At the Movies 2015: Mad Max – Fury Road

Posted on May 31, 2015 by cornholio1980

Mad Max Fury RoadMad Max: Fury Road
Australia | USA 2015
Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy & Nick Lathouris
Directed by George Miller
Watched on 22.05.2015

I wasn’t quite as smitten with “Mad Max: Fury Road” as many (or most?) others were. It’s a very good movie, but it didn’t manage to thrill me from start to finish.

I had two main issues with the movie. The first one, unfortunately, is the recasting of Max. I guess that I would have liked “Fury Road” more if they would have shot the exact same movie 10 years earlier, with Mel Gibson in the role. Think of him as an actor (or a human being) what you want, but he’s perfect for this quiet guys with revenge on their mind. It’s a role he time and time again excelled in, even though he can probably play it in his sleep by now. Which he arguably did in “Beyond Thunderdome”, but even there, I found him better than Tom Hardy in “Fury Road”. It’s not exactly his fault, and overall, I like the guy. He showed some very good performances in recent years. However, in my opinion, he was miscast as Max. He’s better when he can let loose and can actually talk than with this mostly quiet, brooding types. He’s not bad – far from it, actually – but he’s just no Mel. It didn’t help that he doesn’t look anything like his predecessor, which made this a rather jarring transition. I had to remind myself constantly that this indeed is supposed to be Max Rockatansky, and also supposed to work as a sequel to the trilogy, and not as a reboot (even though he has flashes of his daughter, not quite grown up, but also far older than when she died, which didn’t exactly lessen my confusion). And to be honest: Given the fact that Max doesn’t really play a major role in the proceedings, I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to just call it “Fury Road”, have it play in the same universe, but without Mad Max. He wasn’t that essential to the plot anyway, and what little part he played could just as well have been filled by another (new) character (like Nux, for example).

My second main issue was with the first half hour or so. It took me a while to really find my way into the movie, since at the beginning, I had absolutely no clue what the fuck was going on here. As spectacular as all the action scenes in the movie were, the first big set piece felt rather pointless to me. See, here’s the deal: I love action just as much as the next guy, but in order for me to be invested in it, I need to know what’s it all about, what everyone tries to achieve, and what the stakes are. Otherwise, I have no idea what might happen in they’re not successful in their quest, and thus have no reason to root for them. I may be weird that way, but that’s just the way it is (at least when we’re talking about longer action sequences; for example, I have no problem with the typical Bond-vignettes at the beginning where you’re usually also thrown right into the action. But those usually are over within 5 minutes and don’t take up 30 minutes of the running time). Thus, as nice as the action scenes at the beginning were to look at, I wasn’t invested emotionally, I didn’t care what happened, and thus, I didn’t find them exactly thrilling and/or exciting. There simply were a study in mayhem. Impressive and wonderful to look at, but also rather pointless, arbitrary and gratuitous. It wasn’t until after the sand storm that I started to understand what it was all about, and slowly got invested emotionally. After that, the movie got better and better, with the scene when they reach the “Green Place” a particular standout. I just felt that it took the movie a little too long to get there, and would have prefered to learn upfront what the stakes were.

