Pasha's Film Reviews Etc.

4/5 In a kingdom far far away a mad queen is ready to sacrifice everything to get pregnant. A lustful prince is loosing his mind hearing the song of a woman and falls madly in love with her. And a young princess becomes a victim of her father's obsession with a gigantic flea. It is not easy to describe the plot of TALE OF TALES. Based on the fairy tales by Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile, who earlier than Brothers Grimm introduced the wider reader to such stories as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the movie switches effortlessly from one narrative to the other, plunging us into the world of violence and sacrifice in the name of love.  The three stories that the director Matteo Garrone had chosen for his film is not for the faint hearted. Boasting some grand visuals, creepy practical effects and impressive international cast, this film is as original as a modern fantasy could be. The plots has a dream-like logic and does not shy away from a straightforward h...

2/5 Vitoria is a beautiful and strong willed magistrate who is determined to singlehandedly take on Calabrian mafia. Trying to appeal to the wives of the mafioso bosses she is looking for an accomplice to stop the senseless killing of the young apprentices - the mafia sons. In fact, this seems to be the main focus of her quest - to protect the children whatever the cost, even if it means to take them away from their mothers. LAND OF SAINTS is  well photographed and  has a few good performances, but the weak screenplay undermines the efforts of delivering a sensitive drama. The credibility of many scenes and dialogues is in question, and the central protagonist Victoria is the least real person in the story. We know very little about her, and the reason for her determination, or rather - borderline craziness, is never explained. So she hardly seems like a real person - just a catalyst inserted into the story to carry it forward. Valeria Solarino, as Victoria, i...

4/5 Guido takes it very hard when his wife leaves him for another man, but things quickly turn around when a young and extremely beautiful Silvia is moving in next door. Guido falls head over heels, but is Silvia just too good to be real? Meanwhile, unbeknown to him, another woman is seeking Guido's affection. Things get complicated when Guido’s friend finds out about Silvia something that can threaten the relationship. And to top it all, Guido’s parents arrive to Napoli to see his son’s bride. A comedy of errors insures. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SURPRISE is a twist of the classical tale DONNA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS, and deals with the dramas of middle aged loves and broken ideals we all have to face. The lead Claudio Bisio as Guido is as charismatic as he is entertaining. He has the perfect timing with his jokes and gradually turns what could be seen as grotesque and ridiculous into something endearing. But the real gems of the film are Guido’s parents. The...

3 1/2 /5 Once upon a time there were three brothers, two were evil one was good. The evil brothers were in the mafia, smuggling drugs and living as riches. The good brother was a shepherd and lived peacefully in their family home. The good brother had a son, who wanted to be a gangster too. Will his decision lead to the family's undoing? BLACK SOULS has a set up of a dark fairy tale, but the film produced has authentic and raw feel about it.  While the story plays out as classic tragedy, the value of the film is in the details. We get a clear idea how close this mafioso family is to their roots and of their values and lifestyle. The settings stripped of glamour, with most of the film taking place in a remote village - a family home of the characters. There's nothing new in the basic ideas of the film: Violence gives birth to violence, the sins of the fathers are carried on by their sons. There's also some dwellings about fate and that only the most radical w...

4/5 A Moon Hye-Rim, a  young nurse in a Seul VIP hospital, is looking after the dying millionaire. The man needs an urgent heart transplant and his son Song Woo asks the nurse to play a detective and find the next of kin of a brain dead patient, a pregnant prostitute nicknamed Madonna.  As Moon Hye-Rim dwells deep into the life of Madonna she discovers a heartbreaking story of a vulnerable woman and her continuous spiral into peril from the moment she was born. Keeping her own dark secrets at bay, Moon Hye-rim is now determined to stop the heart transplant. But Song Woo has his own reasons to keep his father alive and will stop at nothing, not even murder. If there was one word to describe MADONNA it would he "heartbreaking". It is a story of a vulnerable human being growing up in a hostile world. As Moon Hye-rim investigates Madonna's past life, the stories of two women intervene in the most unexpected ways. Their fates are much more similar than it ...

