I’m not quite sure if it was busyness or laziness, yet the truth is that I only watched two flicks in April. Both decent, though nothing that would make one scream. Here they are:

1. Life Is a Miracle (2004) (Serbia and Montenegro/France)
Knowing previous Kusturica’s movies, there is no surprises. Partly unusual comedy, partly bizarre drama supported by great sceneries, awkward characters and energetic music. A story of an engineer finding himself near the front line of a rising war in Bosnia and losing his family for a short time-being. It is imaginative and multilayered, nevertheless feels a bit slow and somehow tiring.

2. Down in the Valley (2005) (USA)
I enjoyed this one. Starring Edward Norton as mentally unstable modern cowboy (read drifter) and Evan Rachel Wood as underaged object of his desire. What starts as a romance after a casual sex changes into a psychodrama, or rather a drama with a psycho. The change is gradual so viewers get to acknowledge Norton’s character as a weird hero, before he metamorphoses into a freaky anti-hero. Nice indie film. Recommended.

Lately, I find it difficult to watch movies. So I don’t. I wonder if something’s wrong with me or is it filmmakers who have gone dull. And I’ve got a feeling it’s only getting worse.

Thankfully, though I haven’t seen as many movies as originally intended, there’s still something worth talking about.

1. Born Into Shit (2006) (Czech Republic)
Well, not this one, really. It’s advertised as a black comedy about dysfunctional family in suburbia. A hitman father, mum swinging from loving Jesus to loving a lesbian and a son getting his thirteen year old girlfriend pregnant during their first attempt at making love. It is a comedy, no doubt, yet quite superficial, a shallow attempt to combine a style of Ritchie, Tarantino and the likes — with embarrassing results. Fun to watch with friends, when everybody had a few, otherwise hopeless.

2. No Country For Old Men (2007) (USA)
I had to watch the one that snatched the Oscars this year. And I had to see it because of Coen Brothers. Going to see a movie with a clear expectation of an instant classic, being fed by a media craze and a past mastery of Fargo or Big Lebowski, it could have resulted in a disaster. Yet not this time. The Coens brought to life a great story set in enchanting scenery — and one of the most memorable villains of a silver screen, too. Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh joins the club of the ultimate anti-heros. For him and him alone, the movie’s worth the praise.

3. Blowup (1966) (UK/Italy/USA) and
4. Zabriskie Point (1970) (USA)
Antonioni. Twice. The first flick of the late Italian director I had a chance to see was Red Desert. I watched it on my own, in the middle of a wintery Australian night. Desolation was all over the place. If I ever needed a shrink, that must had been the time. Since then, I accepted Antonioni as a master of serious thoughts. Seeing other movies, they weren’t intended to be easy to absorb and they were certainly made to be watched over and over as a viewer could apprehend further clues or beauty of his works of art.

Blowup and Zabriskie Point are two of his three English-speaking movies, commissioned and produced by Carlo Ponti. They share few more similarities — they both became cult legends and they portrait young and restless principal characters who take numerous apparently mindless actions in vain, alienated from the rest by one way or another — which is in fact a common theme in Antonioni’s movies. And they seem to be — at times painfully — slow, that is also a recurrent matter in his work.

Blowup was shot in London and follows a story of a photographer who might or might have not taken a photograph of a murder. While this appears to be a major thread, most of the time the protagonist just hangs out or goes about his business as normal. In the end, the actual episode of a potential crime loses its importance altogether as Antonioni shifts his perceiving of reality. What matters?, one may ask when the movie’s over. Being puzzled after Antonioni’s flick is a standard.

Zabriskie Point, shot in California, is even more puzzling and that may be a reason why it was considerably less successful than Blowup. In other words, it was a disastrous flop. Yet today, it is a respected art example. Showing a hippie stealing a plane and hooking up with a occasional secretary along the way, it leaves the crowd asking far more questions than it answers. I guess the only thing we learn is a fate of a bohemian title character — an issue that is commonly left open in art flicks (or great pretenders). Well, this is Antonioni’s way.

I liked both those movies and I can see myself getting back to them at some point, however they’re not too easy to chew. They ask for more time to settle in one’s brain and a final judgement may linger in thin air for ages. Well, if I make up my mind, I may share my thoughts. If I come over any.

As if it mattered, I hear Mr Antonioni swiftly pointing out from around the corner.

A month ago, I mentioned that here and there I snatch a moment to watch a movie. Perhaps there wasn’t here and there in February as I only watched three new flicks. At least, I have more space to tell you about them.

1. Citizen Havel (2008) (Czech Republic)
I believe that some of our readers are not European and they don’t know much about a tiny little country that was once a larger part of Czechoslovakia and nowadays is colloquially and slightly incorrectly being referred to as Czech. What they may know is that capitol city is called Prague and I live there. What they may not know is that the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first of Czech Republic was Václav Havel, a former opponent of the communist régime (the right expression is dissident), intellectual and playwright. He happened to be a statesman, yet he’s never become a politician per se.

