User Reviews

Of course i loved this, forgotten films, with low budgets, slow pace, unknown actors, are basically my star trek or deep obsession which i don't think i'll ever shake off, this is what cinema is all about, to start, the elegance of the direction from pollak is mesmerizing to say the least, he relies on a series of long camera set ups, there is specific scenes that are meant just to get to one place and the actors follow the camera along with it, it feels like every scene has a structure and that structure is enacted to perfection by everyone, it goes well with how pollak uses the wide screen frame to utilize blocking, the specific shot i love is when elvis stands by the mirror, and pollak moves the camera so that elvis is on the left, and the mirror is on the right which reflects the image of the mother berating elvis, it is perfect not only in its beauty of the use of blocking, framing, and movement, but it also works a story function, the mother is so distant from her son and he refuses to listen to her, that she may as well be talking to a mirror, separation is present throughout the whole film both visually and thematically, pollak uses these elements as a foundation of the overall pace of the film, bringing each scene to a beginning middle end, it is almost like a domino effect, and that is what a script should be, specifically for a stripped down film like this one that is about the artifice of change of the broodingly paced aesthetic, relying also on lele dorazio's terrific child performance, especially considering this is a 95 minute film where every scene is with him, which is a great way to make a film like this, and it helps that dorazio is able to rely mostly on its use of facial expressions and body language to carry sequences, which he does spectacularly, also going with lena-pia bernhardsson's glorious performance as elvis's mother, who is either on the verge of breaking down or in the middle of breaking down, they bounce of off each other really well, and overall the entire film is filled with great character actors, you start to realize cinema really rests greatly with underseen films, obviously this is a little bit higher brow than modern unseen films shot on camcorders, but that doesn't change the fact this has around 70-80 ratings on this site, and on imdb it has around 100-200, a forgotten film but the type of cinema that lasts and there feels like there is a character to it that not many studio or popular films have nowadays, next to argylle this is everything that film doesn't have, there is no reliance on overly comedic scenes, the drama here is taken seriously, and in many ways i felt like i was watching real people which is a great compliment i can give any film, the blocking and framing was excellent and cleverly done in almost every scene, the sense of slow pacing formed this into a frequently mesmerizing and heartbreaking piece of cinema, the lack of music combines well with the excellent and simple sound design, edited with a great precision, and every single actor in this is tremendous, films like these are a reminder of what makes cinema great in the first place.