Change Your Image
lcf02139
Reviews
Keep the Lights On (2012)
Nicely shot, but unbelievably boring
I saw this with a group of other filmmakers. The film was loosely constructed and most of us found it tedious and boring. One person left mid film and I can say I can't blame him.
The scenes seemed to be edited in a haphazard manner,and the story moved so slow that at times it appeared that there was no story at all. We failed to connect to the characters and were not invested at all. I found myself wanting the main character to hurry up and die so I could go home.
Coming from such an esteemed director, I think we all were expecting a deeper, more emotionally intense cinematic experience. It was a festival hit, including Berlin, and I am not sure why.
The Act of Killing (2012)
I left depleted, depressed for no reason
Such a great concept. Interview those who were responsible for the deaths of innocent Chinese in the Indonesia in the 60s.
It was astounding to see how two different mass killers reflect back on the grisly events, one with no guilt all and the other we see who has nightmares yet, still laughs and jokes about the killings, the blood, the body bags, and he even instructs the audience on how to kill with a fast, easy and method! ( Like we really needed that clip in there, Josh? Especially since we saw the method over and over in reenactments?) Any redeeming value ends there. The director clearly wishes to rub our noses in the blood, sadistic acts, the gore, and murders well beyond what is needed to tell the story. He seems to go for the shocking, disturbing and sensationalistic events, even after we were exposed to the same details over and over. In doing so, he misses great opportunities to explore in greater depth, the militant organization responsible for these atrocities and the psychology of how both killers handle the memories.
To conclude: Would you want to watch a bunch of Nazis talk and laugh with pride how they tortured, burned, maimed, and raped the Jews? In gruesome detail? For 2 hours? The camp factor with one of the killers in drag made me want to see the film, thinking it was some kind of parody or creative take on an atrocious, yet historically significant event. BUT NO. It is just thrown in there for "entertainment" to offset the sickening details of gruesome murders and rape that we were forced to sit through.
Acne (2000)
A Tedious and Boring film.
I and 6 others in the theater had to sit through over one hour of the most tedioius film ever made. It was devoid of any entertainment value or plot due to it's sheer stupidity. A dreadful film with poor acting ability. A truly monotonous viewing experience. Avoid at all costs.