ZNAK SAGITE — više od fantastike — edicija, časopis, knjižara...

Heheheh.

Nego, evo jedna super aplikacija za tebe kad pazariš ajFoun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j-DGrWry6k

Ono što htedoh reći o NINu...

Pratim Trenta sad na Twitteru. Nema ništa tužnije od američkog wannabe hipstera. Činjenica da je DOWNWARD SPIRAL sporan pokazuje koliko dugo Trent zapravo nije napravio nešto što može isprovocirati bilo kakvu reakciju i, isto tako, koliko je dugo mnogo više promoter Applea nego "najopasnija rok zvezda na svetu". Od svega što je radio, sasvim je jasno mogle su izrasti razne abominacije, ali promoter Applea i decentni fan prevaziđenog alterna roka delovao je kao najmanje verovatan ishod. Trent Reznor čak nije ni dostojanstveno ostario i posenilio kao Morrissey.
Inače, nisam iPhone tip, ja sam more of a Nokia guy. Renny Harlin, Jari Litmanen, Nokia.

Spike TV has picked up the off-net rights to HBO laffer "Entourage," which will launch on the guy-oriented cabler in January.
Off-net deal includes all 78 episodes of "Entourage" to date, as well as the show's upcoming sixth season and future episodes not yet produced.

Deal reps the first time "Entourage" has been sold into syndication. E! Entertainment and TV Guide Network were also in the bidding for the comedy.

"Entourage" is "the epitome of aspirational television for guys," said Spike TV programming VP John Griffin.

Doug Ellin is the creator and exec producer of "Entourage." Stephen Levinson, Rob Weiss, Denis Biggs and Mark Wahlberg also exec produce.

Pogledao sam MY BLOODY VALENTINE Patrick Lussiera. U univerzumu besmislenih rimejkova koje kruniše Nispelov potpuno besmisleni FRIDAY o kome sam već pisao kao nečemu što me je izrazito uznemirilo, VALENTINE nije baš najgore smeće koje je neko mogao da snimi, a uostalom ako imamo u vidu i ceo 3D gimmick, možda ima i nekog williamcastleovskog opravdanja za ovakav film.

Prosto, sa ili bez 3D gimmicka, 2009. godine je potreban naročiti entuizijazam da bi se pogledao ovakav film. Ne kažem da sad padaju oko mene filmovi vredniji gledanja, ali ipak revival ove forme slasher filma bez ikakvog osveženja (kakvo je recimo nudio SCREAM) zaista nema previše smisla. Fotografiju sa tim prevelikim oštrinama ne bih komentarisao, pošto to verovatno prositiče iz određenih uslovnosti 3D snimanja. Isto važi i za samu kompoziciju ubistava u kojima ima dosta predmeta koji lete po dubini kadra, a što pretpostavljam ima snažniji efekat kad se gleda u 3D.

Međutim koje se tu pojavljuje veliko je kao kuća. Naime, sve je to u redu, exploitation baziran na arhaičnoj formi, 3D gimmick i sl. Ali čemu onda duge dijaloške scene? Hoće neko da mi kaže da i one dobro izgledaju u 3D? Mislim, OK, ja znam da su snimane drame u 3D, svi znamo da je i Hitchcock hteo da radi svoje kamerne komade u 3D ali nekako bih rekao da Lussier ovde nije iz tog razloga snimao te dramske scene.

S druge strane, histerija oko Lussierovih ubistava mi je takođe nejasna. Okej, da, VALENTNE verovatno ima za nijansu razrađenija i veselija ubistva nego neki drugi gnusni slasheri prikazani nedavno, ali to što Lussierove lešine od scena ubistava pokazuju nekakav puls ne znači da su sasvim zdrave, niti da ijedan od brojnih udaraca pijukom zaista boli.

Ono na čemu MY BLOODY VALENTINE pada je upravo ta iznenadna Lussierova potreba da nam pored toga što snima exploitation po arhaičnom blueprintu, i pravi 3D extravaganzu, još sve to kao uobliči u kao neku priču. I tu nažalost lobuje, jer uz sve simpatije prema eksploataciji, žanru i sl. ovakav MY BLOODY VALENTINE ipak ne može da prođe kao PRIČA i kao OZBILJAN FILM.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE je koncipiran kao cirkus i trebalo je da ostane cirkus. Sa svojim pokušajem da bude film, postaje priličan promašaj. Jedina stvar koja me čudi u celom ovom slučaju je to što film nije bio bolan za gledanje. Zaista sam progutao dosta glatko, bez većih problema, valjda je praznina celog koncepta lišila film bilo kakve težine kojom pritiska gledaoca. MY BLOODY VALENTINE je slab i dosadan film koji nekako, ne znam kako, ne ostavlja utisak dosade. valjda je toliko šupalj da ne može ni da iziritira.

U svakom slučaju, MY BLOODY VALENTINE je još jedan od filmova za koje mi nije jasno kako su uspeli da na neki način budu event u svetu žanra. Okej, niko nije rekao da je ovo neko epohalno ostvarenje ali izmamio je neke sasvim neutemeljene simpatije koje ne shvatam ni u jednom aspektu.

* 1/2 / * * * *

Pogledao sam i L'ENNEMI PUBLIC NO.1, drugi film o Mesrineu.

Nisam pogrešio što sam puno očekivao od drugog filma. Naime, pošto je uvođenje lika i njegovih navika obavljeno u prvom filmu, drugi nudi non-stop akciju koja je sjajno realizovana i pokazuje da Richet nesumnjivo stoji kao vrhunski reditelj repertoarskog filma u svetskim okvirima. U ovom filmu se nije libio da uzme američke saradnike. O DPu sam već pisao ali ovde bih napomenuo da je montažer bio Bill Pankow, De Palmin montažer koji je potpisao neke od njegovih najekscesivnijih naslova. Uzimanje takvog montažera je autentičan evropski touch u maniru "politike autora". Naime, Richet je svesno u mnogim sekvencama o čemu sam pisao u prikazu prvog filma išao De Palminom linijom i ko je bolji čovcek za montiranje tako nečega od De Palminog montažera glavom i bradom.

Kao i prvi film, i ovaj ne može da se kvalifikuje za najvišu ocenu u mom sistemu pošto ne može da stoji kao samostalan naslov. Štaviše, drugi ima još manju autonomiju od prvog. Međutim, drugi film nudi jedan zanimljiv element koji u prvom nije toliko istaknut. Naime, u poslednjih godinu i po dana pojavila su se četiri odlična filma koja govoe o fatalnom spletu kriminala i politike koji je određene kriminalce koštao glave, i štaviše učinio da ih strukture bezbednosti praktično i eleminišu iako bi ih da su se samo bavili kriminalom tolerisale. Prvi je bio savakako THE BANK JOB Rogera Donaldsona koji govori o poznatoj pljački iz 1971. godine i daje jedan pogled na prilično misteriozan događaj u kome je rutinska pljačka odjednom postala obaveštajni zadatak u koji su umešani kako Tajne službe tako i najsurovije kriminalne organizacije. Zatim, tu je DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX Uli Edela, u kome se jedan nestašan mladić kao što je bio Andreas Baader radikalizuje i postaje čuveni terorista, tu su zatim dva naslova o Mesrineu i naš BEOGRADSKI FANTOM.

Sva četiri (nominalno pet) filmova u glavnim ulogama imaju evropske filmske zvezde koje treba da daju posebnu ikoničnost liku. Jason Statham u celu priču ulazi posle serije fikcionalnih, stilizovanih likova gangstera; Moritz Bleibtreu je imao generalnu probu uloge Andreasa Baadera igrajući mladog nemačkog aktivistu po imenu Andreas u Spielbergovom MUNICHu; Vincent Cassell je odigrao Mesrinea potvrdivši se još jednom kao vrhunski glumac i vrhunska zvezda francuskog filma; i konačno Milutin Milošević u star-making roli u BEOGRADSKOM FANTOMU.

U sva četiri slučaja, reč je dakle o istinitim pričama, realizovanim u maniru repertoarskog filma, sa harizmatičnim glumcima čiji junaci dele sličnu sudbinu. Priče sva četiri filma dele skepsu prema sistemu i stav da je sudbina tih ljudi prelomljena kroz odluku da svoj kriminalni opus obogate političkim stavom.

Mesrine je u tom smislu najbliži grupi Baader-Meinhof jer je imao razvijenu svest o manipulisanju medijima, a u nekoliko navrata u svojoj poznoj karijeri se i pozivao na Baaderovce. Koliko je i Beogradski fantom shvatao moć medija i pozivao radio da najavi svoje vožnje, njegove akcije su trajale prekratko u jednoj previše zatvorenoj državi da bi mogao od sebe da izgradi takvu medijsku zvezdu kao što je uradio Mesrine. Štaviše, Mesrineova potreba da manipuliše medijima na neki način bila je i osnovni motiv u njegovim poznim godinama bavljenja kriminalom.

Kao što sam najavio u prethodnom prikazu, u ovom filmu Cassell ima jače partnere. Le Bihan je solidan ali neupečatljiv, dok je Mathieu Amalric (još jedan alumnus iz MUNICHa) sjajan kao Mesrineov obazrivi ali vrlo lukavi i odvažni kompanjon.

Filmove o Mesrineu je prvobitno trebalo da režira Barbet Schroeder. Iako je Richet zaista uradio vrhunski posao, sasvim je sigurno da bi Schroeder pružio zanimljiv film. Možda bi akcenti bili kudikamo drugačiji, išli više na realizam i političnost, ali je nesumnjivo Richet rasvetlio i tu dimenziju. Filmovi o Mesrineu su primer pšozitivnog američkog uticaja na evropski film.

* * * / * * * *

Pogledao sam 17 AGAIN Burr Steersa.

Najjači utuisak sa ove projekcije je zapravo ključ ovog filma. Naime, u samom finišu, jedan (muževan) muški glas u sali, negde iza mene, bezmalo je uzviknuo, ushićeno "U, al bi jebao ovog Zac Efrona!" i na neki način rekao je ono što je ostatak sale osećao.

Da, zapravo ceo ovaj film baziran je oko zaista neverovatne seksualne privlačnosti koju sa sobom nosi Zac Efron. Naravno, tinejdžerske svih polova (trademark by Meho K.) ga žele iz romantičnih razloga, ostali bi ga overili iz čiste potrebe da se iživljavaju, da unište nešto lepo, da ga devirilizuju, da povrate ravnotežu u svet.

17 AGAIN je u svojoj samoj suštini jedna dosta flah komedija o zameni identiteta (a to je toliko provaljen koncept da je čak i u Srbiji nedavno snimljen jedan tkav film ) odnosno o sredovečnom čoveku koji se jednog dana budi podmlađen (u svakom slučaju bolje od naslova iz naših novina "Probudio se zaklan"), upisuje se u srednju školu i kada mu se ponovo pruži prilika da ispuni svoje dečačke snove, zbog čije je neispunjenosti bio nesrećan u braku, shvata da je u stvari ipak bolje bilo onako kad je samo mislio da je neuspešan a u stvari nije umeo da uživa u životu.

Za razliku od ostalih američkih filmova koji afirmišu autsajdere, ovaj film je kao THEY LIVE u tom smislu da gledaocu pokušava da prikaže ugao iz koga zapravo sve izgleda u redu. I na neki način to je lep pedagoški model za mladu publiku (kojoj je ovaj film pre svega namenjen) kako ne bi bili užasnuti kada počnu da liče na svoje roditelje.

Međutim, catch koji prodaje celu priču, dovodi decu u bioskope i sl. jeste Zac Efron koji zaista ima makings zvezde starog kova. On nosi ceo film i čini da se 17 AGAIN zaista izdvoji i negde zasluži status major filma, i nečega što je vredno pažnje.

Međutim, za Efrona bi bilo dobro ukoliko bi uskoro počeo da snima i nešto malo ozbiljnije pošto bi bilo šteta da svoj nesporan šarm ne iskoristi i u filmovima u kojima je vredno pažnje nešto izuzev njega. 17 AGAIN nije film koji ima puno toga da ponudi izuzev Efronovog showcasea. Međutim, sa njim u celoj priči, čini se da je New Line proizveo nešto što sasvim ispunjava svoju funkciju, ostavlja tween publiku prezadovoljnom, pa čak stiče i izvesne simpatije kritike zbog solidnih fundamentalsa cele produkcije.

Slično timskom sportu, međutim za film je ipak potrebno nešto više od samo jedne zvezde i svih ostalih svedenih na epizode, tako da se nadam da će Efron uskoro imati i neki dobar team effort.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Da ne bude zabune ja ni Metjuu Periju ne bih oprostio.

The Girlfriend Experience

Even being a big fan of Steven Soderbergh's, I was very skeptical going into this. I just assumed this would be another one of those call girl films in which a girl narrates and tells us the secrets of the trade, while also demonstrating how normal she is, just like everyone else. I was so happy to discover that this was pretty much the polar opposite of what I expected. Like his earlier film "Bubble," Soderbergh casts primarily non-actors, playing variations of themselves, with dialogue that is primarily improvised. Now one can't talk about this movie without mentioning that one of these actors is adult film actress Sasha Grey. To be honest, I'm not THAT familiar with Grey's work outside this film, though I am aware of her. I can't say that she's a fantastic actress, in her first mainstream role, but it is inspired casting nonetheless. Grey is fearless, confident, and comfortable in her profession, which really shines through with her improvised scenes. And these improvised scenes only include dialogue. There is no sex in this film, which may seem strange for a film about a highly paid escort. At the panel discussion afterwards, Soderbergh talked about how people had fantasies about seeing Hollywood celebrities in intimate and sexual situations, and wanted to see if he could take someone who has been seen in primarily sexual situations and see if the fantasy works in reverse by showing her in emotionally intimate and honest moments. The experiment is a success, as Grey not only seems much sexier fully clothed, but also gives an incredibly moving and vulnerable performance. Chris Santos, the real life personal trainer, as her boyfriend is also quite good, though his story and scenes are mostly separate from Grey's and I would have liked a little more interaction between the two. This is certainly going to be a love it or hate it movie that will cause much debate. I found it fascinating and I can't wait to see it again. Soderbergh and Grey's panel discussion afterwards was hilarious and insightful. I could probably listen to him speak for six hours or more. The film will open late May, but it's on demand right now, and Soderbergh said that the on demand version has an alternate ending that is not on the theatrical cut, nor will it be on the DVD, but he wouldn't expand on that further. However you see it, I highly recommend it.

Hot Docs
Best Worst Movie
(Documentary)
By JOHN ANDERSONRead other reviews about this film

Powered By A Magic Stone Prods. presentation. (International sales: Echo Lake Prods., Los Angeles.) Produced by Lindsay Rowles Stephenson, Michael Paul Stephenson, Brad Klopman, Jim McKeon, Mary Francis Groom, Ace Goerig. Executive producers, Alan Hunter, Hugh Hunter. Directed by Michael Paul Stephenson.

With: George Hardy, Claudio Fragasso, Margo Prey, Jason Steadman, Darren Ewing.
  George Hardy's reaction when he first saw himself onscreen? "This is bad ... this is really, really bad ... " Not just bad: The worst -- at least according to an entire cult following, plus "Best Worst Movie," Michael Paul Stephenson's strangely moving, insightful and entertaining docu about the wildly incompetent "Troll 2," the people who made it, the phenomenon of bad-movie fandom and the irresistible allure of celebrity. Theatrical seems a longshot, but widespread festival play, broadcast and ancillary release could make the pic even more of an insider fave than its subject.
Helmer Stephenson was a kid actor when he appeared in "Troll 2," but he more or less turns the movie over to small-town Alabama dentist Hardy, who in 1989 was living in Salt Lake City. There, on a whim, Hardy answered a casting call for a low-budget horror movie being shot locally by Italian director Claudio Fragasso. He made the movie. And then forgot about it. As, apparently, did most of the people in the cast.

