Malarkey

This was my first meeting with the Shockproof Film Festival and it was a properly wacky horror trip. There’s probably no point in trying to describe the story. What intrigued me, however, was the atmosphere, as it seemed to allude to the best of Lovecraft, the plotline included. The entire thing is properly gloomy and moderately scary with a bit of gore. But the atmosphere is the best thing about it.

A Gallic classics. Nicely colorful, traditionally fun and with a number of up-to-date jokes, typical for all Asterix and Obelix cartoons. As for me, I really enjoyed it. I even think that when I’ll accidently stumble upon this on TV, I’ll leave it on and enjoy it again. Just like most cartoons with this crazy duo, who were my favorite childhood companions.

Given how gloomy this films looks due to the grey-white filters, it is actually not that depressing. Even though the story takes place amidst the bombing of Kosovo so it has no chance to offer the audience any respite. However, it doesn’t mean that The Loadnecessarily shocks by portraying human depravity made in the Balkans. It’s some slow story-telling, the 90% of which takes place in a lorry. It builds its atmospherewith a more than decent camera, waiting for the right moment to reveal its hand. And then the viewers turn off their TV during the end credits, and contemplate what they’ve seen in the dark that follows. And this piece managed to do this very well.

The topic is extremely interesting in this case. The stigmas of the war are the main theme, and the story revolves around the son of a former SS man and a Slovak Jew, whose family was murdered by none other than this SS man. In terms of casting, it’s a Central European delicacy. Messrs. Menzel and Simonischek were an absolutely perfect choice. However, it is a pity that the film lacks more distinct dialogues. It features scenes that make you not only wonder about the absurdity of the situation, but also about the satisfaction Menzel’s characters feels. Considering its topic, however, it remains a very classical road movie, where I could imagine some venomous dialogues that would make me bate my breath. As it is, however, it seems as though someone is taking their last breath. Given the interesting topic, there are a precious few scenes worthy of remembering.

This movie went over my head. I seemed to me as though it was made by some enthusiast who cast everyone from the mental institution where he’s been living for a few years, asking for the help of the local doctors as well. The film is supposed to be about filmmaking, so I was approaching it as such. Everyone involved however acts totally nuts. The most “user anti-friendly” film I had the misfortune of seeing in a long while.

The first few seconds I thought I was watching The Flowers of War with Christian Bale, before I saw Christina Ricci trying to act and being prevented from it by a film that only allowed her to look around with bug-eyes. I decided to give it a try, because sometimes it doesn’t hurt to watch a piece of crap for a change. And the film didn’t disappoint me in this respect. Who makes such movies and for whom they are intended will probably forever stay a mystery to me…

I’m actually not all that surprise by Jason Statham being in this film. MEG is quite a quality b-rated movie, which looks stupid only in those moments when Jason doesn’t have a beer in his hand. Because when he does, he looks like the coolest guy under the sun, so I think he should’ve had one even while he was holding a fishing rod with the megalodon in his other hand.

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly seem to have been born for the roles of Laurel and Hardy. Their acting performances are pure genius. Too bad that the story is not as great. It is a proof of the fact that a good craftsmanship and great acting cannot save a mediocre script no matter how hard you try. Sometimes it was simply boring. However, I got drawn into the story of the two comedians and got the impressions that they were both really cool guy. So if there is another similarly conceived movie from their world one day, I’d like to see it.

An attractive environment and interesting premise make for a stylish film, which is not a bad thriller you enjoy seeing once, but ends up being quite forgettable.

Sometimes you get intrigued by a good premise but disappointed by the boring story. This is a problem that occurs with Europeanfilms from time to time. In this particular case, it’s a real pity, because these boys would definitely deserve a great film story. We’ll have to wait a few years for that. Let’s see if our basketball team can make the Olympics next year and this premise will get a second chance. Maybe it will turn out better than Golden Sting.