Northern Crusades

Herkus Mantas; historical drama, Lithuania, 1972; D: Marijonas Giedrys, S: Antanas Šurna, Eugenija Pleškytė, Algimantas Masiulis, Stasys Petronaitis, Pranas Piaulokas, Algimantas Voščikas

The Baltics, 13th century. The German-led Teutonic Order leads the Northern Crusade through which it is able to colonize the lands under the pretext of spreading Christianity among the pagans. One of the nobles from the Baltic tribes, Herkus Monte, was abducted as a child and forced to convert to Christianity in Magdeburg. Upon being released, the grown up Herkus and his German wife Catherine return to the Baltic. Even though their son Alexander is still in Magdeburg, Herkus leads a rebellion against Teutonic Knights, uniting rival Baltic tribes led by leaders Samilis and Koltis. Herkus' army is stalled during the 1262 Siege of Königsberg, which lasts for years and causes famine. When the Teutonic Knights bring reinforcements, they are able to chase away the Baltic army, while Herkus is wounded. A jealous Samilis beytrays Herkus and contacts the Teutonic commander. Catherine is killed and sacrificed to pagan gods. Herkus is attacked and killed in an ambush by the Teutonic Knights. 

One of the most critically recognized Lithuanian films, "Northern Crusades" (also somewhere translated as "Herkus Mantas") is an educational and easy to understand historical lesson from the rarely depicted events of the Northern Crusades, since some of its themes are universal—ideological imperialism (in this case, a religious one), colonialism, assimilation, a struggle between conformity and integrity, resistance against occupiers. The movie was very popular in Lithuania, since even though it depicts the occupation by the German-led Teutonic Order, Lithuanians interpreted it as a symbolic depiction of Soviet occupation during that time. "Northern Crusades" could play in a double bill with Staikov's even better film "Time of Violence" since it shares its motives—a protagonist kidnapped by a foreign occupying power, indoctrinated and sent back to his home country to spread the interests of the occupiers, but here the hero Herkus actually joins his native people against the Teutonic Knights. The opening act is the best, swiftly engaging: an arrogant Teutonic Knight, von Brumbach, takes a knife, rips his own cape in his room, and then goes to the tavern of the Baltic tribes, where seven Balts are dinning, and poses a question: "What does a man deserve who stabbed a dagger in the back of his master?" - "Fire, according to the customs of the Teutonic Knights". Von Brumbach then turns around and reveals his cape with holes in it, and then leaves, locks the door, while his knights burn the entire fortress with said seven Balts inside, including Herkus' father. In the next sequence, Herkus, forcefully Christianized in Magdeburg, hears the news of his father's death, and just by his look, the viewers instantly understand why he will do what he does for the rest of the film.

In an even better codification of events, the said villain von Brumbach is actually killed 80 minutes later during Herkus' siege of his castle, when von Brumbach is, ironically, stabbed in the back by his own servant—with a dagger. Herkus (played by Antanas Surna) is thus always torn between two sides, on the one hand staying true to his native people, but also still accepting his German wife Catherine and Christian customs. The director Marijonas Giedrys is somewhat underwhelming on the field of directing skills (the battle sequences between the Baltic tribes and the Teutonic Knights are rarely more than just good), but the dialogues compensate with a lot of strong lines. In one memorable sequence, Catherine's brother Hirhalsas is among the Knights traveling on a ship to fight against Herkus' uprising, and when one passanger asks him if he has seen Herkus, Hirhalsas replies: "I not only seen him, but also raised and trained him, and even let my sister marry him! Now I'm getting ready to put a noose around his neck!" A commander and Herkus have this exchange: "We have never tried to negotiate with the Order" - "One does not negotiate for freedom. Freedom is won." One line is legendary—after a tragedy, Herkus looks into the camera and says: "What a great scoundrel you are, my Lord, if you allow a man to suffer more than he deserves." This sums up his own perspective on religion, while the movie never shows the Baltic tribes as idealized, since some of their pagan traditions of human sacrifice truly are detrimental and deserving to be culturally erased. "Northern Crusades" are overstretched and overlong, lacking a true spark of an epic, yet they still cause the viewers to think and establish a quiet style that goes "under your skin".

Grade:+++

The Battle for Kyiv

The Battle for Kyiv; documentary, UK / Ukraine, 2024; D: Oz Katerji, S: Oz Katerji, Sviatoslav Yurash, Kateryna Doroshyna, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, John Sweeney

On 24 February 2022, Vladmir Putin's menopause causes him to start the Goreshist Russian invasion of Ukraine. British journalist Oz Katerji is already in Kyiv covering the event, and refuses to evacuate, staying to cover the war. He follows a Ukrainian parliamentarian, Sviatoslav, and assistant Kateryna, who volunteer to help in the defense of Kyiv. Russian bombs fall on residential buildings. In the nearby city Irpin, refugees flee across a devastated bridge. Borodyanka is devastated and left in ruins after the Russian assault. The attempted siege of Kyiv fails since the city is too large, and thus the Russian soldiers scatter and retreat. Afterwards, the journalists discover the corpses in the Bucha massacre. 

British journalist Oz Katerji edited his video footage of the 2022 Battle of Kyiv in this excellent documentary which depicts the events of the start of the bloodiest European war of the 21st century in a lot of detail. Since the situation back then was chaotic, frenetic, unplanned, random and improvised, so is Katerji's own footage, accordingly, assembled in the same manner, yet that gives it a dose of authenticity and genuine charge. Katerji shows situations he managed to witness, and some really are perplexing and personal—for instance, in one episode, his driver accidentally drove up to a Russian check-point, and they had to explain they are British reporters at gunpoint, until they were allowed to continue driving, as Katerji looks into the camera and admits he is relieved. Other episodes also illustrate the mood and electrified suspense of people (a Ukrainian soldier shows a piece of Russian equipment: "This was a Russian paratrooper who ended up in wrong place. They thought they would come to have fun. The Russian government sends them here to fertilize our land."; government advisor Anton Gerashchenko standing in front of a destroyed building in Borodyanka: "Who are they fighting with here? The people who were living in that building."; president Volodymyr Zelenskyy commenting during a speech: "What will be next if even Byban Yar is hit? The Sophia Cathedral? The Lavra? St. Andrew's Church? Whatever they dream about, damn them"; a random interview with a lesbian Ukrainian soldier). There are some omissions (the Bucha massacre section should have been elaborated in a lot more detail, for instance), yet overall it is a gripping, educational, intelligent and dynamic documentary that galvanizes the viewers.   

Grade:+++

Headhunters

Hodejegerne; crime thriller, Norway, 2011; D: Morten Tyldum, S: Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Eivind Sander, Julie Ølgaard

Oslo. Roger Brown works as a headhunter and is married to Diana, who runs an art gallery. In order to compensate for his 5'5 height, Roger steals valuable paintings at private homes by inserting forged copies, with the help of Ove, a security guard who temporarily disables alarms in said homes. Roger meets Clas, a former employee of the Dutch GPS company HOTE, who wants to become the CEO of another GPS company, Pathfinder. Upon stealing a Rubens' painting from Clas' home, Roger finds out he is having an affair with Diana. When Roger finds Ove poisoned, he is hunted by Clas who wants to kill him, and is tracking him via a microscopic GPS tracker inside a hair gel on Roger's hair. Clas wants to steal Pathfinder's technology secrets. Roger shaves his head bald, returns to Ove's house, Clas is there and shoots at him, but since Diana secretly switched his bullets with blanks, there is no effect, and thus Roger shoots back and kills Clas. The police concludes Ove and Clas killed each other, while Roger makes Diana pregnant.

