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drama

Notre Jour Viendra – Romain Gavras (2010)

The name of the director rings a bell, but I do not think I have seen a film by Gavras. That is until a friendly ‘Redditor’ suggested “Our Day Will Come” with Vincent Cassel.

The box promises a weird film. The actions of the main characters may be a bit off, but the film itself it a pretty straight forward drama.

Rémy has red hair (very dark red) and he has been bullied for that his whole life, slowly building up anger. In a quite strange event he meets the bored psychiatrist Patrick (played by Cassel). It is not entirely clear to me if Patrick is also supposed to be a redhead and shares in Rémy’s fate or if he just wants to break his boredom provoking Rémy.

An unlikely roadtrip unfolds in which Patrick tries make Rémy grow up by force (getting him into fights, connecting him to easy girls, etc.). Patrick’s delusion grows and he turns to violence and so the two work themselves into more and more problems.

“Our Day Will Come” is a drama with some violence and madness. It very faintly reminds of “Natural Born Killers”. The film is alright.

Snowtown – Justin Kurzel (2011)

  • drama

Jamie grows up in an Australian slum town. His single parent mother tries her best with four sons, but things are hard. Life in general is hard and everybody vents his/her frustrations to the ones closest.

Then mother Elizabeth meets a man who is good to her and her sons. Too good perhaps. He evens runs some sort of neighborhood vigilante group, often inviting the neighbors for meetings.

Soon it becomes clear that Gavin’s group is somewhat over active. Are they actively looking for pedophiles and homosexuals to take care off? Are these people even what somebody says they are or is everybody too afraid to not be able to present victims to Gavin?

Jamie is a quiet boy, which is not strange as you will soon learn. Initially Gavin is some sort of father figure, but just as with his group, Gavin’s idea of making a man out of Jamie good way off into the extreme.

“Snowtown” is quite a heavy drama. You better not know more about the story than the above. Story wise it would have been easy for this film to have been a thriller of sorts, but instead of focusing on Gavin, the film is mostly about Jamie.

Not great, but especially since the film is based on true events, a somewhat disturbing film.

Órbita 9 – Hatem Khraiche (2017)

A sci-fi drama from Spain, not too bad.

Helena was born on a spaceship that her parents abandoned. For most of her life, she has been alone on the ship. Then there is a problem and a young man comes to fix it, Helena grabs her change.

The viewer then learns that the story is not entirely what it seems and Álex cannot get it over his heart to not let Helena in on the information, but he chooses a fairly rough way to do so.

“Órbita 9” starts as a bit as an “I am Mother” type science fiction drama, turns into more of a romantic type of film but there are also thriller and action elements.

The Meyerowitz Stories – Noah Baumbach (2017)

  • drama

The Meyerowitz family is a family of artists living in New York. The pater familias is Harold, a great part of Dustin Hoffman. Harold was a relatively big artist a few decades in the past and he used to teach at the prestigious Bard College.

Adam Sandler plays Danny who used to be a pianist, but his star fell and his life is not going exactly as he wanted. His daughter is going to Bard too though.

Then there is the successful brother Brian he found his fortune outside art and we have a somewhat neurotic sister Jean. Actually, there are not exactly all brothers and sisters since Harold has had four wives.

Harold thinks he is quite a big shot and the lives of pretty much the entire extended family circulates around his. In lengthy monologues Harold continuously spews his ideas of society, life and of course the world of art. Sandler’s plays the neurot trying to get his own life straight, but also that of his family. A few events in Harold’s life brings the whole family together, or not.

“The Meyerowitz Stories” is an amusing film, mostly a drama, but an entertaining one with weird dialogues, strange situations and a critical view on the subject matter.

Miss Sloane – John Madden (2016)

Madeline Sloane is an influential lobbyist; ruthless and workaholic. At some point she is approached to join the gun-lobby, but instead she takes the opposite direction.

Sloane leaves the huge company where she has made her name for a smaller one to work in favour of a more restrictive gun bill. Of course she meets the full force and finance of the gun lobby who will do anything to put Sloane in a bad light and break her opposition.

