Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors Blue)

April 9.

Trois Couleurs is one of those trilogies that has been recommended to me over and over and has been in my Netflix queue for years. I wanted to see it, three great French movies that everyone loves, but I never found the motivation. So when my friend mentioned he had ordered the trilogy last year and finally got it, I guess Amazon didn’t have the motivation to send it, I said OK, let me borrow it. I’m sure he wasn’t going to charge me late fees, but I didn’t feel it was right to hold onto it for months, so finally this weekend I watched part one: Bleu.

So after all this time it’s nice to be able to say Bleu, starring Juliette Binoche as the widow of a famous composer, really lived up to the hype. It was amazing and beautiful and disturbing and sad.

Bleu starts with the car accident that kills Binoche’s husband and daughter and follows her as she tries to live after the tragedy. Bleu is a bit mysterious with unanswered questions and a linear storyline but it seems to be more about the emotion.

I’ve already returned Bleu and have parts two and three. I am excited to see where this trilogy, which is general in theme, (trilogy of films dealing with contemporary French society concerns), goes.

Rating: Love

Certified Copy

March 26.

I had really high expectations for Certified Copy. The French movie set in Tuscany starring Juliette Binoche got rave reviews everywhere I looked. So as the main characters - Binoche, an apparent single mother running an antique shop in small town Italy and William Shimell an art historian and author - have an uncomfortable meeting, full of strange bickering, I wasn't sure what I thought of it.

And then, when the pair started acted as a married couple, but not in a cute, fun way - in a strange sad way, I was actually less uncomfortable but still confused. This couple seemed to truly be married ... I think.

So in the end I wasn't sure what I thought. The conversation was interesting, the scenery and camera angles were gorgeous and interesting. But the story. What had happened? Were they married? Were they strangers? I don't know.

A few days later, I was talking to a coworker about the film and we had similar reactions. But as we talked about it, we both began to appreciate what we saw more and more. There are so many questions. About what happened, sure, but also about the way people speak to each other and why. And there's no denying that the storytelling was like nothing I've ever seen before. So, now I feel like I need to watch this movie again, and that it could be a movie I love, but for now ...

Rating: Like

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

February 14.

The whole world is raving about the book and movie trilogy that starts with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I guess I just missed something.

The story wasn't even about the girl. When the movie flashed to her life it was just one disturbing image after another, but I never really got why I was supposed to care. And her tattoo, was there even a tattoo?

The secondary story, which was the real story, was interesting, but not much more than a good episode of CSI Stockholm.

So although the Swedish movie held my interest I refuse to see part two and don't really think I'll run out to see the American version.

Rating: Ehh

Ang tanging ina mo: Last na 'to!

January 8.

I thought I was going to be alone watching Ang tanging ina mo: Last na 'to!, but, nope, it seems the entire Las Vegas Filipino expat population is here with me. It’s mostly old people looking at me wondering what I’m doing here. No one is speaking English and it’s weird to be in a place I’ve been hundreds of times and have it feel totally foreign.

Ang tanging ina mo: Last na 'to! is the third and final installment of a popular Filipino comedy series. I haven’t seen the first two but I read about them in preparation. In the first, the main character, Ina, becomes a single mother of 30 or 12 or some ungodly number of children and she has to figure out a way to raise them and earn a living. Sounds funny, right? Hmm. So in part two, Ina, having her life in order, becomes president of the Philippines. Yes, president of the Philippines. So that’s where part three begins, her kids are growing up and she’s president … of a country.

The movie starts with loud, annoying music followed by loud, annoying talking and it takes me a few seconds to realize there are no subtitles. What?! Umm. I don’t speak Tagalog, or whatever this language is. I have seen tons of foreign movies and it never occurred to me that there wouldn’t be subtitles. I have wondered in the past if I would be able to follow a foreign movie without subtitles and I now know the answer: sort of.

 The problem with this movie isn’t that I don’t understand what they are saying. I really think I would have thought this was stupid even if I understood. The real problem is that it’s so over-the-top, so loud, and so annoying. I can’t believe people are watching this or that it was entered into film festivals. I keep checking the time and it’s not going fast enough. A baby has been crying for nearly half of the movie and normally I’d be mad that the parents didn't take him outside but I am sort of glad for the distraction and I feel his pain.

Without knowing what is being said it’s hard to gauge when the end is coming, but the end does come, finally. 

Rating: Hate

4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days)

April 4.

Even when no one is speaking "4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile" is intense. The story, set in communist Romania in the 80s, focuses on college students Otilia and Gabita. With Otilia's help, Gabita gets an illegal abortion in a hotel room.

The story takes a real look at what you do when you're desperate and how far you'd go for a friend. Laura Vasiliu, who plays Gabita, is great but Anamaria Marinca (Otilia) steals the movie with her gut-wrenching performance. Even as Otilia learns about each lie Gabita has told, mostly our of fear, she doesn't give up on her. She's goes to places most friends would never go and without judgment.

The camera work during 4, 3, 2 is strange. It doesn't always focus on what is going on, which sometimes makes it even harder to watch. Everything about this movie is gritty and it is hard to let it go after it's over.

Un Prophete (A Prophet)

April 3.

"Un Prophete" was nominated for an Oscar and compared to the greatest mafia movies ever made, so when it popped up at one theater in town I saw it the first chance I got.

It's interesting that it was presented as a mafia movie since the entire story takes place during Malik El Djebena's, played by Tahar Rahim, prison sentence. The French prison is divided by Arabs and Corsicans. But Malik, who is both, keeps to himself. That is until the Corsican mafia inmates running the prison need his help. He doesn't exactly rise in the Corsican mafia, but he learns a lot and branches out on his own.

Rahim is an amazing newcomer and he plays the character, who spends half the story observing and letting things happen to and around him, brilliantly. He's also beautiful if you can get passed he weird 70s-porn mustache.

Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces)

January 16.

I haven't seen a lot of Spanish cinema, but the movies I've seen all look like they were made in 1992. The colors, character's styles, sets are all faded. This doesn't mean it can't still be a good movie, but the other thing I've noticed is although the story is interesting the movie would fit in nicely on Lifetime.

"Los Abrazos Rotos," starting Penelope Cruz and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, follows these trends. The story is of a blind director, played by Lluís Homar, who is taken care of by his friend and her son. Cruz is part of his past and only appears in flashbacks. The story is interesting, just like some movies of the week are interesting, but I don't think it's a "love poem to cinema" as one reviewer called it.

I feel like the drama was a bit misplaced, too. I know Americans and Europeans think differently about some things, but when Homar's friend, played by Blanca Portillo, tells her son that Homar is actually his father he laughs and then they cut to the next scene. I just didn't really get this movie I guess.