You witnessed a death and now it’s latched onto you. “Smile 2” (2024)

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directed by Parker Finn
© 2024 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

What about taking the most genuine symbol of kindness and turning it into something completely opposite to scare people? Yeah, great success, let’s make another part. So here it is. If you haven’t seen “Smile”, I guess you can still watch part II without any worries, yet I’m personally a fan of watching films in the right order, so it’s up to you. If you’ve seen the first film, then this one continues with the main idea of the “smiling-demon-parasite-something”, just with a new protagonist and new adventures, if I may call them this way. We get to know Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a pop music star, who’s been struggling with drugs addiction, but is willing to get back on stage. In the end, that’s her job, money doesn’t grow on trees and business is business, right? However, she hurts her back and in order to get rid of pain, she meets with a dealer to get some Vicodin from him. Unluckily, her dealer is Lewis (Lukas Gage), who is the current host to the smiling demon/parasite/whatever thing. In case you forgot how it works from the first film: the cursed person kills themselves in front of another one and this way the curse changes the host. And so on, and so on. But right before killing themselves, the victim smiles in the most unnatural and creepy way – so that’s where the title comes from. Anyway, seems like Skye is now the new host and she starts having hallucinations, which step by step are making her lose her mind. But before I leave you to watch the rest yourselves, let me just add – there is a way to stop this chain and save oneself. How? That’s even creepier than the smiling demon itself, so now I’ll actually leave you to discover it on your own. Just like with the first part, I enjoyed this horror as well, because it’s something fresh. As I said at the beginning, the filmmakers took the idea of smiling, which has rather positive connotations, and presented it as a symbol of something evil, which in a smart way plays with our brains. Of course, it’s not the first time someone uses a smile this way – lots of bad characters were smiling while doing their usual bad things, but here the smile is in the spotlight, which makes it even more disturbing. Besides, when the character starts having hallucinations, the film itself makes us feel as if we, the viewers, were having them. There are some jumpscares, but I guess the scariest part is this uncomfortable feeling from the beginning till the end. Naomi Scott had a difficult role to play and she nailed it, so here’s a pinch of appreciation for her as well. I guess I liked both parts equally and I can’t wait what they might come up with in part 3. Considering the ending, they might already plan about a thousand parts more. Good luck with that.

My rating: 6/10
S.

Iris, go to sleep. “Companion” (2025)

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directed by Drew Hancock
© 2025 Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Monday always sounds like science-fiction to me, so I guess recommending a sci-fi film would make it complete. If you’ve been following my blog for some time, you already know that I’m a fan of quality sci-fi, especially the one that touches human nature and psychology. And before writing today’s post, I was wondering whether I should tell you the whole truth about it or not, but I guess it’s not something I can keep to myself and literally every description of this film spoils the first plot twist. So, we meet Iris (Sophie Thatcher), who’s a companion robot (boo, the tiny spoiler). Meaning, she was bought for the sake of keeping a lonely man company. And who’s that man? That’s Josh (Jack Quaid), who apparently isn’t attracted to women that think for themselves and he likes to take control even of the partner’s brain. Sounds like patriarchy may hit another level in the future… Anyway, Iris doesn’t know that she’s a robot, but she’s soon to find out. The couple spends some time at a lakehouse, where a horrible thing happens to Iris (come on, I have to keep some secrets for you to see) and when she seeks for support from Josh, he instead shuts her down. When she wakes up, that’s the moment when everything becomes clear. The woman doesn’t want to be controlled so she steals Josh’s phone (with which he controls her) and runs away. But will a robot survive in a human world? Doom doom doom… Listen, I had a lot of fun watching this film, because I just adore such stories. However, except some funny moments and simply entertaining plot, I see a lot of education happening here. My sarcastic comment about patriarchy hitting another level wasn’t far from the truth. We can already observe how difficult it is for men to get into healthy relationships these days and one of the reasons is that they can’t control women as much as they could in the past. Now, with an equal partner, some of them get lost, scared or even frustrated. So obviously, such companion robot will exist some day to fill in this gap. Some men just need a servant that looks good, praise them no matter what and doesn’t bother them when it’s not needed. Before you consider me a toxic feminist let me just add that women may have very high expectations that lead to intimidating men and embarrassing them in their eyes. A fact is that there’s something really not right in current relations, but seems like technology is here to help. “Help”. To me Iris represents women that finally realise what a shitshow they’re living with their partners and they decide to change their lives, even though the new beginning seems like an abstract idea. And I swear, the final scene of this film is such a cherry on top, which perfectly presents what it’s like to be a woman with “experience”. Loved it! And I loved Sophie as Iris – she was magical. You didn’t even need to read anything before because from the first minutes of the film you can already see she’s not 100% human. Those absent eyes, stiff body language – all that was both subtle, yet present. Great performance. And I really hope you will see what our future will sooner or later look like. Should we be scared or relieved? No idea anymore…

My rating: 7/10
S.

