mathias-19

The beginning was funny but a typical lightweight Netflix movie. Gradually it got better, especially when the viewer realises that Carla is manic-depressive. The film is too : the opening scene is over-the-top manic, later is becomes depressive. Gradually a balance is found, accepting the reality, just as Adri accepts Carla as who she really is.

Some very funny lines. My favourite at the end : Adri "I thought you never wanted to see me again?" Carla: "I'm bipolar, I tend to change my mind".

Season 1 is great and introduces the viewer into the complicated and delicate world of corruption and drug importing in Galicia, and its consequences for all. The characters are introduced and nobody is entirely good or bad, so you feel sympathy and at moments repulsion for each.

Season 2 is when the Alzheimer that Nemo is suffering from, really starts affecting him and all stereotypes about drugs related series can be thrown overboard. Season 2 builds up to an emotional and unexpected disclosure. Episode 10 is brilliant.

Acting by all is superb, especially by Jose Coronado. Highly recommended!

Only the taxis were from Barcelona and Ibiza. Enough said.

After reading all the positive reviews and being a great fan of Maribel Verdu (since her role in "Amantes"), I had great expectations before seeing this movie. Quite honestly, I was disappointed. The characters lack depth. All falangistas are incredibly bad and sadistic, and all nationalists republicans are good in this movie. Stereotypic. If Del Toro wanted to make Capitan Vidal really terrifying, he would have made a little bit more sympathetic at times, like "Landa" in Inglourious Basterds - probably the most terrifying nazi ever on the silver screen. Vidal could at least have been a little bit concerned for his wife when she was bearing his unborn son. But now, he is a facha macho, so he can not show emotions at any time. Even the symbolism of the labyrinth is too easy : especially the end, where the self sacrifice of Ofelia is a clear sign of a Messias, including the invitation to sit at the right hand of her father in a sort of a pagan Trinity (with her mother). The cinematography however is wonderful and the actor perform well, but the scenario is just too shallow for my taste.

because this movie would be world wide hit. I guess it's only a matter of months before Hollywood will start a remake of this movie, which -if properly filmed- WILL be world wide hit.

There's been a lot comparing with "The Usual Suspects", and I can get the point: the interrogation filled with flashbacks, the witty and clever plot and the unexpected end, when you believe all was solved. Still, these two movies are completely different. Someone who goes to "Loft" expecting to see "The Usual Suspects" will be disappointed, and that is not meant as a criticism. Simply, Loft stands on its own and apart from what I wrote above, has little to do with "The Usual Suspects". But someone who enjoyed Suspects (and Memento for that matter) will certainly like Loft.

I first saw this movie when I was 8 years old, and I laughed my head of with the slapstick humor (the bubblegum factory scenes). Now I laugh at all the subtle anti-racism humor, whether it is anti-Jew, anti-Muslim, anti-black and anti-Belgian ("un belge, là on est derrière un belge") humor which 25 years after the release is still very up-to-date and funny (a sign of good quality). For instance: the traditional, Catholic but ignorant character of De Funès is shocked to find out that his big nosed chauffeur is Jew "Salomon, you, a Jew? Who would have thought". The music of Vladimir Cosma is worth mentioning too, and above all the directing of Gérard Oury, who keeps the reins on De Funès short. With the recent trouble in the middle-East and the price of the crude oil, this film is worth watching again.

I saw this movie at the Ghent film festival, from the second row on a huge screen and it was a pretty nauseating experience. The dogma-style hand-held-camera filming meant that the shot was NEVER steady and the lighting was very poor. Several times I had to close my eyes not to become sick. On a TV-screen you won't have this problem of course. Only the very last scene was shot differently and almost felt like out of place.

As such the film was entertaining and Mirketa Irglova is charming but that's about it. I don't understand the high ratings.

After the film the main actors performed three songs life in the cinema. It was a welcome relief to see them steady - not shaking, but I was surprised how shy they were. Not once did Miss Irglova look at the audience, even not when she was performed solo and the brought the cinema to its feet.

In 1989 I spent 4 months in Barcelona at the Facultat de Dret with Erasmus (the very first year that the program was in place). Watching this movie was like reliving a period of my own life. I felt like everything in the film actually happened to me too, expect for the "porros" (joints). But, the desperate looking for a "piso" (a flat), the discussions about who has to clean up, the initial frustrations with Catalán wit the increasing respect for the local culture later on, the friendship with locals and other European students, the beauty of Barcelona, the constant switching between languages, even the mild depression when you're back home - everything happened to me too. In the end, the film made me feel sad, because I remembered one of the most beautiful periods of my life - call it nostalgia.

The movie shows what a great idea the whole Erasmus project is, because it makes young Europeans (the generation of tomorrow) live and work together and understand each other better. What you study (the courses) is less important than the experience - that's the real lesson! Too bad that the current generation of politicians didn't do Erasmus, because a lot of the useless discussions out of stupid and misunderstood national interests could be avoided.