Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood; animated fantasy adventure series, Japan, 2009, D: Yasuhiro Irie, S: Romi Park, Rie Kugimiya, Shinichiro Miki, Daisuke Namikawa, Kenta Miyake, Megumi Takamoto, Hidekatsu Shibata  

Brothers Edward and Al wanted to revive their deceased mother using alchemy, but the experiment goes wrong: Edward loses his leg and arm, and replaces it with metal limbs, while Al loses his entire body, and now exists as a giant empty knight’s armor. They embark on a journey to find the philosopher’s stone to get their bodies back and are enlisted by Roy Mustang as state alchemists. A serial killer, Scar, an ethnic Ishbal, kills every state alchemist because the country, Amestris, committed genocide against Ishbals who wanted independence from it. Edward and Al discover that a philosopher’s stone can only be created through sacrificing living humans, and that the state was doing that using convicts sentenced to death. The military also created homunculus, artificial humans. Ling, a prince from the East, is transformed into Greed. King Bradley turns out to be a homunculus himself, Wrath, after an experiment when he was a normal human. It turns out that a long time ago the King of Xerxes ordered an alchemist to make him immortal, and he used the blood of his slave von Hohenheim to create a homunculus, a black being in a glass, which sacrificed the lives of all people of Xerxes to give Hohenheim immortality and itself Hohenheim’s clone body, called “Father”. During the Sun eclipse, “Father” and Selim want to sacrifice five humans (Mustang, Edward, Al, Izumi, Hohenheim) in underground Central City, and use the souls of 50 million Amestrians to open a portal to the Eye of God, which he absorbs. But Hohenheim placed philosopher’s stones across the country which nullify the alchemy circle and return the souls to people. “Father” is returned to the netherworld, while Al retrieves his body back.   

6 years after the first anime adaptation of "Fullmetal Alchemist", new authors re-assembled a new version, "Brotherhood", which is more faithful to the manga source. As much as the 1st anime adaptation was very good, "Brotherhood" is simply better, even though it goes on for 64 episodes. However, its pacing is so furious and dynamic that it simply engages with ease, and its reputation is huge: at one point, it was even the highest rated anime series on IMDb. The first 2/3 of its storyline are outstanding, flip-flopping between action, adventure, fantasy, comedy and drama, all done to full satisfaction—but the finale loses that sense for fun and natural story flow, and undergoes a bit of a "Dragonball-ization" since it exhausts itself with too many excessive fights that start to look all the same, ending up a bit monotone. The opening episodes rise to the occasion since the characters are likeable, sympathetic, whereas the mystery involving the villain is set-up nicely—it is akin to a blend of Faust, Aztec human sacrifice, scientists willing to drop any ethics to find new discoveries, and Griffith from "Berserk". The humor in that segment is the most refreshing ingredient: for instance, in episode 3, priest Cornello says he is the “fist of god”, so Edward goes to a statue of god, and uses his alchemy powers to create a stone fist emerging from it, which stretches out from the statue and punches Cornello. In episode 6, Slicer belittles his rival Edward by describing him as a "little boy", so Edward replies: “Don’t take it too badly when you get beaten by a little boy!” In episode 25, upon hearing her mini panda might have been eaten by a dog, May cries so much her tears extinguish a fire for a pot. In episode 29, one official salutes: “Lieutenant Hawkeye, just returning from the restroom, sir!”

