Le Havre-DVD Review *** 01/19/2013
Posted by Films to consider in Aki Kaurismäki, Cannes Film Festival, César Awards, Chicago International Film Festival, Comedy, David di Donatello Awards, French language film, Light Drama, Munich Film Festival, National Board of Review.Tags: cannes film festival, chicago international film festival
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Le Havre (French) 2011 ***
From the Criterion Collection
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Starring Andre Wilms, Blondin Miguel, Kati Outinen, and Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Among many other wins and nominations:
WINNER, FIPRESCI Prize; Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention; NOMINATED, Palme d’Or (all Kaurismäki), Cannes Film Festival
WINNER, Gold Hugo-Best International Feature (Kaurismäki), Chicago International Film Festival
NOMINATED, Best Director; Best Film; Best Production Design, César Awards, France
NOMINATED, Best European Film, David di Donatello Awards
WINNER, Arri-Zeiss-Award (Kaurismäki), Munich Film Festival
WINNER, Top Five Foreign Films Award, National Board of Review
In the harbor city of LeHavre, Marcel Marx (Wilms) is an older man who shines shoes for a living. When his wife Arletty (Outinen), who is seriously ill, goes to the hospital for treatment, Marcel accidentally meets Idrissa (Miguel), a boy who has immigrated illegally with his family. Idrissa managed to run away when authorities caught up with them, but he is actively being sought. With the help of friends and neighbors, Marcel harbors the boy in his home.
Winner of, or nominated for, many awards (see above), Le Havre’s story is touching and quietly funny at times. Prolific Finnish director Kaurismäki has boldly taken on a film in French, which is not a language he speaks or even understands fluently. Likewise, Kati Outinen, who plays Marcel’s ailing wife, is also Finnish and speaks French somewhat haltingly. Kaurismäki has chosen his French actors wisely, as you would never know they were receiving their direction either non-verbally or through a translator.
Highly recommended.
93 min. Not rated. Suitable for teens+ because of subject matter.
For more info:
Le Havre
Tokyo Sonata-DVD Review 01/01/2013
Posted by Films to consider in Asian Film Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Drama, Emotional Drama, Japanese language film, Kinema Junpo Awards, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Movies.Tags: cannes film festival, chicago international film festival
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Tokyo Sonata (Japanese) 2008
Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring Teruyuki Kagawa, Kyoko Koizumi, Yu Koyanagi, and Kai Inowaki
Among other awards and nominations:
WINNER, Best Film; Best Screenwriter, Asian Film Awards
WINNER, Un Certain Regard Jury Prize (Kurosawa), Cannes Film Festival
WINNER, Silver Hugo, Grand Jury Prize (Kurosawa), Chicago International Film Festival
WINNER, Best Actress (Koizumi); Best New Actor (Inowaki), Kinema Junpo Awards
Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is usually known for horror films (which I don’t usually watch), but here he provides his version of modern life in Tokyo. The four members of the Sasaki family deal with problems separately. The father Ryuhei (Kagawa) loses his job but chooses to conceal his loss of honor from his wife and sons when he can’t find suitable employment. Megumi (Koizumi), the wife and mother, appears to be happy performing her domestic duties but feels close to suicide. Older son Takashi (Koyanagi) wants to escape his troubled past by joining the American army. Younger son Kenji (Inowaki) secretly uses his lunch money to take piano lessons against the wishes of his parents.
As we watch the family structure slowly begin to disintegrate, all is not totally bleak, however, and moments of humor do appear. And Kai Inowaki is perfectly suited for the role of the younger son: his piano playing is superb.
120 min. Rated PG-13.
