anderzzz-1 Reviews

The Northman (2022)

A Norse saga on film, fatalistic and from a different moral universe

[10/10 · 16 March 2023]

Many Norse sagas from the 10th century and thereabouts exhibit the feature that lives of the characters are foreordained, or at least understood as such. Humans are like particles that must do what the forces that act on them require. Usually the path is set by honour, family, father-son bond, supernatural decree etc. The Norse worldview appears therefore very fatalistic and collectivist.

This contrasts with the modern story with moral agents who deliberate, struggle, then chooses an imperfect path forward. The film Gladiator is a good example of a man (and hero) who has been wronged and is on a tough, bloody yet morally righteous journey. Northman tricks the viewer to think that is the story that is about to be told after a standard setup in the beginning of the film. But that is ultimately not the kind of story that is told, especially driven home in the final act "twist".

Northman is a great attempt to capture the fatalistic Norse story, where moral facts and the good matter not when the given destiny is enacted. This does make the story somewhat alien to a modern audience. This isn't the usual adventure, revenge and redemption film. But seen through the lens of the Norse saga, it is great.

17 sui de tian kong (2004)

A sweet Asian gay drama

[9/10 · 22 October 2010]

I have recently seen several "Asian gay dramas". Formula 17 is one of the best.

An observation I have made is that several of the Asian gay dramas are full of guilt. This is nothing unique to the Asian gay dramas, just think of Brokeback Mountain. But I have seen a few too many films that end in death and general misery, where the conclusion seems to be that being gay is just pain, suffering and misery. Perhaps this is a realistic description in some of the more conservative Asian societies, but if suicide is the only way out for the protagonist of the film, then that is a bad film in my opinion.

Formula 17 is a much more hopeful film. The protagonists have their struggles and problems to deal with. However, these problems are in good sense more everyday. The characters cover a wide and not too subtle spectrum of being gay, and the story is both fun and cute. Yes, it is a bit sugar coated, but why not? Also, the film offers some nice photo of Taiwan. After I saw this film, I wanted to go there.

Highly recommended, especially if you want to see a good Asian gay drama with more fun and less depression.

Hustler White (1996)

Ironic and fatalistic documentary

[9/10 · 31 October 2009]

A lot of irony in this film. A pretentious reviewer could probably come up with some references to Derrida and self-deconstruction and how the ridicule the film got for the effeminate character who wishes to make a documentary of hustling in LA is a way of undermining the film itself, which indeed is something of a documentary of hustling in LA.

It got some nice and crazy sex scenes, which are important.

The overall feeling I have of the film is that it is like an artistic natural documentary, where the sad events, painful human conditions are like facts of nature, to be viewed, maybe briefly analyzed, but ultimately they are there and can't be changed. The story of "piglet" is like the bad consciousness of the film, however, the one condition where the film can't help but take sides.

You I Love (2004)

The unconventional love is everywhere, in an absurd way

[9/10 · 31 October 2009]

This is a film that easily can be given a long existentialistic interpretation a la Sartre or some similar French philosopher. The depraved and superficial meet the natural and authentic, and in some weird theatrical way the events lead to an unconventional relation. I do not think this film should be viewed as a realistic drama. It is slightly absurd, and even the "bad characters" of the film are more absurd than nasty.

I liked the film for its crazy and indirect and dreamlike approach to unconventional love and relations. No preaching, not that much reality, and a healthy portion of strangeness. If there is a message, then I believe that is best described as "the path to joyful unconventional life is everywhere, just look!"

The Vanishing (1988)

Scientific scrutiny of existentialistic question

[9/10 · 7 July 2007]

With this strange title, you may wonder if I really have seen the same film as the other commentators, who focus on the scary side of this film. I am the first to acknowledge this side of the film as well, where the scary aspects are created by the actual story, not an excessive use of gore. But the film contains a philosophical depth, which I chose to focus on here, hence the odd title.

