movie with relatively high expectations, as I really enjoyed Buena Vista. I have to say that the first 30 minutes I was really disappointed, but more to the end, it got a bit better. If you haven't seen the first one, this might be an enjoyable experience. If you did, don't have your hopes too high.

The producers clearly wanted to make some money piggybacking on the success of Buena Vista. The plot is as bad as a cheap porn movie, lines and actors are second hand. The musicians are OK, but they only give the westerner eye what it wants to see: Latin machos who cry when they talk about their mothers ("I have only two women in my life: my mother and my wife. My mother always comes first"), children singing "Hasta Siempre", pictures of Che Guevara everywhere, etc. I couldn't connect to the atmosphere at all, everything seemed a bit "engineered".

The music is not bad, it's quite good in fact. They found some young artists, with new ideas so the sound is more diverse (some rap moments, funky bass, etc). This is probably the biggest merit of this movie, showing some of the less-known side of Cuban music. However, the best moments come from the songs we already know from Buena Vista. To sum it up, it's a movie about Cuban music, with some dialogs to glue it up. Buena Vista, without the authenticity, originality and documentary flavor.

Life Is a Miracle (2004)

A remarkable movie in Kusturica's style

[23 May 2004]

I think this movie won't surprise anyone who has already seen another movie by this great film-maker: it is the same place (Blakans) and style as we are used to. If you liked his other movies, you will surely like this one too.

The story develops around a small bosnian village, where the lives of his inhabitants are changed by the war that shattered Bosnia 12 years ago. So far nothing extraordinary, but what makes his movies different are the atmosphere and life that springs out of every image.

There are two levels at which you can perceive this movie: the first is the rational level: the story, the gags (as in all his movies, humor has a central part) and so on. The second might be called irrational, because it has to do with identification and feelings: you are taken out of your seat and are part of what happens on the screen. Drama is placed very closely to comedy, and sometimes the change is so sudden your laughs freeze on your face. This I guess is the landmark of this movie: dramatic scenes build upon, and increase their strength from, funny scenes. After all, nothing can be taken seriously in the Balkans :-)

I won't say too much about the story, partly because I don't want to spoil your fun, partly because I feel it's unimportant. Suffice to say that the war is presented only by its "reflection" in peoples lives -- this is what matters most in Kusturica's view. There are no battle scenes.

I think the only thing I can reproach is that once or twice I felt the gags were exaggerated, a bit unnatural. But all Kusturica's movies have a dose of fantastic, so this is not a real problem.

I cannot end without pointing out the great performance of the lead actor, Slavko Stimac (Luka). All in all, I would strongly recommend this movie.

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Nice movie, but not great

[7/10 · 13 April 2003]

I saw Chicago before seeing Moulin Rouge. Maybe this was my fault. I came with very high hopes for this one, as many say it was the reason for Chicago's success. I have to say, it is a very foreseeable movie, the story is a classical Hollywood soap-opera, and music and dancing are really just for "decoration": The focus is always on story (the final play says it all). Unfortunately, the story didn't catch, and I wasn't touched by it a single moment.

The music is not bad, if you like to recognize famous songs played a bit different. Even so, I couldn't find a single song that stayed with me, and most of them are cut to less than a minute! As I said, the focus is really on the story, which is bad enough to spoil even the rare moments of good music.

Anyway, the dancing is really missing, and it could have been so much better! Except for the tango scene (which is not great, but I suppose it's the best scene in the entire movie: you should see Asfalt Tango for a much better one), I always had a feeling of frustration, trying to see the dance and moves, but the cutting and camera moves didn't allow.

I think the greatest achievement of this movie is turning the attention of the audience towards musicals, and making possible the success of later movies, like Chicago. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give 7.