joezabel

The visa-scam premise of this comedy really had potential, but the execution is sloppy and low-budget, and the many over-the-top performances tend more to annoy than amuse.

The story is based on actual fact, but unfortunately the script writer chose to veer off into borderline-fantasy instead of focusing on the particulars. I'd much rather know what the Romanian gypsy mafia is really like, instead of endless clownish scenes. And we don't get a clear picture of the background of the main character Mickey Moynihan; instead there is a weird montage of garish, bloody scenes suggesting he'd been messing with some lethally dangerous criminals (but no follow-up on this.) Did not appreciate the shot of two disemboweled eyeballs in a glass, even if it looked fake!

I did like Mulligan's performance as Moynihan, a gutsy, shrewd goofball who holds together the center of this film. Now if only we can see him in a really good film!

This one reminds me a little of Lauren Cantet's Time Out. Like that film, it features a main character who has cast themselves adrift from the rules of society. We are absorbed in a suspenseful vigil, awaiting the catastrophe their wandering souls are likely to encounter.

The premise of Stolen Holidays is simple, credible, and compelling: a doting grandmother decides to take her grandchildren on an extended holiday without permission or consent from their parents. As their illicit holiday extends further and further, the grandmother must evade the increasingly urgent efforts of the parents to get their children back.

Bernadette Lafont is excellent as the enigmatic grandmother. Her reasons for the escapade are never made entirely clear, but we sense the vacuum left in her life from retiring as a schoolteacher, and we readily understand her hunger for more exciting prospects.

Also excellent is Adele Csech as the older granddaughter Marine. She subtly portrays the young woman's alternate delight and annoyance at her grandmother's guardianship, and then her slowly dawning realization that something is seriously wrong.

The photography in this movie is excellent, treating us to views of some gorgeous vacation spots. But it is also extremely adept at implying the darker themes of the story, beginning with the evocative shots of the characters driving behind a lumber-carrying truck. One particularly astonishing shot reveals the grandmother sitting on the balcony at night, while the children play indoors behind closed blinds. The children press against the blinds and call to the grandmother, their silhouettes looking strange and ghostly.

This film explores the idea of how the elderly feed upon the exuberance of the young, hoping to enliven their own lives. A very fine, universal, beautiful film!

I'm surprised that this great film hasn't gotten more comments. In any case, the previous reviews really nail the film pretty well. I only want to add that the filmmaker within the film, Agnieszka (played by Krystyna Janda), is such a fiercely dedicated artist that she really commands our attention in every scene she's in. Sneaky, smart, with a deep cunning and a sly sense of humor, she is the real hero of the film. I love the many scenes where she steals mischievous glances at her co-workers while collecting the provocative material for her film.

Watch for the scene where she kicks her sound man in the shin. Also especially memorable is her encounter with a more successful film director, who she must persuade to be interviewed. She simply walks up to his car, bends down and looks in at him, with a blank expression on her face, and stares at him. It's as if she's persuading him by sheer force of will! Truly a great film, and a great performance.