The best bits about battle and action scenes are always precisely those that have some inspiration, ingenuity or are just plain clever. For instance, in episode 5, Scar realizes Edward needs to clap his hands to use his powers, so he simply breaks off Edward's robotic arm. Scar is later surrounded by the police, but escapes by creating an explosion and going under the ground, through the sewer. In episode 19, Roy Mustang’s alchemy powers are controlling fire with gloves that have a circular alchemy symbol drawn on them. So Lust slices a water pipe above him to splash Mustang with water to nullify it, and takes his gloves. But a wounded Mustang simply later draws an alchemy symbol on his hand using his own blood, and ignites a fire with a lighter, anyway. In episode 38, two human soldiers transform into monsters (chimeras) to attack Scar, but then Edward and Al show up and beat up said chimeras, feigning they are monsters and don’t "recognize" them, to help Scar. In episode 40, Riza Hawkeye visits Mustang at military headquarters. In the kitchen she gives him a coded message by mentioning names, which Mustang writes down, and later simply takes the first letter from every name to decipher a message: “Selim Bradley is a homunculus”. One magical romantic moment: in episode 23, as Winry is leaving in a train, after Edward told her she will “cry tears of joy next time”, she leans forward, looks through the window and thinks of images of Edward, until she finally has a thought: “Now I understand. I fell in love with him”. However, it is a bit of a pity that that their relationship is rather neglected even after that. Flashback episode 40 is the highlight of this anime, an undisputable chef-d'œuvre, but it is mostly downhill after that. Episodes 24-27 and 46-48 drag and feel like “action fillers”, and the whole ending, although having a huge scale, feels somewhat calculated and unsatisfying. The action scenes take on the center stage in the finale, to such an extent that they start "eating up" the comedy, philosophy, and drama—it does not take a too big toll, but one feels the inspiration in the ending was not as genuine as it was in the beginning. The only moment of freshness is in episode 62, where Ling punches Father, who traps his arm and says he will suck the philosopher's stone from him. Ling seemingly howls in pain, but then stops, smiles, and says he is just joking, as the Father cannot take the stone without his shield down. "Brotherhood" is excellent, but why couldn't the whole finale been as witty as this moment?

Grade:+++

The Odyssey

The Odyssey; fantasy adventure drama, USA / UK, 2026; D: Christopher Nolan, S: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page

Ancient Greek Era. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, enlists with his men into the military of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to fight in the Trojan War in western Anatolia. They trick the Trojans by hiding themselves into a wooden horse, and once inside the city, Odysseus and his men open the city gates from inside, letting Agamemnon's army inside. However, Odysseus and his ship crew get lost on their way back and encounter a cyclops, man-eating giants Laestrygonians, singing sirens and sea monster Charybdis. During these 20 years, suitors eat at Odysseus' castle, wooing his wife Penelope who refuses them. Odysseus finally returns, teams up with his son Telemachus, and sets up a test: the suitor who can string his bow will marry Penelope. Odysseus is able to string it, takes arrows and shoots all the suitors. Penelope recognizes him again. 

Homer's 8th century BC epic "The Odyssey" endured literary interests throughout time, but one must simply admit that some of its parts aged better, while others aged worse. The dramatic, realistic parts still have that power and energy, but the mythological fantasy bits seem rather silly, forced and dated today, which is why numerous film adaptations mostly focus on the former. Director and screenwriter Christopher Nolan tackles both segments, but the movie would have been far better if the mythological parts were simply omitted and we just had the realistic segments, since the Trojan War episode and the finale are the best, brilliantly speaking both about the rarely talked about side effects of war (people wasting their entire lives on them, struggling to find back to their old life) and the hypocrisy of people (some of the suitors were old enough to enlist in the Trojan War, but avoided being drafted, only to now shamelessly exploit the hospitality and traditions of eating and feasting for free for a whole decade at Penelope's expense, attempting to marry her). The biggest surprise is Robert Pattinson who is excellent as the villain Antinous, the draft dodger, showing remarkable acting range. The locations are also fascinating, especially Dakhla and Aït Benhaddou. However, the mythological parts are without inspiration or awe, and are at times simply illogical. In the original, Odysseus subdues the cyclops by giving him wine and introducing himself as "Nobody", which is why the drunk cyclops falls asleep, let's his guard down, and Odysseus' men can then blind him to escape from his lair. In this edition, the cyclops simply falls asleep in front of the armed soldiers after it ate two of them, without any protection from them during the night, which is illogical and naive. The episode of Circe "rubbing" the faces of the eating soldiers to transform them into pigs also seems more bizarre than useful. The dialogue is conventional and standard, whereas the nonlinear 'out-of-order' narrative seems more like obfuscation than inspired storytelling. Despite virtues and aesthetics, Nolan should have invested more time into concise storyline and characters than just high-definition cinematography.

