Predrag

It isn't uncommon to encounter a film that is insultingly bad. What is rarer, is to watch something comically bad, almost a parody of itself. Supposedly taking pride in long shots, this film doesn't mind if those long shots are completely meaningless and unexplained. Anything inarticulate will be scooped up by a (supposed) theme of human inability to communicate. Perhaps also bad acting and horrible dialog? Or sappy music and obligatory few seconds too many on the tail of every shot... yes, all this made me laugh!

But the top comical place is reserved for the camerawork: I've never seen such almost purposely bad operating, with camera that seems unable to find a level horizon, always lags behind the actor's movement, and keeps undecidedly correcting the frame even though nothing is changing within it! Even the light and color correction could be done better by anyone on the first year of a film school. There are few (long) full body shots where camera operator can't decide whether to include the actor's shoes and chop off his forehead, or the other way around. Yes, a genuine comedy.

Insultingly idiotic dialogue and bad taste on every step, with a touch of ignorant misogyny, cheesy lack of realism, and trying to fill the screen time with the character's formulaic shallow "problem past". Polished visuals that sacrifice realism for their own gain don't help.

I usually write a review only when my opinion drastically differentiates from what I find already contributed - when there's a dire need to tip the scale. And there is one here, to save this incredible film from the lynch mob.

This atmospheric dark period romance set in an unusual stage has a lot of human drama to offer. And this is what S. Bier is known at excelling. And pouring it on, which obviously irritates some part of the audience. But it is all done with a lot of taste for timing, with a good and fresh modern editing which disposes of most needless parts of the action and instead rather reserves that time for us to think about it all during the breaks of foggy Smoky Mountains scenery. (Obfuscation plays a leading role here, and this landscape couldn't be a better choice.)

Film is layered with appropriately somber music used/mixed with subtlety, and likewise its gorgeous photography has been wonderfully appreciated by the edit which understands its visual potential. This is one of those rare instances where a pattern of hand-held closeups doesn't seem gratuitous, but does manage to bring us closer to the characters. Beside this being the result of the strong characters themselves, it is also a combination of a slower, not-frenetic pace, with a lot of static masters too.

While there might be some unbelievable decisions the characters make in this story, we need to remind ourselves that instead of treating this as a negative, these are the emotional extremes we should be welcoming, in an emotional rawness which needs appreciation. At the end, it is an emotional and symbolic theater in which all the elements and symbols have and live to deliver their wonderfully intertwined meanings.