This is awfully good. “Another Way” (“Egymásra nézve”, 1982)

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directed by Károly Makk
© 1982 Mafilm Dialog Filmstudio. All Rights Reserved.

Recently, we’ve lost a wonderful actress – Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak. Perhaps most of my readers don’t recognise this name because she didn’t have a chance to become known worldwide, but it’s a story I’ll get back to later in this post. She was a Polish actress who played both in films and theatre plays. Once, I had a chance to see her on stage and I consider myself lucky. In fact, I was about to see her in another theatre play this month, but it’s cancelled, due to obvious reasons… It’s terrifying how one day you may be just fine, having plans and such, and then… poof. However, in order to pay my respect to Jadwiga and also introduce you to her as an actress, I’d like to recommend you this Hungarian film. Yes, a Hungarian film with Polish actresses. How come? We’ll get to that as well. First, let me tell you about the plot. We’re moving back to the 50s, right after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Two women, Éva and Lívia (Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak & Grażyna Szapołowska), meet at a newspaper editorial office. Lívia has been working there for some time and she’s also an officer’s wife. Éva is a new employee and she’s very much against the current political situation in the country. As you can guess, the story focuses on the revolution and the life of Hungarians at that time from the perspective of journalists, but not only… In fact, it’s also the first Eastern-European film that presents the topic of a female homosexual relation. Like I said, Lívia is married to a man, but there’s some special chemistry between her and Éva, so the women start experimenting with their feelings. And the rest is for you to see yourselves. Let’s answer some questions, shall we? First – why two Polish actresses played Hungarian women in a Hungarian film? Apparently, no Hungarian actress was willing to play a role of a woman experiencing with her sexuality in such direction. But also, the director himself wasn’t interested in engaging any local actresses. Back to Poland, Jadwiga had to deal with some consequences after playing in this film. The authorities even dismissed the director of the theatre where Jadwiga was working, which resulted in many actors losing their jobs, including Jadwiga. However, she was praised for her role in Cannes and by many homosexual women back then. And now the answer to the next question – why wasn’t she known more abroad? After “Another Way” she received numerous offers from foreign producers, but the institution that was managing the contacts between Polish actors and any companies abroad kept all those offers in secret. All that because our authorities were disgusted by her performance and didn’t want her to benefit from it. If only Jadwiga had been born a bit later and played in such film today, she would be an icon recognised by many. That is why I hope you’ll decide to see this film and learn about her. She deserves appreciation, even after all these years. Rest in peace, Jadźka (that’s how the actress liked being called according to the people who worked with her).

My rating: 7/10
S.

My heart is, and always will be, yours. “Sense and Sensibility” (1995)

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directed by Ang Lee
© 1995 Sony Pictures Releasing. All Rights Reserved.

Except the fact that I watch way too many film, I’m also a bookworm. However, the idea of reading a romantic novel doesn’t sound like anything I’d like to do in my free time. I get it, they are adorable, moving, showing what love should be like – but I guess I’m too much of a realist to deal with such stories. I’m sorry. Still, considering the fact that that “Sense and Sensibility” is an absolute classic and the film adaptation was praised by numerous critics, I had to finally give it a try. I haven’t touched the book yet, but the film is surely worth your time. We’re moving back to the end of the XVIII century, where we meet the Dashwood family. The head of the family dies, leaving his wife (Gemma Jones) and three daughters (Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Harriet Walter) without any significant support. The one to inherit the most is the man’s son from his previous marriage, who’s asked to take care of his father’s new family. Despite the promises, he does everything to save money and makes the widow with her daughters move into his large house instead of helping them be more independent. While the ladies are staying there, the hostess’ brother (Hugh Grant) pays a visit and immediately falls for the oldest sister, Elinor (Emma Thompson). Obviously there has to be some obstacle so those two cannot be together, but that’s for you to discover and learn the rest of the story either by reading or watching. I’m not a big fan of such romantic stories, but this adaptation is really good. It won an Oscar for the best screenplay, which is fair to me – Emma Thompson, the author of the screenplay, did it marvellously (she spent about 5 years working on it!). There wasn’t a moment I felt bored or annoyed, which is quite common for me while watching romances. Besides, the cast of the film is an absolute cherry on top. So many talented and great actors to admire. And they must have had a lot of fun shooting the film. For example, they had specific movement classes to learn how to move in a way people from the XVIII century did – which means a bit less comfortably. Also, it’s said that Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet liked to walk around the town of Salisbury in their film costumes and apparently nobody even cared or found it unusual. Adorable if you ask me. Speaking of costumes, I’ll always appreciate the work of people creating those pieces of art, so it’s another reason for you to see the film. Quite a lot of those reason we have already, don’t we? So what are you waiting for?

