The Lion in Winter

The Lion in Winter; historical drama, UK / USA, 1968; D: Anthony Harvey, S: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Terry, John Castle, Jane Merrow, Timothy Dalton

On Christmas eve of 1183, Henry II (50), the King of Britain and western France, summons his three sons Richard, Geoffrey and John at his castle in Chinon, Touraine to choose a heir. He also summons his estranged wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, locked up in another castle as a punishment for supporting a revolt against him ten years ago. Henry wants his youngest son John to succeed him, but Eleanor favors Richard, a military genius. King Philip II of France promised his sister Alais to the future heir, but she has been Henry's mistress for years, and if she is not wed, her dowry, the county of Vexin near Paris, will be retracted. Henry is thus in a pickle. Finally, Henry decides to divorce Eleanor and marry Alais to get another heir, imprisoning his three sons, though he eventually lets them go. He gives up on his plan and embraces Eleanor, whom he sends back to her prison-castle.

"The Lion in Winter" received critical recognition during its premiere, but never advanced into a classic, due to some of its shortcomings in the long run. It plays out on Christmas eve and involves a family reunion, but its story is both anti-Christmas and anti-family in tone, a cynical contemplation on the spoiled people in power who always want to have their cake and eat it, in this case King Henry II, who is stuck in a sort of "wolf, goat and cabbage problem" puzzle—he wants to stay married to his wife Eleanor, but also have a mistress, Alais; he wants to keep the county of Vexin, strategically placed near Paris, as a dowry when Alais marries his heir, but also wants to postpone the wedding as long as possible to keep her as his mistress; he doesn't like either one of his three sons as heir, so he even wants to father another child with Alais. "The Lion in Winter" is adapted from a play by James Goldman, who also wrote the script, and, like most of these kind of films, feels too stage-bound, rigid, stiff and more "theatrical" than cinematic. There is little emphasis on visuals, as the only thing that matters is characters interacting. 

Its two main merits are excellent performances and witty, sometimes deliciously funny dialogues which make these "old" times feel "fresh". The three main actors are phenomenal: Peter O'Toole as the bearded Henry II; Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor, his estranged wife; and Anthony Hopkins as their son Richard. Whenever they act, they "chew the scenery", and their titanic talent practically causes the shaking of the screen. The comical dialogues are sometimes a delight to listen to. Henry has such monologues as these: "I've snapped and plotted all my life. There's no other way to be a king, alive and fifty all at once!" Eleanor's cynical comments are so powerful that she and Alais even have this exchange. "Could I hurt you?" - "With both of your hands tied behind your back!" Eleanor's mouth is more powerful than any weapon, since she mocks everyone who deserves it, from Henry who secretly prevented John from marrying Alais to have her as his mistress ("They’ve been marching down the aisle for 16 years, and that’s a long walk!") up to Richard ("I have suffered more defeats than you have teeth!"), though Henry's observations match her own: "I could listen to you lie for hours!" Here and there, Richard says some sharp lines, too, such as when Philip II boasts: "I've spent two years in every street in hell!", as Richard replies: "That's odd, I've never seen you there". Unfortunately, they botched the ending, since the last 20 minutes are wasted. They missed out a perfect opportunity to have some sort of Christmas reconciliation or catharsis in the end, which would have been a better fit than what we got here, an incoherent, unsatisfying conclusion (Henry sending Eleanor back to her castle-prison as they both smile seems almost grotesque), showing that Zinnemann's similar film "A Man for All Seasons" had a better, more harmonious structure. 