The film starts with a prologue, which as climax has the disappearance of the female in a young Dutch couple on vacation in France. The film then goes back in time, and we follow a French man and his odd behaviour (testing how long he is kept drugged by some chemical of certain volume, how well screams are heard from his house on the countryside by scaring his daugther with spiders, how he optimally should invite someone into his car, and even learning some English phrases with this purpose in mind). It is obvious that this man, for some unclear reason, want to kidnap a woman by drugging her in his car, and after several failures, we reach the point where the Dutch woman from the prologue is kidnapped by this French man.

Then starts the third and final part of the film, where the kidnapper and the man from the Dutch couple, who want to know what happened to his girlfriend, eventually meet. In a car ride back to France, the two men talk and the purpose is revealed. The kidnapper is a man who want to know if he is able to perform the most gruesome act (in his opinion) to another person. Is he able to do evil? And he performs his inquire using the scientific method, that is, formulating a hypothesis, preparing and collecting data and then doing the "experiment" to confirm or reject the hypothesis. His preparations, described above, were hence not training in order to do the act effectively, instead they were part of the scientific scrutiny, the empirical data.

The question "can I do the ultimate evil", is a variant of the existentialistic question, which (I think) Sartre was the first to point out, namely the fear we feel for our own freedom. Say when we walk over a bridge we feel scared by our knowledge that if we want, we could throw ourselves over the bridge and kill ourselves. We therefore tend to mentally put false restraints on our freedom, and rarely do a sane person follow the sudden impulse to find out the answer to whether we are able to do this. But not the kidnapper, who when he suddenly is faced with the question "can I do the ultimate evil", he proceeds to answer it scientifically. This is the unpassionate purpose of the kidnapping. The Dutch man is faced with another philosophical question with more passionate meaning towards the end, but that's another side of the film, which I do not comment on here.

So finally, what is the gruesome act? Lets say that when we learn in passing that the kidnapper has extreme claustrophobia and therefore is allowed to ride a car without seat belt, well then we get a clue...

A very good film! Scary, with depth and it gives the audience a lot to think about, and the actor who plays the kidnapper does so very convincingly.

The Young Lieutenant (2005)

Less said, less action, but more depth

[9/10 · 11 February 2007]

A young tough guy, eager to be a real cop solving real crime, and to be really cool. A middle-aged woman, alone, with personal problems but well organized and effective. Put these two together in a big city ("the jungle") in some cheesy office rooms, and you may expect to see another cliché cop-movie. But you're wrong.

First of all, this film contains not much action at all. The murder that things evolve around is not the main attraction, it is more of a catalyst for the development of the humans on screen. Furthermore, there is no music to "guide" us emotionally, and no extreme display of emotions (or overacting) as is so common. Instead we follow the characters at distance, but emotions are there, but like in real life, poorly articulated and often ambiguous. And the less glamorous work of attending an autopsy, and reactions to it, is also shown; just the sound is disgusting, and that scene of the film has for me a really artistic feeling to it: it highlights the "fleshy-ness" of the body, that it is not just an abstract piece in life, but something bulky, ugly, imperfect and vulnerable, which is quite a contrast to how the young tough guy probably considers himself.

These aspects together means that the film is more real. That does not have to be an advantage for a film - good film rarely limit itself to a display of reality. But to follow the development of the characters, their life and work, from a distance, sometimes with some police action added, as you do in a very precise way in this film, is very rewarding. This is a good drama with action content.

East Palace, West Palace (1996)

Powerful in meaning, gentle in tone

[9/10 · 18 November 2006]

This film uses very simple means to tell its powerful story. I am very found of films which do exactly this, that composes a story with emotions in a condensed way that does not preach to you, that does not tell you in bad taste how to feel, but that still moves you, not only in the theater, but also later on.

I am sure that this film can evoke mixed emotions. Because as a viewer we may want one of the characters to be the victim, we may want him to be the one at the bottom which should fight, take the battle and overcome his oppressor. But that is not how the story is told. For those of you who know Genet and have read Genet's stories, you will know the ambiguity that can be given to the oppressor/victim relation. And how full of meaning and emotions a single object or moment can be.

