Beyond Superlatives.

Rating: 10/10 (26 April 2008)

There's so much to praise about this movie and I find it's all been said.
Right from the opening you just know its going to be good. That wistful gypsyesque theme music with its hint of eastern Europe, a perfect foil for lights playing upon the water and the origins of the story.
And it just gets better and better. A group of characters in a line-up almost playing it for laughs. But all of them finely observed and sufficiently unique without being derivative.
There's a plot with more twists and turns than a back-road in Kent. And the corners are just as blind.
There's a mysterious master-figure who you don't want to know and really don't want to cross.
There's drama, comedy, tension, wit, dialogue, script and more.
It's directed with stealth. The plot moves quickly and slowly. It jumps a groove and flashes back. The viewer is playing catch-up right until the very end, with its utterly outrageous denouement.
It's a serious movie, but its so well made it's actually fun to watch. And afterwards you sit for a few moments quietly mesmerised.
It's certainly no moral movie. It couldn't be called an epic. But it's a masterpiece.
If ever proof were needed that cinema is an art-form, here it is. There are plenty of directors out there who must agonise and blush to see how feebly their own efforts compare.
Watch it and luxuriate in the craft. If you see no other movie in the world, see this one.
And that's about it.