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Reviews
Hunters: The Fare (2023)
Awfully dark, and not in the good sense
This episode, and all the second season so far, is too dark to see anything. One thing is to create a mood, another one is not allowing to see squat. No action at the main thrilling moments is discernible, and you're not able to follow it. Too many candlelight scenes, too much showing off technique, impeding the viewer to see what is going on. I found myself guessing who was doing what, being dark shadows talking or fighting or running over a dark background. Please, somebody tell the producers that there are viewers that actually want to VIEW this show further. Too bad, for the series is worth watching, if you catch anything on some scenes.
Hideous, really.
No Man's Land (2001)
A portray of a war
This is a great movie, which pictures in a sinthetic way what the Balcan's conflict was: a group of not-so-innocent-but-not-guilty-at-all people trapped between interests that go beyond their understanding... and they die from it.
The way the problem is presented is very fresh, even when the one-on-one situation is not new in the film history. The situation has been presented in an island -"Hell in the Pacific"-, and in a lone planet -"Enemy Mine"- among other films: the two opposite-sided warriors that have to overcome common troubles to survive. In this film the island/planet is a trench in the middle of a warfield somewhere in the Balcans in which, because of the stupidity of their superiors, both soldiers get trapped.
Now, the interesting side of this story is that the characters are at shooting distance of both enemy armies, and therefore at risk of dying from friendly or enemy fire. As a further complication, the believed-dead friend of one of the soldiers has been booby-trapped with a mine by the other's friend, who is shot dead early in the movie. They cannot run, for they will be shot by the other army, and the soldier lying over the mine cannot move, or it will blow appart.
The situation develops fast into a major international matter, with the not-so-fortunate intervention of the UN soldiers and, off course the international press. How can it get worst? How can it get better? The film mirrors the "well intended" actions that a Worldwide peace organization with an internal ego-war, lack of credibility, and quite unclear agenda did in the Balcan's conflict. It presents the misguided reasons by which hate led to fraticide, in which nobody remembers the origin of the conflict, but the consequences are written in blood in the papers. And also portrays the roll of the media not only as wintnesses, but also as beholders of the Public Opinion.
The story goes on with very wise and satiric, even comic dialogs inserted among very serious situations, which lead the public lightly but reflexively into the tense and very likely ending.
A great film, which with a very low budget and a very inteligent and documented script, puts itself among the best war films of all times. Only thing I hope is that the story was not based on a real-life situation, which would be by far more terrifiyng that most fiction endings in film history.
Solyaris (1972)
Great plot for a masterpiece
Even when I learned about Solaris until 1982, I wasn't able to see it until last year. The very first notice of this film was given to me by a friend while discussing about Kubrick's 2001. It was also the first time I heard about the nonsense comparison among both films. He (my friend) quoted this film as "the Soviet 2001". Well, I can tell now, nothing more far from reality. As great Kubrick's work admirer, and a SciFi fan, I always rank 2001 as the best film ever made (including all other genera and subgenera). But the work of Tarkovsky is of a completely different nature, philosophy, message, audience, and used quite different visual, aesthetic and economic resourses. For those who both know about the world reality in the days of the filmings, and know about the work of their directors, no comparison is allowable. The film presents a deep refletion on the relationship between a World-Ocean (a womb?) and the deepest memories of cosmonauts encloistered (if voluntarily) in a nearby space station. The ocean influences in their minds, producing the most diverse reactions among the space station inhabitants, offering them the very real sensation of the presence of people that exists in their past, and even ghosts of creatures that could only be present in their minds... up to now. Here love (or more accurately the very soviet feeling of nostalgia) is a central element. Guilt and remorse move Kelvin to see his late wife Hari from a very different angle. He is forced to explain twice that in the last moments of their life together thing among them were not so well. And then she committed suicide. So Solaris (neither hero nor villain of the plot, but only a vehicle) gives him the chance to give peace to his remorses, but only after a very dramatic hesitation and drastic action scene. Even when I am a regular Stanislav Lem reader, I have not read the novel yet, which has been almost impossible to find where I live. Even so, I think the film stands by its own, and little additional information needs to be extracted from the novel to fully understand the node and variations of the plot. And when you ar preparing to a very commonplace ending, Tarkovsky (and maybe Lem too), astonish you with a terrifying one. This is a film to enjoy, to talk about, and to think about. A must for a SciFi viewer.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A limited but well intended hommage to Stanley Kubrick (Juan Acosta).
The first impression I had after the film was over, was that Spielberg wanted to match Kubrick's filming marks... and simply (foreseeablely) could not. Anyway, by learning further about their work together, I understand later that it was a simple, well intended, superbly performed (for Spielberg's standards) homage form one of the most famous directors to one of the best filmmakers ever. To reinforce this notion, the references to Kubrick's movies started at the very beginning, with a cryopreservation chamber (2001), the voice of Teddy (resembling 2001 HAL's voice, calling David) the tap dancing by the Gigolo (A Clockwork Orange), the car ride on arriving to Rouge City (a direct post card also from Clockwork), the ceiling lights from the scientist's office after David breaks his first appearing double (Dr. Strangelove's situation room), and so on and on. For a Kubrick's work connoisseur, the above mentioned references play a part in the homage, as well as the soundtrack (suspense notes extracted by John Williams from the very essence of Kubrick's films soundtracks), and in some shots the wide angle camera, even when used in a rather shyly way. As many people has stated, this is not a film for everyone, and it may even hurt some sensibilities. It may even be regarded as a slow movie for those liking guns, roaring cars and karate stuff. In short, I can imagine Kubrick, wherever he is right now, smiling mischievously at Spielberg's efforts, although encouraging him.