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Hallo Janine (1939)
Just wonderful
I'd seen the film years ago but recently I was listening to Musik Musik Musik on my phone and a friend asked me if I liked Nazi music. This necessitated a long discussion about how international the film actually was, how there was no propaganda in it, how Rökk was almost certainly a very brave spy for the communists during the war just as Zarah Leander had been. Unlike the Swedish diva Rökk socialised with the upper echelons of the Nazi party passing on indiscretions from Goebbels himself.
Once that was out of the way, I could talk about the film itself, its hoary plot which nonetheless convinced, the hummable songs, the fabulous sets, the synchronised dancing and singing. It's a fanatastic spectacle.
This is worth a revival even in this day and age. I'd watch it again in an instant.
El intercambio (2023)
Witless fantasy
Please don't swallow the synopsis that was presumably written by the production company. This is so far from a voyage of discovery as is possible to get.
It's an imaginary tale touching on gender swapping both physically and mentally. The two male leads were attractive, the female one less so. It seemed pretty clear that Lucas fancied Mateo like crazy and didn't need his transition to get it on with him.
As a tale of whimsy it worked on a certain level but ultimately fell flat, even when the denouement happened with Mateo hinting he'd give Lucas's request a thought.
I don't resent the time I spent on the film, but I wasn't really impressed.
Groomsday (2022)
For goodness sake
Why can't alleged actors learn to speak instead of mumbling? I couldn't catch half of the dialogue on my phone. In the end I gave up and fast forwarded. I'm not sorry about this for a second. I saw what I expected to see and nothing would have been gained by ploughing through the 8 minutes I missed out on.
Who was the make-up "artist"? When I first saw a still of the film I'd thought it was about vampires. Whoever it was, they need to go on a retraining right now before they inadvertently inspire mirth instead of horror in another film.
Don't people go on honeymoon after getting married? Why were they walking hand in hand on a rough street? The paucity of veracity added to the simpering story just put me off completely.
No way can this be recommended.
Les corneilles blanches (2023)
Well worth the running time
This was well acted and a great story. Liokha was just perfect with his nasty, sneering face and speech and Vlad was excellent as the closeted boy pretending to be straight. The other members of the gang played their toxic parts to a tee as well. As a glimpse of what many young men get up to it was a convincing and revolting sight.
Even more, the scenario resonated on my own life - hiding, prevaricating, avoiding. I've been in a similar situation to that of Vlad and my "Anna" also covered up for me.
I could only find a version with either French or German subtitles (the dialogue is in Russian). I speak both languages but my preference is French and the subs were well translated into the sort of language a bunch of raucous lads might speak.
I'm glad I watched this and recommend it.
Los amantes astronautas (2024)
Horrendously boring
{EDIT: I haven't reported the people who deleted my review to IMDb, but I shall do if it gets taken down again. Just because you disagree with an opinion doesn't mean you can delete a review}
I put up with this inconsequential rubbish for forty minutes. I clicked to have a look at how much more of the film there was to go and realised I would never be able to stand it for another seventy minutes more and flicked out.
The two leads were attractive but the shadow boxing around whether they'd get it on or not grated after a while. Teasing and barbed, clever small talk just started to get on my nerves.
Another problem was that there was so much dialogue that the subtitles flashed up for such a short time per sentence that I had to concentrate on them and not on the action or the characters on the screen. I speak and understand some Spanish but this was beyond me.
So, I have no idea if the two lads got it on together and I don't care.
Marco Berget is become a cliché of himself. I loved The Blond One but since then his output has been zilch that's interesting. I actually wondered if the actors were embarrassed about having to speak these dreadful lines.
Don't waste your time.
Juliet (2023)
Watchable but forgettable
The strongest impression that remains in my head from this series is just how ghastly teenage children are. The actresses playing Juliet's niece Chloë and the teenage Juliet were excellent at portraying brattish, entitled youngsters. They did it so well that I reminded myself of how lucky I am not to have kids.
The inheritance story and the quest for Juliet's brother were also well woven into the fabric of the series. In fact, the whole show was lopsided with the actual murders and investigations registering far less in my mind than the human interest strands. That's not to say the former weren't up to scratch, just that the intricacies of the protagonists' lives were more impressive.
I watched the whole series within a day and a half. It's certainly has something going for it, especially the setting of a prosperous, Flemish, coastal town. I would still recommend seeing this.
Sebastian (2024)
Real life fictionalised
Well, I've never used a sex worker in London so had no idea about the huge sums of money to be earned. £300 an hour! That's serious money. No wonder the impoverished students who formed the basis of Max's initial research got into the trade.
Max's odyssey through the world of escorts engendered tensions. He was earning huge sums while using the clients for his novel but also beginning to form relationships with some of them.
Max developed personally too in a different way. His initial reluctance to be known disappeared as we saw in the very last line of dialogue in the film.
