Translated material
Premieres: 02/14/2013
"The Master" (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)
We've waited! A new film by the strongest American director at the moment, Paul Thomas Anderson, which has already caused a lot of noise on both sides of the ocean. The Russian distributor, anticipating the Oscar nominations, even took the risk of shifting the release from November 2012 to February 2013. But things didn’t go so smoothly with the Oscars. The film was awarded in only three categories (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress), while the expectation was probably for a larger catch. However, even without any awards, “The Master” is one of the main premieres of the beginning of the year.
Anderson's relationship with the American Film Academy is not very good yet, but despite this, at least three of his films can already be safely awarded the status of modern classics. I mean “Boogie Nights”, “Magnolia” and “Oil” (for those who, due to some misunderstanding, are not familiar with them, I strongly advise you to familiarize yourself with them in order to realize the scale of the talent). And the “Master” has all the prerequisites to stand on a par with them. A magnificent cast: the domineering Philip Seymour Hoffman, the nervous Joaquin Phoenix, the sweet Amy Adams (those three Oscar nominations speak volumes about the work they have done). Anderson's directorial genius. Retro style (the film takes place in the 50s). It’s quite an unusual decision to shoot a film on 65mm film (a full-length film hasn’t been shot in this format for 16 years). And, of course, the topic being raised. No one talks about this out loud, but everyone understands that “The Master” is about Scientology, and, for example, Hoffman’s character is largely based on the founding father of this quasi-religious movement, Ron L. Hubbard. With this formulation of the question, the director’s focus may be on problems that are very relevant for today: spirituality, religion, freedom of choice, manipulation of people. And there is no doubt that some of them will be reflected in Anderson's film.
"The Master" is a movie that should not be missed under any circumstances.
"The Impossible" (directed by Juan Antonio Bayona)
Five years ago, the Spaniard (or rather, Catalan) Bayona made his mark with the sensational thriller “Shelter”, which was even nominated for an Oscar from Spain in 2007. Nowadays, the director is focusing on another nightmare - the tsunami in Southeast Asia, which carried away in 2004 the lives of thousands of people. Here we are talking about an English family with three children (the spouses are played by Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor), who are caught by the devastating blows of the elements while on vacation in Thailand. At the same time, the flood literally scatters the heroes in different directions: the wife remains with the eldest son, and the husband with two younger children tries to find them among the chaos, panic and destruction, not even knowing for sure whether they are alive. In a word, if the outcome is favorable, we will be treated to a strong melodrama about the strength of spirit and the fact that hope dies last. Western critics are at least happy with the film. There is also an Oscar nomination in the category “Best Actress” (Naomi Watts).
"Die Hard: A Good Day to Die" (directed by John Moore)
The fifth part of the adventures of the ubiquitous policeman John McClane. In previous episodes, Bruce Willis defeated the evil Germans, the arrogant military, again the evil Germans and cyberterrorists. This time the hero will be brought to Moscow, and a Russian villain will finally confront him (though played by the German Sebastian Koch). It's surprising that the cult action franchise has somehow bypassed our compatriots until now. But now we will have our own little reason to be proud. After all, among other things, the film also features the most real Russian beauty - Yulia Snigir in a spectacular leather outfit and on a motorcycle, which promises us a sea of unforgettable impressions. We also have the right to expect McClane's trademark humor, spectacular stunts and varied action. All that is required of director John Moore is to competently combine the above components, and then we will get a spectacle worthy of the first parts of Die Hard. Another question is whether the director of the films “Max Payne” and “The Omen” (2006) is able to solve this problem?
Well, personally, I also expect a lot from Jai Courtney (he has a role here, no less, the son of Bruce Willis), who showed himself quite well in the recent “Jack Reacher”.
"Beautiful Creatures" (directed by Richard LaGravenese)
"Twilight" and "Harry Potter" are over, to the relief of many. But a holy place is never empty. Naturally, now many are striving to fill the currently vacant niche of a long-running teenage saga that promises big box office returns. So far, the authors of The Hunger Games have come closest to this (and if they don’t screw up the second part, then, most likely, they will finally reign on the throne), but the circle of contenders has not been exhausted. One of them, for example, is the film “Beautiful Creatures,” which also aims to be a potential franchise. And in principle there is potential. It's like Twilight in reverse. An ordinary boy (Alden Ehrenreich, who at one time showed great promise and even starred with Francis Coppola) falls in love with an unusual witch girl (Alice Englert), who will soon have to decide whose side she is on - good or evil. The synopsis of the film, however, is quite clearly stated in the trailer. What's more interesting here is something else: how the genre of teenage fiction is gradually evolving, turning from the ugly stupid duckling of the Twilight era into something more decent. The same "Hunger Games" was by no means a stupid movie, with a clear (if primitive) message, with good acting (primarily Jennifer Lawrence) and an outstanding supporting cast (Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci). So in the case of “Beautiful Creatures” we can get a similar result. There are young talented actors available (Ehrenreich’s talent is certainly not disputed by anyone, we still need to look at Englert), the message emerges in the future quite well, and the supporting cast is represented by Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Viola Davis (all winners or, at worst, nominees for the award " Oscar") is able to outshine anyone. In general, a good trend is emerging if director LaGravenese (best known for his screenwriting works, including “The Fisher King” and “The Bridges of Madison County”) does not let him down.
