bernhard293 Reviews

Glitter (2022)

emotional body work

[10/10 · 17 December 2022]

I don't understand the low ratings. Yes it shows a lot of skin. Its in nature of portraying this topic - sex for money. Its not meant to be sexy per se, but overall the cast is very sexy. The naked body and sex are just parts of life which are tabooized hence the low ratings I think. The story focuses on 3 different women and their relations and why they sometimes take money for sex and what does that to them emotionally. It also observes power struggles between men and women, love, friendship, parenting and economical survival. One gets small glimpses of economic situation in communist Poland of that time too. Its funny, sad and has the potential to become heartbreaking. It is very much about emotions, so it digs deep. I like that its not a blueprint of hollywood storylines. There are interesting constellations, conflicts and twists. The characters are not flat but interesting, especially dreamy Helena and fierce Pola. The acting is very good too. The costumes and make-up are nice. The photography is nice, though i find it at times a bit too much of lens filters. I would like a more natural approach to the images. I also dont really understand the title, maybe because it takes place in a posh seaside Hotel of Sopot where lush parties take place. I wasnt born in the seventies, but the series conveys a certain atmosphere which I believe could be authentical. I like the 30 min runtime of the episodes, I am now at episode 5. I watch in original with subtitles. After Operation Hyacinth a nice polish time piece again from Netflix.

Chasing the Line (2021)

Gold medal for the dialect

[9/10 · 30 January 2022]

A romantic sports biography set in the 70ies austrian alps. It follows the sympathetic Franz Klammer who won the gold medal in the 1976 winter olympics ski downhill race in Innsbruck. It was a home game for him. Also we see a sweet and because of Franz' fame a bit complicated love story unfold as he and his girlfriend start getting closer. The film draws besides that attention to his carinthian origins, dealing with fame, scenes with colleagues and a conflict with his ski sponsor. Its a somewhat lighthearted sports competition film photographed with retro touch and colors. Productionwise its high value and although the story is not very deep or complex, Franz smile and quirky charme will take u over. Somehow he is portraited a little shy, hiding that under a big smile. He raises the question what he needs to win and that he has to know that at the start. And in a nice blending of scenes on the final meters of the race it seems one can see what this is for him: foremost his love, is family, his colleagues and furthermore all people cheering him up to win. He also wins for them and for us, so its a kind of collective win and euphoria. I also think the dialect speech was very authentic and i applaud that.

Happy Birthday (I) (2019)

Good but maybe too depressing

[8/10 · 22 November 2020]

Grim drama about a dysfunctional family. The acting is very good. The cinematography, music and interiors are very artful. The arts are a recurring theme in this movie as seen in the child play and the movie in the movie. The story centers on the troubled half sisters return after three years absence to the family at the matriarchs birthday. Main themes are money, manipulation and mental illness (bipolar or borderline?). The breakdowns are painful to watch. It's not a feel good movie, maybe therefore the low ratings.

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Not funny

[2/10 · 8 August 2020]

I usually write reviews when I like a movie a lot. With this one it's the opposite. I cannot even tell u if I watched it fully. Second time I attempted to watch it I stopped in between. Maybe again. The plot about a tv series crew on a real interstellar adventure is a good premise. But it's the only one. Maybe I am just not the kind for parody movies. Sci Fi parody is hard to stomach for me. But maybe it can be better described as a comedy because it's a real adventure of some old goofy tv stars. The characters are one sided with no character development. How can someone with this iconic emancipated gender bending role in Alien play such a boring shallow character? The lines are not funny, there is no situational comic. The aliens come across as bloodless with their fake smiles and coldness. The movie itself seems lifeless. No special effect can save this.

Border (2018)

Crossing borders

[10/10 · 13 January 2020]

There is a border between nature and city, animals and humans, reality and fairy tale, male and female, normal and anormal. This movie in more than one way crosses the border. One day the main character realizes all her life she was being lied to as she meets her other half. We follow her through a journey towards herself. But in the end she has to choose between ethics and love. The story becomes ravaging and really brought out some tears. There are some gruesome scenes and so the story borders between fantasy and horror genre also. I really liked the make-up and prosthetics - i wasn't sure if it was real or not - and the haunting electronical music score.

