Ratcatcher [1999]

-->Ratcatcher, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay’s exceptional debut feature film (she was earlier into making award-winning short films), is an exceedingly bleak yet hauntingly lyrical coming-of-age story of a 12-year old resident of Glasgow. Set during the 1973-strike of garbage-workers, working-class Glasgow here is a picture of squalor, decadence and grunge. And amidst a plethora of rats and an equally filthy group of hooligans resides James, a frail, socially inept and emotionally withdrawn boy (more so because of his role in the accidental death of a neighbourhood kid), who lives with his parents and siblings, forms an unlikely platonic-relationship with an older, troubled girl, and dreams of moving into their new house in the countryside. On one hand, the movie might not be easily palatable for its grim subject matter, and disconsolate, dreary and disturbing portrayal of poverty, juvenile delinquency, broken homes and self-destruction; on the other, it boasts of moments of absolutely stunning visual beauty that is almost heartbreaking in its candid depiction of the world through a child’s eyes. The movie isn’t so much about its plot as it is about its imagery and characterizations. And in its daring (and at times, even poignant) portrayal of not-so-innocent children, Ramsay kick-started her tryst with cinema in quite memorable fashion.







Director: Lynne Ramsay
Genre: Drama/Urban Drama/Coming-of-Age
Language: English
Country: UK (Scotland)

Hit List [2009]

Hit List, Sandip Ray’s first foray outside “Feluda” movies (adapted from stories written by his late father Satyajit Ray) since the wonderful Nishijapon, has yielded, at best, mixed results. The movie was touted as a thriller, and it opens quite spectacularly with a murder that is almost Hitchcockian in its fine buildup. However, it would be more prudent to consider the movie as a psychological drama reminiscent of lowbrow film noirs – yeah, those iconic low-angle shots are there in plenty. The executive director of an advertising agency, on unraveling a corrupt deal by four colleagues of his, get bumped off and his body disposed such that his death looks like a case of drunken driving. However, as the saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, his lovely wife (played with surprising élan by Koel Mallick), who is bloody pissed off, decides to get even-steven with the scot-free culprits. The acting is decent throughout if not spectacular; Saheb Chatterjee was especially impressive, though Dhritiman Chatterjee, in my opinion, was wasted. Perhaps a whodunit structure might have worked better as the similarly styled (though far superior) Shubho Mahurat, by Rituparno Ghosh, did. Agreed, the movie didn’t manage to match our high expectations – in that sense it’s a disappointment. However, despite a few loopholes here and there, I wouldn’t be so highbrow as to call it a failure.








Director: Sandip Ray
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Mystery
Language: Bengali
Country: India

A Short Film About Killing [1988]

An expansion of the fifth episode of his legendary ten-part miniseries Decalogue, Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Killing is based on the Commandment “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. I have seen my fair share of disconcerting movies, but rarely one as incredibly dark or as immensely disturbing as this one. Like its companion piece A Short Film About Love, the movie's basic premise is simple – a young, mysterious and eerily psychotic drifter , for no apparent reason or provocation, brutally murders a middle-aged cab driver, and thus ends up getting sentenced to death and executed by the Polish state despite a valiant attempt by a young, idealistic and neophyte lawyer. The movie starts off with the shocking and deeply foreboding images of dead rats and a cat hanging by the neck – a brilliant yet subtle indication of the story ahead; thus, by the time we have been introduced to the three main players of the story, we know they are on a collision course (though not necessarily destructive). Kieslowski took a direct stance against capital punishment here. However, one doesn’t really have to endorse his strong socio-political views in order to appreciate the thematic relevance, artistic excellence and technical virtuosity of this powerful movie.







Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Crime Drama
Language: Polish
Country: Poland

El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro) [2002]

El Crimen Del Padre Amaro is on a topic that is as complex as it is controversial. The movie concerns with the subject of the fundamentalist and sanctimonious nature of religious (here, Christian) pastors and priests, and this, despite the hypocrisy, corruption, power politics and moral decadence within the Catholic Church. Mexican superstar Gael Garcia Bernal has starred as a young priest who is sent to a small ultra-religious town as part of his training. There he falls for the nubile daughter of a lady, who in turn is having a secret affair with the ageing Padre under whose tutelage he has been placed. The director certainly had the guts to tackle such a subject head-on without diluting any of its contents. However, where considerable subtlety and a more matured storytelling was of utmost essence, the director opted for an overtly brazen approach to ensure that his polemic doesn’t get lost on his viewers. Thus, even though the movie was reasonably engaging to watch, and the social milieu of Mexico too was quite well captured, for me it failed to be the thought-provoking movie capable of creating a lasting impression that I’d eagerly hoped it would be. The acting, too, was mostly amateurish, with the exception of a handful of the older members of the cast.







Director: Carlos Carrera
Genre: Drama/Religious Drama
Language: Spanish
Country: Mexico

Katalin Varga [2009]

Katalin Varga, my second (and possibly my final) movie viewing at the ongoing Kolkata Film Festival, is a well-made, brooding, near-Dostoevskian tale of revenge and redemption from Romania. The bleak yet emotionally resonant exterior, art-house flavour, and distinctly folksy/old-world feel, belie the fact that this is the debut feature of Peter Strickland, who, interestingly, happens to be British by birth. A good revenge story isn’t necessarily one loaded with an ingenuous plot and high-octane thrills. Katalin Varga, which is about the eponymous lady’s bid to get even with a couple of men from her past, lies in the domain of such movies as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Revanche, where violence lurks just around the corner, ready to explode at the first given opportunity. In fact, the fate that Katalin finally meets reminded me about the climax in the Park Chan-Wook work, while its philosophical undertones were reminiscent of the Gotz Spielmann film. The luscious Hilda Peter, in the role of the wronged woman out to seek justice, has brought in the right mixture of sexual undercurrent, motherly care and latent anger in her layered performance. Agreed, the screenplay could have been more gripping; however, the crisp length ensured everyone hung in till the movie’s strong and satisfactory finale.








Director: Peter Strickland
Genre: Drama/Revenge Movie
Language: Romanian
Country: Romania

Kærestesorger (Aching Hearts) [2009]

A few critics have accused Danish filmmaker Nils Malmros' Aching Hearts to be a mere recreation of his most famous work Trees of Knowledge. I haven’t watched the former movie, and hence (or perhaps, in spite of that), I found Aching Hearts, which I watched at the ongoing Kolkata Film Festival, to have the credibility to stand on its own. The movie, about a group of adolescent, high school students in 60’s Denmark, has been presented through the eyes of a teenager named Jonas. A nostalgic coming-of-age tale (the movie might very well be semi-autobiographical) has been presented through his complicated relationship with a young, confused girl and fellow student name Agnete, and through his friendship with a couple of guys who too have their lives complicated for reasons of their own. The lilting score added to the various emotions at play here, ranging from teenage angst, confusion and jealousy to finally coming to terms with one’s life. Though the movie dragged a bit towards the end, the director was quick to get things back under control for a well-crafted climax. The movie’s most redeeming feature is that Malmros never seeks to sort out his characters’ complications, thus managing to present a fairly evocative picture of high school life.








Director: Nils Malmros
Genre: Drama/Coming-of-Age/Romance/Teenage Drama
Language: Danish
Country: Denmark

The Spirit of the Beehive [1973]

-->Spanish director Victor Erice, like his American counterpart Terrence Mallick, is a deeply enigmatic filmmaker (he has made just three movies in his entire career!). However, for me, the similarity doesn’t end there; his legendary debut feature The Spirit of the Beehive, through its incredible visual beauty, ravishing silhouettes, dreamy landscapes, sparse dialogues and languid pacing, heavily reminded me of Mallick’s spellbinding first film Badlands. Made towards the end of Franco’s iron-hand reign, a turbulent period that continues to be the source for such powerful films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, the movie is a lyrical lamentation on lost innocence. Ana and Isabel (amazingly performed by Ana Torrent and Isabel Telleria, respectively) are two young girls who happen to watch James Whale’s Frankenstein at a traveling film show. The movie casts a profound impact on young Ana’s mind as she gradually gets enmeshed in a make-believe world far separated from reality. Meanwhile their parents, too, dwell in their own severely cocooned existences, oblivious of the world around them. This movie still continues to be one of the most moody and haunting depictions of that wondrous yet painfully short-lived time in one's life called ‘childhood’.

p.s. This is an earlier review. The review from my latest revisit can be found here.

