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johaneksmyr
Reviews
Wuthering Heights (2011)
To use a classic make a political statement about racism
Oh, so beautiful scenery. Close out everything else, you can enjoy a lot of beautiful scenes.
The camera work is sometimes creative, including some nice cutting.
Except from that this film does lack a lot, you can read many reviews in the lower end to get the picture...
I end this short review with...
Why on earth must there be a statement on black matters. It is soo out of context, but I guess at those times a film got funded if you showed the right agenda. It is very disturbing but know I know how bad a black guy probably were treated a long time ago in Yorkshire... or not, it's just so predictable.
Spare yourself 2 long hours, well I did, I couldn't stand this more than 1 hour, when Heathcliff came along as a much darker grownup.
True Women (1997)
A story with strong female characters
Nice with a film with almost only female heroes. Normally not happening. And ... they are strong characters!
What makes this movie worth seeing is the overall acting. Most of the acting I would say, because some of the roles are a bit corny, played almost as caricatures of real characters. An example is how the Indians were portrayed, hard cut, non sensitive, but proud, wildlings. Not a specially deep picture of them in my opinion. Another example is the black people, the slaves. They are portrayed as happy, easygoing, well fed, to their white owners lovingly second class people. It is almost funny sometimes to see how they enjoy their work in the cotton fields.
The women on the other hand, are characterised better.
The dialogues are not great although they are survivable most of the times. At many occasions the dialogues feels like they are written from a modern, almost political, point of view. This regards for example the Indians, the black people, the mixed people, the Mexicans and the Indian hating Texas rangers. This takes the film in those sequences to a shallow level, which is a pity, as those statements seems very constructed. It does not seem historically correct.
The sceneries are well done, clothing, buildings, the spoken dialects, well, many things make up for the flaws and you follow those women though their lives with a lot of tragic events along the road. But they survive, well not all, but anyway, and have a good spirit in doing so.
Over all, I have very hard to forgive those bad scripted characters, and I wouldn't give this film a 5 star, but the female actors made this film worth seeing at least one time. And, if not for anything else, the fantastic Dana Delany.
The Water Diviner (2014)
Tragedies and romance in the WW2 after math
Russel Crowe directing and playing the main male role in this film, a glimpse of the after maths of WW2. Russell Crowe and Olga Kurylenko have their destinies intertwined when Russell is searching for his missing sons. Of course they fall in love and it's a happy ending.
The value of the film is not the trivial plot, but the sceneries, the stories of the war, the authentic environment and clothing, the actors and their obvious connection with their history and the beautiful cinematography. We are taught a story and learn something about a big war.
The film contains a big deal of Turkish traditions, dances, behaviour etc, which adds to the story. In my opinion it's a bit slick and nice, the Muslim traditions are a bit romanticised, but it is beautifully done and adds to the the authenticity, the history of the Turks and one can understand their pride.
Overall a nice little story, well done, that give you with a little more knowledge and at the end, a romantic smile on your face.
Suspiria (1977)
Breathtaking cinematographic scenes
Amazing lightning and filming. The whole film so full of cinematographic sceneries, just that makes Susperia well worth seeing. So many times I just enjoyed the shooting angle and the colourful lightning.
Exquisite building style and interior. Everything is designed so classy and beautiful that it is pure enjoyment to watch.
The main acting characters are all acting very well, though the dialogues are a weakness.
As I understand, the idea was to have children not older than twelve playing the dancers. Now, when the actors are older, the dialogues sometimes becomes childish, but overall it works anyway.
The plot is simple, a bit artificially constructed. This is a small weakness. A few scenes disappoint from that perspective. Also a few interactions seems artificial and not so great.
The soundtrack is also a great contribution, making the film what it is. It is so disturbing in it's repeated simple sequences, that it gets under my skin.
An excellent horror movie, but not only that, it is a piece of filmic art. So many beautiful scenes makes me enjoyably smile many times despite being in the midsts of the horror.
With kids playing in this film it would certainly have been banned, but that would and that would have made this film so disturbingly creepy, that nightmares would have being a given. What comes to mind in comparison is The Exorcist from the same time period. A film with much better dialogue and, a child playing the main role.
Overall, just for the filming and the sceneries, this is a 10/10 movie, but I give it a 9, but it could have been a strong 8. I saw the English version.