Category Archives: Foreign
Foreign
Flash Movie Review: In the House
No matter what profession a person has studied in, they could have graduated at the top or bottom of their class. Even with my high regard for the teaching profession, the same holds true. I have had an assortment of teachers that ran the spectrum from inspirational to looney. There was one teacher I had who was an alcoholic. When he walked into the classroom with a beet red face, all the students knew he had been out drinking somewhere. A scandal was caused when my social studies teacher started an affair with one of the gym teachers. Out of all my teachers, my 7th grade teacher was the most bizarre. She avoided talking to students by keeping a pack of flash cards with her at all times. I do not know if she had the cards specifically made for her, because they each had different messages such as “Bring that to me” or “Please sit down and stop talking.” All I can say is, there are some teachers who are mentors and there are some who should have never chosen teaching as a career. In this dark mysterious comedy from France, the instructor took his mentoring to an extreme. Fabrice Luchini (The Women on the 6th Floor, Paris) played Germain, a frustrated writing teacher. When student Claude Garcia, played by Ernst Umhauer (The Monk), showed talent in his writing, Germain encouraged the young man to explore and push the topic further. However the subject happened to be Claude’s classmate Rapha, played by newcomer Bastien Ughetto, and his parents Esther and Rapha Sr., played by Emmanuelle Seigner (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Ninth Gate) and Denis Menochet (Robin Hood, Inglourious Basterd)s. When boundaries get pushed to create good story, consequences cannot be too far behind. I found parts of the story witty and amusing, enjoying Fabrice’s performance and that of Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, Gosford Park) as his wife Jeanne. There were some sections of the story that seemed too crazy to even be possible. I would be the first one to praise the teaching profession; I just would not use the teacher in this movie as an example. French with English subtitles.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
Pushing the human body towards its ultimate limit is a marvel to witness. Whether it is a performer from Cirque du Soleil, an athlete competing at the Olympic Games or a senior citizen; I admire a person’s dedication in asking their body for more. Watching a gymnast or a ballet dancer, the control they have over their body amazes me. When I think how each muscle has to fire up in unison, withstand an opposing force and contain the applying pressure; it truly is mind blowing. This is one reason why I can sit down and watch a martial arts movie; there is a certain physical art created by the fighting scenes. In this film, the story was predictable but I did not care. I do not recall ever seeing the martial art of Muay Thai; so, this movie surprised me. The story was about a bad man who dealt in stolen Buddhas. When the head of a village’s Buddha was stolen; the village leader sent Ting, played by Tony Jaa (The Protector, The Bodyguard), to Bangkok to retrieve it. The straight forward story was really only a map to go from one fight scene to the next. First I have to say I got a kick out of the retro look used for the fight scenes. I am sure it was unintentional since this movie was made in 2003. No wires or CGI effects; Tony Jaa was unbelievable with his flexibility, his power and his tumbling ability. I felt I was watching a little bit of Jet Li mixed in with Jackie Chan and Steven Seagal. In addition, showing some of the same martial art moves from different camera angles was a great idea. I chose to watch this DVD in English so I did not have to miss the action by reading the subtitles. The only problem was listening to the ridiculous dialog with the exaggerated inflections. I considered turning the sound off at one point. Compared to some of the current martial arts films, where the fights are meticulous to the point of being sanitized; this gritty, raw throwback was fun to watch. You have to admire the power a body can generate. Several scenes with blood in it. Thai with English subtitles.
