Quo Vadis Aida?

Quo Vadis Aida? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Director: Jasmila Zbanic Cast: Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler 

A profoundly tense and moving film that follows Aida, a translator working at a UN base during the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 in which more than 8372 Bosnian (mainly men and young boys) were murdered by the Serbian troups. The film has just been nominated for and Oscar for best Foreign film and it really deserves your attention. Not just because it’s beautifully made, but because nobody should ever forget this. Director Jasmila Zbanic doesn’t shy away from the injustice and horror of what happened, but at the same time she doesn’t revel in it, chasing to stay away at the worst possible moments. Not a single person is seen being killed on screen.Watching the film tonight was a draining, infuriating and rather devastating experienceIt is a testament to the horror of war and the human toll that war has. The central performance Jasna Đuričić is astonishing. In one of the final scenes when years later she breaks down at the sight of the remains of her children floored me completely… I’m still shaking as I am writing this.

It’s unfathomable to grasp that something like this has actually happened only a couple of decades ago.

This is certainly one of the most powerful films I’ve seen in a long time.

Rear Window

Rear Window (1954)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock. James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey , Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Judith Evelyn

When people talk about perfect films this is the one that comes to mind to me, over and over again. It’s not just my favourite Hitchcock film but actually it’s up there among my favourite films ever. Where to start? There are books and books written about this film and I feel a bit stupid just sitting down here, telling everyone how great this film is. Technically of course is pure perfection: from the way it’s filmed, to the spectacular set design, to the multi-layered soundtrack (and virtually no composed music, all incidental as if heard from across the courtyard, something very usual for the time!) and obviously the powerful editing which makes the most of the juxtaposition of Jimmy Stewart’s reactions and what he’s seeing.

This is the work of a true master completely at ease with his film-making tools, putting the audience in the shoes of our heroes, adding humour, tension, sexuality, mystery to the mix as if it was the most natural thing in the world.And it’s not just Alfred Hitchcock of course. His cast here is pure gold too!

Jimmy Stewart to start with, the so-called “everyday man”, who’s impossible not to like (I guess the equivalent today could be Tom Hanks). He’s stuck on a wheelchair and yet he manages to convey all sorts of emotions from curiosity to boredom, from frustration to obsession, from love to fear…

And don’t even get me started on the most beautiful woman ever to appear on a film. Grace Kelly is the epitome of the perfect woman as far as I’m concerned: classy, beautiful, clever, fearless. I just adore her.

Thelma Ritter who plays Stella, who brings so much humour and energy to such a tiny role and makes her character unforgettable.

I love everything about this Rear Window: it’s a intriguing mystery story and it’s an exciting thriller of course, but it’s also an astute portrait of relationships, all different types of them and all played out inside those little apartments across the courtyard. And last but not least, the script (apparently Hitchcock worked on it but never got credited): I love the way the dialogue plays over the visuals, but also how sometimes through the language of film-making and though James Stewart’s reactions we learn more about the characters’ inner thoughts than we would if there were pages and pages of dialogue (or worse, voice over!).

67 years later “Rear Window” is still just as impressive just as funny, just as smart, just as exciting, just a tense. A true masterpiece like few other films are, full stop.

Scared Stiff

Scared Stiff

Director: George Marshall Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lizabeth Scott 

Don’t get those 2 stars mislead you: this is a bad film!It has possibly one of the most convoluted plot of any comedy I’ve seen. We were constantly confused about who was who and why they were doing whatever they were doing. Not that it matters a lot of course, the film is just an excuse for a few sketches more or less funny with Jerry Lewis and for Dean Martin to sing a few bland songs and kiss some random girls, one of whom he decides to marry within about 15 minutes after he first meets her. It’s all ludicrous of course and the film knows it (or at least I hope it does). At the time they were producing so many of these one after the other and I don’t think they cared too much about making a lot of sense. “Scared Stiff” clearly tries to evoke some those Abbot and Costello movies from the 40s and 50s which mixed comedy and horror. Needless to say, the comedy is hardly ever funny and the horror… well, it might have been scary in 1953 when this film was made, but it certainly pretty bland now. Jerry Lewis is pretty much on auto-pilot mode and very little of what he does is actually worth saving. Having said that I remember having fond memories of this from when I was really really young and my son seemed to have enjoyed it too (though I bet he was probably as lost as we all were about the plot). Certainly one to cross out from the Jerry Lewis list and hopefully never re-visit again. The only reason why it’s not getting the 1 star treatment is because I’m sure I’ve seen worst films and because I enjoyed seeing my son (who’s 8) having fun with it.