What they later discovered -- some to their delight, others to their horror -- was that the resulting "Troll 2" (originally titled "Goblin" and with no relation to "Troll") had become a fanboy favorite and the lowest-ranking movie ever on Rotten Tomatoes' T-Meter (a zero); its dialogue had evolved into cult slogans, and Hardy and the rest of the cast were now camp celebrities. When your own mother admits she walked out of your movie halfway through -- as Hardy's admits she did -- you know you've got something unholy on your hands. Somehow, Fragasso's weird, plotless, Ed Wood-ish exercise in ineptitude had touched the soul of Nerd Nation.

At the outset, "Best Worst Movie" reps a weird testimonial to Hardy, who really does come across as the world's nicest guy; even his ex-wife thinks he's great. This sets him up as a prime example of what can happen to a person when fame -- even the odd, fringy kind accorded by "Troll 2" -- takes over your life. Hardy begins attending a series of screenings held in different cities; he's treated like Elvis; he eats it up. A charming, guileless kind of guy, Hardy never loses his humanity, but he does start to think a career in acting might have been a good idea -- at which point, the story of "Troll 2" becomes, for the first time ever, truly terrifying.

"Best Worst Movie" is set up as a triptych of sorts, a three-part saga of cinematic incompetence. Unfortunately, it's the first part that's the most fun, with people loving Hardy and Hardy loving the attention. But then Fragasso comes to town, expecting redemption and validation, and reality, such as it is, along with artistic failure and trampled ego, takes the happy air out of the party balloon.

In what passes as part three, Hardy and fellow "Troll 2" cast member Darren Ewing visit memorabilia shows, where "Troll 2" is only a tiny blip on the "Star Trek"/"Star Wars"/"Nightmare on Elm Street" radar screen, and the two start to get depressed by the small turnout. Making matters worse, Hardy is repulsed by the parade of human oddities in each convention hall. "Only about 5% of the people here floss their teeth on a daily basis," he notes.

But "Best Worst Movie" is anything but a downer. It's consistently funny and smart about celebrity, vanity and bad movies -- and what makes them lovable. (There's no cynicism in "Troll 2," says writer M.J. Simpson; the movie "seems to have been made by people who knew how to make a film, but had suffered quite a heavy blow to the head.") "Best Worst Movie" also stars nice people, like Hardy, Ewing and Connie Young, who played Hardy's daughter, and to this day has never listed "Troll 2" on her resume.

Production values are better than "Troll 2."


Camera (color, HD), Katie Graham, Carl Indriago; editors, Andrew Matthews, Graham; music, Bobby Tahouri; supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer, Woody Woodhall. Reviewed at Hot Docs Film Festival (World Showcase), Toronto, May 5, 2009. (Also in SXSW Film Festival -- competing.) Running time: 91 MIN.

U sklopu pripreme za početak gledanja serije CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, pogledao sam film Larry Davida SOUR GRAPES iz 1998. godine. Ovaj film je danas maltene zaboravljen iako je u svoje vreme polarizovao kritiku, jedni su ga smatrali kultnim ostvarenjem a drugi su mislili da je to nešto najgore ikada snimljeno. Istina je negde na pola puta. Naime, Larry David u ovom filmu ne uspeva da pobegne od svojih televizijskih korena, on je izgradio ime i karijeru radeći SEINFELD i to se oseća u ovom filmu, i u pozitivnom i u negativnom smislu. U pozitivnom smislu svakako zbog toga što je serija puna vrlo pametnih i vrlo duhovitih rešenja koje joj pored sitkomske, daju i atmosferu old school komedija Billy Wildera recimo, a u negativnom smislu zato što David ne može da pobegne od sitkoma kako u vizuelnom tako i u dramaturškom smislu i film odaje utisak epizode TV serije od sat i po. Da, on deluje kao epizoda iznadprosečne TV serije u to nema sumnje, ali  filmske fakture u tome zaista skoro da nema.

Druga stvar koja smeta filmu, a možda i ne bi smetala seriji jste podela koju predvode Steven Webber i Craig Bierko. Na filmu, Craig Bierko nikada nije uspeo da se nametne da bude išta više od sjajnog epizodiste iako on po svojoj glumačkoj anatomiji ima izvesne predispozicije zvezde. Međutim, on je na ničijoj zemlji između onoga što je nekada bio Mel Gibson i onoga što je sad Jason Segel, i kao takav nije našao svoje mesto. Webber je osrednji glumac na sličan način. Moguće je da bi ova podela bila sjajna u seriji, ali njih dvojica nisu dorasli filmu, naročito ako imamo u vidu da je ovo forma kakvu bi trebalo da nose baš high concept glumci.

Međutim, izvan toga što SOUR GRAPES nema autentični crossover potencijal, za ljubitelje žanra, reč je o vrlo zanimljivom delu, nedoraslom bioskopu ali sasvim solidnom za konzumiranje na TVu, sa dosta vrlo zdravog crnog humora koji David nije mogao da plasira na syndicated televiziji a oduvek je želeo da prikaže.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

The Sasha Grey Experience
Violet Blue: An exclusive interview with the star of Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience"
Violet Blue, special to SF Gate

Thursday, May 7, 2009


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Violet Blue
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Steven Soderbergh did a lot of unpredictable things with his new film "The Girlfriend Experience." At the January Sundance sneak preview of the film he projected a 1080p reduction of the file, then a "work in progress." This week he released it on Amazon as a video on demand rental before it hits theaters on May 22. Soderbergh shot it with a 4K-Red digital camera (a camera so light and light-sensitive that only two scenes in the film required more illumination than was already in the room), he made the film in 16 days for a budget of $1.7 million, it was largely improvised, and he cast non-professional actors. He said he "hired real people and turned them loose" including journalist Mark Jacobsen cast as a journalist and movie reviewer Glenn Kenny playing an escort reviewer. That he cast Sasha Grey as the high-end Manhattan sex worker was exciting but not entirely unpredictable; Grey herself is as complex and layered and mesmerizing as a Soderbergh film itself -- that's why Grey's fans cross all kinds of cultural and moral divides.

For me, Sasha Grey is "The Girlfriend Experience" (trailer) personified. A "girlfriend experience" (as shown in the film) is an expensive branch of sex work where a groomed, cultured, and pedigreed escort is the client's companion: physically, intellectually, and emotionally. Yes, there is nudity in the film, but there is no hardcore or explicit sex, as many assumed would be when it was made known that Soderbergh cast an adult actress in the role of sex worker. This just glares the "girlfriend experience" Hollywood perception in the face -- do you want to see Grey naked and having sex? You can. Go right ahead. Big f-ing deal. It's as if Soderbergh and Grey are both saying now that that's out of the way, let's say something interesting about the so-called "girlfriend experience."

Sasha Grey occupies a hyperpublic, female-sexual-power groundbreaking space shared with the "neu wave" of young female porn performers such as Lorelei Lee (articulate eloquence), Dana DeArmond (vanguard realist), Kimberly Kane (cutting-edge visionary), April Flores (muse), and Madison Young (soft-spoken shock troop of female sexual power). Grey, like the others I mentioned, plays the porn femme to a delicious "T" and undermines the icon in the most subversive way, shattering all the underlying anti-porn messages that surround everything she does (and yes, the sexual shame that still permeates the majority of the mainstream porn industry.) In fact, she has a mission statement (video, contains language NSFW).

Grey does not trust journalists, and she shouldn't, nor should anyone else for that matter. Like her amazing colleagues, Sasha Grey is articulate, smarter than the journalists and pundits who bring their assumptions to work, and she more than "sees the forest for the trees" when it comes to sex and media hyperbole. Like me, Grey was also on The Tyra Banks Show, and like Grey, I had a really hard time trying to be who I really was -- though I did, despite all their efforts to control my appearance and message. Grey and I both videoblogged about our experiences -- here's hers (video). In Grey's situation, they tried to make her look and seem like a young brainless victim: the exact opposite of the image she repeatedly projects and demonstrates.

In Shot By Kern (link is not work safe: vbs.tv/shows/shot-by-kern/sasha-grey/) she writes her artist's statement stating, "I have a huge appetite for sex and self-exploration. I wanted to express my sexuality as a strong woman, to push my own boundaries and see which part of my psyche would take me to my next euphoric sexual experience. I wanted to do all of this in a sex positive way. Despite the controversy that surrounds this industry, I felt I could ultimately bring an enigmatic quality to it. I decided that if my instinct continued to push me toward the reality of this, and the dissatisfaction with my education continued, I would seize the opportunity on my own."

So when I had a chance to ask Sasha Grey a few questions, I totally seized that opportunity -- and crowd-sourced questions for her from my Twitter stream. James Rocchi wrote that "The Girlfriend Experience" is "an experience that goes far beyond sex. And yet still includes it." Just like Sasha Grey.

Violet Blue: In your new film, Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience" you play an escort named Chelsea. Did you find any intersections between your real-life personality and Chelsea's?

Sasha Grey: The thing I related to most, was Chelsea's distrust for the journalist that interviewed her (no disrespect to you). I have had some stiff run-ins with the media, and in Chelsea's case she is a very paranoid person by nature (as we see with her purchasing pre-paid phones) so she approached the interview with a negative outlook.

VB: Was there anything about playing Chelsea that challenged you?

SG: Yes, Steven wanted a very natural feel to the film and have me bring in my personality -- I had to find a way to do that while also creating a character.

VB: I know this is over-simplification, but in the past you've stated that you are drawn to sexual expression not simply for work but as a self-described exploratory artist. Has this changed?

SG: No, this hasn't changed at all. I am constantly looking for new ways to challenge myself in all mediums, whether it be sex, music, writing, acting, etc.

VB: What's the most common assumption people make about you, and what do you have to say about it?

SG: ::Insert Stereotype:: "You are entitled to your own opinion, but until you have a fact, don't judge me, and I won't judge you."

VB: Any predictions (or hopes) for the future of porn?

SG: That more and more performers continue to break new ground and challenge the status quo of what this industry "is."

VB: What's next for you?

SG: Continuing to do press for "The Girlfriend Experience," working on my directorial debut for my new company Grey Art, writing a sex philosophy book, and shooting a few indie films in the summer as well!

Crowd sourced questions from Twitter:

@Richard_Kadrey: Who do you want your inevitable cyborg love doll to be in a sex scandal with?

SG (Twitter): The pope.

@zaffi: Was it a hard transition 2 go from adult movie star to independent movie star? What kind of movies do u want 2 continue to make?

SG: Not so much, I enjoyed the experience. I wouldn't want to answer part two-then I would subconsciously be putting a boundary or limit on what I can or can't do/achieve.

@jonnyangry: Was there ever a [porn] shoot you turned down? If so, why?

SG: I've turned down shoots if I didn't want to have sex with the person.

@elliotscott: How has the music project been progressing?

SG: It's been great, because there are no limitations. Our next record will be released through Dias.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Violet Blue is author and editor of nearly two dozen sexual health books and erotica collections. She is a professional sex educator, lecturer, podcaster, blogger, vlogger, porn/erotica reviewer and machine artist. She has written for outlets ranging from Forbes.com to O, The Oprah Magazine.

Violet is also a fetish model, an art machines expert, a Laughing Squid guest blogger, GETV reporter, SF Appeal staffer, sexy food blogger at BrokeAss Gourmet, fun to follow on Twitter, a San Francisco native and a Forbes Web Celeb. Her tech site is Techyum; her audio and e-books are at Digita Publications.

For more information and links to Web sites discussed in Open Source Sex, go to Violet Blue's Web site, tinynibbles.com.

Pogledao sam STAR TREK J.J. Abramsa. Uprkos tome što nisam ni Trekkie a ni poštovalac Abramsoovog rada, moram priznati da sam odlepio.

Abrams je uspeo da snimi film u kome je praktično postigao nemoguće a to je film koji uspeva da ostane u arhaičnoj konvenciji STAR TREKa a da uspuit zaista funkcioniše i kao punokrvni bioskopski film. Nedostavci filma su istinski malobrojni, ali su zato svi oni nesumnjivo proistekli iz određenih konvencija STAR TREKa koje se ne mogu promeniti. Iako moram priznati da nisam gledao sve STAR TREK filmove, od ovih koje sam gledao najbolji mi je bio WRATH OF KHAN i to ja zaista bio dobar film. Što se mene tiče Abramsov TREK ga je po svemu prevazišao osim po jednoj stvari a to je negativac.

O negativcu ću prvo i govoriti. Nera igra Eric Bana. Kada se Bana prvi put probio na amričko tržište fascinantnom ulogom u filmu CHOPPER, Ebert je rekao da mu proriče sjajnu karijeru i da ćemo ga uskoro verovatno viti kao negativca u Bondu. Međutim, Bana je imao sjajniju karijeru od ove, i odmah je postao leading man i pozitivac, čak i u filmu TROY gde je igrao antagonistu. Potom su usledili HULK i MUNICH. Ovo je prvi film u kome Bana igra holivudskog high concept negativca. Međutim, sam negativac u ovom filmu nije toliko zanimljiv i akcentovan kao što bi se očekivalo od kastovanja ovakve zvezde. Propsto je neverovatno da je Bana kastovan za ulogu ovog obima i reklo bi se da je Nero verovatno skraćen u montaži.

No, to ne umanjuje draž koju srpskom gledaocu nudi STAR TREK, film u kome je Rus najpametniji a šugavog negativca igra Hrvat.

Što se drugog high profile glumca u filmu tiče, barem u geek domenu, Simon Pegg je solidan ali ništa više od toga kao Scotty, i njegova uloga čak i nije previše prisutna u filmu, iako je vrlo značajna.

Međutim, ekipa broda Enterprise je sjajna. Zachary Quinto je savršen kao Spock a činjenica da sasvim ravnopravno sparinguje sa Leonard Nimoyem to u potpunosti potvrđuje. Abrams je napravio sjajnu hemiju među junacima u posadi broda i vidi se da se iz toga bez problema može izroditi nova franšiza. Svemu tome je svakako dobrineo Abramsov televizijski senzibilitet koji odgovara ovakvom konceptu sa dosta likova, često u vrlo statičnim situacijama (iako su Orci i Kurtzman zaista učinili sve da razbijaju inherentnu statičnost STAR TREKa), i stvaranju hemije među njima, kao i postavljanju relativno nepoznatih glumaca u ikonične karaktere. To su sve faktori koji nisu postojali u postavci MI3 i zato taj film nije bio dobar jer je bio potpuno suprotan, trebalo je da bude movie nošen zvezdom, a to Abrams tada nije umeo da ostvari.

Od samog početka, Abrams uvodi nove elemente u seriju. Scenografija njegovog broda je mnogo bolja od one koje znamo iz ranijih filmova i serija, zatim scene na Zemlji nose energiju koje pre liče na neki film iz produkcije Dona Simpsona i Jerry Bruckheimera nego na STAR TREK i jasno je da Abrams čini sve da STAR TREK prbliži oprobanim i energičnim movie frekvencijama. Scvena kada mali Kirk vozi vintage Ford Mustang i sluša Beastie Boyse je uvod koji pokazuje da će sve izaći na dobro.

Kao što je i očekivano naravno, obično su ti neki bočni elementi koji su uneti izvan STAR TREKa i najzanimljiviji, recimo sukob Kirka sa dva monstruma na jednoj zaleđenoj planeti (jedan od njih liči na umanjeno čudovište iz CLOVERFIELDa). Međutim, tih pobočnih elemenata je sasvim dovoljno da učine film zanimljivim i onima koji nisu TREK fanovi, a da su istovremeno odlično integrisani u film kao celinu.

