Washed Out

Isprani; Drama, Croatia, 1995; D: Zrinko Ogresta, S: Katarina Bistrović-Darvaš, Josip Kučan, Filip Šovagović, Mustafa Nadarević, Ivo Gregurević, Tarik Filipović

Jagoda is a student girl in her 20s, living in a small apartment with her sick and bad tempered mother and depressed father. She feels scanty and longs for a few moments of intimacy and peace for herself. The frustration is even enhanced by the fact that she has a boyfriend, Zlatko, but doesn't have a place to have intercourse with him. At the same time, her brother Tukša is drinking in pubs for days waiting for his mistress, a married woman, to decide if she will stay with him or not. Jagoda and Zlatko try to find a place for intimacy in a military base, a shabby apartment or in the forest, but always get interrupted. When he finally finds an apartment, she breaks up with him and makes Tukša stop waiting in the pub.

"Washed Out", the second feature length film from director Zrinko Ogresta, is a flawed but touching and very sensitive drama with a great little refreshing plot that you don't see very often - it revolves around a girl who feels scanty in her too small apartment she has to share with her parents. The story maturely follows and portrays Jagoda's wishes and her longing to find some privacy and intimacy for herself, refreshingly handling the issues of adolescence and grown ups, the small details are great (the esoteric opening title sequence in the background of some foggy object that looks like a leaf covered by a nylon; a bunch of drunk maniacs jumping in the same streetcar as Jagoda; a fly caught in a glass...) and some of the quiet little emotional scenes are magnificent (Jagoda and her boyfriend Zlatko are lying on a blanket in the middle of the nature. He says: "What do you have against memories?" and she replies with: "I want different memories!") while the magical music simply has to be heard, making the story a quality piece of movie making, even though it's sad it was distracted by the completely unnecessary subplot revolving around her brother Tukša. Back in the 1990s, Croatian cinema was stuck in a Black hole, making incredibly bad and pretentious melodramas, but "Washed Out" managed to avoid that flaw with ease most of the time, but here and there it also fell into the trap to make a grotesque soap opera turn - like the caricature scene where the father is yelling at his sick wife: "Die! Die! As long as something finally changes in here!" or when a frustrated Jagoda drags her boyfriend behind a building during the rain and shouts: "Take me! Just as long as we finally get it over with, damn it!" But despite everything, Zrinko Ogreta remains a interesting author with a special sixth sense for mood that touches on some deeper levels than it can be described in words.

Grade:++

A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark; comedy, UK / USA, 1964; D: Blake Edwards, S: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom

The chauffeur Miguel is shot in the mansion of the rich Mr. Ballon and maid Maria is found with a smoking gun. Inspector Clouseau is sent to investigate the case - enchanted by Maria's beauty, he claims she is innocent and suspects the jealous Mr. Ballon actually killed Miguel and placed the gun in Maria's hands. Clouseau releases Maria from prison and follows her, much to the annoyance of Commissioner Dreyfus, who is sure she is the murderer. After 8 other people die, Clouseau finds out Mr. Ballon's wife actually shot Miguel because she was in love with him, while Ballon placed the gun into Maria's hands. Just as they are about to escape in Clouseau's car, it explodes - because Dreyfus planted a bomb hoping Clouseau would drive.

Legend has it that "A Shot in the Dark" was originally supposed to be a crime comedy adaptation of the play "L'Idiot" by Marcel Achard, but when Blake Edwards jumped in as the director he rewrote the whole script just to include the popular character inspector Clouseau and get a fast sequel of his previous '63 hit "The Pink Panther". The movie itself is good and funny, but a step backwards compared to the original, even more heavy-handled and forced than in the first story, making one wonder why so many critics praised it because it deteriorated into just a childish comedy consisting only out of inspector Clouseau bumping into something or tripping upon something. Peter Sellers is once again very good in the leading role, but it's obvious he didn't like it which caused him to reject the next "Pink Panther" role in '68 film "Inspector Clouseau", until 11 years later when he finally returned to play Clouseau once again. Those expecting clever dialogues or ambitious comedy will stay shorthanded since this film doesn't offer practically any, relying only on simple physical comedy in the manner of Louis De Funes, where everything was rushed - most noticeable in the weak ending - but Edwards' sense for comedy still managed to deliver three ontological comic moments. One is the scene where Clouseau unlocks the locker but leaves the key in it, which is attached to his pocket, then turns away and causes it to rip his upper pants, the other when he plays billiard with a hooked cane and the third one is his visit in the nudist camp, which was so unbelievable that it probably caused Myers to copy it a hundred times with his "Austin Powers" serial.

Grade:++

The Pink Panther

The Pink Panther; comedy, USA / UK, 1963; D: Blake Edwards, S: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Wagner, Capucine

Sir Charles is a charming playboy, but at the same time he is also the Phantom, the most wanted master thief in Europe, chased for years by inspector Clouseau. Both of them leave for the fancy ski resort Cortine d'Ampezzo because princess Dala is resting there together with her jewel the Pink Panther. Charles organizes the kidnapping of Dala's dog only to "save" him and end up as a hero, thus starting his plan to try to seduce the princess. But Simone, Clouseau's wife, is also in love with Charles and helps him whenever she can. At the same time George, Charles nephew, shows up, also in order to steal the jewel. Clouseau arrests Charles but his wife places the stolen jewel into his pocket - making the police confuse Clouseau for the Phantom and arrest him.

Nonchalant comedy "The Pink Panther" is one of the greatest successes in the career of director Blake Edwards, establishing its tone already in the twisted animated opening sequence where the Pink Panther is doing all kind of crazy stuff on the screen (later on he would get his own cartoon show) equipped with memorable score from Henry Mancini that was nominated for an Oscar. Stoicism and skillfulness are not the main virtues of the (second) main hero inspector Jacques Clouseau (after David Niven's character Charles) - he is so clumsy that he trips over furniture, knocks himself in the dark, stucks his hand in a cup, embroils himself in a giant blanket when he tries to throw it over himself on the bed... Peter Sellers is very good in his legendary role, but because of the film's banal and sometimes forced tone towards squeezing the humor out of his clumsiness, the authors don't seem particularly inventive and fail to reach that Parthenon of (sophisticated) comedy. One of the rare moments when they actually do is the sequence at the costume party, where two police officers are disguised in a costume of a Zebra in order to secretly guard the jewel, interrupting Clouseau and prompting him to say in anger: "Get back to your post or you'll be degraded to street police!" At times David Niven is actually funnier than Sellers - in one scene he makes the princess drunk and says to her: "If you were a real lady, you would have slapped me by now", upon which he closes his eyes in fear she will actually do it and makes an adoring facial expression. The rhythm, mise-en-scene and style are actually pretty good, slightly more ambitious than it seems, but the bizarre end is rather mean-spirited and out of place. "The Pink Panther" isn't that funny as some say it is, but it is still a truly well made comedy.

Grade:++

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; comedy, USA, 1994; D: Tom Shadyac, S: Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Sean Young, John Capodice, Troy Evans, Dan Marino, Udo Kier

Ace Ventura is a sleazy pet detective specialized in tracking down lost animals. His newest case is to find Snowflake, a dolphin and a mascot of the football team Miami Dolphins, that was abducted by someone. As he gets close with Miami Dolphins assistant Melissa, Ace finds a clue: a tiny jewel that fell from someone's ring. It turns out Lt. Louis Einhorn is behind the kidnapping: namely, before her surgery, she was a man, Ray Finkle, who played for the Dolphins but was replaced by someone else. Ace stops her and saves the dolphin.