This bold statement of mine is confirmed by the movie about himself. Havel let filmmakers shadow him for over thirteen years agreeing to ignore their presence. He didn’t interfere and he asked his colleagues and friends to do the same, explaining that the footage will be used years after he would had left the office. A camera follows him at the talks with politicians, at home with his first and later a second wife, at moments of joy and sorrow. What we get to see is a very personal picture of Havel, at times uncertain and doubtful, Havel reflecting and — above all — a very funny and human one.

I can’t recall a documentary that could pack mainstream theatres, make audience shed a tear and laugh hysterically — and then leave people appreciating both the movie and the real-life protagonist without any propaganda. My respect goes to Mr Havel and both filmmakers, late Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek who completed the film.

2. Once (2006) (Ireland)
A simple, yet unconventional story plus a few bucks for a movie (say €130,000) can still fill up the box office. At least in Europe and indie scenes around the world. Take one guy, a busker, one girl, an immigrant, a week they spend together making music, talking and converging. Make them love each other but not make love. Cut off the happy ending that is too cliché and voilà! That’s how the successful movies are made, with or without a budget.

Sounds painless, doesn’t it? You’d need great actors, though. Perfect screenplay, too. And a great camera work and a professional sound set-up on top of it. Or not?

Anybody’s hoping for a dull but accurate comment? This film proves that independent cinema has nothing to worry about as long as there are people with passion, ideas, the ones who carry out their dreams with determination. Basically, I’m talking about the misfits and all the others. Sometimes that’s even good enough to snatch a shiny little statue from a pretentious bunch of the Kodak theatre. Go figure.

3. Atonement (2007) (UK & France)
Upper class estate, England, mid-thirties. When a thirteen year old Briony sees her older sister Cecilia with a housekeeper’s son Robbie, she misjudges the anxiety and anticipation between the two for something far more terrifying and less exciting. More so, when she reads Robbie’s beautifully crafted letter expressing his unconditional love for Cecilia’s, hmmm, parts. And catches them in flagrante in a library just few hours later. So when their cousin is raped in the dark later that night, Briony is pretty sure about who she saw and who’s the thug.

Such foreplay opens a sharp romantic drama, something that female audience can appreciate. It’s subtle, smart (unless you read the novel you cannot exactly sense the ending), looks vintage and makes them pray both Robbie & Cee could stay alive, get together, and live happily ever after.

I will not spoil it for you. If you haven’t seen the best British film of the year, please do. Get yourself a fine bottle of wine and a great company to help and you won’t be disappointed. Art can heal and redeem. It may not be the universal truth, nevertheless it certainly applies to this movie.

Another twelve months are gone in a blink. I’ve just noticed and I’ve realised that it’s our annual pre-Oscar speculation time. Sad, sad moment, everybody. We’re all a year older again. Some of us have more grey hair (me), others have less hair, if any (Gabriel). And that’s just on the outside! Sigh!

Nevertheless, without further ado, please look carefully into your crystal balls and let us know what you see. More precisely, let us know your guess for winners of our ten most popular categories. If you have something else to add, of course, feel free to honour us with your lavish thoughts.

Here’s my shot (so you can laugh while you read):

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
Best Direction: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose (La môme))
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There)
Best Animated Movie: Ratatouille
Best Foreign Language Movie: Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters, Austria)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)

Stop laughing, will you?

Here and there I snatch a moment to watch a movie. I tend to compile a list of films I saw with basic remarks, so the list remembers them instead of me. To a degree, it’s a good way to get away with forgetfulness, though it doesn’t help much when intoxicated, discussing cinema in a dodgy saloon at half past three in the morning. Well, just in case something like that happens and I have access to the net — here’s my January list:

1. Under Suspicion (2000) (USA)
A thriller that is more acting quality check of Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman rather than anything else. As a thriller, it’s somewhat slow-paced and at times predictable. A decent work, anyway.

2. Peculiarities of the National Fishing (1998) (Russia)
A comedy about a bunch of friends who go fishing the Russian way. It other words, they go on a drinking spree. Reasonably funny, though nothing one would miss. I guess it’s too hard to understand a Russian soul without actually being Russian.

3. La dolce vita (1960) (Italy)
Fellini’s classic about love, sex, religion, aristocracy, media and one man’s quest for peace with himself. Marcello’s struggle and failure to answer the ultimate question. A drama still slightly decadent and no less fascinating than almost 50 years ago.

4. I Am Legend (2007) (USA)
I like post-apocalyptic flicks — just for seeing how it may look like when we blow things up. New York looks alright in this one, worth visiting if you survive. The movie itself is alright, too. Average, yet entertaining.

5. He Was a Quiet Man (2007) (USA)
Ignored, bullied, trapped inside an office cubicle, with Hula Girl broken and holding his only real conversations with goldfish. Cookoo, right? Christian Slater’s character is about to snap — but somebody else does a moment earlier. It opens up a great story. Highly recommended.

6. Anything Else (2003) (USA)
This is not exactly classic, however it is still Woody Allen. He’s kind of funny, he’s neurotic, intellectual and Jewish. Nothing has changed over the years and I enjoy watching his wit over and over again. Even in flops.

And that is it, folks. There may be more next month.