Magnus

A good effort from a young director. Some of the previous comments are peculiar. Particularly the ones posted in consecutive days by "different" users from several countries, saying basically the same (making negative personal remarks about the director). For someone in Lebanon and Slovenia and wherever else, people seem to know a lot of details about an obscure celebrity from an obscure country. A personal crusade from a disgruntled former admirer perhaps? Anyway, this is a movie website and the comments should stick to the movies. If you really want to wash dirty laundry, go do it somewhere else. It's not like there isn't plenty of space for that in the internet. And as for accusing the director of being "self-involved"... Does anyone get into any kind of artistic expression without being self-involved?

A weirdly rushed finale followed by the most unnecessary explanatory epilogue since Psycho makes foreign distribution unlikely unless the film is re-cut in its entirety. Persistently weak dialogue throughout the whole motion picture. I believe Kousaar tried to shock the viewers by focusing on gloomy Soviet sexual perversions like for troubled Magnus seeking a blowjob from his own sister. I thought that most of the sexual connotations were too explicit and unnecessary. As for the young Magnus, mostly he wanders about smoking and gazing at the sky with a puzzled expression to the sound of someone trying to murder a cello. When he phones his sister to tell her that today's the day he plans to die, she tells him to get on with it. Sensible girl.

... when I arrived for this film 30 minutes before start time and saw five people in the ticket holder line and a dozen in the pass holder line that something was amiss. This is a stinker of film that collapsed under the weight of its pretensions. I gave it two stars for the beautiful shots of scenery but minus one star for the dearth of story, subpar acting and the director's pretentious tomfoolery with the camera angles, filming some scenes upside or from odd angles or through distorted reflections. Yeah, I get it: it was to reflect the state of Magnus's mind but a five minute shot of water or a three minute shot of Magnus staring off into space does not further the story and was ultimately boring and sleep inducing. Too bad too, because there were some great characters in the self absorbed modeling agent mother and the drug addict purveyor of porn father. BY FAR THE WORST FILM I've seen at the Seattle International Film Festival so far.

It's beautifully told story about dark side of our life, about love (or lack of it) and life (or lack of it). But not only, it will give you some food for thought in many many areas. It's not ready-made fast food, you have to think along and thinking is not always easy thing to do. Being a parent will probably help you a bit. This film will tell you a lot if you care to listen.

There is something this film does not tell you but it may be good to know - Estonia is one of the top countries in male suicides per capita and by large talking about suicide is considered to be taboo. That may explain negative attacks toward film and director in reviews.

Technically it's not perfect movie, but it's good enough not to notice it while watching. Given virtually non-exciting budget - team has done excellent job there.

Give it a try, it's not for everyone, but it's well worth seeing.

There's an old joke about Estonians.

A guy dies, goes to hell. Before his eternal torture begins the devil gives him a tour of hell. Everywhere the guy sees huge pits filled with boiling tar and people in agony, struggling to get out. When someone finally reaches the edge of the pit, there's always a devil's apprentice with a pitchfork there to push him back in.

Finally the guy reaches another such horrible boiling hole, but there aren't any devil's apprentices around. Confused, he asks the devil: "Where are the guys with the pitchforks? Aren't you afraid one of them is going to climb out?" "Relax," says the devil. "This pit of boiling tar is for Estonians. When one of them reaches the edge, the others pull him back in." This joke and this film both sum up Estonians almost perfectly.

I find it odd how the negative comments by other Estonians here are either personal, aimed at the director Kadri Kõusaar, or aimed at the film's quality. Which isn't groundbreaking, but is certainly good enough.

Quality, then. The quality of this film does not hinder storytelling. It's not up to the standards of Hollywood and the visual language doesn't really enhance the film except in a couple of parts, but it certainly doesn't hinder anything. It works to tell the story and it succeeds in that.

The story, then. There's a clear plot, but it might not be very clear on the first viewing. Nonetheless, every scene is crafted around the film's central idea and once you get it, you'll see it for yourself. The writing is not only competent, it's good. It's very good. Someone compared it to the cryptic works of Paulo Coelho. Well. I'm glad to say that Magnus is nothing like that. It's a lot better.

Magnus has a very clear point. It's about the dichotomy of Estonian life. You either don't give a sh*t and live a great life or you can bugger off and kill yourself. Nobody cares and if you look for someone to care about you, you'll just be disappointed.

One place where the film does suck, however, is the English translation. It's dry. It lacks soul. If that's all you have to go by, then sure, you'll probably not get what the film is about.

Magnus and Klass are two Estonian films I'm not ashamed to recommend to my foreign friends. Good films are made with great passion and both Magnus and Klass certainly have that passion.