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Reviews
Serial Mom (1994)
A good comedy with dark humour
I watched it first time in 2024 and it was really nice to see how the movies looked like 30 years ago. I have a thin memory of how it as I was too young to remember them. I only remember that most of them looked ridiculous. Now I wonder how much of satire and sarcasm I didn't get back then?
The movie looked like a satire to cinematic cliches, as well as to social norms. On one hand, Serial Mom is a killer that frightens everyone in the town, on the other hand, at the end of the movie she is the winner as if she was the main positive character. She's charming and looks like a happy housewife, yet she reads about true crime and get triggered by anyone who breaks a rule or harms her or her family. I wonder if the inspiration to this movie were American housewives of 1950s who had a good life on facade and dead inside.
Kapitan Volkonogov bezhal (2021)
Multilayered movie about 1937
When the movie have finished and I left the cinema, I was fully immersed in the atmosphere of the movie. It is really beautiful and very amusing movie.
First of all, I'd like to emphasise how beautiful is the movie. It brought me back to St Petersburg and I want to walk on it's streets one more time. Even though the film didn't show the glamorous side of the city, it shoed typical architecture, weather and mood of it.
Secondly, I was quite surprised by the costumes, especially by the uniforms of the soldiers (not sure how to call them). The main character at first looked like skin-head, notoriously known to be a lot in St. Petersburgs after USSR collapse. So I felt antipathy towards the main character, simply because if my own associations.
And yet, red sport costume with black shoes and jacket looks very rich and impressive in contrast with the poor and grey city. As if only these soldiers are the most important people in this city, only them can wear new and colourful clothes.
The story takes place in Russia 1937 or 1938 - the time that became a narrative name for totalitarian and merciless political regime. Today, when the Russian news are full of cases of freedom of speech violation, political prisoners - people are asking if we are back to 1937. So when I was watching the film, I felt pain for the past and fear for the future.
I could not understand the main character Captain Volkonogov. First, he was portrait as a strong and smart person. But once he escaped, he was only strong. Did they wanted to show him frightening when he was one of the soldiers and then emotionally retarded because that what kind of people go to work for that goverment?
Papurika (2006)
Takes you away from boring life for 1.5 hours
I am so happy that I watched Paprika yesterday after working day. This is going to be very subjective review.
My life is mostly occupied by my work and I feel myself an utterly boring person. But watching paprika was like a breath of fresh air - it brought me back to my adolescence - carefree time, full of creativity and big thoughts. Back in 2000s, I can see how mind blowing and extraordinary was Paprika, now it looks rather an ordinary fantasy. Which probably means Satoshi Kon played a huge role in establishing high bar for fantasy movies today.
Satoshi Kon immersed us to the world of dreams - those that can fulfil deepest fantasies and worst nightmares. Yet it makes want to come back and dive to this world of dreams one more time, even though knowing all plot twists. I think watching second time will allow to not only enjoy this master piece, but also notice small details that were missed on the first watch.
Time past very fast watching Paprika and I was sad that this is not a Netflix series that I could continue watching. The scenes are full of creativity that goes hand to hand with ordinary life. I don't know why I didn't watch Paprika much earlier, but I am happy that I finally did it.