2 1/2 stars — DVD
Flash Movie Review: Blancanieves
Whether they were read, seen or told to us; fairy tales are stories that have stayed with us from our childhood. Who did not want to be a princess or a prince when they were a little kid? I was convinced that when I grew up; one day, I would swoop in and rescue who would become the love of my life. There was something about fairy tales that not only gave me a sense of hope; they provided me with an outlet to let my imagination grow and explore new passageways through my mind. Right from the beginning of this movie, I felt a kinship with writer and director Pablo Berger (Torremolinos). Using the tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as a foundation, Pablo took the story and pushed it towards a dark, humorous, creative drama; that was a visual masterpiece. Some of you know I was not a fan of the silent film The Artist. Where I thought it was more of a gimmick for that movie; in this one, I absolutely loved the silence of no spoken words. The soundtrack came to the forefront to steer the story to some incredible heights. Set in Spain during the 1920’s; famous bullfighter Antonio Villalta, played by Daniel Gimenez (Bad Education, A Painting Lesson), had a beautiful daughter named Carmen. There was only one person who did not like the young girl and that was her evil stepmother Encarna, played by Maribel Verdu (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Blind Sunflowers). The richness of this black and white film only increased the enormous screen power of Maribel. This Oscar nominated movie was magical to me; I had no sense of time passing and felt I was taken to a different world. Absolutely beautiful to watch, I am willing to say this film will become a modern classic. Spanish with English subtitles.
4 stars
Flash Movie Review: Renoir
Depending on where I stand the light hits her eyes, making them glow brightly. I turn the corner and come upon a beautiful park with people leisurely strolling or relaxing on the ground. It looks so inviting and peaceful; but with my time constraints, I cannot stay and continue on my way. Walking into a dimly lit area I feel as if I have just fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole. Before me I see rooms too small for me to fit into with my sudden giant size; the chairs are only big enough to support something the size of a nickel. These are some of the escapades I experience when I visit the city’s amazing art museum. Since my mother was an artist, she started taking me to the museum when I was a little kid. Whether I was walking through a room filled with armored, battle ready mannequins or sitting and pretending the painted fields were gently moving in the breeze, each trip was an adventure for me. I had those same feelings as I sat and watched this gorgeous film about the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Set in a country estate in the French Riviera, the landscapes were exquisite. The lushness was a counterpoint to the increasing physical pain taking place within Renoir; played by Michel Bouquet (The Bride Wore Black, All the Mornings of the World). It was the early 1900’s and Renoir’s son Jean, played by Vincent Rottiers (Last Winter, I’m Glad my Mother is Alive), came home to recuperate from a war injury. To his surprise he found the free spirited Andree Heuschling, played by Christa Theret (Twiggy, Le Couperet), a new model who seemed to have infused fresh life into his father. It was not long before Jean too became enchanted with the carefree woman. The biggest enjoyment for me in this film was imagining I was actually watching a part of Renoir’s life. I thought the actor was excellent in showing and creating the beauty that was all around him despite his physical agony. There was not much substance to the story; the film felt more like a painting that was coming to life. Sitting in the movie theater, memories of me walking around that art museum came to mind. I was mingling and sitting among gifted artists. French with English subtitles.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Last Train Home
There was a time when I fantasized about running for public office. My platform would have been based on every single citizen getting a decent education. For families that were poor and needed their children to drop out of school to find employment, I wanted to create a fund that would pay the parents to keep their children in school. I have witnessed hateful incidents, where if the opposing parties had a stronger educational foundation, they could have avoided their misconstrued conflict. No matter what type of background a person came from, I felt an education would benefit their life. In this startling documentary a family’s sacrifices had a bigger impact on their children then they realized. In the single largest human migration on the planet, China’s factory workers were able to go home once a year during the Chinese New Year. This film focused on the Zhang family. Married couple Changhua and Suqin Chen were poor, uneducated, from a small rural town. Trying to make a better life for their children, the parents could only find factory work far away from home. The children had to be raised by grandparents since Changhua and Suqin Chen could only come back home once a year. The couple’s yearly trip back home was spent encouraging their children to study hard to get good school grades, so they could have a better life. But how could the children believe two people they barely knew? The first thing that produced a powerful impact on me was watching the hell workers went through in their attempts to travel home. Seeing over 100 million factory workers struggling through an antiquated train system, that could easily collapse from the sheer volume of humanity pressing against it, was mind blowing to me. This doesn’t even include the shock of seeing the workers’ living conditions at the factories. Another aspect of this movie had to do with the cultural changes that were taking place across China. The Zhang’s children were a preview of a more modern China. This film festival and Emmy winning film had an incredible story to tell about sacrifice and hope. Mandarin with English subtitles.
