Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Nigel P I believe they call this kind of film 'world building.' It's an apt description of the results of a talented production team using budget and effects to sustain a convincing environment in which you can immerse yourself. In my view, such is the potency of projects like this, actors are there primarily to compliment this imagined civilisation. In 1982, the original 'Blade Runner' achieved this perverse enigma very convincingly. Here all these years later, is the sequel.There was some mild controversy concerning original composer Vangelis not being assigned to provide a soundtrack for this, but Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer's score is impossible to fault. Vast, weird, laced with industrial swirls and chunky klaxons. Denis Villeneuve's direction is vast and eccentric, exactly as it should be, and the myriad of art directors ensure that the society, the interiors, the streets, even the habitat of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford of course: grizzled, isolated, but still very much the same character we knew 35 years ago) is as impressive and spacious as it could be, an arena so absorptive and convincing, you can completely drink it in. My problem is, at 2 hrs 44 minutes, I really felt the need for a change of flavour after a while.It's impossible to be impressed at wonderful representations of an intricately carved tale for that length of time with no change of tone throughout, no levity, no particular sense of strident drama and only an irregular threat (Sylvia Hoek's splendid Luv). We have K (Ryan Gosling) and his girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas, who, as a perfectly pouting, characterless hologram, is very good) and the very slow story of Deckard's 'improbable' child Rachael, and the long trek to locate her. It is good, but thinly stretched over such huge running time. Wrapping it in the beauty of almost overwhelming effects and atmosphere is an impressive compensation, however.

gholland-11421 Ida is a film I have thoroughly loved, and watched multiple times since it was released in the US a few years back. And after each time I view it, I discover something new from the film's subtle dialogue and symbolism(honestly, I think if I spoke Polish, I would have picked up on most of it after a viewing or two). Not only is it a great watch, adding a fresh perspective to the much covered topic of the Holocaust, but it, also, I believe, taps deeply into questions central to modern- day Polish national identity.The film's main focus is the investigation and interactions of the titular character and her aunt, in search of the brutal truth of what happened to their family during World War 2. Both characters are total(almost comically) opposites, a stiff, virginal, young nun and an old, sarcastic, heavy-drinking, and promiscuous communist judge(dealing solely with political crimes), infamously nicknamed "Iron Wanda".Their dichotomy is important in cordoning-off the two main themes the film explores through each character, the confrontation/void left by/effects of trauma(Aunt Wanda) and the search for/questioning of/choice of identity(Ida). Together, both characters discover the devastating truth, but, in doing so, make a deal that leaves them emotionally ruined(an ironic twist considering Wanda's profession and, most likely, her reason for choosing the job).The stark black & white color palette, confrontational close-ups, off-centered scene-framing, and total lack of musical accompaniment magnifies the discomfort and underlying sense of societal betrayal/injustice. Oddly, what seems to be at the center of the story, the events surrounding the Holocaust, are hardly discussed, instead, filled with long silences and empty spaces, communicating feelings of shame and guilt. A seemingly cosmic silence in response to such a horrible crime.What makes Ida unique is that it's a story filmed after the main drama has occurred, instead, focusing on its long-reaching impact. After coming full circle, learning the truth of her identity, and her parents past, both Ida and Wanda are left as weaker people, each imprisoned by a truth too difficult to confront.

Tanay Chaudhari "In the end, everything is found to be wanting." - Frank Lentricchia, The Sadness of AntonioniSet in the post-World War II Poland, the film traverses the life events of a Christian orphan, nun-to-be – Ida, who just weeks before taking her oath meets her only living relative - a long-lost Jewish aunt - Wanda; and subsequently came along the unknown memories of a long- lost childhood. In their brief association, they travel to the countryside to know the whereabouts of her dead parents where Ida buries the tragedy of her murdered and much-unknown Jewish family along with the reasons of her own survival, thereby returning to her convent to continue her journey ahead, thus marking the necessary re-dissociation with her alcoholic, tramp-like, unstable aunt (the irony), but ends up having the very doubts towards her choice to abnegate the world. With a heavy heart, she decides not to take her oath; however, she wasn't alone – her aunt ends up taking drastic steps to rest her own doubts.In order to attend the funeral, Ida gets another opportunity to associate a little more with her unknown roots. She returns to the quarters of her then deceased aunt and is tempted to live nights with the philandering ways of her once only-living-relative – of liquor, smoking and men. She accepts the course of life coming her way - that of the materialistic world, full of carnal passion. Although, she seemed not herself and the next morning Ida leaves for her old life at the convent – to become the person that she sought out to be.The Polish film noir displays a distinctive story-telling and abstract cinematography. As we see Ida's world in "black and white" we realise that though all humans seem good and evil, they are not; instead they are 'ironically' different shades of grey - both good and evil. When the pious, untouched heart of a sister is tinged by them, she is bound to be attracted and even so - deviated from her path of renouncement. The life as we know it worked like a vaccine for a nun-to-be, and then this spiritually lost girl emerged out immune to all the attractions that the world could offer. Director Pawel Pawlokowski, who won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language film for this work, may have given his viewers a lot more than usual cinema experience to think of. Anna Trzebuchowska as Ida, is diminutively beautiful in her portrayal of a sister; however, Anna Kulesza as Ida's aunt is the most impressive amongst the cast with her alcoholic, drained out, yet fighter-like persona. "Subtly attractive; 7/10"

Peter Johnson This is an artistic film, a Polish drama filmed in a beautiful B&W technology, decorated with minimalism, deliberately accentuated the asymmetry, but again, in a perfect balance between living things and background. It is interesting and setting characters in the scene that was never in the center of the frame, one at the edges, emphasizing certain emotional drama on their faces. For this to be achieved impressive actors are required, such sensibility, something unusual that you would have to intrigue to study that face. Ida is an unpretentious work, fermented for the true film fans who enjoy every scene, every aspect and every detail and for those people who will know how to appreciate film art in general. It is recommended for film fans who like slow play without a lot of stories, but with a lot of what happens between the lines.