Manifesto

Whatever Rosefeldt intended, Manifesto doesn’t quite set forth a manifesto of its own. But it’s a blast of fresh air. And like many of the gauntlet throwers it cites, it risks looking foolish and, in the process, creates something gorgeously defiant.

The film is thought-provoking, visually arresting, and occasionally very self-important.

As a work of cinematic art, it defies codification. It begs for multiple viewings, if only to pick apart the concepts that it introduces, changes, and interacts with over the course of its run time.

That's what Blanchett is doing here. She adds a human element. She can turn anything into art. Even artistic navel-gazing.

The actress is equally committed, regardless of whether content and context click, but she soars when they do.

There’s something to be said for simply watching Blanchett at work. Without the contribution of this exceptionally talented actress, Manifesto would be rough going indeed. With it, the film rises — barely — above the category of “enough already.”

The film is more of a clip show, awkwardly cutting together elements once presented in a drastically different manner. In doing so, it obfuscates the power of a manifesto, allegedly what it means to pay tribute to.

a pretentious thought-provoking policy.. Manifesto The monologues are horrifyingly beautiful that is apt for the pragmatic characters projected in this self-created malleable mythology. The writing is sharp and one of the strength of the features that doesn't waste time on attempting to connect with the viewers and instead offers them enough homework to keep them engaged and make them work for it which then inherently raises the question whether it is worth to suffer for art to this extent or not; unfortunately the definite point it makes isn't something unfamiliar and a bit redundant. On terms of craft, there is a lot to explore in here, and the primary reason would be the tone of the feature which resembles with a fine theatrical poetic act. Julian Rosefeldt; the writer-director, fails to match its witty script with execution and even with its editing that could have been a lot better. On terms of performance, it is all left to Cate Blanchett who is a revelation in here as she is her A game and doing some of her best work. The technical aspects like make-up design is plausible but the background score and costume design could have been a lot better. Manifesto is a pretentious thought-provoking policy that may have its heart in the right place but could have been supervised better.