Director: Victor Erice
Genre: Drama/Surreal Drama/Fantasy
Language: Spanish
Country: Spain

This Is It [2009]

Compiled into a behind-the-scenes kind of documentary from over 100 hours of footage filmed during rehearsal sessions for his last planned world tour, This Is It perhaps comprises of the last few popularly released shots of Michael Jackson prior to his shocking death. At that particular stage of his life, he was presumably no more than a battered man driven, in his personal life, to the edge of sanity and nearly his last penny. Yet we see MJ literally belying his failing health and age through undiminished passion and strive for perfectionism. The fact that a person like him, who has been doing shows since he was a kid, getting so engrossed in the rehearsals and ensuring that every nuance and angle of the upcoming shows are covered to the last detail, is truly something to behold and applaud. Of course, we also get glimpses of the creepier side of his complex persona from time to time, like when he explains with graphic detail how the sound is hurting his “inner ear”. But, despite all our preconceived notions of the man, he comes off as a rather mild-mannered and soft-spoken individual, and a self-appointed Messiah of sorts. What was also interesting to note was his being surrounded by a bunch of sycophants trying really hard to please MJ with their overtly servile behaviour, and genuflecting to his every whim. The “film noir” sequences and MJ dancing to his enormously popular numbers were also fun.








Director: Kenny Ortega
Genre: Documentary/Music
Language: English
Country: US

A Short Film About Love [1988]

An expansion of the sixth chapter of his legendary Decalogue miniseries, Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Love, though on paper a cinematic recreation of the Commandment “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery”, is far more profound than that. It is a poetic and emotionally enthralling exploration of themes ranging from voyeurism and teenage obsession to loneliness and unrequited love. The crisply timed and leisurely paced movie is about a young, shy and mild-mannered postal office worker and closet Peeping Tom, Tomak, who spies on the love life of an older lady, Magda, through his telescope, and has eventually fallen in love with her. His infatuation towards the sexually active and philandering Magda has grown to silent worship. However, his world comes crashing down with devastating repercussions when she lets him know in the most blatant way possible that she believes there’s no such thing as Platonic love – all that really matters is the act of making love. The evocatively photographed and scored movie is as hauntingly beautiful as it is emotionally powerful, despite its beak exterior. The understated psychological depth of the movie (the silent yearning for love in an increasingly cold urban jungle) would later be propelled to stratospheric heights in his masterwork Three Colors.









Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Urban Drama/Romance
Language: Polish
Country: Poland

The Firemen's Ball [1967]

The Firemen’s Ball was quite an event in the career of Milos Forman, who would later become a darling of Hollywood what with his One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus. It was his first film made in colour; but more importantly, it was his last movie in his native Czechoslovakia before he headed for America just in time to escape Prague Spring. The movie, which got banned in the country, is about a disastrous ball hosted by a group of middle-aged firemen in honour of their old retired chief. The crisp length and hilarious gags belie the movie’s immense artistic worth. It is a brilliant, anarchic, genre-bending classic whose comic timings would leave everyone laughing out loud, but whose subversive humour and satirical insights into a society behind Iron Curtain would not escape even those unaware of the then political turmoil surrounding the country. The actors, mostly non-professionals, did a remarkable job in bringing forth the farcical events that ensue over the course of the evening (interestingly, a number of members of the cast were repeated from the movie that preceded it, Forman’s delightful comedy Loves of a Blonde). The fact that Forman could infuse even the boisterous proceedings with a few moments of deep pathos and subtle (yet pinching) observations made the movie one for the ages, and along with a similarly subversive socio-political satire by Jiri Menzel, Closely Watched Trains, forms a cornerstone of the Czech New Wave.