Tom Shadyac's directorial film debut "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" is a simple and wacky comedy that established a new star: it is Jim Carrey's breakthrough role, after 11 years of unnoticed career. Carrey takes this role that was intended to be over-the-top and plays it even more over-the-top, as a live action cartoon, deliberately obnoxious, which makes it even funnier. He is simply a riot: every move he makes is exaggerated, as he is playing something like Elvis Presley playing Philip Marlowe playing Bugs Bunny. It's like a 12-year old conjured up an imaginary role and now plays it as a grown up, not caring at all what anyone will think. The whole movie stands and falls with him. Some moments are simply hilarious, like the scene where he is in the police precinct, some officer comments ("Lassie must be missing!"), and then Aguado, his rival, insults him, and Ventura just laughs while almost not moving his upper lips at all, and then even has the iconic moment where he "talks" with his butt in the office ("I'd like to ass you a few questions"). Carrey acts like a caricature all the time, and thus some part of the viewers might perceive it as an overkill that becomes old and worn out in the second half. If he played his role seriously for at least 50 % of the time, the other half of his performance would have some kind of sense, but even in this edition, it is impossible to deny that he left a trail of some sort of unforgettable energy on the screen, even by today's standards. The plot is thin, the author's style almost non-existent, the tone childish (the scene where Ventura catches a bullet shot at him with his mouth is a joke that was already seen several times before), the ending is disastrously transphobic, yet the whole film is only designed to make you chuckle, in any way it can, and in that regard it succeeds ("If I'm not back in 5 minutes...just wait longer"). Carrey's performance is one of those rare ones that are played deliberately embarassing, yet end up unexpectedly helpful in the final comic output.

Grade:++

Moon 44

Moon 44; Science-Fiction, Germany, 1990; D: Roland Emmerich, S: Michael Paré, Dean Devlin, Brian Thompson, Malcolm McDowell, Lisa Eichhorn

In year 2038 all of Earth's resources have been drained. In order to get new resources, multicorporations are fighting each other with force to take over planets to exploit them. Infernal affairs agent Stone gets the assignment to go to Moon 44, the only remaining satelitte of the corporation, disguised as a convict to train a defence force and investigate why shuttles with resources keep disappearing in outer space. Stone makes friends with the teenage naviagtor Tyler and finds out Major Lee is sceretly handing shuttles over to the rival company Pyrates. He leads the battle and wins, returning to Earth to criticize the greed of the corporation.

Roland Emmerich's independent low budget cult Sci-Fi "Moon 44" is a charming little film that has that glimmering enthusiasm of a young director, but at the same time it looks rather clumsy and amateurish. With a limited budget and endless imagination, Emmerich created very solid special effects - even though it's obvious the spaceships are just little toy models - and futuristic set design where absolutely every scene plays out in the background of metal control rooms or the landscapes of the strange satellite Moon 44 comprised just out of dark cannyons and fog, even adding a slightly satirical subtext in the story that's ridiculing Capitalism, obvious in the sequences where mulitcorporations are engaging in real wars to steal planets from each other and savings since they send convicts to fly the defence aircraft instead of real (and expensive) pilots. "Moon 44" is very good in the first third, combining naive imagination with some realistic moments (a drill seargent is inspecting the new recruits and yelling at the cynical hero Stone who replies to him: "I think you confused me with someone who takes you seriously"), but as the story progresses and the unusual world becomes routine it slowly looses it's initial spark and becomes a run-of-the-mill action/prisoner flick with avarage elements and clumsy execution that don't manage to stimulate the viewer into enjoying it on some deeper levels.

Grade:++

Deal of the Century

Deal of the Century; satire, USA, 1983; D: William Friedkin, S: Chevy Chase, Sigourney Weaver, Gregory Hines, Vince Edwards

The military regime of some Latin America country intends to buy nuclear weapons and start a bloody war: "Even up to 3 % of population would survive!", they say. Sleazy American arms dealer Eddie Muntz has been heavily wounded in his leg when complications occurred during his latest weapons sale, but when he accidentally gets the opportunity to make his biggest deal he doesn't hesitate for a second: one of his colleagues commits suicide so he steals his plans to sell a deadly weapon to the dictator. Although he has bad conscious since it's Christmas, Eddie still goes on with the deal, but his religious partner Ray manages to stop it.

This could have been an intelligent and imaginative satire not only about arms deals but also about the primitive suicidal tendency of people in charge of countries to strive to destroy each other, especially since the direction was taken over by then inspired William Friedkin, but in the end "Deal of the Century" turned out to be a weak, overstretched and stiff achievement that offered the above mentioned thought provoking elements only is small crumbs. Except for becoming a box office flop, this unfunny movie didn't exploit it's sharp ideas to the end and the impression towards it is rather distorted: except for comical moments, dramatic ones were also added in the story (the whole subplot where Chevy Chase's character gets wounded in the leg and spends practically 90 % of the film limping), as well as pessimism and anxiety, combined with a forced moral in the end (the story plays out during Christmas), while the characters were left as one dimensional puppets: we don't hate them, but we don't love them either. Sigourney Weaver on the other hand is good, while the take of the events is rather interesting, making this sufficient film in a very abstract way as a mad satire even slightly successful.

Grade:+

Dressed to Kill

Dressed to Kill; Thriller, USA, 1980; D: Brian De Palma, S: Nancy Allen, Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz

Kate is taking a shower while a man is touching her from behind - but it's just one of her fantasies since she is a middle aged woman bored by her marriage. Because of that frustration she often visits psychiatrist Dr. Elliott. In a museum, Kate meets a stranger and spends a passionate night with him, but when entering a elevator, she gets killed by a blond woman with a razor. Prostitute Liz saw the murder and contacted the police. The blond follows Liz in the subway, but she gets rescued by Peter, Kate's teenage son. They suspect the blond was Elliott's patient. But when Liz enters the office, she discovers the blond is actually Elliott himself, since he has a split personality. After Elliott gets arrested, Liz has nightmares about him.

Brian De Palma's controversial thriller "Dressed to Kill" is hailed by some and denounced by others. The main heroine which dies 40 minutes into the film, a murderer with a split personality, sudden plot twists, a (false) attack during the shower - these are all not accidental parallels with Hitchcock's "Psycho" since it's De Palma's stylish homage to the master of suspense. The plot itself is rather shaky, clumsy and campy in the second half, sometimes even unintentionally funny, but De Palma still directs it virtuoso at times, creating a refined structure and a great visual style when the film is revolving around long tracking shots of the camera - especially great is the editing of the scene where Peter uses a series of homemade time-lapse cameras attached to his bike to track patients from Elliott's office and De Palma's trademark spilt screen sequence where Liz and Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine, genius as usual) are at two different places but watching the same show on TV. The elements that turned out flawed are thin characters: the only truly well described character is the teenage inventor Peter, Dr. Elliott is good, while Liz and Kate are left rather underused. The other problematic thing is the director's bizarre obsession with an erotic tone in the story - the opening shot of Kate's fantasy where she is imagining herself in a shower getting "touched" by a man from behind seems rather like some sort of a soft porn. But non-the-less, "Dressed to Kill" is a multi layered, refreshing and original thriller that many jealous directors would have loved to have made themselves.

Grade:++

Unforgiven

Unforgiven; western, USA, 1992; D: Clint Eastwood, S: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Jaimz Woolvett, Richard Harris, Frances Fisher

Wyoming, 1880. William Munny was once a criminal and masterful shooter, but now he is father of two kids, having a bad conscious about his past. His wife, who tought him to be moral, died years ago. In order to get a 1,000 $ reward, set for the heads of two aggressive men who mutilated the face of a prostitute with a knife for laughing at one of their small genitals, Munny rides together with his friends Ned and Schofield Kid to finish the job at the town Big Whiskey. But the two men are friends of the corrupt sheriff Bill, who catches and kills Ned. That makes Munny furious and he kills Bill and all of his friends in a saloon.

