9/1/17 Incendies, nominated Best Foreign Film, 2010
Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend about the use of flashbacks in movies and how I hate when they are used as a gimmick. That is not the case with Incendies, the French Canadian film directed by Denis Villeneuve, where flashbacks are used to unravel the mystery that Nawal Marwan left behind after her death. As the movie opens, we meet her twin children, Simon and Jeanne, as notary and Nawal's employee reads her will and last requests. It's painfully clear early on that the twins' relationship with their mother was distant at best and full of secrets and strange behaviors, and Simon isn't interested in fulfilling his mother's wishes, which include finding their father and the brother they never knew existed. The movie starts in Canada and in an unnamed Middle Eastern country that has faced civil war between Muslims and Christians; Nawal's is from a Christian family, but she is in love with a young Palestinian Muslim refugee, which causes severe problems for Nawal. I'm not really sure how to give you any more information without ruining the plot twists, and I really hope you watch this. There are no winners in a war like this (and the wars that continue to be waged); it's not just soldiers on one side or the other, it's both sides, it's non-combatants, and it's people born after the conflict. Lubna Azabal plays Nawal, and I hope she was under consideration for Best Actress, she was that good (Natalie Portman won for Black Swan, and other nominees included Jennifer Lawrence, Annette Benning, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams). The rest of the cast is really good as well; I kind of liked Remy Girard as Jean Lebel, the notary and kindly father figure, who shepherds the twins through their journey, refusing to break the trust their mother placed in him. I was not sure how I would like this movie because I have been hit and miss on Villeneuve's other movies I have seen, Arrival and Sicario (miss) and Prisoners (sort of hit). This is a definite 'hit' for me.
9/4/17 In a Better World, Best Foreign Film, 2010
In a Better World is a Danish film, directed by award-winning director Susanne Bier, and it's set in Denmark and a Sudanese village. Anton is a Swedish doctor who goes back and forth between the Sudan and his home and family in Denmark, he has two boys, Elias and Morton with his wife Marianne, but they are having some marital difficulties. The other family is Claus and his son, Christian, who have just moved back to Denmark after Claus's wife (and Christian's mother) has died in London after a long illness; Christian and his father have a strained relationship. Elias gets teased at school, partly because he is Swedish, he looks different, and kids can just be cruel asshats; Christian starts at his new school and is seated next to Elias, with whom he shares a birthday. Christian is quiet, but upset about the teasing and abuse Elias gets from his classmates, and tries to stick up for him. This protective attitude gets taken a little too far as Christian beats the head bully bloody and is chastised by the school. Anton tries to tell Elias that responding with violence to violence never works and you never win; in fact, he gets into an altercation with another parent when he tries to break up a mild skirmish between his youngest son, Morton, and another boy, but he lets the other parent push him around, and later hit him in the face, to show he's not scared and it didn't hurt. Christian thinks his friend's father is a wimp and a coward, and sets out to teach the other parent a very harsh lesson. There is also the storyline in the Sudan, where a cruel warlord viciously cuts open pregnant girls as a game; the girls are brought to the camp for medical attention by Anton and his team. The warlord comes to the camp for medical attention and against the wishes of the village and the medical team, Anton agrees to treat him, but no guns are allowed and only two of his men can stay. The warlord takes his gloating and crude attitude too far, and Anton snaps, and kicks the warlord's men out and leaves him to the wrath of the people. It's a decision that can't be taken back, even if Anton wanted to. Bier is not afraid of conflict and making people uncomfortable, and she does this on so many levels in this movie, but she also lets the characters and the viewers have a sense of closure and resolution. I liked the movie, I thought it was a different type of story, and the actors were wonderful, but I didn't love it. Out of the nominees for 2010, I have one left to see (Outside the Law), and I kind of think Incendies was the best foreign film, and Biutiful was also very powerful with Javier Bardem (I saw this a while ago).
9/4/17 Dogtooth, nominated Best Foreign Film 2010
It has been a while since I had a WTF moment when watching a movie. Well, the dam done finally burst, and it is a massive WTF for Dogtooth, a movie that was hailed by the Greek government after its Oscar nomination (to be fair, it had been a rough couple of years for Greece). I can't give you a plot summary because I don't know what the hell was going on except there was sex, bizarre violence, and a type of dystopian environment. I watched director's Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2016, and didn't hate it, I actually thought that was interesting. The Lobster also had sex, bizarre violence and a dystopian environment, but a little more of a story. If I didn't like you, I would tell you to watch Dogtooth. Netflix predicted that I would give it 1 1/2 stars. I so appreciate their optimism, but I'm afraid it gets 1 star. File this under 'pretentious' and 'shock value'.
9/5/17 Bullhead, nominated Best Foreign Film, 2011
Great, another WTF movie. Two in a row. At least this one tried to have a plot, one that draws on a real life incident, although that seems so unimportant for most of the movie. There is: a brutal castration of a young boy, cattle doping, cattle doping mafia, characters losing their minds in incredible violence, double dealing, and Belgians who can't understand or stand one another. Yeah, I'm sorry, I just can't. As of yet, I have only not seen one entry from 2011 (it's coming later this week), but so far, out of all the nominees, this has been the worst film. I mean, yay Belgium for getting nominated, but you can do better. See the other nominees, including winner, A Separation, or In Darkness, or my favorite that was one of those gut punchers, Monsieur Lazahr.
