Maelström

Kinda pretentious and affected in a lot of ways, but also oddly compelling and ultimately kinda charming. As is usual with Denis, the material is a bit whatever, but one can’t help but be pulled along by the solid foundations of his filmmaking technique, even in this rough, heavily influenced early phase

So weird, and great, totally a dark comedy.

I think this is Villeneuve's best early film. It is dark but a lot of silly moments provide levity. Hard to explain why I enjoyed it so much, but I think it has the perfect amount of weirdness without going over the top.

Denis Villeneuve's sophomore effort shows signs of artistic ambition but doesn't reach its full potential. Visually it's arresting, as Villeneuve knows how to intrigue and captivate with his succession of shots, and striking moments aren't absent, also thanks to the difficult, interesting themes. However, the plot remains fairly simple and the characters arguably needed a little more development, a little more time - the last fifteen minutes especially are too rushed to make much of an impact.

Having come into Villeneuve's world with Prisoners it's interesting to see what he was doing 18 years ago. Apparently making weird movies. I'm not infatuated with this one, don't think it's his finest work by any means, but he does show signs of the greatness to come in. Croze put in really good work as the lead and Denis made some interesting choices in terms of how it looks, but there's a feeling that the weirdness is there to cover weaknesses. Still a good movie though.

If it wasn't for the last 20 -30 minutes, where the style and atmosphere change into a more conventional film, this could have easily been a Tier 10 movie.

72.33.

dram, kürtaj, kürtaj sonrasi psikoloji, trafik kazasi, kazayla birine carpmak, yaraliyi umursamadan arabayi sürmek, kazara ölüm, vicdan azabi, kelebek etkisi (yedigi yemegin bozuk oldugunu söylemesi, restoranin balikciyi aramasi, balikcinin elemanini aramasi ve adamin öldügünün ortaya cikmasi) öldürdügü adamin ogluna asik kadin, is kadini, butik sahibi, krematoryumda yakilma, ölünün külü, konusan balik, asiri müstehcen...

Huge potential not well spent

I liked the contrasts between the beautiful images and the ugly, visceral subject matter, and there is some great use of inappropriate music, but in the end the jumps in tone were too much for me to take. And the storytelling fish just does not work.

Don't watch this for a plot, an ending or even a moral. Watch it to sympathize, sensitize and enrich your dictionary of sufferings. This is what a french-Canadian makes instead of 'Amelie'-- and it shows so less imaginative power in world-creating. To my own heart, this story was less about pathos and more about the faults that open in oneself for being too closed to the world.

There's some good stuff here, and I do feel this is more impactful in certain ways than his first film. However, the way the narrative resolves itself is pretty problematic, and should really be more like half the film rather than the last 20 minutes. There's a great visual sensibility here, both with the use of space, camera placement, and color/light.