Grade:+++

The Last Roman God

Posljednji rimski bog; historical drama, Croatia, 2026; D: Božidar Domagoj Burić, S: Amar Bukvić, Slavko Sobin, Marko Cindrić, Nataša Janjić Medančić, Dragan Despot, Krešimir Mikić, Marinko Prga, Anja-Šovagović Despot

284 AD. Diocles is a commander in the Roman Army. The Roman Empire is jointly ruled by brothers and co-emperors Carinus and Numerian. While escorting Numerian's closed coach near Bithynia, Diocles smells a stench from inside, but the commander of the Praetorian Guard Lucius Flavius Aper dismisses it as rotten meat. Upon opening the coach and discovering Numerian is dead, Diocles has Aper executed and declares himself as the new emperor. Carinus, now the sole emperor, orders the Roman Army to attack Diocles' soldiers in the Battle of the Magrus, but prefect Aristobulus defects and kills Carinus in his tent. The Roman Army swears loyalty to Diocles, who proclaims himself emperor Diocletian in Rome, but decides to divide the Empire into West and East, sharing it with commander Maximian. 21 years later, an old, retired Diocletian resides in his palace in Spalathos, hallucinating talking with the ghost of Aper.

One of the most expensive and ambitious Croatian films at the time of its premiere, "The Last Roman God" is the culmination of writer, producer and director Bozidar Domagoj Buric's fascination with historical events crossing paths with Croatia (TV historical docudrama series "Republic", "Croatian Kings", "The Age of Uskoks"), in this case a biopic about the Roman Emperor Diocletian who came from Solin and later retired to live in Split (Spalathos) in his residency, making hereby his "debut" in cinema. Filmed in HD cinematography entirely in Latin language (!) to authentically depict the era of 3rd century Roman Empire, "The Last Roman God" looks impressive, almost as a Hollywood film, with opulent set designs, costumes, excellent actors led by Amar Bukvic, and sense for transmitting this chaotic, primitive and brute world realistically to the audience (among others, people even swear in Latin!). However, its structure is messy, uneven and chaotic, unnecessarily constantly flip-flopping between three time periods, "Past" (Diocletian as a soldier), "Present" (Diocletian preparing for a coup d'état) and "Future" (Diocletian as an old man) in non-linear narration, instead of simply telling this story chronologically. 

Another problem is that the story spends too much time on questionable episodic characters (a war veteran complaining that he received bad land, so he urinates on Diocletian's monument, is arrested and sent to death in the arena—is this episode truly essential for the story?), taking away too much time from Diocletian, who becomes a supporting character in his own story at times. Even more perplexing is the puzzling decision to only show Diocletian during the coup d'état and retirement, but nothing about his 21-year reign. True, it is mentioned that he persecuted Christians in the arena, but except for that, certainly it would have been interesting to not skip his entire reign and just jump to him as a retired old man in his Diocletian's Palace. A dream scene and a bizarre ending that tries to imitate a sort of Nolan-style "plot twist" should have been simply cut. Buric even takes after "Game of Thrones"-style rawness and roughness while showing the decadence of Roman Emperor Carinus, who spends his time in an orgy room or watching the execution of Christians in the arena, hinting at why the Roman Army and Senate would support Diocletian to replace him. This leads to some of the best moments: while the battle is waging, Diocletian is relaxing near his tent, eating, explaining to his nervous friend Maximian: "Most are always nervous during a battle. I am not, because I already know the outcome". Soon, it is revealed what he means, as one of Carinus' own soldiers will betray him and defect. The comment of a Senator about Diocletian is now almost iconic and an instant classic: "There is only one thing worse than a mad tyrant: a sane tyrant". Forcing too much weight on superfluous episodes, and placing too little of others which would have been more logical to understand the protagonist better, "The Last Roman God" is uneven, without a truly engaging story until the last third, but its themes of the scramble for power ring true. 

Grade:++

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One; action, USA, 2023 D: Christopher McQuarrie, S: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Esai Morales, Cary Elwes, Pom Klementieff

Russian submarine Sevastopol activates a highly advanced AI system, the Entity, which becomes sentient, escapes into the Internet, and tricks the submarine into sinking after a torpedo attack. The world governments are trying to find two keys which could control the Entity, so Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt and his team, Luther, Benji, and former MI6 agent Ilsa, are sent to find it first. Ethan wants to destroy the Entity, fearing its powers could cause grave danger for the world. After several chases in Rome and Venice, the team sends thief Grace to put on a head-mask and play Alanna "White Widow", an arms dealer, go to a train near Innsbruck, and find out who is the buyer of the key: it is Kittridge, former IMF director and current CIA director. A secret killer, Gabriel, derails the train, but Ethan and Grace are able to survive and obtain the key.

