Undone (Hisko Hulsing, 2019)

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼ out of 10☼

If you're a sucker for picturesque rotoscoped animation (think Scanner Darkly occasionally meeting Loving Vincent), enjoy the reality-questioning narratives involving Aztec shamanism and time-space distortions that could (not) be caused by the main character's deteriorating mental health, and you're able to tolerate the clichés of a dysfunctional family melodrama interwoven with the character study of a broken woman, the investigation of mysterious deaths and the exploration of the secrets of the universe, then you'll definitely be in for a great treat with the genre-bending mini-series Undone which provides the viewer with a solid blend of well-rounded characters, trippy eye-candy and head-scratching brain-food.

Too Old to Die Young (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2019)

Unwatchable out of 10☼

After watching... pardon, barely sitting through the first two episodes of NWR's latest offering, 'auteur' mini series Too Old to Die Young, I feel compelled to share a few thoughts on it, especially considering that it is the first piece of cinema (now, this epithet is highly arguable) that managed to transform my frustration into an unpleasant and hence unwanted physical sensation. In a preposterous attempt to out-revolutionize David Lynch's sublime, inimitable return to Twin Peaks, the acclaimed Danish helmer overestimates his own skill and, strongly believing he is making boundary-pushing efforts of metaphysical proportions, creates a dull and listless self-parody. Uninvolving on every level imaginable, and moving slower than molasses without any rhyme or reason, it sadistically torments the viewer with unjustifiable pauses between the pulpy, B-movie-like lines delivered in a deadpan, quasi-meaningful manner, with protagonists' blank stares thrown in for good measure.

Adding to its poisonous unwatchability are the unapologetically garish, superficially attractive visuals hyper-stylized to the point of being (paradoxically) quickly stripped off their initial, somewhat forced charm, which results in the unwitting downgrading of the whole proceedings into an obnoxiously kitschy equivalent of some 'eau de parfum' commercial... and who wants to watch a vacuous, hour an a half long ad?! The worst thing about the languorous opening to this cold, epically miscalculated project is the scent or rather, stench of intolerable narcissism. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm all for boldly personal, self-indulgent filmmaking or art in general, but I'm definitely not crazy about having the artist's sticky spit of arrogance smeared all over his/her work, as in this case (or the case of that other notorious Dane's recent atrocity). So, without further ado, I'd like to put a period to my outpour of negativity, while trying to aleviate the pungent disappointment by reminding myself of how much I admire Refn's delighfully gloomy viking saga Valhalla Rising and glamorously nightmarish extravaganza Neon Demon...

Hodor aurA nylvánvaló titkai (Pater Sparrow, 2011)

"...in the city they're all knocking, and they're all ghosts!" 

Web-serija (odnosno njen "pilot-paket") Hodor aurA nyilvánvaló titkai (Očigledne tajne aurE Hodor) poslednji je eksperiment mađarskog reditelja Patera Sparrowa, koji stvara pod uticajem autora kao što su Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Alexandro Jodorowsky i David Lynch, ali i slikara-nadrealista poput Renéa Magrittea i M. C. Echera. O njegovim radovima britanski akademik i filmski kritičar Anton Bitel kaže sledeće:

"Enigmatic in form, encyclopedic in scope, and leaving room between its lines for many different readings, Sparrow’s truly singular film encapsulates the whole of human experience in eccentric, elliptical cross-section. It is all at once science fiction, political allegory, transcendental mystery and free-form documentary, recalling the early works of Peter Greenaway in its vast referential breadth, its mannered blurring of fact and fiction, and the beauty of its tableau-like images."

U prilog preciznosti navedene "definicije" idu kako kratkometražni filmovi Granica (Limit, 2003), Trik (T?ick, 2004) ili trilogija RECYCLEd / Pro-Reo-Neo (2006), tako i ovo minijaturno avangardno čudo (što zvuči kao pleonazam, ali nije).

Simpatična Hermina Fátyol tumači lik aurE Hodor koja pronalazi grad duhova i o tome obaveštava NN lice (sa telefonske govornice). Useljava se u trošnu kuću koju joj uz povremeni napad histeričnog (i zaraznog) smeha pokazuje muškobanjasta agentica za nekretnine (?) sa lentom na kojoj piše "Policija". Pošto prethodni vlasnici nisu umeli da očuvaju pse, podrumom haraju njihove gladne utvare, pa aurA mora da nabavi meso...

Već nakon dva-tri minuta (a možda i ranije) počinjete da postavljate pitanja, jer ono što se odigrava pred vama postaje sve iracionalnije. Ko je aurA? Kako je dospela tamo? Zašto je uopšte dolazila? Šta znači ono obeležavanje (talogom kafe?) u noćnom klubu? Kakva je to žena koja jede karmin i gnuša se kompasa?

Međutim, odgovora nema. Uglavnom. I ako uspete da ih pronađete, potpuno su irelevantni, jer je sve što se događa oko glavne junakinje (koja je najčešće posmatrač) besprekorno skrojeno za idiosinkratični spoj komedije apsurda i kontemplativne misterije, posoljene sa cirka 6 i 7/16 (rečima: šes' i sedam šesn'estina) zrna horora s debelom opnom. Pokretač i lepak uvrnutih (i inspirativnih) tabloa koji se glatko smenjuju jedan za drugim, jeste logika kiselkastoslatkih košmara koji nastaju rano izjutra (ili ne baš tako rano, oko 8:30) kada vas boli potiljak, pa ne možete da spavate. Oniričnom crno-belom fotografijom (Mátyás Erdély, sarađivao sa Kornélom Mundruczóm na "medicinskom" mjuziklu Johanna) i eterično-disonantnom muzičkom podlogom sa džez prizvukom i uplivima kineskog folka (Csaba Kalotás) stvorena je opojna (nad)linčovska atmosfera, pri čemu se podrazumeva da je Lynch, recimo, u Out Yonder elementu. Milujući glas Odett (iz Odett és a Go Girlz!) obeležava sumanutu uspavanku iz uvodne špice.

Da biste uživali u Sparrowljevom prekopavanju podsvesti potrebno je da budete makar malo sujeverni, pošto je posredi hitan slučaj...

"You gonna leave your Jesus penguin key-ring thing?"

Sve tri epizode mogu se odgledati na youtube-u:

A HÁROMSZÖG (Trougao) / A RÚZS (Ruž) / A MÁGNES (Magnet)

(Napomena: Preporučuje se više od jednog gledanja.)