andrea-prodan
Joined Mar 2011
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Reviews15
andrea-prodan's rating
Allow a Director to shoot whatever he wants...and the chance is he'll come up with something like this.
Why on Earth Vincent Gallo as the fugitive killer 'Mohammed'? Couldn't a real Arab do the job???
And Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner being conveniently deaf and dumb?! For a One-Day rôle ??!
And US contractors smoking crack in Israeli Desert (posing for Iraq) ??!
And thoroughbred white horses given as a gift, (along with designer winter coats and boots) to a total stranger...dying, and armed.
I mean... Just how stupid does Skolimowsky think viewers of his oeuvre are?!
It's like HERZOG gone Gaga.
The part where prisoners are put through the US ARMY 'programme' á-la- Abu Grihab was promising enough...but soon the whole film stumbled along to it's pseudo Arty conclusion, just like dope-faced Gallo, stumbling around amidst branches and snow.
A sorry waste of time, and money.
Why on Earth Vincent Gallo as the fugitive killer 'Mohammed'? Couldn't a real Arab do the job???
And Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner being conveniently deaf and dumb?! For a One-Day rôle ??!
And US contractors smoking crack in Israeli Desert (posing for Iraq) ??!
And thoroughbred white horses given as a gift, (along with designer winter coats and boots) to a total stranger...dying, and armed.
I mean... Just how stupid does Skolimowsky think viewers of his oeuvre are?!
It's like HERZOG gone Gaga.
The part where prisoners are put through the US ARMY 'programme' á-la- Abu Grihab was promising enough...but soon the whole film stumbled along to it's pseudo Arty conclusion, just like dope-faced Gallo, stumbling around amidst branches and snow.
A sorry waste of time, and money.
Jane Asher comes out best in this freshly approached film whose syntax has something of the Nouvelle Vague, without taking...say... Goddard's risks.
Character behavior is quirky, and sudden tantrums and oddball antics actually give the film it's best traits. Nothing 'corny' here.
Even the Foreigner's view of British seediness (Director is Polish) is spot-on, BUT (and here's the PROBLEM) the acting is generally stilted and as the film goes on, this stilted general tone in the delivery of the dialogue, is SO clumsily present in all the characters, that for an authentic English viewer the film becomes unbearable!
It turns out that the reason is that the entire film is DUBBED...as many actors were actually German!
So, as far as I'm concerned, this is a severely flawed film, which could have been truly excellent. Had it all been shot in England, with a true British cast, and a director more aware of the nuances of the language, it could have been as good as a fine Polanski.
Nonetheless it retains a Halo of 'cult' criteria to be proud of, and despite the wishy-washy finale, it sums up teenage Sex/love obsession pretty effectively.
Character behavior is quirky, and sudden tantrums and oddball antics actually give the film it's best traits. Nothing 'corny' here.
Even the Foreigner's view of British seediness (Director is Polish) is spot-on, BUT (and here's the PROBLEM) the acting is generally stilted and as the film goes on, this stilted general tone in the delivery of the dialogue, is SO clumsily present in all the characters, that for an authentic English viewer the film becomes unbearable!
It turns out that the reason is that the entire film is DUBBED...as many actors were actually German!
So, as far as I'm concerned, this is a severely flawed film, which could have been truly excellent. Had it all been shot in England, with a true British cast, and a director more aware of the nuances of the language, it could have been as good as a fine Polanski.
Nonetheless it retains a Halo of 'cult' criteria to be proud of, and despite the wishy-washy finale, it sums up teenage Sex/love obsession pretty effectively.
As an Italian,and a film buff, I can't believe I missed this absolute masterpiece!
It is so joyfully satirical, so bitterly funny, so terribly accurate in it's merciless study of Southern Italian mores...that even an Italian will HAVE to admit that it's not a film catering for foreign audiences (like 90% of such 'genre' films), and instead is a distorted cinematic mirror of Sicilian reality.
Firstly: the Photography! Aiace Parolin is responsible for the most striking black and white visuals we are likely to ever see. On a par with the great Gianni DiVenanzio.
But here everything is superlative. Sets, wardrobe, editing. The music (by veteran master Carlo Rustichelli) is dinamic and Witty... and even anticipates the 'western' themes Morricone later used for Sergio Leone's masterworks.
Actors...ALL OF THEM... are simply perfect. Never unfocused or bland...always razor sharp and present in the fickle twists and turns of the plot.
And so we come to Germi.
If this had been his one and only film, he would be in the gotha of Italy's already superlative heaven (so to speak) of Directors. Above Risi, above Commencini, above Scola even.
Everything is laser-sharp, slick, uncanny in it's intuition and psychology.
I just HAD to give this film 10 out of 10 points.
Putting less would have been, quite frankly, miserly.
It's only fault is, maybe, its length.
The story is tortuous and we... along with poor Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli, GORGEOUS here) ... have to go through all the 'stations of the cross' of Catholic hipocrisy.
Quite honestly, however, when everything is so unbearable you just have to applaud...sit back...and ENJOY!
It is so joyfully satirical, so bitterly funny, so terribly accurate in it's merciless study of Southern Italian mores...that even an Italian will HAVE to admit that it's not a film catering for foreign audiences (like 90% of such 'genre' films), and instead is a distorted cinematic mirror of Sicilian reality.
Firstly: the Photography! Aiace Parolin is responsible for the most striking black and white visuals we are likely to ever see. On a par with the great Gianni DiVenanzio.
But here everything is superlative. Sets, wardrobe, editing. The music (by veteran master Carlo Rustichelli) is dinamic and Witty... and even anticipates the 'western' themes Morricone later used for Sergio Leone's masterworks.
Actors...ALL OF THEM... are simply perfect. Never unfocused or bland...always razor sharp and present in the fickle twists and turns of the plot.
And so we come to Germi.
If this had been his one and only film, he would be in the gotha of Italy's already superlative heaven (so to speak) of Directors. Above Risi, above Commencini, above Scola even.
Everything is laser-sharp, slick, uncanny in it's intuition and psychology.
I just HAD to give this film 10 out of 10 points.
Putting less would have been, quite frankly, miserly.
It's only fault is, maybe, its length.
The story is tortuous and we... along with poor Agnese (Stefania Sandrelli, GORGEOUS here) ... have to go through all the 'stations of the cross' of Catholic hipocrisy.
Quite honestly, however, when everything is so unbearable you just have to applaud...sit back...and ENJOY!