Being born too sensitive for contemporary times always makes us seek solace in other means of controlling our lives: be it the food that we consume, the clothes we wear, the subcultures we are a part of. This is a lovely film which, apart from taking us to the world of British songs and fashion, can help us recover from personal issues by its simplicity and folk vibe. Every talented girl has her problems. Every family turmoil makes you experience things differently, think in a different way. Every wound heels in a different scope of time. It is us who should help it heal.
Friendship bordering on a relationship. Two classes of Romanian society. Warm village people and cold-blooded but sophisticated city family. The difficulty of keeping things secret and the violation of trust. Physical and emotional attachment. Will there be a happy ending or a spectacular tragedy? It's nice sometimes to broaden your horizons and look beyond the nicely wrapped-up Western product. People feel and love as hard in the East as they do in the West.
The artificial intelligence created in a distant villa of a brilliant but disturbed IT genius. A clever but tricked yuppie taking a part in an experiment. A beautiful but mysterious robot. What can be considered genuine in the world of technology? Can a robot be conscious of its being and can it (she?) love like every human is capable of loving? A minimalistic debut of a director but an experienced film-maker. Intellectual fable between three main characters. I wish there would be more such films as Ex Machina, and many more roles aspiring to the talent of Alicia Vikander who proves to be my definition of brilliant.
It always makes me surprised how little time passed from the times when homosexuality was illegal when people of a different orientation were not only persecuted but also rejected by their friends and family. Not so long ago that was an issue in the UK. Not so long ago the idea of gay marriage, civil partnership and the adoption of kids weren't even considered. It is still an issue in many European countries which seem to a bit far behind Western Europe not only in terms of salaries but also in terms of tolerance. Acceptance is a hard lesson and unless we are directly connected with the discriminated group, we rarely make an effort to understand, tolerate and respect. What came from the clash of gays and lesbians with the miners? Can people who have so much apart have something in common? Pride.
Is there only a body (this material tangible sphere of what you see is what you get) or is there anything else in life? What bond do we have between our parents? Are they to be blamed for our problems and tragedies? How to deal with a personal loss and how to keep a strong head in our (but maybe also yours) Polish reality, concrete block of flats, postcommunism inheritance of gray streets and dark thoughts. One leg in the West and one leg in the East, historically martyrs but now tongue-in-cheek migrants, over-educated professionals with few material possessions. A father-daughter relationship after the death of a mother. What do you value in life? Body or Soul?
Having been so accustomed to vampire productions, when it is either sex and blood or murder and blood, or love and blood, it's great to see something refreshing. When the best of historical horror stories, reality TV cliches, the absurdity of the contemporary world are put in one basket, giving us faces we are not tired of watching, the result must be more than satisfying. 'What We Do in the Shadows' is more than a vampire story. It tells something about us as a society: Internet addicts, desperately searching for friends and love in this seemingly laid back, devoid of appearances, world. Isn't in every one of us a little vampire afraid of death, mourning past loves and hiding in the shadows of our computer screens?