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Reviews
Das Lehrerzimmer (2023)
Class Room thriller with a social commentary
The setting is a German secondary school, the school in Teachers' lounge serves as a microcosm, with wider world issues playing out in miniature. There has been a spate of thefts in the school - everything from money lifted out of wallets to a box of one thousand pencils has disappeared. When teacher Carla Nowak decides to set a trap to catch the thief, she unleashes bigger rifts with more significant consequences.
A math teacher, Carla likes to make the unpredictable predictable, insisting time and again on the mathematical principles of algorithm, evidence, and proof. But can right and wrong be explained in the rigid square of reason and proof? The film examines the complexities of truth and falsehood, which can be viewed differently by different people, and how quickly even tight-knit communities can be destabilized by strong individual beliefs in justice and morality collide. There are similarities to Michael Haneke's films; his films "Hidden" and "White Ribbon" come to mind. Here too, the aim is not to find out the culprit; the identity of the thief remains unanswered.
Io capitano (2023)
Heartbraking story but cinematically very generic ...
The Italian director of the film "Gomorrah", Matteo Garrone tells the story of Two teenage boys, Seydou and Moussa journeying from their home in Senegal to Europe in the Oscar-nominated movie Io Capitano. Their journey takes them across the Sahara desert, encounters with vicious criminals and other unspeakable atrocities ending with a Mediterranean sea journey to Italy in a boat where the migrants themselves are forced to operate.
It is a movie that shows human suffering and cruelty but ultimately it fails to become an emotionally overwhelming cinematic experience, at least for me.
Io Capitano is worth seeing, for the work of Seydou Sarr in the film's lead role, he excels in carrying the whole movie till the end. The movie's failure is in its generic filmmaking style. The story is told linearly with a starkly realistic visual aesthetic. There are no surprises or unpredictability. This kind of narrative should give more time for the audience to experience the suffering emotionally. The rushed-through narrative of Io Capitano tries to capture an expansive narrative of one immigrant traveling from Senegal to Italy resulting in a film where the most devastating developments are introduced and then disposed of quickly. No character gets enough time to develop and only Seydou and Moussa remain in your mind. A handful of fantasy sequences peppered throughout Io Capitano, which provide a drastic departure from the starkly realistic visual aesthetic of the rest of the movie. Io Capitano's brief fantasy sequences involving flying figures stand out so much because the rest of the movie is very rudimentary on a visual level. This movie is celebrated multi-award-winning with an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. So this review is my personal feelings.
Remember what Martin Scorsese said in an interview "Not every film is for every person. Not every novel is for every reader, not every painting, etc."
L'insulte (2017)
Politics of Polarization
The Insult is a 2017 release but it still
is a timely film in the world of extreme political polarization . A highly political movie that's also a personal story of two men going head-to-head.
From the director of Attack this 2018 Oscar nominated movie shows a personal fight between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian Muslim .
The court room interrogation part reveal several sides to the story, underlining the idea that blame is never something that's as clear-cut as it might at first appear. It also explores the extent to which historical grievances count and influence people's behavior today.
The Insult also provides a valuable, fascinating and hard-hitting history lesson on Middle East politics, particularly the plight of Palestinians.
Jaddeh Khaki (2021)
Subtle political statement
Directed by Panah Panahi, the son of one of my favorite Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi. This is one of the best film I watched in 2023. This is the kind of movie which makes you think about it long after watching it. Running through it all is a streak of sadness which lingers on even after the movie.
On the surface it's a perfect road trip movie but underlying is a deeply political statement.
In the movie a family is making a tense road trip through remote north-western Iran, heading for the Turkey border. The reason for the travel is not very clear in the beginning. Is it a fun trip ? Soon we realize from their talk it's not, they are worried about police following them.
The journey is to smuggle the elder son out of Iran to Turkey. Why are they doing it? What was his crime? Was he part of the student struggle happening in Iran ? Director Panahi leaves it to the audience.
Great child acting is rare, so is great directing of children, 8-year-old younger son played by Rayan Sarlak, gives an amazing performance.
Perfect Days (2023)
Living in the Now
A movie showing toilets and toilet cleaning. One might expect as a bleak movie. Wim Wender's Perfect Day comes out as just opposite . It is one of the most satisfying and emotional movies I watched recently , ending with an unforgettable 2 minute long close up shot of the hero, Koji Yakusho driving his van with a rush of shifting emotions and interweaving of light and dark.
Perfect Days is, probably the best film from the German director Wim Wenders's, may be equal or next only to Wings of Desire.
The movies is about Finding Joy in Everyday Life. Live to the moment as Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) says in the movie -Next is Next and Now is Now. It might not change your world, but it may well nourish you.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Falls below Part one
Denis Villeneuve's epic science-fiction sequel is visually stunning and awe inspiring but is it better than Dune part one? I loved the part one , its beauty and simplicity , it made me think about the characters for days after the first watch and made me watch it again. Probably it is one movie coming close to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Part two gives me the feeling of watching a big circus with many awe inspiring items. Once you're out of the theatre you don't feel for the movie. Despite the 166-minute running time characters does not get enough time to develop. The romance between Paul and Chani is central theme but is so underdeveloped audience don't feel for them. You feel the movie is rushed through towards the end and ending abruptly. The film has so many grand themes, and grand visuals, that it more than justifies the price of a cinema ticket. I would give 8 star to the part one and 6 star to the part two.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Portrait of Denial to see Evil...
Watched Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest yesterday, Apple TV, watching his previous film Under the Skin was an unique experience. This one too is brilliant and different. It's a holocaust movie but unlike any other holocaust movie it doesn't show Jews instead the director focus his camera on a German family. The movie looks at the daily life of Rudolf Hoss family, the commander of the Auschwitz camp, living next to the camp. Only a wall separate the family from the camp.
It's about human atrocities we chose not to see. People can discover talent in themselves for ignoring the violence and injustice happening around us . A cinematic portrait of the human capacity for self-justifying and denying to see injustice.
The director deliberately avoid usual cinematography techniques used to show past. Telling us this may be happening even today and you and me may be acting just like the German family. The wall between the German family and Auswitz camp may well be the wall between Israel and Palestine. One of my favorite cinematographers, who can forget his black and white frames in Ida and Cold War. Avoiding close ups and mostly still wide frames observing the family daily life like in a documentary. A must watch movie of 2023.