Reviews on movie Black Flies (8)

This film is not a remake of the 1950 film. It's just his "name name" ... Or namesake. As much as you like.

We are used to contemplating a large number of police stories in which the characters face a difficult choice, in which the viewer sees the psychological breakdown of the main character or the story of his fall/rebirth, etc.
Such pictures are often cool from the point of view of realism, because in them the viewer is able to empathize with the hero, understand his situation and see firsthand what he has to face in everyday life / work.
And if about cops such stories are full, then about paramedics something like this is removed extremely rarely. Immediately comes to mind except that the Scorsese project “Rising the Dead” with Nicholas Cage. And that picture was removed as much as in 1999 (well, a quarter of a century ago). Some other similar pictures, where the plot would cover exactly the work of the medical team "ambulance" and not only partially told about the work of such, it is impossible to recall immediately.
So, the 'Asphalt Jungle'.

The film focuses on a quite traditional film tandem in the face of a young and experienced character. In this case, it is Ollie Cross (Tai Sheridan) and Gene Rutkowski (Sean Penn). They work as partners-paramedics and the young learns the mind mind mind in communication with the experienced, and he, in turn, being wise life experience, does not mind a couple of practical advice to give his friend. In general, the storyline is standard, without innovations.

The creators of the picture showed all the “charms” of the work of paramedics and when viewing the impression that they overdid this demonstration. Here, even the Russian "Arrhythmia" is not comparable to this. "Asphalt jungle" as if Zvyagintsev shot - here in principle everything is bad in the life of paramedics. There is no family happiness, they are disappointed in their profession, and people are also disappointed. And their so-called patients are all drug addicts, prostitutes, alcoholics and alcoholics, but inadequate. All the cream of a marginal society, so to speak.
Maybe so it is, yet the work of an ambulance employee is the so-called dog work, because there are few grateful people on the way, and problems are above the roof!
The creators show this: many years of work in one place lead to professional deformation, and a person can begin to break down, immersed in his work. And if on paper it seems interesting and important (as you do not save people), then in fact / in reality it is a tough slap on someone who believed that he caught a unicorn!
It’s funny, of course, that one of the scenes allegedly features a Russian couple, in which HE is a tough abuser. Sean Penn, having not the best attitude towards Russians, voices our nation, although in this allegedly Russian couple, the man looks more like a Latino, not a Slav. And it's not even in the tattoos on the whole bald head, but in the color of the skin and the incision of the eyes! But this is a Russian couple... Yes, they did not have enough balalaika and bear on the chain (irony).
Despite a couple of paragraphs above, which contain the minuses of the film (in the subjective opinion of the author of this review), “Asphalt jungle” is still a good movie. It is tough and does not give much hope to the viewer that here the characters will slide on a rainbow into the world of their dream job.
Something like that.
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.

Enjoy your visit.

7 out of 10

Another great novelty on medical topics. I am obstinately attracted to this field, and I think, if I did not become a lawyer, I could well become a good doctor. The film tells about the work of paramedics on an ambulance in one of the not the most prosperous areas of the United States. An aspiring nurse, Ollie, prepares to take a difficult exam at the institute and decides to start medical practice with work in an ambulance. The guy gets a job as an assistant to the main paramedic, but in fact he needs good professional training, because every delay, every small mistake can cost the patient his life.
His partner is a paramedic at an age who has not passed the necessary exams to the institute, but over the years he copes with almost any cases - from gunshot wounds to asthma attacks and childbirth. Sean Penn's character, Ruth, has a difficult life and his own traumas, which he gradually begins to share with Ollie. Partners become true friends, and each of their temporary separation due to periodic suspensions of Ruth on the occasion of his controversial medical decisions becomes a source of discomfort for them.
The film perfectly shows how different people work in medicine, who does not care about patients, and who is ready to take any risks to save their lives and health. In addition, the tape clearly demonstrates how ungrateful this profession is sometimes. However, the medical profession must have a calling. Do not become a doctor if you are not ready for physical and moral overload, if you do not love people and are not ready for regular stress, lack of sleep and chronic lack of free time (including for family and friends).
The picture is shot in rather gloomy tones, and, perhaps, many would not without reason call it a foreign hopeless black woman, but I believe that it is worth watching different stories - not each of them is bright and kind, but each is quite vital. And yet I do not recommend watching the film in a depressed state, it can aggravate the gloomy mood, especially with its finale. After that, I needed to watch something more life-affirming to calm down and fall asleep. However, the picture remains firmly in memory even a few days after viewing, and this says a lot.
8 out of 10