Otud je i film na blagajnama pokazao ogroman crossover potencijal koji niko nije očekivao. Međutim, Abramsov STAR TREK zaista ima kapacitet da regrutuje nove fanove. Ako imamo u vidu da poslednje STAR TREK serije čak ni najzagriženiji nerdovi nisu gledali, onda je reč o obnovi celokupne franšize na svim nivoima.

Isto tako, dobro je što novi reboot nimalo nije pretenciozan. Cela stvar se odvija potpuno relaksirano, nema opterećujućih scena i poenti, sve je lagano i veselo, baš kako treba. Posle svih X-MENOova i DARK KNIGHTova, najzad opet imamo film koji tretira jednu pop mitologiju kao nešto što je pravljeno da se ljudi zabave a ne da se iscrpljuju ekranizovanjem naknadnih znanja.

Scenario je u tom duhu, ali istovremeno upeva i da održi tenziju na vrlo solidnom nivou, mumbo-jumbo koji objašnjava celu situaciju je vrlo efikasno plasiran i ne usporava radnju, i data mu je izvesna emotivna dimenzija, odnosno krajnje pitko je plasiran. U tom smislu od Orcija i Kurtzmana zaista ima šta da se nauči.

Konačno, pošto nisam TREK fan, za mene je film imao i jednu finu kemp dimenziju. Verujem da će ga Trekkies gledati sa jednom ozbiljnošću koja će im razarati um, dok su meni mnoge stvari bile vesele iz čistog kemp ključa. Neću da ih sada spojlujem, ali čini mi se da je i Abrams vrlo svestan da neke detalje namerno tretira kao finu kemp glazuru i da ništa tu nije slučajno.

STAR TREK je zaista moćno otvaranje ovogodišnje letnje sezone. Nadam se da će konkurencija dobro odgovoriti na podizanje letvice koje uradio Abrams.

* * * 1/2 / * * * *

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 12-05-2009, 13:28:24
No, to ne umanjuje draž koju srpskom gledaocu nudi STAR TREK, film u kome je Rus najpametniji a šugavog negativca igra Hrvat.
* * * 1/2 / * * * *

hm, ok, ako je tako onda možda ipak pružim šansu tom trek-rebootu, ali zaista, ZAISTA ne mogu da smislim ni tu seriju (TV) ni taj serijal 'filmova' niti išta vezano za taj univerzum uključujući njegove fanatične ljubitelje (za koje mislim da su opasni po sebe i druge i da ih ne bi trebalo puštati na ulicu).

Ja ne da ne volim STAR TREK nego ne volim ni STAR WARS ali ovo je stvarno cool. Nisam siguran koliko će se tebi konkretno dojmiti ovaj film pošto je pravljen kao letnji entertainment, vrlo je proamerički (negativac Nero, iako ga igra Hrvat, je u stvari Srbin-lik koji počini genocid jer je razočaran u međunarodnu zajednicu) i lagan, no pije se sa tom već pomenutom blagom kemp glazurom, ali do sada ovo je svakako (izuzev GALAXY QUESTa koji ostaje remek-delo) najbliže nečemu iz te STAR TREK priče što je prišlo zaokruženom filmu.

Quote from: Ghoul on 12-05-2009, 14:44:59hm, ok, ako je tako onda možda ipak pružim šansu tom trek-rebootu, ali zaista, ZAISTA ne mogu da smislim ni tu seriju (TV) ni taj serijal 'filmova' niti išta vezano za taj univerzum uključujući njegove fanatične ljubitelje (za koje mislim da su opasni po sebe i druge i da ih ne bi trebalo puštati na ulicu).

Pogledaj. Ako ništa drugo, gotovo sam siguran da ti film neće biti dosadan. Ni ja nisam neki Star Trek gik, mada jesam pogledao sve filmove. Ovaj novi je prilično prijemčiv za širu publiku, koju zabole za Star Trek, a opet bih rekao da ni fanovi neće biti razočarani. Od ovih ranijih filmova jedina dva koja su, po meni, odlični su Wrath of Khan i Undiscovered Country, i upravo ta dva je režirao Nicholas Meyer, što verujem da nije slučajno. S druge strane, ova poslednja dva pre reboota - Insurrection i Nemesis su prilično loši, tako da je tim pre ovo što je Abrams izveo sa Star Trekom još veće postignuće. Dakle, jedna dinamična (tu mislim kako i na akciju tako i na odnose među likovima), zabavna svemirska avantura (a akcentom na avanturu), uz taman onoliko SF gikovštine koliko je potrebno i uz uglavnom dobro doziran humor (imajući obzir ko su scenaristi toga sam se najviše pribojavao, ali sem par nepotrebnih pošalica sve je uglavnom na mestu i humor proizilazi iz likova, a ne usiljenih situacija). Abramsova režija je nekakav čudan hibrid filmske i televizijske režije, što daje na dinamici, posebno u onim formalno statičnijim scenama, ali povremeno dovodi do blage dezorijentacije kada krene konkretnija akcija, ali nije strašno, mada se kamera solidno drma, čisto ako nekome to baš smeta, a Abrams je malko preterao i sa lense flare efektima. Glumci su svi odreda dobri, a Karl Urban je u svojoj epizodi uspeo da perfektno uće u lik Boonesa. Meni je i Bana bio super kao negativac baš zato što je relativno jednostavan kao lik i efektan u toj svedenosti (i deluje fizički opasno, šteta što nema više tih neposrednih, face to face scena borbe sa njim), njega zanima samo osveta i ima dobar razlog da bude prilično nadrkan i to je to; mada, slažem se da nedostaje njegovog prisustva u smislu koliko mu je vremena posvećeno i koliko sam pročitao nešto od toga je zaista otišlo u montaži. Nekome će možda zasmetati to što se zaplet u dobroj meri oslanja na nekoliko how convenient momenata, ali izgleda da je i sam Abrams bio toga svestan, pa je kasnije u filmu suptilno provukao priču o sudbini da to pokrije. Dakle, ja sam prilično zadovoljan i jedva čekam da vidim u kom pravcu će priča dalje da krene, glavno da su postavljeni zdravi osnovi i da film osim toga uspeva da stoji i za sebe, mada mu je prevashodna uloga da bude svojevrsni pilot. Inače, svidela mi se i muzika, i premda jeste repetativna, mislim da se Giachinnova tema može porediti sa onom Hornerovom iz Khana, dakle, nije to ipak Goldsmith, ali je prilično efektno i ulazi u uši. Inače, jedan momenat se može posmatrati i kao posveta Đoganiju (očekivao sam da criple ovo prvi pomene), pošto Kirk u jednom trenutku "voli ženu zelenu." 4

Quote from: Milosh on 12-05-2009, 15:16:07
Inače, jedan momenat se može posmatrati i kao posveta Đoganiju (očekivao sam da criple ovo prvi pomene), pošto Kirk u jednom trenutku "voli ženu zelenu." 4

Da, naravno, o tome pričam ceo dan. ali sam zaboravio da uvrstim u post. Imao sam previše utisaka.

I naravno, kada mladi spock kaže matorom Spocku da mora da naposti Flotu kako bi produžio vulkansku rasu a matori mu kaže da nema potrebe, da će on to da radi... To je hit...

Quote from: Ghoul on 12-05-2009, 14:44:59
(za koje mislim da su opasni po sebe i druge i da ih ne bi trebalo puštati na ulicu).

potpis

Maverick director Gaspar Noe, whose feature Enter The Void is screening in competition, is hatching a sex film.


He says the as yet untitled film will be a "a joyful porn movie – a joyful movie with explicit sex." Noe's regular backers Wild Bunch are again in the frame to handle it.

Noe promises that the new film will be very different in tone to his contribution to erotic portmanteau film Destricted (which he says was "really sad.") The film will be made with unknown actors.

"I never saw a movie that mixed both real emotions and explicit sex," Noe explained. "In life, [sex] is the focus of most people. They are not obsessed with money or social recognition. They are obsessed with sex. Why do we never see it portrayed for the joy it brings."

The film, which the director is pitching as "a small family movie," will be shot simply and with a small crew. Formally, Noe says, it will be the antithesis of the highly complex, effects-driven, Tokyo-shot Enter The Void. "Working in Japan with 60 people in the crew was a lot of fun but once you've had had a big, big party, you want to have a calm Sunday. I would say my erotic movie is going to be my Sunday."

I da, naravno. Čestitam Dan bezbednosti!

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 13-05-2009, 12:46:24


Noe promises that the new film will be very different in tone to his contribution to erotic portmanteau film Destricted (which he says was "really sad.") The film will be made with unknown actors.

Ne vidim niti jedan razlog zašto ne bi opet angažovao Coralie.

Posle nekoliko dana pauze, Crip se vraća sa utiscima o jednom od najmukotrpnijih filmova koje je gledao u poslednje vreme. Reč je o filmu FRANKLYN Geralda McMorrowa.

Ovaj film mi je bio jedan od očekivanijih prošle sezone. Očekivao sam da će McMorrow snimiti britansku indie varijaciju na V FOR VENDETTA. Međutim, ono što je on snimio je mnogo pre britanska indie varijacija na  KROJAČEVA TAJNU.

FRANKLYN je konfuzna papazjanija koja pokušava da smesti V FOR VENDETTA koncepciju u milje KROJAČEVE TAJNE, i to četiri godine posle oba ova naslova, s tim što po narativnoj kohezivnosti više liči na KROJAČA nego na VENDETTU.

FRANKLYN je nemoguće pratiti, ne toliko što je išta u ovom filmu loše na mikroplanu, koliko zbog toga što se smenjuju infantilna rediteljska rešenja i potpuno opskurna priča sklopljena oko intruige koja je svakome iole nagledanom čoveku jasna a onome ko nije ionako nije interesantna. Kada se tome doda glumačka poela u kojoj paradiraju glumci koji liče jedni na druge pa zato sve još više zbunjuje, dobijamo film u odnosu na koji KROJAČ ima prednost jer je kudikamo jasniji u izlaganju svoje ideje.

FRANKLYNa sam željno iščekivao i moram piznati da me odavno neki most anticipated film nije toliko zgadio.

Pogledao sam THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE Stevena Soderbergha.

Sama činjenica da u filmu glumi Sasha Grey učinila ga je jednim od najočekivanijih u sezoni, međutim, njena glumačka veština prevazišla je sva moja očekivanja i moram priznati da se ubrzo posle početka filma, iako film govori o  ženi kojoj je seks profesija, potpuno zaboravlja da je u glavnoj ulozi Sasha Grey. Sasha je još u svojim porno ulogama pokazivala da je izuzetno talentovana za dramske scene i na neki način dramske scene i jesu bile njen ključni selling point. Kad kažem dramske scene, a imamo u vidu da Sasha mahom igra u gonzo filmovima, onda pre svega mislim na uvode scena i njen personality.

Odlično je što je Sasha prenela punu efektnost svog personalityja u THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. Iako se može postaviti pitanje, može li Sasha da pruži išta više od personality actinga, i iako se može konstatovati da je THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE one-note performance, niko ne može osporiti da većina indie glumaca i jesu takvi i da samim tim Sasha Grey nesumnjivo ima budućnost barem kao indie glumica.

Sasha je okosnica filma. Ko očekuje da vidi seks sa Sashom, praktično ga neće videti. Ona je ovde potpuno rekontektualizovana i pratimo razvoj njenog lika, high class escorta naizgled neprobojnog (nikako zlatnog srca) u periodu početka ekonomske krize kada kriza prvo počinje kao tema razgovora na večeri sa klijentom da bi se zatim pretvorila u vrlo suptilan motiv cele priče, i Damoklov mač nad njenim odnosom sa momkom, inače trenerom u teretani koji pruža drugu vrstu usluiga bogatim japijima (koji najednom upadaju u krizu).

Posle dugo vremena, Soderbergh je snimio višeslojan film u kome se pored osnovne melodrame njegovih junaka tretira i pozicija raznih ljudi u hijerarhiji globalnog kapitalizma. U svojim hit and miss pokušajima simuliranja art house ugođaja, čini mi se da je Soderbergh ovde najbliži svom idealu, i da mu je ovo najbolji film još od OUT OF SIGHT.

Tome svakako doprinosi i Soderberghova fotografija koja je najzad izbrušena, više nema onog poluamaterizma koji je opterećivao mnoge njegove naslove, naročito recentne. Iako je kadriranje svedeno, slika je glossy i uspeva da kanališe određenu senzualnost Njujorka.

Višeslojnosti filma svakako doprinosi i scenario Soderberghovih od skora redovnih saigrača David Leviena i Briana Koppelmana koji su počeli sa ROUNDERSom, onda lutali neko vreme i sada ponovo počeli da rade potentne stvari. Štaviše, smatram da je THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE zapravo uvod u njihov rediteljski debi SOLITARY MAN koji Soderbergh producira i govori o mogulu automobilske industrije iz osamdesetih (igra ga 80s mogul himself - Michael Douglas) i slutim da bi ta priča možda mogla biti povezana sa daljim istraživanjem japi dekadencije (keyword: John DeLorean).

Ipak, sasvim je sigurno da koncentracija koju su Soderbergh i ekipa uložili u ovaj film ne bi bila toliko efektna da nije Sashe, ne samo zbog njene ubedljive uloge, već i zbog toga što je u domnu "obićnog filma" reč o potpuno novom licu koje u ovom kontkstu deluje potpuno sveže i fascinantno talentovano.

* * * / * * * *

Pogledao sam ZIFT Javora Gardeva i ukoliko bi ovaj film morao da se sumira u jednoj rečenici onda je najlakše reći da je to "bugarski MILOŠ BRANKOVIĆ". Oba filma su snimljena crno-belo i oba filma pokušavaju da daju neku vrstu arty vizije noira. MILOŠ BRANKOVIĆ smešta crno-belu fotografiju u noir ključu u savremene okolnosti, kao priču o potonuću savremenog čoveka u stilizovani kriminal u stilizovanom Sin City Beogradu, dok Gardev aplicira crno-belu fotku na Sofiju iz klasične noir ere, dakle od kraja tridesetih do početka četrdesetih, slobodno uzima niz noir mitema i meša ih sa tipičnim tradicijama istočnoevropskog filma koje podrazumevaju suočavanje sa represivnim režimima, izvesne vizuelne konvencije, i od toga pravi svoju formulu arty noira.

Oba filma u pojedinim delovima imaju stripovsku stilizaciju, sa junacima koji svojim fizionomijama i kostimima automatski asociraju na profesiju, stalež i poziciju u odnosu na glavnog junaka.

Dok je politička agenda MILOŠA BRANKOVIĆA jasna, čak preeksplicitna, Gardev i scenarista Vladislav Todorov u principu dotiču mnoge političke teme ali teško je reći da uprkos izobilju ideoloških simbola, ovaj film ima ikakvu ideju. I mislim da je to jedan od dosta važnih i krupnih nedostataka ovog filma. Čini mi se da je Gardev vrlo svesno pokušao da snimi balkanski žanrovski miks sa referencom na noir kao što je Dragojević učinio u LEPIM SELIMA u odnosu na ratni film i RANAMA u odnosu na geto-film, i da mu je u tom procesu upravo sam Dragojević bio uzor, ali na tom putu je izgubio suštinsku ideju koja bi objedinjavala ove različite žanrovske pristupe.

Ono što je Dragojevićeve kanonske filmove držalo na okupu upravo jeste ideja, i što je ta osnovna ideja bila slabija to su i ti filmovi bili slabiji. Za Gardeva je teško reći da ima jasnu ideju, izuzev da ekranizuje jedan očigledno duhovit i maštovit roman.