Excellent "Headhunters" is a Scandinavian thriller done the right way: it is not only suspenseful, but also intelligent and sophisticated. It sets up a giant Arukone-style puzzle storyline with a lot of plot points, but all of them are connected into a whole, have a point and purpose, and reach a satisfying conclusion in the end. Most of the kudos goes to the novel by Jo Nesbø, who planned this storyline, and the genius director Morten Tyldum who is able to make the viewers completely forget they are watching a "foreign" Norwegian film and are with time simply engaged and glued to the screen, in a genuine, basic sense for making a story come alive. The brilliant Nikolaj Coster-Waldau stands out in the role of the villain Clas. "Headhunters" start off as a sly heist comedy, but then switches gears and turns into an intense Hitchcockian thriller with bigger stakes involving corporate crime, when the protagonist Roger is being hunted by Clas, with several clever details and plot twists that are totally unexpected. 

In one of the most insane situations, Roger hides in an outdoor wooden toilet in the countryside, and is shocked to see Clas coming towards it with his killer dog through the window. He cannot escape. So what does Roger do? He opens the toilet seat and hides inside the underground dump of the pit latrine, holding only a paper tube above the surface, so when Clas enters the wooden toilet, he seemingly doesn't find nobody there. Later, after Clas is gone, in a black-humored moment, Roger cannot start his car, so he simply escapes the farm driving a tractor! The finale is incredible, with a plot twist so clever it is a treat (among other, Roger instructs Diana to exchange Clas' bullets with blanks during their "affair"). On another level, it is a personal story about a man with an inferiority complex who realizes that his worth is not measured in money or success, but in the love of his wife Diana who saves him in the end, in a runabout way, and the thriller story is in the end only used as a therapy for their relationship crisis. A highlight of Norwegian cinema.

Grade:+++

Recollections of the Yellow House

Recordações da Casa Amarela; black comedy / art-film, Portugal, 1989, D: João César Monteiro, S: João César Monteiro, Manuela de Freitas, Teresa Calado, Ruy Furtado

Lisbon. Joao de Deus, a man in his 50s, complains to his landlord Violeta that he has bedbugs, but cannot find any evidence of it. Joao feels weak and has sore testicles, so a doctor prescribes him a treatment. Joao is fascinated by Violeta's daughter Julietta, who plays oboe in a music band; while he also sees a prostitute with a puddle. When the prostitute dies, Joao goes to her room, rips her puppet with a knife and finds money hidden inside. Feeling rich, Joao attempts to rape Julietta and gives her money, but then runs away from the residential building. Now homeless, he survives thanks to a local kitchen. Joao buys a military uniform to enter a barrack for a celebration to get free beans, but is discovered and sent to a mental asylum. Thanks to a friend, Joao is able to escape.

Why did the director Joao Cesar Monteiro think that his character is interesting? Or funny? Or even entertaining? Because this misconception, on which the whole movie is built, costs him the movie. It is perplexing that his "Recollections of the Yellow House" was ranked in a local poll as the 3rd best Portuguese film by 2 0 2 0—the voters either have poor taste or the cinema of Portugal is in deep trouble. "Yellow House" is a peculiar, vague, confusing, and overall poorly planned out film revolving around the scrubby Joao de Deus (played by director Monteiro himself) who at first feels weak and ailing in the first half of the film, but then finds a new fascination with his landlord's daughter Julietta (among other, after she leaves the bathroom, he drinks the soap water from her bathtub, and observes her pubic hair he found), living in the same residential building. One expects that this will be the theme of the movie—how a man feels his life entered an autumn, but somehow finds a new spring in a woman who awakens his vitality. But no. It's not even that. Joao tries to rape her, she refuses, and he runs away scared from the building, never to return again, some 80 minutes into the film. 

The remaining 40 minutes are then wasted on random episodes of Joao living as a homeless man, buying a military uniform, landing in a mental asylum... All this is disconnected, ill-conceived and disorganized. What is the point at the end? There isn't any. The whole film is composed out of moderately interesting episodes which never connect as a whole, and even the best ones are the those with someone else besides him in the frame. Monteiro crafts long scenes of Joao sitting on bed, drinking a pill, taking a sip of medicine from a spoon and looking at specially designed underwear he has to wear for his sore testicles—but this is not interesting. Some actors-directors, like W. Allen or R. Benigni, are able to pull it off because they are interesting and funny to watch, but Joao is neither. He is not idealized nor presented as perfect (in one scene, Joao visits his old mother just to borrow all the money from her and then disappear), but neither is there a reason to watch him. The fact that the film lacks some style or creativity or ingenuity (only one match cut some 56 minutes into the film is commendable) is also detrimental. "Yellow House" is one of those examples where one character is the whole film, but since the main character is so stunted and insipid, the whole movie follows the same pattern as him. 

Grade:+

Sambizanga

Sambizanga; drama, Portugal / Angola / Congo / France, 1972; D: Sarah Maldoror, S: Domingos de Oliveira, Elisa Andrade, Jean M'Vondo, Dino Abelino

In 1 9 6 1, during the Portuguese colonialism, Domingos Xavier, a driver of a bulldozer at an construction site in Dondo, Angola, is kidnapped by the secret police from his home and brought to a police station for interrogation. He is accused of joining the underground Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). His wife Maria takes her baby with her and walks all the way to Luanda to search for Domingos in one of the jails. Domingos is tortured and beaten, but he refuses to name any MPLA members. He dies in prison. Maria is devastated by the news of his death. MPLA members hear about him and decide to attack the jail, thereby starting the Angolan War of Independence.

The first African feature film directed by a woman, Sarah Maldoror's "Sambizanga" is also one of the first films depicting the Angolan War of Independence from the Portuguese colonial rule, or better said, the event that triggered it, the enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture at a prison in Luanda. Since it depicts this rarely thematized historical event, "Sambizanga" has noble, ambitious merits, but its execution is weaker, suffering from too much empty walk and overstretched storyline. The two brief moments which show the protagonist Domingos being mistreated and abused in jail during the interrogation, but he refuses to give away any names of the independence movement (just as he is about to take a sip from a beer mug, one interrogator slaps him from behind), are probably the strongest bits, lifting up the interest of the viewers and engaging, but this is disrupted and diluted by the rather boring, bland storyline of his wife Maria walking on and on, on the road, from one police station to another, which is much weaker. Maldoror needed more cinematic-stylistic inspiration, for a more versatile viewing experience, since the movie is too formal to truly ignite on a higher level. Still, she painted a picture of the country at that time. Some episodes are authentic precisely because they seem as if they came from a documentary (women washing their clothes on a river; workers mining rocks with hammers).

Grade:++

No, or the Vain Glory of Command

Non, ou a Vã Glória de Mandar; art-film, Portugal, 1990; D: Manoel de Oliveira, S: Luís Miguel Cintra, Diogo Dória, Miguel Guilherme, Luís Lucas

A dozen Portuguese soldiers are driving in a military jeep during the Angolan War of Independence, among them Lt. Cabrita, Manuel, Pedro, Salvador and Cpt. Brito. They talk about the futility of keeping colonial rule when most of European powers left Africa. Cabrita, who studied history, recounts historical examples of Portuguese battles and wars, including the Battle of Toro in 1476 and Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578. The soldiers arrive at a military base. The next day, the walk by foot in the jungle, but are shot at by rebels in an ambush. Cabrita is wounded and dies in a hospital. The date is 24 April 1 9 7 4, the day of the Carnation Revolution, which would later grant all of Portuguese colonies independence.  