Grade:++

Tell No One

Ne le dis à personne; thriller, France, 2006; D: Guilaumme Canet, S: François Cluzet, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott Thomas, François Berléand, Marie-Josée Croze, Nathalie Baye, Jean Rochefort, Guillaume Canet

Alex and his wife Margot are swimming on a lake, she disappears on the other side, he goes to search for her, but is hit with a bat and falls unconscious. 8 years later, Margot has been declared dead and Alex tries to continue his life as a pediatrician. He receives an e-mail which shows a video of Margot still alive at a train station. The police shows up and informs him they found two male corpses at the lake with a bat that has traces of Alex's blood; and that they discovered a key among them with a compartment with photos of Margot in bruises 8 years ago. When Charlotte is murdered, and the police finds the murder gun at Alex's apartment, Alex is the suspect and he flees. He finds out that Margot shot Philippe, a pedophile, so Margot's dad Jacques, a retired police officer, hid his corpse. But Philippe's dad, the millionaire Neuville, ordered two thugs to kill Margot at the lake, so Jacques bribed one of them to kill the other one, and then killed the former, and feigned Margot's death so keep her safe from Neuville, who bribed and controlled half of police department. Neuville is arrested, while Jacques and Margot reunite.

Excellent crime thriller "Tell No One" is a typical Agatha Christie-style murder mystery done in a tour-de-force way, slowly switching gears from a steady to a furious peace, but all done in an intelligent manner thanks to a calm, restrained, but incredibly focused direction by Guilaumme Canet. A rare French film adaptation of an American novel, in this case the eponymous novel by Harlan Coben, "Tell No One" may be conventional, and it may be relaying too much on the final twist ending, but all the subplots leading to it manage to engage, and every little questionable detail plays a role later on—nothing is wasted, everything has its why and because when it connects in the end. For instance, a random small time gangster Bruno appears in the opening act, shouting in the hospital until the protagonist Alex (brilliant Francois Cluzet) takes his injured son for treatment. Later, when Alex is chased by the police, he finds refuge by Bruno and his friend in a ghetto: as soon as the police arrive there, the local migrant poor populace is agitated as it assumes the police is coming for them, so they throw a trash can at the police car, which totally disrupts their pursuit. The 5-minute chase sequence is outstanding, almost without any dialogue, with the highlight of Alex crossing a highway as a truck hits the breaks and several cars slam into it. All the actors are outstanding, but Nathalie Baye stands out even a bit more as Alex's lawyer Elisabeth, especially in the scene where she "grills" the District Attorney when she tells him she has a tight alibi for Alex during Charlotte's murder, so the DA goes: "There's just one catch. The murder weapon was found at his place." - "Trouble is, the tables have turned. That's now your problem! Tell the press your men planted evidence without your knowledge. At worst, you're a coward. At best, a DA without authority." The story tackles all the usual motives of crime genre: framing an innocent man as a cover-up to protect a criminal at the top; corruption; suppressed truth; uncovering of a polluted system; honesty vs. dishonesty. The twist ending must not be revealed, but it is insane, an incredible example of a genius pay-off that brings down the house, and even features a twist ending after the twist ending, a dizzying, unbelievable experience.

Grade:+++

The Whale

The Whale; drama, USA, 2022; D: Darren Aronofsky, S: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, Samantha Morton

Idaho. Charlie is an English literature teacher who teaches his students online, but never turns on his laptop camera. The reason is because Charlie is ashamed of his 600-pound body. Ever since his gay lover Alan committed suicide due to "religious guilt", Charlie has been living inside his apartment, binge eating. Alan's sister and nurse, Liz, occasionally drops by to take care of Charlie, urging him to go to the hospital because his blood pressure is 238, but he refuses due to medical expenses, saving all his money for his daughter Ellie (17), whom he abandoned when he divorced 8 years ago to be with Alan. Ellie is only there to ask Charlie to write an essay for her for homework. Thomas, a missionary for New Life Church, visits to try to convert Charlie. When Charlie is on the verge of a heart attack, he asks Ellie to read her essay about "Moby Dick" for him.

"The Whale" is a movie that is a tough, depressive, but also essential watch, symbolically speaking about how it feels like to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. This is the situation the main 600-pound protagonist Charlie finds himself in, since he made several bad choices in life which all come back to take a toll on him, even though he meant no harm. He is played excellently by Brendan Fraser, in a very unusual casting that pays off and shows his emotional side. There are moments that are gruesome (for instance, in one scene Charlie chokes while eating, and since Liz cannot do the Heimlich maneuver since he is sitting on the couch, she has to turn him sideways and kick his back), and the obesity subplot seems like an unnecessary gimmick at times, but after a while, the viewers forget about Charlie's weight, and only see the characters since their personalities are fascinating to watch. The whole film is only one sequence, playing out practically on only one location, Charlie's apartment (since it is based on the eponymous play by Samuel D. Hunter), featuring only five characters, but their interactions are mesmerizing. 

