[JonE(vil)]

Sisu. 2023. Finland.
3/10
​Pensioner superman kills nazis.
​A gold miner with a dog and horse strikes it rich. Trying to get to the nearest bank he run into a bunch of retreating Nazis.
​Watching the trailer, you know what is ahead. A simple bloody, slightly funny film involving a lot of of killing.
Forgettable for the complete lack of plot. Stylish for the 'inventive' ways he manages to stay alive. The only dialogue spoken is mainly by the germans.
It might bring to mind Rambo. But that would only apply to the ever increasing stupidity of the sequels.
(The first dealt with him going to a small town to see his friend, being harrassed by the cops and snapping due to PTSD.)
Frustrating, because there was something there, but just seemed to be aimed at a zombie audience.



I work at a cemetery. 2020. Ukraine.
5/10
An asshole who sell tombstones.
Very slow crime comedy. Follows the main character who works helping people organize tombstones, until a local 'gangster'(?) turns up and takes over.
​Lots of characters, some funny moments, but not alot of thought that made for a muddled film. The corruption angle seemed quite natural. But the film fails to really take with any sort of purpose. Could be lost in translation. Probably just kinda shit.

[JonE(vil)]

Violet perfume. Nobody hears you. 2001. Mexico.
9/10
A young girl is enrolled at a new school and makes friends with another young girl. The girls get along but the new one is from a poor family. The other lives a modest life with her mother who works in a shoe store. It contrasts their lives in a very pointed way, one mother is a protective and loving, the other is constantly angry and stressed. After the poor girl is step up by her step brother and raped, her behaviour gets worse. At this point it could become a revenge film with the nice girl helping her new friend. But it doesn't. It shows the reality of behaviour that comes next. Excellent drama with a 90 minute run time that stays focused on a small cast with a growing sense of dread.

[JonE(vil)]

Rebel. 2022. Belgium.
8/10
A immigrant in Europe goes to Syria to help, but gets caught up with Islamic State.
Well thought out portrayal of life as a muslim immigrant in a european country, (Belgium.) who goes to Syria to help his fellow muslims in the war against the government. Things take a dramatic turn for the worse when Islamic State capture where he is and he is forced to join. Back in europe, his mother is trying to raise his younger brother (12) by herself and fend off attempts to radicalize him.

There is alot going on in the film, from several different perspectives. The action is intense and graphic. It really does show the chaotic nature of war and the ultra one sided view people have when there in the thick out it. Anything featuring Islamic State is pretty spot on, the executions/propaganda, the strict enforcement of 'rules' and the blind eye to double standards. The mother trying to protect her younger son was the softer part of the film but carried some weight. Near the end it did veer off a little, but overall a very solid drama that wasn't afraid to show the brutal truth.

[JonE(vil)]

Close to Vermeer. 2023.
7/10
​Doco about the exhibition of most of the Vermeer paintings. Sets up the painter as someone whose paintings are well known in pop culture, but very little is known about him.
Could be seen as just a bunch a aloof idiots drooling over paintings, to a degree it is. But when the doco slowlys shows the close up of the paintings, gives the level of gravity when you have national gallerys deciding to lends these, an announcement that one painting is not by Vermeer.
It adds a sense of grandiose that feels natural and not contrived.

[JonE(vil)]

Heavenly creatures. 1994.
6/10
Parker/Hulme girls murder one of there mothers.
Based on the true story from 1953 New Zealand, does a good job at at setting up the motivation and connection between the girls. Being a psychological type crime film, it does lack a visual evil on behalf of at least one of the girls. The films Don't deliver us from evil and Poison for the fairies are to said to inspired/based on this crime.

[JonE(vil)]

Tag. 2015. Japan.
6/10
A school girl is chased by a wind that kills everyone around her. Directed By Sion Sono, i kinda knew what i was in for. Very bloody, surreal well acted film.
It made sense at the halfway point, but veered back off into wacky after 20 mins. Overall, one of the directors stranger films.

[JonE(vil)]

Titicut follies. 1967.
8/10
Film showing inside a nut-house late 1960's. Honesty in its portrayal resulted in heavy censorship, this has been over ruled. The conversations that are featured are insights into the mind of mental hospital inmates both sane and clearly not.

[JonE(vil)]

The conversation. 1974.
6/10.
A bloke is hired to record a conversation between two people. But when he listens to it, he discovers things aren't adding up.
Interesting film by F.F.Coppola. Slow but compelling. The film starts with the recording being done, it shows all the outside noise and interference. Quiet and reserved, Gene Hackman's character is the main focus with a few other minor parts. Paranoid drama more than thriller, it shows a man at that top of his game that gets in a little too deep.

[JonE(vil)]

Andrei Rublev. 1966. Russia.
6/10
A monk leaves the monastery to paint a church. On the way he encounters the reality of 1400's Russia. This causes him to loose his faith While Andrei is the main focus for the main part, there is a swirling chaos of characters he meets on his journey. The 'plot' is kinda not there in a traditional sense. But enough happens for the viewer to be able see that times haven't changed too much in the sense of human nature, but craftmanship and having a sense of purpose have been flushed.

[JonE(vil)]

Goya's ghosts. 2006.
7/10
Semi fictional portrayal of the painter Goya.
Set near the end of Goya's life, the film sets up a scene in which he is asked to help the daughter of a rich merchant who has been taken by 'The holy office'. Solid drama with a good performance by Natalie Portman. It features alot of paintings, prints and events that Goya made and happened throughout his life. Last film to be directed by Milos Foreman, it moves rather slowly but has a epic feel with beautiful costumes and thoughtful intensity.
Viewers familiar with the painter and his art would probably enjoy this more than a fan of some of his earlier films.