Reviews
Les misérables (2019)
Very powerful
The film touches subjects which although very important, remain out of focus in almost all contemporary narratives. As the title «Les miserables» indicates, the protagonists are the victims of a system which breeds inequality and marginalization of a large proportion of the population. The story develops linearly, the scenes stay within the essential statements, spectacularly false impressions are omitted and the message comes through effectively. My feeling was that there was really no plot but an ordinary, documentary like, day to day happening in one of the ghettos of civilized Paris in France. What I found very interesting and revealing was the depiction of the inability of western societies to assimilate, integrate and absorb different cultures. I was left wondering.
Synonymes (2019)
A note to the director
There is no need to make a movie if you have nothing to say. Because if you do, you trap a number of unfortunate people to a theatre which you transform into a torture chamber. You bombard them with incomprehensible pictures, very badly cinematographed, making no sense whatsoever. If you think that the spectators can solve a non-existing puzzle, you are mistaken. I suggest that you can try to do something else, be a photographer or a painter, but not a film maker.
American Animals (2018)
very interesting
A good film. It describes efficiently, the dreams and the aims of a considerable percentage of the contemporary youth in the U.S.A. Clearly states the dilemma college students face, when confronted with their future prospects. The choice between a 'normal' life (predictable, comfortable and relatively well envisaged) and an unconventional but exciting road to self-fulfilment. The luxury of this kind of choice, although restricted to affluent youngsters of a 'rich' country, is surprisingly difficult to make given the environment, the family conditions and the social expectations. The film presented to me a critical view of a 'foreigner' (the director is from the UK) to real contemporary problems the youth in the U.S.A. face. The 'documentary-like' scenes (talk to the camera, interviews, references to real persons) were excellent additions to the narrative flow.
Slava (2016)
An honest look into the Balkans
It is a low budget film. With obviously restricted means of production, the filmmakers managed to describe accurately the main aspects of the everyday life in the region. The story nicely depicted the pathology of the political and social system which prevails in the Balkans and not only in Bulgaria. To my mind, the references to the European Union were excellent and clearly made the point that the idea of a united Europe is an illusion. The basic characteristics of the social attitudes and human relationships in the given environment were very well presented. The acting was convincing, but the camera work was not so good. Maybe the film will not be so appealing to audiences used to watching Hollywood super productions or audiences looking for ways to escape into an ideal imagined world. But it is a direct, honest, true and plain approach to a very interesting way of life in a very interesting part of the globe, where people struggle to improve the quality of their lives, preserving at the same time their traditional values. The impact of the above contradiction is nicely emphasized in the film.
Une vie (2016)
A good film
Is the story of an aristocratic 19th century French family of any interest today? I believe that it depends. Personally I think it is, as long as it touches some humanitarian aspects and allows the spectator to draw parallels to his present day aspirations. This film does that. It is not a masterpiece, but it is well focused and nicely narrated. To me the De Maupassant novel was just an excuse and, to be honest, I found the lyrical passages presented as commentaries to be the film's weakest points. The extensive use of close-ups was a great idea and added a special quality to the film. This does not mean that the wide shots were not good. The emphasis on the faces of the heroes was a very correct approach. The acting was very good and the unraveling of the story almost without flash backs was very helpful in understanding the changes in the family's fortunes. At the end of the day, I believe, that this was the point the film was trying to make. The ups and downs and it was very nicely depicted in the last sentence which closed the movie. It was really the summary of the adventures we watched.
The Other Side of November (2016)
Not a good film
I watched it in Athens during a Canadian film festival organized by the Greek film archives. It was a bad film. To begin with, I think that the scenario was very weak. I found the timing of the shots wrong. The pieces of the puzzle were presented in a way which did not allow you to make sense of what the film maker wanted to say. Although it did have the ingredients of a melodrama it ended up as an abstract description of people with mysterious lives. I must admit that the quality of the pictures was not bad and the locations were picturesque. The trouble, to my mind, is that they did not correspond to the surroundings one would expect for the protagonists to move in. I think that especially the Jordanian environment was too glamorous, something which is rarely encountered. I would have thought that focusing on just the heroin and trying to describe the development of her alternative lives after her crucial decision to emigrate or not, would have produced a better cinematographic result. By placing too much emphasis on the relationship with her friend, I think that the film maker misses the point of describing the divergent life paths resulted from the decision.