Ekspres, Ekspres (1996) aka Gone with the Train

IMDb Rating: 7.1/10 (112 votes )

Runtime: 74 min

Language: Slovenian (see below for subtitles)

Country: Slovenia

Color: Color

IMDb URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122471/
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Director: Igor Šterk

Cast:

Gregor Bakovi?, Barbara Cerar, Lojze Rozman, Andrej Rozman, Peter Musevski, Marko Mandi?, Gregor ?ušin a.o.



Description:

Rahlo negotov, opazno plašen, celo sramežljiv, vase zaprt, simpati?no asocialen mladeni?, nekega lepega dne sede na vlak in odpotuje. Brez Cilja, potovanje je vse. In potovanju ni konca. Ljudje prihajajo in odhajajo, vstopajo in izstopajo, mnogi in razli?ni pogledi se sprožajo. Iš?ejo, dotikajo in božajo, ritualno združeni v prižiganju slik, ki drvijo mimo. Nenadoma na vlak stopi mladenka, kratkolasa, nevsiljiva in privia?na. Jo je mladeni? prižgal s pogledom? Je ona njega? Vlak se ne ustavlja, pogleda se vedno znova prižigata. Brez pesed.



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Igor Sterk made his feature directorial debut with this surreal Slovenian comedy. After his father\'s death, a young man (Gregor Bakovic) uses the black mourning flag and sews himself a pair of trousers. He then takes a train trip and meets a variety of bizarre characters, including a stowaway, a deaf-mute duo, a balloon-seller, a bird enthusiast, and an attractive girl (Barbara Cerar). Their railway romance gets derailed, but a variety of sight gags and caboose comedics keep the film on track and in loco motion.



Bob Stewart, All Movie Guide



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Following the death of his father, the film’s hero jumps a train and heads down the road of no return. Not certain where he really wants to go, he buys tickets from one stop to another. He meets a variety of passengers, including a girl with whom he becomes close in an unusual way. But she gets off at her destination and goes her own way. The film continues with the adventures and accidents of the two main characters, both of them fatally marked by the train. Reminiscent of Jacques Tati.



Molodist International Film Festival 1997



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Film vu quasiment par hasard. Quasiment un film muet, une succession de petites scènes aériennes autour d\'un couple qui se forme d\'un train à l\'autre. On pense à Buster Keaton.



Léger, très drôle, un régal.



mindfood.no-distance.net



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IMDB comments:



A delightful piece of cinema storytelling in a simple but effective way



Cinema after all is a visual media and Igor used its full potential. A young restless man boards a train with no destination in mind. In one of the compartments he meets with a girl. Words are not exchanged but their laundry washing are, and from there we are taken on a ride with other peculiar characters and situations. The two leads are perfectly cast as their unique features tell you a story that needs no words.

I always wondered what happened with that magic kind of feeling the old Slovenian movies seemed to have in them... Well, in time I wondered if that feeling was just the nostalgia. Or did that \"feeling\" decide to pack its bags and say \"goodbye\" somewhere in the middle of our cinematic history, and then never came back? Or did it? Because for me, it came back the first time I saw \"Ekspres, Ekspres\". And it was it\'s old self again.

There are three qualities of this movie that makes it somewhat unique and as enjoying as it is to watch - the smooth flow of the story, the warmth of the colors and, what I appreciated the most - the lack of excessive use of verbal communication (something many of other (not just) Slovenian screenwriters should at least consider). There is no use for words, when you can understand each other just as well (yeah, or better) by other means in use. Just watch Bakovic and Cerar. Uh.

So this, in only so many words, is why I would recommend \"Ekspres, Ekspres\" to all of you, as a must-see Slovenian movie, regardless of what you may heard of Slovenian films (if you ever even heard anything, that is...).

Oh, and that scene, where Bakovic is dancing to Vivaldi\'s music... A treat.



Treat yourself. Watch it.



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Words, what can they say...when this movie so well proves that they indeed are unnecessary.



Although few lines, it was kind of weird to see this movie, no subs, in a language unknown. A friend of mine sent a VHS, included a few pieces of papers with all lines translated to English. With her translation next to me, I began watching this tale (it is indeed a tale), and from the very first tunes of the whistling melody during opening credits I was stuck. The colours, that minimal acting (well, in most cases), absurd comedy, slapstick, thoughtful, beautiful... along with a few other movies, this one is able to speak to anyone\'s heart - without words. Whenever you get the chance, see it. Whatever you do - don\'t miss it. It\'s a once in a lifetime experience. Oh, acting is great, the soundtrack is brilliant, the story is simple and told a thousand times before - but rarely (never?) like this.



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A kind of road movie in old-fashioned trains in the Slovenian late summer province. At the beginning you see someone in underwear sewing trousers from black cloth, and when the same young man in his black trousers leaves the house with two suitcases, you see that the trousers-part is missing on a flag of mourning (appearently his father has died).

In the train he meets a young lady, and almost without words, but many small gestures, a wonderful love story begins. It\'s a somehow surreal, very poetic, and a little bizarre movie, with a lot of strange characters and strange incidents. Beautiful pictures with love for beautiful details.



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The best Slovenian film of the last three decades



Go, Igor, go, you are the proof that Slovenian films may, should and must be different. There\'s soul in it, and this is rare. Don\'t let anybody put you down!



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lgor Sterk (*1968) graduated at the Academy of Theater, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. His short film \"Razglednice\" (Postcards, 1989) was awarded for best screenplay at the Yugoslav Festival of Short and Documentary Films in Belgrade. \"Express, Express\" was his first full-length film which marked the start of the \"New Slovenian Film Movement,\" representing a new generation of film makers in Slovenia. The film won numerous awards - chosen both by critics and by audiences - at international festivals.





XVID | 656x384 | 25.00 fps | 1612 Kbps.

Audio: MP3 | 160 Kbps CBR | 48000Hz | stereo.

DVD rip.



The French subtitles suffer slightly from some obvious authoring problems with certain characters that contained accents.





Posted for www.surrealmoviez.info by vespucci.