Review of Octav

Octav (2017)
9/10
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
9 October 2017
You can have someone, during a Bruckner symphony, screaming inside "Oh my God, get me out of here!". Or, you can have another one exclaiming "what the hell is this" to a Mondrian painting. And, of course, you have the critics, who will tell you what to like and why. Octav is no different. Some will leave in the middle of the movie, some will tell you it was a drag, and probably the critics will say "meh, nothing new here, move along".

You should do what I did and see for yourself. And maybe you will hate it, or, like myself, will leave the movie theater filled with questions, feelings and an emotional conclusion. Yes, the one that you will not be able to articulate in words. And, after all, that conclusion is the only one I care about, every time I am watching a movie, read a novel or listen to a concert. It is all about that. What are you taking with you? What really matters to you? What will remain not after your life, but after your emotional journey? What are your memories made of?

After watching this movie, I couldn't even talk for a while. It felt like a powerful plow raked throughout the beaten ground of my own memories. Forgotten memories popped out, old feelings brought back to life, the smell of my grandfather's tobacco, the dust in the light of the attic in my childhood home, the river where I would go fishing with my father... Memories that I didn't even know I still have. How and why all of this happened, I don't know and it doesn't matter. But it was beautiful. And I will give it some time and I will go watch it again, maybe it will happen once more.

Play a piano in a barn and you will have a horrible result. Play the same piano in a concert hall and you will have a very different outcome. If you feel that you have the proper acoustic for this kind of movie, go watch it! You will resonate.
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