The Invisible Fight

I just watched "The Invisible Fight", a 2023 movie from Estonia. The Wikipedia page sums it up pretty well:

"Feeling alienated by conformist Soviet society, heavy metal fan Raphael encounters an underground society of Eastern Orthodox monks who practice kung fu."

It is absolutely a comedy.

It is absolutely metal.

It is absolutely reverent about Orthodox monastic spirituality, kung fu, and Black Sabbath.

It is absolutely awesome.

Whatever mess of contradictions I've had bouncing around inside of me my whole life didn't feel so out of whack watching this. I thought maybe the spirituality would be just a set dressing in something so stylized but it just wasn't. Real depth cut through the shtick. Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" is played throughout the whole movie and a character quotes the lyrics to "Lord of this World". There's flying monks.

Someone else out there needs this movie in their life.

This is probably the worst and most despicable movie I have seen in my entire life. The actors are great and that's a credit to them when put in such a dire situation. The plot could have been great. The location is nice and the scenography as well. But the scenarist shouldn't be allowed to work anymore as long as humanity as a cent of respect for itself. The characters story are poorly written lapalissades. Don't get me started on the women characters that sets up back centuries. Try to see girls as something else than sex objects, mother or crones. Go see Melchior or litterally any other movie if you want to have a good time.

The two previous reviews of 1/10 and 10/10 is a perfect representation of how I felt about this movie. The cinematography was a lot of fun. The choreography was a lot of fun. The outfits, the location, the editing... all fun. Even the 1 Black Sabbath song that played on repeat was a lot of fun. Everything was fun. In fact, I loved almost every single scene... just not watching them sequentially without an opportunity to breathe. And this movie has no intentions of letting you breathe. 7/10 feels simultaneously too low and too high. So does every other number. The film is a wild ride. Enjoy the experience for what it is. Glad I did.

This was a blast tbh. It's wild, it's crazy, it's not to be taken overly serious (obviously), but for some reason it felt like it carried a pretty deep meaning still?? I don't know, but it honestly made me feel at peace because it was all just so extremely wholesome the whole way through. It is so nice to just watch a film where you don't get any creeping anxiety about the wellbeing of the main lead because this ML is just so extremely optimistic and just enjoys life no matter what, and the ones around him also treat him kindly and gently.

The characters really are wonderful and the main thing that carries this whole film for me. You can clearly see (at least with the two main bros) the different changes and phases they go through and how they develop into something new at the end. The scenography is also very lovely and the costumes on point. Plot is kinda wild, clever writing, a few nice punchlines but overall it's the general silliness of the film that makes it comedic and overall enjoyable. So much... logical nonsense.

Overall it was wonderful and the relationships between the characters is what kept me hooked. Very relaxing and feel-good film.

No pun intended - the movie is quite something. I have to admit the way it started I was expecting more a Shaw Brothers movie ... but that is just the intro ... it becomes a completely different beast after ... although I reckon you could see the Orthodox priests as a substitute Shaolin teacher/school kind of thing.

One thing is for sure: the humor is in the eye of the beholder ... or viewer ... and that is you. So if you like a movie to be silly ... like really silly, all the way through ... this is for you. There is some action, there is some tension and there is fighting ... but your reaction to the jokes will be way more important than anything else ... also if you had no idea who Black Sabbath is ... or was ... well you will know after watching this ... great song!