Marshland (orig. La Isla Mínima) [2014]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing
FilmAffinity.com/es listing*

CinEuropa.org (A. Rivera) review

APUM.com (J. Martín) review*
CineParaLeer.com (J.A. Planes Pedreño) review*

The Hollywood  Reporter (J. Holland) review
Variety (J. Weissberg) review

EyeForFilm.co.uk (A. Wilkinson) review
PopOptiq (E. Chaput) review


Marshland (orig. La Isla Mínima) [2014] [IMDb] [CEu] [FAes]*(directed and cowritten by Alberto Rodríguez [IMDb] [FAes]* along with Rafael Cobos [IMDb]*) is a 10 Goya Award winning CRIME DRAMA from SPAIN (the Goya Awards are Spain's equivalent to the Oscars) that played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held here at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.  The film is also available in the U.S. for viewing for a reasonable fee via various internet streaming services, including Amazon Instant Video.

Playing out in the coastal Guadalquivir Marshlands of Andalucía [IMDb-loc] in southern Spain (Florida Everglades-like marshlands not necessarily being what one thinks of when one thinks of Spain...) in 1980, hence in the years just after Gen. Franco's death and Spain's transition from Fascism to Democracy, the film is in good part about that Transition* (from Fascism to Democracy) and about how not necessarily certain / precarious it was.

Two federal police detectives, Pedro (played by Raúl Arévalo [IMDb] [FAes]*) and Juan (played by Javier Gutiérrez [IMDb] [FAes]*), are sent down from Madrid to the marshlands of southern Andalucía to investigate the disappearance of two teenage girls in an out-of-the-way hamlet there.  It's not exactly a promotion ... The older, middle aged, Juan reminds his younger partner Pedro as the younger one is looking for a phone to call his wife that they had arrived: "You may think that you live in a democracy now, but when you (stupidly/needlessly) criticize a General, this is what you (we...) get.  You're (we're ...) going to get slapped ..."

But the two have been sent to investigate a case, and Pedro's certainly convinced that if they just do a good job they'll be going back to Madrid soon.

When the two arrive the bodies of the two young girls had not yet been found, so there is still the faint hope that the two may have just "left town."  Why?  Well, when the two detectives talk to some of the teenage girls' classmates, it's clear that EVERYBODY (or at least every young person ...) just wanted to "get out of this swamp."

Where to?  How?  Among the possessions of one of the girls, the two find a brochure promising jobs at a resort hotel somewhere presumably some distance from said (and quite despised "swamp" (where the only jobs available seemed to be fishing and rice cultivation ...).

How'd one of the girls get in possession of said brochure promising a far brighter / more exciting future for young ladies than trudging through wetlands in galoshes under a baking hot sun to help with the rice harvest, or spend one's days. knife-in-hand, gutting fish on a Forrest Gump-like fishing trawler?

Well "there'd be guys" from out-of-town passing through this hamlet, often "on Feast Days" (when the town'd be partying) promising "the Moon" to these quite desperate and quite naive girls.  And, if one didn't want to wait "for a Feast Day" to meet a gent "with a car and some money," a good-looking girl could "make contact" with such an out-of-towner just by (literally) _walking_ the quite misty road at the edge of town at night.   Yes, an "out-of-towner" with a car and a few bills could find _all kinds_ of "comfort / recreation" just driving-out to such hinterlands "on a hot and steamy night..."  and then, there were _a lot_ of such nights in the hinterlands of Southern Andalucia ...

Okay, one so need not "go to the city" to find "a den of inequity" ... but what kind OF A PSYCHO would be _killing_ these young women, teenagers, who clearly were just looking to "better their circumstances"?

That's of course the rest of this NEO-NOIRISH film (Noir films generally being precisely about "unspeakable secrets" being kept down / quiet by multiple layers of corruption).

An arguably more interesting question becomes who of these two cops will be the one who solves this crime: the younger cop, the still somewhat naive "boyscoutish" Pedro (who even finds further support for his "boy scoutishness" by the recent transition from Franco's Dictatorship to still fledgling Democracy), or the _older one_ Juan, who entered said FEDERAL POLICE _DURING FRANCO'S TIME_ and had "learned to operate" under "a different set of SOPs."

Indeed, throughout the film, Juan remains ever impatient, _wanting_ to _just hit people_ who could help the two in their investigation ;-).

So we watch this rather odd team -- "the boy scout" and "the Nazi" -- both arguably "being punished by Madrid" seeking to (sort of) work together to solve this crime "out in the middle of a swamp."   And yet said crime becomes actually quite emblematic of exactly what was / had been going on in the larger society (people of power / means were able to get away with just about anything).

So the film becomes quite fascinating and with the U.S. going through a wave of scandals involving use of force by police, this becomes actually quite a fascinating film for Americans to watch in our day:  There can be advantages to "shaking the trees" (quite hard) BUT ... is it worth the other costs?

So this becomes another excellent and quite thought-provoking film ...


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The Paradise Suite [2015]

MPAA (NR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars) 

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing

CineMagazine.nl (W. Los) review*
FilmTotaal.nl (M. Iwema) review*
Telegraaf.nl (F.  Melchers) review*

CinEuropa.org (G. Bettinardi) review
IndieWire / The Playlist (O.E. Kozak) review 
The Hollywood Reporter (D. Young) review
Variety (D. Harvey) review

The Paradise Suite [2015] [IMDb] [CEu] (written and directed by Joost van Ginkel [IMDb] [CEu]) is a DUTCH / SWEDISH / BULGARIAN coproduction that OPENED the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago.

Set largely in Amsterdam (though also in part in Sofia, Bulgaria), the film is organized in Crash [2004]-like fashion following four loosely intervening story-lines that challenge both the residents of Amsterdam as well as Europe in general with regards to their basic values / priorities.

The stories followed are those of:

(1) Jenya (played by quite wonderfully / convincingly by Bulgarian actress Anjela Nedyalkova who could honestly remind many Readers here both in her acting here and in her career of Penélope Cruz in her early years) a bright-eyed aspiring model from Sofia who arrives in Amsterdam along with two girlfriends thinking they were being hired to do a photo-shoot only to discover that the three had been _bought_ (!!) by Ivica (played magnificently in utterly schizo/sociopathic fashion by Serbian born actor Boris Isakovic) an Amsterdam residing, Mercedes driving "Family Man" / "Business Man" / Mobster / Former War Criminal (?!) from somewhere in the Balkans, who kisses his beautiful _half-his-age_ Russian born wife and infant son as he goes off to work in the morning, proceeds to preside over _the raping_ of "his newly arrived prostitutes to be" by his younger thugs in the afternoon and finishing-off the evening managing a few of his upper end "Gentlemen's Clubs" the swankiest with a "Paradise Suite" after which the film is named.

