alexgarwood

He, I mean Von Triar, is as brilliant as he is irritating. Some part of me tells me he's having the last laugh at my expense. But then, this film is hypnotic in so many different ways and not all bad. The images will stay with me even if I don't particularly want them to. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are sublime, like Thulin and Ullman in "Cries And Whispers" Unfortunatele, their journey comes from the mind and more unfortunately from the pen of one of the great self-promoters of the last 20 years. Enough with the hand held camera, please! The device is not a style anymore but a show of laziness. I have to grant, however, I wasn't bored, I was rather transfixed by the unavoidable planet enveloped in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.. Kiefer Sutherland plays the selfish coward, with chilling conviction while Charlotte Rampling and John Hurt are a delight in a much to brief appearance. If you love movies you must see this, I think that's part of Lars's con.

I used to be a fanatic of Italian cinema. I learned to see and appreciate film thanks to Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Pietro Germi, Mario Monicelli, right up to Bernardo Bertolucci, that's why I felt so upset and depress by this latest Tornatore film, the most expensive Italian production ever. The result is a mildly successful Martini Bianco commercial. Everything looks and feels phony. The "auteur" is trying to sell us something and I fear many will buy because the rewards, if you can call them that, are immediate. Beautiful colorful images, relentless Morriconi, famous faces playing tiny cameos etc. A commercial operation if I ever saw one. The confusing part is that Venice prides itself for being a "Mostra d'Arte" so, I'm prepared to bet "Baaria" is going to get some of the top awards. The forces here don't seem to be on the side of art but on the artful skill of self congratulations but, I do hope I'm wrong. As I sat through the two and a half hours I was hoping, longing actually, for a hint of Francesco Rosi or even Blassetti or Soldati. No, not even by mistake. This is a pastry difficult and dangerous to digest. No heart, no warmth and no truth.