niclasericsson

This is definitely not something to watch casually a Wednesday evening. Probably the most inaccessible movie I've ever watched. It is extremely heady philosophical sci-fi that may or may not give you a lot to chew on.

I can't say that I got into this movie at all. I really felt the runtime, those 162 minutes took forever. I usually like movies that take their time to establish the plot or flesh out characters, but this one was sooo slow. Towards the end I was begging for something plot-wise to pick up the pace and let the movie get some sort of momentum, but unfortunately that never happened.

Most of the philosophical and existential dialogue and discussions felt somewhat ponderous. I never got a sense of the Zone as a character in the movie, in what way it was dangerous and why it was so heavily guarded in the first place. I get that it probably was intended as a big mystery, but I never got invested in this place which was a bit of a shame since the Zone itself and its rules (or lack thereof) is an integral part of the movie. Or so it seems to me at least.

The cinematography was pretty good though, each scene was nicely framed and looked great (even though I think they tended to go on for a bit too long). I have nothing to say about the acting, it was pretty solid all over the board. I also liked the contrast between the sepia tone of the city versus the lush greens of the Zone.

But other than that, this movie was a tedious watch for me unfortunately. I'll probably not watch it again, even though I suspect that a second viewing would help me understand it a bit more.

Okay, here we go. This was unfortunately not a very good movie. The acting was pretty bad all over the board (one scene in particular, including a drunk woman, was especially jarring), but my biggest issue with it was by far the screenplay. The overarching story didn't work at all for me.

The basic premise of the movie is that a woman returns to her native mountain village where she grew up because of unclear reasons. From there the plot development is pretty much nonexistent, the main character mostly walks around in the village and surrounding forest with her newly found friend. Things happen a bit randomly. There are hints of sorcery and witchcraft going on that is tied into the narrative, but isn't explored in any meaningful way throughout the film.

The villagers, that initially are suspicious of the newly arrived woman, are laughably one-note. They are depicted as extremely horrible people with no other traits (or even a personality). There are several disturbing scenes in the movie, including nudity, sex and rape, that makes no sense whatsoever plot-wise. I'm not sure why those were included at all, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The ending is equally disconnected from the rest of the film. What was even the point of all this?

The only strength this movie has is that it actually looks pretty good. The foggy moonlit forest creates an unnerving atmosphere, and the Slovak mountain ranges are a great backdrop for the story. It is a shame then that the rest of the movie is such a mess.

(Seen at the 2022 Stockholm International Film Festival)

Hmm. I really wanted to like this movie, since I'm a big fan of The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook. I went in with solid expectations, but unfortunately, for the most part this didn't work for me really.

Let's start with the positive things though. What did I like? The overall cinematography was pretty impressive, with clever camera work elevating each scene. Some camera angles where really interesting in how they framed the characters in the scene, both using close-ups and also with unconventional camera placements. The acting was good, especially from Tang Wei who portrays her character with a great sense of mystery. Also, I very much liked the soundtrack.

But, I'll be honest here, this movie confused the hell out of me. Even though I really tried to follow along with the plot. The movie introduces and reveals so much information all the time and moves between scenes with such a fast pace that it's pretty hard to process everything. On top of that, the narrative is constantly jumping back and forth in time and place, suddenly revisiting old scenes and conversations briefly, which just adds to the confusion. It's not that I dislike complex storytelling, the earlier mentioned The Handmaiden has plenty of interwoven and layered narrative that still manages to tell an understandable and engaging story. Decision to Leave feels in comparison like a needlessly complicated movie with a runtime that is too long for its own good. There are a lot of twists and turns going on, but it just gets a bit tiresome by the end.

I assume that this is a movie that probably becomes better on subsequent viewings, but currently I'm not sure if I have the energy or interest to give this another go. As it stands now, I think this movie is only decent and nothing more really, which is a bit unfortunate.

(Seen at the 2022 Stockholm International Film Festival)