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En gång i Phuket (2011)
Nice, friendly Swedish comedy
Main character Sven is stuck in the RatRace. Living alone, working late with stupid people and no proper life. Childhood friend has written a book, lives the life of an adventurer and appears on a popular TV Show.
The friend dies in a silly way (remember, a comedy) and during the funeral Sven meets a Norwegian girl (Gitte) who works and lives in Thailand. All these experiences makes him jump off his boring live and jump on a flight to Phuket where he plans to write The Novel.
Anja (Oh ever so beautiful Susanne Thorson), whom Sven met at a Gym, is also traveling to Thailand with 2 friends. They are to be there for a week and then their partner are to come down. But Anja have just broke up with her boyfriend so she is rather hesitant to go.
Everything boils down to chance meets in Phuket, love and comedy. This is a warm, funny Swedish movie with lots of short gags. The main story isn't that interesting as it is about man, woman and love. Seen everywhere and in almost every film. What makes this film is all the small details around the characters with David Hellenius as Bar/Restaurant owner + adventure travel arranger George as the diamond.
It's a nice, friendly movie with lots of comedy and small things to laugh at. The cast stays in character and it is a nice warm feeling afterward. It's not a great movie but if you have a "nordic" attitude to life, it's a hit.
Martyrs (2008)
It is french so it must be... Good?
Pretentious. That is the keyword of this film. And it is FULL of SPOILERS!!!
Reading through the reviews it feels that the movie is celebrated because no one understands it so it must be great. I didn't think so.
As everyone comments, this is several movies in one but unfortunately they don't really fit together. The new french horror cinema has shown to deliver some great flicks with actually refreshed the entire euro- horror genre.
Part one is the revenge movie. Here we see 2 girls kick ass during a vengeance / murder rampage, a sickly ghost and a lot of self mutilation with a razor that ends with a suicide. Mylène Jampanoï plays Lucie with excellence and her madness really comes out. That is the only character that has any really "life" in this crap.
Then it feels like Pascal Laugier came up with an idea.. "OMG, I may perhaps have to share why these two girls have gone completely medieval ?"
So now we find Catherine Bégin playing "Mademoiselle", an old hag who wants to create Jesus. We learn that there is a group who kidnaps women, because they are the only strong ones who can endure the torture, in order to create their Jesus figure who goes back to Papa and learns about an afterlife. And they have tried for 17 years and are still ongoing
Initially I though she was an old Nazi-doc who wanted to continue perverted sexual experiments but we didn't even get to see a nipple until the end. But I was wrong, she was just another cultist of rich old people who wanted to know what afterlife was.
So, what do you get during these 99 minutes? First part, gruesome murders. Intermission when stupid girl Anna roams the torture chambers finding another victim. She is then taken by the baddies and now second part starts.
She is force fed. Has her hair cut of. She gets a sponge bath. A big blond french Nazi.. (no, not a Nazi.. just an a*hole) beats the crap out of her a few times.
Then comes the scary doctor who skins her alive - whoa, now she meets God. Tells her secret to the old hag. All the old rich people gathers, waiting for the word of God but fool them twice, the old hag kills herself. And it ends with Anna in a tank, skinned and "oh so holy". And because the hag killed herself after Anna whispered the "truth" - the rest of the world is lost.
Frak - yes, the director should apologize for this. There is a quasi- religious message that perhaps a catholic understands but not the rest of us. F/X was on par with what you would expect of a "torture porn" movie but nothing more. It is just that last part of the second half.. I get the feeling that people "love" this movie because you need 4 years of religious schooling, a deep understanding in philosophy to understand it. But hey, an artsy movie from France - it MUST be great.
When in the end it is just some people dying on the screen, some abuse of a young girl and then.. emptiness. High on the chock value due to the violence against young girls. But low on "plot" or "message".
Lebanon (2009)
I was disappointed...
I must say I was pretty bummed out after the movie ended. It takes to much artistic freedom to drive the non-existing plot forward.
You do not drive around in enemy territory with a hatch anyone from outside can open up. Especially if it is war going on. Also the stupidity and lack of response from the crew got under my skin.
The concept of viewing the war from the crew's perspective was a good idea but lost in creating it. If I had Muppet's like this crew in my tank, I'd drop kick them.. at least to be part of the reactive armor. I don't care if you only have shot at barrels. You kill the enemy and you use the correct weapon.
The psychology didn't even drive the movie. I had hoped the Syrian POW would at least interact with the crew more. If the Israeli army is anywhere near to what these idiots presents - then good bye Nation of Israel. There was no statement for or against the event it depicts. Even the HQ on radio was off the grid.
Salinui chueok (2003)
I was blown away
This is one of the best Korean movies I have seen. The photography is equal to Janghwa, Hongryeon. It is amazing. Some shots are so perfect it makes your eyes hurt. The colors are filled with suspense and saturated with Korean attitude.
It is a slow-paced movie with all the sub-parts you need for a great movie. I seldom sit on edge for over two hours watching a movie, but now I did. This is a great Korean movie; The Rain, local cops, great photo, cool attitudes, comedy, sadness, love, action.... It is simply put in class of "Chan-wook Park" and "Ki-duk Kim". There is suspense throughout the movie; a creeping feeling of frustration as the murders go on and no new evidence turns up. We, the audience, get to share their despair and impotence of the case. It's an haunting experience. I LOVED IT.