"No, or the Vain Glory of Command" is a meditation on the history of Portuguese (colonial) wars and its futility, seen through the prism of the Angolan War of Independence, advocating for the abolishment of any kind of imperialism, irredentism, annexationism and colonialism altogether, and instead calling for the contribution of science and culture in humanity. The director Manoel de Oliviera uses a peculiar, hermetic set of episodes without a real storyline, indulging too much in this as an art-film instead of an film for the universal viewers, but it has its moments. The best part is the opening 20-minute sequence where the camera observes some dozen Portuguese soldiers driving somewhere in the Angolan jungle on a military jeep, but who suddenly start discussing some philosophical contemplations about conflicts in general. For instance, one soldier mentions how he assumes that African colonies could one day become independent from Portugal, just like Brazil once did, upon which the other soldier, Salvador, responds: "Independent? Colonies that have been ours for five centuries?! This is no Vietnam! To hell with your worthless talk!" Lieutenant Cabrita, who studied history, then brings up the comparison with Viriato, rebel leader of Lusitanian people from the area of present day Portugal, who also fought for independence from the Roman Republic in 2nd century BC.

Salvador also laments that the world calls them colonialists: "The "democratic" Russians grabbed half of Europe without further ado. And the Chinese are no better. They conquered the Tibetan people and exploit them as they please." Another soldier also laments: "And by reuniting those tribes we created foundations of a country, or a multicultural nation." - "Exactly. And our language served as an agglutinating element. Creating structures for a future nation." The rest is less interesting and engaging. The regressive episodes which show all the failures of Portuguese wars and battles, such as the Battle of Toro in 1476 and Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578, are more schematic than they are genuine, regardless of all the opulent costumes and horses, though the same actors who play soldiers in the modern story also play soldiers of these historical events, underlying the theme of a "curse" of doomed wars which just waste lives, without achieving anything with a lasting, permanent value. Empires come and go, only the people and their development remain. The Angolan War of Independence should have been expanded and depicted in more detail, and not only a brief skirmish near the end. It's all too artificial, arbitrary and truncated. Nonetheless, the movie becomes even surreal in a dream sequence of a paradise island visited by Portuguese sailors in the middle of the film, and some dialogue is interesting ("Sometimes I think that the Universe and mankind aren't but an evasion of God's imagination").

Grade:++

Island of Loves

A Ilha dos Amores; art-film, Portugal / Japan, 1982; D: Paulo Rocha, S: Luís Miguel Cintra, Clara Joana, Zita Duarte, Yoshiko Mita, Atsuko Murakumo, Erl Tenni

A biopic of Portuguese writer and poet Wenceslau de Moraes. He is a Navy official in Macau in 1895, married to Chinese woman Atchan with whom he has two children. He separates from them and moves to Kobe, Japan as a Portuguese consul. Wenceslau marries O-Yone, but she dies from a stomach disease, so he moves to her native city Tokushima, where he visits her grave every day. During World War I, some Japanese are against Wenceslau, mistaking him for a German. He then has a relationship with O-Yone's niece Ko-Haru, who also dies. Atchan visits him and begs him to return to Macau to live with their grown up kids, but Wenceslau refuses. He dies alone in the house, discovered by neighbors when the stench of his corpse was already decaying. His sister Francesca keeps his letters. 

This biopic of Portuguese writer Wenceslau de Moraes who decided to live in Japan is meditative, trying to be poetic by reciting his poems, yet the director Paulo Rocha stubbornly refuses to depict the more interesting details from his life, and instead almost deliberately shows only the most uninteresting bits. Some fundamental questions are left vague: why did Moraes decide to travel to Japan? What fascinated him about said country? How did he learn Japanese? How did he meet O-Yone, his Japanese wife? How was it for him to walk on the streets of Kobe, go shopping and interact with locals? None of this is shown in the film, and that is a fatal flaw. Rocha only shows ellipses from his life: for instance, after his life in Macau, Moraes is suddenly shown riding a carriage in Kobe, with O-Yone already married to him. Why was their meeting skipped? Rocha cuts short some parts, but prolongs others unnecessarily. After the pointless first 30 minutes, indulging is some sort of surreal poetry including images from modern day Japan, the story finally starts, and Roche uses the technique of one scene-one frame, with long takes that last up to 10 minutes, but at almost 3-hours of running time, the movie is definitely overlong. Some scenes are inspired here and there: for instance, some 53 minutes into the film, Isabel takes on the role of a maid, as the camera zooms in on a mirror in the house, depicting the reflection of Moraes and O-Yone while sitting in the bath; or the elegant transition some 105 minutes into the film, where a woman is pushing a man in a wheelchair, they go behind a war memorial, and a nurse exits from the other sides, pushing a bed on wheels, as the title says: "Canto VI: The Little Lord of Lives". In the final scene, the six actors are seen standing in front of the camera on top of a building, holding photos of the characters they played in the film, and burning them on the table. "Island of Loves" will satisfy fans of art cinema, but for the rest it can drag until it becomes bland.

Grade:++

April Captains

Capitães de Abril; historical drama, Portugal / France / Spain / Italy, 2000; D: Maria de Medeiros, S: Stefano Accorsi, Joaquim de Almeida, Frédéric Pierrot, Fele Martinez, Maria de Medeiros, Manuel João Vieira, Marcantónio del Carlo, Rita Durão, Luís Miguel Cintra

Lisbon, 25 April 1 9 7 4. Portugal is waging colonial wars in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, under the dictatorship of Marcelo Caetano called Estado Novo. Fed up with this state, Captain Salgueiro Maia wakes up soldiers from his barrack in Santarem in the middle of the night, and tells them he will start a coup d'état to bring back democracy. Disillusioned by wars, most soldiers, including Major Gervasio, follow him in a military column to Lisbon. They take over the building of the Minister of Defense and encounter almost no opposition. The people on the streets support them. Dictator Caetano and his staff flee to a military barrack and shoot at people, but are surrounded and eventually agree in negotiations led by Maia to evacuate. Caetano flees to Brazil. The revolution ends in a day, and only 4 people are killed. Portugal is transformed into a democracy. Professor Antonia's lover Emilio is released from prison, but this means the end of her marriage with Manuel, a military officer. 

The first feature length narrative film about the Carnation Revolution, "April Captains" is one of the happiest, most uplifting and optimistic movies you will ever see. It is comprised out of pure idealism, so much so that it soothes the soul, and it is even more incredible that all this really happened. It is the feature length debut film of actress Maria de Medeiros ("Pulp Fiction", "Henry & June") who hereby gives a detailed chronicle of Portuguese history: it has such a natural story flow that once you start watching, you get addicted and have to see it to the end, whereas the whole storyline is filled with engaging little details that are easy to identify with. The setting is already established in one sequence in a pub, where military officer Manuel returns from fighting in Africa, and stretches out his hand to his acquaintance Virgilio, a leftist old man, but the latter does not accept it: "Don't give me your hand because I won't shake it!" Later on, Virgilio insults him and other Portuguese soldiers, calling them "professional killers" who "enjoy killing Blacks". The dictatorship is shown in other scenes as beneath contempt: an interrogator questions student activist Emilio, reading out a political movement from his report: "RMLP - TML. This ideology isn't for the illiterate." 

Nonetheless, the revolution is never presented as black-and-white: there are several unusual, but historically accurate situations that are highly comical. For instance, four soldiers in civilian clothing actually locked themselves out of their own car during the night—but were saved by a police officer who helped them break into said car using a knife. The four soldiers later start taking their civilian clothes off to dress into military uniforms, but two gay men knock on their window, mistaking them for something else. Finally, when the four soldiers arrive to the radio station, they knock, a man opens the door, and a soldier introduces himself: "Coup d'etat, may we enter?" The main highlight is the protagonist, Captain Salgueiro Maia (excellent Stefano Accorsi) whose indestructible enthusiasm and elation are so contagious that they don't only charm all the 200 soldiers to follow him, but also all the viewers, too. His random decision causes a giant domino effect that changes the country for the better, and it is fascinating watching it unravel. This is a rare example where a youth's energy is so positive that it galvanizes and transmits this to the energy of the entire film. One of the most ingenious tricks he plays is the one where he places news of a coup d'état, so the Minister of Defense lets a military unit inside, ostensibly for protection from said coup d'état threat—only to find out the military unit they received is actually Maia's, who now has them under his control. Portuguese cinema is often on the margins, out of the zone of interest of Europeans, but by highlighting the Carnation Revolution, which kicked off the Third Wave of Democracy, this film somehow made Portugal cinematically immortal. Most of the best movies of certain countries are often depressive, dark, negative—but "April Captains" is a rare instance where one of the best Portuguese movies is also one of the most positive ones. 