3 1/2 stars — DVD
Flash Movie Review: Starbuck
Responsibilities are the little gremlins that come in the middle of the night to slowly steal our youth. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for being responsible. I am reminded of it every day. As a fitness instructor, it is my job to make sure the members of my classes are doing their yoga postures or cycling movements safely. Being a credit manager, it is my responsibility that everything my company sells, we then receive a payment for it. There are certain responsibilities associated with doctors, teachers, lawyers, friends and even relatives. Becoming a parent is the fastest way (I would think) for a cavalier person to become responsible. Parenthood was the focus in this film festival winning comedic film. Polish/Canadian delivery driver David Wozniak, played by Patrick Huard (Funkytown, Cadavres) used the alias “Starbuck” when making his donations to a fertility clinic. In his 40’s now; he was named in a class action lawsuit filed by 142 children, demanding to know the true identity of their biological father named Starbuck. Due to a mix-up at the clinic David/Starbuck was actually the dad to over 500 children. He asked his friend Avocat, played by Antoine Bertrand (The Necessities of Life, Borderline), to be his advocate in court and try to block the release of his real name. It would be better if no one found out, including his family and pregnant girlfriend Valerie, played by Julie LeBreton (The Rocket: The Legend of Rocket Richard, White Skin), or at least that was what David thought. The story took a long time to get started for me; the last half was much better. I thought Patrick and Antoine did a fun job with their characters. The script had several misfires in it; taking away from the touching, thoughtful moments. There was a certain charm overall to this film. As a viewer I have the responsibility of sitting quietly in the theater and not disturbing the other patrons. For the movie studio it is their job to produce the best product possible. I just wish they would have taken that responsibility a little more seriously. French with English subtitles.
2 2/3 stars
Flash Movie Review: No
The amount of money spent on marketing political candidates these days is obscene to me. There are countries that do not come close to having such amounts in their treasury. It seems to me that the only people who can run for office are wealthy individuals. This concerns me because in my experience some wealthy people have a hard time relating to the average person. For example, the man who bought Princess Diana’s dress that she wore when she was dancing at the White House with John Travolta. At a winning bid of $360,000.00, a gentleman bought it to surprise and cheer up his wife. How many of us can do such a thing? Where I find this excessive, I have the same feeling about the money needed to fund a campaign. It seems the issues are not enough to determine whether a person will vote for a candidate; it also depends on who does a better job of marketing the politician. One of the reasons I grew to enjoy this historical drama was seeing what a grassroots advertising campaign can accomplish. Nominated for best foreign language film with the Academy Awards, this film took place in Chile, 1988. Military dictator Augusta Pinochet had been in power for fifteen years and needed to show the world that his government was legitimate. A referendum was scheduled, but would anybody opposing Pinochet survive the election? Gael Garcia Bernal (Bad Education, Y Tu Mama Tamben) played young advertising executive Rene Saavedra, who had the task of creating a campaign that would not get censored. He created the “No” campaign. Starring Alfredo Castro (It was the Son, Tony Manero) as Lucho Guzman and Antonia Zegers (Post Mortem, The Life of Fish) as Veronica Carvajal; the story used humor, actual footage and a faux 1980’s style of filming to draw the viewer into a fascinating time in Chile’s history. I had a hard time getting into the story at first; it felt slow to me. Once the campaign started to come together I was enthralled with the genius of it. With excellent acting, the movie became inspirational for me. The question was could creativity, strong beliefs and dedication triumph over money. Spanish with English subtitles.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Still Walking
Trying to live one’s life up to other people’s expectations is like having a pencil handed to you and being told to go hit a home run with a baseball. It will never happen. I learned to live my life by my own expectations, but it took a long time to get there. When unrealistic expectations are placed within a family, the landscape can only be paved with resentment. I have been to enough family dysfunctions where tension has its own place setting at the table, where I can only sit there quietly and observe how people pretend everything is normal. Trust me, there is no such thing as a normal family. I invite you to be a guest at Toshiko and Doctor Kyohei Yokoyama’s house on the fifteenth anniversary of their 1st born son Junpei’s accidental death. You will be among some uninvited guests named resentment, disappointment and guilt. This multiple film festival winner presented a powerful drama in a very subtle way. Kirin Kiki (Returner, Chronicle of my Mother)and Yosio Harada (Then Summer Came, Dororo) were wonderful as the doctor and his wife. Hiroshi Abe (Chocolate, Memories Corner) played the 2nd son Ryoto and I do mean 2nd son in all its meaning. I especially liked his physical presence in the scenes; his exceptional height added to the idea of his character’s growth despite his parents. It was a marvel to watch how the director used a gentle hand in having the characters convey their true feelings with a gesture, a word or a look. This dramatic film had all the elements of a classic case study about family dynamics. Do not get fooled by the polite appearances kept up by the family members; there were raw feelings just below the surface. The more I thought about this film after viewing it, the more I realized how much I enjoyed it. And the best part was I did not have to be a guest at this celebration. Japanese with English subtitles.
