Foreign Language Hall of Fame

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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Speaking of Entre Nos, I think that it and Borgman are the only nominations that haven't been reviewed yet, so maybe I should watch one of those next.
I watched both of these on Friday along with La Famille Belier in a bit of a movie marathon, but haven't got around to typing up my thoughts yet.



Weird is relative.
Well, I'll start out with Entre Nos (2009) then.

It was a film that almost seems like a documentary due to how achingly real it felt. The struggles of the young mother, alone in a foreign country with her children, unable to communicate or really connect with anyone around her due to the language and culture barriers is a harsh reality that far too many unfortunate immigrants have faced.
The fact that it was based on a true story made it even more affecting.
★ ★ ★ ½

La Haine (1995)

Three young immigrant men who grew up and live in the "projects" in their community in France wander around causing trouble, joking, and talking B.S.
Great actors; it was all very believable, and I enjoyed the juxtaposition of their grim reality combined with the humor of their antics. Reminded me of Quebec's King Dave from 2016. Anyone who liked La Haine should totally watch that.
Anyway, I friggen loved this movie. Thank you to Nope for nominating it as I might not have seen it otherwise.
★ ★ ★ ★

Millennium Actress (2001)

The animation was pleasant, and I appreciated how the director subtly shows us that the human memory is unreliable and that the past can be reinvented in one's own mind, so that your memories are no longer simply who you were then, but also who you are now.
What I wasn't able to empathize with was her tale of her "missed connection" with whom she imagines this obsessive fantasy love story. Why spend a lifetime "chasing" after someone whom you know nothing about? I don't get it.
★ ★ ★

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Wow! I wasn't expecting the sets and costumes to be such visually striking eye candy, not to mention the actresses and actors. Gorgeous film. The sing-song dialogue was somewhat grating for a while, but I became accustomed to it.
I liked the message that people can find happiness with others, even if it may not be in the manner they first anticipated.
★ ★ ★ ½

Benny's Video (1992)

This is unmistakably a Michael Haneke film. The cold logic, the casual, curious sadism, the emotional void and repression, and the moments which inspire genuine terror in such an understated way. He truly is a master of his craft.
★ ★ ★ ½




The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Wow! I wasn't expecting the sets and costumes to be such visually striking eye candy, not to mention the actresses and actors. Gorgeous film. The sing-song dialogue was somewhat grating for a while, but I became accustomed to it.
I liked the message that people can find happiness with others, even if it may not be in the manner they first anticipated.
★ ★ ★ ½
So glad you liked it I liked the message to that happiness is where the heart is. I think it's a touching film.



What I wasn't able to empathize with was her tale of her "missed connection" with whom she imagines this obsessive fantasy love story. Why spend a lifetime "chasing" after someone whom you know nothing about?
WARNING: "Millennium Actress" spoilers below
At the end of the film Chiyoko tells Genya that it never mattered whether she found that man or not. She was enjoying the thrill of chasing after an idea.

Instead of being a story about love, it's about not giving up on your dreams. Through her search, Chiyoko was able to overcome the pressures society placed on her to settle down and do what was expected of her. She falters when she loses the key (which symbolized a loss of hope), but the truth eventually allows her to overcome those pitfalls and become her own person again. Chiyoko is also freeing herself from the objective gazes of the men around her, subtly sharing some common themes with Perfect Blue in the process.

It didn't matter how little Chiyoko knew about the revolutionary she briefly met. He could've been anyone or anything, as long as it remained unobtainable. Her love for him is not the focus of the film, but rather it's her passion for finding her own path towards what she wants.

