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One of the period's highly provocative films made in Buñuel's style, which, given the significant social changes and globalization, doesn't say much to today's audiences anymore. Ferreri mocked the then-dominant influence of the Catholic Church on social morality and sexual life. His protagonist's behavior is just a consistent fulfillment of Catholic ideas about sex and family life. In the early 60s, the film was the subject of many protests from the church, and it was not allowed to be screened for a certain period of time. Today, it is just a part of film history and is shown in clubs. Overall impression: 55%.

The writer Serkin as an alter ego of Charles Bukowski, who meets the ideas of nonconformist, provocative, and free-minded artist in abundance, is an immensely grateful character that offers great potential and an attractive spectacle with a philosophical subtext. The opening scene, where Serkin introduces his fans to his view on "style" as a way of life, is also truly stylish and entices film fans. If Ferreri had focused more on the dialogue and increased the pace, if he had let more of Bukowski's thoughts be heard in the film, and if he had managed to create fully-fledged characters out of the characters that surround his protagonist, whom Serkin and his value ladder must confront and that influence each other in the form of dramatic conflict, an exceptional film could have been created. Unfortunately, the chosen pace is extremely slow, the camera lazily glides here over a naked female body, there over the seashore. The dramatic storyline is weak, albeit embellished with a very bold portrayal of human sexuality for its time. The view of naked Ornellia and her self-torment was undoubtedly on the very edge of what was acceptable in the early 1980s. Today, this work is only a part of film history, intended for film enthusiasts, and perfect for screening in film clubs. Overall impression: 60%.

Hitler: The Rise of Evil was indeed an imperfect film, burdened both by its purely television-style appearance and its brevity. However, compared to Max, it is a truly masterful film. Max, on the one hand, is dull, uninteresting, and clichéd from a dramatic perspective, and on the other, it is a misleading way of depicting history. It is far from the fact that Hitler's artistic talent was undeniably minimal; rather, the creators failed to convincingly and realistically capture his character and the circumstances that shaped his value hierarchy. The dialogues placed in the mouths of the film characters are unconvincing and do not correspond to the thinking of the time. Overall impression: 40%.

A typical film from the workshop of Sam Peckinpah created based on the scheme of a traditional western drama - a lonely man entrusted with a MISSION and facing danger, adversity, and the superior forces of enemies. Peckinpah's typical fascination with violence and machismo is characteristic, where women are reduced to mere sexual objects and playthings in the hands of strong men. Similarly to the famous Straw Dogs, the main character is an initially underestimated outsider, his motivation purely materialistic, but throughout the story, an extraordinary determination and stubbornness are revealed, and the motive of revenge is added. There are practically no positive characters in the film, and only those who shoot faster or have better luck survive. Overall impression: 70%.

It's hard to say exactly what is wrong with Forman's film because it had an excellent crew, a great cast, well-known and highly dramatic source material, and high-quality elements such as music and set design. However, I was occasionally bored and the film did not captivate me in any way. In my opinion, it is unquestionably Forman's weakest foreign film. It lacks emotional engagement, pace, and coherence. Overall impression: 55%. It needed more daring editing and focus on a single protagonist and their fight for justice. The attempt to create a complex narrative about a certain period in the development of the USA slipped out of the director's hands...

So here we have it. Bollywood has been on the rise for a long time, India has improved economically in the last ten years and the country has created a large middle class with quality education and therefore higher demands on the quality of film stories. At the same time, thanks to globalization, Bollywood producers have started to feel the need to break into foreign markets and it was necessary to come up with more sophisticated plots than the original Bollywood kitschy romances with songs and dances, which were completely indigestible for the Euro-American viewer. The film Slumdog Millionaire combines classic Bollywood motifs including romance, action, and melodrama, but at the same time brings them to the Western viewer in a very attractive way thanks to top-notch editing, excellent camerawork, casting, acting performances, and music. In terms of content, it's just a kitschy fairy tale for me, against which I could raise many legitimate objections, but considering the technical aspects, it deserves three stars. Slumdog Millionaire is not about current India and the life of its inhabitants, but about how the director and consequently the viewer want to see it. I like certain types of fairy tales, like Forrest Gump or Amelie, but Slumdog Millionaire takes itself too seriously for my taste and tries to evoke emotions where irony would be appropriate. I am not the first to notice the obvious contrivance of the plot, where the screenwriter and director interpret the rules of the game, which must have the same format globally, as it suits them, and strongly violates logic. Overall impression: 60%. The success of Boyle's film shows that the audience still wants to be moved and that the stories that the screenwriters and filmmakers came up with in the 1930s-1950s can be recycled in modified exotic settings. I have no problem with it receiving technical Oscar awards, but Slumdog Millionaire is definitely not the best film of the year. It certainly has decent craftsmanship, but art should look different. The much more justified Oscar went to last year's masterpiece by the Coen brothers No Country for Old Men.

I read an excellent sci-fi story on the topic depicted in this movie about a twisted reality show where a group of inmates sentenced to death fought for survival, and the winner received not only mercy but also a decent reward. This dystopian spectacle aimed to divert the attention of the viewers from the economic crisis and societal stagnation. The main problem with Fukasaku's film is the inadequate portrayal of the background, of why society and the government had agreed on such a twisted game because, without its filming and broadcasting in the media, it somehow loses its meaning. If we accept the screenwriter's game, the director made the most out of the idea. The fight for survival within a closed community of high school students naturally offers tremendous opportunities to display a wide range of emotions, tension, and measured brutality so that the viewer remains appropriately excited throughout, and the relatively surprising ending is their reward. Everything is accentuated by a provocatively chosen musical background; you wouldn't believe the shots the director can combine with "The Blue Danube" waltz. Takeshi Kitano in the role of the tough teacher is naturally flawless in terms of acting, although his motivation, or rather the transformation from an intellectual to a cynical killer, is somewhat forced from a screenplay perspective. Overall impression: 80%. The film can rightfully be criticized for gratuitous naturalistic violence, but for the majority of its duration, the director successfully balances on the edge of bearability.

The creation of short stories with funny points has a long tradition in Anglo-American works, and within this competition, this series comes across as quite average. Its main weakness is the considerable inconsistency of the individual episodes, which is caused by the fact that a whole range of directors contributed to it. Slight ironic exaggeration prevails, and it is typical that the individual episodes mostly end with a happy ending, despite their horror setting, creating a rather relaxed atmosphere. Overall impression: 55%.

OldBoy does not deny its obvious inspiration from the manga comic style, from which the source material ultimately emerged, and the director's film school, which originated from classical commercial production of action crime dramas. However, it is also a visually provocative film full of interesting cuts and sophisticated tricks in the style of David Fincher. A film that conveys the creation of these declining genres to the festival audience. Who doesn't like violence, perversity, and morbidity, if it is presented somewhat more complicatedly and masquerades as an art film? However, in terms of emotional appeal, East Asian cinema has not consistently appealed to me (except for rare exceptions), and OldBoy is no exception in that regard. For me, it is an overrated film that reminded me of Lynch's film Wild at Heart in terms of style. If Lynch were to make a film with a similar theme, I would probably like it better. Especially because Wild at Heart is, after all, a little closer to parody, or rather, it does not take itself so seriously. Overall impression: 25%.

In the prison drama subgenre, there is decent competition in American cinema and there is still a lot missing for Animal Factory to break into the top tier, especially a more developed ending and an overall more polished screenplay. However, it does have a strong cast led by the experienced Willem Dafoe and well-cast actors in supporting roles (Danny Trejo). Overall impression: 70%.