So if you have read Genet and liked it, you will like this film. But be warned, if you are expecting a story which delivers a story about poor gay men in less fortunate countries, you will be challenged, not to think the other way around, however, rather to view the world in more than one dimension.

Falkenberg Farewell (2006)

Can you feel what is left unspoken?

[10/10 · 29 September 2006]

As is said in another comment you can not be told whether you will like this film or not. You need to have something in your past or present that helps you enter this group and understand or feel the things that are left unspoken... and that is much. But if you have that, this film is rewarding, tragic, beautiful and painful. Very good!

The minimal form of the film is perfect for the on the surface minimal story. But as any minimal art the content is there, but you will need to do at least half of the work of finding it. I enjoy that kind of film, and since I am able to relate to the story a great deal, this film was perfect for me!

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

masochistic and manipulative

[1/10 · 22 September 2006]

I have seen many of Loach films, and I like them, some a lot! But this one, stands out for being one-dimensional and with a sledgehammer-like rhetoric.

So what do I mean? We get to follow a young man through the film, who only after five minutes into the film becomes convinced that an armed struggle is the best way to beat the oppression. Then the film follows his violent actions. And after many minutes (some with very masochistic and self-sacrificing violence) the British occupation force is ousted.

Now (at last) the film is getting ready to address issues of greater difficulty, because suddenly with the disappearance of the common enemy, the fighters start to disagree. Should the fight continue until a worker's socialist republic is formed, or should a liberal democracy with some ties to the British (but not occupied) be accepted? Our protagonist chooses the former option. At this point in the film (unless the repetitive first hour and a half has bored you completely) the real challenge to the audience could be given: how can a people with different opinions on how to live and structure society, reach a common ground for their mutual existence, how should a socialist state deal with persons that does not want to join the collective, now when their occupier has left? The film has a clear answer: they are traitors, lets fight to the End! Here the personal drama, which is where Loach has his great power, is substituted for very simple political discourse. No intellectual "tension" is built up because the answer appears so simple... FIGHT!

And the ending... so masochistic! You almost wonder if the violence is the (erotic?) force of the film. Of all films Loach has made over the years, that this one would win in Cannes... well, you can not help but question the taste of the jury!

Winter Light (1963)

Condensed with many possible interpretations

[8/10 · 2 August 2006]

This film is without doubt one of Bergman's best. I am especially fond of his minimalistic films with a small cast, simple scenery, and a condensed story. "Nattvardsgästerna" belongs to this category together with "Såsom i en spegel" and "Tystnaden". The photo by Nyqvist is also remarkable, almost a reason enough to watch this film.

If we turn to the story, things get rather complex. As so often, Bergman puts a lot of focus on religious issues, in this film very explicitly, even more that in "Det sjunde inseglet" in my opinion. For me personally, not being religious at all, these issues themselves are not that exciting. However, I usually enjoy Bergman despite this since there is often in this quest for the understanding of God a deeper and raw connection with feelings which I can relate to from a secular perspective. "Såsom i en spegel" is my favorite in this respect. "Nattvardsgästerna" has a lot of strength in this respect also, but religion gets "in the way" for me.

But even if I have harder to connect with this film on a personal level, I truly enjoy the high demand the film puts on the viewer's intellect. This is a film with many interpretations which, at least for me, required multiple viewings to uncover. The sufferings of Jesus are central to the story, not his physical pain but more his mental pain of knowing that his words were unheard and that his sudden doubt of God's well-meaning, maybe even existence. But exactly how the characters of the film fit into this story is not clear, much so since the priest is a complex character that seems to undergo sudden changes during the film.

So a film for both mind and eyes, no doubt. And although the religious issues are a bit too explicit for my taste in this film, there are other dimensions that makes it well worth seeing. A better film in my taste is, as said above, "Såsom i en spegel".

