mkw-5

This is why movies exist. This is movie magic: It's alchemy, something that cannot come true without something unexplainable, and that something must be love. One other ingredient is story. Best stories, the only stories that matter, come from life. Life of human beings. Life of REAL people, LIVING people. And stories of real people don't get written down or made to any form of art too often. The reason is that real people are not too frequently any kind of artists.

Artists themselves are not very often what I would call living human beings. In my experience they are many times more or less mentally "ill" people, who run away from their lives rather than people who would confront it and live it. Which is of course totally contrary to the idea, that at least I have, about what an artist should be. Personal therapeutic art is a different case, but that is not meant or made to any other person than the patient.

But Johnny Cash is a real human being. And I say IS, because in this movie, he lives. I don't know or even care about who got the Oscars, Oscars are sh*t anyway, same as every other prices: Nothing more than politics, if not even less. But Joaquin Phoenix in this movie is something more than an actor: He IS Johnny Cash. If you squint your eyes just a little bit, there he is. And that's a miracle: I really felt like I went to Johnny Cash's living life. I don't remember ever having that feeling in a movie. At least not in ten years or something. And Reese Witherspoon... It's so beautiful.

From Mangold I've seen before the movie "Girl, Interrupted", which I love (love, love). On the basis of these two movies, I say that Mangold is one of the three most important movie makers active and ALIVE today. I've seen maybe two thousand movies, but this is one of the few that matters.

Someone said that this is one of those "deeper"/more intellectual horror movies that he likes. Well, I would say that the "deepness" is also in the mind of the watcher: If you are deep and intellectual, then even from the stupidest movies you can find something of those same qualities. I don't quite understand what's all the fuzz about this particular movie: Yes it is very well made and a good quality horror movie, but it's nothing special.

The casting is interesting. I think Rupert Everett is somehow a little "wooden" and distant actor, I haven't seen any of his other movies, but at least here. But he fits in quite well and brings something interesting to the "strangeness" of the movie. Anna Falchi is surprisingly interesting also. (I admit I had some reservations for her acting skills: Before this I hadn't seen her with her clothes on.) Visually and technically the movie is disciplined and looks good. It's basic horror above the mediocre level, but still not anything mind-blowing.

Tobe Hooper: "Dance of the Dead"-Hooper is one of those directors/artists that are on my top favourites list just because a one single work: That is of course in this case The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But I don't have any expectations from him. Partly because the mentioned movie is so perfect and ingenious, that it's hard to imagine him doing anything better, at least if he doesn't try something completely different. Of course comparing is always stupid, be that somebody's own works or others. I try to review every piece as it's own, separate self. OK. There are interesting people here: Very beautiful (Suicidegirls-type) girls, and very sick, disgusting and dirty criminals. The music is very good. The visuals are very well made: Contemporary "chaotic" cutting and camerashaking styles have been used very justifiably. The story (from Richard Matheson) is interesting enough. It's funny that the "end of the world" reality in this film doesn't differ at all from the actual world today. So that's what this is: A picture of the existing reality in today's city culture. Not bad, but not amazing either.

William Malone:"Fair-Haired Child"-Malone is one of the directors in this series, whose name I've never heard. Which is a good thing of course. This movie has really unpleasant atmosphere right from the start, which is also a good start for a horror flick. I guess. At least in it's surrealistic elements this differs from the other parts (of Masters of Horror). This is also the only part in which the (really sick) main characters inner life and history is shown at least a little bit. The overall feeling is kind of a mystery/fairy tale-like, although the story is quite close to the earth. Yeah, it's good. Nothing to complain about. One of the best stories in this series.