Part 7 of the "Mission: Impossible" film series is a surprising jump in creative levels, thanks mostly to the plot concept which hit the nerve of time: an AI system gaining consciousness, disappearing in the Internet, and threatening the world. This made "Dead Reckoning Part One" actual and subversive, dwelling on the ever popular AI-human conflict. However, this concept was not developed fully, since numerous potentials were left unexplored (probably left out for part II). The best bits are thus when such an AI threat is shown in two scenes: in one especially creative one, the AI is "erasing" a secret agent live from surveillance cameras, with Luther only discovering the man's reflection in a mirror; the other is when the AI takes over Benji's microphone and voice, and falsely directs Ethan into running into a dark alley, where an ambush awaits him. More of these kind of tricks and ploys by the AI Entity would have been welcomed in the story. The rest is a bit standard, though the chase sequence across Rome is dynamic and effective; whereas the excellent Pom Klementieff is well used as an assassin: almost every one of her kick and fight moves are a stylistic feat on itself. Vanessa Kirby is also a standout as arms dealer Alanna. "Dead Reckoning Part One" should have gone an even darker route, and dared even more, but its concept is highly stimulative (even CIA and FBI are willing to work with enemies to get the keys to control the Entity), hinting at a proto-Techno-Cold World of the future, thereby giving a messages besides the action.   

Grade:+++

Close-Up

Kluzap, nema-ye nazdik; art-film / documentary, Iran, 1990; D: Abbas Kiarostami, S: Hossain Sabzian, Mehrdad Ahankhah, Monoochehr Ahankhah, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, Abolfazl Ahankhah

A reporter follows police officers in a car driving to the house of the Ahankhah family, where they arrest a certain Hossain Sabzian, who falsely claimed he is the famous director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, gained trust of the family, borrowed 1,900 tomans from them for a taxi, and pretended he is rehearsing scenes for his next film with their sons. At the trial, Sabzian admits he is not the director, but during a bus drive, a woman asked about the book he was reading, and he claimed he wrote it because he is Makhmalbaf. Sabzian expresses remorse and says he did not intend any burglary when inspecting the house of the Ahankhah family. The plaintiffs ultimately decide to forgive Sabzian at the trial. Upon his release, Sabzian meets the real Makhmalbaf, drives with him on a motorcycle with a flower to the Ahankhah house, and apologizes once again. 

The director Abbas Kiarostami crafted this peculiar, almost experimental film which defies genres, revolving around imposter Hossain Sabzian who falsely posed as film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf: one half of the film is a documentary, where he filmed the actual trial where the judge and plaintiffs discuss with Sabzian; the other half is the fictional re-enacting of part of this incident, with Sabzian and the Ahankhah family playing themselves (!) while acting these scenes out. This hybrid of docufiction and documentary is at times fascinating, though it does tend to become overstretched, exhausting itself with too much screentime given to the actual trial, with ponderous monologues, which just go on and on, instead of showing more details from this case. "Close-Up" is thus a bit uneven, overfocusing on the trial, while under-focusing on the events. The main question it poses is: why did Sabzian do this? His monologue during the trial sums it up: "They gave me their attention and respect." - "Who did?" - "The family. They did whatever I wanted. If I'd asked them to move a heavy dresser, they would have. If I'd asked them to cut down a tree, they would have. Before, no one would ever have obeyed me like that, because I am just a poor man. But because I pretended to be this famous person, they would do whatever I said". Sabzian therefore played this charade to gain some significance and importance which he lacked in his ordinary life where nobody noticed him before, acting like "chameleon" protagonists from the movies "Catch Me If You Can" and "Zelig". Directed in a minimalist, calm, restrained and subtle manner, "Close-Up" is both a contemplation about unusual people around us who seek attention in the most inappropriate ways and an ode to the power of cinema, whose illusion can even spillover to real life. Too bad Kiarostami didn't film some events described during the trial, since they would have been quite interesting on the screen (for instance, the Ahankhah family read in a film magazine that Makhmalbaf's new film received an award at the Venice film festival, but Sabzian pretended he was not there because it was only for the music category, which awakened their suspicion).