Grade:+++

The Green Years

Os Verdes Anos; drama, Portugal, 1963; D: Paulo Rocha, S: Rui Gomes, Isabel Ruth, Ruy Furtado, Paulo Renato

Lisbon. Villager Julio (19) arrives to the city via the main train terminal to stay with his uncle Afonso, who secured him a job as an apprentice at the shoemaker Raul. Julio meets maid Ilda and they start a relationship. Julio is both fascinated and overwhelmed by the metropolis. When Afonso tells him he shouldn't see Ilda anymore, Julio starts a fight with him in a pub, but is saved by a British tourist. Julio proposes Ilda, but she refuses because he doesn't have enough money for them to live alone. Julio arrives one evening at the apartment of Ilda's boss, telling he wants to talk to her. When the boss leaves them alone, Julio stabs Ilda with a knife and flees on the street.

Voted in one local poll as the best Portuguese film of the 20th century, "The Green Years" is an intelligent, calm, restrained and subtle depiction of a clash between the rural and urban mentalities, but it is still fairly overrated and dull. The director Paulo Rocha depicts the change of the 19-year old protagonist Julio from an innocent, introverted, humble lad from the village at the beginning up to an extroverted, aggressive and spoiled brat in the end, caused by his life in the metropolis. It speaks about the unspoken psychological currents urban people are unaware off, since this is simply the hectic way of life in the cities. Some contemplations about certain life observations are clever, for instance: "But when you become a man, it's a different kind of romance. The kind of that forces you to straighten out your life, to the point that others can't mess it up" or: "For him, the only man who is not a fool is the one who makes fools of others." The main weight of the film is the love story between Julio and Ilda (very good Isabel Ruth), but it is of varying success, since some episodes are monotone and grey, while others are more interesting (for instance, the sequence where Ilda proudly wears all the fancy dresses of her boss for Julio). Unfortunately, despite these formalities, the movie is not that engaging in its substance, which is a tad too bland, since "The Green Years" are never quite able to "heat up" the inclination of the viewers, not even in the drastic ending which feels more like a stunt than a real conclusion to this story.

Grade:++

The Wedding

Svadba; comedy, Croatia / Serbia, 2026; D: Igor Šeregi, S: Rene Bitorajac, Dragan Bjelogrlić, Linda Begonja, Vesna Trivalić, Nika Grbelja, Marko Grabež, Roko Sikavica, Anđelka Stević Žugić

Miljenko, the owner of the Zagreb chain store Cromax, is shocked when his daughter Ana, working in London, phones him on his birthday and reveals she is pregnant with Nebojša, a Serb. Nebojša's dad, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Vuk, is also shocked to find out his soon to be daughter-in-law is a Croat. However, since Miljenko is in debt, and he could clear it by expanding to Serbia's market, whereas Vuk wants to finance a Belgrade metro, but its EU funds are frozen due to a veto of a Croatian politician, the two men decide to accept the wedding between Ana and Nebojša to mutually settle their business problems. The wedding is planned in Crikvenica, but a lot of problems arise, including if it should be a Catholic or an Orthodox wedding. Nebojša and Ana wed outside of this chaos on a boat by a skipper. Ana gives birth and the families reconcile. 

Croat-Serb relations often make for good movie topics, and Igor Seregi's "The Wedding", which thematizes a wedding between two Croat-Serb families, surprisingly became the highest-grossing Croatian film up until that time, with over 400,000 tickets sold at the local box office. The first 20 minutes of "The Wedding" are good because they deliciously set up the quirky concept, and several jokes are good there (for instance, Nebojsa having a video call with his parents to tell them about his pregnant girlfriend, telling vaguely that she is "from our areas"; when Miljenko says that there will be no official photograph of the wedding, which will be handled by grandma, who adds: "I will only photograph our side of family!"). But after that (starting from around the entrance of the rapper), the film slowly fades away, and the remainder is just a routine empty walk on auto-pilot. The actors are enthusiastically speaking out their mediocre lines, but at the end of the day, they are still just mediocre lines. The film is a blend of a soap opera and a sitcom, without a more versatile creative latitude. It's as if they just wrote some good jokes at the start, and then just gave up and delivered a standard, thin storyline without inspiration. The lazy finale seems to have been just added to finish the film, not to reach some climax of humor or offer some good bits. A small highlight is Serbian actress Andelka Stevic Zugic as Dragana, who has some comic authority ("We need to get a horse." - "A horse?" - "Am I in a cave with an echo, or why are my words constantly being repeated back to me?"), and she is much more interesting than the rest of the characters. Surprisingly, the wedding couple is highly marginalized and we do not find out much about them. It is a solid film, but overall, they could have made a much more imaginative story from this concept, since its potentials were left unused.  

Grade:+

Johnny Suede

Johnny Suede; comedy, USA, 1991; D: Tom DiCillo, S: Brad Pitt, Catherine Keener, Calvin Levels, Alison Moir, Michael Luciano, Samuel L. Jackson

Brooklyn. Johnny Suede wants to be a rock n' roll star. Unfortunately, his hairdo is bigger than his talent, and thus he has to work as a wall painter to pay his rent. Johnny is practicing playing guitar with his friend Deke, trying to form a band. Johnny starts a relationship with Darlette, even though her jealous boyfriend lives right across the street, and hopes to make it since Darlette's mom works for a music producer. However, Darlette finally reveals she doesn't love him. Johnny's next girlfriend is Yvonne, but he constantly postpones moving in with her. Johnny follows a woman in the subway and sleeps with her in her apartment. When he returns to Yvonne, who prepared birthday presents for him, she smells a female perfume on him and realizes he cheated on her. They argue and break up. However, Johnny later returns to Yvonne's place and says he's sorry.

An inadvertent forerunner to the cartoon character "Johnny Bravo", Tom DiCillo's feature length debut "Johnny Suede" is a vague, thin and strangely underdeveloped film. The meandering story without a clear goal or purpose is all over the place, hopping from episode to episode, all until the disappointing, inconclusive ending which feels like a cop-out. Nonetheless, it is notable for featuring the then unknown Brad Pitt in one of his early leading roles, here playing the swab title hero with a 6-inch hairdo sticking up above his head, allegedly done without a wig. Suede is an exaggerated, but still palpable depiction of the lower class trying to make it big by following their dream, but the harsh reality always gets in their way and leaves them right where they are. However, this grey routine somehow contaminated the whole film, which is unable to be hip enough. Some good jokes manage to lift the film up from its drab mood: for instance, the dialogue between Darlette and Johnny when they first meet at a night club: "You remind me of a prince in a fairytale." - "With that pink dress on, you remind me of a strawberry ice cream cone." In another one, Johnny is so annoyed by two men in suits in the subway train, where one imagines the love of his life will just show up eventually by destiny: "Yeah, she's out there. Somewhere." So Johnny sarcastically adds: "You know what, you're right, she is out there, in fact I just saw her in the next train, she's all dressed up as Cinderella, asking everybody if there is a stupid idiot who looks like you!" There is even a dream sequence where a dwarf stabs Johnny, which might have influenced DiCillo in his next film "Living in Oblivion". "Johnny Suede" never really connects as a whole and feels more like patchwork, but has one highlight: Catherine Keener, who is excellent in her supporting role as Yvonne, Johnny's much more consequential girlfriend.

