Another Belgrade FEST came to an end, so i think it’s time to post impressions here.
I managed to see a lot of movies this year, most of them in Sava Centar. This was maybe a mistake because the movies that played in other cinemas, Dvorana kulturnog centra, Dom sindikata and Kinoteka were smaller movies that i won’t be able to see again, while those at Sava centar were more of a blockbuster genre, but what can i do.
Here are the movies i managed to see:
Das leben der Anderen – probably the best movie on this year’s fest, at least that’s my impression. It shows Stazi police following and listening to suspicious citizens in East Germany before the fall of The Wall.
The last king of Scotland – film that earned Forrest Whitaker an oscar for best male role, and he completely deserved it, i must say even though i haven’t seen the other nominated actors this year, this one was tough to beat. As for the film, you’ll be disappointed if you expect to see what really happened in Uganda – only the last screen shot tells us about mass killings and war crimes that had been committed there. Film actually poses the question what would you do in the middle of all that chaos and would you notice there was something wrong at all.
Fast food nation – biggest disappointment of this FEST, and probably one the biggest flops of the year. You’ll learn nothing that you haven’t already know – cows are being slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, Mexicans are being used as a cheap labor in the U.S. and the quality of the meat in the fast food chains is bad. Now those are not very shocking or groundbreaking revelations for me, as the trailer wanted me to believe.
Little miss sunshine – really good comedy, unpretentious, clever and with a funny finale – i recommend it wholeheartedly.
Goya’s ghosts – maybe a disappointment if you have high expectations from Forman, but since i didn’t have those, the movie was just fine – Javier Bardem gives a very good performance.
Laitakaupungin valot – typical Aki Kaurismäki love, passion, clubbing, robbery, murder attempt, all acted with the same facial expression and with about ten lines spoken through entire movie.
Direktoren for det hele – Lars Von Trier gives us a comedy, and a really good one too! Great acting through entire movie with bad directing (but on purpose).
Catch a fire Story about Apartheid years, interrogations and torture of political prisoners and their fight for liberation. It seemed as if the movie had bigger potential somehow, but i would still recommend it.
Elementareilchen Weird and difficult movie at moments, but to me pretty pointless. Childhood traumas and failure to fit in “the normal” life – if you are interested in that kind of stuff, than you’ll enjoy this one.
Volver Again, if you expect much from Almodovar you can easily be disappointed, that’s the case with me this time. Penelope wasn’t bad actually, maybe it’s worth seeing it just for her performance.
Daratt Slow movie with a gripping story and great acting. It’s about a boy trying to find his father’s amnestied murderer after civil war in Chad.
And last but not least:
Pervert’s Guide to Cinema Popular Slovenian (not Slovakian) philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek acts as a guide through some of the most famous movie scenes of all time and analyzes them in great detail to reveal their hidden meanings, of mostly unconscious sexual nature. If you ever get the chance don’t miss this one – it lasts for more than two and half hours but it is incredibly interesting. Kinoteka was full of people sitting and standing in corridors and there was no air, but even then it was worth it.
Movies that i didn’t manage to see, but felt sorry about it: Babel, La science des reves and The Bubble.
Is there anything else worth seeing or something that we should avoid? Please do tell.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I quite liked Zizek’s movie as well. Even if you don’t agree with anything he says, he’s just the kind of guy who’s always interesting to listen to.
I recently saw and enjoyed (to my surprise) Little Children. The ending is a bit of a stretch, but it was still compelling.
Well I spent some time at FEST this year too – although sadly much less time than I used to. I practically used to ‘set up camp’ at the Sava Centre, and sometimes I would have difficulty telling my own life apart from the many movies I watched. Just joshing of course although watching 4 films in one day can be quite a head spin and I dont advise it unless you dont have to write about any of the movies.
Most of the films I watched were home grown (Balkan) although I couldnt even manage all of them either.
Of the ones you listed of note were Forrest Whitakers performance of Idi Amin. Very good movie generally although I found the naive Scottish character quite annoying at first. I knew Whitaker was a good actor but the accent alone deserves note! It also kind of makes you wonder about the stories concerning Amin – theres no doubt his was a brutal regime but I remember my father telling me the stories he heard about Idi Amins cannibalism. Now one wonders whether this was US propoganda or not – the film doesnt answer this question.
I missed The Queen movie which was a pity. Fast Food Nation I watched which was ok but again nothing new really.
I found Catch a Fire an impressive movie. The musical score was particularly good and I believe the movie captures some of the atmosphere of apartheid South Africa.
Also worth a mention is the Winterbottom movie about Guantanamo. Worth seeing, again one might be tempted to think it will show us nothing new but they manage to make it interesting since we look at what happened from the view of the men involved. Of course nobody quite answers the question as to what the men were doing in Afganistan in the first place, which is a mistake in my opinion, since it leaves scope for cynics to say they intended to fight for the Taliban. IMHO they went off there either for adventure or just because they fell in with men in Pakistan that romanticised what was going on there and they wanted to see this with their own eyes.
The biggest mistake of thier lives.
Domestic movies worth a mention – Hamlet, Klopka and Censored without Censorship. Three very different films but all quality ones.
Stories about Idi Amin tended to come from the British government, more than from America, I believe. What was and wasn’t true is anybody’s guess if you take into account their tales about recent Balkan history. Amin might have been a very bad guy, but who’s to know the whole story? Ordinary people can trust nothing that governments.
Forrest Whittaker is a fine actor, but his acceptance speech at the Oscars was simply pathetic.
Thanks for the review; it sounds all and all like a good time. I wholly endorse the review for Little Miss. Sunshine; especially for the pageant scene.
Although, I’m sure winning the Oscar was a very emotional moment for him; and I don’t think I could have been much better if I had to give a small acceptance speech after just winning something like the Oscar.
About Wittaker’s acceptance speech. I admit it when he first took out that piece of paper and began to read in a monotone voice; I thought for a split second that he was doing a parody of a bad acceptance speech.