VIDEO REVIEW: Paprika

The Lucid Nightmare - Paprika Review by jayskitstar

REVIEW: The Dark Hour

The Dark Hour
Director: Elio Quiroga
Year 2006

The Dark Hour is a highly engaging horror hybrid that follows a group of survivors as they struggle to stay alive in a post nuclear apocalypse. Constantly brimming in a heightened sense of paranoia and doom, the group fights off the persistent attacks of infected zombies and ghostlike creatures, while dealing with the constant threat of civil war among their surviving numbers. With terror around every corner, can the group salvage the small community they've established or is humankind doomed to repeat their own destruction. The Dark Hour is a curious film filled with tremendous mysteries and nonstop suspense and it's one that will stay with you long after viewing.

Doesn't look like the most inhabitable environment to raise little ones.

Director Elio Quiroga drops us smack dab into a world that has been devastated by man's inability to find peace. Battered and broken, we're placed into a tight knit community of survivors that all long to make it through these turbulent times and possibly build a new future as long as they can survive the new dangers this world has produced. The cast does an impeccable job of bringing this dangerous world to life, painting it in a desperate tone that pretty much sustains throughout the film's runtime. Their performances are foreboding and serious, always keeping the audience aware that not everything is right in this current living arrangement that they have created. We're given bits and pieces of what is going on within the group and the world for that matter, but are never given enough to formulate a concise blueprint on what is plaguing the crew until much later. I really loved the slow build up and unfolding of the world in this approach. It gives us a chance to get to know the players on hand and what an assorted and motley crew they are.

Watching a movie within a movie. Very mysterious indeed.

The central character of this piece would have to be the young and mischievous Jesus, who in the early opening segment of the film, introduces us to the entire cast of survivors. We're given, through Jesus' personal narration, an inner look into how Jesus perceives each member and how they appear to him in their figurative roles. It's an interesting approach and one that works well off the concept of mystery and the slow unraveling of the plot. By seeing the world through a young child's eye, we're only given a small viewpoint on the bigger picture at hand. This makes the concept of the mysteries and the adult aspects of their dire situation that much more natural and fluent for we feel the frustration and helplessness that young Jesus must be feeling by not knowing the truth or the danger that he is truly in. I felt that it was a refreshing approach to a rather original plot, placing us in the shoes of an innocent who isn't apart of the day to day plans in keeping the group alive.

A ghostly figure of a ghost.

Not only is the set-up rather ingenious, but the rounding out of the adult cast members and mentors of young Jesus is also rather inspiring. There's a great diversity to the group, with everyone bringing something special to their roles. There's the hardened female leader Maria and her charismatic lover Pablo, who serves as a rather special father figure to Jesus. A mentally burned-out soldier named Pedro who appears dangerously obsessed with Maria. Then there's Magda the astronomer who mothers an orphaned teenager named Ana, who also shares in some of the angst of being protected from the truth like young Jesus. Another interesting pairing is in Lucas and Matao, a gay couple whose relationship begins to morph as tensions rise and close quarters begin to take their toll.

Completing the group is the loner and elder Judas, who lives outside of the survivors compound. He's the most interesting of the bunch for he gives the most information on what has happened to this world and why it is that they live this way. His small glimpses into the world before the war and how the civilization functioned is quite enthralling and oh so intriguing. All in all, the cast is just remarkable, allowing us to see some very different viewpoints, both personal and political, within this crumbled society.

VIRUS!

One of the most effective aspects of the film is done through the slow reveal of information and knowledge, which is so eloquently gifted to the audience, by the character of Judas. By using old news reels and various propaganda found throughout his living quarters, we get a rough idea on what has proceeded up until this point in the movie. Keep in mind though that nothing is ever spelled out to the viewer, seeing that we are essentially experiencing everything through the captivated minds of the two younger characters.

In essence this is a coming of age sort of narrative, where we follow both Jesus and Ana on their journey to discover the truth behind why their world is this way. The understanding of their world is born of innocence. They are naive to their surroundings just as we are naive to the prehistory of the film. When a new piece of the puzzle falls into place by the wise words of Judas, we take it all in, but never fully grasp the overall meaning of that knowledge for it's not the complete picture. I loved this form of discovering the world alongside the two young characters and thought that it was the perfect way to bring us along for their wild ride of discovery.

I've got a problem solver and it's name is....... pistol.

As we are given more pieces to the puzzle, we come to realize that something of a nuclear war has taken place between two warring civilizations or factions. Again, nothing is really spelled out to the audience, but fragments of truth begin spilling out as the film moves along. There's also a great blend of science fiction as we come to discover that this civilization had some great technological advancements in their everyday society. The mystery thickens as we realize that this is a world, of possibly our future, giving way to all kinds of possibilities and cavernous room for speculation. The Dark Hour is really a film that keeps you on your feet mentally, always introducing something new to the equation and flipping the already established findings on their head. It's a whirlwind of ideas that just seem to blend so well together. You really have to give it up to the creators on concocting such a deep and engaging story that is both ambiguous in its interpretation yet concise in its overall tone.

