gudaulin

The Gentlemen is a return to Ritchie's beginnings, i.e., frenzied gangster movies full of betrayals and dirty backstage games, filmed with evident irony and with the director's awareness that he wants to entertain his audience first and foremost. As Guy ages, his characters also age and transform. They are no longer bold little players consumed by ambitions, wanting to thrive among established tough guys, but rather powerful underworld figures who move among the social elites and contemplate stepping out of the illegal business so as not to harm their carefully built reputation. However, the big boss attracts the attention of those who would like to take his place in the food chain, and thus the last deal of his career unexpectedly gets complicated. Instead of content gangster retirement, he is forced to defend himself from attacks on all sides. Ritchie is usually able to come up with entertaining and unconventional characters, and this time was no exception. Besides the partly flamboyant, partly casual gang leader, it is primarily the cunningly corrupted tabloid journalist played by Hugh Grant who stands out. He once became famous for playing stereotypical heartthrobs in romantic comedies, but as he has aged, he has shifted to playing noble villains, usually with a subtle ironic twist and characterized by extremely developed vanity. To sum it up, I had a great time with it. I hope Guy Ritchie has not said his last word yet. Overall impression: 90%.

The New Pope is a continuation and development of the image of the postmodern Vatican born from the wild visions of the master of imagination, Paolo Sorrentino, whom viewers already encountered in the previous series about the young pope. Lenny's conservative revolution will be followed by a brief interlude - the social revolution of Francis II, to be followed by the thermidor of the French revolution in the form of the installation of a compromising candidate of the papal curia - the snobbish and weak Brenox, easily corruptible, played with gusto by John Malkovich, who is typologically precise. I have been missing out on Sorrentino's visually refined but conceptually hollow snobbish films for some time now, but his deviation into television series is a delicacy for me. It is one of the few current series that can be considered truly original and thought-provoking about the nature of power and manifestations of faith in the consumer-saturated European society of the 21st century. It is also about the tradition exposed to the erosion of three sexual revolutions and the influence of mass media. In the second season, the director added decadence, sparing no images full of erotic symbolism. However, the first series already reliably deterred bigoted Catholics, so there will not be many who would be scandalized by sensual shots of nuns. Sorrentino is traditionally strong in the soundtrack and visual aspects of the work, while the narrative aspect lags behind, but that is no surprise when it comes to him. People watch Sorrentino for the atmosphere. Overall impression: 90%.

"What are you doing in the war? Don't you have a charming loving wife at home?" - "Of course, I do, and that's exactly why I'm here." Some may have problems with the inclusion in the comedy genre due to the level of cynicism and dark humor that can be heard in demanding and stressful professions, where one commonly encounters human suffering. Personally, I found the mockery of the team members of a humanitarian organization, which is trying to provide drinking water for the local residents in a remote countryside at the end of the Bosnian war, to be fantastic. A Perfect Day is a small cinematic gem, where an excellent script full of clever dialogues and well-targeted lines meets a strong international cast. In the category of films dedicated to the bloody Balkan conflicts of the 90s, it certainly deserves one of the medal positions. The story is not about anything bigger than the search for a rope to pull a decomposing corpse out of a deep well. But where to get the rope when the locals need it for hanging, not to mention the fact that a proper corpse in the right well does highly meritorious work? It's a film full of biting irony attacking absurd regulations and the bureaucracy of the United Nations has a charm, for which I will give it five stars after careful consideration. Overall impression: 90%.

Danis Tanović planted his debut No Man's Land in the period of the escalating civil war, exposing his protagonists to a hopeless situation and cruel decision-making between miserable alternatives. Even back then, he managed to lighten the largely depressing subject with a sense of cynical irony and (very dark) humor. In Cirkus Columbia, he returns to the beginning of the Balkan conflict and presents the viewers with the causes of the breakdown of Yugoslav society through several personal dramas. He applied greater detachment here and brought the film closer to comedy in terms of genre. The core of Tanovic's success is a quality screenplay that leads the film's characters on unexpected paths without resorting to logical shortcuts and convolutions. It tells a deeply human story of people divided by a sense of injustice and belonging to a different "tribe," whose future depends on their ability to let go of wounded vanity and extend a helping hand. The return of emigrant Divko was supposed to be a justified triumph after two decades of fleeing his homeland, to present him as a successful man and humiliate those with whom he has unfinished business. However, once again, grand history managed to make life hard for Divko and mock his efforts. In a country where rules, institutions, and interpersonal relationships collapse, it is difficult to survive, let alone build a foundation and lead a contented life. I don't like it when the director tries to emotionally manipulate me, but what Divko found at the end of his journey is worth five stars. Overall impression: 90%.