Or at least that's just how I saw it haha.



movies can be okay...
Millennium Actress (2001)

The animation was pleasant, and I appreciated how the director subtly shows us that the human memory is unreliable and that the past can be reinvented in one's own mind, so that your memories are no longer simply who you were then, but also who you are now.
What I wasn't able to empathize with was her tale of her "missed connection" with whom she imagines this obsessive fantasy love story. Why spend a lifetime "chasing" after someone whom you know nothing about? I don't get it.
★ ★ ★
I'm glad you enjoyed the film To answer your question, I personally don't believe that the film's focus is finding the mysterious man, but rather chasing him. Isn't the last line of the film: It's the chasing that I really love. Which goes to show how she was never obsessed over his love, instead, she was motivated by the idea of having someone to love. After all, she couldn't have loved him. She didn't know him. So it must be her past, and long gone youth, that she still craves and chases.
__________________
"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke



movies can be okay...
WARNING: "Millennium Actress: Favourite Sequence" spoilers below
Thinking about the film now, it seems that I failed to mention how mesmerised I was throughout the final cinematic chase scene (right after she receives the man's letter). The transition from one setting to the other, is edited with absolute perfection, with intertwinement of flashbacks to the actress' past and previous movies, this all being accompanied by the appropriately powerful score, makes that 7 minutes long sequence, riveting from start to finish.



Keep your station clean - OR I WILL KILL YOU
1/16. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Director: Jacques Demy

This was great. I love it when movies use certain genres in non-conventional ways and completely solidify them into their own identity. This was undeniably the case for this 1964 French flick. When the music sequences expanded more and more and I realized the entire film would be told through vocals, I was immediately fascinated to see how the novelty would play out, and i began dissecting the choice to see how it would enhance the narrative. I think it really propelled the story towards more emotionally affecting places, given that the romance is very simple and to the point. In its surface, the plot is not very emotionally complex, but by amplifying the dramatic tension through these prolonged theatrics, I felt very invested in a romance that told any other way would've been uninteresting. The ending shook me as well, everything established climaxed to a realistic, hard-hitting, and beautifully devastating ending. This was such a satisfying film that puts the normality of one's life under a different microscope.

SCORE - 88/100



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Borgman

I’m a bit sorry to be the first person posting about this film because I didn’t really like it!

There’s a good tense beginning, with the priest and the other men getting their weapons, and then when he first arrives at the house. What is going on? Why are people living underground? It’s not badly shot although it wasn’t exactly nice to look at either.

At times I wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be funny or creepy, things seemed odd but too much so to laugh at them. Too creepy for comfort. I suppose that’s the idea, that it’s not supposed to be comfortable; that the family live this comfortable life with a big house and servants and then they let in this man who brings the dark side of life in. Like a supernatural Michael Haneke film. But why? What’s the purpose?

At first it seems like a sort of psychological thriller type of movie but it soon becomes apparent that he is some kind of supernatural creature that can control people’s dreams and control dogs. And has minions who do all the actual murdering. He begins to somehow turn the children evil too.

Nobody in this movie seems to act in a plausible way. Right from the start when he arrives at the house, instead of calling the police or anything, the man beats him up viciously and then the woman, feeling guilty, invites him to live in the little hut that they just happen to have at the end of the garden. It seems like it is the act of kindness rather than the act of violence that kicks off the whole horrible sequence of events. He is evil and invites in women who then murder the gardener. But what have they done to deserve this horror? At the start the woman is kind to him. But why does she keep helping him secretly after this nightmare all starts? There’s a lack of logic to it.

Perhaps it’s supposed to be allegorical in some way but I couldn’t really work out what it was trying to say. Perhaps I was searching for meaning where there isn’t any. Perhaps something was lost in translation.

It seemed like it was just horrible and creepy for the sake of being horrible and creepy, that he was evil for the sake of evil and that is just not my sort of film. Perhaps if you enjoy being creeped out, you might enjoy it. I’m not a fan of horror really. I watched it on edge the whole time just hoping it would end.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Entre Nos

This had a nice low-budget indie style with warm colours, I liked the look of it. It looked very real, and using mostly unknown actors added to the realism. It was almost a shock when Sarita Choudhury showed up and I recognised her

I liked the way the main character really tries to keep upbeat for the sake of her young daughter especially, and to retain dignity in the face of disaster after her useless husband abandons her and two kids in a foreign country. The lead actress did a could job with her bewildered face as she struggles. I did wonder why she didn’t ask anyone for help, though, maybe the church? When we do see her go to a church it’s in the middle of a particular crisis and she can’t summon up the courage to go in, which was quite an affecting moment.

