Faust

Russia   Alexander Sokurov

Goethe's story rendered grotesque...set in a filthy, crowded medieval nightmare where weirdness prevails and our protagonist stumbles from one encounter to another searching for...well, we're never really sure. He is accompanied by the devil, in the figure of a man/monster with no or ambiguous genitals who leads Faust around using some mysterious power that all seem to recognize and none can thwart.

Odd camera angles, constant cramped scenes, grotesques everywhere...this is an original take on the legend of a man trading his imaginary soul for worldly gain. Reminded me of works by Jeunet or Terry Gilliam.

Different from everything he's done before. Intriguing but unengaging.

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