Die Welle – 2008 – Can history repeat itself?

I was trying to do a video review of this for my youtube channel but soon realized that I couldn’t. I couldn’t get my thoughts about it into words that wat without stuttering way too much. I’m that excited to express my opinions about this flick.

First of all I must say that it’s brave for a German movie to take on such subjects that the film revolves around. I’m not sure that Nazism or Hitler is actually mentioned but there are obvious parallels to such a fascist society. The question about if we are so enlightened today with knowledge of the past that we couldn’t fall in that trap again is the most central one. That is even spoken out in plain text in the movie.

But let’s start from the beginning. Rainer Wegner is a popular teacher in school. By the students that is. He’s quite unorthodox and that makes his colleagues suspicions about his methods. But he’s popular by the students and that is a quality more teachers should have in my opinion. Theme week is coming up and Reiner plans of taking on the subject anarchy. He’s really excited about it and equally disappointed when he realizes that this subject has already been taken by another teacher. Unwillingly he is forced to choose autocracy instead. At first he isn’t very interested but once the question about whether this kind of society could emerge again he takes a different approach.

From this point on he conducts an experiment. What would happen if he could fulfill all re requirements for it to work? He needs to prove to his students as to himself that people need to think about their actions and choices in life. Is it possible to manipulate the students into autocracy?

Together with his students he starts to map out what key elements that needs to be fulfilled in such a society. Among other things a strong leader is needed. Also some kind of unifying for the “people”; discontent is agreed on. And that is a strong base to build a group willing to do most anything for a change. To argue that the end justifies the means to such a group will not be hard. They also conclude that they need a common dress code, some kind of uniform. That this doesn’t have to be a military uniform is quickly debated and each and every one gets out getting a white shirt. This and a few other fundamental characteristics is enough for things to start escalating. When a salute and a name for the group – The Wave – is created we take another step further.

In my mind there is also another thing that needs to be fulfilled. That is weak individuals that in being part of a great whole in order to feel strong and even invincible; weak individuals that can blame the entire group for each and every decision that might be too close to home; each and every decision that might be too hard to make on their own. They find the strength in numbers.

The transgression of the experiment goes fast. Mind you, there’s only one theme week and by the end of this week a really strong willed organization has been created. Few of the initial students realize the potential danger of the situation but there are individuals that are very uncomfortable with the concept to say the least. They protest by not participating in the uniform dress code and starts to develop their own counter movement with flyers to inform the masses of the dangerous situation.

Even the conductor of the experiment gets drawn into it and starts to change his personality. Maybe not to the extent of his students but he is changing. No doubt about that. He is also approached by the opposition that things are about to go out of proportion and that he’s losing control of the situation. He needs to fix what has gone wrong.

In my opinion this is a pretty frightening movie. It is very realistic and there’s no doubt in my mind that such a society could be created if a strong leader was manipulative enough. In fact, I think it’s about to happen in several parts of the world already. We may not see Nazism as we once did, the swastika may not be present but if we start to lose our grip it doesn’t matter what symbol that is used. Totalitarian leaders seem to be found in the west and east alike. When people start to oppress other people we have failed.

I found this flick to be very watchable. It made me feel real fear which is an uncommon feeling coming from a movie these days. I think it’s nicely played and wonderfully written. I wish more movies would explore these themes of the darkest parts of human history.

8/10

This just in: I just realized that this is in fact a remake of an earlier short movie. Now I need to get my hands on that as well…

Citizen Kane – 1941 – best classic flick ever?

I feel a bit ashamed, since I never saw this flick until yesterday. As an autodidact film expert I should have seen this many many years ago. But sometimes fate is something else compared to what you want. Let’s leave it at that. I didn’t see it. Live with it! J

But yesterday I unwrapped the blu ray that I have had for some time now. As few years actually. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Was this really the greatest film I history? Sure, I read about it. I read about it in books about the technical aspects of movie making. How Citizen Kane used shooting techniques almost unheard of before its release. Was it true? Did it still live up to today’s standards when it comes to storytelling? I feel that there are no easy answers to all these questions.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Orson Welles was a genius when it comes to moviemaking. I might not be as accomplished as a film viewer (or self-appointed expert) that I can describe all technical shooting techniques in words. But I’m certainly intrigued by the camerawork here. Some scenes are just spectacular. There’s even early traces of CGI in there. Of course it’s not really CGI, that would have been waaaay ahead of time. But there are a couple of birds that are in no way the real thing and are placed in the movie sequence in some other manner, hence early CGI comment.