At times it plays out a bit like Fortunately/Unfortunately. Every time something good happens, something bad happens. They collect lots of recycling, then they miss the collection. They get some money from the recycling, happy music plays, they come back to find themselves locked out of their apartment. Finally get a room…. well, spoilers. It gets a little wearing. It’s moving, but perhaps at times tries too hard to be moving, things seem a little deliberately placed. And everything seems fine in the end a little too quickly without really showing us how.

The scenes with phones are good. At first she’s pleading for him to answer, then shouting at him, then just putting the receiver down without saying anything.

It’s a small film in a lot of ways - short in length, narrow in scope. It doesn’t actually have much to say beyond how tough it is for these people and how they cope. But that’s a benefit, it doesn’t try to extrapolate, it’s a very personal film, and what we find out at the end tells us why.

I did find it interesting, it gripped my attention and I wanted to find out what happened to them and hoped it would work out for them. I had not heard of this film before this hall of fame and I’m glad I watched it.



All the films have been reviewed now!

I didn't end up watching anything at all this weekend. I'll probably watch one of the shorter films after work tomorrow though so I don't feel like a slacker haha.

Perhaps something was lost in translation.
This reminds me of when I watched Time of the Gypsies for the 14th HoF. It really felt like there was something (perhaps culturally) that I just wasn't getting.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
This reminds me of when I watched Time of the Gypsies for the 14th HoF. It really felt like there was something (perhaps culturally) that I just wasn't getting.
I really feel like that might be the case with Borgman, what with him living underground and collecting followers. The name is similar to bogeyman but there's probably some cultural resonance there that I didn't get.




Assassination (2015)

I liked it...It's not the usual type of movie that I watch either, as I generally don't care for action films. But Assassination has a good mix of social political history, back story, impressive shooting locations & sets that were rich in detail and gave me the feeling I was in Shanghai or Seoul...And there's just enough light humor included, that for me made all the gun play fun, as this wasn't gruesome, it was more like a James Bond film.

I also really liked that the film had a female protagonist in the lead. Usually in an action film, if it's got girl power, it has more heart and more story/character detail too. I liked that...and I liked the actress who played Money Girl. I liked her companions too, who were all colorful.

I also liked how they incorporated the ever present Japanese occupation into much of the story. The occupation felt very real here, and not just an after thought.

Speaking of the occupying Japanese Imperial army in Korea, did they really commit such a horrible massacre as described in the film? If that's true then those war crimes are some of the worst atrocities I've heard of ever being commented.

I did have a hard time following the story at first, mostly because I don't speak Korean and it was a more involved story line. I was a bit confused as to who was who at times. But in the end I got it all figured out and had fun with the movie. My wife liked this one too.









Apparently I've learned how to spell "millennium", but my new problem word this HoF is "assassination".
ha...that's funny cause I had no idea how to spell it either, had to look it up....
just remember ass-ass-in-a-tion ha



La famille Bélier (2014)

Famille Bélier is a simple, predictable movie with a lot of cliches, is tematically reminiscent of the drama "Beyond the Silence", but was designed primarily as an entertaining comedy, it was absolutely charming, funny and moving.
Young Louane Emera impresses in her lead role with her powerful, natural portrayal.
The course of the movie is a typical one:
And from this point on, the end is easy to guess. The film's final scene, and a heart-tugging musical number by Paula, is trying hard to win the audience over - melodramatic one, but it can not leave you indifferent.
__________________
A normal man? For me, a normal man is one who turns his head to see a beautiful woman's bottom. The point is not just to turn your head. There are five or six reasons. And he is glad to find people who are like him, his equals. That's why he likes crowded beaches, football, the bar downtown...



I also watched La famille Bélier but won't be able to write anything about it until tomorrow.

Are the snapshots we get at the end real?
I don't typically watch the end credits unless there's something playing over/next to them, or they're incredibly stylish looking. So I had to turn the film back on and skip through to see what you're talking about. They do seem comical to me, so I'm not sure if we're meant to take them seriously. If they were intended to be a proper epilogue, I imagine it would've been earlier in the credits.

SPOILER remarks
- I find weird that Paula's friend has sex with her brother that seems to have 13 years old or something like that
The friend did seem a little sex crazed, but yeah that was a bit awkward haha.