Advantages: Brilliantly acted stripping bare of hedonistic Hollywood Disadvantages: Some may find its documentary style not to their taste
When people speak of films being powerful they are speaking of films like IvansXTC. British director Bernard Rose, best known for the lushly effective horror Candyman and Immortal Beloved, moved to Hollywood and clearly did not have a good time. IvansXTC feels like guerrilla filmmaking. Shot on digital video it has a grainy, sometimes shaky feel, like Lar von Trier and co.'s Dogme films.
Based loosely on Tolstoy's 'The Death of Ivan Ilych', the film concerns itself with Danny Huston's shallow, coke-snorting, goodtime Hollywood agent Ivan Beckman, and his coming to terms with discovering he has cancer. Surrounding him are those he cannot confide in and ultimately are using him just as much as he is using them, whether Peter Weller's gun totting, right wing, whoring star that he poaches from another agency or his girlfriend, Lisa ...
No_name 28.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ivans XTC (DVD)
Advantages: Interesting concept Disadvantages: Bland, dull, and not amusing
Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) is a weird guy, having in a shack next to his brother's house, he interacts little or not at all with anyone. At home he is awkward, at work he is annoying, and despite everyone's best efforts he simply does not seem to want to be part of this world. On the plus side Lars is a good man, a God fearing man who shows worship in church regally, and is generally appreciated in town as the one man not likely to fall off the rails, from a citizen perspective he is the ideal small town inhabitant. Gus (Paul Schneider)the brother and his wife Karin (Emily Mortimer) desperately try to get Lars involved in things, but seem to fail unsuccessfully.
One day something catches Lars eye on the internet, and before long he is talking about a love interest called Bianca, who might be coming to stay for a while. A foreigner ...
Advantages: A Tarkovsky Film Disadvantages: (For Some) Requires an element of thought - not a fast-car-chase action film!
Also known as: "Ivanovo Detstvo", "The Story of Ivan", "The Youngest Spy", "My Name is Ivan"
bbfc rating: PG
Running Time: 91 mins.
Price (Video): approx. £5
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Nikolai Burlaev (Ivan), Yevgheny Zharikov (Lt. Galtsev.), Valentin Zubkhov (Capt. Kholin) and Valentina Malyavina (Masha)
Cinematography: Vadim Usov
Language: Russian with English subtitles
A pretty bad childhood is in store for young Ivan - his family having been killed by the Nazis during the war on the Eastern front, he joins the Partisans/Russian Army as a scout; his small size and unthreatening appearance making him ideal to cross and recross enemy lines undetected. The title has its share of irony - no childhood is present in a way we understand. This film is the story of Ivan's desperate struggle to avenge the deaths of his ...