(2) Yaya (played again wonderfully by Isaka Sawadogo born in Burkina Faso) an immigrant / migrant from Africa who's just trying to make a more-or-less honest living cutting / packing flowers, mostly roses, working in a giant covered, artificially-lit "flower factory" at the outskirts of Amsterdam.  He finds himself in immediate need of a fair amount of extra cash when he discovers that his neighbor (in a truly quite awful makeshift housing tenement for immigrants of questionable legal status) a single mother, also from Africa with two young sons, stands to be thrown out of _her apartment_ unless she quickly pays-up 7 months of back-rent in a week.  To help this singel mother with her two young sons out, Yaya, who's caught unwanted attention of the landlord as a result has got to find some cash quickly.  Where?  A somewhat embarrassed friend directs him to ... Ivica ...

(3) Seka (played again magnificently with focused rage by Serbian born actress Jasna Djurcić) a nurse originally from Bosnia who has "Ivica's number," who indeed had left a lucrative job in Berlin to go to Amsterdam after she heard from the grapevine that he was "HIDING" IN PLAIN SIGHT THERE to finally get Interpol to arrest him / put him behind bars, convinced that he was one of the leaders responsible for the 1995 Massacre at Srebrinica at the height of the Bosnian War.

and finally (4) Stig (played again quite magnificently in appropriate "well born" / "comfortable" / "clueless" fashion by Magnus Krepper) a life-long resident of Amsterdam and conductor of one of the city's orchestras.  Focused on his work, he is largely clueless about the struggles of people like forced-into-prostitution Jenya, simply largely "invisible" migrants like Yaya, or that ARGUABLY WAR CRIMINALS (!) like Ivica were actually _running_ the prostitution rackets in his city's notorious Red Light District.  However, even at home, he doesn't realize that his 8-10 year old son Lukas (played by Erik Adelöw) is starting to have some fairly significant psychological issues / issues at school.

All four of these stories come together on the night of Stig's big "opening of the new season concert."

Much, often simultaneously shocking / heart-rending ensues.

A powerful film that certainly deserved its OPENING SLOT at the Chicago EU Film Festival this year!  Good job folks!  Very, very good job! 


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Aferim! [2015]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars w. Expl)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing
CineMagia,ro listing*

Filme-Carti.ro (Andreea) review*
VoxPublica.ro (C. Rogozanu) review*
Ziare.com (A. Serghescu) review*

FilmSpot.cz (H. Varga) review*
TotalFilm.cz (J. Škoda) review*

APUM.com (C. Muñoz) review*
EyeForFilm.co.uk (A. Wilkenson) review
Slant Magazine (J. Cataldo) review
The Hollywood Reporter (S. Dalton) review
Way Too Indie (M. Nazarewycz) review


Aferim! [2015] [IMDb] [CEu] [CM.ro]* (directed and screenplay cowritten by Radu Jude [IMDb] [CEu] along with Florin Lăzărescu [IMDb] [CEu]) is a simply _SPECTACULAR_ and at times arguably SHOCKING ;-) half-serious / half-meant-in-jest (though arguably TRUE to life) ROMANIAN 19th century "period piece" / "Western" (er "Eastern") that played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago.

Honestly, call it a mashup of Clint Eastwood's _classic_ "spaghetti Western"  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly [1966] with Russian director Aleksey German's far more serious _life's work_, the ponderous 3 hour (!) B&W SciFi-ish / Medieval Epic Hard to be a God [2013].   Co-produced with CZECH and BULGARIAN financial support / participation, there will be some who'll recognize shades of the Czechoslovak (Communist Era...) Medieval Epic Marketa Lazarova [1967] present as well.  (In any case, the much shorter (1hr45m) film here STUNNINGLY WORTHILY served as Romania's submission to the 88th (2016) Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film).

The story plays out in the hinterlands of Wallachia, Romania circa 1835.  Two "Chetniks" that is, then Romanian / Wallachian "law men", father and son, Constandin and Ionita (both played magnificently by Teodor Corban [IMDb] [CM.ro]* and Mihai Comănoiu [IMDb] [CM.ro]*) set out on horseback ("Texas Ranger style...") to _re-chain_ (rather than "unchain" -- think Django Unchained [2012]) a fugitive gypsy slave named Carfin (played by Cuzin Toma [IMDb] [CM.ro]*) who "made a run for it" after being caught sleeping with Sultana (played by Mihaela Sirbu [IMDb] [CM.ro]*) the wife of his master, the local "Boyar" (petty nobleman) Iordache Cîndescu (played by Alexandru Dabija [IMDb] [CM.ro]*).

Now why would Carfin be so stupid to sleep with his Master's wife?  Well remember, he was _a slave_ and may not have had all that much choice in the matter (Readers here remember the dilemma that the Biblical Jacob's son Joseph found himself in - Gen 39:7).  Still, whatever may or may not have happened in the Boyar's household, the _objective_ "fact of the matter" was that the Gypsy slave Carfin "had run off" and so lawmen Constable Constandin and his son Ionita were called upon, warrant in hand, to find him and bring him back.  And so they set out to do exactly that ... 


... and in the process, they canvas a fair amount of rural Wallachia in search of "their man."  Much ensues ... Among that ensues is that good ole dad Constandin DOES NOT SHUT UP ;-) ... He just keeps talkin' and talkin' spouting all kinds of "homegrown" (and often utterly APPALLING ;-) "wisdom" trying to impart on his teenage son, who he's taken along in good part "to help make a man out of him" ;-).

What to Viewers becomes increasingly (and increasingly _unbearably_) APPALLING is the UTTER LACK OF CRITICAL THINKING DISPLAYED by Constandin (and the others that the two meet along the way).  He's just telling his son "the way things are" ;-).  And occasionally he gets "help," notably FROM A RURAL PRIEST (played appallingly if apparently with straight-on sincerity by Alexandru Bindea [IMDb] [CM.ro]*) whose cart the two help pull out of a roadside ditch.

After helping said priest with said cart, Constandin asks him: "Good Father, I've been meaning to ask someone like you this question for a long time, and since I'm trying to teach my son the ways of the world, you could help me out: ARE GYPSIES EVEN HUMAN?"