To understand the essence of the tape, you need to understand the difference between our and New York ambulance services, because they are very significant.
- In New York, the ambulance is part of the fire department and the acronym on board F.D.N.Y. AMBULANCE translates as “New York Fire Department Ambulance” (this is important for understanding the final metamarphose).
- The team of such ambulances consists of 2 people - this is a technician-driver who, in addition to driving, helps to drag stretchers and very approximately understands the basic principles of field medicine. The second person is a paramedic, who is functionally similar to a nurse, but not quite. The essence of his work is to stabilize the condition as much as possible and bring it to the hospital, where doctors will already understand what to do next.
“Their” ambulance primarily provides commercial delivery services, so they do not try to figure out what is happening, but pack everyone and take them to the hospital. Later, for the “service” rendered, a big bill arrives, where only for delivery it goes well for $ 1000 +, and then also from the hospital bill. I will also remind you that they have capitalism there, so there is no compulsory health insurance in principle, and VHI is far from everyone, because of which some of the “clients”, who by chance woke up in the ambulance, realizing the scale of unexpectedly fallen joy, are extremely not happy that they are being taken somewhere.
From these theses follows the fundamental difference between “their” ambulance and “our”. They have this in fact a tow truck, which should deliver the client to the hospital and understanding this nuance, a lot when viewing falls into place, but not all.
In the tape, both team members are actively involved in medical manipulations and this is perhaps the main blunder - it is often shown that 2 people help in the back of a car flying to the hospital, from which the question follows - and who then drives?! This is directly striking, but it is fair to say that the artistic expediency of this convention is clear and without it the plot would not work.
The second serious "conventionality" - in the key moments for the plot, the brigade begins to deal with something on the spot, which directly contradicts the essence of their work, but the expediency of this artistic convention is understandable, since dramaturgy would not work otherwise.
Another important point - for some reason in the annotation on the search indicated that the story takes place in the mid-90s. But the situation is not close to the 90s, but closer to the end it is said that one of the victims is 30 years old and she was born in 1991, which seems to hint that it would be nice to correct the annotation so as not to mislead.
Fuouf, now to the point - the tape perfectly emulates the everyday life of people who came to the profession to help people, but life makes its own changes to the plan and sometimes it turns out exactly the opposite.
The ambulance customers turned out to be very colorful and only for this tape is worth seeing everyone who believes that “there” the sun shines brighter, the grass is greener, and people enjoy freedom.

The main character, who was brilliantly realized by Tai Sheridan, in the prologue perceives this work as very temporary, on the way to an abstract future where it will be dry and warm, but in the course of the plot, facing different people and circumstances, undergoes a serious internal transformation and to the climax, an established personality with formed life principles appears.

The secondary characters were no less colorful. The characters of Sean Penn and Michael Pitt at first seem typical images of an angel and a demon that should accompany the protagonist on his difficult path, but as the plot develops, not only the black and white picture gradually blurs, but even shades of gray become very difficult to distinguish.
As a result, if you look at the film as a drama, understanding the features of the New York ambulance and closing your eyes to the necessary dramatic conventions, then there is not a single superfluous frame. By the credits it becomes clear the whole scale of the tragedy, in which workers are forced to exist, albeit very necessary, but completely thankless profession.
8 out of 10

P.S. At the very end of the credits, it talks about what was the inspiration for the story and this information becomes even more uncomfortable.