I found the characters in the film to have been well rounded and believable. The script was well written and captured the world Max was living in extremely well.
I'm glad I saw this.
Den som dræber - Fanget af mørket (2019)
Watched all four
I've seen all the seasons now and I think two and four were the best. However, I have a huge quibble about some of the translations of the subtitles. The text refers to "gangbangers" when it should have referred to "gang members". The former term has a different, pejorative mesning. This drove me mad. And the translator made the common mistake of translating the Danish or Swedish "Hej" as "Hey" instead of "Hi". One more gripe. The font of the subtitles was too small and they should have been white or yellow, not grey-white.
But the plots? Overwrought obviously as it's a cop drama but convincing and interesting. As each series progressed one wanted to know the result. Yes, characters take unnecessary risks or miss clues but come on, it has to last eight episodes. And I guess real-life cops screw up as well.
Overall, worth watching.
O Senador (2024)
Just dreadful
Quite apart from postulating a novel concept of Brazilian inheritance law and ignoring that fifty per cent of all assets **have** to go to the spouse and children and showing us a new method of police investigation wherein no forensic evidence is taken and suspects aren't swabbed for gunshot residue, we are subjected to a plot so absurd in its denouement and progression as to make the mind stupified.
At the same time the cast of "actors" (if that's the right name for them) ham along to their parts either amateurishly or histrionically. Not a single one of these people has their photo on IMDb and I'm not surprised because on this showing they are unlikely to ever be hired again by the film industry.
The budget for this effort must have been minimal. The newsroom was a cubbyhole, for instance.
Why did I give two stars? Well, I got to the end. And I have to admit I like listening to Brazilian Portuguese which is so much easier to follow than the European version.
As for any of the actors being "hot", that's a fantasy of someone's imagination. The gay guys here were screechy and effeminate having a hard time bothering to pretend to have feelings for their lovers in the triangle.
This was a dismal mess that would have been better remaining in someone's head. Don't waste your time.
Farha (2021)
Numb
As an advocate of the Palestinian cause for decades, I needed no convincing. I didn't need a documentary or history lesson. What I got was a compelling story of a family and the village they lived in during the time of the Nakba. It was all the more engaging for essentially being a true story passed down the generations by "Farha" herself.
It's rare that I sit watching the credits at the end of a film. I did so stunned and halfway through the flood of bitter tears came. Tears at the ruination of Farha's life and that of millions of others, tears at the way Palestine was dispossessed, tears at the destruction of a settled culture and traditions to make way for invaders.
I can't imagine how this tale could have been better acted, directed or told. I've visited the camps in Syria where Farha ended up and I know that Palestine is engraved on the hearts of everyone there. I long for the day that they can return.
Please watch this film.
Die Saat - Tödliche Macht (2023)
Held the attention
I watched this even though one of the selling points of the version I saw stated that there were no "distracting" subtitles for the English parts. As I'm slowly going deaf I usually watch even UK productions in English with captions. So I'd resolved to delete if I couldn't follow the action. I needn't have worried. All of the main players using English as a second language spoke clearly and with minimal accents. In fact, the UK and USA actors were harder to follow. That's not to say the Germans, Norwegians and Walloons were expressionless. They weren't.
This was, then, well acted and casted. The board members of the multinational companies were perfect in their rôles, wardrobes and hairdos. The cops were convincing. The ecowarriors fitted the part. The backdrop of Spitsbergen was fascinating.
And the story gets its own paragraph. It was convoluted, intricate and it worked.
The subtitles for the dialogue in Norwegian, German and French were well translated.
I recommend this series.
Les Apaches (2013)
This was bad
At first I'd thought that the chaotic script and action were a conscious effort to mirror the lives of the aimless teenagers the film was following. After a while it became obvious that this was due to the complete ineptitude of the director and writers.
Really, although I watched all the way through, it was grim. Corsica is a beautiful place but even the glimpses we got of the countryside couldn't redeem this turkey.
The final twenty minutes were simply a riot of unbelievability. They were so exaggerated that they wiped out any possible feelings about plot progression and resolution. The victim wasn't going to blab but one of the three lads certainly would in the future.
Looking back, I've reduced my mark to a two from a three. Not recommended.
To kalokairi tis Karmen (2023)
Switched off
I got to forty minutes and switched the film off. As a concept, the film was a good idea. Unfortunately its execution was poor. Initially the idea of a script within a script fascinated me but it didn't take long to get tired of the continual switchings from the nudist beach where much of the devising of the script was going on to "real" life.
I had very little investment in the lives and ideas if the two main protagonists. Their friendship didn't seem real and neither did their characters. I certainly didn't find Demosthenes sexy either, something that others have a contrary view on.
This might appeal to a certain audience, particularly one that's involved deeply in the gay scene. It didn't rock my boat.
