Filth and Wisdom

Who can not love a film with Eugene Hutz, (born Yevheniy Aleksandrovich Nikolayev-Simonov in the Ukraine) the super funny actor you may recognize from the film "Everything Is Illuminated" or the Gypsy Punk band known as Gogol Bordello. In fact, Hutz made his film debut in the 2005 film Everything Is Illuminated, playing the lead character Alex. In addition to starring in Everything Is Illuminated, Hütz wrote and performed (as part of Gogol Bordello) some of the music for the film's soundtrack and his band members had a cameo in the early part of that film. In 2008, this film, Filth and Wisdom, a film that marks Madonna’s directorial debut. The movie should probably have a X-Rating for the suggestive sexual themes dealing in sado-masochism, prostitution, drug use, adult nightclubs, etc.. so I don't recommend it as a family film - but if you want to see something entirely different, creative and a story which comes to a nice ending - then you will enjoy this film.In short, this story revolves around a Ukrainian immigrant (Hutz) who is named A.K. Comically, we see him moonlighting as a cross-dressing dominatrix to make money to finance his rock star dreams. He has two female roommates: Holly (played by Holly Weston), a ballet dancer who works as a stripper and pole-dancer at a local club and Juliette (Vicky McClure), a pill popping pharmacy assistant who dreams of going to Africa to help starving children and whose boss is infatuated with her and fantasizes about her regularly.A.K. is a character with a very straight-forward philosophical attitude towards life and it played perfectly by Eugene. An interesting tidbit about this film is that Madonna allowed (and encouraged) additional dialogue written by Hütz himself to be included in the film. It's no secret - Madonna is (and always has been) a Hutz fan, supporter and admirer. Who wouldn't be - he's awesome and this film shows another side of him.

As always Madonna gives to us something unique and original. This first directorial proved that. The movie is about dreams and the difficulties to get them. looking forward to have it on DVD, I saw IT IN NEW YORK. Hope we can see more of her in this genera. Best to the Queen of Pop.

When I heard this was a movie made by Madonna I had my doubts. I love her music, movies not so much. This however was avery enjoyable film. Eugene Hutz is now one of my new favorites, for his music and acting!

Hmmmm Filth & Widsom is one of those films you watch & you forget about as soon as you watched it , its directed & written by pop star Madonna , she hired fairly desent actors but that's the best thing l can say about it

Madonna has ALWAYS and will always try in some way to send us a message.If we want to look in the mirror.. thats a different story.If we want to stop going all out hollywood for heros we want to identify with.. well...Or maybe we can put our ego aside and watch someone elses point of view for a moment. Perhaps its not meant to be your entertainment.Perhaps not everything madonna has done or will do had to do with you and what you want. Sometimes artists take a leap and do what they want to do in order to say something. And maybe that takes courage. Lots of courage.Maybe just maybe there are only a few left in the entertainment industry that are brave enough to make mistakes and make movies that arent that great and say YEAH but its out there and it says something and its worth it.

I was looking forward to this film, if for no other reason than to see what kind of job Madonna did on her directorial debut. What a jumbled mess. At least she still has her music career. I did laugh out loud at a few jokes, and thought Vicky McClure was adorable. However, Eugene Hutz' accent was so thick in places that I had trouble understanding anything he said. As seems typical these days, it seems the film was trying to be more artsy than it actually is - or deserves to be.

A most interesting film.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

1. Choose about half a dozen wacky/ cooky characters with no obvious connection with each other.2. Put them in about a dozen predictable situations.3. Add a pop video and a few of your own songs.4. Don't allow any comedy.Put in the blender and mix until gooey or slimey.Half-bake for about an hour and twenty minutes.Feed the resultant tasteless pap to an insomniac. Guaranteed sleep within a fraction of that time.

A rather unusual story but, I enjoyed it

I am definitely impressed.

"Du musst durch den Schmutz gehen, um Weisheit zu erlangen." Dieser höchst philosophische Spruch des Ukrainers Andrej ("A.K.") findet sich auf dem Cover der DVD. Beim Anschauen des Films hören wir weitere solche Perlen des Gedankenschatzes dieses Herrn. Eigentlich ist er Musiker, doch seinen Lebensunterhalt verdient er, indem er gelangweilte und mit ihrem Leben unzufriedene Männer, die sich solche Spässe etwas kosten lassen, demütigt und auch mal auspeitscht, also als männliche Domina. Weiter dient er einem im gleichen Haus lebenden blinden Schriftsteller als Botenjunge für tägliche Besorgungen und als Gesprächspartner.In seiner Wohngemeinschaft leben zwei Frauen. Die eine ist Ballettänzerin und kann davon auch nicht leben. Also verdient sie ihren Lebensunterhalt in einem Nachtlokal, wo sie, obwohl eigentlich schamhaft, an der Stange tanzt. Die andere arbeitet in einer Apotheke, klaut dort gelegentlich Medikamente und träumt davon, kranke Menschen in Afrika zu pflegen. Alle drei führen nicht das von ihnen erstrebte Leben; dasselbe gilt für die Menschen, denen sie im Alltag begegnen. Eigentlich sind alle Menschen in diesem Film im Dreck (filth).Diese Situation zeigt Madonna im ersten Film, in dem sie Regie führt, ohne selbst aufzutreten, mit bissigen und klugen Monologen und Dialogen, zum Teil abseits der political correctnes, und mit farbenfrohen Bildern. Verrückte Typen sind es wohl, aber letztlich mit all ihren Schwächen und Nöten sympathische Menschen jenseits aalglatter Fassade. Aber vermutlich leben wir alle in unseren kleinen Welten voll Dreck.Ich empfinde den Film als einen Geniestreich. Er strahlt bei allem "Dreck" eine grosse Liebe und eben auch Weisheit aus.

Très bon film de Madonna, plein de fraîcheur et de surprises ! La musique est géniale également.

Wow!