ajaismoviereviews

I've heard about Bela Tarr, and I was well aware of his notorious affinity with long takes on his many films, and the density as well as the ambiguity that they seem to show on many occasions. But after watching, "Harmonies", one thing is unambiguously clear: he is a master of creating lingering scenes with profound mood and emotion. From the opening scene of a single shot of captivating and mesmerizing art, one is held towards the very end in anticipation of such breath-taking scenes where we lose knowledge about the fact that there are only 39 takes in this 145 minute film; where the average film length goes for staggering 3.7 minutes; where there are actors continuing on acting when any apparent purpose is lost and we merely observe what transpires naturally; we are treated to a bleak and foreboding town where things are going awry and the film is made by the camera, which is another entity of its own, creating sequences where the very emotion is filled within th...

Too succeed in becoming you have to be ruthless and uncompromising; it doesn't matter even if you’re starting from the bottom, as long as you keep this mantra in your mind, success is sure to follow. This seems to be the working philosophy of the main character of the film, Lou Bloom, a borderline sociopath, who after having been scavenging for debris to make a living for himself, sees an opportunity in the field of accident/crime journalism. This basic premise sets up perfectly for the character to step in and demonstrate his obnoxious demeanor of being a leech: someone who takes advantage of the desperation others find themselves in and use it for their own personal rise. The film shows the L.A. nightlife in a bleak perspective but an entrancing one: driving through the streets where any occurrence of crime is imminent, where the night is populated with vehicles moving on about their mundane purpose in this world but Lou seems to glide along its streets in his red aston m...

A Prophet, the tale of an underdog delinquent who rises to the top of a crime syndicate while being operating from inside a prison and with the time minimum amount of time outside. This is the story of someone who has lost his chance at redemption and rehabilitation for a simple crime and instead trodden the road to crime infamy, but nonetheless, it has been a prosperous one although obstacles had to be surmounted. The film is solely about the main character and his rise to the top of the syndicate with no excessive decadence and glamour with no romanticizing of heavy indulgences. The narrative style is prompt and gritty, sequences are given emphasis and significance if it caters to the development of his character to the rest of the plot. The plot shifts between letting the events transpire naturally with the use of handheld cameras to bring about a deft touch of realism and continuously without meandering into unnecessary side-plots or monologues. The story gives a pause ...

The hugely influential British painter William Turner is the subject of this film. In it his last 20 or so years are dramatized. Turner was an esteemed artist during his day and this fact is highly evident in the film where several characters acknowledge his greatness and while others seek to mock him and spew derisive comments on the nature of his work; nevertheless he is highly renowned for his work. But, the subject matter of the film is not the creative process nor is it about the aesthetic value of the paintings; it’s not even necessarily about the real Mr Turner and his influence on modern painting. Instead, Leigh frames this picture, often with breath-taking and gorgeous stills that are reminiscent of the artist’s paintings themselves, as an exploration into his character and how his days were spent. The two and a half hour runtime can test the patience of any modern film viewer, but that is natural. The film is a slow-burn, but we wait for it to unfold like a sunset or ...

This movie is perhaps the best in the series, but I think Empire is slightly superior. And like Empire, this movie subverts the expectations of the audience and arguably does it better, although Empire was better rounded than this. Nevertheless, this movie does a great job at subverting established narratives and plot, so much so that it has attracted the wrath and fury of legions of dedicated Star Wars fan who cannot digest what Rian has done to their beloved franchise….well, grow up and learn to deal with it. I was totally captivated, especially when the final act started to unfold, this movie became so exhilarating. When things started to transpire, you felt it like there were a thousand possibilities, but in the back of the mind you knew that it was contrived, but contrived so that you won’t feel like it’s an insult to your senses. It’s the feeling of an epic opera, when you know that something is going to happen and it happens and it is still exhilarating, despite you ...

The movie brings in together a team of extremely powerful individuals, superheroes, who have to band together to fight another entity who is stronger than a few of them but would have been beaten by Diana and Kal El. Oops…that’s right Superman is resurrected. But it was an open secret anyway. I mean that CGI muzzle really made my companion unsettled because it was a blatant distraction to everything else that was going on. It goes to show that there aren't a great many things to focus on. That’s kind of flaw here. This movie is pretty good when it comes to these unimaginably powerful being unleashing their ferocious power, but on other occasions, when it tries to make a sombre or sincere moment, or while trying to create an origin story, it feels contrived and flat, there is a great of empathy. That’s something that you would want to have in a movie where a sinister being is trying to make the planet into a literal hellhole, but we never really care about the inhabi...