Reviews

He comes across as a corrupter of young women. Though it's hard to understand him, and the documentary is subtle, it seems he gets a young woman's guard down during the audition, and eventually gives then head, and then seduces them to have sex with him while the interpreter leave the hotel room. This guy is sick.

This auditioning is going on behind the former iron curtain where he can pay any porn actor way less. It is sad that these girls are letting themselves be sold out like this, what, in the end, is at the heart of patriarchy, an misogyny, easy mark, push over sex objects. Need we wonder at all the ass and breast grabbing, and rapes, coming to light these days?

The very nature of the questions he hurls at them at the start of the interview, crosses boundaries of decency, and if they accept that, they will accept more. Like looking at porno photos with him. He goes after the innocent ones. So glad I got to see this underbelly scum work, to see how a sleaze bag Lothario operates these days,especially as I am from Budapest and understood everything said in Hungarian. Sajnalak, csajok.

There is no caress, no foreplay, they get naked right away, the female lies back passively, the male penetrates and that's it. People watch this and think this is good sex? This might work in pornography, but this is the reason why divorce is rampant: women get tired of this bull where their chances of being fulfilled are next to null.

These sex scenes show folks to get naked right away and spread your legs, to roll on top of her then roll off. It is absurd and makes me hate these shows for propagating such false ideas. The true idea is that most women are too modest to rip off their clothes, ant that's not the most erotic way to interact anyway. The real news is that women need caressing and foreplay. The sex scenes in these shows (like say "Spartacus") are sexist propaganda, and as a woman watching, it really makes me mad.

Satan's Tango: You can tell from the first 10 minute enormous tracking shot following cattle meandering in the rain through a devastated, crumbling, seemingly deserted village, that it was going to be THAT kind of film.

This is Hungary after the withdrawal of the Soviet occupation of 40 years, and we are at a collective farm on the Hungarian great plain that has collapsed along with Communism.

Surreal, mesmerizing, sinister it challenges the mindful viewer to look closely, and listen, rather read closely, except I was lucky to do both. This film is for more mature audiences. I would compare it to plunging into Shakespeare drama that is really hard to follow at first, but pulls you on regardless, even if you are not getting everything, with a big payload.

I could not believe I was watching it from when I got home from work till after midnight. One main theme that stuck out for me was how developing a public persona, and the art of speech can be so powerful. The enigmatic central figure, Irimiás, is an epitome of this. Good looking, tall, educated, and with a golden tongue, he sure has a Satanic allure for whom the disparaged, uneducated villagers dance the tango.

There are some really funny parts too, the old doc watching and writing everything down in an alcoholic haze, then especially when the two officers rewrite Irimiás' letter and how they describe the villagers. The scene with the little girl and her cat is a heart stopper. I did not get everything to a T and want to read more about this, and want to watch it again.

The wit and conceits are some of the best I've seen in a while. Super script. I loved it from the moment the swaggering trooper pulls up on his bike at the retro diner, his persona is written to a T. The engagement episode is to die for. Then the conceit of the nail, and the turn coat trooper.

I had to love it when the protagonist is told one side effect could be that she is likely to loose all kinds of inhibitions, which could be good when it came to making love.

Protagonist, "Maybe I can finally have an orgasm" Trooper quasi fiancé, "Honey that is so private. I already told you that 50 to 60 percent of women can't orgasm from intercourse." She, "What about you starting gentle like I asked, ant then taking it at an angle that I really like?" He,"Anyway, so..." So true.

The characters were all zany but believable. The politics were over the top with the right versus left: a moon army base station, versus a bill for catastrophic accidents health care like a nail in the head. It was all good irony and satire.

The making love scene in the rookie congressman's office was one of the best I have seen staged in a long time... nothing was shown but hands, legs, and things getting broken.

The aunt with her cigarette, and scalpel in hand, throwing back whiskey to steady the hands....too much.

I loved the fact that there was no profanity.Great actors. I loved everything about this. The dancing in the end was great. Actually watched it once while I was getting ready for work, belly laughing at some of the lines, certain ones subtle but significant if you listen up, then watched it again when I got home after dinner. Will watch it once more with my significant other. You watch it too. :)

Since when has the term "pussy", referring to the vulva, and meaning weak, cowardly-- entered the popular ventricular? NOT !!! Nobody of any class uses the sexist term "pussy". It is cheap street lingo, tolerable when spoken by thugs in a crime flick. But to enter it in the first few lines of dialogue of a comedy by the protagonist, as if it were the way we speak, (as is becoming more and more prevalent by script writers) is reinforcing negative stereotypes about women.

This is sexism, no different or any less harmful form racism. Taking such misogynistic words for granted, and being ignorant of how they influence attitudes about women is egregious. We wonder at the violence of women so prevalent in the world today?

