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Reviews
Siener in die Suburbs (1973)
Afrikaans classic
Tjokkie, his mother and sister Tiemie live together on poverty row. Tjokkie has a gift of psychic ability and is prone to terrifying trance states which allow him to see the future.His mother's husband, a lay-about called Giel Swart (Yellow Black?) is sponging off his mother's war pension. He sees her children Tjokkie and Tiemie as his own because he has seen them "grow up before his eyes".The aggressive biker Jakes, a man who has built a dangerous reputation around the suburbs is Tiemie's new boyfriend. This Friday night he's visiting their house and drinking heavily with the constantly brow-beaten Giel.Tiemie announces that she's pregnant and not sure if Jakes is the father. Giel in complete financial devastation has laid the last of his money on a 'lucky horse'" This is a prime example of what can be done with lots of talent and zero budget. The film looks like it was filmed on the weekend in someone's backyard. What this has though is an amazing script based on P.G. du Plesis's play and a cast which would all become some of the most famous South African actors to this day. The film is probably best understood by South Africans as even with translation the humour, mannerisms, in-jokes and historical references are not always easily explained. It was released on DVD in South Africa and if you can get someone who is Afrikaans or Dutch to explain the dialogue for you it can't be recommended enough. Violent, sexist, racist and hilarious I think this is at least in the top 5 most amazing films to come out of South Africa.
Die Bankrower (1973)
Clever story with excellent cast
Anton is the son of a wealthy bank owner. He has many risky ideas to make and invest money. His father, however, wants nothing to do with these plans and Anton, therefore, decides to demonstrate the viability of his ethos by stealing money from his father's bank and doubling it at a casino.
I bought this off ebay more than a year ago mainly because of the cast. it's a good premise for a film and has some good acting. What helps is the shocking plot twist involving Cobus Rousseau which puts all predictability into disarray. In many senses it's Cobus Rousseau's film here and he towers above everyone with his role as a slimy pimp looking blackmailer.
What let's the film down for me is some of the humour and at times a laziness involving the plot. The comic relief is too ridiculous and mismatches the seriousness of the rest of the film by too much. All the characters are one-dimensional and despite the bank-robbing son's dubious ethics things are just accepted. Rousseau's character is the villain but looking at things more closely you have to wonder why exactly he is more of a villain than Weyers.
What makes this worthwhile is the pacing, the acting, and what is a very interesting plot even though it is not the most original or well-executed. This is available for import from South Africa and also some copies crop up on Ebay though both without subtitles.
Adisaya Piravi (1990)
Amazing if you like this type of thing
If I showed this to the average cinema-goer they would say its a ridiculous joke. This however is the hardest I've laughed in a long time. A good start as I have never seen another Indian comedy before.
******spoilers****
The basic story is Rajni wants to marry a woman called Sheeba but this is not approved by her father.
When he dies and goes to heaven he is informed his death was a mistake and he is reincarnated and sent back to earth in a different body. He comes back in the body of a mild-mannered villager whose life is threatened by an aunt and uncle who are trying to kill him. He eventually takes revenge on them as well as characters from his earlier incarnation.
I have seen this classified as action but it's simply too ridiculous for me to believe this wasn't meant to be a comedy. . The plot doesn't make much sense to me either but if you like silly films with tons of action and kung fu, special effects of people jumping onto roofs by making them jump off and playing it backwards, some of the worst clothes ever, music clips that make David Hasselhoff videos look like high art, using dwarfs as weapons and sliding under a moving truck with a horse (I kid you not) then this is about as good as it gets.
7/10