Clint Eastwood's last western is also his best. In some his macho roles in various action flicks, Eastwood is almost as irritating as S. Segeal, but with the excellent anti-western "Unforgiven" he truly affirmed himself as an ambitious and intelligent author. That brilliant film, that won several awards, constantly surprises because it breaks all those cliches of the western genre, reminding even a little bit of Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller": among the unusual characters is the main hero, old William Munny, who was once a shooter and a criminal, but is now "retired", a reformed, widowed family man plagued by bad conscience about his wrong choices in past, and who now wants to avoid violence. One of the unusual scenes is the one where Ned asks Munny if he occasionally goes to town for prostitutes, upon which he replies that he doesn't because his late wife wouldn't want that. That prompts Ned to ask him again: "So...you just use your hand?" There are some moments that don't work, for instance the illogical first encounter between Munny and sheriff Bill (aftear beating him up in the saloon, why would Bill just let Munny crawl away and escape outside, and not simply arrest him on the spot?), yet all these complaints are pushed in the background since the more numerous virtues outrank them.

Upon reading the pompous shooter English Bob's biographical book, sheriff Bill deliberately mocks him by misreading his title "Duke of Death" as "Duck of Death". Even other situations are untypical, from the fact that Munny became sick from a fever, up to the scene where one cowboy debates with his colleague if a wound stings less during hot or cold weather, while the dialogues are short and sharp ("You just shot an unarmed man!" - "Well, he should have armed himself if he's gonna decorate his saloon with my dead friend"). Although unsentimental and seemingly conventionally directed, this "late western" is at times pure poetry, fascinating in its patience and careful build-up of the storyline, subtly criticizing violence in portraying the old west as a primitive, depressed place where killing is a dirty job and nothing is idealised—an outlaw who lived in injustice is hired to bring justice to a town where the sheriff who was supposed to uphold justice had been ruling in injustice—where a lot of credit should be given to the amazing, refreshingly realistic screenplay by the underrated David Webb Peoples. An astringent, realistic film, one of Eastwood's finest examples of a mature filmmaker, with a meticulous cast that helps it—while at the same time also giving a great indirect belated recognition to the styles of Leone and Siegel.

Grade:+++

The American Friend

Der amerikanische Freund; thriller-drama, Germany / USA, 1977; D: Wim Wenders, S: Bruno Ganz, Dennis Hopper, Lisa Kreuzer, Gerard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller, Jean Eustache

Jonathan Zimmerman, a picture framer in Hamburg, husband of Marianne and father of a little boy, is suffering from leukemia. During an auction, he meets Tom Ripley, an American art forger. After Jonathan gets letters that his doctor is hiding his real serious state, he accepts a check-out in Paris from Minot, where it turns out he doesn't have much longer to live. In order to leave some money for his family, Jonathan accept Minot's offer to kill a man for 250,000 DEM. But he pays him only half the amount and he is forced to kill another man in a train with the help of Tom. When Minot discovers this, he arranges numerous killers to wipe out Tom, but Jonathan helps Tom eliminate them. Tom sets the car of the killers on fire, while Jonathan and Marianne leave him and run away in the car, where Jonathan dies.

Excellent thriller-drama "The American Friend", a loose adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's crime novel "Ripley's Game", is one of the most unusual films from minimalistic director Wim Wenders, but also one of his best ones, a much more interesting achievement than many of his boring dramas. The bizarre "friendship" between the American Tom Ripley (brilliant Dennis Hopper) and the German Jonathan is maybe a rich allegory about the impact of American culture on Germany, but mostly it displays a corruptible side of people showing how there's no one the hero can trust - once he accepts the "Faustian" offer he will sink deeper and deeper into criminal milieu, where instead of killing only one person he ends up inevitably killing a bunch of them - while the roles of gangsters played by directors like Fuller and Ray only give the story a surreal meta film touch.

The film is full of great little details: in one scene, Jonathan finished the picture frame of an old lady in his shop. She gives him 60 DEM, but he says: "No, no, it's 20 DEM more expensive than that. It's 80 DEM.", but the old lady pretends she is half deaf, puts the picture in her purse and says: "Yes, yes, it will fit in my bag". Jonathan repeats his bill several times but the old lady "dodges" him every time pretending she doesn't understand him - until he finally says: "God, you're clever!" In another scene, he exits the elevator and enters his hotel room, but just as he is about to press the button to turn the TV on, he gets "shocked" by an electric charge. But the highlight is the long sequence where Jonathan follows a man through the Paris subway in order to assassinate him - unlike loud Hollywood crime films, this one executed the whole sequence completely quiet and tranquil, until the viewer gets nervous from such "peacefulness", knowing the horrible murder is about to happen.

Grade:+++

The Fisher King

The Fisher King; Tragicomedy, USA, 1991; D: Terry Gilliam, S: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer, Michael Jeter, David Hyde Pierce, Tom Waits

New York. Jack Lucas is a cynical talk radio host up until the day when one of his comments inspire Edwin, a psychotic caller, to kill seven people at a bar. 2 years later, Jack is in depression and a shaky relationship with video owner Anne. One night, as he was attacked by two delinquents, he was saved by the homeless man Parry who is in search for the Holy Grail (in reality a cup) in the mansion of a rich man. When Jack discovers Parry's girlfriend was killed by Edwin, his consciousness inspires him to help: Jack arranges Parry a date with the woman he fell in love with, Lydia, which ends up fine. But then Parry is beaten to coma by the two delinquents. Jack steals the cup from the mansion and Parry mysteriously awakens from the coma.

"The Fisher King" looks like Terry Gilliam's more serious take on the symbolic search for the Holy Grail, as opposed to his absurd comedy "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". In this case, the Grail is the symbol for happiness and redemption, and the touching story about two outsiders - Jack, spiritually poor but materially rich, and Parry, materially poor but spiritually rich - is enriched with humor thanks to the sharp screenplay from Richard LaGravenese, but Gilliam ocne again fell into mannerism with his eccentric direction, "Felliniesque" style and spot-like montage. Even though filled with nice details and humor (Jack is watching a lame sitcom and says: "This is not funny", upon which Anne asks him: "Then why are we watching this?", making him reply with: "I want to see just how unfunny it is!"; Jack's sleeve gets stuck on a door knob and ripped apart), the first half is especially hard to sit through due to the already mentioned pretentiousness and whimsical tone, but is bearable thanks to the very good Jeff Bridges and the good Robin Williams, who, despite all of his maniacal outbursts, seems fitting in the unusual role for which he won a Golden Globe as best actor in a musical or comedy. Luckily, the second part of the film is much better crafted and much more "normal", resulting in the incredibly charming subplot where Jack and Anne are trying to match the shy Parry with the equally shy and clumsy woman of his dreams, Lydia (brilliant performance by Amanda Plummer, even better than Mercedes Ruehl who an Oscar and Golden Globe as best supporting actress); their cute humorous interactions and romantic clumsiness simply has to be seen. "The Fisher King" isn't particularly relevant or famous today, but it's a good and ambitious semi-king among the bizarre humorous dramas.

Grade:++

Transformers

Transformers; Science-Fiction, USA, 2007; D: Michael Bay, S: Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Jon Voight, John Turturro

Sam Witwicky is a young lad who buys his first car, a Chevrolet Camaro, and drives an attractive girl, Mikaela, to her home. But it turns out his car is a Transformer called Bumblebee, one of the good Autobots led by Optimus Prime who are in search for the mysterious Cube Allspark that can renew their world, as opposed to the evil Decepticons led by Megatron who want it to rule the Universe. The government agents bring Sam and Mikaela to the Hoover dam, where a frozen Megtron and the Cube were placed there a long time ago. Megatron escapes an attacks New York, but the Autobots are able to destroy him and stay on Earth.

