gustaf-ottosson

As in "Symbol" Matsumoto leaves you philosophically baffled after having finished the movie, and not in a David-Lynch-weird-just-for-the-sake kind of way. "R100" will stay with me for a long time challenging me to decode what the message really is. No matter what answer I will come up with it is rare to find these kind of movies, that offers the diametrical opposite of Hollywood movies that gives even the most ignorant person answers to all his questions.

I could give you a number of reasons why you should watch this movie, but if you, like me, is one of those people who doesn't necessarily need a linear plot in order to enjoy a movie, but rather evaluates quality by the directors capacity to surprise you, you will already want to see this movie - and you should.

Having seen such a wonderful film at the Stockholm Film Festival as "Twilight Portrait" I was quite embarrassed when my countrymen showed themselves to be culturally handicapped when asking director Angelina Nikonova and co-writer/lead actor Olga Dykhovichnaya, at the screenings Q/A, some of the most obvious questions ever. This cultural (including literature, art and cinema) ineptitude is the only explanation I can possibly have for this, since "Twilight Portrait" is an excellent movie on many different levels.

Above all Nikonova and Dykhovichnaya have made a movie that, in the vein of Gogol and Dostoevsky, comments on a country that they love, but a society that they desperately want to improve. The flaws of modern Russian society are accurately addressed by the creators, and what is foremost eminent about this targeting is that, even though festival writers want to accentuate the gender issue, it applies to all levels of inadequacy - no matter if it is police corruption (genderless) or male chauvinism.

Psychology plays an enormous part of this movie and in an age where heavily make-uped pirates or vampires facing teenage dilemmas is the norm, I hope AN and OD applies the philosophy "It is not HOW MANY people you impress, but rather WHO you impress that matters" to their filmmaking, otherwise they are going to be disappointed. Most people will find this movie boring and slow, because they are used to shallow, fast moving plot. Some scenes are truly harrowing and not for the common viewer.

Nikonova use some techniques that are characteristic for Michael Haneke and she masters them quite well, which makes me confide in her ability to make good movies. Haneke is, according to me, the world's premier director, and anyone who successfully can be influenced by his work is a huge friend of mine.

A last note on this movie is that I've seen quite a lot of modern Russian productions (including the work of Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Andrei Zvyagintsev and Alexander Zeldovich), though it is really rare that I get moved in the way that "Twilight Portrait" moved me. Perhaps it is because I recognize the truthfulness in Nikonovas description of modern Russia, and if anyone less subjected to empiricism concerning this country watches it, it must be the best window into an unknown world created in a long time.

I saw 25 movies at this years edition of Sitges International Film Festival and none so tedious, boring and utterly pretentious as "Verbo". As the movie takes its first hesitating steps, director Eduardo Chapero-Jackson manages to keep some level of interest alive and the story about Sara - the archetype of the misunderstood teenager, who feels unfairly treated by just about everyone - starts off as somewhat highschoolesque, but still with a touch of that characterizing European realism, that usually puts French and German productions at the top of my list.

What is remotely interesting for 10 minutes has however faded completely after 20, and when 45 minutes has passed you just wish the horrid composition to be over. The hole thing is oh so predictable (even for the newly awakened cineast or random film watcher), filled with ridiculous moral preachings and bad acting. Add some animated segments accompanied by horrendous hip-hop music (a huge incongruence compared to the rest of the movie) and you have a recipe for disaster.

If I learned anything from this movie, it was not that suicide is bad, but rather that subjectiveness have conquered definitively: otherwise no one would clap this drivel!