Besides Fraser, the other four actors are also excellent, especially Sadie Sink as Charlie's passive-aggressive teenage daughter Ellie, and Hong Chau as the caring nurse Liz. One of the sharpest dialogue comes when Ellie confronts missionary Thomas with her cynicism: "What I like about religion is that it assumes that everyone is an idiot and that we're all incapable of saving ourselves. I think they've got something right with that. What I don't like about religion is that when people accept Jesus or whatever, they suddenly think they're better than everyone else. By accepting the fact that they're stupid sinners, somehow they've become better and they turn into a***". The whole story is built on character interactions and emotions, the center being Charlie, who lost everything and has decided to practically commit suicide through binge-eating. But he is intelligent, caring and educated, and surprises several times. In one scene, he admits to Liz he feels sorry for Ellie, as he browses her social network profile and realizes she does not have that many friends. He even offers Ellie to write her essay for homework and pay her (!) just so that she can spend some time with him. She resents him for not being part of her life for 8 years, but he just tragically counters with: "Who would want me to be part of their life?" "The Whale" is an ode to outsiders living on the margins, who are neglected by the society because they are deemed "unattractive", but it shows that, if people just give them a chance, some of these outsiders are actually brilliant minds with a whole array of wisdom and feelings like everyone else—it is just that their minds are trapped in wrong physical circumstances. It may be a little strange to mention it, but "The Whale" has emotional weight that is even bigger than its protagonist.

Grade:+++

Koke

Koke; drama, Croatia / Serbia, 2026; D: Igor Jelinović, S: Snježana Sinovčić-Šiškov, Aleksandra Janković, Šimun Šitum, Stojan Matavulj, Ana Marija Veselčić, Leon Lučev, Dara Vukić, Mare Rodin

Split. Tonina and Tajana are two middle-aged sisters. But while Tonina is taking care of their old and sick mother, changing her diapers and washing her, Tajana doesn't want to participate and lives carefree with her husband Milan, son Ivan and daughter Linda. Tonina wants to help Ivan, who graduated journalism in Zagreb, to find a job in Split. Toinina lives with her husband Bartul and daughter Tana. Tonina secretly buys a flat on the island of Hvar from relative Željka, but since she and Tajana agreed to buy it off together, Tajana is angry. Even Ivan is angry and assaults Tonina in her backyard. Tonina renovates the flat to host tourists there. On their mother's birthday, Tonina reveals the mother signed the house ownership over to her, which angers Tajana, while Ivan even spits on Tonina.

Igor Jelinovic's feature length debut film is a quiet meditation on the clash of two lifestyles: the diligent and the carefree; contemplating what is rewarded more in the end, and if that privilege itself is earned. Filmed in a realistic, raw style, with wide shots done in one take as the camera drives left and right to go from character to character talking, "Koke" finely captures the specific Dalmatian mentality of these colorful characters. The dialogues are rather standard and routine, and there are not that many surprises, which would have helped to transcend the typical mold of these kind of social dramas. Some of the best moments are Tonina watching Ivan's YouTube video where he laments that he does not want to be considered responsible for plastic pollution since he is only the consumer, but not the producer, alleging that the corporations producing plastic are to blame for not making a different kind of product; as well as a few neat lines here and there ("You cannot worry about all the troubles in the world!"). The clash of the two sisters over land ownership (first of a flat in Hvar, and then over the whole house of their mother) slowly consolidates a tighter story out of these episodes, culminating in an intense arguing in the finale during the their mother's birthday party and family gathering, though the story could have even started right where it ends in the film. The locations of Split and Hvar are untypically filmed during winter time, signaling the "cooling" of relationships between the two sisters, whereas Snjezana Sinovcic-Siskov stands out the most in the dignified, ambitious and calm portrayal of Tonina, the leading character. 

Grade:++

Black and White in Color

Noirs et Blancs en couleur; satire, France / Ivory Coast / Germany / Switzerland, 1976, D: Jean-Jacques Annaud, S: Jacques Spiesser, Jean Carmet, Jacques Dufilho, Catherine Rouvel, Dora Doll, Maurice Barrier

Fort Coulais, French Equatorial Africa, January 1 9 1 5. Nine white French colonists live in boredom, and often get visit by three white German colonists from the nearby fort of German colony Kamerun. One day, the French receive a box with newspapers, and read that Germany and France are at war since August last year. The French thus mobilize local blacks as soldiers and send them to attack the German fort, led by Sergeant Bosselet, but lose when the German machine-gun soldiers. Pacifist geographer Hubert Fresnoy takes over the military command, goes to a local village and persuades the village elder to capture blacks from the savannah to mobilize them in the French Army. Fresnoy orders them to build trenches and start a siege, but then he receives a British commander who informs them that the German Empire surrendered at Yaounde, and that Kamerun is now a British colony. The three Germans reconcile with the nine French, and become friends again. 