My rating: 7/10
S.

My head hurts. “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” (“Moartea domnului Lăzărescu”, 2005)

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directed by Cristi Puiu
© 2005 Tartan USA. All Rights Reserved.

I was hoping to see this film for a long time and recently I finally watched it. Romanian cinema is actually very specific and it definitely aligns with my preferences, so I always like to discover their productions. The one I’m recommending to you today is considered a dark comedy, yet I see nothing funny in this story. Perhaps someone noticed the witty replies here and there, but other than that, this film is a very emotional drama, at least to me. We get to meet Dante Remus Lăzărescu (Ioan Fiscuteanu), a man in his 60s, living alone with cats and enjoying alcohol drinks way too often. The film begins with the day when Mr. Lăzărescu is suffering from a horrible pain and calls an ambulance, which does not arrive. Then, the man goes to his neighbours and asks for help. Thanks to them, the ambulance finally arrives and Mioara (Luminița Gheorghiu), a nurse, examines Mr. Lăzărescu. She guesses it might be something serious, so together with the ambulance driver they take the suffering man to the hospital. And that’s just the beginning of this very long night. Generally, this film presents the inefficient health care system and how hopeless people are in case of emergency. Before you even see a doctor, there are multiple obstacles that you need to deal with. What’s more, Mr. Lăzărescu is an alcoholic and on this very night he’s also drunk, which becomes a huge problem. Everyone focuses on that, even though there’s a man suffering. Obviously, if you drink too much, it’s natural that you may end up with a headache. But even then, if you see someone vomiting with blood, feeling dizzy and struggling with some pain, you should help them in the first place. However, which is unfortunately true, many health care workers have the need to lecture you about the cause of your state. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it at all, but maybe let’s educate people after they stop puking in red, shall we? And this arrogance coming from doctors, calling their patient a drunkie and not having even a pinch of respect. Yes, I know he drank. Yes, he’s an alcoholic (which is also another reason why he needs help). But he’s a human being. Sending a man in pain from one hospital to another, making him wait for hours to get help – this is horrendous. Personally, I also had a chance to experience the tragedy of our public health care (I’m not Romanian, but I guess most of us may relate to this film reality). I remember how it is to feel like a no-name, to wait the whole night in pain because there’s no bed to sleep on at ER, to wait for months to get the surgery I needed immediately. This film is not a comedy, it’s a drama showing how little a human life matters. That in the end, we may all be like Mr. Lăzărescu – pushed from one place to another, slowly dying because the system is not organised to help us. The system is here to destroy us. Also, I was incredibly moved by the character of Mioara, the nurse, who was the only one fighting for the patient’s right to be treated. To me it was a symbol that there are some decent people in this world. Maybe not many, but they are here. If you’re still wondering whether you should see this film – let me clarify: YES! And before I finish the post, I’d like to add one linguistic fact -> the main character is named Mr. Lăzărescu, and his surname comes from the word “lazaret” (or “lazaretto”) meaning… “hospital”. I guess that’s the best dark joke of the film.

My rating: 8/10
S.

This simple life of yours is nice. “Faraway” (2023)

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directed by Vanessa Jopp
© 2023 Netflix. All Rights Reserved.

