Master_X_3_1_1

This is a truly awful movie... Only watchable if you are making fun of it with a group of friends, and even then you had better be bad movie experts, as this movie gives you very little to work with. I do not think the creators of this bit of cinema art have even heard of the concept of lighting. 90% of this movie is just dark scenes full of people you don't care about talking in very bored sounding voices about some plot involving space werewolves. I could actually see some scenes where one of the actresses was trying not to laugh. About halfway through this turd, we are treated to a full length music video from what I assume is the directors crappy industrial band... only the sound quality is so terrible you can barely hear the music they are playing!! In addition to the aforementioned music video, the 70 minute running time is padded out with about 15 minutes worth of pointless framing story, and the credits of the movie seem very padded out and full of made up names. I refuse to believe that it took an 11 person CG department to create the Windows 95 era 3d effects, most of which are not even animated.

In summary... you have been warned!!

This mostly plot less film follows the nonadventures of a couple of young people living extremely mundane lives in Winnipeg. It is mostly centred around a convenience store clerk and a woman who she meets at a laundromat. The film generally takes the form of number of unrelated moments in their lives, some of which feature stilted conversations. You do not really get a feel for any of the characters, and while I have heard other reviewers cite this movie as a tour de force of bleakness I found it mostly unenjoyable and didn't see much of a point to it.

Overall I give it a 4/10. If it were any longer than an hour I'd probably have to give it a lower rating.

The movie started off fairly strong, but after a point the scenes lost connections with each other and I stopped caring. It moved at a very slow pace, and in the latter half I found myself constantly checking the time to see when it would end. There were several unnecessary changes and omissions from the book (They even leave out the bit explaining why he had to leave Europe), and the comedy which was a major component in the book is completely absent from the movie. There were even some changes that seem to have been specifically made in order to remove any traces of humor. Except for Uncle Jakob, the characters are also pretty undefined and have little in the way of personality, and at 29, Martin Dejdar looks a bit too old to play a 17 year old.

On a plus side, the production design was very well done, and reminds me somewhat of the movie “Brazil” on a lower budget. It is a shame that they didn’t bother to include the statue of liberty with a sword though, that would have made for a good image.

5/10