The 'good Priest' answers: "Yes, but they are 'children of Ham' (from Noah's "day" cf Gen 9:22...) distinguished by being _darker_ ... besides everyone knows that Gypsies originally come from Egypt (!?) ... and thus worthy, indeed required, to be _enslaved_."  "So Gypsies ARE human"   "Yes, BUT JEWS ARE NOT..."

Here the priest goes into A LONG AND APPALLING explanation SOMEHOW CONFUSING _JEWS_ WITH "THE NEPHELLIM" (the "Sons of God" referred to in Biblical account of Noah - Genesis 6-9 - ... who SUPPOSEDLY existed BEFORE THE FLOOD and CENTURIES BEFORE Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (reference to whom only begins with Genesis 12) the latter one finally getting the title/second name "Israel" from God (Gen 32:29).

The priest's explanation IS APPALLING (and honestly DOES NOT MAKE SENSE) but IS REFLECTIVE _OF THE TIME_.   Indeed, EVERYTHING that the "good Priest" says from this point onward -- "My sons, this is how it is: The Russians drink a lot, the Hungarians eat a lot, the Turks like a lot of women, the Italians are liars, the Armenians are lazy, the Serbs are untrustworthy, the English (yes Readers even the English) like to think a lot, the Germans like to smoke a lot ..." -- is APPALLING (and INTENDED TO SOUND TO US AS APPALLING) but ... THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS (or at least the way the film-makers _present the time_) ... NO ONE THOUGHT CRITICALLY and EVERYTHING WAS "RECEIVED KNOWLEDGE."

And indeed, Constandin _gratefully_ thanks "the good Priest" for sharing his wisdom with him AND HIS SON... and they proceed onward in their search for the runaway slave who they're called to bring back to his quite angry master.

Was what they were doing right?  In our eyes, of course not.  But to them, it's _just the way it was_ AND NO ONE THOUGHT TO ASK _WHY_ or IF IT _WAS_ RIGHT.

As such, THIS IS A _TRULY REMARKABLE FILM_ (!!).  It is a one hour and forty-five minute PASSAGE INTO THE MIDDLE AGES and afterwards, we get to _go home_ ;-).  And in the closing credits Viewers are reminded that _much_ of the dialogue was GLEANED OUT OF ACTUAL HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE TIME.

Yes, it is _shocking_ but we are reminded "where we came from" ... and if we're surprised as to why things are even today the way they are ... we're reminded of how it was.

Great film!


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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The Snake Brothers (orig. Kobry a Užovky) [2015]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing
CSFD.cz listing*
FDB.cz listing*

Aktuálně.cz (J. Gregor) review*
iDnes.cz (M. Spáčilová) review*
Lidovky.cz (M. Kabát) review*
Novinky.cz (S. Dvořák) review*

APUM.com (E. Luna) review*
CinEuropa.org (M. Kudláč) review
EyeForFilm.co.uk (R. Mowe) review
Variety (G. Lodge) review

The Snake Brothers (orig. Kobry a Užovky) [2015] [IMDb] [CEu] [CSFD]*[FDB]* (directed by Jan Prušinovský [IMDb] [CEu] [CSFD]*[FDB]*, screenplay by Jaroslav Žváček [IMDb] [CEu] [CSFD]*) is a rather dark if often quite funny CZECH COMEDY (OF SORTS) that played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held here at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.

The film is about two grown brothers, both in their mid-later 20s, from a very dysfunctional family living in a random, mid-sized town somewhere in the CR today.

The younger one, nick-named Cobra (played by Kryštof Hádek [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*) is clearly "off" and arguably a petty psychopath, routinely getting himself into trouble.  The film's opening sequence shows him, with short purple hair and wearing a thug-like grey hoodie, breaking into a random home at the edge of town, IN BROAD DAY LIGHT, stealing the home's electronic equipment...

His older / more responsible brother nicknamed Užovka or Gardener Snake (played by Matěj Hádek [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*) finds himself _repeatedly_ bailing his younger brother out of various jams that he finds himself in, often to personal cost to himself (early in the film, he loses his job as a result of helping his brother from a run-in with the police outside a bar  the night before) and receives nothing even remotely resembling support or sympathy from most others for his efforts.  Even the two's own mother (played by Jana Šulcová [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*) considers her older son Užovka the bigger problem.  (Interestingly, there isn't a father, around at all...).

Why would Užovka be "the bigger problem"?  He doesn't keep sufficient eye on his younger brother to keep him out of trouble.  (But realistically, could he or ANYONE be able to do so?)  Then Užovka, who seems to be the only one in the family with a job -- Cobra is hopeless, and even ma' is apparently on public assistance -- apparently "doesn't come visiting (the other two) too much."  (Apparently Užovka's found a way to move out of the house, something _not_ particularly easy or common to do among young people in the CR even today)  Why would he want to move out even if it adds to expenses?   Well, when he's home, he's berated by his mom for not taking care of his younger brother enough and is shaken down (by her ...) for money ...  What a joy.

Then to folks / friends outside, rightly or wrongly (if they care to involve themselves at all) Užovka's simply from a "family of losers."

Early in the film, Užovka is berated by a former girlfriend named Zůza, short in Czech for Susan (played by Lucie Žáčková [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*), for being an incompetent dreamer/loser.  She's since married Užovka's former high school best friend Tomáš (played by Jan Hájek [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*), now an auto-mechanic, who's actually kinda getting tired of Zůza, as she's been "on maternity leave" now for 8 years (they have 2 kids ... but the youngest is like 6 ...) and HE'D really like to see her get a job.

So this then is the story's setup, which then focuses primarily on "Užovka" (again, the "Gardener Snake") in the story.   And it's about HIS slow "redemption" _of sorts_:

Another old "friend" from school named Ladík (played by David Máj [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*), rolls into to town "with a business proposal" (to open up some sort of a "clothing outlet store" in this random, rather depressed and certainly not going anywhere fast, town) and HE hits up Užovka to "help him."

How?  Well, obviously Ladík is a crook, even Užovka knows that.  Further, THE ONLY WAY that Užovka could "help" him would be TO HIT UP HIS OWN GRANDMOTHER (played wonderfully by Věra Kubánková [IMDb] [CSFD]* [FDB]*) TO PUT UP HER OWN HOUSE (the ONLY THING that ANYONE in Užovka's family actually owns) AS COLLATERAL for Užovka's loan (to help _Ladík_ start said business).