“Miss Sloane” is a drama with maybe some court of thriller elements. The film shows the massive power of lobby organisations and the relentless way these organisations work. As a good lobbyist is one step ahead of its opposition, Sloane has a few surprises up her sleave.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile – Joe Berlinger (2019)

“Here’s the story of Ted Bundy. Murdered young girls, monday through sunday. Lured them into his car. Then they wouldn’t see tomorrow.”

Thus sang Macabre in 1993. The film focuses on another side of Bundy’s life though.

Bundy is a handsome and charming law student who gets a relationship with a young single mother. Their life seems perfect, but Bundy has other hobbies for which is he eventually apprehended. He tries to confince everybody he did not do any of the things he is accused of.

For a long time his girlfriend supports him. Bundy even manages to become friendly with the judge that eventually sends him to the electric chair.

This long titled film is a descent drama with only at the end some attention for his crimes. Not badly done.

The Road – John Hillcoat (2009)

From the director of “Ghosts Of The Civil Dead” (1988) comes “The Road”. A dystopian film playing in an apocalyptic future.

The world has burned and nothing much remains. Animals have died, trees and crops are scorched, only a few people remain. Some have allied themselves into gangs.

We follow a small family, the father and son of which try to get to the South where the climate is less severe. On their way they meet hardship and a lot of drama.

Indeed,”The Road” is not exactly a light film. It is a descent one though.

The Age Of Adaline – Lee Toland Krieger (2015)

The beautiful Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) has a car accident and stops aging after 29. When everybody around her ages and dies, Adaline does not. Of course this catches the attention of some people and Adaline decides to change her identity every 10 years and move to another part of the country.

We see Adaline in our own time and of course with flashbacks to times passed. A man sets his mind on ‘conquering’ Adaline, while she prefers to not get too involved with anybody. Of course this can only lead to a melancholic and romantic drama.

The film is very good, the atmosphere is good. It reminds a bit of “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button“.

Keane – Lodge Kerrigan (2004)

This film is somewhat uncomfortable. William Keane’s seven year old daughter disappeared a few months ago and Keane has lost his mind. We very closely follow Keane who appears to be schizophrenic and developing paranoia.

He keeps coming back to the place where he last saw his daughter, talking to himself, trying to find out what happened. He also seems to be trying to relive moments spent with his daughter.

Keane is far from home. He rents a hotel room in the city where his daughter was possibly kidnapped. In that hotel he meets another seven year old girl.

Yes, ‘up close and personal’ that describes the film. It is not an easy watch. Not because it is very heavy or weird, but mostly because you feel sorry for the man. Quite a feat of actor Damian Lewis.

The Doctor – Thomas Nöla (2005)

I have been looking for this film for quite some time, but each time I had no luck. The film features Douglas P. which is how I heard about it. P. also features in the recently reviewed “Pearls Before Swine“, but there he has an actual part, in “The Doctor” his is the narrator.

Nöla wrote both the book and the film and only recently I noticed that a DVD can be ordered from Old Europa Cafe. This is fitting, since films that a recently saw (“Pearls”, “Lords Of Chaos“) and also this one of course have a connection with the music that I listen(ed) to, so getting it from a ‘scene label’ is appropriate.

“The Doctor” being a small production, could I even say ‘an underground film’?, will probably not make you expect a perfect and well-produced film.

In some ways it reminds of “Pearls Before Swine”. The acting is not too convincing, the protagonist is a narcissistic, brute, foul-mouthed, over-philosophical character that likes to hold lengthy monologues with difficult words and wild ideas.

The doctor from the title appears to be some sort of psychiatrist, but he is also his own patient. Haunted by a former patient of his, the doctor slides into a surrealistic world from which he tries to form ideas about the world outside and inside himself.

Just as with “Pearls” the film is not entirely amateurish. There are some alright scenes and some original ideas. Again it is a small production to watch some time just to see what it is exactly.