Why don't you get that damn light out of my face!

Now, I've been gushing over the high concept approach of this genre film, but I'm forgetting the real meat and potatoes of the movie and that's the horror elements. The atmosphere is just charged with a foreboding presence that it just lies thick in the air. The dark corridors and the low lighting of the film, really amp up the scare factor and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The overall feel of the film has a lot to do with the two antagonists that plague the survivors of the movie. They're two separate entities that are worlds apart, yet have the same function in bringing on the scares and death's of our main characters. There's so much to talk about between the two, that I'm just going to start with one side of the coin and then branch off into the other wild offerings. Needless to say, the film has a wide array of iconic baddies that make this film an oddity of sorts.

This film may be too spooky for kids under 13.

First off, you'd be surprised to know that this is in fact a zombie film. At its heart it is a siege film, where our heroes are trapped inside an essentially boarded up facility with rabid creatures trying to rip their way inside. It's not as straight forward as a George Romero film, yet still it has that essential ingredient that matches the tone of Romero's work. Instead of a rotting corpse devouring the living, we have a slimy, tar-skinned creature that infects its victims by simply touching them. Pair this with the small tidbits we are given about nuclear fallout and radiation poisoning, and we're given an interesting yet highly vague outlook unto how these creatures came to be. Even with its enigmatic approach to explaining the existence of these zombie like creatures, I still loved trying to piece together their mysterious origins and the circumstances that brought them to this ravenous fate. In the end, these guys are fearsome and send shivers down your spine whenever they appear in the film, so that's all that matters to me. Plus, these undead beings are nothing compared to the films other perplexing protagonists.

You're going to wreck your eyes sitting that close to the TV, junior.

What seems like overkill, on what is already a rather ambitious film, the creators decide to throw a supernatural element into the mix. Ghosts, in the shape of massive insect like beings, visit our surviving characters, bringing with them a chill that literally freezes the living world. With these bad boys, we get little to no explanation at all and it's basically up to the reviewer to fill in the blanks on what they are and where they came from. It's kind of odd that such a vital part of the story line is kind of just out there with no reasoning behind it, but even with the lack of depth on the ghost's part, I still enjoyed their ever lurking presence. The sequences in which the apparitions visit the group's bunker at night are rather intense, building up a very effective amount of suspense as the hallways and doorways begin to freeze over from their icy arrival. There existence in the world is a nice touch, even if it borders on overkill.

Maria comes to the realization that one of her group may need to go to the funny farm.

The most amazing prospect of The Dark Hour is its uncanny ability to build up to a specific event in time. Throughout the whole movie, the film is establishing the layout of how this film world functions, yet inevitably never giving too much away so to make us yearn to know more while filling in some of the blanks ourselves. In this process, we tend to veer off from the correct path and let our minds go wild, only to be given another small piece of the puzzle that results in resetting our course towards the truth. This happens time and time again as the film trudges along and in each instance it works perfectly. The mystery is always present and functioning to the max.

What all of this teasing and mental manipulating ends up doing is that it preps our minds for one of the most mind boggling conclusions to any zombie/sci-fi/ghost story hybrid that I've ever come across. I'm not going to give any of it away, but the last visual moments of the film are quite out there and extremely unexpected. The funny thing is that even in the reveal of the conclusion there are still many ways to interpret what you've seen. I've read many theories on what a great deal of diverse people thought of the ending and most of their hypothesis make sense. That's what I think is so great about this ending. It can go in so many directions and have so many meanings to so many different people, yet still make sense in the grand scheme of it all. It's such a memorable ending and the general build up to that epic conclusion is just masterfully executed.

Note to self, this is not a good idea.

The Dark Hour is a film that has so much going for it that it's just silly that so many people have yet to experience its ambiguity. The combination of science fiction, supernatural creatures, and zombie film aesthetics is just mesmerizing and the fact that it all gels together nicely is frankly kind of mind-boggling. I loved the large range of characters within the small group and the interactions that occur during their long fight for survival. I loved the small bits of prehistory that we are given and the fact that it is gifted upon the viewer in small sporadic portions that eventually results in a reveal that I don't think anyone can truly see coming.

With all its high concept ideas, the film works on the basic level of a brutal zombie film with a haunted house kind of edge. It never strays from being a genre film, for the atmosphere is thick and never lets up as it focuses on the moral decay of humankind when pushed to the limit and faced with the worst. It's refreshing to see a film like this, that has something more to say underneath the subtext of the film, while at the same time being able to keep that overwhelming horror tone. I'd have to highly recommend this film to anyone that enjoys a good old fashion horror film, that isn't afraid to have something mentally challenging going on under the hood. It's ambitious, bold, and devastating, never compromising for the easy way out and never straying from its focused attempt at telling a deep and intriguing story. Loved it!

5 out of 5 stars     An Ambitious Hybrid of Horror Goodness!