Now Readers understand here that Ladík PUT UP NO MONEY OF HIS OWN ... Instead, he's "founding a business" using Užovka's money, specifically money that Užovka got _from his grandma_ who put her own house on the line to get Užovka a loan.  (And yes, that Užovka got his own grandmother to risk her own house in her old age for his sake, does make him _something of a snake_ as well ...).

Why would Užovka do this, knowing quite well that Ladík is almost certainly a crook, and risk putting his own grandmother on the street for the sake of a venture that, at best, would be a "roll of the dice"?

Well Readers, why would ANYONE do that?  Obviously, because he didn't see (m)any other options.  So despite everything, he took this one.

What happens?  Well that's the rest of the movie ...

That the story is characterized as "a comedy" suggests that it (has to) "end well" (at least in some way) and it does (sort of).  But it is one heck of a ride ... and it isn't easy ...


Now, remember Readers, I am a Catholic priest, and I'm also actually of Czech descent (hence why I do enjoy watching not just American stories and then why I do (for heritage / still "old patriotic reasons") continue to hold Czech films / stories in "a special regard" ;-).  Understand also that I know quite well that the Czechs today, especially in the Czech Republic, are not exactly known for their "religiosity."

So as I watched most of this film, I kept shaking my head, saying to myself: "You know, this is what happens in a society that  no longer believes in God (everybody becomes a crook)...."  

 But by the end of the film, I actually realized that there's actually a fair amount of Biblical imagery (if perhaps present only _accidentally_) in the film.

Now how would that imagery get included if "only by accident"?  Similar observations have been made of French films / literature in the past as well: A culture that has been as steeped in a particular religion (Christianity) for as long as it has will inevitably retain the religion's symbolic language long after its common practice has gone dormant or died.  Why?  Religion is ultimately about Life and the same Truths / metaphorical expressions of them remain whether the Religion is held-to or not.  So a film such as this one about "Crookedness" / "Sin" and "Family" can not but allude to / make use of symbolism that any Christian would be familiar with, notably:

(1) The entire film could actually be seen as "a contemporary commentary" on the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32) with a number of twists: (i) the Father is clearly absent in this story.  He's remembered well by all -- the mother, as wel as the two sons -- but simply "long gone," (ii) Interestingly, since there is "no Father," there also "is no money." The two brothers had grown up in a "singe parent household") so even the younger brother never left home.  (In fact, it's the older brother who at least gets an apartment, nearby, on his own so that he can "get away from the dysfunction" at home).  Finally, (iii) clearly, the story here is taken more from the perspective of the older / "more responsible" of the brothers, but ...

(2) It's clear just from the film's title that BOTH brothers are to be seen as "snakes," an obvious Biblical image taken from story of The Fall (Gen 2-3).  One interesting nuance added here and is that one of the brothers is nicknamed "Cobra" and other "Užovka" (or "Gardener Snake") hence noting that while both would be sinners / "snakes," one would be "a bigger sinner" (certainly a bigger problem) than the other ...

(3) Finally, the story of Užovka's "redemption of sorts" REMINDS ONE A LOT OF THAT OF THE BIBLICAL STORY OF JACOB (Gen 25-33), who, if one is honest, was _also_ "A LITTLE THIEF."  The Biblical Jacob stole his brother Esau's inheritance (Gen 27:1ff).  And later Jacob stole from his father-in-law Laban (Gen 30:25ff).  BUT THEN, LIKE UŽOVKA in this story, Jacob didn't necessarily have a lot of options, and at the end of many years of a very difficult (and not completely honest life) Jacob spent a night in the Desert "wrestling" with a mysterious man (Gen 32:23ff), at the end of which he received from that mysterious man, a new name -- Israel -- which means "One who wrestles with God" (Gen 32:29).


Anyway thoughout the story, Užovka was always "kind of a snake" / not always honest, but he was also never completely "a lost cause" or "evil."  As such, at the end of the film, the screenwriters do seem to bless him as well ...

One interesting if, often enough, unnerving film ;-)


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Latin Lover [2015]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing
FilmTv.it listing*

LeRepubblica.it (C. Ugolini) review*
Panorama.it (S. Santoni) review*
ComingSoon.it (D. Catelli) review*
MyMovies.it (P. Casella) review*

The Hollywood Reporter (D. Young) review
Variety (N. Vivarelli) review

Latin Lover [2015] [IMDb] [CEu] [FT.it]* (directed and cowritten by Cristina Comencini [IMDb] [CEu] [FT.it]* along with Giulia Calenda [IMDb] [CEu]) is an often very funny if at times biting / painful and certainly _thoroughly deconstructive_ ITALIAN COMEDY about the post-War through 1970s Myth of the "Latin Lover."  The film played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago.

The story is set in the context of the funeral, er "memorial service" for a (fictionalized) "iconic" Italian actor from said era (the 1950s-70s) named Saverio Crispo (played by Francesco Scianna [IMDb] [FT.it]*) and needless to say, "all is family" is to be there.

That's, of course, the problem, because said family includes:

(1) His two wives, "the first, the Italian one," Rita (played by Virna Lisi [IMDb] [FT.it]*) as well as "the later Spanish one," Ramona (played by Marisa Paredes [IMDb] [FT.it]*) as well as

(2) their daughters Suzanna (played by Angela Finochiaro [IMDb] [FT.it]*), by Rita, and Segunda (literally "the second one") (played by Candela Peña [IMDb] [FT.it]*) by Ramona.

Then, of course, to be included are (3) at least _some_ of his better known / still more attached to the family, illegitimate children -- Solveig (played by Pihla Vitala [IMDb] [FT.it]*) born of a young Swedish starlet of the era and apparently raised by together with Segunda by dutiful second wife Ramona, as well as quite nice (raised by her French actress mother) but almost utterly neurotic Stephanie (played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi [IMDb] [FT.it]*).   Finally, there's even a young rising American New York jazz scene piano player named Shelley (played by Nadeah Miranda [IMDb] [FT.it]*) who, "sooo far" (in sooo many ways....) from the rest of this patchwork mess of a family, comes late to the funeral, who Saverio never knew, but whom SHE met once (mild spoiler: Severino, her father, actually hit on her ... his (unknownst to him ...) daughter... Yuck.  Yes ... but _given his life_ "how would he know?" ...).

So THIS ... is the man to be eulogized at this funeral, er "memorial service ..."