Recently, I went for a short trip to Croatia. It wasn’t my first time there and definitely not the last, because it’s a country where I feel great. I love the people, the culture, the atmosphere and the language, so today I’d like to share a bit of my love to Croatia. This film was actually recommended to me by my Croatian friend and I’m so thankful for that! I don’t remember when was the last time I’d had so much laugh before watching this comedy. We get to know Zaynep (Naomi Krauss), a middle-aged woman of Turkish origin living in Germany. She’s just lost her mother and finds out the woman had a house in Croatia, which now belongs to her. Considering the fact that Zaynep feels unhappy with her current life and lacks of support or affection coming from her husband, she decides to get into a car and drive straight to Croatia. That was the moment I started to love this character, you go girl! When she finally reaches the house, she meets Josip (Goran Bogdan), a Croatian man who knew her mother and by her permission was living in that house. Zeynep informs him that she’s planning to sell or rent it to tourists, which Josip doesn’t approve at all. From now on he tries to show Zaynep the beauty of this place and the importance of keeping it to herself. You know that I love Croatia, so the fact I could watch a film set there was already a big plus for me. But it wasn’t the only one, because another thing I appreciate is the script. Obviously, since it’s a romcom, you can already guess how the story goes and what “unexpected” events occur. However, the dialogues between Zaynep and Josip are just wonderful. You can really feel this German-Croatian energy between them, where the woman is rather strict and cold, while the man is a chilled dreamer with a Balkan vibe. Some texts are hilarious, so I seriously had a good time. Another thing that I find amazing in this film is that the main character is a middle-aged woman who fights for her happiness and comfort. Despite her age, she wants to feel alive, experience new things and make mistakes like a child – without embarrassment. Thanks to Josip, she feels safe to experiment and restart her life. Also, the man, who has been left heartbroken, gets a second chance to open up and start trusting another person. It’s seriously a lovely story about two grown-ups rearranging their lives, but also learning a lot of new things from each other. I’m always happy to see people of different ages and nationalities in films, because it makes the story unique. How many more comedies about Americans in their 20s can we stand? Enough is enough. So I seriously recommend you this film to brighten your day and perhaps fall in love with Croatia. Or a handsome homeless Croat. Choose yourself.

My rating: 8/10
S.

Let’s just say I was testing the bounds of reality. “The Doors” (1991)

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directed by Oliver Stone
© 1991 Tri-Star Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

When the actors you remember from your childhood leave us, it makes their passing quite specific. Because I feel like it was yesterday – I was at my grandma’s place, having lunch and watching some American action film with Val Kilmer – still young, still very much alive. And suddenly, the man is gone and so are the good memories. Today, I’d like to share one important film, which was Val Kilmer’s important role, but also an interesting production, which I was not supposed to like. Why? Well… It’s a biographical drama about Jim Morrison (played by Val Kilmer), the lead vocalist of The Doors. To my younger readers – it’s a very popular rock band from the 60/70s, and I bet you must have heard their songs somewhere, because they are still appreciated worldwide. Personally, I’m a big fan of rock and heavy music, but… I’ve never liked listening to The Doors. To me their music was too strange and somehow unpleasant. And I guess it’s mostly because of the way their lead singer sang. So why the hell am I recommending you this film? Well, because I can separate my opinion about the band and my opinion about the film as a piece of art. And I do believe it’s a good production. I’ll start with Val Kilmer – he really was a fantastic choice for the role. Not only he looks very similar to Jim Morrison, but he put a lot of effort and hard work into creating his character on screen. He spent a lot of time practising Morrison’s way of speaking and singing, and even the actual band couldn’t recognise which recording was sang by Morrison and which by Kilmer. So in the film you can listen to the actor singing several songs and, in my opinion, it’s really difficult not to take it as the original version. Many critics were against the way Morrison had been presented in the film, but I believe his character wasn’t far from the truth. I know that sometimes it’s hard to accept the dark side of our idols, but the fact is that Morrison was a rebel, an artist, a musician, but also a person with incredible addiction problems. And that is why I appreciate how Oliver Stone, the director, decided to present his story. The whole film shows Morrison’s reality in a pretty accurate way. The camera is floating, the frame is often crooked, which made me feel as if I was in a trance after taking some not very legal substances. It’s amazing that because of the techniques used in the film I forgot how little I enjoy The Doors music and in the end I realised that the film is actually of good quality. Impressive job, Mr. Stone. Anyway, no matter if you’re a fan of The Doors or not, I recommend you to see Val Kilmer in this unique role. Especially today. May he rest in peace.

My rating: 7/10
S.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? “Bird” (2024)

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directed by Andrea Arnold
© 2024 Mubi. All Rights Reserved.