Gold Diggers (2019– )

Power is sexy

[10/10 · 11 January 2020]

This is a great story about power, money, corruption, scheming and lust. Everyone seems to have affairs and one sees much naked skin. At the same time the characters are believable and sympathetic. It is also a tale about love and the longing to belong. The motto seems to be money is sexy. At the core of season one is an unresolved murder. The story draws one in as the dialogue is witty and the characters interesting. The setting could be anywhere as its likely a universal tale except the (police) corruption. Its nice to see russian style interior design and nice shots of moscow. The acting is good and one sees fresh faces apart from Hollywood typecasting. There is not just one main character but several and also the side characters are interesting. Its a great ensemble. With its lusty scenes it reminds me of season 1 of the girlfriend experience. The one thing i dont like are the many english songs at least in the german dubbed version. I would like more russian songs or some more modern electronic music.

Suspiria (I) (2018)

Style over substance

[4/10 · 21 November 2018]

The Horror: I expected more of a suspense horror movie but until the end there are some really gruesome and even splatter-like scenes. (Two people next to us left the Cinema and I was glad i didnt go alone to the cinema) thought it just wanted to shock towards the end. This put me off quite a bit. Staccato-like pictures in red didn't fit to the other scenes. I appreciate though the retro feel and colors of the cinematography throughout the rest of the movie. Architecture costumes where also good. And the music was great. Some figures might have been created rather with prosthetics than CGI and sometimes that made them seem almost ridiculous. The Story: Starts out intresting but seems to go nowhere. It feels like there are too many elements and topics mixed together like too many ingredients in a magic potion - so alltogether not really digestable and no resolution. Sometimes it felt like mixed together tableau vivants one after another and maybe there were too many characters. I felt there was some romantic element missing and there would have been space for some (at least light) homoerotic scenes in an all female dancing ensemble. The Acting: I liked Ms. Swintons and really liked Mia Goth. Her face with that Make-up was perfect retro-chic and she could really transmit her anxiety. I expected more from Ms. Johnson because I like her but I feel her figure was drawn very one-sided and didn't develop too much. Also her hair looked like a wig.

Frances Ha (2012)

the friendship parallel universe

[9/10 · 10 November 2013]

This is a fine tragicomedy about young peoples' lives, struggles, dreams and relationships living in NY. At first the black and white distracted me a bit, but that faded soon. The main character is a clumsy young woman in her 20ies. Her character reminds me of something like a female young Woody Allen. The monochrome picture supports that reminiscence on Wood Allen films for me. But the film plays in our time and is very much up to date in my opinion. The other main character is Frances Ha's best friend. Main theme in this movie is friendship. Friendship meaning your best friend who could maybe be the most important person in ones life, at least in Frances Ha's life. The happenings in this movie seem so realistic i wondered if it was a semi-documentary or something like this. This is just like real life. Someone here said there is no really storyline in this movie, but I think it has as much a storyline as real life has...or has not. What life makes of your dreams and hopes when you try to give your best to achieve them makes for some kind of Happy End here. I would recommend that movie for fans of Woody Allen and New York. Go watch it with your best friend.

Little White Lies (2010)

three (un)wise monkeys

[21 July 2011]

The film is about a bunch of friends who all have their little secrets and little white lies. They go on a holiday sponsored by the most successful of them, despite the fact that another good friend of them lies in Hospital after a serious accident a few days ago. There are some drug problems and topics about homosexuality, promiscuity, fame and gender relation. Its also about love, loyalty and friendships in general. Each of the characters tries to hold up a facade because of some personal weakness. The unspoken common goal of the party is to banish the darker sides of existence (loneliness, death, ...) by the means of fun, silly behavior and even drugs. In that the film is a mirror of our society to some degree. In the film the friends come behind the secrets of each other, which leads in some cases to tensions. But they also have to face that they are lying to themselves. Some of the actors deliver good character studies of a generation in their 30ies to 40ies striving for success and/or fun in life. I don't understand the movies end. Considering the characters former behavior I do not know if the film shows self pity then or if maybe its even meant cynical on purpose. For I thought the film was quite cynical the ending seems too melodramatic and tear-jerking. But in general I can recommend this movie.

