MOscarbradley
Joined Apr 2002
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This Polish epic about the intrigues that went on in the court of Ramses XII and his young successor Ramses XIII is the very antithesis of anything Hollywood might have turned out. It's certainly stately and visually superb and its battle scenes smack of 'realism' rather than artifice but it's also ponderous and with a plot that's convoluted at best, (being a mid-sixties Polish film its problems had to reflect the Poland of the time), and is finally something of a bore.
Yes, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's (he of "Mother Joan and the Angels" fame), "Pharaoh" is an intelligent epic, modern not just in its outlook but in its style and with none of the anachronisms of DeMille or those widescreen American spectacles of the fifties but there were times when I would have given my right arm for something cruder, something garish, for a dollop of bad taste but no such luck; this is a Polish art-movie after all and it's as po-faced as they come.
On the plus side Jerzy Zelnik, (still only twenty-one when the film was made), brings real gravitas to the part of the young pharaoh, (he also plays his double, the scheming Lycon), though again I wished he would lighten up a bit on occasions and it was clear even at this early stage his career was assured. It's certainly not a bad film by any means and it does have its admirers, ( critic and scholar Michal Oleszczyk being one as he clearly demonstrates on his very in-depth 'Afterword'), but if I must go back to ancient Egypt give me Hawks' "Land of the Pharaohs" any day.
Yes, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's (he of "Mother Joan and the Angels" fame), "Pharaoh" is an intelligent epic, modern not just in its outlook but in its style and with none of the anachronisms of DeMille or those widescreen American spectacles of the fifties but there were times when I would have given my right arm for something cruder, something garish, for a dollop of bad taste but no such luck; this is a Polish art-movie after all and it's as po-faced as they come.
On the plus side Jerzy Zelnik, (still only twenty-one when the film was made), brings real gravitas to the part of the young pharaoh, (he also plays his double, the scheming Lycon), though again I wished he would lighten up a bit on occasions and it was clear even at this early stage his career was assured. It's certainly not a bad film by any means and it does have its admirers, ( critic and scholar Michal Oleszczyk being one as he clearly demonstrates on his very in-depth 'Afterword'), but if I must go back to ancient Egypt give me Hawks' "Land of the Pharaohs" any day.
The best and certainly the most imaginative of all the 'flying saucer' movies. The effects may be crude and hardly special and the acting more wooden than a row of book shelves but an outstanding use of color, a reasonably intelligent script and some amazing art direction, (considering the budget), put "This Island Earth" in an altogether different league from its contemporaries. A sci-fi movie that both adults and kids can enjoy in equal measure.
Perhaps the biggest and best surprise of the year so far and the last thing I might have expected from Ron Howard, "Eden" is fact-based although I knew nothing of the original story which naturally helped my appreciation. In 1929 the German philosopher Dr. Friedrich Ritter and his partner Dore Strauch moved to the uninhabited island of Floreana in the Galapagos where he planned to write his masterpiece on the state of the world and how he could 'heal' humanity.
He claimed he needed and wanted solitude yet he sent letters back on passing ships building up a reputation as a visionary living in the wilderness and developing something of a following. Before long he was joined on the island by Heinz Wittmer, his wife Margaret who got pregnant there, and their son Harry. Needless to say they were not welcomed with open arms. In 1932 Ritter, Strauch and the Wittmers were joined by the so-called 'Baroness' von Wagner Bosquet and her three male companions. She planned to build a luxury hotel there and soon claimed the island for herself triggering a virtual war between the inhabitants.
Unlike previous Howard films "Eden" is both truly strange and beautiful and doesn't shy away from the horrors of life in something considerably less than a paradise. Was it madness that drove these people to act as they did or the environment or was it the environment that drove them to madness? If the film is to be believed both Ritter and the Baroness were already delusional before coming to the island and although the Wittmer's motives were questionable at least it was they and they alone who seemed to possess 'the pioneering spirit'.
Howard certainly handles difficult material with a genuine commitment and the film is superbly shot by Mathias Herndl but it's the cast who carry it. Jude Law makes for a grim and dangerous Ritter and Vanessa Kirby is suitably volatile as Strauch but it's Ana de Armas as the Baroness and in particular Sydney Sweeney as Margaret Wittmer who really own the film. They are both terrific with de Armas proving to be terrifyingly unstable and Sweeney being remarkably resolute in her resolve to do whatever she can to keep her family alive, (the scene in which she gives birth is the most frightening thing I've seen all year). "Eden" may not be an easy watch but it would be shameful if it doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
He claimed he needed and wanted solitude yet he sent letters back on passing ships building up a reputation as a visionary living in the wilderness and developing something of a following. Before long he was joined on the island by Heinz Wittmer, his wife Margaret who got pregnant there, and their son Harry. Needless to say they were not welcomed with open arms. In 1932 Ritter, Strauch and the Wittmers were joined by the so-called 'Baroness' von Wagner Bosquet and her three male companions. She planned to build a luxury hotel there and soon claimed the island for herself triggering a virtual war between the inhabitants.
Unlike previous Howard films "Eden" is both truly strange and beautiful and doesn't shy away from the horrors of life in something considerably less than a paradise. Was it madness that drove these people to act as they did or the environment or was it the environment that drove them to madness? If the film is to be believed both Ritter and the Baroness were already delusional before coming to the island and although the Wittmer's motives were questionable at least it was they and they alone who seemed to possess 'the pioneering spirit'.
Howard certainly handles difficult material with a genuine commitment and the film is superbly shot by Mathias Herndl but it's the cast who carry it. Jude Law makes for a grim and dangerous Ritter and Vanessa Kirby is suitably volatile as Strauch but it's Ana de Armas as the Baroness and in particular Sydney Sweeney as Margaret Wittmer who really own the film. They are both terrific with de Armas proving to be terrifyingly unstable and Sweeney being remarkably resolute in her resolve to do whatever she can to keep her family alive, (the scene in which she gives birth is the most frightening thing I've seen all year). "Eden" may not be an easy watch but it would be shameful if it doesn't get the recognition it deserves.
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