ada the leading man is my tpye

Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

leazes69 Great Movie with some great gay interest scenesThis story is about sexual exploitation and drugs with the vicious circle that the two often involve.The DVD cover and description make it quite clear what the film is about, so you are unlikely to watch it thinking it is a family movie or one for a romantic evening with your girlfriend, unless you are both very broadminded. It's sole purpose is not in my opinion to shock people into saying I must go and do whatever I can to help help those poor boys. If that it's sole purpose there would not be scenes of sex and full frontal nudity, there would be careful editing and avoidance of scenes that might upset some viewers. Whilst the storyline portrays under age boys in prostitution, those actors that you see nude or engaged in sex are clearly of legal age.The storyline has similarities to Christiane F, which was a film about a young teenage girl who also has to resort to selling herself for sex to get money for her increasing drug addiction. I think the sole intention of that film (based on the book) was to make people aware of the problem of drug addiction allegedly in the former east Germany at that timeIn this film the interests and sex varies from client to client from vanilla to quite extreme, the film would lack entertainment value and the viewer would loose interest without that in my opinion.As a gay interest film there some scenes which could be viewed by some as quite erotic, one example where the main actor Marek is nude on a rotating pedestal and a game of pool with strip poker like rules.Clearly exploitation of anyone is wrong and I don't condone the storyline to be acceptable, but sex, murder and crime attracts viewers and sells movies and books. The film is very brave in portraying the subject matter that it does and deserves a watch, perhaps more than once.

angelic_fruitcake37 When I first heard of this film, I was *slightly apprehensive* to say the least. Opinions seemed to be split, some loved it, some hated it, but I had it on good recommendations, so I bought it on the off chance.Normally when films are dubbed 'disturbing' it puts me off - they rarely are, this just seems to be a catch all for not very good films. But I sat and watched this, and I am totally in love. The acting is very good, they portray the emotions you would expect from someone in that situation beautifully. I never usually cry at films, but the raw desperation in their eyes made me sob several times.There is one reason that this film didn't get full marks from me, and it's a totally foolish Angil reason. There isn't enough of David Svec. I immediately fell in love with him, and remained so throughout the film. But too much of his screen time involves him beaten and bloody, although thinking now I guess that's just what his character's destined for. And he does wear it very well. So yeah, maybe it should have full marks... WATCH THIS FILM> <3 <3

gradyharp NOTE: According to the dictionary: Mandragora is 1) a plant of nightshade family: a plant with a forked root resembling a human body that was formerly believed to have magical powers and was made into a drug and 2) a 14th century alteration of medieval Latin mandragora, influenced by man, drake "dragon" (from its emetic and narcotic properties).MANDRAGORA, the astonishing film from the Czech Republic written by Wiktor Grodecki (who also directs) and David Svec (who also acts in the film), is aptly named: mandragora is the world of male prostitution that seduces young lads with promises of money and ultimately poisons them with the burning disease of loss of self respect and ultimately of life.Marek (Miroslav Caslavka in a stunning performance) is a beautiful 15-year-old kid from a little village in the Czech Republic who has aligned himself with petty criminals to have better things such as classy clothing, a lad whose single father (Jirí Kodes) demands he stay in school (yet is always in the background to salvage Marek's errant life situations) and who seems to be prepping his son for a better life. Marek hates school, which he sees as merely a path to be a welder like his father. The father and son collide after another crime spree and Marek leaves home for the big city promises of Prague.Once in Prague Marek is observed by the pimp Honza (Pavel Skripal) who follows Marek, knowing that Marek's future in the city is doomed without Honza's 'protection'. Within a day's time Marek's luck with the slot machines dries up and Honza convinces him to be his 'rabbit' - a male prostitute. Marek's first encounter with an American 'john' ends disastrously and the beaten Marek returns to the streets where he encounters a fellow hustler David (David Svec). Together they forge an alliance to escape Honza's compound and begin a life of successful prostitution. They are bonded (the probability of Marek's actually being gay and physically attracted to David is strong) and together they encounter all manner of unseemly characters involved in the underbelly of Prague's male prostitution life.Characters weave in and out of Marek's and David's life, each time leaving scars that grow more visible as does the threat of drug problems and AIDS. They eventually consent to embrace the lowest level of making gay porn where the cruel director forces Marek to be sodomized by David. They are raided by the police and Honza reappears as Marek's nemesis. Through a series of drug-induced hallucinations and dreams Marek envisions what his future holds and his descent is stamped. Yet at this point Marek's father journeys to Prague in search of his son, discovers his life style, is terrified and angry and tangentially passes Marek in a critical final scene that is devastatingly sad.This film is dark, frank, cruel, realistic, and sweats with the evil of the belly of the beast that is Prague's underworld. Yet the direction is so fine and, equally important, the acting by Miroslav Caslavka so sensitive that we as the audience are swept into an overwhelming compassion for these unfortunate lads whose seemingly only hope for a better life is one of humiliating degradation. MANDRAGORA is a no holds barred examination of a dark life that maintains a precarious balance between caricature and character development. Yes, it is lengthy at 126 minutes, in need of editing in areas, has faulty subtitles, and a strange musical score by Wolfgang Hammerschmid who extrapolates Puccini's 'Nessun dorma' and Bach's 'Erbarme dich' and 'Ruhe sanft' from the St Matthew Passion for heavy effects, and very dark cinematography by Vladimír Holomek, but despite these sidebar problems, they only slightly mar the overall impact of a very important film.Grady Harp

crocuta Although some viewers want to "laugh it up", this is really not that bad. OK, some scenes may be silly, but some are really like a shot right into head... I really had to stop the movie at the beginning of the scene with Krysa. His family around, children, while in the bedroom he is filming two boys having sex. Well, thank you, I must take a deep breath first... Our young hero is not well acted, he is too naive, um, too stupid... Actually I didn't like him and I didn't care for him... Until that scene with Krysa. It really is memorable scene. OK, this is not very good good movie, but not bad either. And is really special, especially for Czech movies.