The black color dominates the picture. Neon advertising lights, street lights and alarming orange flashing lights on the disaster medicine machine do not so much disperse the darkness as emphasize: light islets, darkness everywhere. In the plot, too, everything is hopeless. Experienced nurse Rutkowski and his novice partner Cross work in Brooklyn, and in his most nasty neighborhoods. They save the lives of those who don’t know what to do with their lives. Drug addicts, freaks of all stripes, people who know no other form of communication than total, incessant aggression. A lot of blood, a lot of dirt, dogs of fighting breeds in the blood (either their own or victims), a lot of syringes, babies who come not into life, but into darkness. Moreover, in the darkness infected with HIV, anger, screaming, hopelessness. And the flies, the faithful harbingers of death, buzz in the darkness illuminated by orange flares. "Keep your distance" - the inscription on the ambulance in this context is relevant not only to road users.
The film by Jean-Stefan Sauveur is an excellent textbook for Russian directors, fans of filming “black”. Nothing embellished, nothing the camera takes its eyes off. But there is no delight in exotic texture. Observation is followed by climbing to the upper floors of the narrative. The civil society of Branusville and Bedford, the whole of Brooklyn, and a significant part of the planet is affected by the virus of total aggression. To defend your own – by force, to take what you need – by force, to prove the right – by force. Gloomy? Of course! Absolutely! It's not Soho or Tribeca. But a gloomy-sober look at the state of things – a deliberately chaotic structure of the narrative is cemented by the images of the main characters. Rutkowski, for whom all this dirt and scum has become an integral part of life. Cross, for which all this gloomy exoticism is still a shock with the hope of coming to light. Cross is going to take a doctor's course. The abstruse test questions for admissions are a striking contrast to conventional medical practice in disadvantaged areas. Against this background, all these dysfusions, sequences, DNA and RNA look like a joke.
Worse, most of Rutkowski and Cross's colleagues are translating the practice of communicating with their dysfunctional patients into the practice of the ambulance itself. And it is very difficult that in extra-working hours the life of the two main characters does not give too many chances to recharge with light and good. No, they don't live among drug addicts and gangsters. But marginalized people are not only those who are not friends with the law. Sean Penn and Ty Sheridan's duet is probably the best acting partnership seen this year. With a minimum of words, without sentiment and tear. Half-eye, half-gesture. Everything is very stingy and very emotionally tense.
Experience against Hope - this begins the main plot of the picture. But by the end he will come out on the most powerful philosophical code. Above all this darkness hangs the formidable question of Genesis: Is it worth saving lives for those who do not know what to do with these lives? Is it worth giving the baby a chance to live out a destiny that will almost certainly be made up of pain, fear, temptation and horror? So from crumpled sheets, vomiting masses, dark doorways, squalid apartments, from bruises on the cheekbones, from the dog's face in the blood, from the umbilical cord, which has already begun to decompose, suddenly a bright and noble idea sprouts. It is important not only to save the lives of others, but also to protect your own from darkness. It's not just difficult, it's almost impossible. But it's necessary. The picture will not end with a delightful happy ending. The streets of Brooklyn won't get any brighter. And flies, like the angels of death, will not cease their annoying buzzing on the outskirts of a large city of a vast country. It'll be the same. Maybe a little different. Cross, having experienced fears and temptations, lost his illusions. But I've got some stamina. This picture from that rare breed of films, which is based on darkness, gives light. A little. There will be no salutes or festive illuminations. Only in one crew that plows the dark expanses of the planet Earth will be slightly lighter.

The picture, based on the novel by Shannon Burke “Black Flies”, is a rare case of a meaningful idea and discussion of a difficult topic, as well as the expression of the author’s view.
The depressive mission of street saviors is not for lovers of “gentle cinema”: soft pink skin will be covered with bleeding scars of the Brooklyn stench.
The first part of the picture will overwhelm the viewer with alternating heartbreaking scenes - the work of paramedics in poor emigrant neighborhoods, to the point of crisis at which the midnight express will sound a piercingly sharp cry of conscience, and at this point the plot will take shape and meaning.
We, the dead and the dying, have this job. We are the bearers of suffering and no one gives a shit about it. If you don’t recognize what’s in front of you, then... then you’re a coward!’ is the quote that conveys the main idea of the film.
Pain, suffering and blood is a world from which one cannot escape: if one steps into darkness, one can remain in it forever, become another lost shadow; choice will be the determining one. How you see yourself in this darkness, what you want, who you really are. Heroes will make such a choice, the protagonist will divide the hot bloody asphalt with a dividing line of gloomy realism, straining the nerve of human doom.