Accordingly, I loved the showdown. I finally knew what everyone wanted to achieve, and thus I found the action really gripping and thrilling. As before, it also was spectacularly shot. George Miller has a clear eye for incredible action scenes that are crazy and original and wild and chaotic, but never incomprehensible. He doesn’t need cheap tricks like fast cuts and strong zooms to try to make the action more thrilling. You always know exactly what is going on, and the fact that he mostly refrained from CGI, and instead used real cars and real people acting out real stunts, there’s an authenticity to it that I found very refreshing – especially at a time where those things are rather rare, and the CGI-fest is the norm. I also loved Imperator Furiosa (played with great intensity by Charlize Theron) who was the real driving force of the movie. The fact that she plays such an essential part, as well as the particulars of her mission, also added a feminist punch to the proceedings that was especially welcome in this action- and testosterone-filled post-apocalyptic world. George Miller’s direction is flawless, and the score by Junkie XL perfectly captured the adrenaline rush and the craziness of the images on-screen, but also managed to heighten the quieter, more emotional moments. Finally, a lot of original, crazy ideas can be found in this movie, and while it almost might have been a little bit too much weirdness for my taste, it was still very refreshing to see so much crazy shit in such a blockbuster movie. That alone sets “Mad Max: Fury Road” very much apart from your regular popcorn entertainment. With another lead actor and a tightened (or more easily accessible) beginning, this might have been able to rival “The Road Warrior”. As it stands, it’s still a highly enjoyable, action-packed thrill ride; even though in my mind, it’s more a return to form for George Miller than for Mad Max himself.
7/10


IMDB

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 3: Spring

Posted on May 31, 2015 by cornholio1980

SpringSpring
USA 2014
Written by Justin Benson
Directed by Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead
Watched on 31.04.2015

“Spring” is probably the closest that we’ll ever get to find out what a horror/monster-movie by Richard Linklater would look like. Not that he was involved in this picture in any way, shape, or form, but “Spring” definitely gives off a Linklater-vibe, in concept (an American on vacation in Italy falls in love with a European woman) as well as in execution (long dialogue scenes, lingering shots). And while “Spring” isn’t quite on par with the aforementioned “Before”-series, I rather enjoyed it.

With a movie like that, probably the most important thing is that the love story that’s at its center works, and as least in my point of view, it does. I felt the attraction between Evan and Louise, and started rooting for them as a couple from very early on. Both are played really well by Lou Taylor Pucci and Nadia Hilker, respectively, and they also have a very good chemistry together. Also, I found the whole movie to be quite charming. I also liked that – despite a couple of red herring-scenes that try to indicate exactly that – this isn’t a simple vampire and/or werewolf-movie, but that there’s something much more complex – and original – going on. The corresponding transformation scenes were very well done, and highly effective.

Granted, the explanation of what really is going on with Louise is very far-fetched, and also quite bizarre, and I totally get when someone simply can’t buy into that. Also, it gets crazier and crazier with every passing minute, and I understand everyone who sooner or later just wasn’t willing to go along with it any more – with the scenes at the ruins of Pompeii a particular challenge. If you found the movie absolutely insufferable at this point, I totally get it, but all I can say is that the central love story was strong enough for me to successfully suspend my disbelief. I was willing – and able – to buy into the concept, as strange and weird and bizarre and implausible as it may be. And at the end, when Louise made her “decision”, I really was on edge, hoping that everything would turn out alright – but having absolutely no idea beforehand which way this would go. Thus I found this scene to be incredibly tense.

It’s not without problems, though. The aforementioned high level of suspension of disbelief that it requires notwithstanding, it’s also a tad too long, with the first half hour or so a particular standout in that regard. I just think that it was totally unnecessary to have Evans backstory play out in front of our eyes, instead of revealing it gradually. Since in that case, not only Louise would have been a mystery to us, but also Evan; which would have worked a lot better in my opinion. I also didn’t care at all for the clichéd US-tourist that Benson and Moorhead felt they had to include. Some of the landscape-shots were noticeably done with another camera with a lower resolution, and thus stood out from the rest of the movie. And although I do believe that fast connections with another person (romantic or not) are definitely possible – sometimes you just “click”, and that’s that – it might not have hurt to stretch the romance out over more than just a week, given the crucial, life-changing decision that Louise has to make. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this charming – and highly bizarre – “monster love”-movie.
7/10

Read my buddy Maynard’s review here!