Grade:+

Nixon

Nixon; drama, USA, 1995; D: Oliver Stone, S: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, J. T. Walsh, James Woods, Powers Boothe, Paul Sorvino, E. G. Marshall, Bob Hoskins, David Hyde Pierce, Kevin Dunn, Fyvush Finkel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, Madeline Kahn, Dan Hedaya

A chronicle of the 37th American president Richard Nixon. As a Republican, he ran for president in 1 9 6 0, but lost in the debate against Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy. Nixon promised his wife Pat that he would not run again. However, he did and was elected president in 1 9 6 9. He continued the Vietnam War and even expanded it through US bombing of Cambodia, making him even more unpopular. However, his Chief of Staff Harry Haldeman and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger supported him. In 1 9 7 2 Nixon met with Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In his second term, the Watergate scandal, a covert attempt at wiretapping the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C., took its toll, and under pressure, Nixon resigns in 1 9 7 4.

Despite complaints of Nixon family members, Oliver Stone's biopic is probably the most humanistic portrait possible of the 37th US president Richard Nixon without losing its balance and objectivity. Even though he hated his presidency, Stone strives towards a neutral, unbiased and professional depiction of the politician, who is here excellently played by Anthony Hopkins: he reproduces an impeccable accent of Nixon, but does not physically resemble him, and thus certain prosthetics on his nose and jawline would have been welcomed. The crystal clear cinematography by the brilliant cinematographer Robert Richardson is stunning, all the supporting roles are well cast (including Bob Hoskins as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover), whereas some insights are surprising (for instance, the detail that E. Howard Hunt blackmailed the president (!) and demanded money for his trial of the Watergate scandal). However, overall, at 3-hours of running time, "Nixon" is perplexingly unfocused and disorganized, with random, excessive scenes and overlong running time, seemingly hoping from episode to episode without some tighter grip of a narrative thread. For instance, except for Nixon and his wife Pat (Joan Allen), we do not find out much about any other character in the film, who are just random supporting wheels. Nixon's meeting with Mao Zedong is handled almost superficially. Still, the movie looks modern even today, and several little details have weight (during a dinner on the yacht where he was discussing expanding the Vietnam War, Nixon's steak starts to bleed on the plate; upon Haig saying that they cannot get around the Supreme Court demanding the tapes, Nixon adds that he picked three of them there; Nixon observing Kennedy's painting: "When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are").

Grade:++

Vuk: The Little Fox

Vuk; animated film, Hungary, 1981; D: Attila Dargay, S: József Gyabronka, Judit Pogány, Teri Földi, Gyula Szabó

Vuk is one of the fox cubs of a lair under a tree. The fox father goes to get some chicken from the farm of a hunter, while Vuk goes out to explore the forest. The hunter follows the fox father with his dog and a gun to the lair and kills them. Vuk returns to find the lair empty, but his fox uncle Karak adopts him and brings him to a cave on a hill. Vuk grows up and continues stealing chicken from the farm, where he also saves a female fox from a cage. The hunter and his hound dogs start a giant search raid, Karak runs to distract their attention, but is shot and killed. Vuk takes his revenge by attacking the farm. The hunter places bear traps, but gets caught in them himself, together with two of his dogs. Vuk and the female fox get their own fox cubs in a lair.

The highest-grossing Hungarian film of the 80s, with over 2,400,000 tickets sold at the local box office, one of the most famous animated films by the Pannonia Film Studio, "Vuk" is more beloved in its home country than outside its borders. It did not age well. Intended as some sort of a Hungarian-wolf answer to Disney's "Bambi", "Vuk" seems more like a kids movie done in a kids way than a kids movie done in a clever, universal way which is able to keep the interest of the grown up viewers as well. The only two more ambitious moments are the dramatic, albeit restrained scenes of the murder to Vuk's family and later his uncle Karak by the hunter (we never see the faces of the human characters, who are only visible from their legs), but even they are not able to elaborate into a more emotional experience. Not much is going on, and the scenes involving the clumsy hound dogs of the hunter are too goofy, but some scenes have humor (the two geese getting drunk on the farm; Vuk liberating the female fox behind bars by taking stones away from underneath the wheels of a wagon which crashes into the cage, demolishing its bars). For the time that it was made, the animation is good, but still a bit clumsy, while it also constructs a bigger theme of the circle of life and some cycles in development, noticeable that movie basically begins and ends in the same setting. A charming, amusing animated film, yet too rudimentary, and therefore it is no match for "The Land Before Time" or "Fantastic Mr. Fox".   

Grade:++

Cat City

Macskafogó; animated spy comedy, Hungary / Canada / Germany, 1986; D: Béla Ternovszky, S: László Sinkó, Miklós Benedek, Péter Haumann, János Körmendi

Anthropomorphic mice are terrorized in their city by a crime cat syndicate led by mafioso Teufel and his boss Gatto. After the cats rob a mouse bank using a tank, the mice send their special agent Nick Grabowski to go to Professor Fushimishi in an oriental country and get a secret microfilm from him that will save the mice. Teufel, who has wiretapped the secret mouse headquarters, dispatches four rat gangsters to stop Grabowski. Upon finding Fushimishi, and the microfilm hidden in his beard, Grabowski takes his female assistant Seno San with him, but both are caught by the cats and sent to Gatto during a special cat party. However, Grabowski and San are saved by mouse police officer Dick who befriended bats who flew and helped them. The microfilm has a plan that gives the mice a secret weapon: a giant robot dog that catches all the cats and transforms them into peaceful animals.

One of the most popular animated films by the Pannonia Film Studio, "Cat City" (also translated as "Cat-Catcher") enjoys cult status in Hungary, but outside its borders, its appeal and enthusiasm doesn't quite hold up. It is a blend of James Bond-style spy films, gangster films and comedy, which is uneven, but has its bizarre moments of charm. The protagonist is supposed to be secret mouse agent Nick Grabowski, but he is featured surprisingly little, only for about a third of the film, while the cat villain Teufel is given too much screen time, almost overshadowing him. A third subplot, revolving around a mumbling mouse police officer Dick who got lost in the jungle and met some Mexican bats, is superfluous and could have been cut altogether. Nonetheless, "Cat City" has a good amount of jokes and luckily doesn't go into too abstract-surreal territory. The "Star Wars"-style opening credits are already amusing, depicting the setting as "80 AMM (Anno Mickey Mouse)", whereas someone can enter the mouse intelligence headquarters only via a "tail scan" machine, and in there a committee member complains about Grabowski: "After the King Kong situation, he told everybody that he is the 13th reincarnation of Mickey Mouse". There are themes of a stronger nation trying to dominate a weaker one, but the director Bela Ternovszky is mostly only interested in crafting a simple action comedy. It is a chaotic patchwork, but some ideas have that coveted creativity and inspiration (after jumping from the plane, Grabowski is falling from the sky holding San in his arm, but then comments that it is raining, so he ejects a parachute from his backpack, which works conveniently both as an umbrella and a softener for their landing).  

Grade:++

Living in Oblivion

Living in Oblivion; comedy, USA, 1995; D: Tom DiCillo, S: Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck, James LeGros, Peter Dinklage

Nick is a director of an independent film. He tries to film a scene of actress Nicole playing the role of a woman confessing to her mother that her father hit her, but numerous problems keep messing up the take. In the end, a beeping sound is heard. Nick wakes up, it was all a dream... High-profile actor Chad Palomino joins the cast of Nick's film, but constantly keeps changing the place of his position with Nicole on the set, leaving him out of the frame. His arrogance causes a fight with Nick, who beats Chad and leaves him unconscious in a cab. Nicole wakes up, it was all a dream... Nick wants to direct a dream scene, but the dwarf actor Tito protests that it doesn't make sense and leaves the set. Nick's mom surprisingly takes Tito's place, holds an apple for Nicole, and thus the scene is filmed. Nick is so pleased he fantasizes of winning an award for the film.  