3 1/2 stars — DVD
Flash Movie Review: A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop
When making a conscious choice I try not to regret the decision if it does not turn out the way I had hoped. If I had continued my studies in veterinarian science instead of switching into creative writing and photography could be used as one example. Then again there was a time I wanted to become a DJ. I could say I made a bad decision by taking the expressway instead of surface streets to cycle class, getting stuck in traffic and arriving late. At least my decision was an annoyance, not a life or death situation as it was in this comedic drama. Tipping his hat to the Coen brothers’ movie “Blood Simple,” visionary director Yimou Zhang (Raise the Red Lantern, House of Flying Daggers) created a richly colored palette of decisions gone bad. Noodle shop owner Wang, played by Dahong Ni (Curse of the Golden Flower, The Message); was led to believe his wife, played by Ni Yan (My Own Swordsman, Inseparable), was having an affair with his employee Li, played by relative newcomer Xiao Shen-Yang. Hiring corrupt chief inspector Zhang, played by Honglei Sun (Seven Swords, The Road Home), Wang devised a plan to be away from the shop when Zhang would kill the adulterous couple. The dramatic aspect of this film was beautiful to watch, with vivid scenes of color and style. I only wished the comedic side was ditched because it consisted of slapstick humor that I did not find funny. Except for the scene on the making of the noodles, the two other employees of the shop were minor distractions to me. Not up to the caliber of Yimou Zhang’s other films, I do not necessarily question his choice on directing this story; I only wish the story would have been executed better. There were brief scenes of violence and blood. Mandarin with English subtitles.
2 1/4 stars — DVD
Flash Movie Review: Lebanon
There are some skills I have been trained in that I hope I will never have to perform. Every year I must be re-certified in CPR if I want to continue teaching my cycle and yoga classes, besides keeping my fitness certifications current. I only hope an opportunity will never present itself to me, where I must utilize my CPR training. Speaking to a coworker who had to perform CPR on a member, he said his body was flooded with adrenalin as everything became quiet around him. The only sound he heard was his counting as he preformed chest compressions. He kept the member alive until the paramedics came and took over, saving the member’s life. In this intense war drama, the soldiers’ training did not prepare them for the real battle. The time was 1982 during the first Lebanon/Israeli war. A small group of soldiers operating a tank accompanied a platoon of paratroopers to a bombed out town, to flush out any remaining resistance. The entire movie was filmed from inside the tank. Starring relative newcomer Yoav Donat as Shmuli, Zohar Shtrauss (Eyes Wide Open, Things Behind the Sun) as Gamil, Oshri Cohen (Agora, Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi) as Hertzel and Itay Tiran (The Debt, Die Lebenden) as Assi; the atmosphere inside the tank was a simmering stew of fear, sweat, horror and confusion as they entered hostile territory. I thought the acting was gritty and taut between the characters. With only having an optical periscope to view the outside, the effect worked for me; I felt myself constantly being drawn into the small world of the tank soldiers. This multi nominated, winning film depicted a soldier’s harsh reality, showing a disconnect between one’s duty and morality. No matter how much training a person receives, it does not always prepare them for the real world. Scenes with blood. Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.
3 1/4 stars — DVD
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