REVIEW: Paprika

Paprika

Director: Satoshi Kon

Year 2006

Paprika is one hell of a trippy film. It's so trippy in fact, that it could literally give you nightmares for weeks. Directed by Satoshi Kon, who just so happens to be one of the greatest animators of recent times, creates a world where dreams can be experienced and shared by others, allowing for a whole new world of interactive possibilities in a new high tech civilization. Kon's credits include some of the best animated films in the business like Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, and he's responsible for the writing credits for the stupendous short story Magnetic Rose which can be found in the anthology Memories, that I reviewed here on this site. 

I can feel your beady little eyes watching me.

Satoshi Kon is also known for the animated film Millennium Actress which I recently picked up for a bargain and have yet to view. Odds are that I'm really going to enjoy that one. Needless to say that the man is a legend and has contributed so much in the animation world, but sadly he passed away this past August, leaving behind a legacy that will most definitely stand the test of time. His films seem to have a life of there own and this outstanding quality is perfectly displayed within the vibrant story of Paprika.

Party People! Party People!

The premise for this little animated gem is quite intriguing and ever so ambitious. Satoshi sets up a world that is not much different from our own. It's a place filled with ordinary people who love movies, work jobs, and have dreams. What makes this world so unique from our own though, is the invention of a device that can record a person's dreams, giving way to a whole new voyeuristic obsession. This magnificent device, called the D.C. Mini, is used in the practical and professional field of psychiatry, particularly by therapists as they delve into their patients minds to work out the mental kinks and unveil a whole new layer of the mind's inner workings. 

So how did all of this porn get on your computer?

The problem with creating such a powerful device is that it's bound to be exploited and misused. The D.C. Mini is stolen from the Foundation for Psychiatric Research facility and is now being used by a recluse assassin who uses the device to enter his victims dreams in order to plant his own nightmarish visions into their world. This vision which at first seems to be a harmless parade of oversized teddy bears and cute smiling figurines, quickly begins to turn ominous as they threaten to overtake anyone in their path, both conscious and unconscious. The plot is simply amazing and seems like an inspirational stepping stone for Christopher Nolan's masterwork, Inception. Both deal with the idea that our minds are an intricate labyrinth that can be beautiful, but at the same time very deadly.

When the trust game goes too far.

With such a rich and interesting concept ripe with possibilities, Satoshi does not disappoint by using the idea of dream manipulating to its fullest. There's always a new twist or turn in the story-line that keeps things interesting, all while at the same time he lays out the possibility of what would happen if such a technology existed. Dealing with dreams, both conscious and subconscious, Satoshi plays with the notion of never letting the audience know if  what they are seeing is truly real or a figment of someone else's demented imagination. The nightmares that spill out onto the screen are some that are strikingly real and obscurely out of this world.

Man she's got some self image issues.

There are many familiar and stereotypical visual cues that seep there way into the many dream sequences that fill this film. One of the most recognizable ones is the old running in slow motion or the feeling of running in place, not being able to get away or take chase. Satoshi uses these conventional ideas and builds off of that to really make these surreal sequences hit home for the audience. For example, one of the main characters, a detective, is experiencing a reoccurring dream, that has him chasing an assailant down a long hallway, only to be foiled by the very ground that he walks on. It wavers and pitches like a tidal-wave as he helplessly watches his intended prey vanish out a fire escape. This example is just one of many where Satoshi uses the inherent notion of dreams and builds upon it, to make a very chilling and effective sequence.

Get moving there crazy legs.

There's also a great blending of filmic iconography throughout the film. The same character that was having the reoccurring nightmare of not being able to catch his suspect, has a panic attack whenever anyone mentions the cinema or films in general. This fear is then translated over to his dreams, where he is forced to act out iconic scenes from various films, as he falls from one genre to the next. The later reveal in the film, explains why he is so disturbed by filmmaking. It's actually an emotional story that gives the character an extra layer of sympathy and life. It's also nice to see the use of all of these cinematic elements, because it really works well with the idea of dreams and it shows the great love that Satoshi had for motion pictures and the power that they can possess.

And you thought your movie theater was filled with assholes.

The concept of being able to experience other people's dreams is a fantastic idea, and one of the great things about working within that mind of thinking is to be able to conceptualize some over the top sequences that are able to really astound the mind. The entire plot is guided by this unrelenting notion that the character's wildest dreams are at the controls, plotting our course wherever their mind will take them. It's a place where anything can happen and the laws of physics and overall restrictions that the real world hinders onto us is thrown right out the window. Some of the scenes that Satoshi comes up with are just stunning in there execution and breathtaking in how visceral such a fantasy infused idea can be.

I believe I can fly. R Kelly inspires!

The very idea that a device can make it possible to enter someone's dreams and give the user the ability to infect another's mind is something that's truly exceptional and full of promising possibilities. What's even more wondrous is the fact that as the plot thickens we find that not only can this infection occur between one person to another, but it can begin to infect an entire population. This cascade effect can reverberate like a snowball rolling down a mountainside as it gains momentum and begins to collect mass growing larger and larger as it continues on. I love the concept and it's visually displayed to perfection as a large bombastic parade that walks the streets of the city, collecting people up as it goes. The scenes where this massive parade of people shows up is really something from out of a nightmare. It's cute and filled with oddities, but infectious and down-right destructive.

