slavabregovic

I randomly watched this without any real idea of what the film was supposed to be. In fact I was hoping for the "twist" to be something more surreal or supernatural (like a portal to hell or something), but unfortunately that was not the case.

For one thing, the trope of Serbia being this dark and horrible place (and Eastern countries in general) is tired, shallow and inaccurate. There's some inconsistencies another user pointed out, one big obvious being the "bad guy" with a Serbian tattoo.

Acting is decent, filmwork itself is quite good as well, but the whole thing comes across as rushed, half-assed and predictable. While I wouldn't call this "French Hostel", it's on the same level as far as quality goes. Stereotypical characters, obvious "twists and turns", nothing terribly memorable.

In my opinion, it's particularly disrespectful to base a film on horrible real events and just sort-of switch the characters' ethnicities around. The main premise could still be based on real events but would've worked better had they maybe picked a completely different location or with less focus on the characters' nationalities.

Nothing special here, might as well watch an M Night Shalalalam if you're in the mood for something tepid and mediocre.

We're taken on quite a weird little trip with this documentary. All the way to Turkmenia (aka Turkmenistan), one of the world's seemingly most-isolated country. Only in fact, the leader and his sycophants do quite a bit of international business. This invite is often apparently staged by foreign companies offering to translate a strange and legendary "spiritual book" written by the late Sapamurat Niyazov. We see more of big business than usual, as well as some re-enacted Turkmen propaganda. I wish this would've delved a bit more into the contents of the "Ruhnama", as it is quite a delirious, rambling, dizzying book (containing the history and spiritual concepts, cultural artifacts and values of the Turkmen people----according to Niyazov). However, this documentary packs a lot into its short run time. Quite a story told here, with plenty of ethical questions to consider.

I really -wanted- to like this film, and I did til I got about midway. The whole story starts off with a lot of promise, beautiful scenery, some predictable but totally decent acting... and then just delves into nothing. Our story begins with a man meeting a beautiful, fun girl with a strange secret she uses a lot of dumb excuses to conceal. It leads you on a meandering romantic venture, which begins to grow stale due to constant twists, teases and allusions... that just keep going. While I feel it's fine to leave "plenty to the imagination"--- be aware, most of this film is simply a cute romance story. It's nicely done and pretty, but not terribly interesting. The "reveal" need not be spelled out in entirety, but there's a lot of build-up for nothing much. By the time the film is nearly finished, there's some interesting special effects here and there, but it feels quite shallow. There's no elaboration as to why any of the weird stuff is happening, and the plot essentially disintegrates. I'm a little surprised at how well-received this was, because I found it incredibly disappointing. The romantic atmosphere congeals, as if someone felt they could make a rather bland (though quite cute) love story film "more interesting" by tacking on some sci-fi elements without really fleshing them out. Although the pacing is balanced, the nuances and tension just never really materialize into anything exciting. You get some vague weirdness, but it certainly doesn't live up to the Lovecraft comparisons. I appreciate the concept, but the execution comes off as contrived. To the point: Fans of standard romance films and M.Night Shamaylan will love it, those looking for something unique will probably be let down.