IMDB

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 3: Welp (Cub)

Posted on May 30, 2015 by cornholio1980

WelpWelp
Belgium 2014
Written by Jonas Govaerts & Roel Mondelaers
Directed by Jonas Govaerts
Watched on 31.04.2015

“Welp” starts off rather promising. While the setting in the woods is very familiar by now, the scout-angle gives it a touch of freshness. The fact that most of the people who are in danger here are kids also sets it apart from your typical (teenie-)slasher-movie. I also liked the slow build-up, the first couple of scenes with Kai (who looked really great and quite scary), and the rather bleak, uncompromising scene when the truck enters the camp and the shit hits the fan. And overall, the movie is very well shot, offering a couple of nice images and some effective, tense moments. However, during the last half hour or so, “Welp” totally fell apart for me.

Not that the first hour would be without problems, mind you. The whole dynamic within the scout-group felt rather clichéd. Also, from a pedagogical point of view, the scout leaders were mostly terrible, and seemed to be incredibly incompetent. And I didn’t really manage to make any sort of connection with Sam – which, given that he’s the main protagonist, was a major problem. It also didn’t help that the movie was rather predictable at times. After 20 minutes I already had a strong suspicion where this was ultimately going, and instead of surprising me and proving me wrong, I was absolutely right. All that, however, could have been forgiven. The last half hour, though, was disastrous. Either I’m too stupid to get it, or the movie didn’t offer up any sort of explanation for the many weird things that are happening, like: What are those busses doing underground? What is the purpose of all those traps (as well-thought out they may be)? What is the motivation of the bad guy(s)? Why are they doing this? If the movie offers up an answer to any of these questions, I missed it.

My biggest problem with the movie, though, was that I didn’t understand Sam’s journey (as a character) at the end. The fact that I knew fairly soon that this is where things are going didn’t make it any less baffling for me. Unfortunately, the movie completely failed to make this development seem plausible to me; thus, it felt like a shock for shock’s sake, instead of feeling logical and earned. Ultimately, I just didn’t buy it, and at that point, the movie lost me completely. Despite that, I can’t trash “Welp” completely, since there were a couple of nice scenes in the first half, and it’s very well shot all-the-way. But the ending pretty much ruined it for me, and the fact that we weren’t given any explanation about anything at all, made it feel rather nonsensical and pointless.
5/10

Read my buddy Maynard’s review here!


IMDB

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 3: Marshland

Posted on May 28, 2015 by cornholio1980

MarshlandMarshland
Spain 2014
Written by Rafael Cobos & Alberto Rodríguez
Directed by Alberto Rodríguez
Watched on 31.04.2015

“Marshland” gets advertised as “The Spanish ‘True Detective'”, and once you’ve seen the movie (and the HBO-series), it’s clear why: Because it’s true! Seriously, though, the similarities are indisputable (even though both the show and the movie were made at about the same time, so I don’t suggest any sort of influence in either direction. It’s just an odd coincidence), and truth be told, I might have been slightly more impressed with “Marshland” if I wouldn’t have seen the painfully similar “True Detective” a couple of months prior. That said, even though it feels a little well-trodden, especially with “True Detective” in mind, it’s still a really good thriller.

One of the things that stood out for me were the beautiful aerial shots, which are actually based on photographs of the marshlands. Alberto Rodríguez’ direction is also really great. He offers a couple of beautiful shots and images, and also gives the movie a nice, eerie atmosphere. He also knows how to use – and shoot – the titular marshland to great effect. And while the tension only builds up sparingly, when it does, it’s highly effective – with the showdown a particular standout. The acting was superb, especially Javier Gutiérrez, whose character is still haunted by his troubled past; but Raúl Arévalo as his young, hungry-for-success partner was equally great. I also loved their respective roles, and how they have to learn to work together in order to solve the case. Lastly, the idea to not just simply set this in spain, but to furthermore go into the past, shortly after the Franco-era, adds another interesting layer which really sets it apart from similar movies.