Interesantno je da i MILOŠ BRALKOVIĆ i ZIFT kao značajan plot point uzimaju motiv nacionalizovane imovine, uzete od građanske klase. Pošto se dešava u vreme komunističke vladavine, ZIFT pokušava da se pozicionira i u odnosu na nju, ali se ne odmiče previše od opštih mesta. U domenu noira koji je prilično socijalno determinisan žanr, dosta je bitna definicija u kakvom društvu se to dešava, i Gardev sigurno ne uspeva da nam da zaokruženu definiciju.

S druge strane, scenarista Todorov očigledno pokušava da očuva digresivnost romana i u scenariju. Film je prepun flešbekova i prepričavanja anegdota od kojih neke kasnije zaigraju kao matrica za dalje događaje a neke ne.

Na kraju ono što drži celu stvar na okupu jeste upravo noir priča, i ono što je najjasnije jeste referenca na noir zaplete i na noir istoriju. Međutim, iako se nominalno ovaj film može definisati kao neo noir, on to svakako nije po svojoj nameri i potencijalu.

U tom smislu, kao što to često biva u evropskom filmu, autori kreću od ideje da prevaziđu žanr a na kraju završe sa filmom čije su jedine vrline upravo proistekle iz neuništivnosti žanra.

Što se zanatske kompetencije tiče, Gardev se služi mešavinom stilova u kadriranju, očigledno je da na nivou rediteljskog koncepta ide od scene do scene, neke su uspelije od drugih, međutim, za regionalne uslove, Gardev je vrlo pristojan reditelj.

ZIFT je prikazan na nekoliko festivala, između ostalog je u Moskvi dobio nagradu, a bio je bugarski kandidat za oskara.

Interesantno je da je jedan ovako atipičan regionalni film uspeo da se nametne kao bugarski predstavnik za oskara, naročito ako imamo u vidu da je njihova kinematografija fondacijski infiltrirana kao i naša.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Mother
16 May, 2009 | By Mike Goodridge

Dir: Bong Joon-ho. 2009. South Korea. 129 minutes.


Bong Joon-ho channels Pedro Almodovar in his fourth feature, an operatic melodrama revolving around a knockout central performance from TV star Kim Hye-ja. Filled with the elegant compositions and mood-drenched cinematography which are becoming Bong's specialty, Mother is a largely satisfying film which marks the director out as South Korea's most versatile young auteur.

The combination of Bong and local TV star Kim should ensure enormous local success in Korea. Overseas, buyers might not be initially turned on by the title and an aging actress in the lead role, but once they see the world-class film-making and Hitchcockian murder mystery elements in the completed film, sales should be brisk to major arthouse distributors like Diaphana, which pre-bought France at AFM last year. It should comfortably beat Park Chan-wook's Thirst to the Korean Oscar submission.

Kim is renowned in Korea for playing a loving mother in long running TV series The Rustic Diary, so Bong is clearly toying with her public persona here by casting her as a mother whose devotion to her emotionally and mentally backward son leads her into some excessive behaviour. Her endlessly expressive face, racked with pain and anguish, is the central attraction here, helping to overcome some of the story's more far-fetched plot points.

The film takes a while to find its groove, and the first half hour feels unsure, playing for cheap laughs at the expense of a childlike adult, before the high drama kicks in. Even the pre-credit sequence in which Kim walks across a meadow and dances to camera implies the tongue-in-cheek playfulness prevalent in Bong's superhit monster movie The Host.

Hye-ja is an overprotective single mother in her fifties who always keeps an eye on her son Do-joon (Won Bin). Even though he's 27, he behaves like a child, forgets what he has said from one minute to the next and seems to have little sense of everyday dangers. In the opening scene, he is playing in the road with a dog when a large Mercedes Benz knocks him over and speeds off. Relatively unhurt, he and his best friend Jin- tae chase the Benz to the local golf course where Do-joon collects numerous golf balls before the two friends attack the Benz drivers with sticks.

Later that night Do-joon determines to go out and have sex with a girl but gets so drunk that he is thrown out of a bar. On the way home he follows a school girl home and propositions her, but she throws a rock at him and chases him away.

The next day, however, the police find the girl dead with one of the golf balls inscribed with Do-joon's name lying beside her. He is arrested and charged with murder.

His imprisonment spurs Hye-ja into action as her maternal instincts kick in. Convinced that her son is harmless, she determines to prove his innocence and investigates the case herself, learning more about the schoolgirl's personal life and identifying alternative suspects. Along the way, her own past reappears to haunt her.

Once the investigation begins, Hye-ja will apparently go to any length to liberate her son. Indeed, the surprises of the story as it spirals into Vertigo-style flashback and shocking revelations elevate the film beyond mere thriller into high-octane Almodovar territory. Lee Byeong-woo's wonderfully Herrman-esque score underlines the Hitchcockian influence, while cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (Eye For An Eye, Taegukgi) invests the rain-soaked milieus and gloomy interiors with stylized panache and bold lighting reminiscent of the all-at-night action of The Host.

A evo i Variety kritike Bonga...

Cannes
Mother
Madeo (South Korea)
By DEREK ELLEY

'Mother'
'Mother'
A CJ Entertainment release of a CJ Entertainment, Barunson presentation of a Barunson production. (International sales: CJ Entertainment, Seoul.) Produced by Seo Woo-shik, Park Tae-jun. Executive producer, Miky Lee. Co-executive producers, Katharine Kim, Mun Yang-gweon. Directed by Bong Joon-ho. Screenplay, Park Eun-gyo, Bong; story, Bong.

With: Kim Hye-ja, Weon Bin, Jin Gu.

Asian movies with "mother" in the title often augur two hours of female fortitude, sibling devotion and saccharine. But Bong Joon-ho's "Mother" is a mutha of a different kind -- an engrossing portrait of a feisty Korean widow determined to prove her emotionally fragile son innocent of murder. Less visionary than Bong's 2003 serial-killer mystery, "Memories of Murder," but with the same skillfully natural evocation of a rural community hiding dark secrets, "Mother" will prove a tougher sell than Bong's hit monster movie, "The Host," but should get a warm embrace from upscale auds, despite having been unjustly denied a competition berth at Cannes.

For viewers in South Korea (where the pic opens May 28), one of the main attractions will be lead thesp Kim Hye-ja, totally unknown outside the country (except marginally for the 1999 mother-daughter pic "Mayonnaise") but already a domestic legend for her maternal portraits over the past 30 years. Here, however, Bong subverts the 67-year-old thesp's usual screen image with a role that's wiry to the core; the character's love for her son is shown to be non-negotiable and, on the outside, unsentimental.

Do-jun (Weon Bin) is a 27-year-old borderline simpleton who still lives with his long-widowed mother (Kim) in a small, unremarkable South Korean town. Much to his mom's displeasure, his best friend is bad boy Jin-tae (Jin Gu), who ribs him about still being a virgin. When Do-jun narrowly escapes being mowed down in a hit-and-run accident, Jin-tae relishes the chance of a punch-up; he and Do-jun pursue the privileged perps to a golf club where they dispense street justice.

But soon Do-jun finds himself embroiled in harsher justice when he's arrested for the brutal murder of a young girl. Though he has an alibi of sorts -- getting drunk in a bar while waiting for Jin-tae to turn up -- a golf ball with his name on it is found by the body. The confused Do-jun proves an easy target for the lazy local cops to conveniently extract a confession.

His mother, however, is convinced of her son's innocence, and sets out as a one-woman task force to find out the truth. Initially, she focuses on Jin-tae's apparent guilt, but the story is not so simple.

As in "Memories of Murder," Bong economically steeps the viewer in the mindset of the rural community while retaining a slightly ironic distance and occasionally throwing curveballs. When the mother-with-a-mission strides through the landscape, a crazy brass-band march accompanies her on the soundtrack; physical violence has a habit of erupting unexpectedly; and when the story develops a sudden dramatic impetus, composer Lee Byeong-woo ("The Host") cranks up the gently simmering atmosphere with genre-like music.

Key casting is aces, led by a deglammed Kim, forcefully low-key as the mother who seems capable of anything to protect her son; she also shows surprising physical strength when the occasion demands it. Weon, who began his career as a boyish-looking teen idol, is almost unrecognizable here as the complexly layered Do-jun, while Jin, so good as a psychotic killer in the recent "Truck," brings a palpable physical intensity to Jin-tae.

Acute widescreen lensing by the versatile Hong Gyeong-pyo, better known for his work on visually flashier projects ("Il Mare," "Taegukgi," "Save the Green Planet!"), seamlessly knits together a large number of diverse locations into a single town.
More than one option



Camera (color, widescreen), Hong Gyeong-pyo; editor, Mun Se-gyeong; music, Lee Byeong-woo; production designer, Ryu Seong-heui; sound, in Dolby Digital; visual effects, AZworks. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), May 16, 2009. Runnin

Pogledao sam novi film William Malonea PARASOMNIA. Moram priznati da je Malone jedan od onih reditlja za čiji svaki film smatram da je zanimljiv, ali da isto tako nikada nije isporučio istinski zaokruženo delo. Njegovi raniji filmovi su uvek u nekim segmentima bivali bolji od onoga što treba da budu, i to paradoksalno dovodilo do toga da izgledaju kao da su slabiji nego što su mogli da budu. Malone se uvek koristio istrošenim, poznatim matricama i unapređivao ih je svojim specifičnim vizuelnim stilom u koji je unosio dosta uticaja ekspresionizma, dosta depalmijanske iracionalnosti i generalno činio da filmovi imaju određene arty deonice.

Malone svakako nije prvi reditelj koji se upleo u horor sa idejom da ga obogati arty detaljima, ekspresionizmom, iracionalnošću, bez previše brige za priču. Međuitim, Malone je verovatno jedini iz srednje generacije američkih B-reditelja koji je tim putem išao toliko daleko, u industriji koja generalno ne toleriše tu vrstu eksperimenta. Otud je i malone sada na ničijoj zemlji, ne radi vrhunski mainstream, ne radi ni exploitation već luta pustarama indie horora.

U tom smislu, PARASOMNIA je potentno ostvarenje indie horora koje kreće iz miljea kakav je karakterističan recimu za Lucky McKeeja i odlazi u pravcu raznih ekspresionističkih elemenata i završava blizu Tim Burtona.

Naravno, Malone je mnogo visceralniji od McKeeja i od Burtona tako da već od prvog kadra i špice vidimo da je reč o radu jednog samouverenog, iskusnog i veštog reditelja kome ni kasniji indie setting ne smeta previše. Ono gde film pada to su tipične neuralgične tačke horor filmova, poput scena sa policijom koja u većini naslova ovog tipa redovno izgleda kao višak, a kada pandura igra Jeffrey Combs deluje kao manje uspeli deo filma Stuarta Gordona iz osamdesetih. Iako Maloneov film ne pledira da nudi logičnu priču, ovaj segment sa policajcima prosto ne pripada inače vrlo konzistentnom univerzumu koji je u svim drugim segmentima Malone ostvario.

Međutim, ukoliko se čovek upusti u glednje Malonea i zna šta da očekuje, PARASOMNIA mu izuzev opterećujećg plota sa policijskom istragom nudi vizeulno ekspresivan pulpy tobogan, smešten u indie parametre. Ono što međutim, običan gledalac, ljubitelj žanra ili ne, ponovo ima kao problem sa Maloneom je gde smestiti ovaj film. Naime, PARSOMNIA je suviše pulpy za indie horor, koliko god bila neozbiljna i trashy u postavci ipak nije trash, a opet svi ovi elementi ma koliko zanatski bili vešto realizovani jako su daleko od mainstreama.

PARASOMNIA je dakle još jedan Maloneov naslov koji uprkos svojoj intrigantnosti i veštini nekako ne može da nađe svoje mesto na tržištu što je štta pšošto su popred Malonea i njegovi saradnici, naročito DP Christian Sebaldt sa kojim je radio i FEARDOTCOM. Sebaldt je napravio odličnu indie fotku, sa vrlo ambicioznim rešenjima, na malom budžetu, koja sasvim funkcionišu, a veštim rukovanjem objektivima dodao je celoj priči potrebnu oniričku atmosferu pošto se film bavi pitanjima spavanja i hipnoze.

* * * / * * * *

Zahvaljujući Shozovom i mrkoyevom joint effortu, pogledao sam TOKYO! omnibus od tri priče koji se nastavlja na prethopdni pariski omnibus u kome je doduše bilo više reditelja.

Selekcija reditelja je zanimljiva. Producenti su izabrali tri različita autora koji se suštinski obraćaju trima različitim publikama. Njihove publike su priličnoj meri, i u brojnim tačkama preklapaju, ali ipak Gondry, Carax i Bong su reprezenti apartnih mileja savremene internacionalne kinematografije.

Najveće ime među njima svakako je Leos Carax, reditelj koji je jedna od ikona francuskog neobaroka koji nažalost nije uspeo da postigne svetski uspeh kao njegovi savremenici i saborci Besson ili Beineix zbog svoje neukrotive sklonosti ka provokaciji, evropskom art ekscesu i bezobzirnošću prema publici. Upravo zato, on nije bio sposoban da proizvede film Bessonove komunikativnosti ili pitki art house kao Beineix ali ostao kao jedan od cenjenih enfant terriblea francuskog filma koji više nije dete. Carax je i dalje velika atrakcija evropskog filma, što potvrđuje i ovaj film.

S druge strane, tu je Michel Gondry, takođe francuska art house faca koja je paradoksalno vezanija za američku hipstersku scenu, i iako radi filmove i u Evropi, ipak je Amerika njegov ključni teren. Gondry je vremenom uspeo da se osamostali od scene koja je nastala oko scenariste Charlie Kaufmana i da pođe svojim arty putem, međutim vezanost za Ameriku u suštini nije raskinuo.

Konačno, tu je Bong Joon Ho, što se mene tiče, najznačajniji reditelj u ovoj ekipi, veliki genre bender koji snima megahitove za korojeske bioskope koji zbog svog vrhunskog umetničkog dometa u Evropi prolaze kao festivalski favoriti. Bong Joon Ho je što se mene tiče pretekao Chan Wook Parka koji je ranije držao vrlo sličnu poziciju u korejskom i svetskom filmu, a to je čak i internacionalna kritika počela da primećuje. Ipak, sve do ove godine, Bong je ipak imao manju težinu od Caraxa i Gondryja.

Međutim, u omnibusu TOKYO!, Bongova priča je daleko najbolja. Iako se on i dalje služi tim vrlo specifičnim korejskim ritmom pričanja priče, sa vrlo neobičnim kadriranjem, izuzetnom vizuelnom kulturom filma i tehničkim perfekcionizmom koji krasi njegove filmove i inače, SHAKING TOKYO je u suštini najkomunikativnija priča u omnibusu. Naime, Bong je odbio da se uključi u trku i nadmetanje sa Gondryjem i Caraxom u ludilu bez pokrića pa je snimio jedan film koji je precizan, racionalan, sa jasnom emocijom, temom i idejom.

Svojom apsolutnom tehničkom superiornošću, priča o hikikomoriju, i trenutku kada on izađe na ulicu a svi ostali se povuku u kuće, u vrlo kratkom trajanju nudi zaokruženu priču, socijalni angažman, kako već rekoh jasnu emociju i ideju. Vrlo je lako moguće da Bong bude ismejan kao što su često đaci koji nauče za ispit ismejani od strane slackera, kada se uporedi sa Gondryjem ili Caraxom, međutim siguran sam da je ne samo snimio najbolji film u omnibusu nego je bio i najkorektniji prema Tokiju kao gradu domaćinu.

