Mandragora

Customer Reviews:

Long and Bleak .......2006-11-11

As indignity upon indignity is heaped on our protagonist, one gets a distinct whiff of self-loathing if not actual homophobia in this depiction of a young gay man's exploitation in the big city. Mandragora is way too long, relentlessly bleak and only has a couple of novel cinematic tricks to spark a bit of interest.

I couldn't finish watching.......2006-07-27

While the director of this film deals with events that probably happen often, the way that the story is told is relentlessly downbeat. It is hard to imagine that the people the hustlers represent have no good days. I had to stop watching after Marek injures himself in a fit of dispair. I couldn't bear any more.

Some people who pay for sex are abusive and some people who think they can make porn movies treat the models badly. If you think nobody should hustle or be in a porn movie that's fine. However if you are going to tell a story to get that point across then it isn't wise to go from scream-fest to drugged rape to beating then betrayal and so on without a break.

The performances were exactly right. I did not feel like I was watching actors but real people. That added to the horror. Unlike other reviewers I did not feel the quality of the transfer was a problem.

Strong stuff, beautifully acted and directed...........2006-06-01

This is a complicated movie, with a dark subject, but a powerful one, worth lingering over. The movie charts the fall from innocence of 15 year old Marek into personal ruin and death after he runs away from home to Prague.

Despite the very sad plot, the movie is strongly voyeuristic. Ostensibly a moral tale warning of the pitfalls of the gay teen boy prostitution scene, the viewer will find himself fascinated as they watch this sweet boy be stripped of his small town innnocence, and sink into total debravity. Just as Marek achieves some level of stability, he is drawn down shortly into the next step of the personal disaster to which he is destined. Against his better judgement, Marek's lack of self-esteem causes him to be drawn into increasingly serious mistakes in judgement, until he reaches his final ruin.

Ostensibly about Prague's gay teenage prostitution scene, the movie is also an allegory about Czechoslovakia itself. If you understand Czech history, you'll recognize it in this movie. The Czech people struggled for hundreds of years to achieve national self-determination, only to have it smashed by the degradation of Hitler's Munich. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Czech Nation fell into the clutches of Stalinist Communism. The "Prague Spring" was ruthlessly repressed by Soviet invasion. The fall of Soviet Union only led to the disasterous 'privatization' as national symbols and assets of Czech pride were sold to Western Capitalists and Russian Oligarchs. Eastern European, and particularly Czech movies, all seem to have morose themes which I attribute to the tragic history of these societies.

The performances of the principle actors, David Svec and Miroslav Caslavka are outstanding. You'll fall in love with them both! And no one is a better director of the dark movie then director, Wiktor Grodecki. The music score is a great assortment of classical music that complements the dark plot. The photography of of backstreet Prague and rural Bohemia is worth the price of admission alone.

Because I ended up watching this movie several times, and picked up new things each time I watched it, I've given it 5 stars. This movie has a message, and unlike so much stuff out there is well worth your time to absorb it.

Subject Matter: 4 stars / Script/Editing: 2.......2006-01-24

Mandragora is a good film masquerading as a poor film.

What does that mean?

The subject matter is one that deserves attention and the film does a decent job of laying out the horrors of runaway life for boys in Slovakia. However, the script (in part by one of the young performers) is too fragmented and the editing is sparse.

I thought the film was well done on the whole, but severe editing would have helped. It dragged in places and too much expositional material was present. Scenes should have been tightened up with more concise editing.

However the ending was quite Dickensian - a point I liked (if that can be used in conjunction with this film).

This is not a pleasant subject matter and it is not something that should be treated lightly. I think the makers of this film made an earnest effort to deliver an emotional film highlighting the daily horrors run away boys face in Prague.

Unfortunately, while the crux of the emotion is understood, the impact is diluted by the lack of focus and editing.

All in all, though a very good effort to shine the light on a very hot button issue.

