Lollivan
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
FountainPen
Depressing, dark, dingy, dismal flick with no real positives. I tried to "like" it, to understand it, to appreciate it, but the task was fruitless -- however serious my efforts. To add to my plight, the film is extremely slow-moving, plods along at an inexcusably doddering, halting pace. Perhaps it makes some sense in its original language, to people in the area, but to this well-travelled mature westerner, it was pointless and frustrating. I gave it 2 stars because the actors seemed intent, and there was no intrusive music. I suppose the best destination for this type of cinematic venture would be an "art playhouse". It is decidedly outside the mainstream of things and beyond my comprehension.
FlashCallahan
Gregori, who operates a child assassin patriarch, adopts newborn Alexander after seeing his mother, Susanna, without a partner at a hospital. Eleven years later, Alexander is now, unbeknown to him, an adept assassin running missions with other children adopted in the same manner. Gregori tells the children the world is full of terrible men which is why they must carry out their missions, but Alexander becomes more aware of the outside world, and Gregori realises his controlling aura is fading.......Cults are a funny thing, on one hand, they can be a terrifying aspect of life, Waco comes to mind, and the film that tried to emulate that 'Red State'. On the other, they can be as bonkers as they come, like that bloke a few years ago who recruited a few mentally inept people, telling them there was a shuttle behind a comet that would take them to paradise.........there wasn't.But they all have one word in common...........sinister.And this is the reason why the film works in some ways, and in others, it doesn't, because the narrative spoon feeds you the fact that Cassel isn't all what he seems, and he isn't the bohemian saviour the children are led to believe, he's just a business man, plain and simple, and the children are his work tools.But the narrative doesn't focus on Gregori and his school of Leon's and Nikitas, which would make an interesting film on its own, it focuses more on the hierarchy of the children and their relationship with Gregori, as it appears that Alexander was the first addition to Gregori's 'family', as his mother wears almost managerial clothing as compared to the other mothers.Cassel is wonderful as the puppet master who's strings are starting to fray, and his on screen relationship with Alexander is as distressing as it is calming. The audience knows that Alexander is becoming aware of Gregori's domination, and know that Gregori too is aware, making the second and third act very intense.But then, just after the chicken incident, the film loses its way as fast as Gregori loses respect from the family, and it begins to leave a lot of unanswered questions, such as, why did Alexander give Leo the food, and where did Leo and his mother go? Were they killed, sis Alexander subliminally kill them? And what is the purpose of the boy on the hill? An image of realism in Alexander's life?But the stark imagery is mind blowing, and there are some scenes that could almost represent the films genre as horror.An oddity for sure, full of vibrancy and angst, but like a headless chicken, loses its way toward the end.
Željko Stojanov
So many good actors in a movie, but so bad movie. Ending so pointless.Like the story is unfinished. Undone.Meaningless and pointless story, when it is unfinished like this.Waste of time and money for nothing.Vincent Cassel is a great actor.I like almost every movie with him in it.Florence Mezzara was acting great in this movie and would like to see her in many more movies.But none like this one.Good actors, good acting, but bad storyline.
Johan Dondokambey
The story looks much like the child soldiers found in Latin America or Africa. But this movie took it a little bit farther by adding the exclusive enclave Gregori sets up and the whole harem of desperate women. Being told from Alexander's point of view, the movie sure look bleak with only the scenes from the enclave dominant throughout the duration. But this gives the movie ample space to show the breadth of the main problem character in Gregori. The acting overall is a great job, mainly for Vincent Cassel's work. His acting here is great, intimidating at all his scenes, even on the relatively laid-back ones. Jeremy Chabriel played his role well enough to keep the child perspective believable. Unfortunately the presentation wasn't tat good as the movie paces very slowly with much of it's duration covering non-essentials too much. The thriller moments are also found seldom.
