Michael D. (azfad)

Zazie dans le métro (Zazie in the Subway) Unrated

The most visually anarchic film ever made and by some distance! Based on the novel of the same name by literary pranskster Raymond Queneau, 'Zazie' is 90 minutes of non-stop hyper kinetic film-making bordering on lunacy. Needless to say - I loved it. Utterly unique.

Ben X Unrated

Apparently based on real events the story of this, if true, is pretty astounding and its worth watching to see the narrative denoument. Otherwise though the direction is really poor with the filmmakers opting for an annoyingly hyper-kinetic style and overuse of 'cool' editing tricks that make it look really bleh. 'Let The RIght One In' is far superior film dealing with a similiar issue.

Letyat zhuravli (The Cranes are Flying) Unrated

Absolutely stunning. The only qualm i have with this is the ending which is way too obvious and feels dishonest but that may have been due to the Communist powers that were rather than the filmakers. Other than that though, i would say this film is perfect in every way and has maybe the most brilliant camerawork i have ever seen and Tatyana Samojlova is just spellbinding. A flawed masterpiece but still, a masterpiece.

Intimate Lighting (Intimni osvetleni) Unrated

A landmark Czech new wave film and I imagine, in its own naturalistic way, a big influence on numerous directors since its creation. The story is minimal but if ever there was a film that is more than the sum of its parts then this is it. The cinematography, direction and performances are breathtaking and my first thought on finishing watching the movie was - 'I must see this again'. The fact that all but one of the main actors were non-professionals is amazing. Blazek, who died very shortly after the movie was completed is especially good but all the cast are memorable. Give me this above the Stanislavski method anyday. Simple and superb.