Jean-Jacques Annaud's feature length debut film is a biting satire on imperialism, colonialism, patriotism and racism which ravaged the local populace in Africa (and elsewhere), announcing him as an interesting director who tackles rarely talked about topics in cinema. The farcical story of nine white French colonists who read in newspapers that France and Germany are fighting each other in World War I, so they decide to attack the three white German colonists nearby, has a fine sense for all the absurdities and misguidedness of wars, conflicts and colonial rivalry. "Black and White in Color" is directed conventionally and routinely, but its story has more than enough colorful characters. The sole mobilization is already telling: the French recruit local Africans from a nearby village, who sign the mobilization enlistment with their fingerprint, are promised food and a pot as payment, while the French just give them random names: "Your name will be Armand", "Jerome", "Alexis". 

Later, when the military command makes an inventory and realizes they have only 29 rifles for the battle, one of them cynically comments with: "Well, this should be over quickly". Militarism is not the only thing Annaud makes fun of, as religion is also criticized: the two Catholic missionaries collect local cultural religious artifacts to sell them back in Europe, and throw into the fire others they deem "useless". Several clever little details also give the film little sparks here and there (Fresnoy locks himself inside a house, and a man cannot enter it, because Fresnoy's assistant took away the external doorknob as to not be disturbed). The middle part of the long mobilization attempts drag a bit and feel underwhelming, but Annaud knows exactly how to send messages without ever turning preachy or intrusive, since all the dead and wounded in this "micro world war" are local blacks recruited to fight each other, while the three white Germans and nine white French just observe from aside, never fight personally, and get to see the end of the war untouched and unharmed, when they reconcile in the finale that shows all their hypocrisy and conceit. The actors Jacques Spessier as Fresnoy and Dora Doll as Maryvonne deliver especially memorable performances.

Grade:+++

Michael Collins

Michael Collins; historical drama, Ireland / USA / UK, 1996; D: Neil Jordan, S: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Alan Rickman, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Julia Roberts, Brendan Gleeson, Seán McGinley, Charles Dance

Dublin, 1 9 1 6. After the failed Easter Rebellion, the Irish rebels are either executed or arrested by the British Army, among them Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. They are released after two years, and do not give up on Irish independence from the British Empire. After de Valera is again arrested in 1 9 1 9, Collins, serving as the Director of Intelligence of the underground Irish Republican Army (IRA), adopts guerilla tactics and orders assassinations of 14 British military and police officials in Dublin, including an MI6 agent, resulting in "Bloody Sunday". The reprisals go back and forth, until the British make a peace agreement and grant Ireland a form of independence. But since Northern Ireland is to stay part of the UK, and the Irish Free State has to make an Oath of Allegiance to the British King, many dissatisfied Irish politicians rebel, which leads to the Irish Civil War. Collins warns them that this is the best option currently available. He is assassinated in an ambush in 1 9 2 2.

9 years after M. Cimino tried to make a biopic about Michael Collins, director Neil Jordan managed to film this version of it: Jordan knew there would be inevitable controversy regarding it, but to him, the story was simply too good not to be told on the big screens—controversy or not. "Michael Collins" was better received in the English-speaking world than in Europe, where several film critics disputed it. For instance, Croatian film critic Arsen Oremovic gave a negative review, disparaging: "Jordan glorifies an ordinary terrorist, a man who incited murder of people without hesitation". However, said statement is untrue and undue—Collins' main targets were not civilians, but British security and military officials, then de facto an occupying force of Ireland, and thus his guerilla tactics against the much stronger British Army were no different than the one shown in Pontecorvo's "The Battle for Algiers", for instance. Jordan shows an archetypal story of one nation trying to gain independence and decolonization from an empire, shown through the Irish War of Independence, rarely depicted in cinema, and he has a lot of style, inspiration, aesthetic images and flair in the first two thirds of the film. The opening is especially powerful: after the failed Easter Uprising, British officials demand from a British commander: "Show me the ringleaders of this little farce". They then single out several people from the captured Irish rebels, and even kick a wounded Irish man on the ground—Collins, among the lined up rebels, wants to intervene, but Eamon de Valera stops him: "Wait, Michael, wait." - "Until when?" - "Until next time".