The move spans over time and this means that the actors need to adapt their acting to the age there are in at the specific scene. This is of course done with makeup but also by acting skills. It’s totally convincing! And since it’s not one or two of the actors but about everybody in the movie it’s quite remarkable. Another remarkable thing that struck me is that Orson Welles himself (as the role of Kane) is actually credited last even though everything revolves around him. One could argue if he has the lead part or not but he’s certainly in the center of things.

The movie actually begins with Kane dying, and when doing so utters his last word “Rosebud”. After that we get to see a news reel about the life and achievements of Charles Foster Kane. We get to know what people officially thought about him, his official persona if you like. He is called both a communist and a fascist, he’s equally hated and love by the people. He’s considered eccentric by some, crazy by others. This is the first piece of the puzzle the movie is about to give us about Kane. Just as the reporters wonder what the meaning of his last word were, we get interested in who he really was. Could he really be that eclectic or did he have a hidden agenda?

What follow are stories about the people around Charles Foster Kane that outlives him. A reporter seeks them out to get to the bottom of the meaning of his last word. As he asks his questions we get to see fragments from his life as seen through the people around him. These truths are not necessarily the same as the public image of Kane suggests. He might not be such a philanthropist, not seeking the truth to print in his newspapers. Maybe he’s just a narcissist after all. Maybe he’s not even that. He might just be a boy who got unhappy the first time he encountered the influence of wealth. His rise and fall might just be an act for the public eye. Deep down inside he might still be the innocent child he once was.

There’s no way of actually knowing the true meaning of the film. It might be as simple as a statement about the corruption of money or the wrecking of youth. Charles Foster Kane is forced into a society he doesn’t want to belong to. He just wants to be a boy on his sledge. That is my interpretation anyway.

It’s surely a great film by any standards. I didn’t find it to be the ultimate masterpiece but it’s pretty darn good and the storytelling is top notch. If you haven’t seen it I suggest you do, it’s worth it. I promise!

Tommy Snöberg Söderberg

Dark – 2015 – An interesting persona

It’s been a while since I wrote anything on this blog. You could say that life has caught up with me lately. Poor excuse, but that’s how it is. Shit happens and we need to focus on what important. That’s something the main character in this movie should learn by the way. It’s obvious already from the start that she has a lot of issues. What kind of issues isn’t clear from the beginning but as the movie goes along we note that she has problems with herself. She lacks self-confidence and doubts herself in each and every way. Unfortunately I don’t think this is very uncommon for you women. Or anyone else for that matter. But let’s start from the beginning…

Kate has a relationship with Leah and we are made aware of the sexual tension already in the opening scene. This is also the first time we see tendencies of Kate’s issues. We just haven’t figured them out yet. At least didn’t I. From this moment on it’s really a one woman show film. That is to say that Whitney Able as the character Kate, does most of the screen time on her own. It takes an actress of great skill to pull it off and I believe that se dis a great job with it. I’m fascinated by her persona.

Anyway. When the lesbian lovers split up for the day we get to follow Kate. She lives in a neighborhood that is far from glamour. It’s kind of the slum actually. I don’t think she likes it at all but the main thing is that there is a power outage that affects the entire city, or at least a large portion of it. There are few occasions when we don’t really know what to do, I know that from personal experience, that are worse than a power outage. We so take power for granted in our daily life.