Sometimes, behind-the-scenes problems of making a movie are more interesting than the finished movie, and director Tom DiCillo uses his own personal experience from filmmaking in this fun independent comedy. "Living in Oblivion" is a one-note concept overstretched into a feature, but is still an honest ode to all artists everywhere struggling to achieve their vision, and their dream work of art, despite all the obstacles and opposition. It is comprised out of three segments. The first one is filmed in black-and-white cinematography, except in the actual scene of the film which is in color, and shows how a single take can be ruined in so many ways that it becomes absurdly creative: a boom mic falls into the frame; loud music from someone's car outside on the street is heard; or the hilarious moment where the actress Nicole (excellent Catherine Keener) is reciting her line, but all of a sudden fragments of glass fall into the scene, as the light exploded from too much heat.

The second segment is filmed in color, except for the scene from the fictional film which is in black-and-white, but this time depicting the tribulations caused by a "hot shot" movie star Chad, who is trying to direct a scene more than the director Nick himself. In one of the best ideas, Chad persuades the cameraman to place actress Nicole from the foreground into the background, with himself in the close up, under the pretext that she says "I've always admired you from afar". Even better is the scene where Nick sits next to Nicole and repeats the played scene almost word-for-word, admitting he admired her as an actress. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from the bad idea that the first two segments are revealed to be only a dream, implying that only the last 30 minutes are the actual filming of the movie, which should have been re-written to be included as one continuous, uninterrupted story from three different days. The last segment revolves around the dwarf actor Tito (Peter Dinklage in an early role) in all seriousness confronting Nick about the illogical nature of a dream sequence: "Why does my character have to be a dwarf?! ... Oh, make it weird, put a dwarf in it! Everyone will go: whoa whoa whoa, it must be a dream, there's a dwarf in it!" Other good gags are the smoke machine for said dream sequence which causes so much smoke in the room that it triggers the smoke detector, or the cameraman Wolf who is wearing an eyepatch, but a tear flows underneath it. Not every joke works, some are forced or underwhelming, and DiCillo doesn't have such a sense for comic timing, but overall, "Living in Oblivion" is a loving homage to underdogs trying to realize their dream. 

Grade:+++

The Real Blonde

The Real Blonde; comedy, USA, 1997; D: Tom DiCillo, S: Matthew Modine, Catherine Keener, Maxwell Caulfield, Daryl Hannah, Bridgette Wilson, Mario Thomas, Kathleen Turner, Elizabeth Berkley, Denis Leary, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd

New York. Joe wants to make it as an actor, but is only working as a waiter and still has no agent. Joe is questioning his relationship with his girlfriend Mary, deeming their sex underwhelming lately. His co-worker Bob accepts a job at a TV soap opera and wants to find a real blonde. Joe meets with agent Dee Dee and accepts to perform as an extra in a Madonna music video, but instead of the singer, only her stand-in is on the set, Tina. Due to an argument with an anti-Judaist assistant, Joe is fired. However, Dee Dee lets him audition for a role with Tina, and Joe gets a part in a movie. Tina kisses him, Joe at first embraces her, but then stops, leaves and returns back to Mary. Joe and Mary have passionate sex again and thus make up. 

Tom DiCillo's only big budget Hollywood film, "The Real Blonde" has a story that is difficult to pin down: ostensibly, it is about a blonde, but it uses that only as a symbol for a contemplation about integrity and happiness. The main character is struggling actor Joe (very good Matthew Modine), trying to make it in New York, which again touches upon DiCillo's themes of struggling artists and filmmaking from "Living in Oblivion"—Steve Buscemi even practically reprises his role as the director of the Madonna music video. The best bits are Joe's relationship scenes with Mary (outstandingly natural and genuine Catherine Kenner): as a couple, they are not idealized, they have troubles, they argue, but they have the ability to listen, improve and understand each other as truly grown up characters, which is fascinating. The movie starts with Joe and Mary in a crisis in bed, as they hear through the window of their apartment that some old lady's dog is kidnapped on the street; conversely, the movie ends with Joe and Mary making up and having wonderful sex in bed, as the old lady outside spots her lost dog returning back to her on the street. The dog is thus a symbol for balance, comfort in Joe's and Mary's relationship, which is lost, but then found again.

Their crisis is caused by Joe's refusal to star in TV soap operas, deeming them weak, as he only aims for artistic roles in quality films, but this way he is often short on money. As his agent tells him, he must be willing to accept even bad roles in soap operas, because that's all "just business". Joe's friend Bob is basically Joe's "what if?" shadow: Bob is also an actor, but accepts to star in a soap opera for money. Bob is thus a symbol for shallowness and giving up for easy comfort. He is looking for a "real blonde", but eventually ends up with a woman who admits she only dyed her hair and is a brunette. In a skillful twist of the viewers' assumptions, DiCillo implies that Joe is also technically a blond, a male blonde, but has integrity and standards. Ironically, Mary thus ends up with a real blond, while Bob ends with a fake blonde, because he is so superficial. The storyline defies a typical three-act structure and meanders a lot, but for some reason it flows so smoothly and naturally that it is simply engaging to watch it. The movie is often funny through little character quirks and lines, whereas these characters grow on you. One has sympathy for Joe who navigates through this world of weird videos and photo shoots about nothing, without a soul. In one crucial sequence, Joe meets Tina who has blond hair; later, they meet again at an audition, but Tina now has natural brown hair. Tina kisses him, but he decides to return to Mary. Is the message that small, imperfect happiness is still preferable to idealized, illusory happiness because it is at least—real? Either way, "The Real Blonde" is a comfy fun.

Grade:+++

Unseen Wonder

Čudo neviđeno; satire, Montenegro / Serbia, 1984; D: Živko Nikolić, S: Savina Geršak, Petar Božović, Boro Begović, Dragan Nikolić, Taško Načić, Vesna Pećanac, Boro Stjepanović, Danilo 'Bata' Stojković, Velimir 'Bata' Živojinović

A small village on the Skadar lake. A young American woman comes to visit, claiming her father once lived in this village. She finds a job as a waitress of a tavern, seduces its owner Baro and even persuades him to sign the ownership over to her name. Four lads from a neighboring village try to woo her, but she wants to know who is the strongest among them, so they end up fighting each other. Šćepan, a tycoon, persuades her to seduce every man and trick him into signing a document approving for his plan to build a tunnel which will drain the lake and leave a fertile valley for a plantation farm. The American woman seduces also Boro, who is unsuccessfully trying for years to have his wife Krstinja impregnated. Since the sea level is higher than the lake level, the lake floods the area. The American woman wants to marry fisherman Zeljo, but while they were on a boat, the clash with another group of men on a boat, shoot and fight, until all the men die and she is left the only one alive on the boats.

"Unseen Wonder" is considered one of the best Montenegrin movies by one of the best Montenegrin directors, Zivko Nikolic, a peculiar, but delicious satire in which the director tells one of the most ironic stories of Yugoslav cinema: the one how Western liberalism and modernism, embodied in, of course, a woman (excellent Savina Gersak) arrives to the backward conservative East and causes such a stir and commotion that it eventually reforms / destroys it. Nikolic makes fun of conservatism, patriarchism, religion, pseudo-scientific local "experts" and overall primitivism of the most backward Balkan areas with gusto, inserting a lot of humor with a lot of sense for local mentality. Several observations are subtle (all the women work in the lake, while all the men just lazily sit in the pub and drink), while some are so direct it is hard to miss them. The main protagonist, a nameless American woman of Montenegrin roots, finds this place and surprisingly turns it into her very own party, always keeping the upper hand, in a more logical feminist retelling of Pasolini's film "Teorema", using her erotic touch to control the men in her favor. 