Monrak Transistor (2001)

An interesting mixture of genres

[7/10 · 31 July 2006]

This film start out almost like a farce comedy. We have a jester, there is an old man shooting a rifle screaming nonsense, etc. It fades into a romantic story too good to be true, but makes a turn into dark social realism of poor Thailand meets rich Thailand. There is violence and abuse, both drugs and sexual on display, very far from the silly humor the film started with. Towards the end, some slow motion scenes like in an action film appears, before finally we reach the end, but the transistor (the symbol of the joyful start of the film) is broken and rusty.

As seen, this film is a huge mixture of genres. When I had watched this film, I asked myself: what was the purpose of this mixture, was the grim end a mocking of the joyful beginning? Could it be that the ever smiling jester (Pan, the principal character) on his multicolored stage with his sugar sweet romantic songs, the idealogical cute Thailand, is mocked and stripped to the hard, poor, sexually raw and abusive Thailand as the film progresses? Is this why the film maker mixes all these different genres in the story instead of keeping the form fairly fixed, that it in fact is the appearance that is criticized?

A lot of questions, but I fail to really answer them, because I am torn. Sometimes I feel that this indeed is the fact, other times I wonder if the strange mixture is a failure of the film to put the rather traditional story of rise and fall (only in the setting of Thailand instead of Europe or America) in an interesting and challenging form. I end up giving the film 7/10, but I recommend it since I at least was stimulated to think on the matter of film genre and how to escape, criticize and more deeply connect it with the story.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Visually painful, intellectually void

[2/10 · 29 July 2006]

What I miss in this film is the attempt to address difficult social questions about drugs. Instead we are treated as Pavlov's dogs: drugs=bad, drugs=filth, drugs=pain, drugs=ugly, etc. All this may be true, but does that really suffice to make a film?

No, I answer. For example, why not try to address the question WHY do these people in one way or another do what they do, why do they inflict these things upon themselves? What drives them? And why not try to put drug addiction in a bigger picture? Who gains from this abuse, why does a society accept that many of its citizens are paralyzed at their television sets, doped by drugs, completely consumed by their need or engaged in small gang wars (small in comparison to what governments do)? I do not say that one single film should address all these questions, but a drug film above the ordinary must see beyond the individual. This one fails in that respect, thus making it uncontroversial (the nudity and sex scenes are filthy and terribly voyeuristic, but I do not consider them to be controversial except to a very prude audience), which probably is the reason why it has been so well received... no one in power is criticized, it is the addict which is the loser, end of story.

The film has some inventive visual effects and some good acting, but form can not make up for lack of challenging content. So I end up with 2/10.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Good start, but dies in the middle

[7/10 · 29 July 2006]

The real wonder of this film is the performance of River Pheonix. He plays his somewhat sad character with detached perfection: had it only been his performance that I would rate, it would have been ten!

But now that is not the case. The film has a very good start and continues in a rather absurd and comic manner, with some very inventive film making. The story itself (the search for the mother) never really grips you, though, and the possible gay romance between the two main characters never becomes central, like in for example Brockback Mountain. This does not necessarily means that the film is bad, BUT after half the film has past it looses pace and the search for the mother never manages to "drive" the film forward. I felt rather bored at times, especially when the film takes place in Italy.

So I give it 7/10, because River Pheonix and the beginning are really good, while the middle of the film is bad and certain potentially interesting aspects are never elaborated to the extent that they merit being there in the first place.

Summer Storm (2004)

Very real, well acted and nice photo

[10/10 · 28 July 2006]

I have seen a few coming-out films by now, and Sommersturm (2004) is the most realistic one. This does not automatically mean the best. Without revealing too much of the story I think that the ending is sufficiently happy. It is not a fairytale ending with everyone getting their loved one, rather it is a promising ending: the first step is taken, it went fairly well... the end. The obstacles that are waiting (parents, for example) are not dealt with.

