Of Good Report

Magandang pelikula!

Magandang pelikula!

Magandang pelikula!

I was excited to see a movie from South Africa, as I've seen few, if any, but I found this production to be gimmicky and too long by half. First, it's in black and white for no discernible reason. In addition, the main character, the impassive Parker Sithole (Mothusi Mogano), doesn't utter an intelligible word until an hour and 45 minutes into the action. This scheme takes the viewer out of the story to ask herself, "Is he going to say something now?" It's needlessly distracting. I will admit that the movie ends on a very surprising, effective, and chilling note -- albeit derivative of such horror chestnuts as "Halloween" and "The Stepfather." It's just one of many elements here suggesting an identity crisis. "Of Good Report" seems not to know what it really wants to be -- abuse drama or cower-behind-the-covers terror film? The practically mute Sithole is a man with a past, and, like the killers in Zola's classic "Therese Raquin," he is haunted by a horrible crime of liberation ("Boy, boy!") He is also a master of disguise who can pass as a high-school English teacher familiar with the likes of Shakespeare and Keats. Quotes from the poets on his chalkboard lend a sense of foreboding: "I will wear my heart on my sleeve for daws to peck on it. I am not what I am" (from "Othello"), and, from Keats: "Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art." The enigmatic Sithole seduces a lovely and troubled student from his class, Nolitha (Petronella Tshuma), only to embark on a path of obsessive control. The movie creates significant tension as, at various junctures, we feel he's on the verge of being discovered. Nolitha's fatal flaw is that, for whatever reason, she chooses to protect this creep. An insane songtrack plays at Nolitha's climactic moment of danger. (I was sorely disappointed not to have been able to identify it from the credits.) This film becomes lugubrious, grim, and shockingly graphic. Interestingly, Icelanders co-produced.

Well shot, creative and artistic. Was promising at first. Unfortunately, the message ended up convoluted; glorifying femicide and sexual abuse of women. The nudity was gratuitous and left one to question the agenda of the storyteller. As the film ended, it lacked the sobriety, respect and gravity this subject matter warranted. Couldn't help feeling cheated of the time spent watching what could have been a film with a powerful message against predators masked as educators of children. What draws you in is the beauty of the depiction of the culture - scenery, music, language, customs. What dampens all and lands as a THUD is the storyteller's inability to offer vindication.

It seems I have a knack for going against most of the praise that critics give to many films. I saw this film at the BFI London Film Festival of 2013, and absolutely honestly, it was probably the poorest film I saw there...and my opinions of the films I watched at the festival are completely polarised. Some were absolutely amazing, such as Lukas Moodysson's "We are the Best!" and Erik Skjoldbjaerg's "Pioneer", others were so bad they were fantastic to watch, as is the case with Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson's "All Cheerleaders Die"....and some were just painful to watch...namely "Of Good Report". Let me explain why. Black and white footage, non-linear storyline and a protagonist who does not utter a single word throughout the entirety of the film, it seems that writer/director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka is so bent on making the film look stylish, that it completely undermines the integrity of the narrative; for a premise that could have made for an excellent film. I was also completely unconvinced by Mothusi Magano's performance as Parker Sithole, his constantly blank and lost expression leaving no trace of intelligence for his character. Now, I am not calling Magano a bad actor, as I have not seen any of his other films, and his poor performance could very well be attributed to sloppy direction on Qubeka's part, and vice versa. I dislike encouraging people to not watch a certain film, as it is up to them to decide, and I am sure as many viewers would disagree with my critique as the ones who side with it. Having said that, I would not recommend this film at all. Sloppy, over-stylised and just plain B-O-R-I-N-G.

Movie is in Africa with African people but the girl he falls in love with or whatever is a half breed or other??? Is there something wrong with loving a dark skinned woman?? So sick of so called black movies and the so called black woman skin color has to depict a white woman image . Self hate is real..

I have to say this film is very striking and impressive for me. The most note-worthy feature is the amazing soundtrack. There are so many layers of sound, so much fear, boldness, insanity and hatred in the sound that it can be so frightening to listen. I feel the filmmaker's effort to impact on audiences' senses with music and noises. The mise-en-scene is so bleak as to the extent of scary or even gruesome. The intentional production of black and white creates such a feeling of horror and the film milieu is fraught with imminent danger and violence. The leading actor's performance is imbued with trauma, torture, extreme desire and brutality. His sheer silence can be either a preference of the director or his own choice of portraying the ultimately cruel and dangerous monster with a harmless and care- needing look. As far as I observe, negative opinions mainly come from the intentional black-and-white representation (in order to be "stylish") and the arguably "poor performance" of the leading actor. On the contrary, I reckon the lack of colour adds up to the whole bleak and Gothic thrill, or at least avoid upsetting spectators with the crime scene, like Hitchcock's choice of making Psycho black and white. I agree the film plot does not have a big twist or is as mind-burning as Christopher Nolan's, but simply calling the film "boring" due to the particular representation and acting is untenable. In a nutshell, I would recommend the film, especially for the sound.