Realizing his IRA is no match for the British Army in conventional combat, Collins devises guerilla tactics, with several audacious ventures: for instance, since there is no official photo of him, Collins simply goes to the British headquarters, introduces himself as a British informer (!) going to deliver a report, and then simply walks inside, as his aide Ned Broy allows him to go into the room with intelligence files, where Collins copies the list of all British high ranking officials working in Dublin, to be used as targets later on. IRA then kills all the British military and security officials during their private lives: one man exits from the building, and is shot through the newspaper of an IRA member pretending to be the street vendor; others are shot while in a bathtub or having a dinner in a restaurant. This leads to reprisals, including the infamous Croke Park massacre, where an armored car opened fire on Irish civilians during a football match. Several details in the film are also quite clever (for instance, de Valera is in prison, but spots that the priest has the keys of the gate, so he takes it—and makes an imprint of it on a candle which he then sends via post to Collins, who then simply copies the key design to release him). Jordan does not glorify Collins, showing several of his decisions as questionable but he understands his quest, figuring that independence is rarely achieved without bloodshed. He makes several compromises and sometimes strays way too much from historicity (for instance, Broy was never killed and went on to live all until 1 9 7 2!), whereas Julia Roberts' role as Kitty, Collins' love interest, is underwritten. The last third of the film, depicting the Irish indepndence disagreements and civil war is much weaker, losing a lot of inspiration and ending on a rather underwhelming note. Nonetheless, "Michael Collins" deserves to be seen for its enthusiasm towards Irish history and spirit.

Grade:++

Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird

Iko shashvi mgalobeli; drama, Georgia, 1970; D: Otar Iosseliani, S: Gela Kandelaki, Gogi Chkheidze, Jansug Kakhidze, Medea Japaridze

Tbilisi. Gia is a timpani drummer at an orchestra. After the show, he goes to flirt with a ballerina, but then remembers he has an appointment with his friend, a doctor, but then ditches even him and goes on with another set of friends. He goes to the apartment of a girl he likes, but she rejects him. Gia lives in the apartment of his mother, and they get a visit from relatives. Gia wonders the city, meeting women who all reject him, and visits his friends, like a clockmaker, goes to a restaurant and watches a football game on TV. The next morning, as he turns and looks at another woman, he is hit on the street by a car and dies.

Included in a local poll as one of the 12 best films of Georgian cinema, Otar Iosseliani's drama is a good, but still overrated and decisively standard. Following 36 hours in the life of a timpani drummer, Gia, who is privately so restless that he goes from friend to friend, from woman to woman, all without ever truly connecting with any person, "Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird" speaks about superficiality of human relationships in the modern era and ADHD individuals whose hyperactivity is a poor substitute for true closeness, but all this is neither that compelling nor engaging. This could have been a short film, and it wouldn't have lost anything. There is one truly excellent moment in the entire film: since he needs to use the timpani on the drums only at the beginning and ending of the orchestra, Gia, after it starts, takes his bowtie off and goes to the nearby musician playing a brass instrument, takes his tie off and then simply leaves (!) to go to the apartment of his mother to attend the birthday of his aunt. An hour later, the stage manager is nervously looking at his watch and walking through the hallway, when Gia finally shows up, returns to his place in the orchestra and then drums to signal the end of the concert. Truly genius, and this was probably the reason that inspired to make this film in the first place, but the rest is just one aimless meandering of the protagonist through the city, almost like a felliniesque set of episode without the felliniesque. There are some neat unusual scenes and moments here (live X-rays of a man's lounges for ten seconds in a hospital; Gia enters a chemistry class and wants to drink water from the faucet, but the professor takes his glass away because it was filled with poison...), but overall, nothing really ignites on a higher level after that sequence of Gia leaving the concert.