Alas, the plot itself is nothing special. Also, as a fan of crime novels and movies, I managed to predict the killer long before the protagonists did, and even apart from that, I found “Marshland” to be a little predictable here and there. Furthermore, there are a couple of clichés, like the uncooperative boss, that I could have done without. My biggest complaint, though, were the seemingly supernatural scenes, and even though they later gave a rational explanation for her testimony, there’s still the question of how she supposedly knew about Juan’s sickness. I get that this scene is mostly there for us, the viewer, to understand that something’s physically wrong with him – but since we ultimately learn about that anyway (and it’s already inferred even before they visit her) I really wish they would have gotten rid of that. Other than that, “Marshland” is a nifty little thriller, which I highly recommend to everyone who was as smitten by “True Detective”‘s first season as I was.
8/10

Read my buddy Maynard’s review here!

IMDB½

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 3: The Dead Lands

Posted on May 27, 2015 by cornholio1980

The Dead LandsThe Dead Lands
New Zealand 2014
Written by Glenn Standring
Directed by Toa Fraser
Watched on 31.04.2015

“The Dead Lands” is an adventure-movie from New Zealand, and my favorite thing about it – which also really set it apart from similar movies – was its setting, which deals with a feud between two Maori tribes sometime in the distant past. The setup itself, with the slaughtering of Hongi’s clan elders, leaving only this young man and a couple of women and children as survivors, might be well-known (reminding me, among others, of “Conan”), but because it’s set within the not-as-well-known Maori culture, and offers up a fascinating view into their way of life, I still found it to be quite fresh and interesting.

Granted, not everything about the movie worked for me. For example, I could have done without all the dream-sequences with Hongi’s grandmother. I’m aware that spiritualism is an important part of Maori culture, but it’s just not my thing. I also thought that the beginning was a little slow; for me, “The Dead Lands” really came alive only after we meet the Warrior, who in my mind was by far the most intriguing character. The action scenes, while pretty nice, suffer from a couple of clichés here and there, like the one warrior fighting against a horde of enemies, who have the decency to attack him in easily defeatable waves. And the showdown features our heroes falling for one of the oldest tricks EVER, which made them look rather stupid.

Apart from that, though, I mostly enjoyed the movie. Hongi was a decent lead character (and actor), but as I just mentioned, the person that I found most fascinating was the Warrior, especially because of his troubled past. I also loved what happens when they meet a female warrior. And the ending, even though it was rather predictable, was nevertheless quite nice, and even slightly touching. The fight scenes were shot competently and were mostly comprehensible, the visual style of the movie was quite nice, offering a couple of stunning images, and some of the landscapes were breathtakingly beautiful. As far as recent historic adventure/revenge-flicks go, I still prefer “Flukt”, but “The Dead Lands” nevertheless was a decent and well-made entry into this sub-genre.
7/10

Read my buddy Maynard’s review here!


IMDB

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 2: Wyrmwood

Posted on May 25, 2015 by cornholio1980

WyrmwoodWyrmwood
Australia 2014
Written by Tristan & Kiah Roache-Turner
Directed by Kiah Roache-Turner
Watched on 31.04.2015

“Wyrmwood” offers a promising start, a couple of nice moments, some neat and original ideas, a sexy-as-hell lead actress – and unfortunately not much else. Or at least, nothing else that would be good. The poster claims that in “Wyrmwood”, “Mad Max meets Dawn of the Dead”. If that should indeed be so, it unfortunately isn’t the “Road Warrior”, but rather the “Beyond Thunderdome” of “Mad Max with zombies”-movies.

