JohnF-8

Miklos Jancso's The Round Up is not concerned with character development or a complex plot. While this may annoy some, it suits this film perfectly fine. The movie feels very cold and remote, almost Kubrickian in content and style. Surprisingly, there is very little violence in the film although it seems like that the film is very brutal. Perhaps this is because of emotional hopelessness most of the characters experience in the film. A very worthwhile experience overall, rent it, although just don't be prepared to come away smiling.

This is the first film I've seen by Hungarian director Marla Meszaros. I had seen recently Miklos Jancso's excellent The Round Up and Istvan Szabo's Father and Mephisto, so I was basically going on a binge (for lack of a better word) of Hungarian films. While not as impressive as the other Hungarian films I'd seen, it still stands head and shoulders above your average Hollywood film.

The film centers around a young working class girl in Communist Hungary in the early 1970's. She has recently broken up with her brutal boyfriend and finds herself at the local University dancing with all of the college students. As chance would have it she meets a young man and they both fall in love. She lies to him at first about her job and tells him she is actually a college student as well. He forgives her and they try to forge a lasting relationship despite there differences. There's a terrific scene where presumably she's sitting in her boyfriend's dorm room looking bored while he's doing homework. She decides to turn on the record player and some classical music (I believe) that was used in the silent version Phantom of Opera. Her boyfriend quickly gets annoyed because he can't study and turns down the music. She immediately turns it back up, he turns it down again, then she turns it back up once again. He hesitates to turn it down again and just stares away from her. Absolutely no dialogue is spoken in this scene and it's perfectly clear just how different these two really are. I don't want to give away the rest of the film but things do get a little hectic for the hopeful couple.

Overall though, I enjoyed the film, especially some of the cinematography. Although I couldn't help thinking that for the most part this is a fairly conventional love story about two people who were never met to be and somehow find each other. I definetely wouldn't call it amazing, but, if you're into Hungarian or East European cinema, I suggest you see this film at some point. Although I would recommend seeing Szabo's brilliant Father (1968) or Jancso's The Round Up (1965) first.

I was fortunate enough to see Episdoe I on opening night and let me say I thought it was incredible. I think this film is more than worthy to be a part of George Lucas' fantastic space opera saga. I don't think he's lost a touch in his 22 year hiatus from sitting in the director's chair. He still has the energy and enthusiasm of A New Hope and American Graffiti. Now I know some people are giving it a bad rap for it's dialogue. Let me pose this question, what the hell did you expect? The Godfather? Goodfellas? Citizen Kane? Now let me get one thing straight. I am a huge film buff. I love every genre and I like watching everything from Scorsese films to Orson Welles films to Kubrick films. I love the art of cinema. I also happen to love Star Wars. I did not come to see Episode I expecting a script written with such creativity as say Paul Schrader would do. I came to see a Star Wars film. I came to see epic battles, fantastic worlds, interesting characters(yes I loved Jar Jar), and incredible thrills. Episode I delivered with a bang, no wait, it delivered with a thunderous boom. It was a hoot from start to finish. I loved how Darth Vader is actually the person who builds C3P0. I love Ewan MacGregor doing Obi-Wan flawlessly. I loved finally being able to see the Jedi Council. I loved that hard Jedi stare so perfectly done by Liam Neeson. I loved the strength behind Natalie Portman(especially in the Galactic Senate scene). I loved Jar Jar's silly humor(yes, I like slapstick humor). I loved the cameo's by Jabba the Hutt and Warwick Davis(who played Wicket in ROTJ). I loved the thrilling PodRace sequence which took my breath away. I loved John Williams' fresh, heart pounding score. I loved seeing Darth Maul and Darth Sidious interact and do their dirty work. I think I better stop or else I will go on and on.

If you're into deep emotional character development and a slick Usual Suspects' type plot then why in the hell are you going to see a Star Wars film? That's great if you are because I am too, but in some movies it isn't necessary to make the film incredible. None of the Star Wars films are known for having a complex story and character development. I think you people who are trashing Episode I for it's "childlike" appeal will look forward to Episode II and III. Episode II is supposedely the "romantic" one which sounds really interesting and Episode III is supposed to be somewhat darker in tone for obvious reasons that I'm sure you can figure out. I'm sure that's why they call Episode IV A New Hope, because a lot of bad things happen in Episode III. This is one film buff who is definetely looking forward to what George Lucas can come up with next in Episode II. See you in line.