marguskiis

I have to say "Hotel of Dead Mountaineer" is ahead of its time. OK, script was pretty anachronistic in 1978, because the basic book was written 1970, after social turmoils and "revolutions" in USA and Europe and some moments weren't so obvious in late 70s anymore. But after 9/11 is pretty sure that questions like "terrorist or freedom-fighter?" isn't so stupid at all. So the idea of naive alien helping terrorists doesn't look weird anymore.

Movie's special ultramodern design, cold style and dark atmosphere looked maybe a bit over the top in late 70s but became mainstream in 80s, especially in sci-fi and A- category horror movies. "The Hunger" for example has very similar visual style but was filmed 5 years later. The Grünberg's music isn't typical 70s movie soundtrack, the cold and synthesized soundscape became popular also in 80s and later. Theatralic, unnatural, openly strange acting became popular also years later. I like "HUH" ("HODM") because it works, it looks cool and timeless and the movie is overall unforgettable. Like its one its influence, "Zabriskie Point", "HUH" is panned by critics from premiere but has remained cult classic anyway.

Ex-ballet dancer (like Sulev Nõmmik) Ago Hendrik Kerge used to be good comedy director, in drama he usually failed. In "Püha Susanna ehk meistrite kool" ("St. Susan or School of Masters") he uses his confident cast (his wife Elle Kull, duo Juri Kriukov & Urmas Kibuspuu, Salme Reek, Aarne Üksküla etc.) and it does good job. This TV-movie is, unlike "Pisuhänd", very loose and looks like very improvised. But it still is quite entertainy, even looked 25 years later. "Püha Susanna ehk meistrite kool" is actually a real play written by Enn Vetemaa but the movie is not actually filmed after it. The movie is about an average theater company who tries to stage it for TV recording. But most of movie shows the ensemble (with TV cast) visiting a kolhoz (huge agricultural firm in soviet time) in countryside, a noisy party in club and sauna with every kind excesses (human conflicts, sex, booze). The movie is very satirical about both snide theater people and robust but wannabe noble country nation. Life entirely looks quite loose, a bit pointless and decadent. Some characters look copied from real life -- the theatre director Siimeon Susi is very similar to known Estonian theatre director Jaak Allik for example. But tall and handsome AH Kerge looks very stupid as author Enn Vetemaa (who is short fatty and quite ugly man in real life). If you want to see quite realistic look of life of culture people in Soviet Estonia of Brezhnev "stagnation" time, check out this movie. Dialogue is quite pointless, so translation is not obligatory.

One of best Estonian movies with special aura, strange but fascinating story and great work actors.

Story is quite simple. A man (Sulev Luik) traveling with train makes a short visit to a town called Vernanda to buy a bread. When he returns to railway station he hears from station chief that train is already gone. And then he notices that his bread is clicking. Returning to bakery he sees it is totally destroyed by explosion. And old man (Kaljo Kiisk) searching something from ruins explains that the bread is "souvenir of the city", it contains a clockwork bomb which can explode whenever, even years later. So the movie is about the man wandering around the town trying to get rid of his "bread" and meeting the The movie was shot in small Estonian town called Sillamäe which architecture is totally Stalinist and makes the movie especially eerie. The atmosphere of the film is surrealistic and magical-realistic with quirky elements (loudspeaker in a marketplace reading numbers, mayer of the town looking like Latin-American general etc.). And of course, one of the best cast of actors in the history of Estonian film.