I don’t want to equate this movie with Martin Scorsese’s “Rising the Dead.” I think this is wrong: these are two different views; they are two different methods.
In the picture there is depth, there is a thick atmosphere, there is light, in the pitch darkness of human indifference.
At the beginning of the picture, in my opinion, there is too much air, a little contemplation, crushing pain. The picture lacks internal dynamics at the start, but the magnificent rhythm of the acting of Sean Penn and Ty Sheridan creates a grotesque contrast of good and evil.
P. S. It is important to mention the high suicide rate among paramedics, and the film reflects the harsh and unsightly realities of this profession on the border of life and death.

Ollie Cross works as a paramedic in Blessed NY. Ollie wants to go to medical, and sees the work of a paramedic as a stepping stone in his career. Ollie is an idealist who wants to help people, but his ideals don’t stand up to reality. . .

We all know that states are a superb country, populated by beautiful, highly intelligent people. The sophistication of the local population cannot but cause delight. Here we see a tattooed African-American intellectual with a gunshot wound (this is not what you think, this is the result of a discussion about the degree of competition restriction). Then, we'll see tattooed Mexican intellectuals whose courtly discussion of animal rights has gotten a little out of hand. And then we're going to see a tattooed Russian intellectual who's thinking hard about women's emancipation. So what, in the course of thinking, did he hit the roommate's eyes? Scientific research is not without costs! This is what Americans call collateral damage.
Drug dealers, thugs, HIV-infected people enjoy cutting, shooting, muzzling each other, and Ollie has to save them. What if the world doesn’t want to be saved? What about a person whose ideals are incompatible with reality? The director offers three options. One hero is shackled in the impenetrable armor of cynicism, and spats with a grin at the madness going on around him. The second has a God complex, trying to decide who lives and who dies. The third one is slowly going crazy.
The film begins as an almanac, as a production drama from the life of paramedics. Firearm, stabbing - cut, domestic injuries, abundant bodily discharge - delight for the gaze of a novice sadist. Ollie's undergrowth falls into this Dante Hell, and as Virgil he is accompanied by the experienced Rudkowski. If Ollie is a nurse (he is young and inexperienced), Rudkowski is a nurse. Where's that sweet blonde Sean Penn that Donna Louise Cicone was crazy about? Does anyone remember the movie At Close Range? Where's the youth, the freshness? Now, this is a man with a worn, washed, and badly ironed face. Man in harmonica. Kirz leathery folds, wrinkles, hanging banana nose.

Anyway, it's like a poet. They came together, port and vodka, cognac and whiskey, kefir with herring ... One can view this story as a paraphrase of the Onegin-Lensky relationship, or as an existential drama. But, at some point, events will occur, as a result of which the action will grow to the scale of an ancient tragedy.

I want to know what I'm looking at. And in order to understand, you need to be able to read the symbols, the cultural codes used by the director. Ollie wears a jacket with angel wings on her sleeves. And on the wall of his house, hangs the icon of Theodor Pulakis "Archangel Michael". What does that mean? What do you want to tell us? Does Ollie represent the forces of good fighting evil? Patron of the dead? Judge at the Last Judgment? Think for yourself.

Ollie plays Ty Sheridan. He's one of those ageless boys who look 15 at 50. Wrinkled like a shar pei, Sean Penn contrasts perfectly with Sheridan’s youth and inexperience. But the best (in my opinion) role is Michael Pitt. He's a real tick, so cleverly he gets under Ollie's skin. Pitt is hateful and annoying, he's very good. What can you say about Mike Tyson? Mike godlessly overplays, gives emotion where you need to stay calm, and vice versa. Sorry.

What's the result? The director states that modern Western society is atomized. People are divided, hate each other (a beautiful monologue of one of the patients of the ambulance), and live on the principle - man is a rat to man. But, beyond a simple statement, Sover does not go. Try digging a little deeper, dear. Why has a society based on the principles of humanism turned into an asphalt jungle? How are your humanoids different from animals? How will your preaching of the weak good help solve the problems of this society?
Yeah, I almost forgot! The film can claim the award in the nomination “Most asexual sex scene”. Ollie drools long and tediously on some emaciated citizen (Rakel Nave). Oh, she's got all the data to stop being a porn actress. Protruding ribs, wrinkled pancakes of flaccid breasts, flabby ass. It's like a joke, kids, if you don't eat well, you'll be as skinny and unattractive as this aunt.