Holiday Wish List

Oh, I wish there were words capable enough to describe this film - to describe how it made me feel. But maybe there aren't. So, we'll make do with those we have.

I saw this movie at the 50th International Film Festival of Thessaloniki - a festival I've been going to for about 8 years, give-or-take. And this is the best movie I've seen in all those years, through all those movies. It's so intense it rips you apart, full of the most sublime poetry, simplicity raging and screaming. The direction is so meticulously studied - nothing left to chance - every single take and scene offering gravity to the characters. Even now, that I see the poster of the film, it's so brilliant is ridiculous how much. It has this sad-looking child on it, when in the film, we only see a child for seconds, and it is a happy-looking child in those seconds.

After the second half I was constantly crying. I can bet that I'm from the few people who have cried in this film - if not the only one. Because there really isn't something in it that can prompt tears. But it is one of the most intense, most human, most real films I've watched in my life. I wanted to explode, to stand up and shout. I kept switching positions in my seat, I shook my head and laughed and wanted it to end because I couldn't take anymore. And when it was over, I wanted to watch it again.

It's so far my favorite movie of this year. No, scratch that. It's my favorite movie of the last few years. If not my favorite movie amongst the few I hold so dear.

I wish Xavier Dolan can be funded to create more, more, more films in the future. Even though, I already think he has created his chef-d'oeuvre.

The only reason I'm sorry for, is that I didn't get to see this film when it came out two years ago. It was a powerful hit to the stomach, a film that is infused with subtle intensity, a movie about an unusual human drama. For me, this movie was about antitheses: prejudice vs. acceptance, male vs. female, freedom vs. oppression, love vs. neglect, heart-break vs. fulfillment.

The performances are simply brilliant, and although Argentinian cinema is one I'm the least familiar with, I was just proven that indeed the greatest movies don't require neither Hollywood nor billions worth of budget, nor happy endings.

A most powerful film about humanity, sexuality, acceptance, growth and tragedy. I literally didn't want it to end. Lyricism that flies off the screen straight to the heart. No taboos, no restrains, no limits. Real cinema. At last a movie I can call a masterpiece.

Absolutely my favorite movie so far this year. Adam Elliot just delivered something so sublime not even the greatest auteurs can beat - I'm sure Tim Burton will watch this and think, "ah, damn it, why didn't I think of it first?!"

I wish words could explain how truly marvelous it is. A story of an unlikely friendship, of torture, depression, love, loneliness - an appraisal of the different and the most unique. So beautiful and larger-than-life. Wonderful animation, the most gracefully disconsolate ending, one of the truest and most human stories I've ever had the pleasure to seeing. Just...wondrous.

The most magical, the most pure, the most wonderful fairytale of all times. A lot more than just a desperate love story of two people of different worlds. Beneath its versi-colored surface lie thoughts and words that extend beyond the movie. This faitytale has stolen my heart and will always have it.

There's not much really to be said about this film. Just that it's a masterpiece and probably the best comedy I have watched in my life. Educative, spiritedly astute, magnificent in its sarcasm. Exceptional performances, unexampled direction and a truly brave script. Denmark might have a slowly-developing cinema, but it's a cinema worth waiting for. I wish everybody could make movies like this: you laugh when you want to cry, you wonder and you are amazed. What more does one need?

Probably one of my top favourites of all times. Instant classic. True, non-negotiable, full of magic and surprises with one of the greatest endings ever. Sam Rockwell delivers another astounding performance in this no-budget, undisguised, lost-in-the-process-of-making-blockbusters masterpiece.

Absolutely marvelous. Action movies are my least favorite kind, but this one is radically different than all the cliche crap we've seen in the past. I haven't read the book, but the movie is just fantastic. It's 2-and-a-half-hours long and yet it literally flies by. Sorry for the expression, but Swedish cinema has balls. There can never be a Hollywood remake out of this movie, and even if there will be, half of the material will be edited out. Because in Man Som Hatar Kvinnor there are no embellishments, no efforts to make it harmless. You just dive into it and are swept by it. I do sincerely hope there shall not be a Hollywood remake, because let's face it - the Swedish near-masterpiece will be butchered. Noomi Rapace gives a stellar performance and deserves most of the credit of why this movie is so splendid.

L.I.E. successfully merges hidden desires/homosexual ambiguities with the inner will for a getaway from reality. Paul Dano and Brian Cox are marvelous. A true masterpiece that always manages to sneak up on you when you least expect it.