* * * 1/2 / * * * *

Zašto govorim o korektnosti prema Tokiju kao gradu domaćinu? Pa zato što iako se i Bong bavi japanskim ekscentričnostzima, on im daje neku vrstu čudnog dostojanstva dočim se Gondry i Carax bave nekim freakshow elementima u kojima grad Tokio i njegovi stanovnici ipsadaju žešći debili.

Gondryjev film je u svom većem delu klasična euro-realistička postavka o dvoje mladih ljudi bez para koji pokušavaju da nađu stan a mladić se usput u BE KIND REWIND maniru bavi filmom, da bi onda u jednom momentu počela kafkijanska transformacija glavne junakinje i film potpuno promenio žanrovski predznak, po čemu me je na sitno podsetio na Miikeov ODISHON.

U Gondryjevom filmu prikazana je mračna strana Tokija gde grad izgleda mnogo više kao Manila nego kao Tokio, sa prljavštinom i prenaseljenošću, neljubaznim službenicima i sl.

Sama priča je manie-više solidno odrađen arty blef u kome Gondry spaja svoju sklonost ka pretencioznom realizmu i neke vizuelne trikove po kojima je poznat iz svojih spotova.  Iako je utisak koji je ova priča ostavila na mene slab, nesumnjivo je da ona ipak ima dovoljno kompetencije da se nekome i jako dopadne.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

I naravno, tu je granddaddy Leos Carax koji u svojoj priči ostaje na svojoj liniji bezobrazluka sa koje ne skreće. On polemiše sa mitom o Godzilli, tako šo prikazuje priču o neimenovanom humanodinom freaku koji izlazi iz kanalizacije i cima građane Tokija. Posle jednog krajnje iracionalnog (i odlično režiranog) murder spreeja, freaka hvataju, a kao jedini koji može da komunicira sa njim dolazi francuski advokat, freak slične fizionomije, sa advokatskim pristupom Jacques Vergesa i počinje suđenje.

Carax stvara priču pereubovskog pristupa stvarima koja nadalje preuzima iracionalnu premisu i tretira je kao običnu, racionalnu socijalnu satiru. Prikaz Japana je flah, Carax se dosta oslanja na predrasude koje imamo o japanskom društvu, i suštinski, za razliku od Bonga koji iz japanske priče cedi univerzalno značenje, i Gondryja koji je kvinetsencijalno tokijski, Carax koristi Tokio kako bi snimio svoj, francuski film koji se tamo dešava, sticajem okolnosti.

I u tom smislu, Carax je snimio "svoj" film koji se razlikuje od njegovog kanonskog opusa utoliko što je bliži žanru komdije, međutim sama postavka i razbarušenost su isti kao i u njegovim drugim radovma.

Isto kao i Gondry, Carax je snimio film koji ima kapacitet da se dopadne publici koju to zanima.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Iako je mene suštinski samo Bobngov film istinski zadiovoljio, TOKYO! je jedan od retkih omnibusa koji zapravo nema slabu priču. Kada čitam stranu kritiku štaviše, mislim da će jedino u Srbiji Bongova priča biti smatrana najboljom. U drugim zemljama se hvale potpuno druge priče što pokazuje da je TOKYO! uspeo eksperiment koji se zahvaljujući ovakvoj selekciji reditelja obraća jako širokoj publici u kojoj doduše nikoga zapravo neće u potpunosti zadovoljiti.

Inglourious Basterds
(U.S. - Germany)
By TODD MCCARTHY
Brad Pitt stars in Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds.'

A Weinstein Co. (in U.S.)/Universal Pictures Intl. (foreign) release of A Band Apart (U.S.)/Zehnte Babelsberg (Germany) production. (International sales; Universal Pictures Intl., London.) Produced by Lawrence Bender. Executive producers, Erica Steinberg, Lloyd Phillips, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein. Co-producers, Henning Molfenter, Carl L. Woebcken, Christoph Fisser.
Directed, written by Quentin Tarantino.

Lt. Aldo Raine - Brad Pitt
Shosanna - Melanie Laurent
Col. Hans Landa - Christoph Waltz
Sgt. Donny Donowitz - Eli Roth
Lt. Archie Hicox - Michael Fassbender
Bridget von Hammersmark - Diane Kruger
Fredrick Zoller - Daniel Bruhl
Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz - Til Schweiger
Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki - Gedeon Burkhard
Marcel - Jacky Ido
Pfc. Smithson Utivich - B.J. Novak
Pfc. Omar Ulmer - Omar Doom
Major Hellstrom - August Diehl
Perrier Lapadite - Denis Menochet
Joseph Goebbels - Sylvester Groth
Hitler - Martin Wuttke
General Ed Fenech - Mike Myers
Francesca Mondino - Julie Dreyfus
Sgt. Rachtman - Richard Samuel
Master Sgt. Wilhelm/Pola Negri Alexander Fehling
Winston Churchill - Rod Taylor
(English, German, French, Italian dialogue)

  "Inglourious Basterds" is a violent fairy tale, an increasingly entertaining fantasia in which the history of World War II is wildly reimagined so that the cinema can play the decisive role in destroying the Third Reich. Quentin Tarantino's long-gestating war saga invests a long-simmering revenge plot with reworkings of innumerable genre conventions, but only fully finds its tonal footing about halfway through, after which it's off to the races. By turns surprising, nutty, windy, audacious and a bit caught up in its own cleverness, the picture is a completely distinctive piece of American pop art with a strong Euro flavor that's new for the director. Several explosive scenes and the names of Tarantino and topliner Brad Pitt promise brawny commercial prospects, especially internationally, as the preponderance of subtitled dialogue might put off a certain slice of the prospective domestic audience.
In no meaningful way based upon Enzo G. Castellari's schlock 1978 Italian WWII programmer of the same title, Tarantino's deliberately misspelled namesake has been in the oven for many years, initially as a would-be "The Dirty Dozen"-style bad boys "mission" adventure and until very recently as a massive miniseries-length epic spanning the entire war. The narrow mission focus has prevailed in the end, but not in the way that might have been expected, as the group of Jewish avengers led by Pitt's Tennessee Lt. Aldo Raine rep only one component of a vast ensemble that feeds into a Nazi-foiling plot only a hardcore film buff could have dreamed up.

In fact, the best characters are non-Yanks, all of whom speak their own languages and one or two others to boot. But this commendable gesture toward linguistic accuracy is virtually the only realistic aspect of the picture, which otherwise soars on its flights of fancy and deliberate anachronisms -- the use of David Bowie's "Putting Out the Fire" at a crucial point is particularly inispired -- and flattens out only when Tarantino gets too carried away with over-elaborated dialogue scenes, a problem that could easily be addressed with some slight trimming between now and the skedded August opening.

Never less than enjoyable and more than that in the second half, "Basterds" is divided into five "chapters," the first being "Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France." Wording not only reflects the Sergio Leone-style nature of the opening scene, in which notorious Nazi "Jew Hunter" Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) arrives at a farmhouse to ferret out a hidden Jewish family, but honestly reflects the fantastical nature of the narrative to come.

The long discussion in which Landa engages the nervous farmer establishes, in slightly protracted fashion, Landa's erudition and his relaxed, self-amused way of leading up to the lethal moment. It also provides Waltz, a good-looking 40ish actor who carries off dialogue in four languages with consummate ease, with an early chance to claim the picture as his own, which he does.

One member of the Jewish family, young Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), escapes the massacre, only to surface three years later, in 1944, as the owner of a cinema in occupied Paris. Now a very quickly grown-up blonde, Shosanna endures the unwelcome advances of Nazi war hero Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), who calls himself "the German Sgt. York" for his exploits at taking out dozens of Allied soldierssinglehandedly, a feat celebrated in a new German movie, "Nation's Pride," starring Zoller himself.

In short order, Shosanna is compelled to tolerate the company of the infamous Dr. Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) as well that of Landa, who informs her at length that the Nazis want to take over her theater to hold the premiere of Zoller's film, an event to be attended by Nazidom's elite. As difficult as it is for Shosanna to bear these monsters, the event does provide the long-suffering woman the opportunity she's been waiting for to strike back at her family's killer and other Nazis in the bargain.

A notable continuity issue crops up here, as Shosanna is told the gala screening is to be held that very evening. In the next chapter, "Operation Kino," a British commando leader (and former film critic), Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), is told by a general (Mike Myers, amusing and greatly made-over) that the opening will take place three days hence. Quite apart from Shosanna's own plot, the Brits, in league with the Basterds, plan to infiltrate the premiere courtesy of their invaluable secret agent, beauteous German leading lady Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).

Once this mission is set in motion, pic clicks confidently on all cylinders. Before this point, some scenes feel overly attenuated; the leisurely exchange between Landa and Shosanna in a Paris restaurant features needlessly repetitious dialogue has a deadened, airless quality due to the almost total absence of ambient sound and surrounding activity. The Basterds' first appearance, in which they gleefully display their grisly Nazi-scalping technique and which features much twangy, down-home speechifying by Pitt, also proves less amusing than was no doubt intended.

By contrast, a long tavern sequence in which the group of reveling spies -- including Bridget, Hicox, Til Schweiger's renegade German and Gedeon Burkhard's undercover corporal -- party on until coming under the suspicion of a Gestapo officer (August Diehl, excellent), is vintage Tarantino, brimming with delicious dialogue, wonderful linguistic mixing, lively group interplay and tension slowly built to a convulsive climax. Scene vaults the picture straight into its grand climax, in which all the top Nazis, including Goebbels, Goerring and, crazily enough, Hitler himself, conveniently place themselves under one roof awaiting the madly inventive fate devised for them by Shosanna.

While World War II has probably inspired as much fiction as any other single topic in film history, "Inglourious Basterds" is one of the few to have brazenly altered history to such an extent. Because he carefully sets up the approach at the outset, as well as through his sense of style, Tarantino gets away with it, and is in a position to fine-tune the picture before locking a final cut. Other scenes ripe for pruning are all those featuring Hitler prior to the grand finale, interludes that come off as cartoony, unconvincing and unnecessary.

In a true ensemble picture, Waltz stands head and shoulders above the rest with a lusty performance in the juiciest role. Laurent is appealingly thoughtful and observant as the young lady awaiting her chance, Fassbender cuts a dashing figure, speaks with a wonderfully clipped accent and rather resembles Daniel Day-Lewis here, and Kruger is far more engaging and animated than she's heretofore been in her big international pictures. Pitt clearly enjoys rolling his former moonshine runner's accent around in his mouth, although his performance is overly defined by constantly jutting jaw and furrowed brow. Inferring a measure of self-evaluation by Tarantino, some viewers will take exception to the film's final line, in which Aldo admires his climactic bit of brutal handiwork: "I think this just might be my masterpiece."

Shot almost entirely at Babelsberg Studio outside Berlin, with brief location work in Paris, pic features terrific production values across the boards, from David Wasco's rich production design and Anna Sheppard's fine costumes to Robert Richardson's clear-eyed, beautifully framed lensing and Sally Menke's sharply timed editing. Tarantino eschews a traditional score in favor of a crazy stew of source music, ranging eclectically from Dimitri Tiomkin's "The Green Leaves of Summer" from "The Alamo" and some Mike Curb motorcycle movie music to eight selections from the Ennio Morricone library.

Basterd Eli Roth shot the black-and-white battle footage from the "Nation's Pride" film-within-a-film, which features glimpses of original "Inglorious Bastards" star Bo Swenson.

More than one option(Person) Mike Myers
Voice, Characters as Source Material, Song
(Person) Mike Myers
Driver
(Person) Mike Myers
ScreenplayMore than one option(Person) Rod Taylor
Sound Editor
(Person) Rod Taylor
ActorMore than one option(Person) Sergio Leone
Actor, Director, Executive Producer
(Person) Sergio Leone
ActorMore than one option(Person) Robert Richardson
Camera Operator, Cinematographer, Director of Photography
(Person) Robbie Richardson
(Person) Robert Richardson
Editor
(Person) Robert Richardson
Driver, Transportation
(Person) Robert Richardson
Assistant Property Master, Assistant Props, Set DresserMore than one option(Film) The Alamo
2004 - Dennis Quaid, John Lee Hancock
(Film) The Alamo
1960 - John Wayne, John WayneCamera (Deluxe color, Panavision widescreen), Robert Richardson; editor, Sally Menke; music supervisor, Mary Ramos; production designer, David Wasco; supervising art director, Sebastian Krawinkel; art director, Stephan Gessler, Marco Bittner Rosser, David Scheunemann; set decorator, Sandy Reynolds Wasco; costume designer, Anna B. Sheppard; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Mark Ulano; supervising sound editor, Wylie Stateman; re-recording mixers, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti; sound designers, Harry Cohen, Ann Scibelli; visual effects designer, John Dykstra; visual effects supervisor, Victor Mueller; special effects supervisors, Gerd Feuchter, Uli Nefzer; special makeup effects, Gregory Nicotero, Howard Berger; stunt coordinators, Jeff Dashnaw, Bud Davis, Antje "Angie" Rau (Germany); associate producer, Pilar Savone; assistant directors, William Paul Clark, Bruce Moriarty; casting, Johanna Ray, Jenny Jue, Simone Bar, Olivier Carbone. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 20, 2009. Running time: 152 MIN.
(English, German, French, Italian dialogue)

Inglourious Basterds
20 May, 2009 | By Mike Goodridge

Dir/scr: Quentin Tarantino. 2009. US-Germany. 154 minutes.


An intermittently-inspired World War II epic which illustrates both Quentin Tarantino's brilliance and his tendency towards indulgence, Inglourious Basterds is composed of a series of long-running vignettes strung together by a slender story thread. The problem is that no one character or set of characters runs through the entire two-and-a-half hour running time, and, with some of the scenes running up to half an hour each, the thread of the drama is left disjointed and the focus ever-changing.

Above-the-title star Brad Pitt plays the captain of a troupe of Jewish American renegades dubbed the Inglorious Bastards, but Pitt is far from the centre of attention and both French actress Melanie Laurent and German actor Christoph Waltz both have more screen time and juicier roles. That, combined with the fact that most of the film is in French and German, will limit the film's box office prospects, principally in the subtitle-wary US where The Weinstein Company is opening wide on August 21. A big launch weekend should be guaranteed on the names of Pitt and Tarantino and the strong advance campaign which has been building on the internet, but like the Kill Bill films, it might fall fast in subsequent weeks.

Universal Pictures co-financed the film in return for international where audiences will be more receptive, especially in Europe. Results in Germany are unpredictable. A version of the script was leaked on the internet last year and already caused a firestorm in the German media, especially since the film – in which ordinary German soldiers are seen beaten and scalped – received considerable public funding from the government.

The Cannes world premiere ran to a shorter-than-expected 154 minutes but it still offers considerable challenges to the attention span of mainstream audiences. Even though there is some action and a fair smattering of Tarantino's customary blood-spilling, the film-maker devotes much of the running time to dialogue. As might be expected, Tarantino, the screenwriter shows off his ear for a witty back-and-forth or monologue with flamboyant frequency, often to the detriment of dramatic momentum.

And while much of the camerawork is tighter and more restrained than usual in a Tarantino opus, as befits the period, he still can't resist imposing a myriad of ostentatious references to other films on his original story (only the title is borrowed from Enzo Castellari's 1978 film). From constant references to Pabst and Riefenstahl to pieces of score from Dimitri Tiomkin (The Alamo), Ennio Morricone (multiple Italian scores, The Battle Of Algiers) and even snatches of music lifted from more recent horror movies like The Entity and Cat People (David Bowie's song Putting Out Fire) to hints of every war movie ever made, Tarantino once again insists on wearing his cinephilia on his sleeve. Some film lovers might appreciate his homages, others might view it as an obtrusive demonstration of a dearth of original ideas.