Grade:++

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy; drama / romantic comedy, UK / France / USA, 2024; D: Michael Morris, S: Renée Zellweger, Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casper Knopf, Mila Janković, Hugh Grant, James Callis, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Sarah Solemani, Emma Thompson

London. Bridget Jones has two kids, Billy and Mabel, but is exhausted as a single parent ever since her husband Mark Darcy was killed in Africa four years ago. She is also irritated by the too rigid school teacher Walliker. When her friend makes a Tinder profile for her, Bridget matches with the 29-year old park ranger Roxter. At first, she is scared by the two big age difference between them, but she still has refreshing sex with him. However, after a while, Roxter "ghosts" her and doesn't answer her text messages. Daniel Cleaver, Bridget's ex-lover, helps her occasionally to babysit her kids, while she goes back to work as a TV producer. Roxter returns and admits he wanted to start something with a younger woman, so Bridget ends the relationship. At a camping trip, Bridget becomes close with Walliker, and eventually they become a couple and spend the Christmas together.

9 years after the fans settled that the "Bridget Jones" film series ended on a satisfying and worthy conclusion with the 3rd film, "Bridget Jones's Baby", the author Helen Fielding wrote this sequel that changed it, and ended up with the sentiment equivalent to the one in the sequel "Ghostbusters II"—the setting is terribly wrong, but it is still an overall good film if the viewers can tolerate it. The new setting is that, after Bridget finally found the love of her love, Mark Darcy, and settled, Bridget is all of a sudden a widow with two kids, since Mark died during a humanitarian mission in Africa four years ago. Why change this? Was this absolutely necessary? No, it wasn't. It is misguided and distorted, removing Darcy to, once again, for the 4th time, have Bridget again go hunting for romance and love in life, even though at her age, this feels a bit of a stretch at this point. Nonetheless, this paved the way for a story about letting go of deceased people and still trying to live on in the world. The jokes are thin and spread between long pauses, as the more somber direction takes over. Everything is kind of more depressive and gloomy. 

The character of Bridget Jones is actress Renee Zellweger's lifetime role, a testament of how endearing she managed to create such a loveable persona that stayed in the viewers' heads permanently, but her comeback to play her again is a bit off this time around, maybe because the authors did not conjure up some especially comical bits. The only two scenes where Bridget Jones is allowed to truly be Bridget Jones again is the one where she exits the elevator to do a job interview, there is a poster of two women on the wall, so Bridget imitates the pose of one of the women standing with hands on her hips, smiling in an irresistibly charming way; and the one where she holds an improvised interview with the teacher in the classroom, to show kids what her job of a TV producer is. One wishes there were more of such genuinely charming scenes. Some jokes are nice (Mabel says to her school teacher: "I have a new daddy, his name is Roxter, and he always gives mommy a new hairstyle in the morning!"), but the entire last third, "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" is a drama. A very emotional moment appears when Bridget visits Daniel (Hugh Grant) in the hospital: "The point is, Bridge, how have I arrived at this point in my life without kin? How could I possible be kinless... So lucky you Jones. Makes one realize one's own mess ups... of the glory of what might have been." This helps Bridget realize that, despite all her problems and trials of being a parent, she still has it better in life than Daniel. The "plot twist" ending feels unearned and out of nowhere, ending the film series on a shaky note, but also sends a message that all our parents, grandparents, and grand-parents were also probably clumsy, unsure, imperfect, and in doubt, but still managed to raise generations of children.