"Transformers", the live action movie adaptation of the famous 80s cartoon, is a solid Sci-Fi action film that will probably please hard core fans, but not ambitious audience. The plot itself is nonsense - Transformers are searching for glasses of some Captain Witwicky because they were imprinted with the coordinates of the location of the Cube by Megatrons navigational system? How? By which method? - and suffers from illogical situations (it seems a 6 foot tall guy can run faster than a 60 foot tall robot; when Air Force One plane lands on the airport the evil mini-Transformer Frenzy laughably simple exits from it and passes by numerous agents without getting noticed) and dumb moments (Mikaela and Sam are slightly scared because they are driving in the Transformers car Camaro so she doesn't want to sit at the drivers seat. Sam then proposes: "Why don't you sit on my lap?" And she does - obviously irrelevant to the fact that it doesn't matter on which seat she is sitting since she is in the car herself!), but the biggest problem is that it doesn't manage to capture the nostalgia of the cartoon. Still, there are some virtues present. One of them is the charming human hero Sam Witwicky, played amusingly by Shia LeBeouf who manages to capture the confusing state of youngsters. In one of the best scenes, he spots the girl of his dreams, Mikaela, walking to her home, while his (Transformers) car "magically" turns on the song "Drive" with the lyrics "Drive her home", stimulating him give her a ride.

Not all characters seem realistic and alive, but the infamous statement that a viewer "won't care about the fate of characters in danger if they are one dimensional" is false, because no matter how one dimensional a person is, one will always automatically feel empathy for her/him due to human instincts. Non the less, there are too many characters present - although Jon Voight and John Turturro are funny as the secretary of defense and the secret agent, their roles could have been easily disposed off, as well as some 15 other ones. Also, even if the human characters work, the robot characters don't - sadly, the Transformers have been turned into supporting characters and some of them speak only barely 2 lines during the whole film. Not even Optimus Prime managed to turn out something more than a stiff, pale puppet. Michael Bay is an OK director, but pompous beyond belief, always coaxing the wider audience, although he has a fresh dose of irony here: in one scene few Transformers crashed from the sky and some kids are curiously rushing towards them, one of them saying: "This is going to be 100 times better than "Armageddon", I swear!" It's nice that Bay can joke on his own account, but it doesn't help that he just continues with his mannerism - primitivism and shots that don't last longer than 2 seconds are annoying. The final battle is spectacular, but ironically also boring at the same time due to frenetic rhythm where it's hard to figure out who is fighting who: action sequences from "The Blues Brothers", "T2" and "Hard Boiled" were choreographed much better. "Transformers" are just like fast food: sweet and tasty, but you can't help to think there is something better out there.

Grade:+

Ninja Scroll

Jubei ninpucho; Animated fantasy action thriller, Japan, 1993; D: Yoshiaki Kawajiri, S: Koichi Yamadera, Emi Shinohara, Takeshi Aono, Daisuke Gori

Medieval Japan. A team of Ninjas is sent to investigate a plague in Shimoda village, but they get killed by a monstrous stone-man Tessai, one of the "8 Devils of Kimon", except for the girl Kagero. Just as he is about to rape her in a cabin, he is stopped by the invincble swordsman Jubei. Dakuan, an old monk, poisons Jubei and promises to give him the antidote if he helps him stop the "8 Devils"and their evil boss Gemma from transporting tons of gold onto a ship that would help finance a dark organization that would topple the government. Jubei agrees and is joined by Kagero. Kagero gets killed, but Jubei sinks the ship and kills Gemma, swimming back to shore.

Dark medieval anime "Ninja Scroll" is, just like most adult animes, not intended for children due to it's uncompromisingly mature story filled with splatter violence and sporadic erotic tone, something that most American animators back in those days wouldn't have even been able to imagine. The director and screenwriter Yoshiaki Kawajiri directly displays that violence and Ninjas are never romantic but always depressing, bleak and horrifying, not hesitating to line one dark sequence after another (the stone-man Tessai tears up the hands from a good Ninja and drinks his blood, then proceeding to capture the female Ninja Kagero and licking her breasts and legs in a cabin, but just as he is about to rape her she is saved by the invincible Jubei), but basically it's a positive, good old basic story about good vs. evil, equipped with a invincible hero Jubei that is cynical on the outside but good kinded on the inside. Already from the exposition where Jubei is attacked by two assassins on the bridge, but simply throws his rice cake in the air, eliminates them and catches his cake just in time to continue his journey, does the movie establish it's unusual charm in the manner of Leone's films. Some of the "8 Devils from Kimon" are truly way over-the-top, like the one who uses hornets coming out of his back (!) to attack the three heroes, and Kawajiri doesn't always hit the right note or show a equal sense for directing quiet dramatic moments as well as the loud ones, but fluent structure, sharp style, inspired adventure mood and a great finale where the weaker Jubei manages to beat the invincible bad guy Gemma on the ship (it would be a shame to spoil it - sufficient to say gold is involved) manage to elevate the film to a good achievement, not a cheap trash.

Grade:++

Please Save My Earth

Boku no chikyu on mamotte; Animated Science-Fiction drama series, Japan, 1993; D: Kazuo Yamazaki, S: Yuri Shiratori, Ai Orikasa, Ryotaro Okaiyu, Emi Shinohara, Kappei Yamaguchi

Tokyo. Alice is a shy teenage girl that gets the assignment to babysit Rin, a 8-year old boy from the neighborhood. But they have an argument and Rin falls from the balcony, ending in hospital. At the same time, Alice gets strange visions of her past life, where she was a woman called Mokuden, a scientist of an alien race, together with 6 more staff members monitoring Earth from an Moon base. Alice discovers her classmates Issei and Jinpachi have similar memories, concluding they are reincarnations of scientists Enju and Gyokuran. Even Rin remembers his past life as evil Shion, but introduces himself falsely as Shukaido and gets telekinetic powers. Namely, he wants to take revenge on Haru, the real reincarnation of Shokaido, because he was in love with Mokuden: Shion was vaccinated against a virus and was the only survivor of the base, living 8 years alone after everyone else died. In the end, he makes up with Alice and Haru.

Anime "Please Save My Earth" truly defines the term "unbalanced" in full sense of the word. Namely, that anime series has a genius concept, subtle exposition, crystal clear animation and skillful style, but it fell into mistakes and flaws that it shouldn't have even gotten in to. Simply put, by handling the themes of reincarnation, aliens, telekinesis, psychic powers, unknown moon base, lost love and a girl that can talk with plants and animals, the story crammed too many strong issues and got a immature mongrel where none of them was elaborated enough in the (too) short 6 episodes of the series. Actually, it would seem as if someone would try to cram "Star Wars", "Back to the Future", "Jurassic Park", "Alien", "Psycho" and "Love Story" into one film. At the same time there are enough interesting situations present, like the one where the young lad Jinpachi gets a surprise kiss from his friend Issei, who is the reincarnation of the woman scientist Enju, or the frightening subplot where everyone died on the moon base from a virus except for Shion who was vaccinated and stayed there living alone for 8 years, until he finally died and got reincarnated. Also, the English title doesn't have any connection with the story at all. If one would just look at the potentials, "Please Save My Earth" would be one of the masterworks of anime culture, but the final result didn't exploit all it's possibilities in the rushed realisation.