The Belly of the Beast.......2005-08-16

NOTE: According to the dictionary: Mandragora is 1) a plant of nightshade family: a plant with a forked root resembling a human body that was formerly believed to have magical powers and was made into a drug and 2)a 14th century alteration of medieval Latin mandragora, influenced by man, drake "dragon" (from its emetic and narcotic properties).

MANDRAGORA, the astonishing film from the Czech Republic written by Wiktor Grodecki (who also directs) and David Svec (who also acts in the film), is aptly named: mandragora is the world of male prostitution that seduces young lads with promises of money and ultimately poisons them with the burning disease of loss of self respect and ultimately of life.

Marek (Miroslav Caslavka in a stunning performance) is a beautiful 15-year-old kid from a little village in the Czech Republic who has aligned himself with petty criminals to have better things such as classy clothing, a lad whose single father (Jirí Kodes) demands he stay in school (yet is always in the background to salvage Marek's errant life situations) and who seems to be prepping his son for a better life. Marek hates school, which he sees as merely a path to be a welder like his father. The father and son collide after another crime spree and Marek leaves home for the big city promises of Prague.

Once in Prague Marek is observed by the pimp Honza (Pavel Skripal) who follows Marek, knowing that Marek's future in the city is doomed without Honza's 'protection'. Within a day's time Marek's luck with the slot machines dries up and Honza convinces him to be his 'rabbit' - a male prostitute. Marek's first encounter with an American 'john' ends disastrously and the beaten Marek returns to the streets where he encounters a fellow hustler David (David Svec). Together they forge an alliance to escape Honza's compound and begin a life of successful prostitution. They are bonded (the probability of Marek's actually being gay and physically attracted to David is strong) and together they encounter all manner of unseemly characters involved in the underbelly of Prague's male prostitution life.

Characters weave in and out of Marek's and David's life, each time leaving scars that grow more visible as does the threat of drug problems and AIDS. They eventually consent to embrace the lowest level of making gay porn where the cruel director forces Marek to be sodomized by David. They are raided by the police and Honza reappears as Marek's nemesis. Through a series of drug-induced hallucinations and dreams Marek envisions what his future holds and his descent is stamped. Yet at this point Marek's father journeys to Prague in search of his son, discovers his life style, is terrified and angry and tangentially passes Marek in a critical final scene that is devastatingly sad.

This film is dark, frank, cruel, realistic, and sweats with the evil of the belly of the beast that is Prague's underworld. Yet the direction is so fine and, equally important, the acting by Miroslav Caslavka so sensitive that we as the audience are swept into an overwhelming compassion for these unfortunate lads whose seemingly only hope for a better life is one of humiliating degradation. MANDRAGORA is a no holds barred examination of a dark life that maintains a precarious balance between caricature and character development. Yes, it is lengthy at 126 minutes, in need of editing in areas, has faulty subtitles, and a strange musical score by Wolfgang Hammerschmid who extrapolates Puccini's 'Nessun dorma' and Bach's 'Erbarme dich' and 'Wir setzen uns mit Tranen nieder' from the St Matthew Passion for heavy effects, and very dark cinematography by Vladimír Holomek, but despite these sidebar problems, they only slightly mar the overall impact of a very important film. Grady Harp, August 05

Average customer rating:

Perfect example of why movies go straight to DVD
luckytown
Half-naked Kristen Dunst in a Vegas Romp? Why Not?
Worth the Rental

Lucky Town
Starring: Kirsten Dunst , Vincent Kartheiser , James Caan , Luis Guzmán , and Robert Miano
Director: Paul Nicholas (VI)
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005J75Y
Release Date: 2001-07-17

Amazon.com

Chock full of strippers, gamblers, and wisecracking hit men, Luckytown is tailor-made for lovers of the Vegas movie. Kirsten Dunst plays Lidda, an 18-year-old who goes off to Sin City to find her long-lost father. Along the way she picks up Colonel, an old high school crush who just happens to dream of being a professional gambler. Soon her story begins to intertwine with that of Tony, a sleazy strip-club owner, and Jimmy, his oddly philosophical thug. Luckytown is well intentioned and has a few good moments, but the script never quite turns into the stew of immorality that it hopes to be. On the other hand, it does have James Caan playing the world's greatest poker player like the old pro that he is, and that's never a bad thing. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

Perfect example of why movies go straight to DVD.......2005-01-25

There were two decent things about this film: Luiz Guzman, who is always reliable; and Vincent Kartheiser, who I feel is (as of yet, I hope) overlooked as a decent actor.