Grade:++

Europa Report

Europa Report; science-fiction, USA, 2013, D: Sebastián Cordero, S: Christian Camargo, Anamaria Marinca, Michael Nyqvist, Daniel Wu, Karolina Wydra, Sharlto Copley, Embeth Davidtz

Commander William Xu, pilot Rosa Dasque, science officer Daniel Luxembourg, marine biology scientist Katya Petrovna, engineer James Corrigan and chief engineer Andrei Blok are six members of Europa One, a spaceship launched to explore Europa, Jupiter's moon. A solar storm causes a short circuit and breaks off communication with Earth. Corrigan goes outside to fix it, but gets hydrazine on his spacesuit and thus isn't allowed back inside as to not contaminate the spaceship, so he drifts out in space and dies. The mission lands on Europa and drills on its ice surface, finding evidence of microbiological life. Katya disappears below the ice. A malfunction crashes their lander back on Europa. The crew dies. The last survivor, Rosa, sends the video recordings back to Earth, showing how a black octopus-like creature attacks from the sea, before the lander falls through the ice.

Independent science-fiction film "Europa Report" embodies several issues with space movies which are often incompatible with the classic three-act structure of character arc. "Europa Report" has some gorgeous scenes of space travel, but is more suitable for astronaut fans than for universal cinema lovers: all its characters are one-dimensional and reduced to only being formal. People more inclined towards space travel and exploration will thus find it more interesting, since some moments of space really are brilliant, for instance the point-of-view of Corrigan in his spacesuit, drifting away from the Europa One spaceship, seen as a distant object in the dark, or the fascinating scene of Katya making ice samples on the surface of Europa, observing Jupiter in the sky, and an especially interesting perspective here is that her face is only shown from a close-up of her eyes while she is in her spacesuit. Equipped with amazing visual effects, and crafted as some sort of "found footage" film depicting from video recordings of the space mission, "Europa Report" disappoints a bit in a few illogical moments; the bizarre ending which feels unexplored and too abrupt, in a strange and unearned plot twist; and is overall too sterile, cold and grey to engage on a higher level. Yes, astronauts are supposed to stay focused on their mission and "turn off" their emotions and private neuroses or problems, but a film needs to show more color, versatility and ingenuity, since in this edition it does tend to exhaust the viewers' goodwill in the last third. 

Grade:++

Fuss

Frka; crime drama / road movie, Croatia, 2024; D: Svebor Mihael Jelić, S: Kristina Jovanović, Sven Latinović, Antonia Mrkonjić, Luka Vondrak, Vedran Dakić

Osijek. Nika, a waitress, secretly smuggles drugs in her bicycle for gangster Petar. However, one night, someone steals her bicycle while went to a kiosk. Nika informs Petar she thus lost his drug shipment, so he demands a compensation: she has the entire night to collect money from people who have a debt towards Petar. Nika, her friend Luka, who came back after studying in Zagreb to be a dentist, and Sara, thus drive in a car and go from place to place to try to collect the money. The first debtor, Voki, is stoned at a night party, doesn't have the money, but decides to join them. They meet other characters, like police officer Marin, but even he claims he has no money. They steal a backpack from four hooligans who owe money, and they now pursue them. Petar's men kidnap Luka to put pressure on Nika. She demands to see him, and then gives him just a small amount of money they all collected between themselves. Petar accepts, releases Petar, and flees. The four hooligans catch up to them and one of them stabs and kills Voki, before they flee.  

