The Three Monkeys (2008)

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Written by: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Ercan Kesal.

Very interesting to see a Turkish feature film. Eyup is a driver for Servet, a politician. One day his boss hits a person deadly with his car. Servet flees and instead of reporting to the police he asks Eyup to assume the guilt if he receives an amount of money when he comes out.

This is the start of a beautifully shot but very dark little tale about family break-down, deception and the vast consequences of bad choices.

The three monkeys, in spite of its horrible and misleading title (if you don’t know the tale about the monkeys), is a very well-knit drama, extremely well-played and beatifully filmed. The small draw-backs of believability in the story are totally compensated by the professionalism of acting, cinematography, décor, lighting and – substance. Many films in the current flow appear superficial in comparison. This is fictional realism at its best.

Also, it’s always relieving to leave the theatre with the feeling that the film wasn’t made to gain money firsthand, but to express and say something worthful.

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The Illusionist (2006)

Directed by: Neil Burger
Written by: Neil Burger and Steven Millhauser.

A brilliant film that captured me during its whole running time. Very well directed and a masterpiece of story. Little sad that the whole film was colorised in a cliché sepia, but, well, that’s a minor thing. This film will probably be appreciated by a broad audience, and the final twist is one of the best I’ve seen.

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Trainspotting (1996)

Directed by: Danny Boyle

It was with curiosity sat down to see this well-known film by the director of Slumdog Millionaire. This is a film about drug addiction, written by established writer John Hodge, who also wrote Shallow Grave and The Seeker - The Dark is Rising. This farse isn’t that bad as a story, and the directing and acting is at top level. But the content? Well, maybe it edifies somebody else, but not me.

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Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Directed by: Jared Hess

Don’t know what more to say than, this is a cult movie. See it and have fun.

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Nacho Libre (2006)

Directed by: Jared Hess

For those of you who liked Napoleon Dynamite. Same director, same style, same humor. Some rememberable scenes.

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Man tänker sitt / Burrowing (2009)

Screenplay and directors: Fredrik Wenzel and Henrik Hellström

International title: Burrowing

A middle class block during summer. A boy wanders around in his own world, sometimes corrected by his mother. A father of a small child ignores sense and future and puts all his attention to his little son in his arms. A solitary young man paddles towards a diffuse goal after having been wrestled down by his father.

Man tänker sitt is a portrait of a middle class residential district in Sweden, focusing on a boy and two grown-up men. These are people who lack direction and live closed into a world of themselves. But they also seem to live naked; they were never clothed with love. Ignorantly they hunger for it and can neither see nor give to others.

Man tänker sitt is accompanied by sacred choir music and a boy’s voice reading Thoreau texts. It is a very poetic film that lingers in the moment and explores people in close-up, mainly without words and leaving a lot open for one’s own interpretations.

There is a strong melancholy over Man tänker sitt that brings the thoughts to Ingmar Bergman's works. It can be seen as an attempt to sketch Man when he lacks God, left out to an existence without God, an existence lacking goal and meaning; a world where he stumbles in mud without hope. What we also see are people unable to see others. Neither does the film present solutions.

The personal expression of Man tänker sitt is admirable. It is nice to see that Swedish film financiers still support artistic expressions in fiction feature films. But I have a sense that this film could be so much more. Isn’t cinema also about communication? If a speaker talks too unclear, even the most poetic speech becomes hard to appreciate. The recognition and inspiration disappears.

In conclusion; a compliment to the authors for a free expression of things that are a little too blurred by... the expression.

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Flickan (The Girl, 2009)

Screenplay by: Karin Arrhenius
Directed by: Fredrik Edfeldt

When a ten-year-old girl's parents go to Africa to work with poor children, our little girl is left with her aunt the whole summer. Her aunt shows out to be quite egocentric and the girl manages to lure her away so that she can be alone. In a senstitive way we then follow the girl in her solitude and in her encounters with other girls, a boy and the neighbours. It’s a time of meeting grown-up life and herself.

Scriptwriter Karin Arrhenius has written a slow, sensitive and mature piece of film and Fredrik Edfeldt with cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, production designer Lars Strömsten and others have succeeded marvellously to bring her story to life on the screen. Also the music by Dan Berridge raises the experience and is a relevant part of this work.

In The Girl we see a story that is not based in a typical plot, that is, in a dramatic confrontation with the evil, or in a goal that is to be reached in spite of bad odds. Hollywood story structure has been thrown away this time and the film is a travel along a person, period. And it's enough. The film is very emotional, even if uncomfortably, and has a strong presence that leaves something more than just the candy in the gut.

Sure, one could argue that certain humor or hopeful solutions could be added to the story to give it more energy. But sometimes a story should be listened to just because the teller wants to tell something. This is such a case.

On the surface The Girl is about a child's experiences (and lack thereof) during a summer, but below that this film is about parenting. It's about a girl that has the right to so much more. A child is an island of rights. The right to belong and to be seen. The right to be embraced and loved. The right to be encoraged and stimulated. The Girl makes a strong statement about all children in the world. Do we really see them?

The Girl also asks another question. Is it our task to love the needy far away or the ones close? Something Karin Arrhenius makes us think about.

Blanca Engström is totally amazing in her part, I have never seen anything alike. Most of the other acting is also good and believable.

Do you want to see a feel-good movie, see something else. But if you want to see a piece of life, even if it hurts, go see The Girl.

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Broken Embraces (2009)

Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

Mateo is a blind ex-film director who has fallen into solitude and bitterness. One day a young man visits him with a screenplay idea. It turns out this man had a major influence in Mateo’s life until now. From here a drama unfolds where José Luis Gómez and Penélope Cruz portray an elderly millionaire and his mistress. It happens that the Cruz character, Lena, gets a job as an actress in one of Mateo’s films, and a love story between the two starts. Ernesto, the millionaire, is extremely jelous and sends his son to spy on her.

The story of Broken embraces is complex and involves time jumps and stories within stories. The complexity is thrilling but also takes a way some of the emotional power of this film.

Aesthetically Broken Embraces is a masterpiece; in acting, cinematography and décor. Pedro Almodovar is an accomplished artist in his work, a Picasso on the screen, even comparable to Shakespeare in intricate drama writing. And due to its complexity, some of his work might even function better on the stage.

In spite of some overdoing in the dramatic structure of this film, the grade cannot be anything else than a full five. There are many famous film directors out there that are not even close to Almodovar’s mastering of film art.

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Flashdance (1983)

Directed by: Adrian Lyne

I decided to watch a modern classic. And it was worth it. This film shows the typical structure of a Hollywood film (and classic fairy tales): a three-act story about the poor girl who wants the impossible. And although so cliché, it evokes both sincere laughter and tears. And that's what films are all about.

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Mama Mia (2008)

Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd

A bunch of smiles and a bunch of Abba songs in Mediterrean setting. And a clear sense of...emptiness. The songs saved this film.

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