Pas de vagues (2024)
Things have changed
Although I was never a teacher, part of some of my jobs in social services was to be a Personal Effectiveness tutor. I know how difficult young people can be. I left social work nearly twenty five years ago and things are different now. A few years before I switched careers, upon leaving a job I'd liked, the project manager and staff arranged a leaving do at one of the local pubs. The sixteen to eighteen year old kids were invited. Do that now and all the adults would be sacked and disbarred. Even socialising with the youth outside of arranged school or training events is discouraged. So when Julien took a bunch of favoured kids out for burgers it was very ill advised. Picking on Leslie as part of a poem was not too clever either.
However, Julien was clearly innocent of the accusations which snowballed because of family reactions, school politics and jealous colleagues. Every one of these players made things worse until Julien was openly undermined by fellow staff.
We saw the effects the baseless slurs had on his personal life too in his friendships as well as his relationship with gorgeous Walid.
Based on a true story as it was, I was disappointed not to see a conclusion. Nonetheless we can extrapolate. The original teacher switched careers into the film industry. That's a pretty sad hint.
The film leaves one wondering how many other lives have been ruined by spiteful and untrue accusations, especially these days when the complainant is meant to be believed credulously. I admire those in teaching and youth services but I'm so glad I'm out of that field. The film took me back with its sterling performances. I do recommend it.
John (2023)
Bleak but fascinating
I have to confess that I had been tempted to switch off at a couple of points early in the film. I really don't like opera or classical music accompanying a movie. It always strikes me as pretentious. And, as I'm going deaf, I had the subtitles on which irritated me when they flashed up saying "Operatic music playing" when it was actually Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Minor quibbles though as the action drew me in.
I was particularly struck by the camaraderie amongst the rent boys. And the supporting cast was convincing enough to make me wonder if they actually were streetwalkers. Peaches, despite her sharp edges was also a sympathetic character.
John was a bundle of contradictions, in turn kindly (to the congressman) and a thieving scumbag (with the poorer guy in the car). But no eighteen year old should have to carry his burdens, especially the final one.
This, despite some lighter moments, was a depressing film. Totally worth watching though.
A Soldier's Choice (2008)
Trying to be what they weren't
This was pretty dire. Effeminate men trying to act macho including the marine. It just wasn't convincing.
Nor was the plot. That a gay marine so far into the closet that he barely acknowledges that he's gay would find himself in a gay bar is highly unlikely. That he'd approach and spend time drinking with a gay guy who clearly wants him is even more so. I'm sceptical that he would have phoned the gay guy the next day too.
I'd thought that being gay was allowed in the USA military. That a soldier wouldn't even have sex because of some supposed sense of duty to the army didn't ring true. There are all sorts of rationalisations guys like that can and do make to get their rocks off.
Just something about the continuity. I couldn't understand why the film kept cutting away to the street. It was just strange.
This wasn't a success and I don't recommend it.
A Floresta dos Sussurros (2023)
Dreadful
Thiago Cazado needs to find a new job pronto. "About Us" was a disaster and six years later so was this insipid effort. Don't get me started on the "acting". Not one of the members of the cast knew how to perform convincingly. The usage of speaking thoughts out loud was so utterly trite that it had me in stitches.
The storyline? Give over! There wasn't one that made sense. Interspersed with the main plot were extraneous elements that led nowhere such as the rent boy and the armed robbery. It was clear that the film was done on a shoestring because the budget didn't run to hazard suits for the forensics guys.
As for the "climax", well I've never seen anything so poorly fabricated. Paolo sees everything revealed from "behind the trees" - geddit? Really. From his vantage point he sees that his neighbour's wife rejects her husband, Paolo's own wife makes a confession and declaration, the village priest is revealed as a hypocrite. All in the space of 3 minutes.
Then there's a sort of epilogue. Some sort of magic is invoked - confess and you might get him back. I'm not going to write a spoiler. If you want to find out, you'll have to suffer for eighty five minutes as I did.
Según Mateo (2017)
Unpleasant
The synopsis on the IMDb page gives the basic plot away which is a pity. However it doesn't warn about the gratuitous violence and sheet nastiness of this short film.
I just didn't get the dynamics. Did Luke deliberately bite Matéo to get rid of him because he was more interested in Mateo's lover Marc?
I also doubt that any drug dealer would rather take a gay guy home without going upstairs to sell the wares he'd been summoned to provide.
The violence in the dealer's place seemed forced and exaggerated. Actual stabbing of someone is not a fetish I've ever heard of. Mateo wanted humiliation but I don't believe he wanted permanent scarring.
All in all this was an unpleasant experience. I don't recommend it.
Alter Ego (2023)
Big publicity but didn't live up to it
There was so much hifalutin prepublicity about this that one willed the series to live up to it. Unfortunately it didn't.