Godzilla vs. Naked Tar Man

With such ambitious concepts that are brought forth by the film's story, Satoshi is more then up to the challenge in rendering an equally elaborate visual style that can bring all of these ideas to life. The worlds and characters that spring forth from these dreams are matched only by their natural progression of fleeting appearances and disappearances. Much like a dream, things happen and then fade in an instant, only to never return, even without explanation. You would think that this would make the overall story seem pretty frantic and nonsensical, but luckily Satoshi is a master story teller and is able to balance the confusing nature of dreams and give it some substance, even if it is in some form of metaphor or personification of the overall idea. Paprika is a deep piece of work and one that demands a great deal from its audience.

Do you have an old asian in you? Do you want to?

I've been fairly vague in my description of this film and that is entirely on purpose. Paprika is a movie that you should go into with a moderately fresh mind, just be prepared to be blown away. It has some ambitious ideas and even more impressive visuals that ask a lot from the viewing audience. The concepts are fierce and if you don't pay attention, they can threaten to swallow you up, much like the infectious parade of cute and fuzzy party goers.

Paprika is an outstanding look into what a dangerous place our minds can be. The reality that ideas are born from our own intentions but can rapidly turn into something else entirely, haunting us and changing our conscious decisions, is a frightening one. The way that Satoshi introduces this concept through the terroristic actions of a rogue assassin, misusing a new and powerful technology, is genius. He takes us on an amazing ride that defies logic yet sits it casually within the realm of possibility. I highly recommend this film to animation lovers and anyone who dares to dream about something bigger then themselves.

5 out of 5 stars     A Masterful Dream-Manipulated Epic!

REVIEW: Children of Men

Children of Men
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Year 2006

Children of Men is a haunting and sweeping apocalyptic view into a world where humanity cannot birth any more children. The sheer visceral impact of this dystopian concept, comes vividly to life with the careful and skilled eye of director Alfonso Cuaron. The world that he conceptualized is frighteningly real and the grit of it gets into every fabric of the production. I wish all science fiction stories were this hardened and ingrained in their own reality, and the ones that are, really stand out as classics of the genre. This film follows in the footsteps of the great sci-fi films like Blade Runner, 1984, and Alien. They present a fictional tale of futuristic wonder and bring it down to a relatable and humanized story, building on the characters experiences to solidify its validity.

The hazy filled world of Children of Men.

The film starts out with our main character Theo Faron, played by the impeccable Clive Owen, as he grabs his morning coffee only to be rudely interrupted by a terrorist attack on his local coffee shop. The society of Children of Men is a place of constant panic and the citizens are persistently reminded of their immortality in the form of never being able to bare children. The news stations run rampant with coverage of the youngest man in the world's death, driving home the desperate notion that this may be indeed the end of humanity. It's a depressing world and the locales chosen for this film are exquisite in their loneliness and depravity.

Clive Owen remembers the old days, just

before being pelted by rocks. Damn trouble makers.

The characters of this film are remarkable though and bring about a different hue of this oppressive world. Michael Cane plays Clive Owen's friend by the name of Jasper, who is sort of an elderly hippy who lives in the middle of nowhere, far from the smoggy air of the city. His character brings a jovial sense to all of the despair and he delves a great deal into giving us a small peak into the back story that made Clive Owen's character so brooding and melancholy. Michael Caine is amazing in everything that he's in so it comes to no surprise that he does an excellent job with the character of Jasper, giving him a heart and soul.

Michael Caine thinks this movie is A Ok.

The blatantly destructive look of this film is constant, never bringing you out of the film, and never letting up as we delve deeper into the claustrophobic confines of this oppressive and over controlling world. The police presence is everywhere and the idea that our main character could be taken away at any moment by these rabid enforcers is quite real and extremely daunting to the viewer. We are given so much imagery with each scene, that we really get a great sense of how this world functions and the inhabitants that struggle to survive within its unforgiving walls. Graffiti is plastered throughout the city, shedding light on an organization called the Human Project, that as the film goes on, we find is a group of scientist trying to find the cure for the sterile population and some how repopulate the earth. There are sinister tones to this organizations motives and there are also saintly murmurs of a chance of salvation through their actions, but the ambiguity of this group is never defined only touched upon lightly.

The Human Project sounds like a kick-ass band. Not.

The world spins quickly out of control and delves into more exhaustive confusion, when Theo is abducted by a strange organization that has affiliations with the Human Project movement. They snatch him from off the street, covering his head with a black sack as they force him into a van. The group then takes him to a surreal interrogation room, where he is questioned by a mysterious woman who happens to be an old friend and lover. Julianne Moore is the leader of this rag tag group who seems to have some secret of great importance that they want Theo to help them with. I normally can't stand Julianne Moore, but she plays an interesting character in this film that has a certain intriguing quality that didn't annoy me for the duration of her screen time. The outcome of her character is quite surprising and it comes right out of left field, giving another great example of how dangerous this world truly is.