Several jokes are very funny. For instance, the American woman swims naked in the Skadar lake, while two Orthodox priests observe her from the monastery: "What is this, father Makarije? A fallen angel punished by God or the devil in woman's body?" - "No, father Leontije, that's just what the blunt people would call, a good pussy!" Makarije is later seen "helping" the infertile woman Krstinja by telling her to lie on the bed in the monastery room, while he has sex with her to "help" her become pregnant. Just as her husband Šoro wanted to divorce her since the American woman claims to be pregnant with him, Krstinja announces she is pregnant as well. Later on, in a twist, Krstinja demands that the American woman hands her the baby after birth, revealing she just placed a pillow on her stomach under the skirt—but the American woman then also reveals her own pillow from under the skirt. In a sequence where a man secretly brings the American woman to his home at night, his father wakes up and protests, as they have this exchange: "You bring this freak here? If she enters this house, I am leaving!" - "Oh, father, you will leave even sooner than that." Serb comedian Danilo Stojkovic has an unusual role of the tycoon Šćepan who wants to drain the lake, but is still excellent in it. The ending is a bit vague and incomplete, failing to circle out everything clearly, but the overall conclusion is still amusing.

Grade:+++

Fiume o morte!

Fiume o morte!; docudrama, Croatia / Italy / Slovenia, 2025; D: Igor Bezinović, S: Andrea Marsanich, Albano Vučetić, Tihomir Buterin, Izet Medošević, Massimo Ronzani, Lovro Mirth, Silvana Zorich

Following the end of World War I, the Allied forces (Italians, French, Americans, British...) enter the city of Rijeka (Italian: Fiume). Austria-Hungary dissolves, Italy gains Istria, but the status of Rijeka on the border remains uncertain. On 12 September 1 9 1 9, Italian poet and ultra-nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio unilaterally gathers hundreds of volunteers and crosses with 26 trucks into Rijeka, claiming it for Italy. However, since the left-wing government of Italy at that time refuses to annex Rijeka, fearing a clash with Yugoslavia, D'Annunzio declares himself as the governor of Rijeka, enjoying in parties and cocaine. Thousands of Italian volunteers flock to Rijeka to form his private army. Following the Treaty of Rapallo, Rijeka is supposed to become the Free State of Fiume. Since D'Annunzio refuses to accept the treaty, on 24 December 1 9 2 0 Italian soldiers invade Rijeka, defeat the local army and chase away D'Annunzio. In 1 9 2 2, Benito Mussolini becomes the dictator of Italy. Two years later, he annexes the Free State of Fiume. 

Documentary-docudrama "Fiume o morte!" is a chronicle of one of the most bizarre and surreal episodes from not only the Croatian, Italian, but also European history: the case of Italian ultra-nationalist Gabriele D'Annunzio who, on a whim, spontaneously invaded Rijeka after World War I with his volunteers, claiming it for Italy—but Italy refused to annex it, which led to an almost 1.5 year long standoff, where D'Annunzio led the city as a private property. The director Igor Bezinovic films on real locations, elegantly blending in staged scenes and archive footage: in one of the most genius moments, the scene of actors playing D'Annunzio and his followers holding a speech on a balcony of a building, the camera zooms out into a wide shot, revealing an empty location, but then cuts to the black-and-white photo of that identical place from 1 9 1 9, with hundreds of people in the crowd cheering at D'Annunzio. The opening scenes show a hand holding a photo of old bridges of Rijeka from a hundred years ago, and then lowering said photos to reveal real life locations today. 

Bezinovic also mixes delightfully quirky humor and metafilm touches: D'Annunzio is played by six actors (!), each at one point of the film, whereas even bloopers are allowed (an old woman pats and comforts the fever-struck D'Annunzio lying in bed, but then both actors randomly burst into laughter at speaking out these absurd theatrical lines; an extra playing D'Annunzio's soldier at Korzo is addressed by a random grandma, who tells him the soldier outfit "doesn't suit him" and that he should "dance with a girl in a disco" instead). The first half is very amusing and educational, showing D'Annunzio as a sort of proto-fascist (in one archive footage, he is even seen giving a Roman salute; Benito Mussolini visited him for one day in Rijeka), but, unfortunately, the movie runs out of steam and becomes dull after a while, and is definitely overlong with its running time of 113 minutes. "Fiume o morte!" certainly needed a better editor, since several scenes are superfluous and could have been cut (interviewing actors reading out for the audition; soldiers singing; guys playing on the beach...). Despite its overstretched tone and some questionable idiosyncrasies (why does the narration suddenly switch from Croatian to Fiuman Italian?), "Fiume o morte!" is still a valuable film spotlighting one of the most ironic historical lessons, since D'Annunzio is a symbolic forerunner to the failure of fascism in itself.

Grade:+++

Spy

Spy; action comedy, USA, 2015; D: Paul Feig, S: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Jason Statham, Jude Law, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Morena Baccarin

Susan works as a dispatcher for the CIA agent Bradley, giving him info through his ear piece. When he gets assassinated by the mysterious arms dealer Rayna, the CIA takes a daring step of giving Susan the job of a spy to discover more info about a missing nuclear bomb. CIA spy Ford objects, and secretly follows her. Susan manages to gain Rayna's trust in Rome, presenting herself as Rayna's father's bodyguard. In Budapest, Susan is uncovered by Rayna's men, and she finds out Bradley only feigned his death to pretend he teamed up with Rayna. Together with the clumsy Italian agent Aido and friend Nancy, Susan is able to stop Rayne from selling the nuclear bomb to criminal De Luca. 

"Spy" is a moderately funny spoof on various spy and secret agent movies, incorporating just enough jokes to carry the film. The director Paul Feig has only a half-successful sense for comic timing: in his better moments, he can conjure up a few funny gags; conversely, during his weaker moments, he relies too much on empty, overlong babbling or just plain lazy zany scenes to cover up a lack of true comic inspiration. Melissa McCarthy is fun as the CIA dispatcher Susan who is sent on a mission as a spy, while Jason Statham is a real surprise as the clumsy CIA agent Ford, cast against type in a rare comic role. Some of the best moments arrive as spoofs of various action cliches: for instance, just as Susan is in danger of being shot, Ford suddenly enters the room triumphantly, seemingly as one of those "saved-in-the-nick-of-time" moments, only for his trench coat to get stuck on the door knob, him dropping the gun, slipping, and then falling clumsily on the floor, knocking himself unconscious. As Ford is later seen boarding a motorboat, claiming he will go for an Italian vacation to relax, starting it and shouting "Arrivederci!", Nancy and Susan look at him and have this exchange: "Do you think he knows that's a lake?" - "No". The Italian secret agent Aido also has a good humorous moment when, after acting horny and with a bad accent all the time, he suddenly appears in a fancy suit and andresses Susan in a perfectly gentleman manner and impeccable British accent, claiming to be an MI6 agent who was "just carried away with playing a lustful Italian". Several jokes fail to ignite or have a punchline. The movie could have been cut by at least half an hour by simply removing said lackluster attempts at humor, but even as it is, it is efficient and has enough fun.

Grade:++

Rental Family

Rental Family; comedy / drama, Japan / USA, 2025; D: Hikari, S: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Akira Emoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Mari Yamamoto, Shino Shinozaki

Tokyo. Desperate due to the fact that nobody wants to cast him, small time American actor Phillip accepts to work for the Rental Family company led by Shinji, which specializes in actors playing real-life roles for clients. Phillip thus plays several roles: a friend of a man who wants to play video games with someone; a husband for a fake wedding of a lesbian woman intended to appease her parents, so that she can get away from them; a father for the 6-year old Mia, since her mother Hitomi believes that her daughter will be enrolled in a prestigious school if she is not a single parent; a reporter interviewing retired actor Kikuo, ostensibly to write an article about him... Phillip gets emotionally attached to the last two jobs. Mia figures out he is not her real dad, is angry, but makes up with him. Kikuo dies after Phillip brings him to his birth town. Shinji thus reforms the company: it now offers no apology services.