Recently, I was travelling a bit and ended up in a lovely city of Rijeka in Croatia. And could a cinephile like me skip visiting a local cinema? Absolutely not! So I went to see “Bird” there and left amazed by the gorgeous cinema, but also mind-blown by the story I watched. At the end of the post I’ll share my personal interpretation, so there will be some spoilers, but I’m sharing them hoping one of you shares their point of view. Because this film can be understood in so many way, which is one of its advantages. We get to meet Bailey (Nykiya Adams), a 12-year-old girl struggling with her everyday life. She lives with her father Bug (Barry Keoghan) and her half brother Hunter (Jason Buda) in a squat. Bug had his children very young, so he’s also not a very much of a grown-up man – he likes to drink, snif some illegal stuff and have fun. His children generally raise themselves, although from time to time he likes to remind them that he’s the boss of the house. Bailey seems to be a very reasonable teenager, but incredibly lost. She keeps looking for her identity, but the environment she lives and grows up in doesn’t help. Her mother lives with an abusive partner, so Bailey often visits them to take care of her younger siblings. One day, she meets Bird (Franz Rogowski), an outsider, who could be described as the most genuine person you can imagine. He doesn’t want to fit in and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions, he has so much appreciation towards the world and sees beauty in literally everything. At first Bailey is quite distant with the man, but the more time they spend together, the greater connection they have. And here stops the recommendation part – now I’m moving to my interpretation so SPOILERS are coming. I’ve checked some reviews and a lot of people struggle to decide whether Bird was a real person or some kind of a mystical figure. My theory says – Bird is the personification of what Bailey isn’t, but deep inside she wishes to become. She wants to be more of a free spirit with a peaceful mind, but there are too many problems in her life. Bird says he doesn’t know his parents, so Bailey is helping him to find them. In my opinion, this is a metaphor of Bailey searching for her “dream parents”, because her actual ones are nothing a caretaker should be. When Bird fails to “rebuild” his family, this is the moment when Bailey realises that she’s definitely alone in this world and has to deal with everything herself, not hoping any of those two would change. Another thing – remember the most controversial scene where Bird actually changes into a bird and fights with Bailey’s mother’s partner? That scene is so unrealistic and completely not fitting to the rest of the film. In my opinion, it’s because this scene is simply a hypothetical situation that could have happened. So, when one day Bailey visits her mother, the mother’s partner becomes very aggressive and says he’ll hurt them all. I believe he actually did. He killed the whole family, so when Bailey returns to an empty house – that’s the picture telling us he actually killed them all. When the children, the mother and the partner appear, that’s all in Bailey’s head. She’s imagining a better scenario that could have happened if only she’d had some unrealistically powerful skills. She would have saved the family. That’s why the dog is back to life – it’s all in the girl’s head, but in fact, the whole family was murdered. If I’m breaking your heart right now, I’m sorry, but that’s my personal interpretation. And the ending – I was thinking about the fox for a long time, and I actually have an idea. So Bailey understood that she cannot become Bird, her imaginary person-to-be, no matter how much she wishes that. She gives Bird a hug, accepting the reality and then the fox appears – symbolising her new path. She accepts her life, her background and her limits and from now on she’s more aware of who she is as Bailey. If this interpretation seems like a rollercoaster that lost its track and is somewhere around the planet Saturn – I’m fine with it, but it’s what I like to believe happened in the film. I really hope you have your own interpretations and if not, please watch this production and get inspired.

My rating: 8/10
S.

That’s what your brothers are for. “The Iron Claw” (2023)

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directed by Sean Durkin
© 2023 A24. All Rights Reserved.