I Am Love (2009)

she is not a decent Recchi wife

[6/10 · 15 February 2011]

My critic refers more to the story and the characters than to the nice pictures of meals, interiors and cloth, which sometimes seem a bit sterile, which was surely intended. The contrast between the Milan life and the life in the nature illustrates the main movie theme: the conflict between freedom and responsibility, ecstasy and commitment, nature and culture. Antagonists painted mostly in black and white which cannot be balanced out in this movie's world. This movie seems to play decades ago. There is a very traditionalist, patriarchal and rich family portrayed. The figures seem a bit stereotypical. The only character development happens for "Emma". There are big changes going on in the family and their company and just at that time Emma falls for a cook. It seems she flees the family into an excessive love affair despite the family would need her and she could show strength. It seems to me like a fatal love. She regresses into a former self she would like to be. I question myself if the story wants to show the misery that follows such an unmoral, seemingly irresponsible action. But the misery following on the foot seems melodramatic and too much constructed. After the misery happened Emma is devastated and Tilda Swinton can play (once again) a woman near to going mad. Emma, now the woman with the short hair and the Russian name, is not able to go back into her golden cage, maybe for multiple reasons. I like the fine acting but I wished for a more natural, surprising plot. I felt some scenes were too long. I like the ending and the final scene though. There is multiple meaning to the moments between Emma and her daughter. Does Emma's gesture mean "you are in my heart always" or "I am pregnant, and not from your father"? Maybe both, as the sons girlfriend makes the same gesture she tells Emma and Betta that she carries Emmas grandson under her heart. I think Edoardo wanted to tell Emma that at the dinner. I would rate it 6,5 out of 10.

Notes of Love (1998)

Romantic, "silent" dramedy with great acting and fine dialog

[10/10 · 29 January 2010]

One of the many reasons I like this movie is the Cello music, it doesn't distract from the marvelous soft Italian light and decent scenery. The movie takes place most time in a pretty district of Rome and on the seaside near Rome. The main character, played by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, is Angela, a spoiled rich 30-year old still studying single woman who doesn't know what to do with herself most of the time. Its a bored life full of neuroses and harmless compulsions, and there is one hope - love. A Psychoanalist tells her shes not ready to love, but love finds its ways and is there from the beginning...

The film is kind of intimate and poetic, has its own soft and happy vibe, weird logic and hilarious moments of subtle comedy. The actors always strike the right tone on the claviature of human emotions, also the silent and soft tones. Its a real striking performance by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi who plays emotional Angela so intimately as if she knew her all her life.

The dialog is really great and there are some really true lines. For example: The reason she says why she is leaving the psychiatric ward, she had put herself in voluntarily, is because she is ill and wants to get healthy. For me its an example of the hilarious but somewhat true logic in this film. Could one get sane in a psychiatry?

I watched it several times and no matter what mood I was in it gave me a smile and a good time.

Initiation (2009)

A dark, thorny flower bouquet with fancy, bright sprinkles

[6/10 · 21 January 2010]

This film deals with the shadows and guilt of the past which overshadow individual memories and society as a whole. It is also about homosexuality, transsexualism, diversity, self determined life versus conformism and neo-fascism, friendship versus group pressure, admitting ones injuries or neglecting them and hurting weaker persons, about growing up and getting old. What touched me are the interactions of the characters in the film and the good acting of all the cast, outstanding the two leading characters.

Helmut Berger as Gustav Tritzinsky is the old wise man who doesn't talk much, but his words way heavy. He has a touch of grandfatherness. Harry Lampl plays a fresh, heartwarming Axel who struggles with his emotional injuries and finds a shelter in Gustav. It's more a film about friendship and reminds me of Harold & Maud. It is also a bit brutal and shocking sometimes. A film to get a glimpse of Vienna apart from touristic 1st districts glamor and to feel Austria's most times neglected shadows of the past.

You see a piece of Viennese culture, if you know Vienna you could easily believe you have seen this street or bar, and indeed maybe you have. The scenery and costumes are very authentic, I like also the camera work, but don't expect top of the art cinematography, maybe due to low budget. I saw the film in German and there is some dialect.

Sometimes the story is a bit over the top for my taste, but never falls into the absurd. It is like a huge flower bouquet with dark, dusty, thorny flowers and some fancy, bright ones in between. The hilarious elements are balanced with the tragic ones, if there weren't parts to laugh maybe this film would be too hard to bear. One has the feeling some of the scenes could (have) really happen(ed).

I brought two friends to this film, one expected an easy fun movie, but we all liked this exceptional, interesting film.