J*A*S*M

(49th KVIFF) That feeling when you’re sitting in the cinema watching a movie and suddenly realise that film history is being written.

(49th KVIFF) The relatively bizarre portray of Czech rednecks, with almost Twin Peaks dimensions even, and a funny joke here and there are a plus. However, like many other Czech films, Nowhere in Moravia is missing a clear theme or plot, something that is manifest, for instance, by the fact that almost any of the scenes of the last twenty minutes could have easily been the last, and nothing would be left unsaid (because, they actually never had anything to say). Most of the humour, as it’s the unpleasant habit in Czech movies, follows the template of famous actor speaking foully or behaving like an idiot = funny. Though, to be fair, the template here is enriched with the Moravian dialect. What an innovation.

(49th KVIFF) An overall nice, refreshing and entertaining dramatic one-off that manages not to take itself too seriously for most of its run. But it doesn’t deviate at all from the well-known and the average.

(49th KVIFF) Michael, Maggie, Domhnall, I love you all.

(49th KVIFF) The tempo is easy-going, but the atmosphere is gripping, with the dirt, the desert, the hirsute hero, the endless Australian roads, the isolated buildings and the redneck post-apocalyptic population. Pearce and Pattinson are great. And it’s got some balls, as the midget will tell you. So, pretty satisfied, though Tarantino’s hype (OMG! OMG! the best post-apocalyptic movie since Mad Max) was, as expected, exaggerated, if not downright bollocks, as it’s usual with him. The final twist is (especially for me, those who know me will understand) utterly absurd, though the protagonist’s prior behaviour gives it at least some motivation.

(49th KVIFF) Blind is a brilliantly shot and acted drama, but it’s biggest strength is undoubtedly its script, in particular, the way it tells the story through editing and lets the viewer figure out what is actually going on. I think that everyone in the theatre noticed “those things I don’t want to reveal” and realised their meaning, as well as their link to a completely different film. The moment I realised it, I was ecstatic. These are the sort of things I like in films, and I can’t wait to watch this one again. There will certainly something to discover.

(49th KVIFF) If on top of everything, The Monk was also in black and white, it’d be exactly the stereotype of what the average person who’s never been to the Karlovy Vary festival, but considers it a boring and snobbish parade of boring art, imagines as a festival film.

(49th KVIFF) If, after a certain turning point, the script didn’t rely so much on chance (unlikely encounters of the follower and the followed), I wouldn’t have a problem giving it a higher rating. It’s a beautifully shot (mostly) thriller with superb performances. At first it isn’t entirely clear what it is about, but after twenty or thirty minutes it turns into a surprisingly tense chase through a town and its surroundings. The behaviour of certain characters may seem almost senseless to some viewers here, but I believe that Pakistani immigrants have a fairly different mentality than the average Western European, so I didn’t have any problem with it. Oh! And in some parts it’s really rough :) Pleasant surprise.

(49th KVIFF) I’m very happy after the screening at KVIFF. Seeing a good horror movie on a big screen, in a theatre full of people who, considering the circumnstances (the late hour and the booze), behaved well and weren’t a nuisance is not something you see very often. Objectively, I could complain about it being somewhat repetitive, most of the film consists of either how they try to catch the scary spirit or of how they go from one place to another, but these complaints are very well compensated by a premise that is original and entertaining for the genre, the likeable characters (finally, teenage protagonists in a horror movie that aren’t dull chess pieces, but nice young people, and you don’t want anything bad happening to them) and how effective it is overall – the opening sequence already gave me chills, and that feeling repeated itself during the entire 100 minute run. But what’s most valuable is that most of those scenes take place during the day. The climax at the swimming pool and the scene on the beach are some of the moments I will remember at the end of this film year. I was expecting something dirtier given the theme, and more sexually explicit, but It Follows is very lame in this aspect. As the producer said, in some sense it is actually a “pretty” film – the sun shines, the music is nice and the characters love each other. Only that they are followed by a horrifying spirit.

(49th KVIFF) It’s cringe to the point that I almost wanted to leave (or fall asleep). But, after a certain moment, Norway (why Norway? It could have been called “Dancing wanker goes somewhere” and it would have been more apt) becomes stupid in such a WTF way that I actually had fun. In any case, the weakest film of the festival so far.