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Berlin has fallen, the leader of the German nation has passed into eternity, and the surrender of the German armed forces was expected with each passing day. No one is rushing into battle anymore because who would want to die just before the end of the war? Actually, only the clean-up remains. However, a group of German soldiers who have gathered on the shores of the Baltic Sea do not want to surrender to the Red Army. They are not enticed by the prospect of infamous Siberian labor camps and forced work. They are considering escaping by boat to Denmark, where British captivity offers a considerably more favorable future. The Soviet captain does not press them. He, too, lives with the prospect of an imminent ceasefire and does not want to risk a clash against tenfold superiority. Moreover, he has enough worries of his own. His group has settled in an orphanage, and a German boy would like to experience the battle firsthand and gain some military fame. 4 Days in May is an intimate war film that focuses not so much on the grand epic picture of battle and war machinery, but rather on the personal dramas of people who must cope with the loss of a familiar world, new responsibilities, and above all, the question of whether and for what they should die for at the very end of the war. It is an inconspicuous film at first glance, but it is emotionally impactful, and it has left a mark on me. Overall impression: 90%.

I'll admit, I rarely watch romantic movies anymore because, in that stereotypical whirlpool, there are only very few titles worth watching. The vast majority of those genre pieces are made as if following a template and differ only slightly in doses of naivety and, when it comes to teenage matters, even in the level of tastelessness. (500) Days of Summer really stands out from this flood because it has honest craftsmanship and a few decent ideas as well as pleasant casting. But from my perspective, it's by no means a cult film. It was allegedly a huge hit at the Sundance Festival, but any major studio could have easily financed this Webb film. In fact, it is purely a mainstream affair. If stars were given for the best mainstream romance of the year, (500) Days of Summer would probably win hands down, but that's not how it works for me. It differs from the usual productions mainly by the fact that the screenwriter admitted that not every romantic love ends in marriage, but if they want to sell me these discoveries, they should turn to someone else with such banalities. After two days, I can only remember very little from the film. It's pleasant enough for one viewing, but nothing more. Overall impression: 60%.

The screenplay is unfinished. Although it is well-acted, it feels like a fragment of a feature film rather than a standalone functioning short film. The female element is also unnecessary in a script like this... Overall impression: 50%.

731: Two Versions of Hell is a type of documentary where the impact of the message is based solely on commentary, delivered by a neutral voice, which is in sharp contrast to the emotionally charged content of the film. The visual part could be completely absent, as similar information could be conveyed by a slightly modified radio program. The chosen dual perspective is interesting, saying that with a sufficient degree of cynicism and demagogy, anything can be relativized and justified, including gas chambers and torture devices. The visual component is only complementary, where the lively Chinese city of the present forms a counterbalance to the ruins of a concentration camp and a factory for the production of biological weapons. My overall impression, considering the weak visual aspect, amounts to 60%. However, the chosen unconventional form and provocative interpretation of the same event from the perspective of two warring sides make this a film that should not go unnoticed.

After watching the film, I was reminded of a lecture by a well-known science popularizer who admitted that the motive for the creation of his latest book was not a passion for its subject, but a grant that he happened to receive and that it would not be wise to refuse. I had a similar feeling of "motivation" when it came to most of the participating directors here. It wasn't a dream project that pushed them to the limits of their creative powers, and it wasn't even a commercial thing for which they would risk their reputation with the producer. Most of them approached it like a school exercise, and sometimes I even felt like it was out of obligation. In any case, directorial qualities prevailed over screenwriting - sometimes there was palpable helplessness in that area (Kusturica's alcohol-soaked visit to the film festival). Most film fans will probably choose their own favorite story, but as a whole, 7 Days in Havana, in my opinion, doesn't hold up. It was clear from the beginning that the individual contributions would have different styles and poetics, but I must admit that I didn't expect to feel like I was on a roller coaster or riding a carnival ride when comparing the quality of the stories. Overall impression: 45%.

