Sujos e Sábios

I saw this movie yesterday at the Berlinale.

Going into the theater I thought it might be a dreadful film (after all there were some terrible comments running the net...) I must say though after just a ten minutes the film had gotten to me. It is funny and has quite a pace to it. Getting to know the different characters did not seem to be "set up" as it happens to be in quite a few movies.

Despite the obvious humor the movie contains a lot to think about and even more to remember.

I really would advice anyone to go and watch the movie as it is one of a kind. Just go in expecting nothing and you will receive everything...

If you're a Madonna fan, you'll probably be disappointed with this one. And i guess there are a lot of non-fans out there who can hardly wait to disparage the movie. Nevertheless, Ms Ciccone did a good job in her directorial debut.

Filth and Wisdom is clearly not a masterpiece, yet there is nothing wrong with this movie. It is the matter of personal preferences whether you like it or not. Besides, it features Eugene Hutz, whose role confirms everything you thought about him while listening to his band Gogol Bordello.

I assume the story is partially based on Madonna's experience as a struggling artist after her arrival to New York. More than that, i see it as a subtle competition with her then-husband Guy Richie, since some aesthetic similarities with RocknRolla (2008) are visible, apart from the setting. She proved him she can direct a movie, divorced him and moved on with her life...

As a director Madonna's understanding of subtlety and nuance is akin to a stiff punch to the gut. She doesn't get it at all. Incomprehensible at times and pretentious in others, there isn't that much reason to watch it. I skipped some of the more arduous scenes that were hard to get through. Doing this made the movie easier to watch.

The immigrant storyline which takes place in London is mildly interesting. The problem is that Madonna doesn't know how to bring her ideas and observations together in a way that makes enough sense. This lack if comprehension for the story she is trying to tell coupled with her inexperience as a director leads to on screen confusion and annoyance.

Well, here's something we can ALL add to that laundry list of labels/notions/concepts we ALL harbor about Madonna: She is a helluva lot better director than she is actress!!! Of course, maybe that's not really saying much, so make that..."LIGHT YEARS BETTER DIRECTOR THAN ACTOR!"

Asmost of us are well aware.... Madonna has been re-inventing herself for like... over three decades.! That's what she does!

I think this is, by far, her most surprising, most interesting and most promising re-invention to date! She's credited as Director, Co-Writer and executive producer. Who else but Madonna would come up with a Title like FILTH and WISDOM ?!?

This is her baby. She has a lot invested in WISDOM receiving, at the very least, a modicum of both commercial and critical success.

Quite frankly, I think it would be well-deserved. I've read that Madonna is both a micro-manager and a perfectionist. It's easy to see how both of these traits are reflected through and through in the final cut of WISDOM. The overlay of the music tracks with the visuals is truly inspired and borders on pure genius! Perhaps this aspect was just a tad too "In-Your-Face!", but knowing Madonna and her excesses, I would say some of them were rather low-key, considering their origin.

Madonna has populated her film with a cast of starkly contrasting, singularly unique, true to life, rather dark and believable characters. The most shocking aspect of FILTH and WISDOM? Surprisingly, perhaps just the title! In retrospect, maybe a bad choice, considering it might scare off a lot of potential viewers who would have enjoyed its relatively tame rendition. There is no escaping this fact: Considering WISDOM is a first effort, we must give credit where credit is due and say that all considered, the Material Girl has turned in a rather surprising and oddly entertaining piece of work!

OK, so let me just say that I came into this as a huge fan of Eugene Hutz and Gogol Bordello and while I don't enjoy her music, I like Madonna's persona and was very excited to see the film.

On the upside, this movie did have some interesting ideas on, well... filth and wisdom, sex work and art. Unfortunately, the story-telling vehicle meant to get us to these ideas was so appalling that Mr. Hutz had to narrate them to us fairly explicitly. For ideas to work in a film WITHOUT an engrossing storyline, those ideas better be pretty profound (which these aren't) otherwise it just looks like the amateurish work of an angsty teen (which this did).

To make it all the more disappointing, the character set ups were GOOD. I wanted to like and know about each of the three protagonists and their relationships to each other. Unfortunately, everything goes downhill after we meet them. Their back stories are only hinted at, their motives and personalities one-dimensional and their stated relationships lacked the slightest chemistry. The secondary characters were worse.

So, what happened and who do we hold accountable for ruining this film? Someone was handed a great cast to play exciting characters, a nice little premise and some passable thematic ideas and yet it bombed. The real achievement of this film is that it managed to be as unwatchable as it was. The only real reason to sit through this pile is for the the sheer erotic thrill of seeing Eugene Hutz as a male dominatrix, and if that doesn't get you rocks off, then I'd just skip it all together.