"The Witch of War" (directed by Kim Nguyen)
Canadian film nominated for Oscar 2013 in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" and participant of last year's Berlin Film Festival (Silver Bear for Best Actress - Rachelle Mwanza). It tells the story of how a 12-year-old girl became a rebel fighter somewhere in Africa. There is a scene of initiation into the rebels, when the main character kills her own parents. A tough movie about the realities of life in a third world African country engulfed in civil war. It is not very common to talk about the problem of involving children in this whole hell of endless bloodshed (especially in such states on the outskirts of civilization), but the work of Kim Nguyen is all the more valuable. Verdict - watch.
"Kaleidoscope of Love" (directed by Fernando Meirelles)
Romantic film almanac from the Brazilian Meirelles ("City of God", "Blindness"). The domestic distributor timed the film's release to coincide with Valentine's Day and, probably, did the right thing. You shouldn't expect anything outstanding from this movie, but as a leisure activity for a couple in love, it will do just fine. Not only the plot, but also a decent cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Ben Foster. In addition, Russian artists are also involved in the film: Dinara Drukarova and Vladimir Vdovichenkov.
Also, “Kaleidoscope of Love” falls straight into my regular column “Wonders of Localization.” The original title of Meirelles' film is "360".
"After Love" (directed by Joachim Lafosse)
Belgian director Lafosse is trying to get to the bottom of the reasons that prompted a young mother to kill her three children. Based on real events (the reality, by the way, is worse - in 2008, in Belgium, a girl cut the throats of her five children; well, this is also a word for those who believe that everything is fine in Europe, but “it’s scary to live” in Russia) . The film was a participant in the Un Certain Regard program at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Starring Tahar Rahim, Nils Arestrup (both of whom starred in Jacques Audiard's A Prophet) and Emilie Dequienne (Cannes Award for Best Actress in the Dardenne Brothers' Rosetta). Another film that lovers of good, thoughtful festival cinema should not miss.
"Entropy" (director - Maria Sahakyan)
Russian critics define this creation by VGIK graduate Maria Sahakyan as a “performance film,” which already makes one feel uneasy. But you feel even more uneasy when you read the synopsis, the list of actors, and then watch the trailer. There, in general, it’s about how representatives of the modern “intellectual elite” (among others, the “intellectual elite” in the film are portrayed by Ksenia Sobchak and Guy Germanika) lock themselves in a country house and wait for the end of the world. Then a man from the people (let’s call him “everyman”) with the face of Evgeniy Tsyganov joins them, and, as far as I understand, nothing really changes. According to film critic Koretsky, there is zero meaning in all this. But you can probably watch it just for fun.
It is also significant that Sahakyan herself says about her “performance”: “There was also such a task: to spit into eternity while you are young and beautiful.” Well, you can spit into eternity as much as you like, but it’s somehow not very aesthetically pleasing and is not accepted in decent society.
"Safe Haven" (directed by Lasse Hallström)
And here's almost certainly the biggest hit of Valentine's weekend. An armor-piercing plot for sentimental girls - they (Rock of Ages star Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel) met and fell in love, his wife recently died, and she has a terrible secret, but nevertheless they are together. Vulgarity beyond all decency. But Lasse Hallström, the author of the most terrible films of recent years ("Hachiko", "Fish of My Dreams", "Dear John"), made a career out of this. The creative method of the Swedish director is limited to demonstrating passionate kisses against the sunset, stupid stilted dialogues and all kinds of “tear-squeezing” scenes. But it works! So the question here is not for Hallström, but for the audience who “eats” such films. The Swede is just her slave.
"Romeo+Juliet" (director - Baz Luhrmann)
Re-release of the modern film adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" performed by Australian Baz Luhrmann. The main fun is to look at the still fledgling Leonardo DiCaprio from the height of his current achievements and once again admire how he turned from just a pretty boy over time into the main actor of the generation. A lesson for Pattinson.