When the movie In Bruges appeared in movie theaters some time ago, it was a rare case where film critics agreed with film fans on the extraordinary qualities of the work and gave birth to a film where the entertaining component of the film, in the form of a darkly humorous gangster story with charismatic underworld characters, functions in close symbiosis with the dramatic existential plane, which elevates this film to the realm of film art. The director's name became known as a concept and his ego obviously strengthened because Seven Psychopaths is an ambitious work at first glance, exuding confidence and expectation of success. However, unlike In Bruges, only the first plane works here - the plane of the crazy crime story with bizarre motivations of the (anti)heroes, incredibly cool characters, and black humor based on violence. Seven Psychopaths rides the wave that was initiated in the 90s by the phenomenal success of Pulp Fiction. In fact, Martin McDonagh has made a film that is more Tarantino-like than Tarantino himself. In Bruges, he placed his characters in a real environment and endowed them with logical motivations, whereas here it is a seemingly artificial screenwriting construct that creaks and grinds wherever you look. Of course, if all the characters represent exemplary psychopaths, you can excuse all the script acrobatics and missteps by saying that nothing else can be expected from a gang of psychopaths. But I'm not satisfied with this trick. Games with genre rules were demonstrated at a much more cultivated level by Altman in his film The Player, so I have no reason to rate it higher than 2 stars. I try to perceive this film exclusively as a comedy because, in the positions of the other two genres of crime and drama, it inevitably fails. Martin McDonagh did not resist attempting a scene with philosophical insight, but considering the overall character of the film, it appears rather alien and lacks catharsis - see the culmination of the life journey of the Vietnamese killer. Overall impression: 45%. However, if you enjoy witty lines, people getting shot in the head, and overacting actors having a good time, you will not be disappointed and you can rate it much higher.

Greenaway's film is one of those rare cases when, despite my undeniable stinginess, I would be willing to leave the movie theater after half an hour and forget the money because I saved a bit of my increasingly scarce time. The question is: is it possible to make a film that is supposed to deal with the dark sides of the human soul, sexuality, and the lives of wealthy people unrestricted by social conventions in an unbelievably boring way? Yes. Greenaway proves that with a little effort, it can be done. If I were a producer, I would rather burn the money in the fireplace than invest it in a similar spectacle. It is an immensely self-centered and difficult-to-digest film, primarily intended for the festival circuit audience, for the small circle of true intellectuals, and a considerably larger circle of those who think they are intellectuals so that they can eagerly debate the hidden meanings of the film after seeing it. At the beginning, one character asks another: "Do you think leading directors make their films to satisfy their sexual fantasies?" - the other replies: "I think most of them do." If Greenaway made this film to satisfy his sexual fantasies, then he is a very boring and eccentric patron. This film is neither provocative nor spicy, and in no way is it true to life, because I have encountered a fair number of bizarre characters, sociopaths, and nutcases, but I have never come across anything remotely similar to these film characters. Overall impression: 5%.

Attribute, which 8 MM deserves the most, is EFFECTIVE. A story from the porn industry appropriately brutal and repulsive with its subject, featuring a number of twisted characters from the gallery and a decadent high society environment. An energetic and attractive positive hero played by the decently acting Cage, complemented by a diligent sidekick, several skillfully filmed scenes, and an overall depressing tone of the film, all led to an extremely high commercial success and recognition among movie fans. It's not Schumacher's best film, but it ranks among the better ones in its genre. Overall impression: 70%.

Where Wall-E attempts to suggest a depressive post-apocalyptic atmosphere in the first half, 9 fully develops its vision of a world devastated by war and does not care about the moods of the child audience. The visual aspect is amazing and because it usually plays a significant role in my rating, I lean toward a five-star rating, even though I have a problem with the philosophical aspect of the film and consider its outcome unsatisfactory. Where, for example, Avatar has a philosophy that is too primitive, the philosophical dimension of 9 is possibly too complicated and uncertain. 9 depicts the adventures of nine extraordinary beings with a robotic foundation who look like rag dolls combined with the idea of artificial machines from the late 19th century. The retro-stylization, which seems to come from late Jules Verne novels, along with the gloomy visual aspect in shades of brown, is exceptional for an animated film made today and it boldly disrupts the idea of a positively inclined film that parents go to see with their young children. The heroes of the story face monstrous machines, from which hatred and dehumanized evil of technology are evident at first sight, escaping human hands. The creators of the film seem to work with the concerns of today's inhabitants of the developed world, to whom technology seemingly gets on their nerves and they dream of a return to a simple life in harmony with nature. The battle of the dolls with the devilish invention is full of adventurous action and unique effects. The idea that the story should be heading toward is somewhat lost under their fire, but it was still a strong experience for me. Overall impression: 90%.

Everyone who has ever read a novel by Kurt Vonnegut knows how difficult it is to translate his literary template onto the film screen. His works are multi-layered, consisting of the thought processes of his characters, various places and times that intertwine with each other, and most importantly, they contain various dream passages and hallucinations. The attempt to make an equally successful film based on his work usually ends in a disaster, such as Breakfast of Champions. For a long time, I believed that the only film worth seeing was Mother Night, and only now do I realize that George Roy Hill's film has almost the same quality. Slaughterhouse-Five, like the novel, is absurd, tragicomic, strange, and provocative. Several scenes are among those that film fans will remember for life. The main character's encounter with victorious Soviet soldiers or the end of his best friend are certainly among them. Overall impression: 85%.