Film Reviews by RCO

Despite containing much fascinating footage it is difficult to discern a pattern or intention, let alone meaning, in the montage.

It is claimed by some to be about our relationship with nature and the land (or something) - but I don't see that reflected here. There is a good non-documentary film to be made about this subject, but this isn't it. Frankly it is a bit incoherent.

Three stars solely because some of the archive clips are interesting in themselves, not for the whole as a movie which would get one star.

Another slice of modern Russian middle-class life from Zvyagintsev (Elena, Banishment, Leviathan) reminding us how similar our societies now are.

The lovelessness of the title is the characters' lives; their empty mediated life produces tragic consequences in their reality.

Slow paced, sometimes satirical, a portrait of the alienation produced by the modern world. Zvyagintsev works in the tradition of great Russian film making, now totally accessible and comprehensible to an English audience.

The consequences of modern life laid bare.

Cairo, 2011, cusp of a revolution, routinely corrupt system including police, a girl gets murdered in the Nile Hilton, a Somali maid (illegal immigrant) sees the killer leaving, the detective assigned proceeds to disentangle things uncovering a deeper plot...

Very well made, subtitled, based on a true story. The detective is very well acted and the character is complex with flaws and virtues and believable, the backdrop doesn't intrude. Like any 'noir-ish' film the plot sometimes seems tangled and you can loose track of who is working for who but in the end truth will out and out hero gains wisdom if not success.

....(and it should), then you need to do something about it.

I am furious that we treat well meaning people in this way. It is shameful that we have so lost touch with human values that workers can put up with dishing out this inhuman treatment to those who find themselves in difficulties.

Where there is a direct human connection - as shown between Daniel and Katie and the others who he lives around there is mutual support and care. Where "The System" intervenes between human relationships as shown between Daniel and the staff who are supposed to support him it is totally broken.

Possibly the only way to fix it is to burn down all social insecurity and nojob centres and start again. Those jobs (the benefits staff) should not exist in that form - lets do away with them and replace them with a system that actually works for people.

The Dardennes brothers (who directed) are a bit like a French (or Belgian) Mike Leigh with a touch of the unexpected. Films that observe their characters and let us feel with them in the situation shown. The Unknown Girl is a fine example as the doctor mixes her feelings about leaving her socially responsible post as doctor in a poor area for a flash new clinic with her feelings about an unknown girl who gets murdered more or less on her surgery doorstep. Guilt drives her to investigate and we are taken along for the ride.

Finely acted, especially by Adèle Haenel as the young doctor and Louka Minnella as the boy Bryan who may or may not have something to tell.

It was good enough that we felt the need to watch it twice to pick up on some of the nuances.

Director Andrey Zvyagintsev went on to make Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014). This, his first feature from 2003, clearly sets out his themes.

Reflective in pace, giving the cast a chance to fully inhabit the characters and reveal the narrative. Excellent cinematography, a simple story explored in depth, posing questions that extend you beyond the narrative.

In this one the two young actors playing the boys are outstanding - possibly the best child acting you will ever see. Tragically Vladimir Garin who plays the older brother died during post-production before the premiere. He was swimming in the same lake where the film was shot when he drowned.

This is modern Russian film making at its best.

A masterpiece of the surreal. Silly, crazy, unlikely, logical in its own world (and more or less in ours), escapist, surprising, cheap and cheerful, obviously a labour of love and obsession to make, hugely entertaining. A child's toy-box world complete and entire within itself.

Lots of nice snow and rock scenery but a bit of a mish-mash. Put together from various sources of mountain footage including much modern "extreme sports" helicopter stuff of fools doing absurd things. Places never identified. Random footage of buddhist monks never explained or integrated. Music doesn't really add anything. Voice-over typically portentous.

Silly stagey drama about tedious self-centred middle class people. Contrived and not even funny if you recognise the types on display. Has nothing to say and says it badly.

Both a wonderful drama and a fascinating insight into a little known aspect of the American civil war. Tells a true story with conviction and sympathy.

Its a classic which presages many elements in subsequent films. A bit slow paced at times with some over-expressive acting (but you could call that 'style'). The inner story told from four different points of view is not as outrageous as the main teller says, but as subject for a meditation on perception, ambiguity and reality it works well. In the end the truth is what you decide it is - which is perhaps something that resonates uncomfortably for us in these Trumpian times.

From the mock cheesy travelogue voice over at the beginning to it all turning out alright in the end this is a gem of a comedy.

It also manages to be a satirical commentary on many aspects of our western world and a glimpse of bushman life and Southern Africa scenery (but you might want to fact check the gem about rhinos and fire before repeating it as gospel!)

Although made in 1980, S.Africa then was probably equivalent to the UK in the mid 60s or earlier in terms of social attitudes - so don't be put off by what today looks very unsophisticated and unPC comedy - accept it for what it is and laugh out loud with it.

Shot almost entirely in closeup of Saul's face with an impressive soundscape building an intense atmosphere of random horror. Creates a convincing impression of how the people caught in that situation must have dealt with what was happening around them. Action is glimpsed out of focus in the background, dialogue is minimal, everything is held inside blanking out the horror around them.

Unremitting, it almost became tedious about half way through - there is not really a coherent narrative, how could there be without it being either trivialising or portentous, it just IS.

As a piece of film-making it is impressive. As a representation of how humans can deal with inhumanity it is convincing. If you can watch it without bringing your personal baggage about WW2 and what happened in Hungary/Germany then it is worth a viewing but don't expect to be entertained.

Maybe its because I'm 35 years older (or 45 years since I was into Philip K Dick stories) but this is a trivial gratuitous fresh take on the classic. Perhaps if I was 35 years younger it would seem as cool as the original Blade Runner did - but I doubt it as it was still pretty cool when I last saw it about 5 years ago.

This one replaces the depth of the original's mise-en-scene with a surface gloss that conveys nothing except its own cleverness. It replaces the characterisations with cardboard cyphers. It replaces the ambiguity with a teenage boy's fantasies of sex and power.

If you want to see how modern techniques could be used to good effect in this type of future-present story then check out the New Seoul sequences in Cloud Atlas.

If you happen to be a repressed teenage boy you might find this ok, otherwise avoid it.

Considering I have been wanting to see this for nearly forty years it was a huge disappointment. Nothing happens. There is no meaning. There is no drama. There is almost no story. Nothing is explained. It is tedious beyond belief. The mis-en-scene which may have seemed innovative in 1979 is now tired and done far better in many average recent film and tv dramas.

How did the director of Andrei Rublev (one of THE greatest films, and one I have seen several times) sink to this?