DaViD´82

I still remember that fateful day when my and Indy’s paths first crossed. It took place when I was less than seven years old at summer camp. It was a rainy afternoon and there were no outdoor activities. So that the teachers could have some peace, they put on a video for the horde of children. But unfortunately they had nothing animated at hand (causing a wave of tangible disappointment among us little kids) and thus we had no choice but to watch something from a well-worn cassette. At first, some movie started, but they soon stopped it (the biggest mystery of my life to this day; what movie was that?). They fast-forwarded the cassette to half way. Then some strange movie with a gentleman in a cowboy hat started. To make it stranger, it was dubbed by a single adult who was difficult to understand. At first I was terribly disappointed, but then the ball boulder rolled out, the main theme tune sounded, and... And nothing was ever the same again. I met the love of my life (I’m sure my wife will forgive me). This cinematic experience has been surpassed in my eyes just by one movie; and no, it wasn’t Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The day after the screening, the weather was beautiful, but while we were whistling the main melody, we forced the teachers to show us the second movie. The reactions to the soup scene were... But that's another story.

Originally, I wanted to write a longwinded analysis of my love for this playful jewel of a movie. But after watching it a few times over, I said to myself “to the hell with it". So, in brief: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind simply IS the best movie to be made (not only) over the past years. Want to know why? If that’s the case, you’ll have to watch the fatal relationship of Joel and Clementine (...no jokes about her name!) for yourselves. It’s an experience that’s just indescribable in words.

The best movie of its kind? I wouldn’t say that. The second best? That I can say without a doubt.

“The Wages of Fear is probably the best thriller in world cinema because the suspense doesn’t come from an artificial construct, but from real life." British film critic, Basil Wright, 1972. I would just like to add to this that this claim still applies more than twenty-five years later. And the movie is better than the book it is based on, which, however, certainly deserves no high praise.

One thing will stay with you after watching this... An unpleasantly chilling feeling of “what if, after all". The Medusa wall sculpture in the opening credits came into my childhood dreams to terrify me more than anything else. And the tension built-up in the story (the tension, WOW the tension!), the superb acting performances by all of the actors (even Burton lying in the hospital bed; that stare, THAT stare!), an interestingly approached original topic, absolutely outstanding music (the main theme, THAT theme!) and then, primarily, THAT unforgettable ending. To this day I regret that I can’t get my hands on the book that this British gem is based on. An unforgettable movie and the movie that sparked my love of cinema. Even if in quite a chilling way. P.S.: Although the dubbing is incredibly well-done, you really should watch the original English version which, with Ventura’s French accent and Burton’s somber diction, is a completely different movie.

"That was one goddamn helluva show." Yup, it sure was... In other reviews you frequently come across strong claims such as movie of the year and the like. I might even increase the aforementioned unit of time to cover a longer period. Why? Because it’s already a good few hours since the movie ended, but I’m still quivering with absolute delight. And something tells me that I will continue to quiver for a long time yet. I feel as if Anderson made this for me alone. This grand work may be described using but four words: cynicism (with respect to mankind), cynicism (with respect to religious fanaticism and religion in general), cynicism (with respect to the American Dream), and cynicism (with respect to everything else). Simply cynical egoism to the core and a good feeling from knowing that Anderson watch The Treasure of the Sierra Madre very attentively. Additional note: Second time round it’s maybe even better. On my second visit to the movie theater, Anderson again drowned me in black gold. And I had a great time all the while he was drowning me. It’s high time to take a good bath.

A perfect combination of artsy chamber piece focused on characters and “how things worked on those beautiful vessels with sails" with a simple adventure for boys about friendship and duties like out of a dime novel you read secretly during lessons. Despite having nothing whatsoever to do with the equally marvelous book the movie is based on (this is more a mixture of the first and third book with a bit from the tenth book in the Aubrey and Maturin series), this is a simply wonderful movie in its sense for historical precision, characterization of characters or nods for readers (Jack’s missing earlobe, letters to Sophia, Maturin’s “floral" waistcoat etc.) And technical aspects keep step with the content - they are the highest possible standard. The only thing that disappoints me is the non-existence of a director’s cut. As a whole twenty-four minutes of cut scenes demonstrates, not just ballast, but much high quality material was left out of the final cut.

I'm never satisfied. Miranda is clearly a genius; maybe he's not much of a singer (let alone a dancer; that's where others step in), but the imaginative and well worked-out modernization through (not only) hip-hop, a really sophisticated libretto in which the verses get the job done well and are not merely superfluous (and it goes on nonstop for two and a half hours; themes mingle and return bearing new meanings and connotations). On top of that, he is also the composer of the music. I take my hat off to him. There has been no similarly successful modernization since the first series of Moffat's Sherlock. It has flair, well worked-out ideas (basically every song has some subversive original element) and unprecedented drive (especially with regard to the genre and running time), and it can tell a thrilling well-known story with gusto and a fresh look (and no, it has nothing to do with the controversial casting in terms of skin color), where the duo of  Burr and Hamilton are depicted in the same style as Salieri and Mozart in Shaffer's Amadeus. And this is all done with humor with a contemporary edge, dramatically and emotionally, without excessive emotions expressed through the music about “great love / great tragedy". Hamilton has proven that even the “almost annoying excessive hype of the best of the best" can turn out to be completely insufficient and not expressive enough, though only once in a blue moon.