Waste of time

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Male fear. This movie hits sensitive spots. It's hard to give a number out of 10 to, because my gut says 1, but my brain says "That's exactly what it wanted to hear." All the technicals are fine, but the draw in this film is the message. As a man, I found it hard to sit through. There is condemnation here, the villain is unclear, and everything in the end is muddled. This is a movie that provokes very strong feelings, and whether or not you agree with what the characters say, you have to admit it does poke a scalpel into some vulnerable parts, as it applies to men and women.This movie is a seat-squirmer. It is talk-heavy, and there is plenty to nod along to or shake your fist at.

Good props, good scenery, competent acting and a gripping story that leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat makes this movie worth watching. There is a lot of nudity and some sex scenes, but are not gratuitous in that they are *actually part of the story.*Most of the reviews on this site are full of it. This movie is not nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. This is first and foremost a psychological thriller, it is NOT intended to leave you feeling comfy with your world view or everyday assumptions of how day to day life works. It is very much a "what you see is not always what you get" kind of movie. If you watch this and feel *that* enraged that you start attacking women, feminism, or encouraging violence against women; then you have serious psychological issues that need MUCH MORE than Prozac to fix. But, if you are a man who is secure in yourself and your ability to relate with women as human beings; this movie won't bother you at all. It might even amuse you. Several times I found myself laughing because this movie *really does* portray the average white collar career climbing narcissist as the clueless, dismissive derp that he is. Over here in the states, they act much more arrogant and stuck on themselves but the idea comes across well enough.The point-of-perspective of this movie is very intriguing. The first part of the movie is from the point of view about the husband. The viewer sees HE is visible to the public, HE is compensated for his contribution to society, HE is rewarded for doing a good job, HE is celebrated as a valuable member of society. The wife is sort of "just there" doing all the things society takes for granted; and goes relatively unnoticed unless she is doing something out of the ordinary.Fast forward about a half an hour and we start to see things from the wife's perspective. Her perspective is shown from the television screen, which is meant to symbolize the smallness of her voice and visibility compared to the husband's. His birthday present is a tape that he has the power to pause, fast forward, turn off, or do whatever he wants; conveying that everything has been on his terms from the word go. Despite all this, I did NOT walk away from this movie feeling it was feminist. It is a story that is MEANT to fly in the face of popular opinion of what people have the "right" to do. People saying the wife is "wacko" are clueless. That was never part of the story. She didn't Snap. She was completely lucid throughout. THAT is what makes the movie so disturbing in the first place.For pete's sakes. The conclusions people come up with about movies are endlessly creative in their interpretation. And out of all the movies that visit graphic, psychopathic, explicit, *obscene* scenes of violence and rape on the bodies of women; people choose THIS movie to get upset about? Really? It wasn't even scary, well, not unless you think losing control of the remote to the television (or anything else you "think" is property) is a horrifying thought. Then I suggest you skip it, because you all you will do is react; and you will not be able to *get* the story that was being told in the first place.

The movie starts pretty powerful and suspenseful. But the problem is the twist in the story. And while others do talk about it here, I'm not going the spoiler road. But I will tell you, that everything falls apart with that twist. The main problem being that the viewers feelings have to change (for the characters). But it does not go the full way, so most actions seem ridiculous.Of course you could argue, that some of the things have been done in other movies, without any reasons (none that we are told or as slim as those portrayed here ... slim for the mayhem it seems to have kicked off). But we're not talking about other movies, we are talking about this one. The way the movie starts leaves a few things open. But the way it decides to go, is a path with no redemption. Still nicely done, but not my cup of tea.

"Alexandra's Project" played on TV in my country the other day I watched it since I had heard and read several praising things about it. Several of the reviews I encountered used the terms "sick" and "disturbing", and those type of films always grab my attention as a fan of horror and obscure cult cinema. Now, I wouldn't really describe the events of "Alexandra's Project" as sick or disturbing. It's merely a bleak and very unpleasant viewing experience. I'm not too familiar with the work of the Dutch born writer/director Rolf De Heer (apparently he emigrated to Australia at young age), but he doesn't exactly come across as the most cheerful and sociable person based on this film. In fact, the film tremendously reminded me of the earlier work of Michael Haneke; more particularly "Benny's Video" and "Funny Games". The stories of all these films are extremely basic and substantially void, but the slow and brooding atmosphere literally makes you feel uncomfortable. Most of the running time, there's practically nothing going on, but you just know drama and emotional agony will ensue at a certain point. Steve is having a fabulous birthday so far. He made another promotion at work and he can't wait to return home, because he suspect that his wife and loving children prepared a surprise party for him. His wife Alexandra occasionally suffers from depressions and insomnia, but generally speaking his marriage is successful and stable. Or so he thinks… The only surprises that await him are an empty dark house and a videotape message from his wife Alexandra. What begins as an exciting private striptease quickly escalates into a discomforting monologue full of hatred, condemnation, humiliation and domestic tragedy. I can't really say I found "Alexandra's Project" to be a good film. The narrative is compelling and the film definitely benefices from the marvelous performances of Gary Sweet and Helen Buday, but the material is too implausible and far-fetched. To label "Alexandra's Project" as a feminist statement or even a thought-provoking humane drama would be far too much honor.