Goldbeater

Martin Scorsese masterfully presents a half documentary of the last concert of the legendary rock band The Band and half documentary insight into the personalities of its members, who give entertaining and humorous interviews on camera. And in addition, there is a whole host of star musical guests. I have to say that watching the restored version in the space of a cinema with good sound was a really immersive experience, and I almost felt like a participant of that legendary concert. The excellent music is complemented by imaginative camera shots by the cinematographic elite of the 1970s (Michael Chapman, David Myers, László Kovács, Vilmos Zsigmond...). For me, it was literally a fully experienced film screening and a perfect example of how a viewer can be completely drawn into a work. [KVIFF 2022]

This is Spinal Tap meets 70s Italian oddity with a dash of the Greek weird wave. Peter Strickland once again throws absurdity upon absurdity in an audiovisually interesting and subjectively funny film, which I would be reluctant to recommend to anyone with a clear conscience, because you have to be in a really special mood for this unique work. [KVIFF 2022]

Big Opening is Miroslav Krobot's funniest film to date, but that's not saying much and the bar is set pretty damn low. It's a stilted film about strangely behaving people whose fates you won't care about, and when you actually think about it, the ending doesn't even make sense in the realities of a functioning world (or rather, it would have fatal consequences for the main characters). And the completely theatrical performances certainly don't add to the film's cinematic quality; Pavel Šimčík, moreover, is a really uninteresting driving force for me after his antics in commercials. In addition to that, it is a beautiful example of the outdatedness of contemporary Czech cinema, because making fun of Tourette's syndrome stopped being bearable about fifteen years ago. [KVIFF 2022]

Wandering through the Icelandic landscape has to be engaging, and the overlong runtime wasn't a problem for me. I had problems with characterisation of the characters, though, because the main (anti)hero is an uninteresting miserable wretch, and after a subdued two hours of wandering through the wilderness, his further actions and the subsequent backlash of the other characters in the last sixth of the film seemed to fall out of the blue, and I didn't feel that they were heading in that direction in any way, even covertly. Nicely shot, inconsistent in content. [KVIFF 2022]

That people are cruel to each other and to their animal companions today and every day, we know, it's nothing new under the sun, so I'm glad that Jerzy Skolimowski was at least conscious and didn't stretch his film unnecessarily for more than an hour and a half. If only other festival filmmakers had the same amount of sense… [KVIFF 2022]

George Miller delivers a more mature Hollywood fairy tale along the lines of "One Thousand and One Nights" with captivating visuals, imaginative editing and the charismatic Idris Elba, who, especially with his voice, pulls the whole thing on his shoulders as much as he can. But is that enough for the viewer? Three Thousand Years of Longing attempts to floridly tell an epic tale of humanity, inner desires, love and eternity, but it mires all these lofty themes in such a dramatically muddled form that it makes you dizzy. The whole time I had no idea where it was going, and when it finally got somewhere at the end, I was none the wiser. I practically don't even understand who is supposed to be the target audience of this conventionally told fantasy, because the banal plot and carnival grip can only appeal to children, and they won't get to see it because it has an R-rating due to the nudity and sex. While Miller may have surprised everyone years ago with his fresh and dynamic direction in Fury Road, here he almost seems like a fossil melting over slightly more intellectual bodice rippers. I really don't understand who it's aimed at, and I don't believe it will manage to recoup even a fifth of its budget in revenue. [KVIFF 2022]

Although you may think you know the whole story from the media, the documentary The Killing of a Journalist very skillfully puts the crucial information into a comprehensive context and neatly translates it, along with many surprises, for the viewer, who then has no choice but to shake their head at how "fucked up" the situation in Slovakia really was (or still is; will be). It is good to be reminded of that, to have an active conversation about it, and to not turn a blind eye to it. What else can I say? It was really strong. [KVIFF 2022]

Ruben Östlund delivers an excellent social satire in an endlessly entertaining and sometimes blisteringly funny form that seems to combine three films at once. The centrepiece of this distinctive work is, of course, the quite literal shitstorm in the middle of the plot, which almost seems to have dropped out of a Troma production and then floated out into the international waters of A-list cinema. It won't be a film for everyone, yet it is clearly the most significant highlight of this year's festival in Karlovy Vary and without a doubt one of the greatest film events of the year. When it gets a domestic theatrical release, put it in your calendar! [KVIFF 2022]

Quentin Dupieux projects another geyser of his crazy ideas onto the big screen in a witty parody of superhero films, such as Ninja Turtles, Guardians of the Universe and even the Marvel and DC films, and the like – everyone can find what they want. And the whole thing is combined with the scheme of horror short stories. Sounds hard to believe? Go to the cinema, you won’t believe it until you see it! [KVIFF 2022]

While David Cronenberg's previous genre-diverse films seemed to exist in a complex and vibrant world, Crimes of the Future seems to exist in just three barracks surrounded by a vacuum. It does have thoughts and ideas, but the framework is so clumsily put together that few will be satisfied or surprised by the story this time. And while I understand that the budget was low and the pandemic situation affected the production, I still can't get over the fact that the film is more like an amateur theatre performance than the truly compelling piece of cinema we would like to see from this director. [KVIFF 2022]