During the last years of the Second World War, the remote village in northern Italy boasts of gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains but its inhabitants are dirt poor. Centered around a large family led by stern teacher, this film does have a plot but mostly it serves as a way to remember their way of life. Director Maura Delpero says as much as her father was from the region and takes great care to depict their lives as authentically as possible. I don’t think the main story is anything special but I do love the film itself and its setting.
This animated film winning multiple awards should be reason enough to get it added to my watchlist but there’s also the fact that it was made using Blender. It’s a relatively short film but it still took the team more than five years to make it. With beautiful visuals, pleasant music and no dialogue, this sure is an easy film to watch and who could dislike its animal characters? It’s nice enough but there’s no plot, no world building and not much meaning at all. As its title suggests, it’s just one scene flowing into another with no direction so I’m not that impressed.
Based on the title and the poster, I’d thought that this was a supernatural horror film. But I should have known better, given that it was directed by Kaneto ShindÅ who was responsible for the excellent and very grounded The Naked Island. It is indeed horror but the evil is born from the hearts of people themselves. It’s a powerful retelling of a classic Buddhist parable set in so dystopic a world that it’s almost hell on Earth. My only complaint would be that it drags on a little with too many repetitive shots but it truly is a unique film with few contemporary peers.
Horrors movies have the advantage of usually being short and easy to watch but I find myself liking them less and less. This one has decent reviews and once again stars Nicolas Cage who seemingly will appear in any schlocky project these days. It’s decently put together and has strong vibes but that’s all it has. Not only is it a mishmash of the usual tropes: scary clown-like figure, Satanic cults, dolls and so on, it makes no attempt whatsoever at verisimilitude. The frustrating thing is that at times it’s reminiscent of David Fincher’s style but in the end it’s not a serious film at all.
A few years back, I was extremely impressed by Capernaum, the only Lebanese film I’ve seen so far. Well, this earlier was both the debut of its director Nadine Labaki and she also stars in it. Once again I love the authenticity of its Beirut setting and the matter-of-factly way that it tells the stories of five women there, leaving aside the country’s post-war tensions and instability. Unfortunately this is a lighter film that goes for breadth rather than depth and relies too much on maudlin music. I admire what it’s going for and enjoyed it but it’s nowhere as good as Capernaum.
I noticed when this popped up on Netflix but didn’t think it was worth paying attention to. Then I read a wonderful essay about how it’s really a masterclass in management as Lionel Richie and Quincey Jones wrangled the biggest pop stars of the 1980s to work on a single world-changing song. Watching it, this really is the case and is full of amusing little anecdotes about these stars interacting with one another. If you’re a child of the ’80s like I am and have fond memories of We are the World, you owe it to yourself to watch this.
This film is said to be representative of the new kind of feminism in China, championing women who are strong enough to take charge and live their own lives as they please. With its rapid fire dialogue and dominant woman characters, it reminds me of the American screwball comedies of the early 20th-century but adapted for China and with both partners of the duo being women. I found it modern, smart and very funny. Unfortunately I’m not hip with Chinese culture and the language often moves too quickly for me to follow, so much of its cleverness is lost on me but I do so admire this film.