Grade:++

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice; horror comedy, USA, 1988; D: Tim Burton, S: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Glenn Shadix, Robert Goulet, Sylvia Sidney

Barbara and Adam are a happily married couple in a little town in Connecticut. After they die in a car accident, they are returned to their home as ghosts, not able to get out, while their only clue is the handbook for recently deceased. After the snobbish family Deetz moves into their house, Adam and Barbara decide to scare them out with the help of a bizarre ghost called Beetljuice. Still, the ghost couple makes friends with Lydia, the Deetz daughter. After the Deetz decide to summon the ghosts, all hell breaks loose and Beetlejuice gets freed. Still, Barbara and Adam are able to ban him and make friends with the Deetz.

Cult horror comedy "Beetlejuice" is quite frankly one of the most bizarre and daring Hollywood films from the 80s, a wild mix between Buñuel, Kafka and a Tex Avery cartoon on acid, where the authors didn't care if they drive the viewers crazy so long as they have fun and do whatever they want to with their imagination. In this case, it is a surreal "haunted house" tale where Tim Burton's eccentric direction creates all kind of unbelievable scenes with the help of surreal claymation special effects: Adam as a ghost wants to leave the house, but the moment he does he is transported to a different dimension, a desert planet with two moons equipped with giant sand worms that are reminiscent of Lynch's "Dune". Adam and Barbara want to scare off the Deetz family out of their house, so they model and change their heads to look like a giant chicken and a grotesque jaw.

Michael Keaton as the deranged Beetlejuice is great, especially in the scary sequence where he transforms into a giant snake and appears from the stairway to attack the Deetz family, but Glenn Shadix simply steals the show as the hilarious Otho (especially in the "Day-o" song sequence). That said, the movie is not particularly funny, many things seem senseless or stupid (the confusing ending), its tonal shift is uneven since its horror and comedy elements clash weirdly, whereas not anyone can handle the bizarre tone and make it work, especially when Burton aggressively tries to impose it on the viewers: for all of its incredibly imaginative scenes, the story seems more to be expanding the boundaries of quantity and crackbrained than actual quality and substance. "Beetlejuice" is a sight to behold, but it's not for everyone's taste, whereas it seems it would have been better if it followed the concept of the "Beetlejuice" cartoon where the title hero and the charming Lydia were friends and sidekicks, instead of enemies, since they had more chemistry when Beetlejuice wasn't a complete bad guy.

Grade:++

Logan's Run

Logan's Run; Science-Fiction, USA, 1976; D: Michael Anderson, S: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Farrah Fawcett, Peter Ustinov

The year is 2274. Because of overpopulation and pollution, mankind is living in a domed city, never leaving for outside. But the law states that every person must die at the age of 30 or seek to be reborn at the mysterious Carousel, which is actually just a elimination machine. Logan 5 is one of the "Sandmen", police officers who kill everyone trying to escape or live after 30. One day Logan gets a special assignment to find and destroy the sanctuary of the "Runners" - in order to do that, the computer makes his life clock on his hand blink, although he still has 4 more years to live. For the first time, Logan questions the system and becomes a "Runner" himself. Together with Jessica, he enters a frozen cave and manages to escape outside. The two of them wonder around a devastated Washington and find a old man. They return to the city, destroy the computer and announce everyone that they can live after 30.

Cult Sci-Fi thriller "Logan's Run" is a good film with a brilliantly chilling premise - because of overpopulation and pollution in the future, every person must die at the age of 30. It somehow seems as if the whole story works on two levels: firstly, it's a very cynical commentary at the generation conflict, where children and youngsters really don't have any kind of respect towards elderly. One can even say it shows how the world would look like if silly kids would rule. Secondly, the concept is a clever, deeply subversive critique of people who always follow the rules, traditions and laws no matter how dumb they are. The tradition that everyone has to die at the age of 30 doesn't have any sense, mirroring the shallowness of conformism and the tendency of people to follow them just because everyone else does, and sometimes even we are doing that and are not aware of it.

Considering the kitschy set design and special effects, the film is slightly dated, probably because of a limited budget, while some motivations and actions of the characters are not entirely clear. For instance, it is said life can be "renewed" at the Carousel - but how? By which method? It is clearly seen all those people levitating there have been burned in flames. There's a great scene where Logan and Jessica exit the city and see the Sun for the first time in their lives, naively asking: "What is that?" Then they go traveling through a destroyed, empty Washington with monuments covered by jungle and swamps. But if the world outside is not polluted but all right, why would people be hiding in domed cities? Maybe because of the backward government that refuses to accept the truth and simply goes on pretending everything is the way they assume. There are even satirical situations present, like the one where Logan "teleports" Jessica into his home and asks her to go to his bed to have intercourse. "Logan's Run" contains a few fascinating philosophical questions, and it's a pity it didn't go deeper into the subject since it turned into an average action/chase film in the second half, up until the naive ending.

Grade:++

Celestial Body

Nebo, sateliti; Drama/ Fantasy, Croatia, 2001; D: Lukas Nola, S: Filip Nola, Barbara Nola, Filip Šovagović, Rene Bitorajac, Ivo Gregurević, Lucija Šerbedžija, Leona Paraminski, Zrinka Cvitešić

A mysterious blond man gets the name Jakov Ribar in order to get exchanged with other prisoners and released to freedom during the war in Croatia. Jakov is walking on water and through a mine field, arriving at a house where some guy called Johnny lives. The next day he meets his friends, the soldiers, who die in a battle. Jakov continues his journey and arrives at a hospital where some woman falls in love with him. But he leaves, claiming not to know who he is. He joins some two pilots in their plane, but when it crashes all die except for him. Jakov continues his journey and spots a lot of dead in the war, which makes him sad. In the end he steps into the sea and looks at the sunset.

Mythical and unusual art-drama "Celestial Body" is a minimalistic film without a story that won 4 "Golden arenas" at the Pula film festival, while some have even called it "the best Croatian film of the decade", but that's a gross exaggeration for a film that takes strange directions that slowly but surely crystallize mild disappointment. The most fascinating aspect is the mysterious main protagonist, a nameless man with childlike innocence: could he be a symbol for a intellectual or a visionary in a society of fools and chaos, which is interesting, or even an angel from above that is slowly traveling through war hit areas and sadly watching the foolishness of people? In the end he even steps into the sea and looks at the sunset - the end of the world? Still, for all of that observations, many come from a suggestive tone and just from the pigment of the viewers imagination, while the hero is a one dimensional character and Filip Nola is miscast in the leading role. When the supporting actors are leading the storyline more than the main protagonist himself, then that's a bad sign. Emotions are rather underplayed causing in a cold mood, many scenes seem uneven and the fantasy side is weak (the only miracles the hero does are walking on water and healing the paranoid people). The second aspect is the esoteric style: there are two kinds of metaphysical stories - ones are empty, the other ones are rich and multi layered. The film tried to combine them both, but ended seeming more like the first than the second, though the demanding viewers might rather enjoy this meditaton about war and life. If anything, "Celestial Body" shows that it's really hard to make a deep film about an autistic, mysterious hero that stirs up a shallow society, like in the much superior classic "Being There".

Grade:++

City of Women

La città delle donne; grotesque, Italy/ France, 1980; D: Federico Fellini, S: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucnal, Bernice Stegers, Ettore Manni, Donatella Damiani

Snaporaz is traveling in a empty train. He is a typical macho man who is constantly in search for women. When one attractive woman exits the train and heads towards a nearby forest, Snaporaz follows her and comes to a hotel called Mira Mare. The place is filled with feminist women that hate men and scream: "Cellulite was invented by a man!" In order to save himself from the angry mob, he enters a elevator. A woman puts roller skates on his feet while some old lady drags him into the nature with her motorcycle. There he is persecuted by lesbians until he is saved by a man, Santini, the owner of a mansion that is celebrating the 10,000th intercourse with women. Snaporaz finds his wife Elena and a secret passage under his bed that leads him to a arena. There he jumps on a giant balloon in shape of a woman. He wakes up in train, realizing it was just a dream.

