922 The Other Side of Hope

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whaleallright
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:56 am

Re: 922 The Other Side of Hope

#26 Post by whaleallright » Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:19 pm

Aside from general awfulness, that comment by Svet is weird b/c Kaurismaki has always been an outspoken guy on politics and other matters, and I'd say his films are pretty strongly political from the beginning—even if the politics (and everything else) are necessarily filtered through his very particular sensibility and style. I don't really see a big shift except that the political matters he's addressing now are perhaps of more international as opposed to local/regional interest.

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soundchaser
Leave Her to Beaver
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:32 am

Re: 922 The Other Side of Hope

#27 Post by soundchaser » Thu Apr 19, 2018 3:39 pm

Yes, Aki's films have always been overtly political, with a few notable exceptions (the black and white series from the 90s). I'm not sure how someone who calls himself a reviewer of films can watch Ariel, The Man Without a Past, or Lights in the Dusk, for example, and NOT get something political out of them.

That said, I don't think the problem here is that Svet's review is political - it's that Svet can't write in English to save his life. If he were to come anywhere near the prose level of Rosenbaum contra Gump, to use an example of another piece of film writing that critiques a movie based on its politics, his ideas might have a chance of cohering. As he doesn't, his inclusion of politics into his reviews comes off as childish and unnecessary.

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MichaelB
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Re: 922 The Other Side of Hope

#28 Post by MichaelB » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:21 pm

soundchaser wrote:That said, I don't think the problem here is that Svet's review is political - it's that Svet can't write in English to save his life. If he were to come anywhere near the prose level of Rosenbaum contra Gump, to use an example of another piece of film writing that critiques a movie based on its politics, his ideas might have a chance of cohering. As he doesn't, his inclusion of politics into his reviews comes off as childish and unnecessary.
Aside from the fact that the gap between the quality of their writing makes the Pacific look like the merest puddle, the late Alexander Walker had a similar quirk - as with Svet's knee-jerk immigrant-bashing (despite himself being an immigrant), Walker, a native Ulsterman, was compelled to mount his soapbox every time a film turned up that dealt with Northern Irish politics, however tangentially - and if he particularly disliked it, as was usually the case, the entire review was basically a political rant. Unfortunately for him (and his readers), films about Northern Ireland tend to take a nationalist rather than a unionist line, and you can probably glean from that which way Walker himself swung.

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soundchaser
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Re: 922 The Other Side of Hope

#29 Post by soundchaser » Thu Apr 19, 2018 5:27 pm

MichaelB wrote:Unfortunately for him (and his readers), films about Northern Ireland tend to take a nationalist rather than a unionist line, and you can probably glean from that which way Walker himself swung.
So you're saying "the Walker doth Protest(ant) too much"? (Sorry, I'll see myself out.)

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 922 The Other Side of Hope

#30 Post by knives » Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:49 pm

This is structurally such a fascinating film and on that account easily one of Kaurismaki’s best (he’s made funnier and more distinctive films, but the structure makes this stand out as so unique). It also breathes as something new due to its use of dialogue. Is this his most verbose film? It almost reminds me of Panahi’s Taxi with its use of legal exposition and reality imposed on a fictional world as an aesthetic underlining of the point being promoted.

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