I don't care about clichés as long as the story is convincing and the cast can carry it off. This failed here and we were left with a story that was difficult to invest one's time into.
The actual donkey work of detection was often overtaken by insider knowledge of one or the other of the characters, leading to flashes of intuition that were a shortcut to solving the riddle of the murders. This was especially blatant in the last episode when the final crime was prevented by one of the characters knowing where to look from a cryptic utterance of the perp.
I watched it all but without great enthusiasm. I wouldn't discourage people from watching, but would warn them to lower expectations.
Barrio Boy (2022)
Decent story
Unlike some of the other reviewers, I hadn't been aware that this is a full-length version of a short film of the same name. It wouldn't have changed my mind. I enjoyed the film a great deal.
What people forget us that not every community even in supposedly liberal countries is able to be at ease with deviations from societal norms. Knuckle dragging some of the characters might be, but there was enough growth in the story leading to an implicit acknowledgement of being gay at the end. And no one freaked! That's the real kernel of the story.
The cast was attractive, even the thugs. The acting was more than competent. The film had no sense of having been padded out from a short version; it stood on its own.
I'd say watch it.
Segunda muerte (2024)
Too complicated
I just didn't know what was going on at times. The story was shooting off at all sorts of angles that didn't seem to have a logical progression. One minute Sandra is madly in love with Castro for whom she's waited for years, the next she's having a torrid lesbian affair. There just wasn't any rhyme or reason to it.
Layers of complexity are added as new truths are revealed but it's not actually police work. Sandra's fortuitous photographic memory leads to linkages that others without the facility would miss and did miss.
I particularly disliked the last episode with its dream sequences and flights of imagination. And there was so much left unresolved too.
I watched it all the way through but I can't consider it a success.
Other Side of Love (2018)
Amateurish melodrama
Well, I watched it all the way through, so it gets three stars. Howeve, it wasn't because of the gripping plot or accomplished acting but to see how much more ridiculous the story would become.
About the acting. It was absolutely dire. However it's not as if the cast had anything to work with. The script was dreadful and the storyline risible. Layer after layer of improbability followed one another until one had to laugh. A corpse supposedly lay in the guest bedroom for goodness knows how long with no one dealing with it, for instance.
The one bright spot was Raj who was an utter feast for the eyes even though he couldn't act his way out of a brown paper bag.
The musical score was intrusive and over dramatic and detracted from what little the film had going for it.
At least the participants were trying to tell a story, but it was one that was so clichéd with stereotypes that any underlying message was lost.
Utterly not recommended.
Les espions de la terreur (2023)
Almost a docudrama
This was a fascinating insight into the world of those who attempt to foil indiscriminate attacks on French soil. On fact, it didn't varnish the truth but showed the tensions between the DGSI and the DGSE (the internal and external security services) and how their operational imperatives differed sometimes to the point of sabotaging each others' actions and contacts.
The series is written mostly from the point if view of the "goodies". There's very little airtime given to the baddies and their possible motivations and actions. And, as has been pointed out, the series is dialogue driven; there's very little action. That's not a flaw as it engaged the mind in an intelligent manner.
As a testament to the work of those who keep France safe it was a fitting tribute. I recommend it.
Tout cela je te le donnerai (2024)
Gripping melodrama
I really didn't know what to expect from this but I was glad I watched it. The story was convoluted and fanciful but I didn't care. I simply lost myself in its twists and turns.
I have to admit I suspected who the villain was at the end of episode two but that didn't matter as I wanted to see how the writers would get there and the contrivances they'd come up with.
It was original to make the protagonist a gay man instead of a female widow. This added a great deal to the story as well as being germane to later thickenings of the plot.
It was completely unreal but I loved it. As a self-contained miniseries there won't be more which is s shame.
Jaggi (2022)
A dagger to the heart
This brave and fascinating film was not what I'd have expected to come out of India. That it did gives me hope that the societal mores are loosening in a more liberal direction despite the bleakness of the subject matter of the film.
There are two strands that we can see in the drama. The first is the perversion of human relationships and sexuality caused by artificial local conventions that have been engendered by religion. The other is the personal story of a country boy suffering from erectile disfunction or who is asexual and his subsequent life of being used by other boys as he's mistaken for being gay. That we know from the IMDb storyline. No one understands his problem. Not the village boys, not his parents, no one.
Horror is piled on horror; how could anyone bear such dreadful hurts that he is subjected to? The climax of the film shows that it's impossible to carry on after the catalyst of a proposed forced marriage.
The actors and actresses playing the roles were uniformly excellent despite their seeming lack of history on film sites. The dialogue was apt and the subtitles good. As a glimpse into the darker side of rural life in the Punjab this couldn't be bettered especially as the subject is so taboo and rarely touched on.
This is a definite recommend.