"City of Women" is, unfortunately, just another nicely directed nonsense that gets us served from the talented Federico Fellini when he is in some kind of "phase" where he drops any kind of logic and serves a surreal achievement, a typical director's ego trip that will annoy many and enchant few. Still, he is slightly more inspired then in some of his other weak films. The exposition seems like a parable that will teach the main protagonist, womanizing macho man Snaporaz, a lesson: namely, he enters a extremely radical feminist club in the middle of a forest, filled with angry women that shout: "Castration! Masturbation!" The club offers a caricature play where an actress is playing a housewife cooking, cleaning and feeding children until the point of exhaustion, only to get "taken" from behind by a lazy husband dressed as Frankenstein (!), while the screening room is showing a movie about a woman with 6 men/ lovers. The whole film is a giant, surreal dream where anything goes, but banal symbols about too high expectations of women and men from each other, grotesquely exaggerated feminism, irritating loose tone, wacky characters and a bunch of stupid episodes (slides, arena...) numb the "story" as a whole.

Grade:+

Amarcord

Amarcord; drama / comedy, Italy / France, 1973; D: Federico Fellini, S: Bruno Zenin, Puppella Maggio, Armanda Brancia, Magali Noël, Josiane Tanzilli, Ciccio Ingrassia, Maria Antonietta Beluzzi

Rimini, 1 9 3 0s. Numerous episodes from lives of people from spring to winter. Petals from flowers are flying in the air while a mass of people attending a ceremony of a burning of a puppet that symbolizes a witch. Teenager Titta is often making nonsense with his colleagues in school, enjoying sneaking out to attend the local cinema. His dad gets a warning from the Fascists, his grandpa gets lost in the fog in his own yard. His friend is dreaming that a giant picture of Mussolini is marrying him with a girl, a mass of people observes a giant ship at the sea at midnight. It all ends with a wedding.

Eccentric humorous drama "Amarcord" with a lot of autobiographical elements intervened together from Federico Fellini's own life was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign language film, while it won the Oscar in the same category - Fellini's forth and last film that won that award in that category. "Amarcord" is arguably Fellini's last great film, a slightly cold, but realistic achievement with bizarre and grotesque characters that would later on influence a whole bunch of unusual films from the Coen Brothers, Gilliam, Burton, Kusturica and others, with a load of funny situations, like the dialogue between the barber and his customer ("I was the 14th child in my family, so my father gave me the name Definitivo." - "Too bad he didn't stop earlier. He would have had a fool less."). Fellini is rather skillful - masturbation, farting, obsession with giant breasts (the legendary/ infamous sequence in a store where an overweight, buxom saleslady in her mid 40s exposes her giant breasts to the confused teenager Titta and almost suffocates him with it) and dumb pranks (in school, naughty students roll a map into a long "pipe" and use it to reach the professor and piss near her) seem like a vulgar comedy, and in some other director's hand it would have ended like that, but Fellini still manages to go beyond that and make surreal poetry out of them, creating a drama that refuses to idealise the imperfect people and avoids pretentiousness. Evenly mixing grotesque and emotions, this nostalgic movie was rightfully hailed by the critics and shared all of the authors memories about his childhood with the audience.

Grade:+++

Roma

Fellini Roma; drama, Italy / France, 1972; D: Federico Fellini, S: Peter Gonzales Falcon, Fiona Florence, Britta Barnes, Pia De Doses, Anna Magnani, Marcello Mastroianni

Back in his youth, Federico Fellini was a mischievous boy and a student of a professor who liked Rome and Mussolini. His parents liked plays and movies about Italy. As a young man, Fellini finally moved to Rome, listening to such monologues in restaurants like: "The way you eat is the way you shit". The movie returns to the present, 1972, observing a traffic jam while some gentleman, who is a "real Roman from morning to evening", advises Fellini to film only the good sides of the city. Priests are watching a priest costume revue, motorcycles are driving through dark streets.

W. Allen's favorite city in almost all of his movies is New York, while for Federico Fellini that's Rome. That's why it is logical that he made an official portrait of the city with his surreal semi-autobiographical drama with humorous moments that was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign language film. "Rome" is a bizarre synthesis of biography and imaginary grotesque - in the opening titles it states: "Rome - a ultra film", while the narrator says: "You're watching a film without a story or a plot". Truly, because the exposition at first loosely follows the childhood of the director Fellini before World War II (as a kid, he would lean his face towards the glass and make grimaces), then as a young man. But to make the matters seem even more bizarre, after half an hour the plot returns to the present (1972) while a grown up Fellini introduces his crew that is making a film, traveling with their camera through the streets where a car accident happened, while some policemen are covering up the corpses of cows. This cult omnibus as a whole doesn't shine in all its glory because a lot of little vignettes seem senseless or boring, but Fellini at least managed to avoid his pretentiousness typical for his second surreal movie making phase, while the sequence in the theater is simply hilarious. In it, the audience is becoming more and more impatient because a striptease show was followed by a "break" with "amusing" comedians that are unfunny, so one man in the audience is making farting sounds with his hand, the other one throws a dead cat on the stage while the third one comes on the stage and lights a cigarette from the candle of singing actors, who keep on doing their act despite their confusement.

Grade:++

Jaws 3-D

Jaws 3-D; Horror, USA, 1983; D: Joe Alves, S: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr., Lea Thompson




A white shark gets lost in a lagoon in Sea World. Mike Brody, the son of Martin Brody, works there and has a relationship with biologist Katherine, while Calvin is the founder of the park and his boss. When the dolphins start acting scared and a technician gets killed, the crew discover the shark and keep him there captured to make a film about him. But the shark is just a little baby, while it's giant mother is the real danger. The giant shark causes a flooding of the underwater tunnels and smashes into the control room, but Mike is able to kill it with a hand grenade.

The second sequel, "Jaws 3-D", is another step backwards in the long series of follow up films to the original. Except for the forgotten and tedious 3-D promotion and design of the film, which is hardly noticeable at all, the thin story turned out more campy than it was advisable and naively displaced the setting out of Amity and main hero Martin Brody to Sea World (what a bad promotion for the park) and his son Mike Brody (played nervously by Dennis Quaid), but without much effect since the film is truly weak, even barely watchable. There is this subconscious human fascination with giant monsters, in this case a white shark, that keeps all this sequels going, making them at least seem like a "guilty pleasure" since some are eager to feel the adrenaline rush and can't resist not to watch what is going to happen next, but the original film incorporated that into it's structure and still remained skillful and clever. The horror sequences are awful and reach for cheap splatter violence (in one particularly disgusting scene, a diver is inside the mouth of the shark, getting swallowed alive), unintentionally funny moments (the crew in Sea World close the door of the a lagoon and the shark bumps into it like in a cartoon), boring moments and a disastrous finale. Still, for all of it's flaws, the dramatic-romantic scene where Mike and Katherine are hugging at the beach at night and talking about their future, actually seems good and maybe something more could have been made out of it if it wasn't in this film.

Grade:+

Jaws 2

Jaws 2; disaster film / horror, USA, 1978; D: Jeannot Szwarc, S: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Joseph Mascolo, Jeffrey Kramer

After he eliminated the giant white shark, Martin Brody, Police Chief of the sea resort Amity, is trying to relax and forget the events. His wife considers him a hero and they go to visit a show. But then a body of a bitten Orca is found on the beach, as well as the corpses of some divers. Obviously, a new white shark appeared, but the mayor is once again refusing to close the beach. Brody's sons went to sea with their friends, but get attacked by the shark. Martin rescues them by forcing the shark to bite a electric cable.

