“Calvary” Movie Review

Year: 2014

Director: John Michael McDonagh

Writer: John Michael McDonagh

Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Isaach De Bankolé, M. Emmet Walsh, Marie-Josée Croze, Domhnall Gleeson, David Wilmot

“Calvary” is John Michael McDonagh’s second film after “The Guard” and also starring Brendon Gleeson, but this time as a priest. The story takes place in Ireland, after the child-abuse scandal, when the church is openly despised and mocked, accused of cynicism or simply seen as irrelevant in a time when corporations rule the country.

As a film about a priest, “Calvary” doesn’t come off as the typical movie about religion and it doesn’t feel preachy. As someone who’s not a fan of the church in any way, I didn’t feel like watching a religious film, it is simply a striking film about human relations, life and death, morality and stoicism. It explores fate as a path towards finding forgiveness and staying true to your ideals and mission.

Set in a world where there’s no justice for the guilty, “Calvary” looks at the sacrifice of the good. From the very beginning of the film, we hear the death threat against the priest that will drive the story: “There’s no point in killing a bad priest. But a good one… that would be a shock.” After this “confession” Father James (Brendon Gleeson) has one week to prepare himself and to make a decision whether to run away, to turn in the man who threatened him or to stay. During that time we’re trying to figure out who made the threat. However, it is not the typical whodunit story. “Calvary” consists mainly of various conversations with all the parishioners, which are cleverly written and include a surprising amount of dark humor.

Father James is a flawed man, but a good priest that genuinely tries to help and understand his “flock” without judging them. He is witty and sometimes unorthodox; has a humble home, but also a convertible car. He has his own troubled past and just as troubled daughter, which give him more depth. Father James doesn’t pretend to know all the answers and simply tries to give some sensible advice. He doesn’t mind discussing possible situations when killing could be justified or suggesting pornography as an outlet for frustration.

In contrast to James is Father Leary, who seems to be much more innocent and kind, but he’s naïve, ignorant and “has no integrity.” He has no experience and he didn’t make the mistakes James made in the past, thus being far less unprepared to be a good priest.

“Calvary” has a big ensemble cast with a lot of great performances, but Brendon Gleeson is definitely the heart of the film. His acting is grounded, but warm and poignant. He has no problems convincing us that he is this flawed, but ultimately good and stoic priest. And by the end of the story, after he talks to all these people, you learn a lot not only about the world around him, but about his own fears and virtues. With such great performances, no wonder the last act of the film is so hitting.

“Calvary” can be seen as a bit more “theatrical”, heightened movie, full with extraordinary, bigger-than-life characters. However, it is extremely well written, engaging and believable. The nature in the movie has this indifferent and overpowering presence, with the Knocknarea hill looking like a monolith, placed by the gods to remind us of the cruel randomness of the world. Similarly, the horrible sentence doesn’t seem to have any logic or sense of justice behind it: “I’m going to kill you, because you’re innocent.” What if Father James chooses to reach his limits to help his parishioners and become the innocent one to pay for the others? Is it possible for his virtues to endure? You have to see (and decide) for yourself.

The movie has 7,5 on IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

7,6 from users and 77 from critics on MetaCritic -  http://www.metacritic.com/movie/calvary

89% on RottenTomatoes -  http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/calvary_2013/?search=calva

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“Wild Tales” ("Relatos Salvajes") Movie Review

Year: 2014

Director: Damián Szifrón

Writer: Damián Szifrón

Stars: Ricardo Darín, Erica Rivas, Darío Grandinetti, María Marull, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Julieta Zylberberg, Oscar Martínez, Diego Gentile

“Wild Tales” is nothing short of amazing, simultaneously hilarious and dark thrill ride. Actually, the less you know about the film, the better it is. When I saw it with a friend, we knew absolutely nothing about it, besides the fact that it’s Oscar-nominated and “fun.” So, when we sat down in the cinema, we were absolutely surprised, electrified and by the end of the movie – thoroughly entertained. I didn’t even know that it consists of six different stories.

“Wild Tales” is a black comedy, filled with violence and action that will keep you at the edge of your seat. It effortlessly combines action and tension with the comedy; it does the same with with drama, romance and thriller. The introductory story even takes the type of situation that we would usually see in cartoons and excitingly ushers us headfirst into the crazy world of the movie.

Damián Szifrón, who has been directing and writing primarily for TV up to this point, takes full advantage of his experience with the short form. In fact, the film originally included a seventh tale called “Bonus Track” and the order of the stories was different. Remarkably, every unique story is enough fascinating and exciting by itself, but there are still common themes and style between all “tales.” With hot-headed characters that are driven in one way or another to their breaking point and often to a quite animalistic state, “Wild Tales” makes you question the inherent humanity of our species. In relation to that the movie has great opening credits, in which each actor is represented by the image of a wild animal. The director himself chose a fox, because he has red hair and his father had a fondness of the animal.