One of my main problems with the movie was the extremely clichéd and annoying-as-fuck mad scientist, who was far too exaggerated, and who got on my nerves about five seconds after he showed up for the first time. Unfortunately, after that, he’s a constant presence (and annoyance) for much of the movie – and I simply couldn’t stand the scenes with him. “Wyrmwood” isn’t helped by a rather bland turn by lead actor Jay Gallagher, as well as the fact that I didn’t care about most of the characters. Brooke pretty much was the only one I felt any sort of connection with. The others seemed to come straight out of “Zombie apocalypse character tropes 101”, including a token Aborigine who, to add insult to injury, is used solely as comic relief and is constantly made fun of (which really gave the movie some ugly racist undertones). Finally, the showdown was extremely boring. It suffered not only from the fact that I didn’t really care for Barry, but also – and particularly – that the main bad guy he’s fighting with didn’t get any noteworthy introduction. Instead of setting him up as either a badass or as despicable – or both – he previously didn’t make any sort of impression at all, which is why I had absolutely no reason to hate him. Which meant that at the end, two guys – neither of which I particularly liked or loathed – fought it out; and I couldn’t have cared less.

“Wyrmwood” also reminded me a little bit of “Zombie Hunter”, insofar as it gave off a pseudo-cool vibe that never really worked (to be fair, it’s still a far superior movie than K. King’s Zombie dreck). And all the sad scenes that tried to give it gravitas fell completely flat for me. What did work was the beginning with the Zombie apocalypse (especially Brooke’s adventure in the garage), the nice visuals, the aforementioned original and innovative ideas (like being able to control zombies, or the flammable blood), some of them delightfully crazy, and the great performance by uber-sexy Bianca Bradley. Overall, though, I was rather disappointed.
4/10

Read my buddy Maynards review here!


IMDB

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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 2: The Guest

Posted on May 24, 2015 by cornholio1980

The GuestThe Guest
USA | UK 2014
Written by Simon Barrett
Directed by Adam Wingard
Watched on 30.04.2015

In my assessment, “The Guest” was the biggest crowd-pleaser of this years “/slash ½”-festival. And while I liked it too, I was not quite as smitten by it as most others were. It took me a while to figure out why, but then it hit me: While I thought that the movie was quite funny and very entertaining, it didn’t work for me as a horror and/or thriller movie. At all.

————————– SLIGHT SPOILERS ————————–

Granted, it probably didn’t help that there were two people in the cinema who seemingly were already quite drunk, and thus found everything that happened extremely amusing – even though I got the feeling that said scenes weren’t meant to be quite as funny as they perceived them to be. Yes, of course there’s a certain humor to be found in a killer that is well-mannered enough to actually apologize for what he did to his victims, but still, in my mind, those scenes were also supposed to be quite tragic, if not disturbing. After all, we’re talking about people that we’ve come to know – and like? – over the course of the movie. Now, maybe I’m reading it wrong, and it actually was supposed to be just funny, and nothing else. If so, however, I think that it was the wrong call. And if not, I don’t think that Wingard and Barrett were successful in giving those scenes the gravitas they – in my mind – deserved.

Anyway, for whatever reason, I didn’t really find “The Guest” very gripping. There were a couple of nice, tense moments interspersed in the first hour of the movie, but everything after the big shootout – including the showdown – didn’t manage to grab me. Maybe it’s because I had a strong indication of who’s going to live and die, which ultimately was proven right – which also meant that after a certain point, I already knew that no one else (whom we as audience care about, at least) are going to bite the dust. The Halloween-Haunted House-setting, which felt a little forced to me, probably didn’t help. Same can be said about the young boy, who was just naive beyond hope. And I really didn’t care for the ending. I’m not a horror expert, and there are definitely a lot of classics that I still haven’t seen, but even I have a hard time accepting one more scene where the good guys are too stupid to just finish the bad guy off. Just put a bullet in his brain, and be fucking done with it.