The sequel of the excellent horror "Jaws" is not that good as some claim it is, although it is not entirely weak either: the authors managed to make the film look congruous, but in the end it is just a recap of the original, with some situations getting directly recycled from it. Spielberg immediately refused directing "Jaws 2", so he was replaced by Jeannot Szwarc, making the difference and the talent between them obvious: it is never explained where the new giant white shark came from nor the incredible chance that it stumbled exactly at the same place as the previous one, the cheap dramatic moments seem stiff while even the identical critique of greed and mindless profit evident in the mayor who refuses to close the beach for tourists, that was problematic even in the first film, seems even more unrealistic here. Too bad the only real confrontation between the shark and the people occurs only in the finale - dismissing the unintentionally comical sequence where a driver shoots at the shark with a flare gun, but hits his gasoline tank instead, and the boat explodes with him - where the giant fish dies in the last minute in a rather unrealistic manner, but because of the intention of the authors to at least try to seem subtle, solid "Jaws 2" are much better than the following two unnecessary sequels.

Grade:+

Bullitt

Bullitt; crime drama, USA, 1968; D: Peter Yates, S: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Don Gordon, Robert Duvall

San Francisco. Cynical Lieutenant Frank Bullitt gets a ordinary assignment to guard Johnny Ross, a witness who is about to testify against the mafia, in a hotel as a demand by the politician Chalmers. The same night two men storm in into the hotel and shoot and wound Ross and Inspector Stanton. Bullitt can't figure out how these men knew where Ross was, especially since they even show up in the hospital to finish him off, but he stops them. Ross dies, but Bullitt makes the doctor misplace his chart and pretend he is still alive in some other hospital. With time, Bullitt finds out the dead Ross was actually Albert Renick, who changed identities with him to escape the mafia. Bullitt finds the real Ross at the airport and shoots him after he starts attacking people.

Classic "Bullitt" is sadly a forgotten jewel among juicy crime movies: Peter Yates directs the whole film with a unusual visual style using hand held camera and bizarre camera angles, spreading his rebellious spirit - which protests against safe and standard movie making - to every element of the story. The movie is "invisibly" influential because of two facts: for one, it started the trend of cynical, self-willed Detectives with the main hero Bullitt who does everything his way, sometimes even beyond the law (a subversively comical scene where he orders a doctor to misplace the chart of the dead witness Ross and pretend he is still alive until he tracks down the gangsters who wanted to eliminate him), much before "Dirty Harry" and others. The other one is the famous, 8-minute long car chase sequence between two cars from San Francisco to a highway, filmed entirely without any dialogues: although they were indeed better car chase sequences filmed later on, this one remains a great role model to future films like "The French Connection". Shaky, restless, energetic, resisting to get pinned down under any category of the '60s era, filled with nice little details (in one scene in a restaurant a waiter picks up the menu and accidentally bruises Bullitt's head with it when passing by it; Bullitt shopping for frozen diners) and good dialogue (in one scene Chalmers says to Bullitt: "You know you have to sell your integrity to the public" upon which he replies: "What ever you're selling, don't sell it tonight"), "Bullitt" is a smart film that believes in the intelligence of the viewers, refusing even to explain some parts of the complicated story about the protected witness who changed his identity with someone else, which will probably remain its biggest flaw.

Grade:+++

Satyricon

Fellini Satyricon; historical film / art-film / grotesque, Italy / France, 1969; D: Federico Fellini, S: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone, Magali Noël, Capucine

Ancient Rome, 1st century AD, during the reign of emperor Nero. Students Encolpius and Ascyltus are fighting over the affection for teenage boy Gitone. Encolpius saves Gitone from slavery of a bizarre theatre and spends the night with him. An earthquake destroys the catacomb city... Encolpius is observing a museum and later enjoys a feast with the rich Trimalchio who orders his men to torture a poet, Eumolpus, for daring to criticize Trimalchio's poetry as plagiarism... Encolpius, Ascyltus and Gitone end up as slaves on a pirate ship for the amusement of an emperor, but get released when the emperor gets killed in a revolution... Encolpius and Ascyltus kidnap a hermaphrodite from a temple for ransom, but it dies from thirst... Encolpius fights against a man with a mask of Minotaur and gets impotent. He leaves in a ship for Africa after Ascyltos dies.

With his loose adaptation of Petronius' novel "Satyricon", a sort of degenerate version of "Quo Vadis", Federico Fellini probably strived to create a parable about the decadance and spiritual emptiness of the ancient Rome, which subsequently lead to its civilizational collapse, but lost himself entirely in the context by filming one of his weaker films in which he doesn't have a measure for anything, disappointing everyone except his biggest fans who can even find something amazing in the phantasmagorical chaos and megalomanic frenzy. The original text survives only in fragments, with huge gaps of missing text, and thus Fellini decided to present the material in a series of disjointed and dislocated scenes—it is thus not unusual to have a random "hard cut" to a completely different location without any transition or connection. But his didactic of Rome contains too many horrifying nonsense: in the grotesque theatre sequence, one actor farts, while a slave's hand gets cut off with an axe. No explanation or context is given, and thus the disturbing thing is how "lightly" this mutilation is forgotten and not brought up, as the only focus in this sequence seems to be Encolpius trying to get Giton back from the stage. Here and there, some comical moments liven it up, such as the story where a woman decides to starve next to the corpse of her late husband, but then finds new energy with a lover, a nearby soldier who was supposed to watch that the hanged corpse of a criminal shall not be taken away. When other criminals steal the corpse of the criminal from the noose, the widow has a solution: "Better to hang up a dead husband than lose a living lover".

The phantasmagorical tone continues with the scenes where 30 people carry a giant statue of a head, a mass of people bathing nude in nature, a dead whale hanging on a rope from a ship. It works to a certain extent as a rare chronicle of the ordinary civilian lives in ancient Rome, their mentality and habits that seem, as Fellini puts it, as "a science-fiction movie of the past". However, Fellini is even there inconsistent—several episodes were invented by himself, and were not found in Petronius' novel, which thus wrecks the initial concept. One of the most disturbing sequences Fellini added is the one where people bring a man without hands or legs to a hermaphrodite with breasts and a penis who allegedly has powers to heal the sick. Encolpius, Ascyltus and a henchman kidnap the hermaphrodite for ransom, but it dies in a carriage from thirst due to the summer heat. What is the point of this cruel moment? It doesn't play any role later in the story, which is episodic, anyway, so why did Fellini make up this awful subplot in the first place? "Satyricon" has an impressive visual style (the ending with a match cut from the head of Encolpius to his fresco on a wall in the present) and sense for abstract mise-en-scene, working as some sort of a subconscious nightmare, but because of its excessive tendency towards tasteless grotesque, unbearable anxiety and pretentiousness, this episodic plot without a story doesn't have much of a value. Not even the scene where a humiliated wizard takes revenge on a woman creating fire for the whole village from her crotch is neither amusing nor relevant. Fellini's "Amarcord" also has weird characters, strange episodes and grotesque jokes—but it is so genuinely fun. "Satyricon", on the other hand, is a weird mess of a film without fun: it has artistic and historical value, but does anyone truly enjoy in it today?

Grade:+

8½

8½; art-film / satire, Italy / France, 1963; D: Federico Fellini, S: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Claudia Cardinale, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, Madeleine Lebeau, Caterina Boratto


Director Guido dreams that he is trapped in a car, then that he is suddenly flying and falling into the sea. He wakes up in the hospital, and is sent for a treatment in a spa. Mario and his girlfriend Gloria, Guido's friends, ask him when he is going to make his next film, but the famous director doesn't currently have any inspiration. Luisa, Guido's wife, comes with the train to visit him, while he is having an affair with Claudia. Because of the pressure, Guido avoids giving any clue to actresses or the producer what the movie will be about, falling into hallucinations, not knowing what to do with the in advance made set for a Sci-Fi film, a space rocket launcher. At an outdoor conference, he finally announces he gives up from filming, but makes up with Luisa and dances with other people on the beach.