And the men in the story -- an old "film critic" friend of his, nicknamed "Picci" (played with quite wonderful old-age cluelessness by Toni Bertorelli [IMDb] [FT.it]*) who serves as "MC" at the memorial service, as well as fawning long-since wash-out of an actor named "Pedro" (played wonderfully by Lluís Homar [IMDb] [FT.it]*) whose "greatest moment" of his life was working as a bit actor in one of Saverio's early 1960s era Westerns, as well as a few of Saverio's daughters' louts of husbands -- simply DON'T SEEM TO APPRECIATE what kind of an utter and _often painful_ disaster Saverio's _personal life_ was.  To many of them, EVEN FACED "WITH THE EVIDENCE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM" ... Saverio was (sincerely) "living the dream" ;-)

It's one heck of a movie ... and one that honestly could only be made in this way _by a woman_. ;-)

So fantastic job folks, fantastic job ;-)


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Glassland [2014]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Irish Times (3 1/2 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing

Irish Times (D. Clarke) review
 
Eye For Film (A. Wilkinson) review
Sight & Sound (T. Johnston) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review
The Hollywood Reporter (B. van Hoiej) review
Variety (P. DeBruge) review

Glassland [2014] [IMDb] [CEu] (written and directed by Gerard Barrett [IMDb] [CEu]) would seem a rather straight-forward if then certainly poignant even urgent contemporary FAMILY DRAMA from IRELAND that played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago.

John (played by Jack Reynor [IMDb]) is a Dubliner entering his mid-twenties who, driving the taxi left to him by his father (deceased), finds himself the only one in his family with a job.  He has a younger brother who's institutionalized in what in the states we'd call in the States a "moderate care" /  "assisted living facility" with  Downs Sydrome, and his mother, on public assistance, is an alcoholic.

The film is a reminder that alcoholism is a progressive rather than simply chronic disease, it isn't simply a "burden" or "annoyance" ... it does lead to ever increasing problems / difficulties and eventually to death.

So this is where John finds himself.  While there is stability in other parts of his life -- he's gotten pretty good at being a taxi driver, he's been a pretty good / responsible son and brother, and even if it may be mildly frustrating to him that his best friend's life (friend played by Will Poulter) is still _unfinished_ and, indeed, _unfolding_ (while John's appears to have hit the point of "as good as it gets" -- in his early mid twenties ...) -- the situation with John's mother is clearly beginning to undermine that: John comes home one afternoon and finds her passed-out barely breathing on her bed.  After calling the paramedics who take her quickly to the hospital where they revive her, he's told by the attending physician that her liver function is fast approaching a point that she's going to need a liver transplant.  But how does one give a liver transplant to someone who's clearly an alcoholic and not doing much about it?  There are only so many donated organs to go around ...

So John has to famously convince his mother, who typically of an alcoholic doesn't want treatment, to get it.  And even after he does, he's told by the counselor, Jim (played excellently by Michael Smiley) that all his facility can provide is 8 days of detox and it's clear that his mother (like most of the other patients at the facility) really need much more.

Yet, putting ma' into a rehab facility for a month or two will cost money, and as is a common theme in _a lot_ of contemporary European "small indie films" both money (on the part of the family, again John's the only one with a job ...) and public funds are not exactly available.

So having set-up the situation, the rest of the film is about the question: What would you do / to what lengths would you go to help a loved one who does need your help?  And remember here, ma' here is not necessarily the most pleasant person to be around ... but she is ... ma'.

It really is an excellent, thought provoking / soul searching film... and lest too many Readers here worry, it does have a more-or-less objectively happy ending at the end.

As something of interesting afterthought / addendum, I would note here a fairly interesting "twist" to the (setup of the) story:  A fairly important character in this story is "Jim" who's presented as a "counselor."  Perhaps in generations past, in an Irish movie, he would have been presented as a Priest.  Now (at minimum) he's "dressed in civilian clothes," and there is no mention of any other duties.  So the audience is invited to understand him as simply a _counselor_, though certainly a very good / competent and empathetic one.

All across Europe and indeed the "Western / Northern world" there is a "de-sacralization" going on.  Someone like me may not be "all that excited about it."  But it is happening. 

WHAT I FIND NICE HERE is that the roles previously taken by clergy, here to be a counselor / manager of a "alcoholic rehab center", CONTINUE.  For whether we (clergy) remain or not, these jobs / services will need to be provided because people do / will continue to need them.

In any case, this is a quite poignant and well crafted story, perhaps "small in scope" but certainly one that "hits home."

So good job, folks, very good job!


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Love Island (orig. Otok Ljubavi) [2014]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (4+ w. explanation)

IMDb listing
CinEuropa.org listing
Moj-Film.hr listing*

CinEuropa.org (M. Del Don) review

Depo.ba () review*
Filmofil.ba (N. Selimović) review*
JutarnjiList.hr (N. Polimac) review*
RadioSarajevo.ba () review*
VecerniList.hr (J. Peršić) review*

The Hollywood Reporter (S. Dalton) review
Variety (J. Weissberg) review

Love Island (orig. Otok Ljubavi) [2014] [IMDb] [CEu] [MF.hr]*(directed and cowritten by Jasmila Žbanić  [IMDb] [CEu] [MF.hr]* along with Aleksandar Hemon [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] [CEu] [MF.hr]*) is a truly fun (though appropriately R-rated) Woody Allen-esque BOSNIAN / CROATIAN (still relatively discrete though much is implied) "SEX" COMEDY (co-produced also with GERMAN and SWISS funding) that played recently at the 19th (2016) Chicago European Union Film Festival held at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago. 

Sarajevo couple Grebo (played by Ermin Bravo [IMDb] [MF.hr]*) and Liliane (played by Ariane Labed [IMDb]) French are on vacation at a resort on the Adriatic Sea in Northern Croatia...

Now during the Cold War, Croatia's Adriatic Coast was enormously popular for vacationers from throughout Eastern Europe.  My own Czech relatives had fond memories of going there.  Croatia, then part of (Communist) Yugoslavia, had back then the advantages of being (1) a place that East Europeans were generally allowed to go, (2) being quite cheap, and (3) Yugoslavia being a Communist but also, more or less, "non-aligned" had the reputation of "looking the other way" when the occasional Czech, Slovak, Hungarian or Polish family "strayed" (with their car/belongings) into Austria / Italy when "on their way home ..."  Then in the 1990s, when tourism could have really exploded, came instead THE BALKAN WARS ... which, of course, all but wiped-out tourism during that time.  But it's been on the upswing again.  And the coast is both beautiful and again far less expensive than equivalent places on the other (Italian) side of the Adriatic.

