Reds

Well, that's what you get when Hollywood celebrities play at being both fighters against the system and socialists. If the crazy runtime was shorter by 30 - I'm not kidding - 40 minutes, I would give it 3 stars, but even then I wouldn't be particularly satisfied. Warren Beatty couldn't avoid a series of downright boring passages, there is too much talking and too many meetings, and the cuts to all the old people are annoying. Besides, I've never been a fan of Warren Beatty. However, what really works is the presence of Diane Keaton, Woody Allen's muse for life. She is incredibly likable and is the driving force of the film. Overall impression: 40%. (17.11.2020)

A monstrous rhetorical contest in which Diane Keaton sometimes has the upper hand over Warren Beatty and sometimes Warren Beatty has the advantage over Diane Keaton, and Jack Nicholson, as the alcoholic Eugene O’Neill, easily has both of them in his pocket. Reds does not aggressively attack the viewer’s mind, and I wouldn’t say that it is communist propaganda. Despite that, after three hours of hearing “workers of the world, unite” (meant figuratively), I felt like loudly responding with “workers of the world, fuck off!”. The dialogue is clever and balanced, and I believe that it can –  though inadvertently – convince the politically unaligned of the existence of the myth of so-called “socialism with a human face” (though a few thousand people die and hundreds of thousands of others suffer from malnutrition, but whatever the revolution requires of its victims…). I have no idea if Reds was supposed to convince Americans, haunted by the witch hunt of the 1950s and the ongoing Cold War, that communists are people too, but I admire how many people Beatty managed to appeal to with this not very interesting history lesson. 60% (09.04.2011)

Definitely an interesting political film, but it didn't blow me away as much because it's a political film, a genre I don't actively seek out. The acting is superb, but what's even more interesting is the excellent direction and the use of cuts with testimonies from real personalities. Surprisingly, it works, also as a plot-forming element. (28.11.2015)

The killer length of Reds was saved primarily by Diane Keaton, not only with her acting but also with her soulful beauty. Perhaps nowhere else did she look better. Warren Beatty, in my opinion, bit off too big a bite, which got stuck in his throat somewhere in the middle of the film. It was surprising that he managed to make it to the end. I am referring mainly to his writing and directing work, but I can't fault him as an actor. (60%) (10.12.2020)