Clive Owen takes a friendly trip to Guantanamo.

One of the unorthodox techniques that Alfonso Cuaron uses in this film that really hits marks of brilliance, is his use of long drawn out takes that incapsulates all that is going on in the intricately planned action scene. This use of direction is fresh and is truly breathtaking, making you feel like your right there in the moment with these characters. There's so much emotional pull created by this technique, that it's hard not to be swept up in the flow of the narrative as you experience what they experience. The first scene where this is really shown to its fullest is during the car ambush scene, where our characters are attacked by a band of outlaws who fire upon the car and block the road with flaming barrels. It's a tremendous scene and one that creates an impact that is felt throughout the entire film.

Chiwetel Ejiofor, proceeds to crap his

pants in one of the best scenes of the film.

Children of Men is without a doubt an amazing movie, and if you want to go into this film with a fairly fresh mind, I'm going to ask that you not read any more and go see it with virgin eyes. Now that's done with, lets get on to the meat and potatoes of this film.

In this film, we are given a world starved for new life in that the very idea that someone could indeed be fertile be almost legend. The set up by Cuaron to make us believe this world and all the functionality of it, is stupendous and when we find out the secret that the Human Project has been hiding from Theo, we are blown away. It seems that a pregnant woman named Kee, played by the unknown Clare-Hope Ashitey, has been found, and they are planning to transport her to the Human Project off of the shores of England and into safety. The set up for this reveal is great and quite messiah like as the scared mother stands naked in a modernized nativity scene, surrounded by farm animals in a rusty barn. The impact of this moment, brings the true nature of Theo's character to the surface and it propels him on a quest to see this woman and her unborn child to safety.

Someone put the coins on Clive Owen's eyes,

cause he sure don't believe what he is seeing.

This is where things get really confusing and out of control, because we find out that not everyone within the group has the pregnant woman's best interests at heart. These impetuous thugs see the opportunity of having the only pregnant woman in the world and see great enterprising in this venture. Theo sees this volatile situation and opts to help Kee and her baby by performing a miraculous morning escape that really gets the blood pumping with its intense moments and split second decisions. The most memorable moment of the escape is the long cut of the car slowly coasting down the driveway of the farmhouse as a dreadlocked thug runs along side the car pointing his pistol into the car. It's an explosive scene with an intimate edge that is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Start the car! It's an albino Predator with a gun!

Alfonso Cuaron gives us some amazing imagery to look at in this film. Most of it is almost poetic in its approach to convey the overall feeling of the scene. The sense of this lost world without children and all the hope that lies with Kee and her baby is brought front and center from just a single shot of Kee swinging on an empty playground, with Theo worriedly looking off into the distance. The composition of this frame is beautiful and the location on which it's set in is perfect for the ideals that the film preaches in its overall attempt to make us believe in this world. It works and it speaks wonders for what Cuaron can accomplish with just a well planned out series of images. He definitely guides this film with a steady camera and expert eye.

Clive Owen longs for someone to invite him to the playground.

Intensity is the name of the game with this film as we're presented with one outrageous situation after another, each showing the brutality that exists in this world. Throughout the film, we lose parts of our group, some by the steely cold hands of death and others through more nefarious means. Kee's midwife is taken away by soldiers to a prison camp in an intense scene of loss and anguish as we aren't sure if our main characters will get out of this situation. It's a hard film and Alfonso never pulls his punches as he berates us with more devastating imagery and heartbreaking moments. This all leads up to an intense birthing scene that really brings a definitive moment to all that they had been struggling for.

Ok, you want me to do what?

Like with the car ambush scene, we are presented with another astonishing long take of a war torn battlefield as Theo desperately tries to find a newly kidnapped Kee and her baby. This sequence is literally breathtaking as we follow behind Theo through hell itself, with gunfire blasting and there's even a tank blowing things sky high. It's a wonder to witness and greatly appreciated for its portrayal of one of the most intense scenes that I've ever witnessed on screen. The technique of shadowing all these crazy events, never has a dull moment and you'll find yourself holding your breath as Theo makes some narrowing escapes and daring attempts to regain the hopes of mankind.

This is what happens when worlds collide.

The beauty of the closing scene of this film, is the ambiguity of it all, never giving us too much information on what the conclusion of all of their efforts are and letting us rely on hope. It's probably not the most popular way to end a film like this, but I feel it's the best way to go. It still retains the integrity of the piece without cheapening it with a happy hollywood ending or leaving it on a down note with no one surviving and humanity being cast into extinction. The ending is a perfect balance to a great film, filled with meaning and heart.

Clive Owen finds out the hard way that rowing sucks.

Children of Men is an intriguing and ambitious film that tackles some hard asked questions about humanity and sheds some light on how we as a species would react as we approach our own extinction. The novel that this film is based on is very different from Alfonso Cuaron's version, but I think what the director brought to his adaption works and I think he makes a compelling story borrowing bits and pieces from the novel and manipulating it into an intense tale of moral boundaries and human spirit. There really is nothing like this film and the credit for that feat goes to Alfonso. He infused so much of his directing style into this film, that he truly makes it his own and the film in its entirety is better for it.