It’s obvious that she get on her own nerves when she has to keep herself company. Her demons grows stronger with each dark moment. She goes about for a drink and some company but when she gets rejected her world falls further apart. She becomes more and more paranoid in her own mind. She cannot distinguish reality from her own mind. She see enemies all around her and the smallest sound is a threat to her security. It grows darker and darker but the greatest darkness is yet in her own mind and in the nightmare she’s about to wake up from.

This is a fine movie. Great acting and skilled direction. I think it’s thrilling most of the time even if the pace might be a little too slow at times. It’s a flick that is far better than I expected. I kind of love it. Really I do! And it gets even better after a few hours, when what really happened has had a chance to melt in. This is a thoughtful movie with a great script!

8/10

A Killer Conversation – 2014 – perfectly titled flick

Actually this movie is perfectly titled. I wasn’t really aware of it when I started to watch it but I soon found out it was a deliberate pun. At least that’s my interpretation of it; I can’t really see any other possibility. The main plot is that of a burglar breaking in and capturing the resident. Soon after, his ex wife comes into the picture. Then the burglar takes the part of some sort of counselor between them. The ending is inevitable but this came a bit as a surprise.

The accent spoken in the dialog is British. I don’t know if that makes it better or not but it surely makes it more comical. I was expecting a horror flick or at least a thriller but I got a quite a talky drama comedy.

I wasn’t sure about the acting at first. Neither of them will get an academy award for their contribution but when a few minutes have passed I realize that it’s nothing wrong with the acting at all. It’s all in the part of the style of the movie. It’s supposed to be geeky acted. That’s what I think anyway.

I’m a bit disappointed. Not by the movie itself really, it was entertaining anyway, but with my anticipation of it. I should have realized what kind of movie I was about to watch. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the press material. But on the other hand, I was given a film that I had not expected. That’s one of the most exciting experiences you can have when it comes to watching movies.

I think this flick will have a hard time to succeed. I think you have to be really open minded to ‘get’ the comic approach of it. And if you’re not patient enough you will miss the whole point of it all.

5/10

Found – 2012 – Bloody and violent!

This is a fairly violent and bloody movie, but it’s not a horror movie in essence. That’s my opinion anyway and I’ll tell you why. There’s a serious message to be told here and it’s done by letting us watching youngsters watching horror moves. Very violent horror movies I might add.

The essence in my book is about exclusion though. We have this kid, Marty, that gets bullied in school that finally fights back and is made the bad guys for it. Ok, I don’t agree with violence but there is only so much you can take. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t have to apologize for standing up for your rights. Kids might be kids but that’s no excuse for picking on other kids. And besides, Marty wouldn’t get into the fight if it weren’t for his older brother, Steve. It was him who encouraged Marty to strike the other kid if being bullied.

The older brother is an interesting case too. I don’t know what his mental status is but he sure has issues. He seems to hate people and his mom and dad in particular. At times he seems to have a split personality and he likes to chop people’s heads off. He keeps them in a bag in his closet. Marty has found that bag of course and as he looks up to his brother he’s fascinated by it. He dreams about what it must be like to chop of another person’s head.

This brings us to the video violence part. Both Marty and Steve are into bloody and violent flicks. Steve is maybe ten years older and has a collection of violent horror flicks. He lets Marty borrow them from time to time. Marty is especially fascinated by one called Headless, which features a killer in a skull mask. He chops off women’s heads and then has sex with them. The heads that is! It’s totally macabre!

You can imagine the mess Marty’s in. His brother seems to be a psyched killer, he’s bullied at school and he’s starting to fight back towards them who hurt him. He’s starting to stand up for himself. The horror flicks certainly doesn’t help, even though he loves them. He’s all alone. He had one friend but after he leaves him too he has no one – except for a protective big brother!

The script is very complex and it’s hard to describe the film. I like the small and tiny development that drives the story. I think the actors are very good except for a few times when their lines aren’t very convincing. But considering the budget was $8000 I guess you can’t have it all.

I guess the bottom line is about bullied children but the mental status and/or illness of the older brother is in focus too. I like flicks that focus on both things and thus this is a great flick in my book. One of the best I’ve seen recently actually.