Having said all that… if we look at “The Guest” only as a (horror) comedy, than it largely works really well. I loved the setup, and the way David slowly finds his way into this family, increasingly gaining their trust. Dan Stevens is absolutely great in the role. He’s equally charming and disconcerting – and also unnaturally sexy and gorgeous (and I’m saying that as a 100% heterosexual male; well, maybe after seeing this movie, only 99%). There’s one scene where he’s pretty much “Coca-Cola man 2.0” – a thought that really made me laugh. I also loved that for once, the blond gal (played by Maika Monroe, who some might recognize from “It Follows”) actually is the most clever one of the bunch; that was definitely a welcome deviation from the norm. Also, the entire movie is incredibly entertaining, and offers up many funny, hilarious scenes. Ultimately, though, I would have preferred a movie like “The Voices”, which managed to be funny and disturbing in equal measure. By contrast, “The Guest” offers up “just” nice, fluff entertainment, but without any meat, and with no tonal shift. It worked great as a comedy – but unfortunately, as least for me, as nothing much else.
7/10


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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 2: Lost River

Posted on May 23, 2015 by cornholio1980

Lost RiverLost River
USA 2014
Written by Ryan Gosling
Directed by Ryan Gosling
Watched on 30.04.2015

From the reactions that I overheard after the movie – first directly in the cinema as then later in the hallway, where we all gathered to wait for the next screening – as well as in the days afterwards, I’d argue that “Lost River” was the most divisive movie at this years “/slash ½”-festival. And while there were those who really liked or even loved it, it seemed to me that those who hated it were in the vast majority – or at least, they were more vocal about it. “Pretentious garbage”, “The critics got it right for once” (FYI, they largely slammed it, as proven by a rather damning Rotten Tomatoes-rating of 29%) and “What a piece of shit” were the predominant statements that I heard afterwards. So please take it with a grain teaspoon of salt when I tell you that I was absolutely mesmerized by it.

Your opinion of Nicholas Winding Refn’s movies might give you a clue on what side of the “Lost River”-reaction-spectrum you’re going to end up, since it’s obvious that Ryan Gosling was heavily influenced by the Danish director, with whom he had worked together twice shortly before tackling his directorial debut. Mind you, I said “might” – since I’m actually not a good proof of this theory myself, given that I’m rather divided on his movies, at least the ones that I’ve seen so far. I was mostly bored by “Valhalla Rising”, but “Drive” blew me away (in my opinion, it was the best movie that came out in 2012 in Austria), and “Only God Forgives” ended up as one of my biggest disappointments of 2013. I guess with those very atmospheric, dreamlike, meditative movies, it ultimately comes down to this: Do they manage to draw you in? If yes, you’ll end up hypnotized by what’s on-screen. If not, you’ll be bored to tears. And I think that ultimately, there’s no way to know for sure until you sit down in the cinema and/or pop in the Blu-Ray/DVD, and give it a try.

As for myself, I’m glad to say that this was more like “Drive” than “Valhalla Rising” and “Only God Forgives” for me. I really loved the atmosphere of the movie, the surreal dream-(or rather nightmare-)like feel to it. At least with me – unlike many others – it managed to do exactly what I said above: To draw me in, to grip me, and to never let me go until the credits rolled. I loved the (flawed) characters, the visuals, the atmosphere, the visuals, the music, the visuals, the acting, the visuals, the weirdness, the visuals, the songs, the visuals, the story, the visuals, the atmosphere… oh, and did I mention the visuals? Seriously, though, “Lost River” offers up one of the most stunning, beautiful and haunting images that I’ve seen on the movie screen in a very long time. Absolutely terrific. Add to that the perfect (“Drive”-y) soundtrack by Johnny Jewel as well as the surreal-nightmarish atmosphere and the apocalyptic story, and you got a movie that absolutely stunned and fascinated me. If it weren’t for Matt Smith’s Bully, who didn’t completely work for me, I might even see this on a similar level as “Drive”. Your mileage may very well – and very drastically – vary, of course, but I absolutely loved it, and I’m already looking forward to visiting this lost river of despair again in the very near future.
9/10

If you’re interested in an extremely contrasting opinion, I recommend my buddy Maynard’s review, where he calls it the most unbearable movie that he has ever seen – and trust me, with the garbage that he’s watching on a constant basis, that’s saying something! 😉


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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 2: The Man in the Orange Jacket

Posted on May 6, 2015 by cornholio1980

The Man in the Orange JacketThe Man in the Orange Jacket
Latvia | Estonia 2014
Written by Aik Karapetian
Directed by Aik Karapetian
Watched on 30.04.2015

“The Man in the Orange Jacket” actually starts off quite nice, with some moody shots of the titular character walking down the streets to an as-of-yet unknown destination, as well as the best scene of the movie: The attack on the well-heeled couple. What other home invasion movies stretch out over an entire film, “The Man in the Orange Jacket” disposes of in five very intense minutes. Which would be great if they would have had an idea how to fill the rest of the running time.