The rest of it was exruciating. If I hadn't been sick in bed with nothing better to do, I would have stopped watching it at the beginning scene. While watching Colonel (Kartheiser) and Lidda (Dunst) get together at the convenient store I thought of at least three more plausible scenarios where they could have hooked up. Lidda didn't need to put on that crazy act of kissing him, which was completely out of character when you consider her throughout the entire film. Their "budding relationship" was painful to watch, as the dialogue in the car, prior to reaching Las Vegas, seemed to be scratched out of notes from a fourth grader's scream of consciousness excercise. Actually, that might be too flattering.

The situations were implausible, the segues weren't segues - they were gigantic craters that forced the viewer to make enormous mental leaps to hop from one scene to the next. What in the world was Kirsten Dunst thinking? I can understand Kartheiser, as he's still working his way up, but I can't understand why Dunst picked this script. Perhaps the executives sent special goggles to the actors so that when they read the script the words were somehow rearranged on the page to reflect something entirely different. Maybe they thought they were reading a sequel to Leaving Las Vegas. Who knows.

This was a sensational waste of time. Unless you're a fan of Kartheiser, avoid it. If you're a fan of Dunst, you'll be disgusted. Her acting was atrocious.

luckytown.......2004-07-09

it was a good movie but the parts with the old men are boring th eparts with vincent kartheiser are not an are hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jesus christ he is the hottest guy in the world an di say everyone is but the other day i realized how attractive he is and the others are just not as i dont kbnow not as attractive as him vincennt is perfect he has a perfect body wow!he is hott he is a good actor and he has a sexy voice wow this hardly has anything to do with the movie

Half-naked Kristen Dunst in a Vegas Romp? Why Not?.......2002-07-25

This moive was the biggest piece of trash and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT

I loved it in that guilty pleasure sort of way... in that 2 AM in the morning and you're looking for an excuse to stay awake kind of way... hoping against hope that Kirsten will finally take off her clothes, glory in her newfound abilities with the pole and dump her ... boyfriend.

I am disappointed to report, none of these things happen

However, Luis Guzman kicks some [butt]. A surly Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco) nails the [heck] out of some MAXIM covergirl. Kirsten does make a pretty decent stripper.

On the other hand, the direction in this movie is awful. The writer, Brenden Beseth, stumbles between Bukowski and illiteracy. The [person] who plays the lead should never be allowed to act (yeah right) again.

However, I liked the movie. So many films are unintentionally terrible, that this film is almost satisfying. It's not trying to elevate above the shoddy source material. It's not pretending to be anything that it's not...

Luckytwn is just A BLOODY VEGAS ROMP. A little film outclassed by its heavyweight movie stars...

a guilty pleasure to say the least....

Worth the Rental.......2001-07-30

This film was actually pretty good. It jumped a little and at times could apear to be two different movies but it pulled it off to where it didn't hurt the film. Vincent Kartheiser is the best thing about the film he gives a great performance as usual. Kirsten Dunst makes her character of Lidda a little less interesting than she could have been. And the meeting between her and her long lost father played by James Caan is somewhat dissapointing. But all in all it was a decent film and the best part of the story is the relationship between the characters played by Dunst and Kartheiser watching the relationship change is probably what makes this movie worth the rent.

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Lost Money
Starring: Varnedoe , Bailey , and Woodruff
Manufacturer: Maverick
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00009EIRB
Release Date: 2003-06-17

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