Moscow, Belgium
December. 19,2008‘Moscou’ is a densely populated working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium. Matty, mother of three, bumps her car into a truck on the parking lot of a supermarket. Johnny climbs down from the cabin. He is infuriated by the dent in his front bumper and yells at Matty. Although impressed by the accident, Matty fights back with sharp words. Their discussion turns into a row, and the police have to intervene. Matty goes home, the trunk of her car dancing up and down. Back in her apartment, Matty takes a hot bath to recover from the afternoon’s emotionswhen the phone rings. It’s Johnny, apologizing for his behaviour on the parking lot. Matty tells him to stay out of her life. A dramatic comedy begins about a woman whose soul is full of dents and bruises.
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Reviews
Great Film overall
Did you people see the same film I saw?
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.
We learn about them and are slowly drawn into caring about these individuals.. for that alone it's a terrific little film. It just has so many wonderful scenes, and there are several fine performances, coming from actors you in all probability have never seen or heard of before. Barbara Sarafian.. bit.ly/16qn7oL .. is of special note... she is from start to finish superb. Read a great line about her performance in the film.. "Sarafian is acting every second she's on screen, yet you never catch her at it." As for the two lead characters.. do they 'make it' and ultimately stay together.. who knows, but they have given us allot of enjoyment just in meeting up. Watch it.. you will enjoy it.
You can hardly get more unpretentious than what you have here.It's elementary clear how this is made, the devices that were used, and the effective it is and this is a good thing, in this case.Check how the story and the mood is built right from the first scene. A minor traffic accident in a parking lot, that begins an argument. The scene starts as a piece of ordinary life, goes on as a light word-based argument, and finishes in a funny mood. Notice how every word and sentence in this argument is designed to cause an immediate impression without becoming dark or even heavy. That's the mood of the film. It lives on daily lives, it introduces deviating elements, that usually work out funny (the introduction of the lesbian theme was a great moment, among others)and with this mood evokes a sense of tenderness, what audiences may call "romance". The fact that the people who conceived this were able to synthesize this so economically and efficiently in one single scene is really impressive. This is one of the most meaningful first scenes i've seen.I place this with 3 recent comedies that among many differences share a common sense of unpretentiousness, something that admits cinema is a piece of entertainment, that things have to be successful and effective in the eye, and through the dialogues, IN the world of the film, without meaning that the film should moralize or search for superior answers to common themes. These films i saw recently are "Juno", "Little miss Sunshine" and this one. Of the 3, this was the best, to me. It deviates from Hollywood canons even more than the other two, and that may be the reason.It works for the performances, acting, which were surprisingly direct and grasping. I know very few or nothing about Belgian (or equivalent) acting traditions, but i am guessing (may be wrong) that this is inserted in a longer tradition of acting with fluidity, what some may consider "natural" acting. I wouldn't dare to mistake this for "real" life, as i suppose many spectators will, but this is a really well shaped cartoon world. Representation, that's what this is... the guy goes often to Italy, and speaks Italian many times, a language that in some of its golden moments in art is meant to "sound" instead of really "mean".Some cityscapes of the small town of Moscow, Belgium, is great. There was a competent eye for the city here as well.My opinion: 4/5 (FantasPorto 2009)http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com
Screenwriters, Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem and Pat van Beirs have written a script that gives us close scrutiny at a woman's character and how it slowly changes or bends as circumstances arise. They have done it well.It is more often than not that one wold find character development like this in a "foreign" film. Maybe that is changing, and that would be a good thing. If we can trust that our audiences will watch characters interacting with one another, without the need for some cinematic shock, i.e. action, suspense, sex, etc, then we may have more movies like this in the U.S. I have nothing against action, suspense, sex, etc, it's just that we could use more movies that depict character studies.Director, Christophe Van Rompaey takes the reins and nicely dramatizes this story about a domestic life, while holding back any temptation to rush.Very nice performances are given by Barbara Sarafian, Jurgen Delnaet and Johan Hildenbergh.Barbara Sarafian, Jurgen Delnaet, Johan Heldenbergh, Anemone Valcke, Sofia Ferri , Julian Borsani, Bob De Moor, Jits Van Belle and Griet van Damme
The movie sets place in Moscow, a small Belgian town district of Ghent. Matty and Johnny, 2 very common people, collide and the movie starts. From that point on a romantic story starts with a lot of humor and hilarious scenes with genius dialogs which are rare in Belgian movies these days.This movie separates itself from all other Belgian movies by placing the characters up front and their story. That makes the movie so realistic and gives it a personal touch to the audience so they can relate with them. Also the typical dialect of the population in Ghent gives another aspect to this movie. Whereas most Belgian movies are situated in Antwerp this movie takes viewers to another location and another atmosphere which is a welcome relieve for a lot of viewers. I'm giving it 9 out of 10 stars!