The opening scene alone, in which SS colonel Hans Landa (Waltz, perfectly evil) intimidates a French farmer (played by Denis Menochet) in 1941, runs to over 20 minutes, an indication of how the film is to continue. The result of the "friendly" interrogation is the massacre of a Jewish family hiding out under the floorboards although the teenage daughter of the family Shosanna (Laurent) escapes.

The second scene – already previewed in trailers – sees Lt Aldo Raine (Pitt, one-note in heavy Tennessee accent) briefing 12 Jewish American soldiers on their upcoming mission which is to fly behind enemy lines and kill as many Nazis as possible. Each is charged with collecting 100 Nazi scalps. Among the group are Sgt Donny Donowitz (Roth) who becomes famous for beating his victims to death with a baseball bat and a German soldier who has defected to the Allied side called Hugo Stiglitz (Schweiger, who doesn't say a word in the film).

The drama, scattered among so many characters as it is, eventually evolves into a 1944 plot called Operation Kino to blow up Goebbels, Goring, Bormann  and other members of the German High Command at a cinema in Paris where a Goebbels propaganda film starring "the German Sergeant York" Daniel Bruhl is to have its premiere. The cinema is owned by Sosanna, now masquerading as a gentile, who has attracted the unwanted romantic advances of Bruhl.

The most brilliant section of the film sees a British spy (Fassbender) and two of the Bastards arriving in an underground bar to rendezvous with German film star and double agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Kruger). But when they arrive, they unexpectedly find a party of Nazis getting drunk and playing games. When the British spy's accent is questioned by one of the soldiers, a senior German major (Diehl) emerges from the shadows and a tense face off ensues.

Ironically Tarantino's dialogue here is not as tricksy or self- consciously clever as in other sections and the scene works through sheer tension and the skills of the excellent ensemble.

Other supporting players include Mike Myers, somewhat ridiculous as an upper-crust English general, Martin Wuttke as Hitler, the venerable Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill and cameos by Inglorious Bastards star Bo Svenson and Castellari himself. Tarantino regular Samuel L Jackson contributes a jarring voiceover midway through.

The cinema-set finale – which contains more than one fantastical turn of events – is suitably dramatic, and although Tarantino ends the film with Pitt, the real heroes of the film are women – namely the characters played by Laurent and Kruger, both giving showy star turns before grisly demises. With those two on the poster, the film could have been sold as Kill Adolf, Parts 1 & 2.

Meni to zvuči prilično dobro. Mislim, većina ovih 'zamerki' se da primeniti i na Palp Fikšn, tako da ne verujem da ću sa tim imati problema. Samo dok nije kompulzivnocitirajući plićak poput Kila Bila, dobro je.

Pogledao sam vrlo interesantan australijski indie triler/horor ACOLYTES izvesnog Jon Hewitta. Koliko vidim, Hewitt je pedesetogodišnjak i radio je nekoliko stvari pre ovog filma, međutim, po ACOLYTES bi se pre reklo da je reč o debitantskom filmu nekog aspiring filmmakera. U svakom slučaju posle ovog filma a na osnovu opisa naslova REDBALL i BLOODLUST (navodno zabranjenog u Britaniji) svakak0o bih potražio i njegove ranije filmove.

Naime, ACOLYTES savršeno simulira stil skrupuloznog indie filma na liniji Gus Van Santa i Larry Clarka, kako kroz glumu glavnih likova, tako i kroz dizajn i fotografiju i ACOLYTES (izuzev dosta traljavog tona na mojoj kopiji) deluje kao prilično upmarket film. Govori o troje mladih koji shvataju da su locirali grob jedne od žrtava serijskog ubice. Odlučuju da ga kontaktiraju i ucene, na krajnje neobičan način.

Ono što Hewittov film izdvaja od tipičnog edgy gritty Sundance trilera oslovnjenog na gusvansantovsku formu jesu vrlo oštri preokrti. Dok se kod Gus Van Santa priča razvija čehovljevski bez prevelikih preokreta, ovde su junaci raspoloženi za razne nestašluke a u par navrata scenaristi i preteruju u izvrtanju priče radi preokreta.

Međutim, Hewitt uspeva da napravi odličnu atmosferu i da u 87 minuta trajanja svoju već dosta puta viđenu priču učini svežom, pa čak i na tom nivou indie filma vrlo konkurentnom. zaista, u tom Gus Van Sant/Larry Clark univerzumu, Hewitt uopšte ne zaostaje na nivou vizuelne kulture.

Ono što ostaje kao pitanje jeste ravnoteža izmešđu žanrovske supstance i arty filma. Naime, u pojdinim deonicima žanr zahtev brži tempo, dok u nekim deonicama arty faktura zahteva mirniju manje senzacionalističku priču. Iako je ACOLYTES pitak film, čini mi se da hewitt nije uvek najbolje mirio te dve tendencije. Ipak, iako ACOLYTES možda nije veliki domet svakako stoji kao solidan primer genrebendinga.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Enter The Void
22 May, 2009 | By Mike Goodridge

Dir: Gaspar Noé, France. 2009. 163mins.


Almost defying definition in contemporary cinematic terms, Gaspar Noe's third feature film Enter The Void is a wild, hallucinatory mindfuck for adults which sees the director explore new shooting techniques and ambitious special effects to capture a young man's journey after death. More experience than narrative, it runs to a massive 163 minutes, meandering and careening in and out of story and into visual realms and moods that are nothing short of hypnotic. It is a film that will instantly achieve cult status among young adults. If audiences care to, they can lose themselves in Noe's images and trip on his imagination. If they don't, they will be bored to tears.

Bound to divide critics and audiences as decisively as 2002's Irreversible, Enter The Void is clearly the work of a visionary mind who plunges into darkness literally and thematically at any given opportunity. Scenes here – from the graphic performance of an abortion to extensive drug use, violence and frequent, explicit sex acts – will render it a limited distribution prospect with the most prohibitive censorship ratings available. But with his first two features Seul Contre Tous and Irreversible, Noe has built a loyal following bound to lap up his latest no-holds-barred opus. Life on DVD could be even more profitable, and adventurous viewers will no doubt adopt the film as an accompaniment for booze and drugs use.

Still unfinished in its Cannes competition screening – and 13 minutes longer than the festival had advertised – Enter The Void begins from the subjective vision of the lead character, an American slacker and budding drug dealer called Oscar (Brown) living in Tokyo, complete with blinks that block out the image every few seconds. 30 minutes into the film, he is killed and from then on the characters and buildings are viewed from above as if he is watching.

Noe's use of crane shots both in Tokyo, in studios and in modelwork is staggeringly original, and he tracks characters through the city by speeding over the buildings from aerial vantage points.

The film starts as Oscar's sister Linda (the ever-naked De La Huerta) leaves the apartment they share to go to work and he then experiments with DMT – a drug which occurs in the brain during an accident or at point of death. While he is in mid-trip (which Noe visualises using animated spirals), Oscar gets a phone call from his English friend Victor (Alexander) asking him to bring his drugs to a local bar called The Void. He is joined by his Alex (Cyril Roy), a drug buddy of Oscar's whom Linda disapproves of.

But when Oscar walks into the bar, he realises that it is a setup and the police chase him into the toilet, eventually shooting him dead.

From then on, Oscar's spirit can only observe as Alex goes on the run from the police, Linda falls apart after his death and finds that she is pregnant by her clubowner boyfriend Bruno (Cary Hayes) and Victor is racked by guilt at his role in the incident.

But Noe also tracks back in time, to Oscar and Linda's childhood where we see the horrific car crash which killed their parents, and to the days leading up to Oscar's death in which Victor finds out that Oscar slept with his mother.

As the film enters its third hour, the plot goes out of focus as the film starts to explore sexuality and the creation of new life. A lengthy final sequence tracks couples having sex in Love Hotel (a studio creation based on the Japanese concept of love hotels) and new life is created. Indeed Noe actually shows us the penis ejaculating into the vagina in full frame glory.

The characters are all fairly uninteresting and some are indeed loathsome, but that is not the point. The film defies cinema convention in every way. It is almost like an adult video game with no rules, or an art installation which evolves into something immersive and sensory. One thing is certain. Spiked with all the tricks, sound effects and technological invention at Noe's disposal, Enter The Void is a trip.

Production companies
Wild Bunch
Fidelite Films
Buf Compagnie
Les Cinemas De La Zone

International sales
Wild Bunch
(33) 53 10 42 56

Producers
Brahim Chioua
Vincent Maraval
Olivier Delbosc
Marc Missonier
Pierre Buffin
Gaspar Noé

Cinematography
Benoit Debie

Production design
Kikuo Ohta
Gene Carriere

Editor
Gaspar Noé
Marc Boucrot
Jerome Pesnel

Main cast
Nathaniel Brown
Paz De La Huerta
Cyril Roy
Emily Alyn Lind
Jesse Kuhn

Konačno sam pogledao SERBIAN SCARS, danas u 19h, drug i ja smo bili potpuno sami u oronuloj sali bioskopa "zvezda". Film je prikazan sa digitalnog zapisa što je svemu dalo poseban grindhouse ugođaj.

U dubini duše, nadao sam se da će film biti odvratan na zabavan način, ali nije bio. Postoji mogućnost da sam ja malo izgubio sposobnost da uživam u smeću, a možda ovaj film nije loš na zabavan način.

Hajde da na početku postavimo SERBIAN SCARS u kontekst novog serbsploitation talasa. ZONA MRTVIH je daleko bolje od SERBIAN SCARS iako SCARSi imaju izvesnu superiornost u nekim važnim domenima. Pre svega, montaža SCARSa je mnogo bolja i čini film efikasnijim i nepretencioznijim od ZONE. SCARS ima onu klasičnu exploitation monatažu o kojoj sam već govorio kada sam pisao o DEATHSPORTu. Ni ne pretvara se da je reč o nekom ozbiljnom storytellingu već pokušava da iz materijala snimljenog za dva dinara napravi što efektniju celinu. Dok ZONA pada zbog tog pričam-ti-priču momenta.

Drugi superioran detalj je svakako gluma pošto SERBIAN SCARS ima više English-speakera u prvoj postavi, a i oni koji nisu bolje govore engleski od spornih članova ZONINE podele. Isto tako, SCARS realno ima mnogo jaču glumačku postavu, ne samo zbog Madsena, Dacascosa, pa čak i Huffa, nego i zbog Sergeja. 

Ipak, uprkos ovim trima prednostima SCARSa, ZONA je mnogo bolji film. Iako su SCARS i ZONA snimani približno isti broj dana - ZONA je snimana 30, a SCARSi 28, ZONA nudi mnogo više akcije, mnogo više spektakularnih scena, mnogo više pucnjave. Iako ima lošije glumce, ZONA ima mnogo boljeg leada, pošto SCARSi pored živih Madsena i Dacascosa kao leada ima nedonošče Rajčića. Konačno, iako je lošije montirana, ZONA ima koherentniju priču, jasnije su namere junaka i njihovi problemi.

Konačno, u samom materijalu se vidi da je ZONA maštovitije realizovana. SCARS u svojim akcionim set-pieceovima ne prevazilazi nivo filma DO KOSKE.

U tom smislu, iako se ni u slučaju ZONE ni SCARSa ne može govoriti o stvarima koje iskoračuju previše izvan onoga što smo navikli da gledamo u domenu srpskih egzekucija tipičnih žanrrovskih figura (scene pucnjave i sl.), ZONA je ipak bliža boljim srpskim primerima takvih stvari nego SCARSi.

Sad sam u žurbi pa ću u sledećim satima, pisati još detaljnije utiske.

Cannes
Enter the Void
Soudain le Vide (France)
By ROB NELSON

'Enter the Void'
'Enter the Void'
A Fidelite, BUF, Wild Bunch presentation, with the participation of Canal Plus, Eurimages, Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication (CNC), Filmforderungsanstalt (FFA). (International sales: Wild Bunch, Paris.) Produced by Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval, Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier, Pierre Buffin, Gaspar Noe. Directed, written by Gaspar Noe.

With: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, Emily Alyn Lind, Jesse Kuhn, Olly Alexander, Masato Tanno, Cary Hayes, Sara Stockbridge, Sakiko Fukuhara, Nobu Imai, Emi Takeuchi, Janice Sicotte-Beliveau, Simon Chamberland.

Billed by director Gaspar Noe as a "psychedelic melodrama" inspired by his hallucinogen-powered screening of "Lady in the Lake," "Enter the Void" suggests the Gallic provocateur should get some better drugs. Not clever enough to be truly pretentious, Noe's tiresomely gimmicky film about a low-level Tokyo drug dealer who enjoys one long, last trip after dying proves to be the ne plus ultra of nothing much. Having come in under the wire for Cannes competition, "Enter the Void" may once again be ready to enter the editing room.

While the overall audacity of the project can't easily be denied, "Enter the Void" delivers an altogether different kind of pain than the director's earlier pair of punishing provocations, "I Stand Alone" and "Irreversible." Not even Noe's detractors expect his work to be boring, but, at 162 minutes, the new film has more than its share of longueurs -- despite showing what happens after death as seeing a lot of people having sex.

Noe's opening scene of a Kubrickian "star child" journey -- triggered by the dope-smoking dealer's repeated tokes -- sends false promises that "Enter the Void" will be a methamphetamine-era version of the ultimate trip in "2001."

But, the film contains only a half-dozen or so vision-questing shots that could help it to pass as avant-garde. Some viewers will nonetheless insist on calling this an exercise in pure cinema; many others will prefer to describe it as pure trash.

Including graphic images of an abortion procedure, "Enter the Void" eventually becomes a vulgar version of a kid's "Where did I come from?" query, complete with a shot from the p.o.v. of an egg-bound sperm. It begins, though, merely as a puerile fantasy of what happens after death.

In the course of a drug deal gone bad, young Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) dies from a gunshot wound in the filthy toilet stall of the Void, a club that some will insist is of the same corpus as the Rectum in "Irreversible." Never subtle, Noe unleashes a literally flashy stroboscopic effect as our hero breaks on through to the other side.

Flashbacks reveal Oscar to have made a childhood promise to his sister Linda (Paz de la Huerta) -- now a stripper -- that he'd never leave her. True to his pledge, and despite having been cremated, Oscar floats spectrally through Tokyo.

Via digital effects, the camera -- i.e., Oscar's watchful spirit -- seems to fly above city streets, up the sides of skyscrapers, through walls, and down various passages including a fallopian tube and, appropriately, a sewer.

For better or worse, the film's production team has adequately fulfilled the director's wishes, which include far too many sweeping shots of neon-bathed Tokyo at night.

In terms of style, the film does begin with a certain integrity, mirroring the fully subjective approach of "Lady in the Lake," Robert Montgomery's 1947 noir. But soon enough, the camera is all over the place -- spiraling into the void of Oscar's bullet hole and out of a child's playground crawl space, for example.

In another stylistic copout, the film's many flashback scenes aren't arranged according to the character's drug- and death-induced free associations, but rather based on Noe's sense of what rudimentary info his audience may require to follow the barebones narrative.

Notwithstanding de la Huerta's full-frontal turn, the actors often perform with their backs to the camera. The film's English dialogue, exceedingly banal and overemphatically delivered, seems designed for international screening sans subtitles or dubbing. The soundtrack alternates between Christian organ music, bass-heavy club beats, and a persistent churning noise familiar to those who've seen Noe's other films.

More than two hours in, as Noe's camera roves at random through the so-called Love Hotel, the film peaks with a series of explicit sex scenes. The last of countless putative endings finds the director suggesting that after the one's umbilical cord is cut, it's all downhill from there.

