anne_claire

Although I come from East European country and I am also familiar with Russian literature, this movie did not get to me at all. There are some nice visual shots (especially, the ones of the old factory) and the music at moments is really compelling, but otherwise I would say that this movie seemed to be a very egocentric attempt of the director to produce high-end intellectual complexity and call it art. To my mind art never has to be complex, art is about simple things and showing them to the audience in a new light. This movie on the contrary was self-indulgent in its form. I could not grasp the connection between the theater play and the real-life stories and in the end could not tell what it was all about. Sons killing their fathers and fathers killing their sons? Well, to my mind there are better ways of elaborating on this than 1,5 hours long speaking in an unorganized imaginary play.

At one point watching "Dva v odnom" you suddenly realize how it manages to present abnormal things as totally normal and common and you believe it from the beginning to the very end. I was expecting more of drama, less of farce, however, it came together at the very end. The second part of the movie seemed to be much more exciting and framed with details than the first one, as the first part left me irritated with its lack of focus. You need to be prepared to overcome all the irritation this movie presents you with as I believe this is one of its intentions - make you feel powerless to accelerate its speed or change the characters' minds. Lots of details are nationally specific and you need to know something about Russia and Russians to understand certain parts of it. Overall - specific enough to be a bold attempt to produce modern art.

American Pie movies are classics in their own genre. It is arguable if it is a good genre, however, there are people who enjoy it and it is all a matter of taste. "Naked Mile" certainly is the worst of the whole "American Pie presents..." sequel package. The plot is flat, the actors are not familiar, the characters are not special or unforgettable in any way and there is a lot of unnecessary nudity (and I mean, real nudity, just imagine some hundred people running the marathon), which was deliberately avoided in the previous movies. There are a few good jokes in it all, however, most of the jokes seem to be reproduced and adapted from the previous movies in some kind of way. The midget subplot seems to added artificially, it does not fit the movie at all. A perfect movie for a crowded drunk party, where no one tries to follow the plot.