The acting is good (a few minor characters excluded). I especially like Stadlober who give an excellent display of a "confused" young man, and all the pain that comes with that. The moment he says the words "... because I'm gay" for the first time ever, it is a moment of rebirth, how his face seconds afterward tells us that suddenly several tons of mental garbage went away. Wonderful!

Just as a note I must add that the photo is very good. Several nice and well composed shots in the film and they give emphasis to the emotions on display.

So a realistic and beautiful film of the initial phase of coming out (accepting it yourself), well acted and with a suitable mix of humor, drama and romantic moments (never corny and suitably erotic for this kind of film) - thats my summary of the film. Well worth seeing.

A Love Story (1970)

Young people in love in contrast to a failed "background"

[10/10 · 27 May 2006]

This film, as I see it, is a slightly absurd view of the world through the selective gaze of two young persons in love. Although this film is far more realistic that the later films by Roy Andersson, it still has an absurd feeling, especially in the final part, but also before. But as a young person this was, at least for me, the way the surrounding appeared to be. You saw things, heard things, people cried and did things for reasons which you did not fully grasped or cared about. The unhealthiness of your family and every-day had become like a too well-known background noise which you only got aware of later in life. Therefore, all the partially touched-upon subjects in this film which never are fully resolved or explained are a strength not a weakness, I think.

The film is also political. The class society in welfare Sweden is shown. It is not the upper-class vs. servant class, but rather it is the "quest" for prestige of the every-day among working and middle class that is portrayed, and always in a subtle but critical tone. But all this is through the selective gaze of the two young persons in love, hence never is the film becoming dogmatic in its political sense.

A very good film, also with a beautiful photo. As a portrait of society this film is excellent. And please, don't confuse it with Ingmar Bergman's films. They are good in some respects, but this one is more "Swedish" than Bergman ever gets.

Juste une question d'amour (2000 TV Movie)

Very good, with an address to parents also.

[10/10 · 3 August 2005]

"Just a question of love" is no doubt a well-acted film with a rich story. Previous reviews have dealt with the story and the very heartwarming interaction between the two main characters, Laurent and Cédric. This love story alone would make this film great. I thought that in my review I address two other features of the film which in my opinion further adds to this film and making it even greater.

This film made me reflect over the difference between Europe and north America with regard to "gayness". I am under the impression (possibly a false impression) that in north America the "coming out" is much more connected to the acceptance of a gay identity with its various attributes. In this film the two main gay characters are a student of agriculture and a researcher in microbiology, hardly occupations associated with "gayness" as, for example, actor and florist. This absence of acceptance or display of stereotypical gay identity may very well give this film a rather radical gay political message, namely that the coming out does not need to involve a "coming in" to a more and more commercialized (americanized?) gay identity. Politics is hardly a central theme of this film, but with the current debate about the political limits and self-imposed restraints of the gay identity in mind, this film got me to think about this political issue.

That said about the "centre" of the film, the film also explicitly "speaks" to parents. In the film there are a total of five parents who in different ways relate to the homosexuality of a child of theirs. On the one hand there is the widowed mother of Cédric who has come to accept her sons homosexuality, not by principle but rather out of love for her son. By no means perfect (why should she be?), she is clearly the most sympathetic of the parents who refuses to sit by and watch the joy between her son and Laurent be destroyed. She plays an important role in how the parents of the central character Laurent relate to their sons newly revealed homosexuality. On the other side the uncle and aunt to Laurent stand; they rejected their son, Laurent's cousin, when he came out -- a son who later would die (not of AIDS, though, gay men can die of other things also!). In the film, the aunt is a depressed figure who through most of the film either swallows tablets (presumably anti-depressant) or utters odd remarks, except at one instant where she urges the devastated mother of Laurent to ask herself what "we" parents really mean when we says we love our children, a very important scene in the film as I see it. Both Cédric and Laurent are aware of and fairly secure in their homosexuality, the ones who have to come to terms are the parents of Laurent, they are the ones who have to make the greatest "transition" during the course of the film.

The film thus manages to address many relations and questions and does so very well. Well worth to see and as noted above not only addressed to gays.