In Cannes, the film was screened sans credits save for "ENTER" at the beginning and, aptly enough, "THE VOID" at the end.
More than one option


Camera (DV, widescreen), Benoit Debie; editors, Noe, Marc Boucrot, Jerome Pesnel; production designers, Kikuo Ohta, Jean Carriere; costume designers, Tony Crosbie, Nicoletta Massone; sound (Dolby Digital), Ken Yasumoto; sound mixers, Ryotaro Harada, Claude Lahaye; re-recording sound mixer, Lars Ginzel; visual effects artistic director, Pierre Buffin; visual effects supervisor, Geoffrey Niquet; associate producers, Philippe Bober, Valerio de Paolis, Nicolas Leclerq; assistant directors, Jimbo Hideaki, Toshio Hanaoka, Michael Williams. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (competing), May 22, 2009. Running time: 162 MIN.

Da se na trenutak vratimo SERBIAN SCARSu.

Dakle, ovo je film koji više liči na neki neuspeli srpski pokušaj žanrovskog filma nego na DTV. U tom smislu teško je naći poređenje u DTV tradiciji. Možda je eventualno Dolph Lundgren po ex-SSSRu snimao filmove ovog kapaciteta, uostalom njegovi DTV naslovi su poznati kao najslabiji u tom kvartetu Seagal-Van Damme-Snipes-Lundgren. Jedino je Dolph od ovih delija radio DTV sa istinski inept rediteljima, što Brent Huff u teoriji možda i nije, međutim sa saradnicima koje je imao u ovom filmu, sigurno da i nije mogao bolje.

Inside info kaže da je Huff bio očajan na snimanju i da je jedini razlog zbog kog je uopšte ostao do kraja bio honorar koji je očekivao i bez kog nije smeo da se vrati kući.

U tom smislu, Huff čak i glumi u filmu, kao i line producer Todd Whitaker, što SERBIAN SCARSu daje šarm studentskog filma.

Što se netačnosti i gluposti u filmu tiče, mislim da su Kunac i Ginger pobrojali većinu. Ja bih možda dodao da šiptarski terorista kog igra Madsen konstantno komentariše američki bejzbol i koristi ga kao metaforu za neke svoje priče, što je zaista dosta neobično ako imamo u vidu da bejzbol nije previše popularan u Evropi.

Međutim, ono što je moj primarni utisak vezan za ovaj film jeste ego trip iz koga je on nastao. Zaista je nestvarno da je neko toliko očigledno netalentovan za glumu, i toliko nefilmičan kao što je Vladimir Rajčić preduzeo ovoliku akciju ne bi li snimio svoj showcase i postao akciona zvezda. Tako nešto je pokušao Gidra, ali ne samo da je njegov finalni produkt bio mnogo zabavniji, uostalom radio ga je italo veteran Guido Zurlli, nego osim naših lokalnih glumaca, i koliko se sećam jednog šibadžije iz tadašnjih borilačkih filmova (da li je to bio neko tipa Bolo Yeunga ili tako nešto - koji ima jednu scenu snimljenu na nekoj plaži - očigledno mimo snimanja celog filma) zaista nema nijedno iole ugledno ime na špici. Potpuno je neverovatno da je Rajčić učinio toliki napor da dovede Madsena i Dacascosa, ljude koji imaju ne samo ime već i izvesni šarm u posrnulosti svojih karijera, a u krajnjoj liniji povremeno dobijaju barem epizodne uloge u theatrical naslovima. Zaista nijedan naslov u Dacascosovoj filmografiji recimo ne sugeriše da bi on spao na to da glumi sa Rajčićem i da mu bude sidekick.

S druge strane, potpuno iracionalna medijska promocija u kojoj već dve i po godine, Rajčići lažu našu javnost (što je njihovo pravo) i novinari koji sve te kaži objavljuju bez ikakve provere, dostiže svoj vrhunac u trenutku kad se film (nije) pojavio u bioskopima a gluposti i dalje nastavljaju da izlaze po štampi. To je posle Rajčićevog ego tripa svakako drugi najsnažniji utisak.

Pogledao sam De Palmin MURDER A LA MOD.

Ovaj film je značajan pre svega po tome što u sebi objedinjuje dve dominantne tendencije ranog De Palme, a to su godardovski uticaj i hitchcockovski uticaj. Kasnije, on nije imao filmova koji bi ovako eksplicitno objedinjavali te tendencije.

Upravo zahvaljujući toj mešavini, ovaj film i funkcioniše. Od Godarda preuzima ironiju i frenetičnost, kao i cinično bavljenje miljeom exploitation filma, dok od Hitcha preuzima razradu teme, pa čak i neke fetiše koji su živopisani još u knjizi razgovora sa Truffautom.

U stilskom smislu, De Palma već u ovom filmu, i to još za Hitchovog života, pokazuje neke od metoda kojima planira da dopuni i obogati Hitchov već pozamašni opus, a to je uvođenje rašomonski brojnih vizura, zatim korišćenje oniričkih, iracionalnih momenata bez ikakve racionalne zaleđine koju je Hitch ipak imao čak i u svojim najpsihodeličnijim zahvatima.

U tom smislu MURDER A LA MOD iz 1967. godine zapravo anticipira neke De Palmine kasnije klasike, pre svih DRESSED TO KILL recimo, i u širem smislu, rekao bih da je MURDER A LA MOD kao matrica daljeg razvoja njegovog opusa sasvim sigurno ključni De Palmin film rane faze iako je konvencionalno gledanje da su to GREETINGS/HI MOM.

Otud mi je i čudno da je MURDER A LA MOD ovako kasno stigao na piratsku ponudu.

Uprkos svemu što sam napisao, na kraju moram dodati mali disclaimer da je film snimljen kao vrlo indie projekat u Njujorku i da kao takav uprkos Hitchovim uticajima ipak ostaje pre svega godardovski indie projekat sa snažnim začetkom kanonskog De Palme, tako da oni koji očekuju BODY DOUBLE sigurno neće dobiti takav film od MURDER A LA MOD.

* * * / * * * *

Pogledao sam THE REALITY OF THE VIRTUAL Bena Wrighta. od svih Žižek-related dokumentaraca ovaj je najsuvlji pošto je zapravo reč o jednoj talking head beleški Žižekovog predavanja. sasvim je sigurno da su radovi Astre Taylor ili PERVERT'S GUIDE vizuelno zanilmljiviji.

Međutim, po stilu ovaj dokumentarac asocira na čuveni Lacanov TV snimak predavanja na koji Žižek aludira u u dokumentarcu ŽIŽEK! i zahvaljujući samom Žižeku na neki čudan način daje bizarni legitimitet talking head formi.

Film ima samo nekoliko rezova. Gotovo je neverovatno koliko konzistentno Žižek govori u kontinuitetu, i iako naizgled talking head forma deluje odbojno, film poprima obrise impresivne kadar sekvence. Kao što nas u pojedinim filmovima kao što je CHILDREN OF MEN impresionira trik u kome akcija izgleda kao da je snimljena u jednom kadru, tako i Žižekovo izlaganje deluje kao najbolje odigrana monodrama.

U kontekstu samih Žižekovih učenja, meni je sve što ovde govori bilo manje više poznato. Ipak rekao bih da ovaj film možda i ponajviše govori o Žižekovom odnosu prema filozofiji a manje se bavi filmom i popularnom kulturom, premda ima i toga. U svakom slučaju, u mnogim stvarima će biti poznat barem onima koji su gledali druge Žižek-filmove.

Inače, Žižek će držati, ili je već držao predavanje u Zagrebu na festivalu subverzivnog filma, ne znam da li je neko bio...

Sinoć sam reprizirao MIDNIGHT EXPRESS Alana Parkera.

Ovaj film iz 1978. godine, iako ga je režirao Alan Parker, jedan od izvornih hip britanskih reditelja, sasvim sigurno spada među kultna ostvarenja Novog Holivuda i ubraja se među klasike koji su spajali repertoarsku atraktivnost, zanatsku veštinu, umetničku pretenziju i politički angažman.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS stoji kao bitan i upečatljiv film i dan-danas. Ono što mu je delimično umanjilo efekat svakako je pionirska uloga u domenu ovako radikalnog prikaza robijaškog života koji do tada nije bio ovoliko eksplicitno prikazan a danas se svi zatvorski filmovi maltene više bave tabuima nego pokušajima besktva i sličnim "zdravim" zatvorskim temama.

Parkerov pristup kombinuje dokumentarnu fakturu slike sa košmarnom stilizacijom oličenom u odlično adaptiranim malteškim ambijentima i bošovskom selekcijom sporednih glumaca i statista koji turskom zatvoru daju košmarna svojstva.

Scenario Olivera Stonea je efikasan, dobro kombinuje utisak o protoku vremena sa svojevrsnim jedinstvom radnje, i uspeva da učini seriju epizoda konzistentnim narativom i ujednačenom celinom. Transformacija glavnog junaka je dobro postavljena na nivou scenarija, i Parker sa Stoneom pritiska pravu dugmad.

Ono što Meho svakako očkuje od mene jeste i komentar na score Giorgia Morodera. Kao i Stone, i Moroder je nagrađen oskarom za ovaj film, i oni su se kasnije reuniteovali sa De palmom na filmu SCARFACE. Čini mi se da je ovaj score starog kova, i da pripada vremenu kada su muzičke teme iz filmova same za sebe pretendovale da budu memorabilne. Čini mi se da takvih tema više nema. Iako, Moroder u svom izrazu uvek nabacuje emociju na prvu loptu, ovaj lektronski skor savršeno ide uz ovaj film i ovu epohu. U akademskom smislu definicije filsmke muzike, možemo ga osporavati ali Moroderov skor funkcioniše kao artefakt.

Kada sam prvi put pogledao MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, on je pred mene došao kao kultni film generacije mojih roditelja. Oni su se identifikovali sa glavnim junakom, kao ljudi iz Prvog Sveta razumeli su junakove nevolje u Trećem Svetu. Njihovo sećanje na Tursku tog doba bilo je prilično skično prikazu koji nude Parker i Stone. Moja prva percepcija filma bila je slična njihovoj. I ja sam se identifikovao sa glavnim junakom.

Međutim, sad kad sam ga reprizirao, moram priznati sve više se identifikujem sa ljudima iz Trećeg Sveta. Uprkos nesumnjivoj sposobnosti filma da me emocionalno attachuje, ono što mi je neki osnovni utisak bio je da Ameri treba da budu surovo kažnjeni zbog toga što su tu skromnu i neuređenu zemlju smatrali za mesto na kome mogu da prave svinjarije, drogiraju se i sl.

Još više me je iznenadilo to što MIDNIGHT EXPRESS može da funkcioniše čak i kad se gleda iz te vizure. Iako nema sumnje da je film izrazito rasistički, da su Turci prikazani ne samo kao bahati, odvratni i korumpirani već i fizički deformisani, muke kroz koje prolazi glavni junak ostavljaju utisak sasvim solidne odmazde i za njegov prekršaj a bogami i za ovakav prikaz Turaka. Zvanični stav turskih vlasti protiv ovog filma je razumljiv. Doduše sam Billy Hayes se ogradio od filma i rekao da je Stone dosta izmenio njegovu priču, međutim Stoneova karakteristična energija ubačena u film, zaista može da nagradi i gledaoce koji ne prilaze ovoj priči sa očekivanom pro-First World vizurom.

U tom smislu, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS je film za koji sam sasvim siguran da danas biva drugačije doživljen nego u vreme premijere, naročito ako imamo u vidu Guantanamo kao iskustvo, i mislim da je šteta što 30. godišnjica ovog filma nije više obeležena pošto bi sigurno došli do nekih zanimljivih zaključaka.

* * * 1/2 / * * * *

The Hangover
By JOE LEYDON

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'The Hangover'
Zach Galifianaskis (left). Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms star in the Warner Bros. comedy, 'The Hangover.'
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A Warner Bros. release and presentation in association with Legendary Pictures of a Green Hat Films production. Produced by Todd Phillips, Dan Goldberg. Executive producers, Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, William Fay, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender, J.C. Spink. Co-producers, David A. Siegel, Jeffrey Wetzel. Directed by Todd Phillips. Screenplay, Jon Lucas, Scott Moore.

Phil - Bradley Cooper
Stu - Ed Helms
Alan - Zach Galifianakis
Doug - Justin Bartha
Jade - Heather Graham
Tracy - Sasha Barrese
Sid - Jeffrey Tambor
Mr. Chow - Ken Jeong
Melissa - Rachel Harris
Mike Tyson - Himself
Black Doug - Mike Epps

The trailers and TV spots suggest it's just another beer-and-boobs, party-hearty farce, but "The Hangover" is surprisingly clever as well as R-rated rowdy. At once raucously free-wheeling and meticulously contrived, pic satisfies as a boys-gone-wild laff riot that also clicks as a seriocomic beat-the-clock detective story. Reviews and word-of-mouth could help this profanely funny comedy exceed expectations and achieve the status of breakout hit. Homevid biz should be equally impressive after a leggy summertime theatrical run.

Helmer Todd Phillips ("Old School," "Road Trip") grabs attention right from the get-go with an edgy-funny prologue that triggers an extended flashback. It's a smart move, in that the vaguely foreboding intro adds an intriguing undercurrent to the comedy in otherwise ordinary (if not generic) expository scenes.

Two days before he ties the knot with his rich and gorgeous fiancee, blandly affable Doug (Justin Bartha) takes off for a brief Las Vegas sojourn with three groomsmen: His two best buddies -- Phil (Bradley Cooper), a cynical and sardonic high school teacher, and Stu (Ed Helms), a dentist usually kept on a tight leash by his nagging girlfriend (a truly monstrous Rachel Harris) -- and Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug's future brother-in-law, a lumpy lunk who's all too eager to befriend and belong.

Even with odd-man-out Alan along for the ride, the bachelor-partiers enjoy a wild night of booze-fueled revelry in Sin City. The next morning, however, three of them awaken in their posh hotel suite with only the haziest of memories about the previous evening's events, and no explanation at all for the snarling tiger in their bathroom and the crying baby in their closet.

Worse, they have no earthly idea what happened to the inexplicably missing Doug.

Exhibiting an ingenuity one might not expect from the same writers who gave us "Four Christmases" and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," scripters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore provide one uproarious pay-off after another as the groomsmen frantically scramble to retrace their steps so they can reconnect with the misplaced (or, quite possibly, waylaid) groom.

Their circuitous journey brings them in contact with, among others, Taser-wielding cops, angry Asian gamblers, a perky stripper (a chipper Heather Graham) with newly forged ties to Stu, and an unexpectedly equanimous but not infinitely patient Mike Tyson (played, in a bold stroke of casting, by Tyson).

Early on, it's revealed that the revelers weren't merely drunk, they were drugged while cutting an antic swath through the Vegas night world. Oddly enough, that's just enough to anchor the pic in something like real-world logic, even as the plot takes ever more outlandish twists and turns. In fact, it's tempting to read "The Hangover" as a wild-and-crazy spin on a scenario that would have been entirely suitable for a deadly serious '40s film noir.

The humor is unapologetically raunchy -- a closing-credits photo montage includes some borderline NC-17 naughtiness -- and sporadically brutal. Helmer Phillips sustains an overall tone of anything-goes swagger that he neatly subverts with steadily mounting desperation and ego-deflating humiliations. Throughout it all, however, Cooper, Helms and even Galifianakis (whose character comes closest to caricature) remain sufficiently disciplined to refrain from going too far over the top.

Bartha does well in a thankless role, but he's simply not visible long enough to make as much impact. On the other hand, Ken Jeong makes the absolute most of his limited screen time as an effete antagonist whose mincing trash talk likely will be quoted extensively by the pic's fans.

