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Dag (2012)
So bad, that we will just wish you had your 80 minutes back.
Almost everything on this film is wrong. Starting with acting that is amateur at its best level. The soundtrack is corny and completely over utilised. The history is a patriotic military nonsense that is perfect for the far right mindless viewers. The film is quite short and manages to drag and is not even able to hold your attention. The usage of emotional scenes from the soldiers between the conflict is a poor attempt of humanising shallow characters. The landscape of the mountain could had give us amazing shots was mediocrely filmed. What surprises me more is the high rating at IMDb, clearly product of bots or rating farms as this film is not up to any standards to be considered cinema.
The Lost City of Z (2016)
Average Hollywood (Play Safe) Film.
3 / 5 - While the story the originated the film is remarkable and worth knowing, the movie and script are too obvious and do not explore the real complexity of a character such as the British explorer Percy Fawcett.
I personally see two ways of dealing with jungle exploration films. You can follow the classic adventure style, think of Indiana Jones, or you can do something more serious like Aguirre and Embrace of the Serpent. I do not know if we had a clear direction in this film. It tries to verge into a more serious and tense moments to suddenly goes all Hollywood action packed.
The acting is quite below average and even the script is just OK. Nevertheless, the film is still watchable and you do get some nice images from Amazon forest.
Ladri di biciclette (1948)
It is one of the finest films ever made and a must for anyone.
4,75 / 5 - This is cinema. Bicycle Thief is probably the best report on the hardship and despair that Europeans, in this case Italians, went through after all death and destruction caused by the WWII. The grainy black and white photography is heartbreaking and the many amateur actors just adds to the truthiness.
It was a big surprise to know that the main part is played by an amateur actor, maybe that is why the film hits its mark so well and comes across so realistically.
The big question raised on the film is how far misery, hunger, poverty and inequality will push you apart from honor and dignity. Will the father be able to maintain his honor and role as a inspirational role for his son on such an extreme situation?
The film is intense from start to end and it will keep you on edge of your seat through the more intense moments. This is a huge counterpoint to what Hollywood was producing at the same period of time. It is an honest portrait of the struggle for life and self-respect.
The Lobster (2015)
The absurdity of modern relationships.
4 / 5 - I enjoyed this film more than I was expecting to enjoy it. I think the first half of the film is way better than the second one, that drags for too long a little bit. The film is a great example of absurd storytelling to magnify little aspects of our lives. It is through the lens of the absurdity that we will exam relationship in our modern society.
In this dystopian near future all single people are forced to go through a 45 day process to find a romantic partner or they will be transformed into beasts and sent off into the woods.
It is quite a simple premise and through this we are forced to reflect how we see relationships and our own image projected to society. In the movie, characters are described through one single feature, and they need to find a match on this singularity on another person in order to form a couple. It is interesting how this, which should simplify everything, actually make things even trickier. And how much absurd is this when we also dictate specific features that we look on other people and if someone is far off our standards we usually won't relate to the person at all?
The film itself is good, great shots, photography, acting, soundtrack (including a Nick Cave mention).
Recommended.