After his attack on the couple, Dan decides to simply stay in their home (since he overheard a conversation that they were about to go on holiday anyway), and from then on, it seemed to me that they didn’t really know what to do with him, or the movie. There are a couple of scenes where he’s frightened and/or is in some sort of danger, which didn’t work for me at all since after what he’d done at the beginning, I simply didn’t sympathize with him. Thus, I didn’t care what/if anything happened to him. It also didn’t help that the movie relied a little bit too much on cheap jump scares. That they actually copied one of them one-to-one didn’t help either; that was just lazy. Plus, after the first one I didn’t “trust” the movie any more, expecting another jump scare whenever things got quiet – which prevented the quieter moments from working, since I never lowered my guard again and thus couldn’t relax into them. It didn’t help that the longer the movie went, the more you had to question everything that was going on, thanks to Dan’s increasing hallucinations and fantasies of violence. “That one actually nice scene that you just saw? Guess what: It never happened.” Thus, I increasingly didn’t know if what happened on-screen actually did happen, or if it was just another illusion. There may be those who like this kind of play with reality and “dream”, but as for me, it just took me even further out of the movie. Now, there’s actually one more great scene after the beginning, which is Dan showing the hookers around, pretending that it’s all his – accompanied by the “Flower Duet”. That scene was so great that it actually made me laugh out loud, despite my increasing annoyance with the movie. Unfortunately, the rest of the film, and especially the stupid ending, quickly destroyed any goodwill that this funny scene managed to invoke within me. Overall, “The Man in the Orange Jacket” offers up very tense five minutes at the beginning, some nice visuals, and one really funny scene – but not much else.
3/10


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/slash ½ 2015 – Day 1: German Angst

Posted on May 6, 2015 by cornholio1980

German AngstGerman Angst
D 2015
Written by Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski & Andreas Marschall
Directed by Jörg Buttgereit, Michal Kosakowski & Andreas Marschall
Watched on 29.04.2015

“German Angst” is a horror anthology, featuring three different segments by three german writers/directors. As with most anthology films, the individual segments vary in quality; overall, though, I rather enjoyed it. Since it doesn’t really make sense to talk about the film as a whole, I will instead talk about each of the included stories separately.

———————— SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD ————————

“Final Girl” by Jörg Buttgereit is a decent start to the anthology. According to the subsequent Q&A, he started off with the smallest budget, which might be noticeable here and there. However, he put it to good use. I especially liked the close-up shots of different items, like a water tap, different kitchen utensils etc. On a conscious level I get that they were mostly a cheap way to stretch the running time; however, I felt that they enhanced the mood considerably. Another plus were the quite brutal scenes which were included (which nevertheless, and very effectively, left much to the imagination of the audience), as well as the implications about what exactly is going on (for example, I got the feeling that it has something to do with child abuse. That’s just my interpretation, though). And I really liked the simple setup which made it easy for me to relate to the characters. The only things that I wasn’t too fond of were the voice overs (which weren’t bad per se, but I felt that they overdid it, thus they got a little tiresome after a while) and the shot with the man in the window at the end, which – if I’m not mistaken – calls everything that we’ve seen before in question. And I just don’t like twists like that. Other than that, it was quite well-made and enjoyable.
7/10

