Westward

Anyone seen Westward (R. Ahmed Imamović; starring Tarik Filipović, Mario Drmač, and Rade Šerbedžija)? Curious what you guys thought.

I gotta say, it actually caught me off guard in a good way. It hit home, though that ending was a little too much of a tear-jerker for my taste.

People are actually asking for your take on this... what does "pleasantly surprised" or "impressive" even mean? It’s just empty fluff. I want to know what someone is actually trying to convey when they say nothing at all.
Let me guess, the next response will be something like "I wasn't impressed" or "he was boring." 👍 <---- This one is my favorite; they must teach this stuff in elementary school. "It's great"... then someone else says "it isn't," and we just cycle through that nonsense until the end of time.

Jose Miller17 said:People seem obsessed with reacting to stuff... like, what does 'pleasantly surprised' or 'impressive' even mean? It’s total fluff. I want to know the actual substance. How are you supposed to have a conversation if you aren't actually saying anything?
Let me guess, the next response is going to be "I wasn't impressed" or "It was boring" 👍 <---- my personal favorite. Apparently, they teach that in elementary school. Or "It was great." Then someone else goes "it was," and someone else goes "it wasn't," and we just cycle through that until the end of time.

You're lying about being "nice and polite"😁
Look, I ration my comments out because if I posted them all at once, I wouldn't have anything left to live on. 😁

Anything I try to say about the movie right now is basically a spoiler minefield. There's this one part that'll give you the chills, and the director does a decent job juggling the dark comedy and the drama (yeah, I love my clichés).
Whether people think it's "awesome" or "boring" doesn't move the needle for me. But I definitely recommend it.
The only thing that kills the slightly surreal vibe is the fact that it was filmed near a coal mine by Mount Rainier. 😁

brightscout63 said:Whatever I might want to say about the movie right now... it feels impossible to avoid the spoilers...

Any spoilers? I mean, does anything actually happen that catches us completely off guard...

Anyway, you can always just mark your spoilers or find some way to write them so they aren't accidentally read—maybe use ROT13, go with gray-on-gray text, or something like that...

There’s a certain quality to this film that just gets under your skin, a lingering sense of unease that stays with you... and the director manages to balance those heavy, dramatic beats with moments of dark humor quite skillfully, if you ask me. I've always had a soft spot for that kind of tonal tightrope walking...

When I was sitting there in the theater, I watched people laughing their heads off at those supposed "comedic" bits, but honestly... I can't quite put my finger on it, though it just didn't land for me...

So, you actually think there's something humorous about children going hungry?...
It really depends; are they sporting full clown makeup?...

I feel the exact same way about everything lately... It’s all such a mess that when something actually funny happens, it doesn't even register as humor. It just serves as another grim reminder of how broken everything has become. My first instinct isn't even to laugh; it's more like an exhausted, "Jesus, what a disaster..." rather than a genuine "ha ha ha!"...

The only thing that really pulls me out of the film’s subtle touch of surrealism is the realization that they were filming right next to that massive coal mine near Mount Rainier... 😁

I mean, that desolate wasteland really drives home the whole Western Atmosphere... there isn’t a blade of grass or a single thing in sight out there, which just perfectly sets the stage for Rade Šerbedžija and his saloon, complete with all the horses and everything else... 🙂

I honestly thought we were starting a thread about the Marx brothers, but then I see some random old movie from the USA era... *sigh*

Melissa Moore32 said:I honestly thought this thread was about the Marx brothers, but then I see it's just some new USA film... *sigh*

What even defines a USA film?

I can't wrap my head around what happened to Westward after that big fancy premiere. Is it not getting a standard theatrical release?

Justin Patel said:What exactly constitutes a "USA film"?

I guess that's just my own way of describing movies produced within the old USA borders—whether they were made before, during, or after the war—where you see a massive cast pulled from all the former states. 😬 (And I really don't mean that in a negative way, so I hope nobody takes it the wrong way)

From what I can tell, Westward fits that description perfectly.

Is there even a remote chance we'll get a movie made here (in the broadest sense of the word, obviously...) that isn't centered on some kind of discrimination theme? Will anyone finally realize that people actually go to the cinema for entertainment, rather than watching some depressing tragedy about two marginalized guys, two war prisoners, two minorities, or two migrant workers?

But you have to admit, the subject matter is provocative and really breaks through certain social taboos. 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏

They didn't go to school just to be entertainers. Their goal is to open people's eyes by being intentionally provocative. They want to highlight the profound isolation felt by the modern individual 🙏 🙏 🙏 within today's society.🙏 🙏 🙏

nimblemarlin17 said:Is there any actual chance we'll see a movie made here (in the broadest sense of the word, obviously...) that doesn't revolve around some kind of discrimination theme? Will anyone ever realize that people go to the cinema for entertainment, not to sit through some tragic sob story about two marginalized kids, two war prisoners, two minorities, or two migrant workers?

It's pure melodrama, dear nimblemarlin17. Just pure melodrama. 😉

Does anyone know if there’s a trailer or an official website out there for this masterpiece?

Guys, where have you all been watching this? A few of the scenes really caught my eye, but I haven't heard anything about him appearing anywhere else since that performance at the Kennedy Center.

Christian Alvarez said:but I haven't heard of it being shown anywhere else since that performance at Lisinski.

I guess you guys should just take this as a recommendation. 😬>

I heard it’s a complete joke, so I’m skipping it until it hits streaming

Not worth wasting money on movies like this🙂

Christian Alvarez said:Hey everyone, where did you guys see this?

I caught it at a theater in Boston. 🙂

I think Mario (and honestly, I’m not his biggest fan) was actually the best choice for that specific role. Even his voice has this feminine quality to it. But anyway, I just rewatched those two tightly choreographed horror flicks, and Tarik is back to playing the flamboyant type again. To me, he felt much more like that character in *Footloose* than in either of those movies.

Has that arrived in Washington, D.C. yet?

When is the movie finally coming out...😁

Tarik is hands down the worst actor to ever step onto a set. Ever. 🙂

I’m with you on that; Tarik really ruined the experience for me. By the end of the film, I honestly couldn't bring myself to care what happened to his character.

As for the humor, there are some decent bits, but I have to agree with Jason. Nowadays, we can laugh at how those people sing their anthems with such misplaced pride and hollow confidence, but back then, that was just our reality. It wasn't particularly funny sitting in a theater, and I highly doubt the people being mocked found it amusing either.

The movie was a total disaster.