Children of Men is highly recommended for those of you who enjoy your science fiction films with a much needed layer of human speculation and gritty realism that presents new and unique ways of producing set pieces that literally boggle the mind and let our imaginations run away with this thought provoking narrative. The world that Alfonso has created is as brutal as it is breathtaking and must be seen to fully appreciate its wonder.

5 out of 5       A Science Fiction Film in a League of Its Own.

REVIEW: The Sword Bearer

The Sword Bearer (Mechenosets)
Director: Filipp Yankovsky
Year 2006

The Sword Bearer is a unique and beautifully shot Russian fantasy film about a man with super powers who uses them in a very human way. This is not the over the top type of super hero film where the good guy fights the obvious bad guy in black as they try to take over the world. Instead it's a more personal piece, focusing in on what it is like to be different in a world where being such is not appreciated and often persecuted. I was very lucky to stumble upon Hans' blog over at Quiet Cool where he gives a poetic review of this film, making me instantly hunt for the DVD and view it for myself.  And boy am I glad I did. This is a very special film with an elegant pace that rewards the viewer with an intimate look into an overwrought mind.

Our troubled hero as he bandages his hand.

The story starts out with a crime scene that is beyond comprehension. A logger truck has been decimated and its timber has been slashed in two with some kind of powerful blade. The truck driver is delirious and we are left with quite a mystery on what actually happened at the scene prior to us and the police arriving there. We are then transported to an open ocean with a boat passing across the horizon and we are then introduced to our main character named Sasha, played by an Adrian Brody double with a cool demeanor named Artyom Tkachenko. He is wrapping his hand up with a cloth and we are in the dark as to what has happened to his hand. There are a lot of mysterious elements throughout this film where you're not sure on what is really going on and what people's intentions are, but I think that this is half of the appeal of this film. You are left to figure it out on your own and in the process you grow with this character as he finds himself. 

A stunningly symmetric composition

with amazing contrasting visuals.

Throughout the beginning of the film we are presented with some rather intense moments that show us the raw personality of Sasha. He is accosted by a group of men for talking to the man's girlfriend. Sasha is beaten and left feeling slighted, so he proceeds to enact his revenge on the group of pricks. Viciously, Sasha meets up with the group of men and unleashes a furious set of blows with a metal pole that send the thugs to the hospital and a one way ticket to life supportville. This counter attack by Sasha is so brutal and a bit over board for what they had done to him, but this just lets us know that Sasha is someone who is a bit of a loose cannon of sorts. We'll find out just how short a fuse he has in later segments.

In all its brutality, there is a certain poetic nature to the film. It's beautifully rendered by Tkachenko and each frame is blasted with a heavenly color palette that projects a warm glow that sets the story in a fantastically vivid world.

Sasha just chilling with his pigeon friend.

Each encounter that he has ends in dire consequences. You almost get the sense that there is something mentally wrong with Sasha. He seems to lash out at anything that moves, but deep within the hidden narrative of the film, there are hints to his madness and concrete reasonings on why he is committing these heinous acts of violence. He attacks those men because he was attacked. The first altercation is quite straightforward and reasonable, but the next couple of incidences are rather tricky and need looked into with a closer eye to the details.

There is a sequence on where he visits his estranged father and delivers a swift payback for years of abuse given to him and his mother. We are not given any information on why he has waited so long to take revenge, but we are just led to believe that this was the right place and time to bring on his punishment. Perhaps Sasha felt it was time because he was reminiscing on those horrible memories when he was a child, much like how he remembered the time as a boy when he tried to lop off his wrist by placing his hand on a train track as a locomotive proceeded to barrel towards him. This vivid memory sparked him to try to accomplish that same sick goal as he tries to chop his hand off again, but in present time. We are shown him hacking away at something, but in the next scene we are shown that he is fully intact with both hands. It's all rather curious and leaves many mysteries lingering in the rain saturated air. Is this all being played out in his head? Is he truly a disturbed person that is mentally damaged? At this point we have no clue, but the struggle that Sasha is going through is quite moving and allows us to suspend our curiosity and just wait to see things pan out.

An obscure shot of a rain soaked city.

Sasha's life seems an endless cycle of botched meetings and awkward interactions that always leave him battling to keep control of his violent emotions, that is until the day he meets a woman by the name of Katya, played by a stunningly flawless Chulpan Khamatova. The two meet in a stairwell of an apartment building and instantly hit it off. I mean instantly, like they are in her apartment in two seconds flat and are bumping ugly if you know what I mean. Now this seems shallow on the surface and quite out of place for the doom and gloom film that we have been following for a good portion of this film, but after viewing the whole piece in its entirety I've come to think of this first meeting as a resurrection of sorts for Sasha's soul and inner peace. He has found the first person in this whole movie that accepts him instantly and trusts him without question.

