Malarkey

I was surprised that this independent American drama was pretty fun – exactly the right amount considering its length. It’s not amazing, but if you feel like watching some relationship drama, the blind brother might get on your nerves in a pretty exciting way.

An interesting story that takes the emotions and feelings about the World War II breaking out in Belgium and looks at them through the eyes of a kid, which doesn’t make the movie as sad and bad; it’s more like it’s full of childish surprises. Unexpectedly, it was pretty watchable, and it was interesting that the creator decided to convey the story in a positive way. It was a pleasant surprise.

The story revolves around a captain of a naval ship where a Filipino man dies in an accident during loading, which the captain is responsible for. For the rest of the movie, you watch the thought processes of the captain, who is played by a Finnish actor Tommi Korpela. The director also focuses on the crew, which looks like they’re from all over the world, and the quality falters a little bit since the shots are long and boring. The psychology is depicted mostly with the captain’s character so when you’re not watching him but some Filipinos, it’s awfully boring.

Finally, there’s yet another brilliant episode. Benno is on the brink of becoming the president of the local – and it should be noted – Christian soccer team. But in the midst of all the bargaining, a dead body appears in the middle of the soccer field overnight and so the investigation process begins. But since Sabrina isn’t here this time, Benno gets help from a guy from Munich who’s immediately grown on me. The young dude likes motorbikes and thinks he’s a total hotshot while Benny leans into him with one great line after another. Then there’s a crazy lady who claims that a prelate rules the entire world and runs the worst cult in Germany, which is fun to listen to. Rambold, Benny’s former colleague and a businessman, also makes an appearance as the investigation revolves around him, which he doesn’t like at all. Especially since Benno’s a little more daring with him than he is with others. Once again, I had a god laugh.

When someone wants to shoot a movie with a kid as the main character, they should at least make sure that the kiddo acts like a kiddo, not like an adult man who doesn’t even notice that people around him have been talking about a hanging. In about half of the movie, I realized that I wasn’t going to see anything interesting, and I’ve had a hard time finishing the movie. A shame.

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie and thought that the two main characters were dumber than a bag of hammers. And the soundtrack that has thrust the chanteuse into the limelight must have been composed by a one-armed amateur.

Except for Resi trying to manage her taxes and Benno making fun of her, there isn’t anything that interesting in this episode. After a few years, we discover that there’s a disco in Bad Tölz. Two young girls party hard in there and as chance would have it, one of them doesn’t come home. And so the investigation begins. I’d say it was a mediocre, even a weaker episode.

Just like France had Belmondo, Ventura or Delon at the time, Italy was saved by the most charismatic Italian of all times – Franco Nero. He’s completely stolen the movie for himself with his character. The story was a bit lacking, though. It was only interesting during action scenes. There were a few of them and I have to say that they’ve made me happy with how realistic the scenes were. It was on par with French crime investigation movies, but except for the action scenes, I was a little bored.

I’m really glad that Jan Hřebejk still has it in him, but then I truly don’t get why the quality of his recent movies is faltering as much as it is. Once, I get an unexpectedly good movie, other times I get the feeling like I’m watching someone else’s work, even if the directing and the script are done by the same people. However, I’ll stop complaining since I’d love to gush about the great idea of shooting this movie with almost exclusively Slovakian actors. Zuzana Mauréry’s character of the teacher was absolutely perfectly repulsive and the era the story is set in only adds to the repulsiveness. Petr Bebjak, on the other hand, plays a completely unspectacular character, but once he starts talking about his wife, you can tell that he’s given it his all. In the first half, I was getting used to the story, but the second half of the movie is so full of emotions that it was hard to banish them after the movie ended. It was a great movie.

A great and amazingly accurate depiction of a particularly interesting era during the World War II that – surprisingly – involved Norway quite a lot. I won’t begin to describe how accurate and concise the show is because the reviewer Big Bear’s already managed that in their exhausting comment. However, I’d like to add that the Norwegians – no matter how well they can film great stories – have a problem putting some emotions into their main characters. But that’s only a tiny downside of the otherwise perfect show that tells such an interesting story over only five hours. You definitely shouldn’t miss it.