Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  Solaris 1972

  ★★½ Rewatched 07 Feb 2025

  Вероятно, на Тарковского оказала сильное влияние «Космическая одиссея» Кубрика. Помимо собственно жанра научной фантастики, это видится в длинных сценах без героев и диалогов. Если у Кубрика длинные планы демонстрировали новые технологические достижения человечества в безмятежном и холодном космосе, то у Тарковского длинный план демонстрирует отчуждение в современном мире, но почему-то через длинный проезд по Токио. Тема явно позаимствована из фильмов Антониони, но здесь выглядит не очень уместной, да и по сюжету использование японского города выглядит довольно нелепо.

  Начиная с этого…

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  Cast Away 2000

  ★★★★ Rewatched 05 Feb 2025

  I really love the main portion of this film, starting with the spectacular plane crash. When Zemeckis can’t rely on bombastic or sentimental dialogue, he proves himself a master of precise, minimal techniques that not only push the story forward but also reveal the protagonist’s character: gradually exploring a new environment, sudden unsettling noises (which turn out to be just falling coconuts), scavenging items from the crashed plane’s packages, the distant lights of a ship offering sudden hope, the unexpected…

Popular reviews

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  Footprints on the Moon 1975

  ★★ Watched 18 Jan 2025

  For most of the film, you’ll have to watch close-ups of Florinda Bolkan, who almost always wears the same gloomy expression. The dialogue scenes that use cross-cutting with close-ups look especially awkward.
  From time to time, the narrative is interrupted by scenes from a sort of sci-fi film about an experiment on the Moon (strangely enough under Earth-like gravity), which the heroine dreams about. The filmmakers try to build suspense and mystery around her investigation at the Garma hotel, but…

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  Beauty and the Beast 1946

  ★★ Watched 28 Dec 2024

  The film opens with Cocteau’s text, urging viewers to open their hearts and watch with a child’s eyes by saying “Open Sesame”. Unfortunately, for me, that “Sesame” never opened. Its outdated theatricality - with moving sets, and the actors’ exaggerated gestures and expressions - almost immediately lulls you to sleep. Jean Marais, in his Beast costume, looks as though he’s performing in a children’s Christmas pageant, while Josette Day, with her somnambulistic gait, fails to make any impression and does nothing to elicit sympathy for the heroine.

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