I'll admit that it's an over the top moment, but one that I think the director purposely set it up to be. He threw all of those powerful feelings of falling in love for the first time and bottled it all into one inspiring moment where the two spend their first night together. The entire sequence is filmed so beautifully and every interaction between both Sasha and Katya are so magical that their chemistry really shines through in their performances and you can't help feel happy for the two that they've found each other.

The moment Sasha meets Katya. Love is

in the air and there's a whole lot of sex too.

It's at these moments that the film finally finds its center and it builds a foundation between the two characters that propels the film into a different category, giving it purpose and direction. The bond that Sasha and Katya form in such a short time is rather sweet in its simplicity and gives the film much needed heart. I love obscure films like these that have no other agenda then to showcase love in its purest and simplest form and the director conveys these feelings in such an exquisite way that it truly is breathtaking in parts. You can feel the change in Sasha as he turns from an out of control time bomb, to a calm and loving man who is devoted to a woman he has just met.

A gorgeously shot scene where we

get to see the gentle side of Sasha.

These tender moments are later disrupted by forces that continue to try to bring Sasha to justice for the wrong doings he's done in the past, both through a karma like sense and through actual people that he has effected attempting to take his life. One of these instances is when Katya's boyfriend catches both Sasha and Katya together in bed. He is furious and grabs his gun, but Sasha knocks him out by smashing a chair over his head. They tie him up and leave him as they take his car to another town. It's not really clear on the relationship status of Katya and this jealous boyfriend, but from the way he reacts with the gun and his upcoming actions towards the two, we are given the impression that he is not such a nice guy.

The enraged boyfriend catches up with Sasha and Katya and he brings a burly friend along to deal some sweet revenge. He traps Katya in the car as Sasha is out getting a few drinks for the two to share. He forces himself onto Katya and demands she kiss him like she kissed Sasha. Noticing the tussle in the car, Sasha jumps into action and man does he go crazy. In less then a second, the big man is down and the boyfriend is pulled from the car and launched onto the hood. Sasha then proceeds to bash the man's head in, cracking the windshield with the force of the blows. Then suddenly a blade comes jutting out from Sasha's wrist and he drives it hard into the man's skull, letting the blade poke through the glass, sending a sickening crunch to reverberate inside the car. The impact of the blow leaves a thick pool of blood that cakes the glass in its gory residue. These graphic images of Sasha defending Katya are visceral in appearance and we see the old Sasha, yet it is different because he is doing it out of love. He only unleashed his anger when it was able to save someone he cares about and this is the difference between his selfish attempts at fulfilling his personal vendettas against the people that wronged him in his life.

A graphic display of chivalry by Sasha.

At this point the young lovers are at a crossroad. Will Katya run away after now seeing Sasha's darker side and his unique ability or will she still accept him for what he is? This choice determines whether Sasha will slip into his old ways by being shunned once again from society or it will continue to change him for the better making him feel like he belongs. The concept of a person balancing you out is an interesting one and one I think that resembles the embedded meaning of the concept of soul mates. This idea that two halves come together to make one whole is in theory an amazing thing and it's proven by how different the two of them are when they are apart compared to when they are together. Without each other Sasha is lost and disconnected from the rest of the world, while Katya is in a seemingly abusive and loveless relationship, also lost in the world. Together they become new people, yet they are destined to fail because of their past lives where they were led astray. This whole film lays out a plot like a greek tragedy where the main characters are doomed to fail, even when Katya decides to continue to be with Sasha to the bitter end.

Cars fly by Sasha and Katya's secret hideout.

One of the boldest choices by the director is to down play the whole super power of Sasha's by focusing more on the human story that is unfolding between both Sasha and Katya. The fact that Sasha can produce a steel blade out of his right wrist is put on the back burner so we can carry the story on through their relationship. Even when Sasha's blade is out, we are only given quick glimpses of the thing, and we are never fully aware of how or why he has this strange ability. I for one commend the choice of centering the story around the characters then centering it around a specific power of one of them. This actually breaks the film out of the mold of a super hero type film and pushes it out into more dramatic territory as we are drawn into the intimate relations of the two characters. Sasha never accepts his special gift and revels in the fact that this is a burden that he has to bare. I find that a hell of a lot more interesting then a kid swinging from rooftops saving no names, like with Spiderman, or a three-bladed beast man running around acting all pissed off, like in Wolverine, where I believe a little bit of inspiration was taken by The Sword Bearer. In my opinion, I think they went in the right direction by focusing on the inner struggle of the character then relying on a plot device that has been done to death by hollywood.

The couple peacefully hold each other as a Toyota

Highlander accelerates out of control in the background.

Damn you Toyota!

This inner struggle that the director has opted for, brings a visual style that keeps the story close to the heart and in the minds of the characters. We are given personal shots of the characters as they are shown thinking about each other later on in the film, when they are taken apart by yet another strike from destinies cruel hands. After a horrendous car accident, the two are split apart with Sasha being taken into police custody and Katya being taken to a mental institution. The time that they are apart is excruciating for the two and each remember back on the good times and wonder if the other is alive. These sequences are beautifully shot and well acted as we are treated to a montage of sorts with Sasha and Katya given intertwining scenes of dialogue between their captors.

