[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

Storm is an odd duck of a movie. It's a psychological thriller about memories and childhood dressed in a supernatural, apocalyptic thriller's clothing. The opening is a classic Matrix-inspired chase scene, right down to the tough female protagonist, and our shallow hero -- DD -- slips right into the Neo role. But then the midsection of the movie lurches over into Memento territory and the movie never really recovers.

The problem for me was that I couldn't bring myself to want DD to be redeemed. Hm; the more I think about it, the more I think Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (our writers/directors) were trying to do the Matrix all over again. But DD is no Neo, and his sins are not as easily forgivable for me as the movie might have liked them to be, which left me detached from the movie's emotional core.

And then there's all that comic book and video game imagery. After a lot of post-movie conversation with S., I couldn't decide if those images were hanging on a coherent core structure, or if they were just thrown in to look cool. Why does Promise appear to have a real comic book existence? Who knows? My benefit of the doubt theory is that she and her opponent are too grand, too awesome, too angelic to be seen as they are by human eyes; that the comics and the video games are the filters through which DD and others see them. There's nothing to prove or disprove that theory, though.

Still, it was a gorgeous movie. The sense of style was solid without getting in the way of the narrative. Apparently the whole thing was filmed on three million dollars, which staggers me. So it was enjoyable, just not entirely filling.

Grade: B-.

[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

(Yeah, it was Scandinavia night up at the old film festival.)

So Pusher 3 is advertised as a crime drama, which I guess is accurate in that it's not a comedy or a thriller and it's set in a criminal milieu. On the other hand, before the movie Nicolas Winding Refn, the director, told us that he was inspired by reality TV. That's a lot more of the feel right there.

It's a bleak night in the life of Milo, Copenhagen drug dealer. He's attending NA meetings to try and kick his habit, cooking dinner for his daughter's 25th birthday party, and dealing with the unexpected arrival of 10,000 Ecstasy tabs instead of the heroin he'd expected. If that sounds like there's a comic aspect -- yeah, there is, but it's used to highlight the empty grind that's Milo's life.

His cooking and his human interactions are a tired hulk of a man bulling his way through an existence he doesn't particularly enjoy. He doesn't want to engage in the sudden bursts of violence that come later in the movie, but he's got to do it. There's no path that'd take him out of the swamp.

Not so much plot. It's a slice of life; it's reality TV focusing on criminals. Things happen, and Milo doesn't particularly change as a result of them. It's Zlatko Buric's performance as Milo that binds the movie together. He's ugly, tall, and weary in every moment of film. Refn isn't afraid of the long wordless reaction shot; Buric bears out the director's trust. This was probably my favorite performance of the festival so far.

Grade: A-.

Fantasia 2006: Storm

Storm is an odd duck of a movie. It’s a psychological thriller about memories and childhood dressed in a supernatural, apocalyptic thriller’s clothing. The opening is a classic Matrix-inspired chase scene, right down to the tough female protagonist, and our shallow hero — DD — slips right into the Neo role. But then the midsection of the movie lurches over into Memento territory and the movie never really recovers.

The problem for me was that I couldn’t bring myself to want DD to be redeemed. Hm; the more I think about it, the more I think Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (our writers/directors) were trying to do the Matrix all over again. But DD is no Neo, and his sins are not as easily forgivable for me as the movie might have liked them to be, which left me detached from the movie’s emotional core.

And then there’s all that comic book and video game imagery. After a lot of post-movie conversation with S., I couldn’t decide if those images were hanging on a coherent core structure, or if they were just thrown in to look cool. Why does Promise appear to have a real comic book existence? Who knows? My benefit of the doubt theory is that she and her opponent are too grand, too awesome, too angelic to be seen as they are by human eyes; that the comics and the video games are the filters through which DD and others see them. There’s nothing to prove or disprove that theory, though.

Still, it was a gorgeous movie. The sense of style was solid without getting in the way of the narrative. Apparently the whole thing was filmed on three million dollars, which staggers me. So it was enjoyable, just not entirely filling.

Grade: B-.

[Crossposted from Population: One; go here for the original post.]

Fantasia 2006: Pusher 3

(Yeah, it was Scandinavia night up at the old film festival.)

So Pusher 3 is advertised as a crime drama, which I guess is accurate in that it’s not a comedy or a thriller and it’s set in a criminal milieu. On the other hand, before the movie Nicolas Winding Refn, the director, told us that he was inspired by reality TV. That’s a lot more of the feel right there.

It’s a bleak night in the life of Milo, Copenhagen drug dealer. He’s attending NA meetings to try and kick his habit, cooking dinner for his daughter’s 25th birthday party, and dealing with the unexpected arrival of 10,000 Ecstasy tabs instead of the heroin he’d expected. If that sounds like there’s a comic aspect — yeah, there is, but it’s used to highlight the empty grind that’s Milo’s life.

His cooking and his human interactions are a tired hulk of a man bulling his way through an existence he doesn’t particularly enjoy. He doesn’t want to engage in the sudden bursts of violence that come later in the movie, but he’s got to do it. There’s no path that’d take him out of the swamp.

Not so much plot. It’s a slice of life; it’s reality TV focusing on criminals. Things happen, and Milo doesn’t particularly change as a result of them. It’s Zlatko Buric’s performance as Milo that binds the movie together. He’s ugly, tall, and weary in every moment of film. Refn isn’t afraid of the long wordless reaction shot; Buric bears out the director’s trust. This was probably my favorite performance of the festival so far.

Grade: A-.

[Crossposted from Population: One; go here for the original post.]