8/10

The Lords Burning Rain – 2014

This starts of as an extraordinary adventure and it’s equally beautiful. The environment is exactly how I picture the Irish countryside a few years back. Though out the movie the music’s marvelous too! In fact I can’t find much that isn’t perfection in this production. But of course, if you’re into action and horror flicks, this is not for you. This is a film that actually tells a story about people and about Ireland in particular.

To tell the story we follow a sixteen year old boy when he’s riding a horse home. He encounters some odd characters along the way. It’s almost mythological at times, at least if you see it from a metaphorical point of view. It never goes too far into fantasy and such though. At some point I found it almost surreal as far as the story telling technique goes but I’m not sure if this is intended of if it’s just me over interpreting it? In either case there is surely an interesting nerve to it.

As we follow the boy’s journey home, we also get to see some flashbacks in black and white. They are designed to “look old” and I guess they’re realistic as such but I found them a bit of the point. I think they stall the pace a bit and the pace is rather slow to begin with. It’s really slow. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as it stays interesting all the way through. However, I don’t think it’s easy to understand the movie fully from watching it just once. It’s rather complex and you might miss a lot of details if you don’t pay enough attention.

The acting is really good. I actually think that all of it could be a more or less a documentary. It’s that realistic. This is the second film and the first feature I’ve seen from Maurice O’Callaghan (the first was the short A Day for theFire), and I’m really impressed! I want to see more!

9/10

Short films of Jeremiah Kipp

I got a query if I was interesting in reviewing a few genre short films by Jeremiah Kipp. I didn’t think about long, I always thought that writing about flick you know nothing about is the most rewarding. If I could choose I’d write about stuff like this all day long. Short flicks or feature films that almost no one knows something about. I like writing about blockbusters and big budget films as much as the next guy too, but when people send their work to me it’s like Christmas time really. I just love getting stuff for consideration!

Contact

Contact – An about eleven minute long tale. As always, the short flicks are always the hardest to figure out. There’s no time to develop an in depth story with dozens of characters. But there’s not always a need to either. This particular story might revolve around one single event but it’s still pretty intense. I really like the imagery that Jeremiah Kipp delivers. There’s no need for much dialog and the few lines that are in there serve a purpose. I get the feeling that this is an exercise in suspense and it’s a successful attempt at that. At the end I can think of multiple solutions to what this film is really about. Pay attention and I think you will too.

Crestfallen – Short flicks also has the advantage that you can watch them a few times without wasting too much time. Imagine an epic film with a duration of  two and a half hours and that you see that three or four times in a row before you realize what’s it about and what to write about it. It’s an impossible task really! But with this six minute piece it’s different. If you don’t pay enough attention the first time you can easily make up for it right away. Not that the plot is very hard to figure out in the first place. I think it’s very well told using the imagery. There’s not much doubt about the storyline even if it’s not told entirely chronically. Maybe that’s just what appeals to me with this one, which I like very much. The sounds and the music emphasize the imagery very nicely! It’s quite an emotional tale which proves that you really can tell a heartwarming story in six minutes!

Drool – for me this is a very sensual… no sexual piece! It’s about four minutes long and kind of strange to watch. There are basically two bodies rolling around in some sort of gel. It may be a metaphor for something else but I interpret is more or less as a sexual act. I think what we see is the final stage of an intercourse with a mesmerizing orgasm ending. How much can be done I four minutes? Well, it’s not about what; it’s about how! It looks great but to be honest this one is a little too arty for me to enjoy at the fullest. A great play with the imagery though! There’s no dialog at all, and it’s not needed.

The Days God Slept

The Days God Slept – This one is hard to figure out. I mean there must be some morality to it right? Some bottom line, something the film is supposed to tell us. I’m not sure if I get it at all but that doesn’t mean that the ten minute long film isn’t good. I really like it! It shows the same degree of mastering the imagery. There are plenty more dialog in this than all the others short flicks put together. It seems to be a somewhat bigger production and there’s certainly a nice vibe to it. I just wish I could figure out what it’s really about. It obviously has something to do with religion and something else not usually connected to belief in God or a supreme being. There’s this stripper which claims that things are both precisely and not at all as they appear. I think this clue is very important and I based my solution of the movie around that, which, of course, doesn’t mean that I can put my thought into words.