... back to the story here ;-) ...

It's a lovely place where Grebo and Liliane are, though it may _not_ be a place that most American couples would go in this stage of their lives (different sensibilities) as the two are expecting their first baby and Liliane looks like she's in the last weeks of her pregnancy.

So they, along with others, including Italians -- this part of northern coastal Croatia had belonged to Venice / Italy for centuries before, and indeed, one of the drop dead beautiful Renaissance Era palaces shown in the film had belonged (again for centuries) to a quite prominent Italian family prior to the end of WW II (the CHICAGO based Bosnian born scriptwriter Aleksandar Hemon present for Q/A after the screening noted that the his Croatian collaborator Jasmila Žbanić had really wanted to underline this point, that a lot of this area had belonged to Italians prior to World War II, and yet, that there's also a peace / acceptance now between those "who used to live there" and those who "live there now" ... symbolized in the happy gregarious presence of the Italian tourists there today -- were enjoying themselves quite nicely in this Croatian resort, that IN MANY WAYS looked kinda like every other if perhaps slightly cheaper Florida / Bahamas resort today (down to the goofy "coconut shell" umbrellas on the beach).

Very good, the two are enjoying themselves "at the open air" beach-side club at the resort, which included some "live band karaoke." Grebo, who had apparently spent some of his youth playing in a "garage band" in Sarayevo ;-), certainly partakes.

But Liliane is taken aback by the "stunner" of an M.C. leading the resort's nighttime activities.  The M.C.'s name is Flora (played by Ada Condeescu [IMDb] [MF.hr]*), when she introduces herself to the two, she introduces herself as coming from Romania.  But there's more to the story.  (1) Liliane, remember she's 8 months pregnant, is immediately concerned that Flora's flirting a bit (too much) with her husband and (2) she has a history with Flora -- the two had worked closely, er, _very closely_, together while the two "were in college" ... "in Berlin" ;-).

Much has to ensue ... AND IT DOES ;-) ... Thematically, the film's _definitely_ in R-territory, though visually, the _only nudity_ that one does see is Grebo's quite hairy backside ;-).

For me, remember, I am a Catholic priest, this is such a transgressive film.  AND YET, it is ALSO VERY, VERY FUNNY and KIND.  And Good Readers, REMEMBER WHO MADE THIS FILM ... BOSNIANS ... the ones that just endured the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.

Yes, much is implied, but all but(t) nothing is shown ... and then remember the trauma that these nations went through less than a generation ago.  Indeed, the above mentioned co-scriptwriter for the film, Aleksandar Hemon noted in the Q&A that both he and his good friend Jasmila Žbanić the director _really_ wanted to make A COMEDY, to underline that "Being from the Balkans DOES NOT MEAN 'a life long subscription to genocide'" (HIS WORDS EXACTLY ;-).

So this is a lovely if often "very stupid" film ;-) and while certainly "morally plastic" ;-), again remember what these people went through, and that the whole film is truly done in very, very good fun.  

So while, definitely "not for the little ones," a GREAT JOB FOLKS, TRULY, TRULY GREAT JOB ;-)


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Whiskey Tango and Foxtrot [2016]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  


Whiskey Tango and Foxtrot [2016] (directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, screenplay by Robert Carlock based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Kim Barker [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) is a film that I'd happily recommend to young people the world-over -- to both young Americans and non and regardless of political affiliation.

I write this because this though this the story is set in Afghanistan during the post 9/11War / Occupation there, it is story about a young woman reporter Kim Barker, fictionalized here slightly as Kim Baker (and played magnificently in the film by Tina Fey) for whom those years in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) _were_ simply yet clearly "the [most significant] time of her life."  And _anyone_ who's ever had relatives who served in / lived through "the Big One" (WW II), Korea or 'Nam would certainly understand.

As such, I am rather surprised at the "lack of love" given to the film by America's official "film criticdom."  Who was offended? / why?  Indeed, when I left the film, I had left it disappointed that it wasn't released earlier, in November / December, because if it had been there would have been buzz about a Tina Fey Oscar nomination.  Instead, it seems to have been "deep sixed" (by whom? / why?) in the "film desert" of late winter.  Again, why?

Is it because the lead character was a woman, based on a book written by a woman war correspondent (a book / film that actually didn't necessarily portray the men all that badly)?  Is it because the film neither draped itself in patriotic colors nor refused to condemn the war?   At times I'm just baffled.

The film, felt like an undated M.A.S.H. [1972-1983] though focusing not on surgeons but rather reporters, with Fey's Kim Baker serving as the film's "Hawkeye."  Her Afghani assistant Ali Massoud Sadiq (played again quite well by Alfred Molina) served as the story's "Radar," a crusty, by the book, but ultimately "father figure-ly" Marine general Hollanek (played by Billy Bob Thorton) with whom she often had to deal with was the story's "Col. Potter" and "hot" / "beyond reach" / "tough" / "experienced" Cristiane Ananpour-like reporter Tanya Vanderpool (played by Margot Richie) was the film's updated / no question anymore, independent "Major Margaret Hoolihan."

Yes, there is a sort of "imperial" to "imperial(ist)" feel to the movie that American viewers should note (and non-American viewers should perhaps _let go_ this time).  After all, the reporters in this film were in the Afghanistan "Ka-bubble" because of the post-9/11 War / Occupation.  But let's remember WHY we went to war in Afghanistan -- because it had become the training ground / staging ground for 9/11.  Prior to 9/11, NO ONE envisioned a need for the U.S. to go there and occupy the country.  After 9/11 it was hard to imagine any alternative: We were certainly not going to let Al Queda / the Taliban try to do it again ... 

So while someone like me -- Clergy, part of an International Religious Order, who's organized in the past Mission trips -- would love to see young people have international (outside of their day-to-day norm) experiences in less drastic / far more peaceful circumstances, I DO APPRECIATE THIS FILM and Kim Baker / Barker's story.  It was for her, like many like her, and even like many of the soldiers present, "the time of her life ..."


