Vörös szobák

A film a sötét világhálón terjedő snuff-videók zord világ témájába és a három lány gyilkosának perébe merül, aki kamerával vette fel hátborzongató „művét”. De egyiket sem fejti ki rendesen, és a legtöbb időt két furcsa lány rövid életű barátságára fordítja, akik a gyilkos iránti rajongásuk miatt nézőként vesznek részt a tárgyaláson. Nem értem, hogy lehet ezért a filmért rajongani. Igaz, precízen lett leforgatva és jól eljátszva, de tartalmilag teljesen elszalasztja az erős témában rejlő lehetőségeket. [Sitges FF] (2023.10.14)

Random notes about the dark net, groupies and serial killers mixed haphazardly with the superficial motif of “outwardly beautiful but inwardly monstrous model living in a clinically clean apartment with AI that tells jokes”. The film, which confuses outward effects with profound psychology, unintentionally gives a nod of approval to tabloid fascination with violence and insight into the pathological world with the eclectic alternation of themes, about which it says nothing at all. An empty gesture, horror vacui. (2023.07.05)

An artsy court thriller from Canada! The trial begins for Ludovic Chevalier, who has been convicted of the murders of three young girls, which the sales of snuff videos on the Dark Web, definitely an interesting court case. We watch the film from the point of view of a model-juror who becomes obsessed with the case and starts to be a pretty decent psycho. The courtroom verbal barrages are fine and definitely go a long way to fixing the taste for the awful Anatomy of a Fall, though I wish there was more of the trial. At times the film focuses on stuff that isn't entirely appealing. I loved the conversation of the Dark Web expert, and the ending is captivating with an intense and thrilling poker game with Bitcoins that is one of the highlights of the entire film. It's a shame the snuff scenes are out of focus, but I can see how it wouldn't pass. It probably could have been made darker and more intense, but I'm still happy with this understated thriller, it's definitely worth a watch, but it's not a genre-defining film. 7/10. (2023.12.03)

This attractive attempt at an arthouse thriller resulted only in a tabloidish, formalistically incongruous and psychologically unconvincing treatise on the attractiveness of evil and a number of other topics, which it addresses in an exceedingly superficial way. If one of those topics was intended to be a critique of overtly biased and emotionally manipulative courts, then it was not a fortunate decision to conceive it from the perspective of an antisocial and bizarrely motivated protagonist who is fascinated by deviance. (2023.07.18)

What fascinates people about serial killers and does close examination of evil also breed evil? The answers to these questions are (not necessarily) given to us through the two female protagonists, whose psychology alternates between childlike naivety and almost devilish mystery and ambiguity. This hypnotic, audiovisually intoxicating thriller about the fascination with human brutality is a powerful genre piece, the likes of which don't make it very often into the competition section at Karlovy Vary. Some scenes (especially the cosplay in the courtroom) are masterfully constructed and I would actually like to watch the whole thing again very soon. [KVIFF 2023] (2023.07.26)