I remember my friend asking me to join her and see this film at the cinema. I checked the short description and thought: “What? Me? Going to see a film about sweaty men fighting in the ring? Not in this life…” And I didn’t go. But recently, I was just looking for something to watch and this title popped out on one streaming platform. No idea what happened in my head, but I pressed “play” and watched the whole film. You know what? This is a damn good story to learn, so if you feel like sports dramas are not for you, stay with me and perhaps I’ll encourage you to see something mind-blowing. We’re moving back to the late 70s to meet the Von Erichs, a cursed family, as they often said. The father, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), used to be a professional wrestler, and now he owns the World Class Championship Wrestling company. He’s had 5 children, one of whom died very early. The other 4 are Kevin (Zac Efron), Fritz’s absolute favourite and a very promising wrestler, David (Harris Dickinson) who is also into wrestling, Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) training to be a professional discus thrower, and Mike (Stanley Simons) who’s not that into sports and wants to become a musician. As you can imagine, the father is very proud of his career and wishes all his children to continue the tradition. It would be great if only he didn’t push too hard and create a home where his sons have to fight for his appreciation and love. The boys constantly feel like they’re not enough, that they need to try harder and no matter what they do, they’ll disappoint their parent. What I’ll write next is a spoiler, so be aware. I didn’t know about this family before, so to me the upcoming information was a big shock and definitely made the watching experience more interesting. *SPOILER COMING* Well… you already know that Fritz’s first son died as a child. However, Jack Jr. wasn’t the only child the parents lost. One of the 4 sons died from enteritis, but the next two committed suicide. That’s why the family was considered cursed, and I even found out about the term “Von Erich curse” which is used when a chain of tragedies occurs. Obviously, some may say it’s a curse, but in my opinion, considering the family those boys were growing up in, there’s a very mundane reason behind their deaths. This story shows how toxic masculinity and impossibly high expectations may ruin young people’s minds. They may be functioning, but at some point their bodies shut down and the only option is to “end the game”. That is why I appreciated this film so much – for showing the consequences of bad parenting. Also, a lot of parents want their children to pursue dreams, but those dreams don’t belong to the children. They belong to their parents, who failed themselves, so now they expect their sons and daughters to do better. Isn’t it hypocritical? Horribly, if you ask me. So no, this film isn’t about sweaty men in the ring – it’s about the importance of supporting children in finding their own paths and not being scared of expressing their emotions. I’ll also add some interesting fact – in the film, there are 5 sons, but in reality, there were 6. However, the filmmakers decided to skip one of the brothers, because he also committed suicide and they just felt like it’s too much tragedy in one story. I don’t agree, because it’s already heart-breaking, so personally, I wouldn’t have skipped the character of Chris Von Erich. But hey, I’m not the filmmaker, I’m a blogger, and I still appreciate this production very much.

My rating: 7/10
S.

Who else would help you? “The Girl with the Needle” (“Pigen med nålen”, 2024)

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directed by Magnus von Horn
© 2024 Nordisk Film Distribution. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s get back to the Oscars mood for a moment, shall we? So as we know, the Oscar for the Best International Feature Film went to “I’m Still Here”. However, if I may complain a bit – I find this film slightly overrated. I absolutely agree that Fernanda Torres played her character wonderfully, but in my opinion, this film could have portrayed the character of Eunice Paiva much better. I feel like they focused too much on her being just a wife looking for her husband and fighting for justice, and totally forgot how many other things she achieved as an activist. So I’m sorry, but this is not my winner. And the film that I’d personally award in this category is “The Girl with the Needle”. It also kind of shares the story of a famous woman… but we’ll get to that point. So, we’re moving over 100 years back to Copenhagen, where a woman named Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is trying to survive. Her husband hasn’t returned from war, but since he hasn’t been officially declared dead, Karoline cannot receive any widow’s compensation, so she’s struggling with money. Later, a lot of events take place, but I wouldn’t like to spoil them. However, at some point Karoline meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a woman who helps her with an illegal and difficult act. From that moment, those two become friends, but there’s a dark secret that Dagmar is hiding. If you don’t want any spoilers, then stop reading at this point, but if you’ve already heard of Dagmar Overbye, then please stay. So, this film is portraying the character of a Danish serial killer who was helping mothers by adopting their children and later murdering them in various ways. Yes, that’s the friend that Karoline makes. Lovely… But before you get scared of watching such dark production, let me just explain why I was amazed by it. First, the story itself is fascinating and highly feminist. Back then, women’s main role was being a wife and a mother, so they couldn’t make their own decisions and had to agree to whatever the man said or did. If they got pregnant with a baby they couldn’t support financially, they were left with such problem on their own. So giving a child away to adoption was a perfect solution. Obviously, the mothers didn’t know about the cruelty of Dagmar, but this story shows that there wasn’t any other option for those women. If only they’d had a legal and safe opportunity not to give birth in the first place, perhaps such murderer would have even existed. I’m not explaining her, absolutely not, but this film point out the consequences of putting people against the wall. The worst part is that nowadays it’s still the reality of many women in the world. So I find this story a gruesome reminder that patriarchy is the cause of lots of current global problems. Second, I was amazed by the atmosphere the filmmakers created and the magnificent camerawork. It perfectly suited the emotional level of the story, so despite its general message, it was disturbingly pleasant to watch. Make sure to see this production and reflect on it yourself.

My rating: 7/10
S.