“Make A Wish”, in my very humble opinion, was the most difficult and problematic segment of the lot. It probably didn’t help that I’m not at all a fan of body-switch-movies, but that was the least of its problems. Hell, even I have to admit that in this particular setup, it’s actually quite a nice and interesting idea, since Michael Kosakowski uses this fantasy element to let the perpetrator and the victim switch sides, which definitely was a fascinating concept. I also loved the fact that the two main protagonists were deaf. Yes, it would have been even better if he would have filled the roles with actually deaf people (not that both actors don’t do an excellent job to portray their hearing impairment convincingly, but since there are probably not that many roles for deaf actors, it would have been nice to hand them one of the very few roles which are available), and making his victims deaf – and thus even more helpless – is almost overkill. But it’s something that we rarely get to see in movies, and showing their dialogue as subtitles was quite a clever idea. The other actors were great, too. In the beginning, I wasn’t that convinced with Andreas Pape’s portrayal of the main Nazi, but after the switch, he grew on me, and he absolutely killed it in the scene in front of the chamber. Mostly, though, “Make a Wish” is probably the most important and most relevant segment, since it deals with violence committed by Neo-Nazis.

Unfortunately, while I quite liked the idea behind it, I wasn’t that sold on the execution. The flashbacks suffered from too many splatter scenes that made the atrocious murders committed there almost funny (in a twisted sort of way), since they were so exaggerated. While I understand Kosakowski’s reason for including a british Nazi, the subsequent, constant mix of german and english got a little annoying after a while. And I felt that the character of “Bitch” didn’t work at all. I don’t lay the blame for that on the actress, who probably simply did what she was told to do, but I thought that her portrayal was faaaaaar too exaggerated. She almost felt like a caricature or a cartoon, like Harley Quinn come to life. She just was way too annoying for me, and repeatedly took me out of the movie. The biggest problem, though, is the fact that the whole assault was staged far too loud and hysterical. I get that the assault was supposed to be unpleasant, but I can’t have been Kosakowski’s intention that it’s unpleasant not because of what transpires, but because of how it was shot. Or if it was, that was the wrong call, IMHO. At least the nice, bleak ending partially made up for all that. Still, “Make a Wish” was the least successful segment in my opinion.
5/10

Wisely, they saved the best for last. “Alraune” was a blast from start to finish. It was by far the coolest segment, which obviously (mind you, I’m not a horror expert, but that’s the impression that I got, anyway) harked back to the best works of Dario Argento (as someone in the audience said afterwards during the Q&A: It’s the kind of movie that Argento somehow forgot how to make). It was sexy, frightening, sensual and unsettling at the same time, offering a highly effective and enjoyable roller coaster ride. I especially liked the ending. The “showdown” with the monster actually is quite trashy, over the top and amusing (in all the right ways) – but this highly entertaining scene is followed by a punch to the gut. This is something that Andreas Marschall obviously understands and does really well: The shock is even bigger when it comes exactly after something entertaining and/or amusing. Very well done. I also loved all the acting, be it Milton Welsh, Rüdiger Kuhlbrodt, or the many – beautiful, sexy – ladies, like Kristina Kostiv or Désirée Giorgetti. Probably its biggest strength, though, were the visuals. “Alraune” looked absolutely stunning, offering vibrant colors (I especially loved the shots in the toilet of the club, with the stark contrast between red and green) and many memorable shots. Together with the great music (hell, I even liked the featured songs of “Schlafes Bruder”, even though I’m usually not a fan of that kind of music; but in this context, they worked for me), the stunning atmosphere as well as the nice story that features an old (german?) legend that has been used far more rarely as basis for a horror film than other myths (like vampires, werewolves etc.), and you get a great short horror movie that I wouldn’t have at all minded seeing as a full-feature film.
9/10

Altogether (and weighting each of the segments equally, despite the fact that they vary in length), this leaves us with a combined rating of 7/10 for “German Angst” – making it a horror anthology that I can heartily recommend to every fan of the genre!

Read my buddy Maynard’s review HERE!


IMDB

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