Santos Trinidad is a tough guy who today's feminists would declare to be completely permeated with toxic masculinity. Among his police superiors, there is a mix of respect for his experience and stubbornness and concerns about his unrestrained behavior. His past is not something to be pried into, as his mission in Latin America ended in a bloody scandal, and people still dance around him on tiptoes. When a man, with whom he has unfinished business, crosses his path one late evening saturated with alcohol, things start to happen. Trinidad is a character who embodies the hard men from American and French crime films of the 70s. Even though effective, police methods have little in common with the age of the internet and artificial intelligence. The thriller is strongly influenced by the noir genre, which I have a weakness for. Additionally, I appreciate that the director and screenwriter do not give the viewer anything for free and they force them to think about actions, characters, and motivations, and keep them in constant suspense by gradually revealing information. On the other hand, there is nothing incomprehensible, let alone mysterious, in the story. The film gives a clear answer to the observant viewer about who Santos Trinidad is and whether it's worth having such an existence (not only) in the police force. The film goes against established genre conventions in certain aspects, and therefore against the expectations of (mainly popcorn-eating) viewers, which is a clear plus for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this journey towards fulfilling my own definition of justice. Overall impression: 90%.

Included in the wave of Nordic crime, which has become a global phenomenon, were works of various qualities, and from many of them I had the feeling that it was just milking a cow. However, Face to Face is a hit. Björn is an intelligent, analytically-thinking, and methodical investigator in the Danish police, who has somewhat stagnated in his career due to a lack of empathy and a closed nature - actually, he's just surviving at the police out of routine. When he arrives to examine the corpse in a new case, a short look at the body lying on the autopsy table is enough to make him immerse himself in the case with full determination regardless of the consequences. Someone who was extremely close to him has died, and he will uncover the circumstances of her death and deliver the culprit to justice, even if he has to pay the highest price. The series is devoid of any fluff. Each episode presents one encounter with a witness or suspect and subsequent dialogue, which quickly turns into a hard interrogation. At the end of each episode, we are always a little further in uncovering Björn's and his family's unflattering past and a little closer to his bitter end. It is original, dynamic, and furthermore supported by the participation of the Danish acting elite. Overall impression: 90%.

I had Ben Stiller fixed as a successful comedian for many years - a creator and performer of undemanding comedic performances. Then he came up with a new adaptation of Walter Mitty and I was surprised to find out that he can also direct comedy in a cultured way and is capable of restrained, civil acting. However, he still operated within the safe grounds of the comedy genre. It wasn't until Escape at Dannemora convinced me that his talent is versatile and underappreciated. Escape at Dannemora is one of the best and most interesting escape genres with well-developed, ambiguous characters, a great script, and top-notch acting. The series provides an extraordinary experience even if you know the end of the story based on real events. It is priceless just to observe the behavior of the prisoners, guards, and all other characters. Genre-wise, the series teeters between drama and tragicomedy. The participation of Benicio Del Toro and Patricia Arquette makes Escape at Dannemora an exceptional event and great entertainment. Del Toro relishes in his character and shows the viewer the power of his cunningness, cruelty, and destructiveness, while Patricia doesn't let herself be intimidated and counters with indulgence, irresponsibility, short-sightedness, and self-centeredness. In short, a delightful group to watch. Overall impression: 95%.

My third encounter with the works of the Toledano and Nakache duo turned out better than expected, even though (or perhaps precisely because of it) it is a completely different concept and style of humor than the one they succeeded with worldwide in the case of The Intouchables. As has been said by others, this film is not a slapstick comedy, but a pleasant, easily flowing film underscored by relaxing music, which has the ambition to evoke a slight smile in several places, rather than a burst of laughter. Although the setting of a wedding feast may suggest that the film is one of the countless variations of romantic comedies, the opposite is true. C'est la vie! is a comedic story set in a working collective environment, which is a subgenre that was once popular in the countries of the Eastern Bloc. In this film, people work hard- admittedly, not always effectively- in an exemplary collaboration and with expected results. The ensemble of relatively unknown actors to me does a reliable job and all I can say is that I enjoyed myself exactly as the directing duo intended. Personally, I am not fond of filmmaking based on distorted characters, but here the absence of the main character replaced by a multitude of supporting characters with one or two important appearances came across as highly functional. Overall impression: 90%.

Fragile and sensitive is the soul of an artist, when the greatest obstacle on the path to success is their own agitated mind and stage fright. Reality is a cunning, funny, and surreal game about how it is not easy with people skilled in their craft. It goes after everything, starting with self-centered producers, and I must say it hit the nail on the head. A few scenes even reminded me of the good old Buñuel. It's original, playful, refreshing, and not afraid to fire within its own ranks. Most of the time, I was wearing a smile from ear to ear. Overall impression: 90%.

The gentle and sympathetic face of Kelly Macdonald takes on the form of Nemesis and Judge Lynch in order to enforce her concept of justice and find peace once again. As her husband points out, the guilt and punishment of the person who once cruelly hurt her family were decided by the court. He has served his time, so why reopen old wounds? However, the way in which the British justice system dealt with the loss of her little son seems entirely inconsistent and inadequate to her. She wants confrontation. She wants to stand face to face with the murderer and is not afraid to reopen old wounds in order to inflict new ones, even at the cost of gaining a few scars herself. The Victim is a disturbing British miniseries about the weight of guilt and the boundaries of punishment, which delves deeper into the psychological aspect than we are used to in genre productions. And it is damn good, evoking emotions and provoking thought. True, I was slightly bothered by the attempt to turn the series into a thriller, and some of the characters may have been unnecessary, such as the daughter's friend and his peculiar relationship motivation. But these are just minor flaws in a truly interesting work. Overall impression: 90%.