donofrio08 Reviews

Rosenstrasse (2003)

It could have been better, but that's not the point

[7/10 · 9 April 2005]

Rosenstrasse is more an intimate film than one of epic proportions, which could have kept away many film goers looking for a Pianist similar plot. Fortunately, Von Trotta, a good screenwriter, opts for a feminist peep to an era too much illustrated on its colorful exterior, but too little analyzed in terms of intimacy and from the point of view of ordinary Aryan German rather from a Jewish standpoint. Rosentrasse finds its strength in these unsung burdens of people trapped within historical circumstances of which they emerge as victims. The pace of the film is introspective, poignantly slow, meditative. Besides, the characters are so vivid while transitions between generations and the passing of time has been deftly crafted. Rosenstrasse is not a masterpiece, and some narrative flaws are well discerned. Another fault lies on a trivial cinematography unable to capture the intensity of the internal drama lived by the characters. Nevertheless, this film is worth seeing. Finally, Rosenstrasse is part of the last trend in German films dealing with the ghosts of a nightmarish past,trend that includes such excellent films as Nowhere in Africa, and recently, the controversial Downfall. I would recommend this film to those who know how to read beyond the images.

Sadko (1953)

Sadko revives ingenuity and freshness to a decadent art

[8/10 · 12 March 2005]

Charming and naive, Alexandr Ptushko's version of Sadko maintains the ingenuity of the fairy tale through the golden touch of imaginative coloring and splendid characters ingrained in the Russian folklore, which at the same time are part of the universal lore. Add to this Rimmsky-Korsakov's magical music, and lo and behold, a dearest masterpiece to feast eyes and endear hearts. Ptushko used to work under stressing circumstances, political as well as cultural, within a government-controlled industry, where ideology ruled over imagination. However, the artist surpassed the militant many times. Sadko concedes to the nationalistic trend in tyrannies proclaiming, in this case, the 'proud of been a Russian", heard as an echo of fascistic hypes on 'selected people or race"; but it is done with such an obvious declarative tone that the imposition of dialogs and lines comes clear to the viewer. Hail to a filmmaker who conceived films as a domain for the illusive and the innocence.

Luther (2003)

Luther for whom?

[5/10 · 16 January 2005]

Here we have another bio-film a la Hollywood, in which a major character in History is abused to please some social sector willingly to spend their money, if and only if, the character fits the frame of traditional pattern in which he/she survives. Martin Luther has been downgraded to a well-known simplistic dialogue served under factual circumstances, so the film might be visualized and accountable as a historical reproduction through art. Once the spectator identifies the venue of (his/her) knowledge in the images, as soon as the dialogue between images and spectator stabilizes, any one may buy any 'secondary' nuances in the replica, such as an impossible Luther as portrayed by an unfitting Fiennes, or a Von Bora, playing courtier, by an actress whose name sounds irrelevant now. Certainly, period and costumes are closely observed, masses and individuals are well balanced even though the film fails to deliver the strength of revolution and reformation to the plot. Another masquerade, unworthy of a man like Martin Luther.

White Noise (I) (2005)

Noisy and irrelevant

[2/10 · 8 January 2005]

White Noise is a nuisance of a horror movie plagued by clichés, bad acting, and funky tricks to have an inexperienced audience screaming every now and then when some special effect, good sound though, burst into the screen. Cheap stuff this, that can not erase the dull moments consuming more than 50% of the running time. The story parts from a quasi predictable plot: the successful pregnant wife of a successful architect dies in a baffling car accident and later from the world of the dead she tries to contact her estranged-by-death hubby to alert him of a serial killer who acts controlled by evil spirits. If at this moment, the reader has made no connections to better samples of this sub-genre (think of Ghost)he or she will probably find the plot line enjoyable and even original; but then this spectator should visit the multiplex more frequently. Add to this, an unsympathetic performance by Michael Keaton- a low, low point in an otherwise remarkable career - as the afflicted husband and a flamboyant fall from a deep height performed by a surviving Elfman, and viola! there you have the first worst movie of 2005.

Gate of Hell (1953)

Guilt and Self -Punishment, the works of uncontrollable desires.

[9/10 · 30 December 2004]

In a time when movies are becoming more and more alike, Gate of Hell provides an intelligent way-out to imagination and, at the same time, to more complex and unorthodox endings. The classical Romantic triangle links to a Greek-like tragedy (it's loosely based on The Rape of Lucrece), where the main characters suffer the circumstances of carnal passion triggered by a vulgar political event. Contrary to a confrontation to be solved within the male stamina, Kinugasa's subtle tactful touches the theme of guilt and punishment embroidered in a suspenseful plot that reminds us of Dostoiewski's tragic hero. The ultimate and unrequited fidelity on the part of the unfortunate Tesa represents the silence of submission women are supposed to play in repressive societies. Her untimely death is more than the prize for trustworthiness, but the quintessential proof of dependability on 'macho's rights'. Shot in a resplendent Eastmancolor, Gate of Hell, the first Japanese movie to be filmed in color, extracts poetry from the misery of Man and the tragic destiny of tormented souls that recognize how oppressive feelings can be, as Kurosawa's Rashomon had discovered a few years before. This film is a big A.

Une femme de ménage (2002)

Filling the gaps, The Housekeeper tempts the spectator while cheats on him.

[6/10 · 29 July 2004]

The best thing coming from this Berri film is that plausibility and prediction conspire to improve a weak plot. The spectator, however, gets the surprise of his life when, in a sudden twist, the film reveals he has been watching the wrong movie. Give the kudos to the actors: sexily believable and deceitfully ordinary. Jacques and Laura, the main characters in this autumn-spring old line plot, early show their true self. She, young and beautiful, knows he is in a middle of a sentimental crisis. He, mature and confused, is never deceived by her egotist intentions. A sexual relationship is sure to occur, and so it does. But, it comes as a strange mix of feelings and desires, that the film never gets it clear. That's the relevance of this story: life cannot be deconstructed and explained in terms of art. Just the mirror, as the good Stendhal knew almost two centuries ago. Une femme de menage (more explicative than the English title) is a quiet thought on the passing of chances and the options we make; and a lecture on the futility of adapting our expectations to a self-deceitful sense of self-importance.