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Jane Got a Gun [2016]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB ()  ChiTrib/Variety (2 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
ChiTrib / Variety (J. Laydon) review
RogerEbert.com (P. Sobczynski) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  

Jane Got a Gun [2016] (directed by Gavin O'Conner, story and screenplay cowritten by Brian Buffield along with Anthony Tambakis and Joel Edgerton) is a solid, well played, more or less conventional contemporary Western (though set in the 1890s)

The film begins with Jane Hammond (played quite convincingly by Natalie Portman) looking out to the horizon of her / her husband's homestead somewhere in the middle of the then New Mexico territory to see a figure on horseback approaching, first at a gallop, then ever more haltingly until the horse stops completely with the figure, turns out it's her husband Bill (played again quite well by Noah Emmerich), falling-off of said horse to the ground some fifty yards from the homestead's fence. What happened?  Jane runs to Bill and finds him pretty shot up.  She struggles to bring him home.  With tools at hand -- forceps, a knife, perhaps knitting needle or two -- she pulls out most of the bullets and  fragments lodged in her husband's body.  And in a halting voice, he warns her, "They're coming."  Who?  She knows who, and ... she gets a gun.

... But what makes the story far more interesting at this point is that, though "she gets her gun" ... she _also_ knows that she doesn't stand a chance against "those who are coming" alone.  So ... she gets on her horse and rides over to another homestead a fair distance away and enlists the help of a friend, Dan Frost (played again quite excellently by Joel Edgarton).  'Cept Dan doesn't necessarily want to help Jane much.  Why?  Well guess.  Clearly there has to be a story there...   Stll, Jane didn't choose randomly when she decided to ride-out to Dan to ask for his help.  And while not necessarily initially excited about being asked for such (let's face it, quite urgent and undoubtedly _not_ cost/risk free) help, Dan soon "comes around."  Why?  Well he knows who / the danger that Jane and Dan are facing -- they've all come to New Mexico from the same town in Missouri --  and he knows that he probably wouldn't be able to live with himself afterwards if he did not help Jane (and even Dan) face the threat (that he again, knew, quite well) that they were facing.

This is a Western, but like most Westerns, it is also a Parable ... here reminding us that while we may choose "to run / hide" from some intolerable situation "back home" for a while ... at some point, "we do have to make a stand."

And so ... Jane does, with her gun, and with her friend ... and the rest of the movie follows ;-)

Honestly, a very well done / well acted and very "classical Western" though also made with contemporary issues / sensibilities in mind.

Good job ;-)


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Where to Invade Next [2015]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Cheshire) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review  

Where to Invade Next [2015] (written and directed by Michael Moore) is a film that to many Americans and to many Readers here would seem like a fantasy:

In a voice over, Michael Moore tells us that he had a dream: The President and U.S. Joint Chief of Staffs invited him over to the White House Situation Room and confessed that they had botched every single war since "the big one" (WW II) and asked him for help.  Michael Moore then offered himself as a "one man army" that would invade lands mostly inhabited by Caucasians with names that he could generally pronounce and that he would take from them ideas that would help make our land great again.

So dressed in an army flak jacket and cap and literally draped in the American flag, Michael Moore sets out to invade ...

Italy (where people seem to always be happy - "like they all just had sex" - why/how?  well they have state mandated 4 weeks vacation which when one includes state holidays and yes "everything closes for August and Christmas" becomes closer to 8 weeks + 13 months pay for 12 months of work each year, sure ;-),

France (where kids seem to eat well, even at school),

Slovenia (where even college education is free, even for foreigners, even for Americans who occasionally find their way to this educational shangrila),

Finland (which banned homework and standardized tests and yet their kids score higher on said international standardized tests, when apparently they take them, than any other country),

Norway (where even maximum security prisons are geared toward rehabilitation, the maximum sentence for any crime is 20 years, and yet has one of the lowest crime rates in the world),

Germany (that has accepted responsibility for past-Genocidal wars / the Holocaust and thus has been able to rejoin the rest of the world and quite happily move on ...),

Portugal (which lowed both crime and drug use by ... decriminalizing drug use and focusing on drug treatment instead),

Tunisia (a nominally Muslim country that actually constitutionally guarantees women equal rights),

and finally Iceland (land of the Vikings, which nonetheless elected the first woman President ever and has found that women run corporations actually run more honestly / better than those run by men.  In the financial crisis of 2008, every major bank in Iceland collapsed except for one run entirely by women which operated under the very simple principle -- if you can't explain it in one or two sentences then don't buy it -- and thus saved their shareholders the disaster of buying into those unfathomable "Collateralized Debt Obligations " that ended up tanking the world's economy).

 A lot of this may upset various American Readers.  How can it be?  It can't be that easy.  And Michael Moore does freely admit that most of these countries have much higher tax rates than the United States.  But he also notes that many of the above services need to be provided and paid for anyway.  And we do ... we just don't call them taxes ... and a lot of people here do without.

Anyway, Michael Moore has long been a lightning rod.   But he does give viewers a lot to think about.    Why do things _have to be_ the way they are here, and _can_ we learn, at least a little, from others?   Especially since many of the ideas that seem to work elsewhere, actually had their origins (or early support) here -- unions, state sponsored education, consumer protection laws, equal rights for women ...

So good job Michael Moore, good job!


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88th Academy Awards (2016) - Review: An Awards Night to Remember

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years

 
Well the 88th Academy Awards will certainly not be forgotten for a while:

As was the case last year, from the moment that this year's nominees were an-nounced they were de-nounced for being #OscarsSoWhite : not a single African American was nominated for any award.  Fortunately, the host of the show, Chris Rock, who already had been hired for the gig long before then is African American and many of the presenters of the Awards were African American as well. 

But if one focused ONLY on this controversy, one would miss THE OTHER memorable statement made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which was that it picked Spotlight [2015] as the Best Picture of the year.

I have to admit that I found that somewhat surprising, not because it wasn't a good or important film.  Indeed, until the nominations lists started coming out and the other awards started to be handed out, I was certain that the film had the scale and importance deserving of the Best Picture Award.  But then while the film received many nominations from various other industry groups, it _did not seem_ to win a lot of awards (except for Best Screenplay and/or Best Ensemble Cast).  HOWEVER, it seemed to consistently WIN Best Film awards with Film Critics Associations.  So the film's victory should not come as that big of a surprise.

And as I wrote in my own review of the film, if this has a deterrent effect -- NO ONE (quite literally) wants to be "In the Spotlight" (like this) -- then that would be good.

But I would like to ask the industry then:

Would you WANT the Church to focus now EVEN MORE ON ITSELF even more than it already has in these last 10-15 years to root-out even the "last bit of sin" within its ranks?  OR WOULD YOU PREFER that WE PLACE OURSELVES between the National Guard, or whoever is going to be called out to rip-out our Hispanic MOSTLY CATHOLIC brothers and sisters (kids, parents, grandparents...) out of their homes to send them back to Mexico (KNOWING FULL WELL HERE THAT A FAIR PART OF AMERICA'S WHITE CATHOLICS WOULD WANT our police / national guard TO START DOING EXACTLY THAT -- ripping our Hispanic brothers and sisters out of our pews to send them back over the border)? 

