Goldbeater

This short by Gaspar Noé is a sneak peek into the gloomy life of a horse butcher from the suburbs of Paris. Over the course of several years, the viewer can unveil his unhealthy relationship with his speech-impaired teenage daughter and the cultivation of hatred against the entire world. This film serves as a prologue to the subsequent I Stand Alone, so it’s a good idea to watch these two flicks in a row. However, since the naturalistic scene at the beginning is not for the faint-of-heart, I definitely wouldn’t recommend this short to everyone – especially not to the horse lovers out there.

A hard-to-digest manifesto of hatred towards everything and everyone. During the whole film, we hear the uninterrupted monologue of the main character, who is determined to have a fight with the entire world at any cost. Gaspar Noé doesn’t hesitate to touch on themes like nationalism, homophobia or incest, teasing the audience to see how much they can endure, even exhorting us, using a timer for a few seconds, to leave the screening before reaching the final scene. The latter, however, is not that shocking after all that has preceded, and doesn’t tear the viewer apart. I can’t totally figure out to what extent Noé’s violent charade was self-serving; therefore I reserve a potentially higher ranking for a possible second screening. If only I make up my mind and go for it.

Hostiles is a harsh Western that relates the quest for mutual respect between two fighters on a politically oriented path (akin to Saving Private Ryan). Surprisingly, there are many parallels with another modern Western, 3:10 to Yuma, be it for the story structure, the similar atmosphere, or the starring of Christian Bale and Ben Foster. Otherwise, Hostiles follows its own slow-paced route and skilfully draws the audience in. Scott Cooper’s direction is flawless. The scene where Metz (Rory Cochrane) kneels in front of the chief’s tent would be incredibly clichéd if presented differently, but, thanks to the brilliant acting performance and the way Cooper directed, is, to my eyes, the highlight of the film. [KVIFF 2018]

It’s important you find out the least possible about this film prior to watching it. Knowing the background of the characters in advance would definitely ruin the surprises in store for you. With its raw repulsive scenes and slow tempo, Border offers a really bizarre and grim experience that will put off more viewers than it will gain. The filming is subtle and the acting performance, splendid (kudos to the central duo of actors). That being said, a swifter pace of the storyline wouldn’t hurt. My appreciation is scaled down due to the long-winded ending, yet I enjoyed the film’s singularity. [KVIFF 2018]

This John Carpenter's non-stop action and entertaining crazy comedy features a witty Kurt Russell, who sneaks into the underground of San Francisco’s Chinatown in order to save his buddy’s fiancée and get his stolen truck back. Nothing’s missing – the magic, the kung fu, the constant shooting and the exploding heads. One shouldn’t take Big Trouble in Little China seriously for even a second; it’s basically a fantastic series of gags best enjoyed as a midnight screening. I’m glad I was able to see it on the big screen. [KVIFF 2018]

Over the course of the first third, I found this compilation of scenes from San Francisco so unintelligible and chaotic that I felt quite an urge to leave the projection room. Then I started to notice some clues of a storyline, and it occurred to me that The Green Fog was telling, very loosely, the story from Hitchcock’s Vertigo using shots from other films – something that was confirmed a couple of times during the viewing. Nevertheless, even if I was glad I managed to decipher this flick at least a bit, I found it very disparate, disturbing in its editing and, above all, completely pointless. And what about that green fog? I seriously haven’t found out its signification yet. [KVIFF 2018]

This film didn’t speak to me at all. The message about how tough it is for a woman in Iran to be herself and rebel against her family and her surroundings, repeated all over again, wears out rather quickly and other than that, the film is so intellectually and emotionally empty to the point of being painful. And the interminable discourses of the characters about a bull with golden balls being a rare breed or dried circumcised foreskin having the power of bringing about a better future have not brought me any intellectual satisfaction. Endless torturous takes of someone going somewhere on the path or road alternate with scenes involving loud-mouthed, unsympathetic characters. The thing bored me, bothered me and left me totally cold. [KVIFF 2018]

The plotline is presented in a very lengthy way and forks into many branches that may or may not be directly related to the central one. In the second half, the slow and weird drama turns into a slow and weird thriller, the ending of which leaving you, for a long period after watching the film, wondering what really happened. And I must say that, even after several hours, I still don’t have any clear answer. But the direction and acting performances are flawless. [KVIFF 2018]

A very peculiar comedy by Richard Linklater in which the camera is going from one character to another and narrates a bunch of stories that are unrelated to each other, yet offer their own interesting specifics and styles. Each episode renders to the viewer one, two or several slackers and their escapades around Austin, Texas. Some of the dialogues are beautifully built, while others simply delight by their quirkiness – it’s impossible to get bored. And the silent, almost grotesque conclusion is flawless! Right after the viewing, I want to watch it all over again. [KVIFF 2018]

The best dance film since Dirty Dancing! The cinematography is just incredible. The camera revolves around the characters, makes long zoom-ins, somersaults and flips, crawls upside-down, peers down vertically… until you start feeling dizzy. Noé playfully makes fun of the viewer, for example with the end credits not being at the end at all, or by the means of editing – at some point, you get insanely long scenes in a single take, to then better contrast with a succession of short scenes and a generous amount of really eye-catching and aggressive cuts. In short, the structure of this film is totally polymorphic and completely deviates from the established conventions. And, certainly as Noé intended, Climax has the ability to enthral, entertain, disgust, disturb and frighten the viewer. [KVIFF 2018]