“Wild Tales” is considered an Argentine-Spanish production with the notable involvement of Pedro Almodovar as one of the producers. The movie looks great cinematically and also sounds great. Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla, a two-time Oscar winner composed the soundtrack.

“Wild Tales” was among the Oscar nominated foreign-language films for 2014 and probably the most unexpected one, since it’s very fast-paced, filled with action and violence. It is also the seventh film from Argentina nominated for the award. The movie quickly became the most seen film in Argentina for 2014 and was shown in 275 cinemas throughout the country. Consequently, by the end of the it became the most seen film from Argentine of all-time. “Wild Tales” was also celebrated at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it reportedly received a standing ovation for about 10 minutes. The film was also in the competition for the Palme d'Or at the Festival.

The movie has 8,2 on IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011894/

8,9 from users and 77 from critics on MetaCritic -  http://www.metacritic.com/movie/wild-tales

95% on RottenTomatoes -  http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wild_tales

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“Nightcrawler” Movie Review

Year: 2014

Director: Dan Gilroy

Writer: Dan Gilroy

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed, Kevin Rahm

In “Nightcrawler” Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom - a socially awkward loner, desperately looking for a job with the ambition to make a successful career. He almost accidentally starts a career as a “nightcrawler” – gathering morally questionable footage from accidents and crime scenes. The movie is written and directed by Dan Gilroy – writer for “The Bourne Legacy”, “The fall” and others. “Nightcrawler” is his debut as a director and he did an amazing job in character building, pacing and visual style.

Robert Elswit is the cinematographer for the movie and you can clearly tell that it’s done by someone with great experience and talent. (He worked on “Magnolia”,” Good Night, and Good Luck”, “There Will Be Blood”, “Mission Impossible”, “Boogie Nights” etc.). The movie just looks gorgeous - Gyllenhaal’s magnetic presence and the camera work are enough to make you stare at the screen for hours even if nothing’s happening. Well, I would do it. The details, light, camera angles – everything is great. For example, there’s a scene when one of Lou’s rivals gets in an accident and there’s a great dramatic shot from his point of view looking up to the camera shoved in his face. I also absolutely loved the sharp, rocking soundtrack by James Newton Howard. It shines with its energy, rich drums, a central guitar riff and haunting electronic elements.

The “Nightcrawler” starts off with an eerie, but beautiful opening shot of L.A. that quickly gives us the feeling of isolation and lets us know that the hero lives on the fringes of life. From the very first moment you hear him talk, you can feel that he reeks of weirdness and although he’s genuinely creepy you can’t take your eyes off of him. I literally watched the first few minutes of the movie with my mouth open, because I truly haven’t seen so fascinating character in a very long time. Everything he says is strange and enthralling, although sometimes absolutely hilarious. That’s another thing I loved so much about the film – the dark humor. In many ways “Nightcrawler” is a terrific black comedy.

All actors in the movie are outstanding – both Riz Ahmed and Rene Russo give powerful performances. But Jake Gyllenhaal is the most amazing thing in the film and not just because he’s the protagonist, he’s simply captivating - you can hardly believe that’s even him. Of course, he lost a lot of weight, but his performance by itself is something that I haven’t seen from him before, he is like a completely different person.

And Lou is amazing character to play – he’s polite and a little bit childish in a bizarre way. Everything he says is calculated to get him closer to what he wants, although you can clearly see that he took lots of online courses and read too many self-help, “young entrepreneur” type of books. As he puts it: “You can find almost everything if you look hard enough.” Makes you think about the role of internet in our lives, doesn't it?

Despite the fact that Lou turns out to be a complete sociopath with no moral restrains, you somehow understand where he’s coming from and at times you’re really excited for him to get his work done well. He is ambitious and smart, meticulous in his work, analytical and procedural. In a way he is the product and embodiment of the capitalistic society, in which success must be achieved at any cost. He lives in an oppressing environment with absurdly high social expectations and problematic priorities. Gyllenhaal himself said that he sees this move as a success story. In this way “Nightcrawler” goes beyond the crime thriller and becomes a very modern social satire. It also heavily explores the mainstream media, the “ethic” of journalists and how media executives decide what “the story” is by manipulating information to appeal or scare the public. By the end of the movie we realize that the news runners might be just as ruthless and psychotic as our protagonist.

As pacing the movie is perfect. There’s a lot of suspense and very, very well-done car chase sequence. You more or less know where the things are going, but when certain things happen, you still go: “That’s so messed up.” And Gyllenhaal’s character is just so intriguing, that I could easily spend at least 1 or 2 more hours in the cinema just observing him do his job. So, I have absolutely no complains and I am excited to see the movie again.

The movie has 8,4 on IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

8,3 from users and 76 from critics on MetaCritic -  http://www.metacritic.com/movie/nightcrawler

94% on RottenTomatoes -  http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightcrawler/

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