Director: Milos Forman
Genre: Comedy/Political Satire/Social Satire/Black Comedy
Language: Czech
Country: Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia)

Jerichow [2008]

German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s Jerichow is a modern-day variation of James M. Cain’s classic pulp fiction The Postman Always Rings Twice, albeit minus the hardboiled content that gave the source material its iconic status. The movie is about a penniless, laconic war veteran who, through a string of coincidences, gets employed by a reasonably wealthy middle-aged Turkish man (performed with great effectiveness by Hilmi Sozer) married to a bored, philandering, blonde adulteress screaming to get laid. The movie has been pictured without the kind of stylizations or disorienting camera angles that defined film noirs; rather, it is grim in tone and filled with dramatic realism and socio-political insights that belie the genre’s archetypal conventions. Further, even in the movie’s fatalist climax, there is more an element of absurdism than the kind of bleak nihilism that typified classic noirs. The movie is certainly not without its flaws – some of the plot contrivances seem too obvious, and the drifter’s character has not been as well delineated as the other two protagonists, for instance. However, having said that, this deceptively simple fable and revisionist neo-noir does deserve to be paid attention to.








Director: Christian Petzold
Genre: Drama/Neo-Noir
Language: German
Country: Germany

A Hard Day's Night [1964]

Producers of A Hard Day’s Night, in all probability, had one thing alone in mind when they conceptualized the movie – to cash in on the intense hysteria and mass frenzy surrounding the Fab Four. But, in the surprisingly jaunty hands of Richard Lester, the movie turned into a freewheeling, satirical and humorous cult classic, combining the peppy feel of early Beatles music with French Nouvelle Vague filming sensibilities. And in its circuitous, whimsical and delightfully irreverent portrayal of a fictitious day in the lives of the four iconic Liverpudlians – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey (aka Ringo Starr), all playing themselves, the movie managed to present a definitive zeitgeist of a time that has since been immortalized with the moniker Beatlemania. Shot in dazzling black-and-whites and based on a madcap script with an abundance of self-deprecating humour, the movie is filled with idiosyncratic characters like Paul’s amusingly eccentric granddad, comical managers, and an uptight TV producer. The movie is peppered with such legendary songs like the title track “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “She Love You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)”, among others. A fascinating blend of avant-garde narrative, brilliant (and at times, surreal) music videos, and cinema verite techniques, the movie, made in the form of a mockumentary, feels remarkably fresh even after nearly five decades of its release.






Director: Richard Lester
Genre: Comedy/Satire/Showbiz Comedy/Musical
Language: English
Country: UK

Repulsion [1965]

Repulsion wasn’t just Roman Polanski’s first English language feature, it was also the Polish master’s first great masterpiece. Universally hailed as a cornerstone in the genre of psychological thrillers, and often placed in the same pedestal as Hitchcock’s Psycho, the movie is about the terrifying journey made by a young Belgian manicurist, living in London with her elder sister, from being a shy, introverted person to a criminally-insane psychopath. Hauntingly shot in moody black-and-whites, the movie is a brooding, disturbing and a brilliantly executed study of emotional alienation and psychological disintegration, and an eerie look at the delicate link between sexual repression and raging lunacy. The movie alternates between jazzy exteriors and claustrophobic interiors, interspersed with disconcerting surreal imagery on one hand, and shocking, albeit sparingly used, violence on the other. Catherine Deneuve (only 22 at the time!) brought to screen the frigid and emotionally distant protagonist with a seemingly pleasant demeanor, with astounding power, and her nubile, delicate beauty made the emotional impact of her portrayal that much more devastating. Though the movie might appear fatalistic, harrowing and even misanthropic to many, the story’s latent humanism wouldn’t get lost to those willing to delve deep.








Director: Roman Polanski
Genre: Thriller/Psychological Thriller
Language: English
Country: UK

Mother of Mine (Aideista Parhain) [2005]

Second World War was a bad time for children to grow up in Finland, as nearly 70,000 Finnish children were displaced and sent to neutral Sweden. Mother of Mine tells the story of Aero, one such Finnish child sent to Sweden and placed under the care of foster parents, against his wishes. Told in flashbacks by a much older Aero, this is a moving account of a child at complete odds with his otherwise idyllic environment, which to him is far more hostile than his war-torn homeland. Finding it exceedingly difficult to adapt and only begrudgingly accepted by his foster mother (who takes it upon herself to hide letters sent by his mother), Aero grows up to be a lonely man neither in touch with his foster mom nor able to rekindle the relationship with his real mother, and hence with a deep sense of abandonment, alienation and cynicism. Aero survives the war, yet for him his life is a great tragedy, and justifiably so. This is a fine, lyrical and an honestly made anti-war movie and a heartfelt tale told by a very sympathetic director of one of the many personal tragedies and disasters of life during the times of the war.