Svebor Mihael Jelic's second feature length film, after "Zagreb Equinox", is this independent crime road movie about four people on an odyssey to collect money from debtors for a gangster, set during only one night, but a one which feels little more than just solid. The locations of Osijek are refreshing, and the main actress Kristina Jovanovic is very good as the protagonist Nika, but the whole screenplay is written almost like on autopilot, in a completely routine and standard way, without any memorable moments. Some exceptions do show up here and there, for instance the surreal scene of the "stoned" Voki imagining seeing five versions of himself, dancing in front of the police station, but "Fuss" needed more of such moments. The bizarre thing is that the story is divided into five episodes, each of which just end in the same anticlimactic way—the debtors claim they don't have the money. Chapters for each segment are bombastically introduced, such as "Police officer Marin", but then it is just a trivial episode of said Marin smoking outside the police station, chatting with Nika and her friends, and telling them he doesn't have the money. Since all of them end the same way, 2-3 could have been either cut to simply shorten this whole thing, or rewritten so that they offer something differently or more creative. A rare human moment appears when Nika's friend Luka simply tells her he wants to talk to her outside of the car, and then admits he doesn't want to participate in this night journey anymore, but she implores him since she doesn't have anyone else, which softens his heart and changes his mind. The finale is strange, with an abrupt, almost "interrupted" ending, and the dialogue is stale, yet the authenticity and depiction of Osijek's mentality was well established.

Grade:++

Bedazzled

Bedazzled; fantasy comedy, UK, 1967; D: Stanley Donen, S: Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Eleanor Bron, Raquel Welch

London. Stanley, a loser who works as a cook and is afraid to ask waitress Margaret, in whom he is in love with, out for a date, accepts to sign a contract in which he sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for 7 wishes.  However, each wish Stanley makes is deliberately twisted by the Devil, to always find a loophole as to never fulfill it to the fullest: Stanley wishes to be more articulate, and speaks fluently with Margaret, but she still doesn't find him attractive; he then wishes to be rich and married to Margaret, but in this version she still finds him unattractive and has an affair with another man; he then wishes they were married, living in a house with two kids, but the Devil arranges that she is married to the Devil, and having an affair with Stanley just causes her grief... Ultimately, Stanley wishes he would just get his old life back. The Devil allows him to burn his contract, nullifying everything. Stanley speaks to Margaret and asks her for dinner, but she declines.

The 2nd out of three films in which the "Not Only... But Also" TV-comedy duo Dudley Moore and Peter Cook starred in (the other two being "The Wrong Box" and "The Bed Sitting Room"), "Bedazzled" is a cult comical re-telling of "Faust", i.e. the concept where a loser sells his soul to the Devil to gain something from life, in this case seven wishes. Moore and Cook have that comic chemistry and effervescence, and several of their dialogue is comical and clever ("You see, a soul's rather like your appendix: totally expendable"). One joke is pretty unusual, as the Devil sends a pigeon to defecate on a man walking on the street, hoping to thus create two negative sins for the price of one: spite by the pigeon, and anger by the man. However, the pacing is terribly problematic, as the movie slows down and loses that inspiration in the second half, which becomes more lackluster than energetic, lost in several unnecessary episodes. Too much babble, too little spirit in the second half. Likewise, some of the deliberate misinterpretations of Stanley's wishes by the Devil are sometimes fun, but also sometimes forced and contrived (for instance, Stanley wishes to be with Margaret, without other men, far away from the city, so he is transformed into a nun (!) with Margaret in a monastery). Eleanor Bron is charismatic as Margaret; Raquel Welch is effective as Lust; whereas one philosophical line is a refreshing merit, the one where the Devil says that God doesn't want to interfere in people's lives due to freedom of choice, which leads to Stanley giving a sharp reply ("Freedom of choice?! What sort of choice did I have about where I was born? And what size I was? And what awful job I landed myself in? If we really had a freedom of choice, we should be able to decide who our parents are, what we look like and everything!").  

Grade:++

Blind Chance

Przypadek, art-film / drama, Poland, 1981 / 1987, D: Krzysztof Kieślowski, S: Bogusłav Linda, Tadeusz Łomnicki, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Marzena Trybała, Bogusława Pawelec

Łódź. Witek is pressured by his father to study medicine, but one day receives his father's phone call: "You don't have to do it". Later, his father dies in the hospital. At the train terminal, Witek runs to catch a train... 1st story: Witek boards the train and meets Werner, a Communist who sends him to Adam, a high ranking official. Witek becomes part of the Communist Youth and is sent to end a standoff at a drug addict clinic, where the drug addicts locked three doctors in a cage. Witek frees the doctors and is promoted. He meets his first love again, Czuszka, but she is arrested by Adam for distributing banned books about Polish independence... 2nd story: Witek misses the train, bumps into a the railway guard, is arrested and sent one month of community service, where he meets anti-Communist Marek who acquaints him with a priest. Witek starts a relationship with Werka and becomes religious. But the Communists raid Marek's printing office, and he blames Witek... 3rd story: Witek misses the train, but meets Olga. They get married and have a child. He becomes a doctor. Witek boards a plane to a medical conference in Libya, but his plane explodes.