Lenser Lawrence Sher does an excellent job of subtly enhancing the sense of danger lying just below the comic surface. Other tech credits are fine. Jokey references to "Rain Man" and "A Beautiful Mind" are amusing, but not nearly as funny as the pic's self-aware reference to the cliched notion that there's nothing as hilarious as a pratfall by a fat man.


Camera (Technicolor), Lawrence Sher; editor, Debra Neil-Fisher; music, Christophe Beck; music supervisors, George Drakoulias, Randall Poster; production designer, Bill Brzeski; supervising art director, Andrew Max Cahn; art director, A. Todd Holland; set decorator, Danielle Berman; costume designer, Louise Mingenbach; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), Lee Orloff; assistant director, Jeffrey J.P. Wetzel; casting, Juel Bestrop, Seth Yanklewitz. Reviewed at AMC Studio 30, Houston, May 20, 2009. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 99 MIN.

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 25-05-2009, 13:00:35
Sinoć sam reprizirao MIDNIGHT EXPRESS Alana Parkera.

Smejaćeš se, al ja taj film nikad gledo. 

Narezaću ti ga. Film spada među klasike.

Reprizirao sam BULLETPROOF koji sam svojevremeno gledao na VHSu pod naslovom OTOPRAN NA METKE. Kao detetu ovaj film mi je bio osrednji, ali OK, i moram priznati da vreme prema njemu nije bilo blagonaklono.

Steve Carver je jedan od B/C reditelja koji je živopisan u SVETLU U TAMI, ali iz ove vizure zaista je vrlo diskutabilno da li je on zaslužio toliku pažnju. U masi najrazličitijih repertoarskih filmova koje je snimio, bilo je i onih pristojnih, u to nema sumnje, međutim, većina njegovih filmova su mahom žestoka hekačina bez izrazito interesantnih delova. Steve Carver nesumnjivo jeste reditelj čiji masivni opus zaslužuje poštovanje, ali nisam siguran da možemo govoriti o nekom autoru kad je o njemu reč.

BULLETPROOF je film koji spaja high concept Prljavog Harija i Ramba, imamo lik usamljenog policajca, ratnog veterana koga vlada angažuje da spase vojno osoblčje oteto u Meksiku od strane bizarne latinoameričko-arapske koalicije, koju čine Kubanci, Nikaragvanci i Libijci, da bi im se na kraju priče pridružili i Sovjeti.

BULLETPROOF naravno, i to niko nije ni očekivao, ne dostiže Harija i Ramba. Međutim, izuzev u bizarnom detalju da Gary Busey sa izvesnom lakoćom rpi sakaćenje mecima i dosad je primio 39 zrna, teško da nude išta novo u tom domenu koji su mapirali ovi naslovi. Jedno od svojstava exploitationa je derivativnost, ali ono podrazumeva da se u rip-offu barem nešto doda, ili pak da se stvar unapredi, ili u krajnjoj liniji da sve bude potpuno isto ali da bude snimljeno u nekoj drugoj kinematografiji pa da iz toga crpi ekskluzivnost.

Nažalost, BULLETPROOF ne čini apsolutno ništa od toga u cilju kreiranja bilo čega iole distinktivnog, i ostaje kao oskudna hendikepirana verzija B-akcionog filma koji očajnički pokušava da bude major film, ali nije sposban za to, a nema ni slobodu ni eksces B-filma.

Naslovi poput BULLETPROOFa ili EYE OF THE TIGER su upravo i sprečili Buseyev uspon u leading mana i akcionog heroja tako da je on u ovoj vrsti filma ostao samo kao sjajan villain (LETHAL WEAPON) ili kao sidekick (POINT BREAK). Ruku na srce, ostaje pitanje, ima li Gary Busey potencijala da bude leading man, odnosno da li je imao. Ja sam njegov fan pa bih rekao da jeste, ali ovi filmovi to ne potvrđuju i u njima čak ni personality actor kao što je Busey ne uspeva da nađe ni tu jednu notu na koju mora da igra.

Carverova režija u BULLETPROOFu je prilično slaba za standarde koji su tada postojali čak i u domenu B-filma. iako su iskusni ljudi poput Steve Carvera ili richarda sarafiana bili zaduženi za Buseyeve leading man pokušaje, u oba slučaja su obojica ipak bili ispod svog nivoa, tako da bi se moglo reći da Busey nije imao previše sreće sa njima.

Ipak, ideja filma u kome Busey igra akcionog heroja a Steve carver režira, ostahje privlačna na nivou artefakta. Ako se tome doda da henry Silva po xyiti put igra generic villaina, i da se to što je generic villain pretvara u osnovnu draž, onda ipak ne mogu da kažem da BULLETPROOF nije na neki način drag film.

* 1/2 / * * * *

Posle nekoliko godina potrage najzad sam pogledao SUSAN'S PLAN Johna Landisa. U vreme kada se ovaj naslov pojavio na piratskom VHSu, Radivojević ga je zapazio kao totalni curio ali ja nisam stigao da ga pogledam tada da bi potom postao nedostupan i nestao sa radara.

Ipak, on je uspeo da ga locira, i najzad sam ga se i ja dokopao.

SUSAN'S PLAN je nepravdeno zanemaren film. Sasvim je sigurno da je reč o jednom naizgled generic pokušaju neo noir komedije kakav je Miramax pravio na tone u to vreme, ali Landis mu je nesumnjivo dao određene toucheve iracionalnosti po kojima se izdvaja iz mase. Drugi aspekt po kome se izdvaja svakako je All-Star glumačka podela u kopjoj nema nekih bankable zvezda (osim paradoksalno Rob Schneidera) ali ima dosta poznatih faca, od Michael Biehna do Lare Flynn Boyle.

I ono što je najvažije od svega, svi su raspoloženi da daju sve od sebe, naročito Lara, i da nas dobro zabave, što se generalno u ovoj vrsti indie filma retko sreće, pošto zvezde imaju tendenciju da budu uzdržanije u ovakvim projektima nego u blockbusterima ili par totalnom art-houseu.

Landisov scenarističko-rediteljski pristup je pre svega baziran na vrlo efikasnom i dinamičnom izlaganju priče zahvaljujući kome se sve ono što je generic lako apsolvira a prijatne bizarnosti dolaze do izražaja.

Za SUSAN'S PLAN je teško reći da je dobar film, ali nesumnjivo je reč o Landisovom filmu i to je samo po sebi dovoljna preporuka za ljubitelje i poznavaoce.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 27-05-2009, 12:48:58
Posle nekoliko godina potrage najzad sam pogledao SUSAN'S PLAN Johna Landisa. U vreme kada se ovaj naslov pojavio na piratskom VHSu, Radivojević ga je zapazio kao totalni curio ali ja nisam stigao da ga pogledam tada da bi potom postao nedostupan i nestao sa radara.

Ipak, on je uspeo da ga locira, i najzad sam ga se i ja dokopao.

SUSAN'S PLAN je nepravdeno zanemaren film. Sasvim je sigurno da je reč o jednom naizgled generic pokušaju neo noir komedije kakav je Miramax pravio na tone u to vreme, ali Landis mu je nesumnjivo dao određene toucheve iracionalnosti po kojima se izdvaja iz mase. Drugi aspekt po kome se izdvaja svakako je All-Star glumačka podela u kopjoj nema nekih bankable zvezda (osim paradoksalno Rob Schneidera) ali ima dosta poznatih faca, od Michael Biehna do Lare Flynn Boyle.

I ono što je najvažije od svega, svi su raspoloženi da daju sve od sebe, naročito Lara, i da nas dobro zabave, što se generalno u ovoj vrsti indie filma retko sreće, pošto zvezde imaju tendenciju da budu uzdržanije u ovakvim projektima nego u blockbusterima ili par totalnom art-houseu.

Landisov scenarističko-rediteljski pristup je pre svega baziran na vrlo efikasnom i dinamičnom izlaganju priče zahvaljujući kome se sve ono što je generic lako apsolvira a prijatne bizarnosti dolaze do izražaja.

Za SUSAN'S PLAN je teško reći da je dobar film, ali nesumnjivo je reč o Landisovom filmu i to je samo po sebi dovoljna preporuka za ljubitelje i poznavaoce.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Hot damn, ja ovo tražim već dugo! 

QuoteSinoć sam reprizirao MIDNIGHT EXPRESS Alana Parkera.

Ovo je tipičan primjer da ekstremni rasizam ne mora da naruši odličnost filma. Naravno, ovo je potpuno bezbjedan rasizam - lako je reći za Turke da su "nacija svinja", isto kao što je Sajnfeldu lako reći da su Srbi prljavi. Baš bih volio da vidim neki obrnuti primjer, npr. da neko za Amerikance kaže "nacija svinja" ili za Jevreje da "ne vole da se kupaju". Vjerujem da bi se podiglo više od jedne obrve.

Inače, Bili Hejs, po čijoj knjizi (i iskustvu) je snimljen Midnight Express bio je valjda vrlo nezadovoljan filmom, jer njegovo iskustvo u zatvoru uopšte nije bilo toliko grozno. Stoun je napisao scenario donekle inspirisan Hejsovom pričom, ali prvenstveno kao neku vrstu stejtmenta o onome što ga je u tom trenutku mučilo, siromah. Mada mi sad nije baš najjasnije kako je to ispalo tako, budući da su Stoun i Hejs po čitav dan provodili u hotelskoj sobi i... pisali scenario.
Neke od stvari koje su dodane u film jeste Hejsova djevojka (samim tim i ona bizarna scena masturbacije), napadi seksualno agresivnog stražara i njegovo ubistvo, odbijanje udvaranja onog lika s bradom (Hejs je imao dobrovoljne hormosesualne odnose tokom boravka u zatvoru) i još neke stvari. David Puttnam, producent filma, nazvao je Hejsovu knjigu nepoštenom, još nisam dokučio iz kojeg razloga.

Quote from: Miraždžika on 27-05-2009, 14:31:28

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 27-05-2009, 12:48:58
Posle nekoliko godina potrage najzad sam pogledao SUSAN'S PLAN Johna Landisa. U vreme kada se ovaj naslov pojavio na piratskom VHSu, Radivojević ga je zapazio kao totalni curio ali ja nisam stigao da ga pogledam tada da bi potom postao nedostupan i nestao sa radara.

Ipak, on je uspeo da ga locira, i najzad sam ga se i ja dokopao.

SUSAN'S PLAN je nepravdeno zanemaren film. Sasvim je sigurno da je reč o jednom naizgled generic pokušaju neo noir komedije kakav je Miramax pravio na tone u to vreme, ali Landis mu je nesumnjivo dao određene toucheve iracionalnosti po kojima se izdvaja iz mase. Drugi aspekt po kome se izdvaja svakako je All-Star glumačka podela u kopjoj nema nekih bankable zvezda (osim paradoksalno Rob Schneidera) ali ima dosta poznatih faca, od Michael Biehna do Lare Flynn Boyle.

I ono što je najvažije od svega, svi su raspoloženi da daju sve od sebe, naročito Lara, i da nas dobro zabave, što se generalno u ovoj vrsti indie filma retko sreće, pošto zvezde imaju tendenciju da budu uzdržanije u ovakvim projektima nego u blockbusterima ili par totalnom art-houseu.

Landisov scenarističko-rediteljski pristup je pre svega baziran na vrlo efikasnom i dinamičnom izlaganju priče zahvaljujući kome se sve ono što je generic lako apsolvira a prijatne bizarnosti dolaze do izražaja.

Za SUSAN'S PLAN je teško reći da je dobar film, ali nesumnjivo je reč o Landisovom filmu i to je samo po sebi dovoljna preporuka za ljubitelje i poznavaoce.

* * 1/2 / * * * *

Hot damn, ja ovo tražim već dugo! 

...možda ovo pomogne miraždžiki da ublaži bol...

http://rapidshare.com/files/161863967/Susans_Plan__1998_.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161870780/Susans_Plan__1998_.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161877933/Susans_Plan__1998_.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161884933/Susans_Plan__1998_.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161891901/Susans_Plan__1998_.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161899277/Susans_Plan__1998_.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161905898/Susans_Plan__1998_.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/161908921/Susans_Plan__1998_.part8.rar

...nema lozinke

Ali, zar nije najdivnija parafraza MIDNIGHT EXPRESSa scena u CABLE GUY kad dođe Jim Carrey da poseti Brodericka, ogoli grudi, nasloni se na stakleni zid i poviče OH BILLY! 

Cripple se obratio naciji u studentskom listu POLITIKOLOG... Koga zanima iscrpna i iscrpljujuća analiza stvari...

http://dobanevinosti.blogspot.com/2009/05/state-of-play.html

Džindžeru, živio ti meni sto godina!

Pogledao sam FAST AND FURIOUS Justina Lina u bioskopu.

Ako se izuzme TOKYO DRIFT koji je zaista bio najinteresantniji u seriji zbog tokijskih lokacija, ovaj četvrti deo je verovatno najsolidniji film. Meni je orvi bio tanak i u njemu uopšte nisam video potencijal da bude franchise-starter i moram priznati da su mi svi kasniji nastavci uključujući i grozni Singletonov 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS bili zanimljiviji iako je 2 FAST realno gori od prvog dela.

Ono što mi je bila osnovna karakteristika prvog filma prenosi se i u četvrti, a to je da se suočavamo sa totalno B-filmom koji je realizovan sa sterilnošću A-filma. Dok su 2 FAST i DRIFT imali neku upečatljivost u settingu, prvi i četvrti se dešavaju na lokacijama tipičnog 70s car chase filma, dakle Kalifornija, Meksiko i sl. ali nemaju taj juice 70s car filmova. U tom smislu Tarantinov DEATH PROOF je primer te vrste filma koja je overflowing with juice.

Ako bismo napravili analogiju sa kolima, a ona je sasvim legitimna u ovom slučaju, FAST AND FURIOUS je priča o nabudženim muscle cars a realizovana je kao klasičan assembly line proizvod, sa svim mogućim kočnicama koje obezbeđuju bezbednost gledalaca.

Ovo je redak film o automobilima u kome reditelj ne uspeva da fetišizuje kola. Čak je i FANTOM, nekih stotinak puta jeftiniji film otišao dalje u čistoj fetišizaciji kola od FAST AND FURIOUS. Isto tako, FANTOM ima više autentičnih vozačkih majstorija, pošto je FAST AND FURIOUS toliko opterećen CGI efektima, da se uopšte ne dobija utisak impresivnih driving skillsa kaskaderske ekipe što je valjda suština ove vrste filma.

FAST AND FURIOUS je paradokalno najmanje zanimljiv kada krene vožnja, i najbolja akciona scena u filmu je footchase što je poseban paradoks sa car chase movie.

Isto važi i za ostatak filma, Vin Diesel i Paul Walker su cool, ali Linova režija je sterilna, bez nekog jasnog stava, Lin vrlo mejnstrimaški beleži priču i vidi se da zna većinu stvari na nivou zanata ali prosto nema tu neke naročite energije. Iz ove vizure, potpuno je nejasno kako je Justin Lin uopšte došao u poziciju da bude hip reditelj u nekom trenutku.

Međutim, isto tako, sasvim je jasno zašto je ovaj film bio toliki hit. U sezoni kada je publika iznurena WATCHMENom i ostalim prtencioznim blokbasterima, ovaj film je ponudio stara dobra balana zadovoljstva koja nikoga ne opterećuju, snimili su seksi ribe, kola, mišićave glumce, pucnjavu, i narod je pohrlio da to vidi da se malo odmori. Otuzd je šteta što umesto Johna Cene, Harlin u 12 ROUNDS nije imao nekog glumca pošto je to mnogo superiorniji film ovog tipa, i sigurno bi bio veći hit.

Isto važi i u odnosu na ovu franšizu. FAST AND FURIOUS bi bio sočniji da ga je režirao neki potvrđeni veteran.

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