When has it become funny to show an animated silhouette of fellatio?

It is a mystery that Liam Neeson and Chalrize Theron did not object when they read the script and went on to appear in such a tasteless production.

And shame on Seth MacPharlane for reinforcing negative stereotypes, and for trying to pass off pornographic images as wholesome comedy.

Who is editing these film descriptions to allow such an idiotic statement? We almost did not watch this movie because of the false description of the subject.

This is a fun road movie, with lots of capers. A divorced, warring couple are headed to Greece for the marriage of their daughter. Though traveling on their own, they inevitably bump into one another.

Their bickering though amusing, is not always humorous, as it hits home to how badly people can devolve in the treatment of one another. But on the whole the films is a series of mishaps, bantering, betrayals, reconciliations, all along a madcap road trip.

The first obstacle which arises is the eruption of the volcano in Finland which causes planes to be grounded in Europe, and their plane, on the way to Athens, has to land in Germany. Luckily they can rent a Porsche for 4 thousand Euros, but the Porsche has a mishap and the couple meet up with all kinds of characters, ride a variety of vehicles, not all with wheels on the ground.

The film kept our attention and was entertaining as well as informative with its barbs at the human condition, as comedies are meant to do. If you like road films, and light hearted, intelligent, if not at times absurd, story, you will have fun with this as we did.

It was painful to watch through this but I got a good idea of what the writer and director were getting at. It is a fascinating subject. While studying the issue of class in relationships, the main theme as I saw it was about dis-empowerment. Spoilers to follow.

Psychologists have demonstrated that rape is about power. Not sex. A man feeling powerless dominating another. It is not about lust. The working class, dark skinned protagonist does not have much in his life in French society besides brandishing machismo-ism Similarly, promiscuity, in particular in the female, comes from a deep seated feeling of not being loved, and low self esteem. At first glance this would not seem to apply to the female protagonist. But we don't know anything about her family life, where all this is rooted.

She does abandon a lackluster man who is eager to please her at the Beijing university, with whom she appearers to have been living, and runs after a French man to Paris. A man who had been in Beijing she'd met at the university and had what sounds like a brief consuming relationship.

Later, being raped and then really repeatedly raped countless times by her machismo, working class pursuer,( for no one with any knowledge of female sexuality would say she is getting satisfaction from that kind of violent banging) is a clear sign of her depression. It is the cuddling afterward that gives her true satisfaction. It is not about sex, it is about a need to feel close, and some deep seated insecurity.

Running parallel to this is the issue of how we don't want what is easy, run after what seems unattainable,and reject those who plead with us obsequiously. It made me wince to see the ex lovers being rejected in such cruel ways dramatized enough times for emphasis in the script.

It's easy to say Flower should just return to the cool job she has in Beijing that many would die for. Hopefully she will. Hopefully she can find her inner power and move forward knowing that she will find in the course of her interesting career an intellectual, strong but gentle man she needs for a good partnership. She needs to read "The Rules" and "You Lost Him at Hello" in the meanwhile. lol

As for the male protagonist left behind in a working class life with no clear options to rise above, one can only hope for some chance, some change in him, to be a better man, some counseling for abusing women, return to his wife and baby. At least he is shown to have a warm family hearth to come home to, but an environment non the less which has been responsible for him feeling such a need to show power by being abusive to women.

It might all seem like sex, but at heart it's all just an acting out of a desperation for love and self esteem, and feeling powerless to achieve one's dreams hampered by social divisions.

The comments regarding skewing the spirit of the Marvel comics not withstanding, plus a formulaic plot, I take a stand on the insidious way we are undermining our daughters.

Whenever a script has anyone use the term "pussy" as a sexist slur to mean a coward, we are reinforcing negative stereotypes of our daughters, sisters, and mothers, regardless.

And it goes by almost unnoticed, almost on a preconscious level.The movie industry would have us take "pussy" for granted as a normal every day nomenclature. We have come to take script writers use of this term for granted as if people in real life, folks from decent homes, who are trying to work on the life long process of learning and becoming better human beings, speak this way. As if most of us would not cringe if we heard an adult male "motivate" a young boy to action by asking him, "Do you want to be a pussy?" At this point in the plot, which is not that far in, I lost immediate total interest, and respect. "Pussy" as we all know, is the number two derogatory term for the vulva, next to the humiliating term "cunt", which is just as bad as the "n" word, yet I bet I would not be able to spell out the "n" word, even though there is nothing illegal about it when not used with the intent to intimidate or humiliate. We can use the "n" word liberally in our film scripts, just can't spell it out discussing films. Sexism still subsumes racism.