It is peculiar that Krzysztof Kieslowski released a film about a protagonist going through three different variations / possible outcomes in life, yet was surpassed by later films which improved said concept: Dormael's "Mr. Nobody", Tykwer's "Run Lola Run" and Howitt's "Sliding Doors". The reason for that is that this triple hypothetical outcome is fascinating as a concept, but Kieslowski directed it here in a too sterile, grey, underwhelming and all-around routine way, with overlong running time and monotone dialogue. "Blind Chance" thus works only on the level of the concept, but not on the level of execution, yet still poses some thought-provoking, philosophical questions—would all of our lives have unraveled completely differently if one defining moment had played out differently? Do people have control of their life, or are they pawns in the grand game of determinism, fatalism and chance? Determinism is the obvious in the outcome of all three different variations—even though the protagonist Witek goes into three vastly different directions (in the 1st story, he becomes a Communist; in the 2nd story he becomes religious; in the 3rd, he is apolitical, non-religious, refusing any ideology), all three end up in a tragedy. Even more unsettlingly, just one random encounter with someone who played an influence on him, determined if Witek would become either this or that or neutral, implying that the whole history of each country could have gone differently, depending on who had more influence on the populace. The three different variations of Witek running through the terminal to try to catch the train are directed each in their own way, with different details (Witek passes a lady who drops a coin, a random man picks it up and orders himself a beer, but Witek then either spills his beer or stops to go around him, depending on each story), but overall, the film simply lacks more imagination and creativity.

Grade:++

Green Card

Green Card; romantic comedy, USA / Australia / France, 1990; D: Peter Weir, S: Andie MacDowell, Gérard Depardieu, Bebe Neuwirth, Gregg Edelman, Robert Prosky

New York City. Quid pro quo: American Brontë accepts to marry Frenchman Georges for a short fake marriage. He will receive the American Green Card, while she will receive her dream apartment with a big garden which is only leased to couples. However, during a routine interview of two Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officers, Georges mistakenly calls Brontë "Betty", and thus a new, more elaborate interview is scheduled. Georges and Brontë do not like each other that much, but now have to spend some time actually living together in the apartment and learn more about each other to pass the test. During the second, separate interview, Georges goofs again by forgetting the name of Brontë's face cream, and thus confesses everything. He is about to be deported, but Brontë has fallen in love with him.

Australian director Peter Weir's 4th American film is seemingly his own contemplation about the problems of US immigrants trying to get a chance to start a new chapter in life there, presented in the form of a romantic comedy about an arranged marriage which was supposed to be fake, but where the couple falls in love with each other in the end. "Green Card" is not among Weir's best films: the screenplay is thin and with a rather hard-to-believe motivation of the heroine Brontë (would a woman truly set-up an arranged marriage with a stranger just to get an apartment with a garden? Couldn't she just have asked a friend to pretend, for instance her lover Phil?); Gerard Depardieu (before he went crazy) is good in dramatic moments, but simply has no comic timing; the ending is unsatisfactory; whereas Weir has no more creative lift-offs in directing. Nonetheless, Andie MacDowell is excellent in the leading role as Brontë, sweet and charming, whereas the movie is refreshingly set-up as an intimate, quiet story about two people learning about each other, allowing for subtle emotionality. "Green Card" is simple and humane, staying true to Weir's vision, and offers a good meditation on communication between two different cultures, advocating that good people can be found in every society, despite their differences: a cure for xenophobia and anti-immigration perspectives.

Grade:++