tasosk3

This film has the most paranoid, psychedelic story I've seen in ages. Its surrealism makes Monty Python (or even Bunuel) look like the most reasonable of all people. It is said that BJM is a metaphore about our urge to become someone else. I don't know about that, but it is surely a film that takes you to a trip you never want to end; and after making a series of small masterpieces in music videos, Jonze makes surely the most spectacular feature debut of the year (along with Sam Mendes, of course). Oh, yes, and the most original "menage a trois" (or "a quatre"?)one could ever hope for.

A dark and deeply moving story of family corruption and a painful redemption,Festen is a film full of memorable scenes;the horrified look of the older sister when she discovers the discriminating note,the brave attitude of her African-American boyfriend,the hero's dreamlike vision of his dead sister;and above all,in my opinion,the truly shocking scene where his mother publicly humiliates him (with her story of the imaginary friend)in order to protect the so-called family honor, a scene that leaves you frozen. And despite the much-hyped Dogme direction, this film's most amazing aspect is the excellent screenplay, reminiscent of an ancient Greek tragedy, which would have been equally thrilling as a stage play or a novel. In summary, this one is a true future classic.

For all honesty, I cannot understand why everyone is so excited about this one. I mean, as far as Middle Age movies go, Excalibur, the Name of the Rose, or even Dragonheart (not to mention Monty Python and the Holy Grail, ha, ha) are far better than this one. Sure, it has some pretty good battle scenes, Mel Gibson's directing and acting is impressively better than expected, but otherwise it's just another story about a Middle Age hero, no better than all those movies and TV series about Robin Hood or William Tell that we watched when we were children. To come to a conclusion, of all the big Oscar winners of the past decade, this is surely the least interesting.