Grade:++

Hostage for a Day

Hostage for a Day; comedy, Canada, 1994; D: John Candy, S: George Wendt, John Vernon, Christopher Templeton, Robin Duke, PJ Torokvei, Kathleen Laskey

Warren has had enough: his wife Elizabeth takes more care about her dog than about him, as she forgot his birthday and took the money from his bank account to pay for the renovation of their house; his father-in-law is also his boss; and he only managed to get a paid leave in October from his dreadful job of a copy and print office. Warren thus straps a fake dynamite kit around his waist, changes his voice and pretends that two kidnappers took him hostage in his house, demanding 50,000$ or they will blow up the place. Elizabeth calls the police, and now Warren is surrounded in the house. Two real Russian kidnappers show up, but he manages to escape from them, take his father-in-law's money and escape with his old acquaintance Diana to Alaska.

The only film directed by the legendary comedian John Candy before his too early death, "Hostage for a Day" is a surprisingly melancholic comedy about people who, realizing their current life is going nowhere, decide to take on a drastic choice to change it to live the way they want to. Comedian George Wendt is very good in the leading role of the annoyed Warren who is slowly losing his patience, and some of the best jokes revolve around the running gag of him seeing the face of his own alter ego in reflections, advising him what to do (when Warren aims a fake pistol at a mirror, he goes: "Talkin' to me?", as his alter ego shows up in the reflection and says: "Yeah, I am, I'm talking to you!"; the alter ego appearing in the reflection of water in a kitchen sink, so Warren just drains the water with him; or the finale where, after Warren's crazy act, his alter ego appears in a side-view mirror: "Despite how nuts you appear at the moment, in reality you are the sanest you ever been!" - "Of course, people who really are nuts probably talk just like this"). The plot tangle where Warren pretends he is taken hostage and distorts his voice for the police, imitating kidnappers, could have been developed in much sharper, wittier and better ways, with far more inspiration than the rather often too lukewarm set of jokes that appear, which is why the dramatic moments almost seem more memorable than the comical ones ("See, you keep looking for quality in a relationship. I keep trying to tell you: the secret to a long-term relationship is complete and total disregard for quality"), but even these attempts at philosophical contemplations about life have some merits.

Grade:++

Four White Shirts

Četri balti krekli; drama, Latvia, 1967; D: Rolands Kalniņš, S: Uldis Pūcītis, Dina Kuple, Līga Liepiņa, Pauls Butkēvičs

Riga. Julijs Kalnins, nicknamed "Caesar", is a telephone installer who in his free time writes songs and performs in a band called "The Optimists". He is in a relationship with Bella. However, he reads a negative review from Anita, a member of the Communist Cultural Committee, who disparages his lyrics for being incompatible with Communist ideology. Julijs talks with Anita, who lives in his residential buildings, and says he refuses to change his lyrics to suit the government decree. On a meeting of the Cultural Committee, the board members all use Anita's negative review as a reference to ban the songs, even though they never heard them. However, Anita changes her mind and supports Julijs, but too late. Julijs refuses to change his lyrics, and thus drops out of the band. 

"Four White Shirts" is a bitter criticism of any kind of government censorship or meddling into art to try to change it only for ideological reason, not for its quality, sending a message that artists should be given autonomy and freedom to do what they want—and considering the main protagonist shares his last name with the director of the film, Rolands Kalnins, the hidden messages are even more obvious. Since the film was banned by the Soviet occupation authorities, it actually reached an ironic full circle. "Four White Shirts" has a genius opening: four white shirts are hanging outside on a rope, while its film title is written on a wall—and then the camera pans down, to "follow" all the opening credits of cast and film crew written with a chalkboard on the ground. Very creative, but unfortunately, nothing ever comes close to this playfulness later on in the film, which is conventionally directed. A clever and refreshing idea is that the protagonist Julijs actually has a chance to talk to the critic Anita who gave a negative review of his song, since she is his neighbor and lives in the same building. When he becomes too cynical in her apartment, she threatens to call the police, which causes him to slyly remark with Bella: "She seems to call everybody and probably feels better after that." - "She's about to call the police!" - "On a direct line through the electric iron? There are no phone lines installed!" Julijs even makes fun of Anita in another sequence: "I was at a kindergarten. She pulled off a doll's head to see if it really had sawdust inside." Another stylistic moment is a random scene of a mime who swipes with his hand at a woman smiling who is left with a serious face, as he "takes" her smile away and "gives" it to himself, smiling, and then takes it away and gives the smile to another man by again swiping in front of his face. The rest of the film is a bit overstretched, stale and standard, especially in the underwritten role of girlfriend Bella, but its themes of integrity still strike a chord today. 

Grade:++