Director: Klaus Haro
Genre: Drama/War
Language: Finnish/Swedish
Country: Finland/Sweden

Inglourious Basterds [2009]

Quentin Tarantino’s seventh feature direction (sixth if you consider the two Kill Bill volumes as a single movie) is a riotous and rambunctious rampage; there isn’t an iota of exaggeration in that! Inglourious Basterds (the title has been deliberately misspelt) recounts parallel attempts to assassinate the top brass of the German leadership, including Adolf Hitler, during WWII, while they are watching a movie at a theatre in German-occupied France – on one hand by a group of hilariously comical American-Jews called the Basterds who love to kick Nazi-ass, and on the other by the owner of the theatre, a Jewish girl, whose parents were executed by the Nazis. The movie is at once, an audacious and a provocative chronicle of an alternate WWII history where the Nazis face a reversal of fate vis-à-vis the Holocaust, an effective genre-spoof (some have even called it a spaghetti war movie), and the kind of wildly entertaining ride that can best be called Tarantino-an. The acting is memorable throughout, especially that of Brad Pitt as the gleefully over-the-top leader of the Basterds, and Christopher Waltz as an unctuous, sinister and silver-tongued Nazi ‘Jew Hunter’. However, the only flaw, as I remarked to a wonderful analysis of the movie by a fellow blogger, is that, despite some brilliant individual episodes, sum of the parts somehow failed to add up to the intended whole.








Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: War Drama/Action/Comedy/Political Satire
Language: English
Country: US

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 [2003] & Vol. 2 [2004]

The two volumes of Kill Bill have told a vengeance story of epic proportions and together form yet another feather in the shining crown of Quentin Tarantino. An unabashed homage to the violent Manga comic strips, kung-fu flicks of Hong Kong and American Grindhouse movies, the Kill Bill franchise might be a tad too violent for the regular audience and tad too deviant from formulaic revenge tales, but for a movie buff like me, it worked just fine. And one reason for that might be the magic wand that Tarantino weaves on his viewers with such ease. An addictive storyline, gleefully over-the-top action sequences (they are so well orchestrated that they almost got alleviated to the stature of ballet dancing), great sound track, well-etched characters, and hyper-kinetic narrative, laced with a fine sense of deadpan humour, add to the flavour of this enthralling double-bill. Uma Thurman, as the woman-wronged seeking bloody revenge, was quite astounding, as were David Carradine as the verbose and suave Bill, and Michael Madsen as his mild-mannered brother. Interestingly, while the first volume was the more action-packed of the two, the second captivated me more through its philosophical overtures. The two movies are an exuberant reaffirmation of Tarantino’s love affair with cinema.









Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Action/Thriller/Martial Arts Movie/Revenge Movie
Language: English
Country: US

Night and the City [1950]

Though most feel Carol Reed’s The Third Man was the greatest Brit noir, I feel Jules Dassin’s Night and the City was more “noirish” and definitive of the two, and hence should rank higher in the pantheon of great film noirs. McCarthy’s horrendous witch-hunt forced Dassin to flee from America just before he begun working on this movie, and his mental effect clearly shows here. One of the bleakest movies I’ve watched, Night and the City drew a truly nightmarish picture of crime, corruption, human weakness, urban paranoia and existential angst. The basic surmise of the movie is about a small-time hustler who wants to strike big, and who, in the end, "sinks into the quagmire of his own ambition." Terrific camera work, through exceptional use of expressionist lighting, disorienting visuals, chiaroscuro, and oblique camera angles, turned the teeming metropolis of London into a brooding urban jungle infested with thugs and con men. The acting is first-rate throughout, especially Richard Widmark as the slimy anti-hero, and Francis L. Sullivan as the sleazy owner of a seedy joint (his grotesque physicality reminded me of Orson Welles’ legendary turn in Touch of Evil). The deeply ominous soundtrack, the morally ambiguous tone and the frenetic narrative, too, played vital roles in making this a thrilling masterpiece. The lovely Gene Tierny, of Laura fame, played the moral backbone of the story.