An unusual film that explores the unusual 21st century phenomenon of alienated modern Japan, companies for Rental family services, this comedy-drama is both comical and sad, and the more you think about it, the sadder this concept gets. Brendan Fraser is good as the American expat Phillip struggling to understand Japan, and thus accepts the task of playing acting roles in real life for hire to better "blend in", for people who need a friend, a fake husband, and even a fake father. Through it, the director and screenwriter Hikari paints a bigger picture of absence of human touch, contact and connection lost in urban megalopolises, which mutate into stranger and stranger directions. At moments, the disappearing border between deception and reality seems as bizarre as "The Truman Show": Phillip is suppose to fill in the gap for missing relationships, but he feels more and more like a fake himself. Hikari shows a lot of sense for humor (Phillip's over-the-top toothpaste commercial; the scene where Phillip pretends to be Hitomi's husband for the school interview, and when the committee asks them what is the most important in raising a child, he and Hitomi answer differently at the same time: "Honesty" and "Communication", so Phillip improvises to save the situation: "An honest communication"), yet becomes surprisingly emotional in the last third, when Phillip actually becomes friends with retired actor Kikuo and the 6-year old Mia, playing her "dad". "Rental Family" lacks some higher creative "jumps", and it should have included at least one moment where Phillip's separate acting jobs overlap and contradict each other, which is a pity, but it does have an interesting moment where Mia recognizes Phillip playing a pirate in a movie. The emotional bond between Mia and her surrogate father Phillip is surprisingly sweet, showing that sometimes even surrogate emotions can traverse from fake to real.

Grade:++

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Sawt Hind Rajab; docudrama, Tunisia / France, 2025; D: Kaouther Ben Hania, S: Motaz Malhees, Saja Kilani, Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury 

Gaza War. The Israeli army orders the evacuation of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood. On 29 January 2024, Red Crescent telephone worker Omar receives a phone call from the 5-year year old Hind Rajab, a girl who is trapped in a car that was shot at from a tank, which left five of her relatives dead. The car is stranded near the Fares gas station, an 8-minute car drive from the Red Crescent building. Omar is pressuring his boss Mahdi, the coordinator, to dispatch an ambulance to get Hind, but they must first wait for the approval of the Israeli authorities. Rana and Nisreen are also on the phone, talking to the girl, trying to calm her. After a green light, an ambulance is finally dispatched to pick up Hind, but is shot at and the contact breaks. At 7:30 pm, Hind is not heard of again. Weeks later, after Israeli army withdrawal, Hind's corpse is found in the car that was shot at with 335 bullets.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab" is a movie that destroys you. One cannot enjoy it, it is impossibly painful, but it is an essential watch. From the cinematic aspect, it is remarkable—it is an re-enactment of the Red Crescent workers who talked on the phone to Hind Rajab, it plays out only within this one location (except for the epilogue which includes archive footage of crime investigators and Hind's mother), and yet it is engaging, gripping and absorbing from start to finish. The title character, the 5-year old girl, is never seen, only heard via audio. The director Kaouther Ben Hania elegantly blends in real-life audio of Hind with actors who play Red Crescent workers, and even in one scene shows actors playing said workers Nisreen and Omar sitting and standing on the table while talking to Hind, while someone is holding a mobile phone in front of the camera, playing a recording of actual footage of Nisreen and Omar in this exact pose, overlayed over actors re-enacting this scene. And yet, the human dimension is the one that stays with you the most. Hearing the voice of this 5-year old child, scared, crying for help, hoping someone will save her from the car, surrounded by five dead relatives, is the ultimate agony of helplessness. It is impossible to watch it without becoming emotional. But then again, this is a story that simply had to be told. Humanity owed it to Hind to tell this story. The viewers share their frustration with Omar who argues with his boss Mahdi that they were not given green light to simply go get the girl—after all, she is only a 40-minute walk away from them, and they have been talking to her over the phone for two hours. Still, anyone who is not given authorization to go to a certain route during Gaza War, will simply be shot, and as the finale shows, some will be shot even in an ambulance van and even with this authorization. This is a chronicle of the war crime of indiscriminate attack and murder, and the people who just watch this, without having any power to stop it. Some of the most tear-inducing movies that will make you cry are not "Titanic" or "Life is Beautiful"—but "The Voice of Hind Rajab".

Grade:+++

The Fifth Seal

Az Ötödik Pecsét; psychological war drama, Hungary, 1976; D: Zoltán Fábri, S: Lajos Őze, László Márkus, Sándor Horváth, Ferenc Bencze, István Dégi, Zoltán Latinovits

Budapest, World War II. Four friends gather at a closed bar and talk at the table: Gyurica, Kovacs, Kiraly and Bela, the innkeeper. A man with a limp, on crutches, Keszei, unexpectedly enters and joins them. Gyurica poses a philosophical question: on a fictional island, a monarch, Tomoceusz Katatiki, abuses his slave Gyugyu by cutting his tongue, poking one of his eyes, taking away his children. But Gyugyu at least feels comfort that he is superior by being good and innocent, regardless. If they were to die, would they choose to be reborn as Tomoceusz or Gyugyu? That night, all the friends sleep badly, struggling with this question. They are arrested by Fascist agents and beaten in a prison for calling them murderers. A Fascist official shows them a dying anti-Fascist tied in a Christ-like pose and tells them they are free to go if they slap him twice. They all refuse and are executed, except Gyurica who slaps him and is released. As he walks, buildings collapse from bombings.

One of the best movies of the 70s, a one that feels equally as fresh and relevant even today, Zoltan Fabri's "The Fifth Seal" is a phenomenal philosophical film posing the ultimate moral question: if they were forced to pick a side, would people choose the stronger evil or the weaker good? Would they choose to save their soul if it is not rewarding? This is a highly unusual film, contemplating about Jean Paul Sartre's bad faith thought experiment and the external pressures that persuade people to accept false values, but also displaying a strange structure. In the opening 42-minute segment, "The Fifth Seal" plays out on only one location, a bar, consisting only out of five people talking at the table. At first, the viewers are not sure what kind of a film they are watching, nor where this is going. All this is initially static. Until the protagonist Gyurica poses a thought provoking question: if they were forced to choose, would they pick to live as an evil, cruel, powerful tyrant or his slave who is constantly abused and mistreated, but remains incorruptibly purehearted? In the intermission segment, the four friends cannot sleep because they are struggling with this question, doubting their own ethics and integrity. 

As Kovacs and Bela observe, they are passive to the world around them, because that is the least dangerous ("I've got no wealth, but I've got clear conscience!" - "Our names won't be printed in history books, but we never did anything evil, either"). Nothing is shown as black-and-white, either: Gyurica is a cynic, but secretly takes care not only for his three children at home, but is also hiding a Jewish girl during World War II; whereas the opportunistic Bela is paying money both to a Fascist commander and to a woman whose husband was taken away by the Fascists, since he calculates that he can thus have evidence of both pro-Fascism and anti-Fascism after the war, depending on whoever wins. While the first segment is the moral question in theory, the last segment is the practice: the four friends are arrested by Fascists, beaten in jail, and then given an impossible choice. They must abandon their self-respect and show loyalty to the Fascists by slapping a tortured man, half-dead, standing in a Christ-like pose as his two hands are tied up in opposite directions in jail—if they hit him, they are free to go; if they refuse, they will be shot. "The Fifth Seal" is one of the rare movies where the last 15 minutes decisively decide the impression of the whole: all the doubts from the opening act disappear and the viewers are left feeling shattered, trying to pull themselves together after experiencing such intensity and contemplation. This is, in essence, a Christian film about saving your soul and being good. If it had been directed by I. Bergman, "The Fifth Seal" would have been one of the top 5 best Bergman movies. As it has been directed by Fabri, it is one of the best Hungarian movies of the 20th century. 

Grade:+++