4/5 It's 1972 and a failing actor Kim Sung-Guin is groomed to become a double of North Korean  Dictator Kim Il-Sung. This performance of a life time does not find its audience, and thirty years later our failed dictator is in a retirement home, consumed by his fake persona. It all changes when his son bails him out in order to get his share of an inheritance. A hilarious and a sad journey to the past brings the two men together in this bitter sweet  drama, that is too good for its gimmicky premise. MY DICTATOR starts off as a straight forward drama, spirals into comedy, and then bounces back into a full dramatic mode. The plot is over the top with both, melodrama and comedy going overboard, but they always work. Focusing mostly on the father-son relationship it is about obsessions that come through generations and never let go. The movie runs for over two hours, but it doesn't drag a bit. Instead it turns into a family saga. After credits roll one will...

5/5 Roaring currents tells the story of one of the greatest naval battles in the history of Korea, when in 1592, during the Japanese invasion, 12 ships, under the command of the admiral Yi Sun-Sin, had won against the Japanese fleet of 300.  As unbelievable as it sounds, the movie is showing us, step by step, how the victory had been achieved. Avoiding the Hollywood cliches of love triangles aka Pearl Harbour film focuses solely on the battle and its strategy, and through action introducing us to the admiral Yi Sun-Sin and various other characters. Roaring currents is not a biopic, and maybe this is the reason it makes such a compelling viewing. There are barely any subplots, the movie only showing us one battle and its course. The characters are only important as the course of the battle. Surprisingly they are well developed. As we decide whether we like them on not, basing on their actions, it makes us learn about them and recognise them quicker than if we had a ...

4/5 CLEARER THAN YOU think is an anthology animation film from young and talented director HAN JI-WON, who is called “animation prodigy of South Korea”. There are four stories in total. The plots are focused on simple life of everyday Korean people. The first is about a young man looking for love and doubtful of his future, the second is about an office girl dreaming of love, the third is focused on a broken friendship of the high schoolers over one of them quitting the band, and the fourth is a fairy tale journey of a pouch, who escapes home and befriends a flightless crow. The common theme that unites the episodes is the illusiveness of a dream and the stand one has to take against the circumstances to follow it. The ability to find their way under pressure of the society in modern day Korea is highly praised by each storyline and shown as the only way to remain true to one’s self. CLEARER THAN YOU THINK is not for everyone: some simplistic takes on c...

4/5 Bok-Soon is a young woman with the mind of a child. Stubborn and strong willed, she suffers from development disability and everyone in the village calls her a "crazy bitch". But she deeply cares about her younger high school sister and works hard to send her to the best Seul university. When Bok-Soon's sister is murdered she is outraged and will do everything she can to avenge her death, which puts her face to face with a cold blooded (and very good looking) psychopath Tae-Soo, a serial killer who makes a pottery out of his victims. Tae-Soo is methodical and almost indestructible, but with Bok-Soon's crazy determination and lack of fear, had he found in her his perfect match? A bloody battle to the end ensures. MONSTER is a strange mix of comedy and horror and makes for an unforgettable experience. Korean cinema is known for its experiment with genres, and MONSTER is one of the finest examples of that. Film may be predictable in a way, because we k...

3 1/2 /5 Oh Sang Moon, an older and successful company man, struggles through a thought period in his life as his wife is dying from a brain tumour. With the pressures of work and looking after his fading wife his mind is looking for escape, finally finding it in the face of a younger woman who recently joins the office team. As they strike a friendship, Oh Sang Moon finds himself on a crossroad. REVIVRE is a character focused drama, with one performance at its centre. Ahn Sung-ki, a veteran Korean actor, who made his first film when he was just four years old, gives us a subtle and meaningful performance, shoving a seamless transformation of a man who is choosing a new path in life. REVIVRE is not an easy viewing: The movie has a "cut and pace" structure, constantly switching between the time lines and can be very confusing and the scenes with Oh Sang Moon's dying wife are upfront and shocking, describing in detail the human degradation and loss of di...