This is the only medieval movie where you can feel the mud under your feet and smell the shit everywhere. Such an immersive and epic experience. But you need a shitload of patience and stamina to get through this, but you get rewarded with a once in a lifetime movie experience. Cause i bet you wont see this one again.
Many walked out of the theater at the screening I went to. All in different phases. Some right away, some half an hour in and some over an hour and a half in. I wonder what kept them there so long in the first place. It was a difficult watch, but I enjoyed having watched it. Also, I want to watch it again haha
Try Passolini's Salo if you want a movie you might not want to watch again. I would gladly watch this again. There's so much to take in, it will take a lifetime. An amazing achievement.
Haha I saw it in one sitting and then watched it again two days later. I think people exaggerate a little bit about how hard it is to watch. Try sympathy for mr vengance if you really want a challenge
This movie takes you to an experience you will feel only in few films... It will hunt you with the visuals, the grotesque, the insanity, the filth, the despair.... An amazing yet uncomfortable ride
It feels like stepping into the world from Bosch's paintings. Also, what Arata says about God (that he got tired of pulling the cart, got snotty and died) is one the most nihilistic sentences I have ever heard. So powerful in the context of this dark, hopeless world.
Watched this whole movie one time and it was painful in regards to following any kind of plot or theme, but what stuck out for me to the very end was the cinematography of this THING. Its flat out incredible and crazy.
Mr. German proved that a true master can deliver the best 3D-picture ever just using 2D B/W. I just can't believe how much happens in the background in every single scene. I'm still impressed.
For anyone confused by this film - its not meant to tell a story - its meant to communicate a feeling. More specifically, what it feels like to be an intelligent person in a backwards country surrounded by idiots (in this case Russia, but in reality anywhere on earth).
No, it's easy to get through.. just watch 20 minutes at a time. But that means picking your jaw off the floor 8 times instead of one. There seriously needs to be a book about the making of this film. A big one.
@@mtganalytic9796 it is NOT A SHITTY movie, it is a masterpiece of images, and one of the greatest films of the last decade at minimum. Just because it doesn’t hold your hand into plot-narrative land, doesn’t make it shitty, just makes you dense for being so dismissive of a film that is the cinematic equivalent to Renaissance art, that isn’t an exaggeration.
This is either the greatest film ever made or the worst film ever made. At the 2 hour mark I realised that my mouth was hanging open and that I had a most confused expression on my face. I had no idea what was going on. The film was painful to watch and yet I couldn't stop watching. For all those asking about subtitles; don't bother. Just watch it in Russian. You wont get any real extra understanding from the subs. Often the dialogue is disjointed and seemingly random. It's almost Lynchian. The visuals are just beautiful and utterly disgusting. I still don't know whether I love this film or hate it. Perhaps both.
+tigermunky There is some explanatory content to the dialogue, for example they explain that on Arkanar The Renaissance did not occur therefore culture and society remained at the medieval stage. I thought these revelations gave it a little extra poignancy.I rather liked it overall; it's like the distilled essence of the Medieval period of popular imagination viewed whilst slightly intoxicated.
Michael Johns Of course, there was the explanatory dialogue in the beginning...and then what? Don Reba spent the film looking for Budah, who he eventually finds and tells to go away. Then some people come to kill Don Reba. They kill his girfriend/wife/mistress. Then Don Reba kills everyone. The end. Now, I know, from reading a synopsis of the novel, what the general plot is. But very little of it is communicated in the film. I agree with your statement that the period visuals are impressive. I imagine that this is what living in the medieval period was like.
+tigermunky I think you mean Don Rumata (The protagonist). Don Reba was the leader of the Grays. Subtitles are very essential for 5% of the movie. For the beginning where the narrator explains what is going on, for the scenes where Rumata is speaking to the doctor outside of his castle, and to the rebel leader. For me, Rumata's lines in those scenes was what made the movie great. I had a hard time following what was happening too. Had to re-watch a lot of the scenes.
When I read your message, I thought, “Stop! I saw the HD version!” I looked on Wikipedia and found no information about the release. Even the most popular Russian tracker had only the DVD9 version. I looked at another one and “bingo!”, I actually saw her! In general, everything is fine, you can watch this great movie in good quality! If you are interested, write and I will tell you how.
This is what it looks like when you study a fanatic authoritarian and spiritualist medieval civilization as a xenophile egalitarian materialist with the shared burden civic
The Stugatsky brothers are a big philosophy plus fiction: Working and thinking are two different things. Many people can work, but few people can think. The person who works and thinks will always be successful ... and the one who just works and does not think will become like Arkanar
First time I was bewildered but captivated with the technical aspects of the filmmaking. After second viewing I have to agree it is indeed a masterpiece. Totally unique film, a warning of how bad things were, and how bad things could get without the light of true reason.
I just finished the book. Not an easy read. I was getting lost a bit trying to follow what was going on, and the characters got a bit confusing at times because some of them had more than one name. Maybe it was the translation too, but I found some of the conversations quite, er, unusual.
сначала смотрел фильм потом трейлер. Они АБСОЛЮТНО разную картину создают. В трейлере даже одной 100 от того треша не показали что в фильме, зато музычки крутой накатили и использовали почти все нормальные кадры от которых не охота блевать. И не надо мне говорить что я не понял картины - я прекрасно ее понял. Я получил от нее ровно тот опыт что и хотел передать бедняга режиссер которого прямо во время сьемок хватил сердечный удар. Герман похоже так преисполнился своей картиной что решил увенчать Усьо сие чудо своей смэтью - вот это я понимаю вовлеченность!
I expected to be grossed out but actually, after immersing myself in the bluray for three hours, I was more mesmerised than anything else. The filth and the fluid is just 'there', the consistent beauty of how the film's composed is what won me over more than anything. I think Saw is more for the gross-out fans.....they won't 'get' this.
@@davidsanderson5918 you make a good point! Definitely, after a few hours I thought this movie over and it’s truly incredible. It’s shame that the movie isn’t talked about more
Well I just finished this. I had no idea what was going on but then I watched nost of it while getting drunk. Visually this film is gorgeous in so many ways and the lead actor was brilliant in my opinion. Hell yes, this film is up there with classics like Erasure Head. Who cares whether you get it or not, it was the best celluloid trip I've had all year so far. Fuck Disney by the way, just had to get that off my chest
This is without a doubt one of the greatest acting performances I have ever seen. This whole film is a masterpiece. A unique experience unlike any other. Maybe we will never see a film this “lived in” ever again.
Eraserhead is absolutely straightforward in it's plot and presentation once you realize it's simply about a guy not wanting to be responsible for a baby.
People who are not in the theme of the story is initially difficult to understand the film. This is its main drawback. Those who dare to look, I advise at least briefly examine the original story Strugatsky.
For poeple who dont understand about what is this film . You should watch "Hard to Be a God" from (1989) so u will have good idea about story and settings there.
can't wait to watch this and Satantango back to back. =D. I will enjoy finding the silver-lining in humanity's despair. Anime has prepared me for this.
Such an amazing cinematic experience though some of the excellent narrative re: humanity's inhumanity be it here or on the planet in question w/sci-fi/moral elements & questions gets a bit lost in all that visceral eye-candy/revulsion compared with the novel but the feeling of it all comes through, hugely. Haven't been able to locate an English subs version recently. Pointers?
I've only watched a randomly selected five minute section to see what it was like, seemed to have some semblance of sense with words in English....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hRL4cXXX9Po.html
The booklet that goes with the ArrowFilms Bluray (which is well worth it btw) has a very fine interview with the director which goes on for several pages and really clarifies what this film is saying. After ruminating on Putin for instance, he adds, "the same thievery goes on, everyond is corrupt, universites are broken apart for wood and slaves do not want to take off their shackles. And they are advised to! Politically, this film is a warning. For all of us." He also says something which resonates with me as a creative person reaching middle age...."It seems as though all is well. On the other hand, I perceive myself as someone unfulfilled, failed. Miserable. I can't understand this feeling. I am bewildered and lonely. Many have passed away, whom can I call nowadays? My life has passed extremely stupidly, humiliatingly so." I understand every word with that. It happens as you age. I like him and though it's profoundly negative about things, I like this film.
If anyone here who shoots a little still and video isn't knocked out by the camerawork and consistent focus...my question is, could we do something like this with a Gopro or it's equivilant? What the heck was this shot with....
People in the comments going on about the medieval World - this is not the medieval world- it’s the Middle Ages skewed and warped by 21 st century minds - it’s cinema and is a reflection of the directors imagination and has little to with the Middle Ages