For more info:
Tokyo Sonata
La France-DVD Review 04/23/2012
Posted by Films to consider in Chicago International Film Festival, Emotional Drama, France, French language film, Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival, Musical, Pascal Greggory, Prix Jean Vigo Award, Romance, Serge Bozon, Sylvie Testud, World War II.Tags: chicago international film festival, pascal greggory
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La France (French) 2007
Directed by Serge Bozon
Starring Pascal Greggory and Sylvie Testud
WINNER, Feature Film-Serge Bozon, Prix Jean Vigo Award,France
WINNER, Festival Award, Best Director-Fiction (Bozon), Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival
NOMINATED, Gold Hugo-Best Feature (Bozon), Chicago International Film Festival
This is a very unusual “artsy” film about a band of deserting soldiers led by Le Lieutenant (Greggory). Roaming the French countryside during World War I as they try to reach freedom, they are soon joined by Camille (Testud), a young woman who has disguised herself as a seventeen year old boy so she can search for her missing husband. He is off at war and has sent her a mysterious letter ending their relationship.
What is most unusual is that every once in a while the soldiers take out instruments and break into song, songs that in themselves are unusual because they are more pop tunes than tunes from the World War I era.
Yes, that’s what they do.
At first, I wasn’t taken with this film but it grew on me and I liked it. The performances of both Pascal Greggory and Sylvie Testud as their relationship changes are what kept my interest.
But, caveat spector!
102 min. Unrated. Some nudity and violence.
For more info:
La France
The Outskirts-DVD Review 11/04/2011
Posted by Films to consider in Berlin International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Dark Comedy, Dark Drama, FIPRESCI Award, Movies, Political Thriller, Pyotr Lutsik, Russian language film.add a comment
The Outskirts (Russian) 1998
Okraina
Among other awards and nominations:
WINNER, Don Quixote Award (Lutsik), Berlin International Film Festival
WINNER, FIPRESCI Prize, (Lutsik), Chicago International Film Festival
WINNER, Philip Morris Award (Lutsik), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
WINNER, Jury Prize (Lutsik), Sarajevo Film Festival
Directed by Pyotr Lutsik
Starring Yuri Dubrovin, Nikolay Olyalin, and Aleksei Pushkin
A group of neighbors leave a collective farm and trek across the countryside to find the person who sold much of the land to oil interests and bring him to their brand of “justice.”
A very dark comedy that’s also listed as a political thriller. In fact, the darkness of the DVD itself (as the liner mentions) is literal, and you will probably have to turn up the brightness of your television. The film is shot in black and white, adding to the drab and often depressing landscape and interiors.
I came across this DVD accidentally, and its deadpan humor might not appeal to everyone. There is likely humor that gets lost in the subtitles, and political references that would not be understood. The director received several prestigious honors. Worth a try if you like to see something a little different; it certainly wasn’t predictable!
95 min. Not rated. Not suitable for children.
For more info:
The Outskirts
Silent Light-DVD Review 04/22/2011
Posted by Films to consider in Cannes Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Drama, Emotional Drama, German dialect (Plautdietsch) language film, Independent Spirit Awards, Movies.add a comment
Silent Light (Low German) 2007
Stellet licht
Among other awards and nominations:
Winner, Jury Prize (Reydagas); nominated Palme d’Or (Reydagas), Cannes Film Festival
Winner, Best Film, Gold Hugo Award, Chicago Film Festival
Winner, FRIPESCI Prize, Best Latin American Film, Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
Nominated, Best Foreign Film, Independent Spirit Awards
Directed by Carlos Reydagas
Starring Cornelio Wall, Maria Pankratz, and Miriam Toews
A mesmerizing film about a Mennonite couple who lives in a community in Northern Mexico. Johann (Wall) and Esther (Toews) have a large family and a quiet farm life. When Johann falls in love with another woman, Esther tries to live with his ongoing infidelity, but it breaks her heart.
This is a quiet story about a man’s struggle to live with himself when he falls short of his own beliefs. The director used locals, some of whom don’t even speak the same language he does; the film’s dialogue is in Plautdietsch, a variety of Low German that is the language spoken by the Russian Mennonites. The cast’s performances are very natural and real.
The incredible cinematography adds to even the most ordinary of scenes, such as driving down a road. The opening sequence was so beautifully filmed that I could have watched that for an hour.
136 min. Not rated. Sexual content and adult themes.
For more info:
Silent Light
