On the one hand

Richard Castillo15 said:If you’re going to bring up Brešanov’s work and how it landed with critics or the French audience—well, I’d suggest taking a look at the full spectrum of international reviews for the Ogresta film over on IMDb. They are almost consistently excellent! Especially when you focus on the heavy hitters like Variety, Hollywood rep, and Screen International. The film is already playing in theaters across the Netherlands and Belgium... it had a run in Turkey, and now it’s headed to Italian cinemas next. I honestly don't think they're avoiding showing it because it's bad—quite the opposite, actually. Ogresta is such a unique filmmaker. He asks the audience to be brave enough to dive into the spaces he creates. It isn't exactly easy, I suppose, but it is absolutely wonderful once you decide to go for it. I’d describe the experience like looking into the deep ocean: some people see nothing at all, but those who are willing to take the plunge and dive in? They discover true wonders.👍

Professor Ozana, please, chill out with the intense vibes! 😁

The movie is solid. Really good. It feels like a true, high-quality American classic done right. If anything, it could’ve used a tiny bit more madness or craziness, but honestly? They nailed it with this one.

George Chavez8 said:Professor Ozana, please, chill out with the intense vibes! 😁

The movie is solid. Really good. It feels like a true, high-quality American classic done right. If anything, it could’ve used a tiny bit more madness or craziness, but honestly? They nailed it with this one.

My dear "colleague," since you seem so determined to "unmask" my identity, I can only assume you’re using my posts to scrape my personal data while working for one of our intelligence agencies. If that is indeed the case, I should probably mention that you are doing a rather poor job at it. By addressing me as "Ozana," you are likely implying I am Ozana Ramljak, the partner of Ogrest. I can guarantee you—using all my supposed high-level agency methods and tools—that I am absolutely not her. Believe it or not, I don't personally know the aforementioned Ozana, nor do I know the director, Ogrest. Furthermore, I feel that posts like yours cross almost every line of basic civility. Even if nothing else, it is quite distasteful to make such ugly insinuations—suggesting that someone is posting here merely to promote their own personal connections or interests. 👎 I find myself wondering if you would behave this way if you were participating here under your full legal name instead of a handle. In fact, that is exactly how I judge contributions to this forum—whether they are written with the level of civilization and politeness one would expect from someone using their actual first and last name. Unfortunately, people like that are quite rare these days. 🤦

Alright, bad joke, I’ll take the hit on that one. Our society is way too sensitive for that kind of humor these days... honestly, I wasn't even trying to take shots at who you are personally. I totally agree with everything else you wrote about the movie, all five points

It isn’t a bad movie per se, but I find myself wondering when American cinema will finally shake off this suffocating stiffness—this desperate, almost pathological need to appear socially conscious, to solve the world's problems, or to cater specifically to the whims of film festivals. It feels as though everyone involved, from the screenwriters down to the actors, is walking around with a metaphorical stick up their backside. If the script and direction had possessed just a modicum of actual vitality, the whole thing could have been significantly more gripping.

A perfectly decent production that ultimately stumbled because it couldn't escape the typical pitfalls of the American "film industry."

Brenda Johnson65 said:It isn’t a bad movie per se, but I find myself wondering when American cinema will finally shake off this suffocating stiffness—this desperate, almost pathological need to appear socially conscious, to solve the world's problems, or to cater specifically to the whims of film festivals. It feels as though everyone involved, from the screenwriters down to the actors, is walking around with a metaphorical stick up their backside. If the script and direction had possessed just a modicum of actual vitality, the whole thing could have been significantly more gripping.

A perfectly decent production that ultimately stumbled because it couldn't escape the typical pitfalls of the American "film industry."

What can I say? You just can't please everyone—especially not here in America.☕

I gotta admit, after reading through all these posts, I think I finally get what the whole point was—especially regarding Lazar Ristovski's role. I saw the movie in theaters last year and caught it on TV recently, but I was always super confused about Žark. Like, who was Lazar actually supposed to be? That missing piece was honestly kind of bugging me since I couldn't wrap my head around why I was missing the subtext. 🙂

Ogrest's style is pretty much what you'd expect from him; he’s not really the type of director who wins you over instantly. You have to actually put in some work to "get" it. I remember back in the days of washed-out memories, a buddy from college—who actually studied film at USC—was trying to explain Ogrest's vibe and his message to me. Back then, I don't think I bought it. I was just looking for something more flashy, you know? Something with scenes that hit you right away.

Anyway, I totally agree that the story has way more potential and a series could be really gripping.