Yes, child molestation (whether performed by a priest, stranger or family member is life destroying).  So is ripping someone's abuelita WHO HASN'T HURT ANYBODY out of her / her family's home and interning her in some football stadium prior to throwing her over the border.   (In my day job, I'm mostly responsible for serving the Spanish speaking community of my parish ... There are A LOT of people scared about where our country is heading in this regard...).

Or should someone like Fr. Plegher here in Chicago (on whom the John Cusack character in Spike Lee's, not nominated for anything, Chi-Raq [2015] was based) spend his time rooting out left-over child molesters within the Archdiocese of Chicago rather than consistently holding the city to account for the violence / lack of protection that's taking place in the poorer sections of our city.  Do #BlackLivesMatter or more generally #PoorPeopleMatter ?

I write this full well that we (The Catholic Church) deserved this film.  We failed.  But it should be clear that our Church does more than just sin.

And honestly if it won't be US ... the Catholics LED BY THE CLERGY to stand-up for our Hispanic brothers and sisters OR POOR PEOPLE IN GENERAL, WHO WILL?

Again, THIS WAS A VERY GOOD / THOUGHT PROVOKING and hopefully ACTION PRODUCING Awards Season this year.  And hopefully, it won't be forgotten soon.


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Gods of Egypt [2016]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (1 Star)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (1/2 Star)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review  

Gods of Egypt [2016] (directed by Alex Proyas, screenplay by Matt Sazamaa and Burk Sharpless).  Sigh, where to start? ;-)

Lets begin by calling this film "Thor, er Horus, goes on Spring Break," for that is what it essentially is:  The film makers here tried to take the formula and even the aesthetics the recent Marvel Comics based mega-hit Thor [2011] and moving it to "ancient Egypt" produced ... a dizzying often painful mess to watch.

Now certainly Hollywood tries this trick all the time.  Movie-making always involves relatively big investment, even more so when special effects are involved.  So Hollywood generally tries to "minimize the risk."  When a studio strikes a "vein of gold" in the otherwise "dark mountain of the collective unconscious," sequels by said studio are sure to follow and then _all the big studios_ (the studio that made the original hit as well its rivals) quickly scramble to come-up with similar films which "tweak the formula just a little bit" until the newly discovered "vein of gold" is exhausted.  So the original Hunger Games [2012] hit produced not only Hunger Games [2013] [2014] [2015] sequels but also stories similar to the "Hunger Games"-like films like Divergent [2015] [2015] [2016], The Giver [2014], The Maze Runner [2014] [2015], The 5th Wave [2016] and so forth ...   

And so it is here: Thor [2011] featured a young, brash, good-looking yet still largely untested (Nordic) God named Thor (played in that film by Chris Hemsworth) whose father, the King of the Nordic Gods, Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins) was unsure if he was really ready to succeed him. Thus Thor needed prove himself worthy of the Role that awaited him.  How?  By proving himself humble, generous and just among "the little people," literally, "PEOPLE ... like us", represented in the film by "a team of Earthly scientists" (played by Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard).   In the midst of this, of course, a jealous / treacherous step-brother named Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) who wanted the throne as well.  So much had to ensue ...

In the case here, "set in ancient Egypt" a young brash, good-looking yet still largely untested (Egyptian) God Horus (played in this film by Danish born actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, an odd choice for an EGYPTIAN GOD, but he "looks a lot like Chris Hemsworth playing Thor ...") is about to be crowned King of the Egyptian Gods by his father Osiris (played by Australian born actor Bryan Brown) when Osiris' jealous / treacherous brother Set (played by Scotish born actor Gerard Butler) crashes the coronation, and ... without getting into a great deal of detail, essentially steals the crown for himself.  Horus must then prove himself worthy of the "Crown of his Father."  How?  By proving himself "nice, generous, just" to "little people" like us ... represented in this case by a wily young thief named Bek (played by Australian born Brenton Thailes) and his lovely "could have been a swimsuit model" girlfriend Zaya (played by Australian born Courtney Eaton).

What are all these Anglo-Nordic type doing playing lead roles in a movie that's supposed to be set in ancient Egypt?  Well, as I said, this film is essentially Thor, er Horus, Goes on Spring Break ;-).

And while, if I were African American, African period, or Egyptian for that matter, I'd be pissed, even the aesthetics of this film fit the "cold, ice / steel" aesthetics of proper to sharp-edged glacier-strewn conceptions of a Nordic mythic landscape.   Instead, this film was supposed to be set in necessarily rounder, earthier "reed-boat, flax and stone" okay also "bejeweled" world of Bronze Age Egypt.

One wonders "what could have been" if the film-makers sought to transpose the aesthetics / feel of Prince of Persia [2010] to this story rather than Thor [2011].  Admittedly, the principal stars of that film were Jake Gyllenhaal (of Dutch ancestry) and English born Gemma Atherton but at least Indian born Ben Kingsley played a prominent role as well as other actors/actresses of Latino / darker complected descent.  Further, the aesthetics in Prince of Persia [2010] were far more authentically Middle Eastern.

Instead, in the current film we have the Nordic Asgard of Thor largely transposed to the banks of the Nile.  And this then produces another problem.  At least in Thor [2011], his icy / steel, sharp edged Nordic "realm" was "on another world."  Here, in the current film, the Egyptian Gods "lived among us" (in the film, they are simply conceived as being _much_ taller than us, but otherwise, living alongside "regular people" (us) who simply serve them).  The result is that the natural and supernatural ("stone and steel") mix _so often together_ that the film _often_ very becomes difficult to follow.

Anyway, I'd honestly like to see a "do-over" here, with the same film produced using _far more_ (not totally but _far more_) darkly complected actors/actresses and using then _far less_ "iron and steel."  There is NO REASON, for instance, why "Grandpa (Sun God) Ra's" (played in the film, once again English born actor Goeffrey Rush) boat could not have been _made of reeds_ like in the Ancient Egyptian conception, instead of something that, once again, looked like "left-over graphics" from Thor [2011].

If this were to be done, perhaps the film would easier to watch and actually serve the audience to teach it something of Egyptian mythology.

Instead, entire film felt like a "giant plastic Inca relic" that one'd "buy" at some street shop in Cancun, while on ...


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