Director: Jules Dassin
Genre: Film Noir/Crime Thriller/Urban Drama/Gangster Movie
Language: English
Country: UK

Houseful [2009]

Bappaditya Bandopadhyay’s Houseful is a difficult movie to appraise, for the simple reason that it IS a difficult movie. I haven’t seen any other movie by the director (his Kantatar earned him respect if not popularity). Nonetheless, it wasn’t difficult to realise that the movie, about a film director who neither manages to lure people to the theatre not impress the critics, and who is being incessantly coaxed by his loyal sidekick to play to the gallery for once by plagiarising a formulaic movie, has strong autobiographical touches. But that’s only the short of it. The movie, mostly about his making of yet another “unsuccessful movie”, has, with fair amount of élan, blurred the line between fact and fiction, between dreams and reality, and hence between cinema and life. The protagonist might be a miserable failure in his personal and professional lives, but that never deters him from living in his own world – a parallel existence of sorts. Prosenjit Chatterjee, in the challenging role as the dour-faced intellectual, might have given the most accomplished performance of his career, while Nitya Ganguly, as his jovial and ever-optimistic Man Friday, was also exceptional. The luscious Sreelekha Mitra, too, was impressive in her cameo as a successful heroine. While on one hand this experimental movie has a difficult subject matter and relies on complex narrative techniques, on the other it also has a fair amount of black irony and insider’s jokes that would make one smirk in appreciation. The cinematographer deserves special mention for the fine use of textures and colours to accentuate the specific moods of every situation.








Director: Bappaditya Bandopadhyay
Genre: Drama/Showbiz Drama/Social Satire/Experimental
Language: Bengali
Country: India

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [2009]

There is no denying Tony Scott his claim to fame – his ability to provide wholesome, fast-paced entertainment to the popcorn-churning public. He deserves that much, though rarely anything more profound than that. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, his latest offering, does boast of a compact narrative, stylized packaging and a reasonably engaging plot. However, on the flip side, and quite unlike his more famous and more appreciated works like True Romance, Top Gun, Spy Game and Enemy at the Gates, this one failed to scale such high-octane levels, attain breathtaking kinetic momentum or display audacious ingenuity. The movie starts off spectacularly, with a New York subway train hijacked, apparently for ransom, even though, seemingly, there isn’t any escape route for the criminals. However by the second half things start veering towards been-there-seen-that ground, and it climaxes with a finale that is flat and unimaginative. Thus, at the end of the day, the only real saving grace of the movie lied in the crackling chemistry shared by its two lead actors – Denzel Washington, as an everyday Joe, and John Travolta, as the psychotic mastermind. James Galdolfini, too, is impressive as a cynical Mayor nearing the end of his term.








Director: Tony Scott
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Heist Movie
Language: English
Country: US

Let the Right One In [2008]

On the surface (i.e. if one were to go by its plot skeleton) Let the Right One In might seem like a genre fare what with its tale of a vampire let loose; but scratch a little and what you have is a deeply disturbing and profoundly moving take on adolescence, friendship and growing up. The movie is about a frail, lonely and socially inept 12-year old boy – a regular target of a local bully who lives in a small Swedish town that is as quaint as it is brutally harsh, and who ends up befriending a mysterious girl who has recently moved in next door. He realizes later that the girl is in essence an ageless vampire, but that inescapable fact, instead of acting as a barrier to their burgeoning relationship, ends up adding deeper layers and philosophical undertones to it. The movie, in the tradition of great revisionist genre films, has completely deconstructed the myth, romance and horror associated with traditional vampire flicks. Though unabashed in its depiction of blood and violence, there isn’t any glamour associated with it for the simple reason that it never aspires to be spine-chilling (though it nonetheless is) in the conventional sense. Consequently what you have is a remarkable, deeply affecting, psychologically complex, visually stunning, hauntingly eerie, deeply melancholic and starkly beautiful movie that deserves a standing ovation as much for its detailing as for its near flawless execution.







Director: Tomas Alfredson
Genre: Drama/Horror
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden