Essential Killing (2010)

Fantastic!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I don't have a lot to say about this excellent film. I do take issue with one reviewer who said that it was deadly serious. I was laughing for most of the journey. It's like a silent film with much slapstick. It's a brave film and I imagine they only showed it in about four cinemas. The same thing happened to Postal. What a world we live in! It might have been kinder for the hero to have been picked up by the Spanish Inquisition. I look forward to more films from the viewpoint of the Taliban and other naughty insurgents. They certainly have a tale to tell. This is a surprising film. I didn't expect it. The people behind it went to a lot of trouble. Photography is superb. Production values are high. Three cheers to everyone involved. But it is funny. Very funny.

It's so boring and predictable that it _almost_ becomes funny. There is no dialogue. There is no deeper understanding to be gained. It's the story you will experience by buying vodka for your last money and getting wasted in a foreign neighborhood. Except you probably won't kill anybody and I don't see any justification for that.I don't know what it is supposed to convey. It's sick fantasy and that the snowy valley turns out to be Poland at the end just confirms that the crew had no idea about the world. Save your money. If you want some Western Culture self-hate you can buy vodka and drink by yourself. At least you won't bother anyone.

A visionary and masterful film. There is a story, it just isn't told in the same stock way. I think the story is a poetically-told and profound one. If you want Rambo and sneer at the idea of an "art film", then skip it. You won't know how to watch it and your commentary will be misplaced. If you understand that politics is elemental, consequential, and, yes, essential, and is more than ideologies and labels and bad guy verses good guy frames of reference, you could get something out of it. If you understand that politics isn't just parties or campaigns, but that 95% of it is what people don't see and don't ever know, you may like it. If you understand that politics is really (or had better be) ultimately about the planet, other life forms, seeing people whole, and each man's soul, or at least have an open mind to seeing a more encompassing view of "politics", you might like it. Skolimowski's best, in my opinion, and that says a great deal.

The boldest movie that i have seen this year. the movie begins very quietly as a small documentary style movie and in the beginning reeks of a small budget..but then when i saw the gunships hovering overhead and the Guantanamo style execution, i quietened my pace,,,and realized that i was in the Presence of a Master. And my sixth sense was rewarded, as i decided to forgo my last evening in beautiful Wroclaw, by watching a film in the open air tmobile film festival....amazing style,,,amazing gravity...amazing sense of depth and story. the story is simple but its built purely on inspiration. the movie is inspiring and i have to say as the writer of "Black Shark Valley", my book had a similar theme as this movie, and made me marvel at the director even more.i was excited that there are others out there in the World that want that sort of mad, insane , bold , and out of the box action that only the psychedelically deranged dare imagine. this movie was such a nice fresh breath of air that i was in Ecstasy as the movie went darker and deeper into the mind with each scene. the movie was very easily seen as a series of sequences, shot cinematically, and boy did the Director hit Jackpot. He was insane, and he is a Polish Director and I have the Highest regard for this man. He made my entire trip to Wrocalw worth it by just his film alone. And i was very Lucky indeed to catch this movie. amazing story, amazing boldness, and brilliant acting with styles borrowed from almost every Art Director out there, and it was great. This is a little gem of a movie waiting to be discovered!