Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Claudio Carvalho There is a murder in a stormy night and a man (Gérard Depardieu) wandering without any protection from the heavy rain is arrested by the police with no documents. In the police station, he claims that he has a meeting with the Ministry of Culture on the next morning but he needs to wait for the Inspector (Roman Polanski). When he arrives, the man is arrogant and tells that he is the famous and reclusive writer Onoff. The Inspector is his fan and quotes many books written by him. When the Inspector interrogates Onoff, he is not able to recall his last four hours. Along the rainy night, the Inspector insists in interrogating Onoff since there was a murder nearby his house and the victim can not be identified. Who might be the victim and the killer? "Una pura formalità" is an intriguing and theatrical film that is developed basically in one location. The screenplay and dialogues keeps the viewer curious about who killed who. Gérard Depardieu and Roman Polanski have top-notch performances and their duel is worthwhile watching. Unfortunately this film has only been released on VHS in Brazil. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Uma Simples Formalidade" ("A Simple Formality")

PassPopcorn A Pure Formality aka Una Pura Formalità is one of the lesser known movies directed by the great Giuseppe Tornatore. It is undeservedly overlooked in spite of being nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival (it lost to Pulp Ficton) and also being very influential. It's rather puzzling how A Pure Formality can be so obscure, since it stars two big names of the movie industry (Gérard Depardieu and Roman Polanski) and since it's a quite good movie.A Pure Formality follows a man claiming to be the famous writer Onoff (Gérard Depardieu), who is found one stormy night in the middle of the woods by the police. They take him to the police station, which is shabby and old, where they wait for the Inspector (Roman Polanski) to question him. It turns out that the Inspector is a big fan of Onoff's writing and that a murder happened in the nearby woods. The Inspector suspects Onoff of murder and starts interrogating him.The first thing to say about the movie is that is very minimalist – the majority of the movie happens in a single room, thus making the movie claustrophobic – and that it benefits mostly from the two brilliant lead actors. Depardieu is perfect as the somewhat mentally unstable writer Onoff, and Polanski is menacing as the mysterious Inspector, who introduced himself only as Leonardo da Vinci. Interactions between these two characters (which reminded me of the 1972 movie Sleuth) and the acting are the things that make A Pure Formality such a good movie. Essentially, this movie is a thriller/drama, but I also got a certain 70s giallo movies vibe from it, which is never a bad thing.The movie is scored by the legendary Ennio Morricone and the soundtrack is used only occasionally but effectively. Tornatore masterfully creates tension thanks to this selective use of soundtrack and by using strange camera angles, close-ups and by creating a gloomy atmosphere in a decaying police station trying to withstand a huge storm. All in all, A Pure Formality is an overlooked 90s gem and a dark psychological thriller, which you should watch by night and which you'll never forget.Rating: 8/10 Read more at http://passpopcorn.wordpress.com/

NurDerWind A brilliant film in the best traditions of 'dialogue films' taking place in a sole location with very limited cast (i.g., Sleuth, 12 Angry Men). But the genre is very much different indeed. To tell the truth, it's very difficult for me to figure it out. Mystery? Sounds too philistine. Drama? Very epic word. Thriller? Not very precise, but it's not the point.The film is very well shot, with both plot and actors' playing being on the highest level. It was rather unusual for me to see Depardieu not in a comic character - and Polanski not in a director's seat. But there must be something unusual in a high-brow film, if you come to think of it.All in all, I'm sure, I'll check out other films by Giuseppe Tornatore.

yekayek Not lots of people will understand this fully,may find it even boring, some might understand none of it,because its a work of unique ART created by the fantastic sight of the director,performances of depardieu and polanski.it doesn't get more tense as it goes along?! No,it seems unreasonable to do that,since every moment of this is more tense than anything you've ever felt in your life esp. the ending,I didn't think that it's a story about a crime not even for a second,its a story about the very being of each one of us. one thing the movie tries to tell us is that onoff somehow regrets what he has done,because he makes that call,that call that he would have never made in his life.now he finally understands what was the right thing to do and he doesn't even care that its too late to make that call! he is sure enough to go for it.