A heavenly shot of Katya locked in

her room at the mental institution.

There is another scene that really stands out in my mind and it's when Sasha is transported to his prison cell, but is greeted by a group of thugs that have been ordered to make his life a living hell. They circle him and then hold him down while the main thug prepares to beat the living crap out of him. We then cut to a shot of the prison guards playing a game of cards only to hear blood curdling sounds of men screaming at the top of their lungs. The sounds that they make just chills your bones and we follow the guards down to the cell where Sasha is and we're presented with a shot of a bloody Sasha standing at the door, otherwise untouched.

This scene is just amazing and resembles the prison scene from Zack Snyder's 2009 super hero film, Watchmen. In that film, the character Rorschach is sent to prison where he is put in a cell with a bunch of thugs that he's done wrong to earlier in his life. Rorschach says to the thugs that, "None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you; you're locked up in here with me." After saying this line he proceeds to beat the holy hell out of everyone inside. Whether the director got this idea from the graphic novel that Watchmen was based on or if he created this scene from his own mind, I rather enjoyed The Sword Bearers offerings more because of the silent aspect of Sasha's character and how he doesn't threaten and just does what is needed. It's more compelling and fits with the overall tone of the film. Sasha is a bad-ass, but he doesn't advertise it, in fact he's rather covert about it and to me that is far more intriguing.

The aftermath of Sasha's prison brawl.

Sasha 1, Inmates 0

If I had to choose one thing about this film that I enjoyed the most it would have to be the visuals. They are just so stunning and wonderfully shot, that not one frame is unattractive. Each detailed composition is accompanied by such visual mastery that it's a pleasure to behold and it accents the world that the director has created with a view that really leaves an impact. The eye candy is stupendous and it allows you to get lost in the world and believe the unbelievable as it's presented in this colorful medium.

A hauntingly surreal shot of Katya lost in a dream.

The music is also very effective in conveying the dreamlike quality of these two lover's worlds. The moving classical piece that is continued and adapted as the film progresses is a captivating score that reflects the struggles of both characters as they look for love, find love, and ultimately fall to heartbreak as their destinies are played out. It's a tragic story accompanied by an equally sorrow filled composition that rounds out the overall package that you get with this fantastic film.

The score really comes into its own as Sasha breaks free from his captors as they are transporting him from the prison in an armored car and he approaches a cliff along the side of the ocean. He reaches the great precipice and shouts Katya's name hoping that she can hear it wherever she is. The music reflects the futile gesture perfectly and it carries an overbearing sense of doubt that they will ever find each other again. It's a sad and desperate moment that hits home for anyone that has lost a love, not knowing if it will ever come back into their life.

Sasha reaches the edge of the cliff with blade drawn.

As I said before, this film resembles a greek tragedy with our character's pursuing a life that can never be. We watch as they struggle to sustain this dream, only to know that it will come crashing down at any moment. We are hinted at this unspoken demise, as Katya cries in her bed while Sasha tries to repent his sins to a priest. In a way, they both know the ending to this tale, but they still want to see it through to the end. Both characters view their time spent together as precious and they're not willing to let go even in these waning and fleeting hours.

A tender moment between the two fugitives.

As the film approaches its grim conclusion, the colors of the composition begin to warm to an almost 'setting of the sun' type of look. We are given orange and yellow hues as if the story was coming to an end much like how the sun closes the day with its brilliant last ditch effort of radiant light. This subtle detail that the director infuses into the film, packs an emotional punch and you really feel the closing chapter of this epic love story as it anticipates the coming of dusk. Never is this more apparent then in this desperately sorrowful ending scene as Sasha uses his last remaining strength to keep Katya safe from harm. It's a commendable effort and one that really solidifies his character as a decent and loving person, far from his revenge driven mindset that we were introduced to in the beginning of this film. We are given a really special character driven journey in The Sword Bearer, and one that witnesses the inspiring rebirth of our main character in his love for another.

A ravishing climax to a compelling film about love and destiny.

The Sword Bearer is a splendid surprise and one that delivers a story filled with fantastic moments and spectacular chemistry between the two main characters of Sasha and Katya. The relationship that grows on screen is really something to behold and the journey that our characters take as they desperately try to escape their fate is a stupendous diversion of a story that we've seen hundreds of times. This modern day greek tragedy is created with such love by its filmmakers that all their efforts are paid in full by all the hard work and passion that the actors threw into their roles to play the doomed lovers. This film is highly recommended to anyone that enjoys a spiritual ride through life and love that always seems at the brink of collapsing. Not from the lovers lack of commitment, but by fate itself as it clings to their sides and pulls them to their ultimate and final destination. This film is an undiscovered gem that needs to be viewed and experienced by far more people.

4 out of 5 stars       A Compelling Tragedy About Love and Love Lost.