Overall I really like the short films of Jeremiah Kipp! As I’ve said over and over again, the imagery is the strong side of these flicks, the thing that really stands out. There is acting way superior to the acting of most short – amateurish – flicks. This of course means that this is not amateurish at all! It seems to me that Jeremiah Kipp knows exactly what he wants and makes I happen! Very Nice!

Cult Flick Review: Venus in Furs (Masimo Dallamano) - 1969

Venus in Furs

Aka: Devil in the Flesh

Director: Massimo Dallamano

1969

Erotic/Drama

To be frank I don’t really know if there’s anything more to the story than what is obvious. A man gets obsessed by this woman and claims that women in furs are the sexiest thing on the planet. The rest of the film seems to be about shooting as many scenes as possible with as little clothes on the actresses as possible. I realize that I’m being unjust to the movie with these views but I have a very difficult time finding it worth my time watching movies like these. I like naked women as much as the next guy and I am probably a bit of a pervert but when it comes to softcore sexploitation I have a hard time.

Therefore this will be a somewhat strange review. What can I write about when I don’t see the point of the movie at all? I could say that the women are lovely and sexy – which they are. I could also make comment about the atmosphere and the aesthetics which is really nice but I don’t think that the movie should be seen just for these things. Actually I think that the only reason to see it is if you’re horny enough or as a reference to the sexploitation films of 1969.

I’m going to give this a bit better grade than it deserves just because of the aesthetics. It’s something I really enjoy in European movies like this but I need something more… It gets so tedious after a while…

3/10

Review: Cell Count - 2012

Cell Count

Director: Todd E. Freeman

2012

Horror/Sci-Fi

If you get the decease you’re as good as dead. Russell’s wife Sarah’s got it and she has no chance of surviving what so ever… except for the chance Dr. Brandt offers Russell. He has the choice of seeing his wife suffocate by her own blood and vomit and to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the hospital costs or join in with his wife in a little experiment. Dr. Brandt is very convincing and promises that Sarah will be free of the decease within weeks. But Dr. Brandt fails to inform them of the side effects. Maybe the decease itself isn’t so bad after all, maybe the curse is worse?

I get the feeling that this is set somewhere in the near future but it could very well be told as a present time story as well. It’s not really important just as long as you don’t expect space traveling and serious futuristic technology. All in all it seems pretty realistic actually. Apart from a few details as the decease for instance. The cure is kind of out of this world as well but that’s not very important. What is important is the suspense and the experiment itself! What’s it all for and what results and conclusions are Dr. Brandt hoping to find?

The film doesn’t give you too much information, which is a good thing; just enough to keep it interesting. The pace might be a bit slow to begin with but after half the movie or so that’s no problem anymore. The suspense takes over and the questions that the movie has accumulated begins to really take over you mind!

We get some answers of course, otherwise it would not have been such a great movie I think, but there are still unanswered stuff at the end. That bothers me a bit since I feel like the missing bits and pieces are very important! They might very well turn the whole purpose of the film upside down depending on the truth. The entire timeline might get different if the answer is told in a different way. Maybe this is an intentional move but the director to make us think about it after the film has ended. After all, some of the most interesting films I’ve seen leaves something for the viewer to think about.

If we were to talk about the acting and makeup effects for a while I wouldn’t have much to say. I have absolutely nothing to complain about. I think all of the actors portray their rolls trustworthy. And the makeup effects are done the same way. It might not be pretty but it’s always realistic!

It is a love story about a man who gives everything up for the woman he loves. But it’s also a story about a sadistic doctor when seeks a cure for an incurable decease. Why he does this is one of the remaining questions. I don’t think its money, possible fame but not probable. I wish that the ending scenes would have given one more clue. But it’s still a great movie and it will be graded as one!

8/10