There are two opinions about Federico Fellini's career. For some, all of his films are pieces of art. For the other, only his logical, early realistic films were excellent, while those filmed since "8 1/2", made out of surreal-abstract episodes, seem like senseless and void ego trips. Art-film "8 1/2" continues to divide—film critic Arsen Oremovic called it his favorite film; conversely, film critic Zivorad Tomic described it as "a pointless movie, brilliantly directed", adding: "I appreciate directing, but directing of what?" "8 1/2" has a very unusual and clever meta-film setting since it is actually a film about director's block, but it has no real story, it is a thin, very stylish self-analysis of Fellini about himself, where Marcelo Mastroianni's character of director Guido is his alter ego. The main problem is that half of these abstract-fantasy sequences could have been cut, without the movie losing anything. The only flashback that truly says something relevant to the story is the one showing Guido as a kid and other pubescent boys going to a shack and giving a thic prostitute, Saraghina, money so that she can give a sensual dance in front of them, yet they are caught and Guido's mother scorns him for it. It shows the iceberg theory, where numerous little events from Guido's past influence him today and his creative filmmaking process. He is seaching for a woman who looks like Saraghina his entire life, and when he realizes that, he finally makes up with his thin wife, Luisa. It also shows that just like Guido as a kid was not the idealized version his mother wanted him to be, neither is Luisa his idealized version of a wife, but she is kind and honest, and thus he should accept her for who she is. 

After a screen test where an actress talks lines Guido based on his arguments with Luisa, she angrily leaves the screening room. Luisa then gives him this lesson: "Another fiction. Another lie. You put all of us in it, but the way it suits you. But the truth is something else, entirely, and only I know the truth. You're lucky I never had the nerve to make it public the way you do... But what could you have to say to strangers when you can't tell the truth to the one closest to you, the woman at your side?" Other fantasy episodes are more or less unnecessary and superfluous, except for the first one in the opening act. What is the point of the flashback of Guido as a kid taking a bath? Or the one where he imagines his father wanted him to be a priest, when Fellini already has the similar one already mentioned in the Saraghina sequence? They are also not that much fun. One amusing sequence shows Guido in a house that seems like a harem, where a dozen of his ex-women live with him, but the old ones get "banned" to the attic, but it could have also been a deleted scene. "8 1/2" works much less as a movie about the author's block, when it seems Fellini tries to obfuscate the plot to cover up the moments of empty walk, but is better when he tries to show the process of creating, and even directing. In one clever moment, Guido's voice is heard off-screen in the hotel room, as he directs his mistress, covered only with a towel, to go outside in the hallway and then go back in, to pretend she accidentally entered the wrong room, displaying how Guido creates the setting for his own aphrodisiac. One notable sequence is when Claudia talks with the protagonist about the movie: "I don't understand. He meets a girl who can give him new life, and he pushes her away?" - "Because he no longer believes in it." - "Because he doesn't know how to love". In the end, Guido realizes he needs to direct his own life and relationships first, to settle himself, love those imperfct people around him, before he can direct a movie. "8 1/2" walks a fine line between pretentious and ironic (in one scene in the opening, a critic complains to Guido's planned metaphor of a woman at a spring: "Of all your story's overabundant symbols, this is the worst", so Guido throws away this written review), but is too hermetic and overlong due to its 130 minutes of running time, while the ending is weak. A quality, ambitious, though still overrated art-film, with a very artificial story flow.

Grade:+++

La dolce vita

La dolce vita; drama, Italy / France, 1960; D: Federico Fellini, S: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Anita Ekberg, Yvonne Furneaux, Magali Noël

Rome. Journalist Marcello is flying with his helicopter and spying at a party. Back in his apartment, he finds his mistress Emma in coma due to pills overdose, barely managing to save her from suicide by bringing her to the hospital. But he doesn't have time for mourning, continuing with his car to a local airport to get to the blond star Sylvia and drive her to parties, but in the end he gets beaten by her husband. Marcello arrives to a place where some girl saw Virgin Mary, but a little kid dies from the mass of journalists. Madalena asks Marcello to marry her, so he breaks up with Emma. After a party he finds a dead fish at the shore.

Federico Fellini made his famous drama "La dolce vita" as a farewell to his Italian neoralism phase, and as a welcome sign to his second, pretentiouss, surreal phase. This episodic film without a tight structure is constructed as a bitter critique of the shallow society of the rich and famous—especially dark are the scenes where people can't even move from the mass of journalists, where one character calls one of them by the insulting term "Paparazzo" that even became a official word in the dictionary in real life, or the scenes where the hero rushes from one empty sensation/celebrity to another because none of them has anything to say—but a lot of his little supporting characters are unnecessary, useless and superficially handled. The movie was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay, director, art direction, while it won the award for best costume design, which is a lot for a overhyped film with only half-hearted critique that offers no alternative. Some sequences are excellent: for instance, the opening shot of a helicopter carrying a statue of Jesus hanging from a rope, a man who protects his head with the newspaper from the photographers or the echo of a kiss heard in the church—but the story simply doesn't have the energy for its overlong 170 minutes of running time, turning into a really annoying hassle towards the end, while the main hero, although played very well by Marcello Mastroianni, isn't quirky or interesting enough. Still, this art-film, a parable of futility, advanced into a classic.

Grade:++

Nights of Cabiria

Le notti di Cabiria; drama, Italy, 1957; D: Federico Fellini, S: Giulietta Masina, François Périer, Franca Marzi, Dorian Gray, Aldo Silvani

Prostitute Cabiria gets robbed by her lover Giorgio who pushes her into the river and gets away. Three boys manage to save Cabiria from drowning, but she just gets insulted and returns home. The next night she goes to "work" with her friend Wanda on the street. She gets picked up in a car by the famous actor Alberto who brings her to his mansion, but hides her in the bathroom when his ex-girlfriend Jesse returns to him. Later on, Cabiria goes to a church where wonders happened and then to a magic act show where she gets hypnotised. There she also meets Oscar who claims to have fallen in love with her. Cabiria gets all her money to get married to him, but he also robs her and runs away.

Out of 22 feature films directed by Federico Fellini, "Nights of Cabiria" (written among others by Pier Paolo Pasolini) is one of his most unknown ones, although it deservedly won an Oscar for best foreign language film and was nominated for a Golden Palm in Cannes. The reason for that lies in the fact that Fellini decided to show the sensational topic of prostitution in a rather unsensational, static and shy manner, leaving the tricky elements to the imagination of the viewer, which is a rather narrowed portray. Although not as good as his masterpiece "The Road", "Cabiria" is still a quiet masterpiece non the less and wonderfully simple and funny. From the opening shots where Cabiria is standing on the edge of the shore of a river and nonchalantly waving her purse up and down, up to the situations where she bumps into "invisible" glass door or picks up stinking flowers, the story is overweeningly and humorously leading the mood while Cabiria's smile in the last scene, refusing to be sad despite the tragic ending, is so fascinating and enchanting that it overshadows millions of other loud scenes filled with special effects and spectacular action. Out of all prostitutes that ever appeared on the big screen, Cabiria is one of the most unusual ones because she is completely unsexy since she always acts like a little kid, always doing something wrong, grimacing but hiding a vulnerable side: excellent Gullieta Masina, who won the best actress award at Cannes, is great in the leading role. Out of all the characters he created, Fellini once said that he always worried the most about Cabiria.

Grade:++++