But we can spell out "pussy" and "cunt", not seeing the connection between the epidemic of violence against women as being directly related to the use of hate words to spread an under pinning of misogyny worldwide, as in domestic violence, rape, child brides, female genital mutilation, sex trade, honor killings... yeah, honor. The epidemic of American high school and college girls thinking "hooking up" up is liberating, when in fact it is subjugating and humiliating in the long run, sometimes not that long of a run.

"Pussy" means in our culture the female genitalia, in a derogatory, misogynistic fashion. Who can define "yoni" by contrast without Googling it? We never hear it.And yet Iron Man can tell a kid not to be a female genitalia, implying females are weaklings. Even if one were to glibly argue that "pussy" means "pussy cat", every one would snicker. As if felines were not ferocious fighters.

I hope other parents talk to their kids about the significance of words and how it shapes our reality. That they too caught Robert Downy Junior using "don't be a pussy" to goad on a little boy, and insult our daughters while he was at it. Tsk tsk, Robert, and I just saw you filming in our town. Pft

I love realistic drama, and the creators of this film maintained the illusion of watching a good documentary, without commentary, but delivering slamming meaning, and meanings, just the same. The proliferation of single mothers raising a family is a bane to society, and young men growing up to think being silent and emotionless is the means to self actualization leads toward the fall.

I could identify with Casper immediately, even being female, and not a burglar. I did not see him as a criminal but one who is flailing in existential angst with no hope of a future to get ahead.

If he had had a Tiger mom, and along with all the other siblings had been made to study, instead of playing video games, and play hooky from school with impunity, there would not have been a movie. The mother is depicted as gentle, not crass, loving, but not having the means to discipline her brew.

Casper's downfall is his ultimate sense of decency his younger brother does not have, and him I see as a criminal mind, a psychopathic personality who can't keep from bragging, and betrays his brother who made the mistake of coming back to help him.

I really felt badly for the gals who were treated as chattel sex toys. Though I have never been in their position either, my heart cries out to all women who end up in such desperate, and deplorable conditions which only result in ultimate abandonment and downfall,symbolized by the hapless gal who gets shot and is immediately just shuffled off, and we are pretty sure it is not to a hospital.

The frightening rise of kids being conceived out of wedlock and raised by single mothers or because of divorce, is not a good sign for the continued polarization of our society between the haves and the have-nots. We not only need more tiger moms, but tiger dads.

Became an instant favorite. It does not matter what country this takes place in, and that it's never named. Often the enemy is easily indistinct.

Those little girls were precious, running in the street, in the cellar wile bombs are going off. Been there. Been around men like that too.

Loved the colors of Golshifteh Farahani's clothes, and the way they billowed magnificently about her. One of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Her spirit shines through.

The sex, better said as rape, is more spoken and little shown.There is one frame of Eros though, love making, you'd see in a Fine Arts Museum.

The issue of child brides is a theme, and these girls are given away like chattel. They do not choose this.

Those who do not know how to make love, make war, and that is not just the kind with guns. 10/10

Haven't seen a crime thriller this good in ages, with such fast moving pace but excellent character development at the same time.

The screenplay is exciting and observant of human psychology. The acting is superb, and I guess the directing had a lot going for it too. Like the perfect storm,this just all came together and did a job of stirring me up good.

The tension built up from the start with Addison and what we learn about him and his coach. The relationship between the sheriff and his daughter, and the how the men treated her, and her stoic dealing with it...wow, I could not have handled it.

The relationship between the siblings was ambiguous but inspiring at the same time. The relationship in the family between the spouses and the son was written with such deft strokes which said so much.

The actors were fabulous. Especially at the dinner table at the climax of the story. The mother, Sissy Spacek, had such easy going wisdom about her but exploded with outraged indignation when pushed beyond the limit.

Loved the way the brother got the "L" word out of the protagonist in the climactic denouement. And it left you in the end wondering how the story would go on with our antiheroes.

One of those screenplays where you just fall in love with the bad guy and it just kills you to know he is fated, and that he has written his own tragedy as well as having been written by it.

Look forward to more of Zach Dean's screenplays.

What a masterpiece Jordan Scott has put together here. She's created a work of art transcribing this novel to film with all it's topical and universal applications. Not many films move me to tears, but this one did.

Nothing is harder than to be great and to be misunderstood, to have no means of moving your talents forward as symbolized by both the isolation of the dramatic school on the island, and the the swim team. Nothing is harder than not to fit in. Nothing is more wrenching than potential and innocence gone to naught, and evil that lurks in all our hearts.

But there is redemption in true friends, the hero which rises to the cal in the best of our selves, if only for a moment, before it all dissolves into thin air....such stuff a dreams are made on.

Not only was the cast superbly selected, but the setting, on location shots, the costumes and very important the film score made this a superb experience for me.