Russian Dolls written and directed by Cedric Klapisch, 10 out of 10

Russian Dolls written and directed by Cedric Klapisch

10 out of 10

-          Russian Dolls is a phenomenal film

-          The two stars, Romain Duris and Kelly Reilly are formidable

-          Xavier Rousseau is the epitome of the happy, blissful individual

-          At least from where I see him

-          In the first part of this narrative, L’Auberge Espagnole, the public had a wondrous time

-          Xavier shared an apartment with a group of men and women than have become friends

-          After fighting each other for some time and in different arrangements

-          Wendy aka the exceptional, seductive, charming, sexy Kelly Reilly, was one of the friends in Barcelona

-          She is now one of the two heroes of this second act

-          Xavier has tried to enter various relationships but it has not worked

-          He is a bachelor now

-          Martine played by the delicate Audrey Tatou is still part of Xavier’s life, but they are not lovers anymore

-          Well, there is one night when Martine has her son with his estranged father and she wants to and spends the night with her former boyfriend.

-          They do not “baise” but it is still a difficult, awkward scene the next morning, when the “copine” that Xavier is seeing arrives at the door just as…Martine is leaving and there is a breakup

-          As a writer, Xavier faces an uphill struggle

-          He is selling scenarios for what look like Telenovelas or soap operas with silly plots most of the time

-          He would like to concentrate on a book and more generally on serious writing, but that does not pay…

-          Well, unless you call Dan Brown a serious author

-          Which he surely is…in financial terms

-          At one point, he has to chance to work with Wendy, in London

-          As he arrives, the splendid woman is just separating from her lover, who appears rather brutish and uncouth.

-          Xavier and Wendy have a lot of fun working and at times partying together until the magical moment…

-          Which is delayed in a perfect manner, with a teasing thrown in before that, when Wendy caresses Xavier under his shirt, trying to figure out a continuation in the script they are writing together

-          Anyway, the scene when they kiss and start a relationship arrives and it is mesmerizing and so damn gorgeous.

-          The two actors are more than gifted, they also have what the late Steve Jobs was supposed to have possessed:

-          A Reality Distortion Field

-          But there is a challenge and Days of Wine and Roses are not there to stay, for Xavier is tempted

-          He gets to work as a ghost writer for a celebrity, who, if not in the same style as Paris Hilton, still takes things too lightly

-          Xavier has an affair with the super model or Reality Show star or whatever this girl was and he makes a more serious mistake

-          The friends all, or almost all, go to Russia where Wendy’s brother is getting married to a Russian ballerina

-          Xavier and Wendy are not just a couple now, but very near Romeo and Juliet, with the advantage that they are not fourteen years old

-          This should be Bliss

-          Optimal Experience, Flow

-          But Xavier gets a call from his celebrity who is bored in Moscow and therefore wants to have fun with her writer

-          And he goes there, even after the emotional scene at the train station where Wendy says that he is perfect…with all his shortcomings

-          To add insult to injury, the tabloid star takes her guy to a discotheque and meets other celebrities…and she abandons poor Xavier.

-          He deserves it.

-          Will he get back together with his other half, the perfect woman, who has found about his betrayal and sent him packing?

-          Who knows? 

L’Avventura by Michelangelo Antonioni

L’Avventura by Michelangelo Antonioni

10 out of 10

Some critics have included this chef d’oeuvre on:

-          The list of the best ten motion pictures ever made

Martin Scorsese has said:

-          “L’Avventura gave me one of the most profound shocks I’ve ever had at the cinema”

Indeed, it feels like this magic film has everything!

All the range of human emotions is present here:

-          Love, anger, hate, passion, boredom, sexual attraction, listlessness, curiosity, envy, lust, depression, forgiveness…

Art is present in the form of:

-          Beautiful, black and white landscapes, architecture- the hero, Sandro,  is an architect, painting

I think the most important personage is Claudia as portrayed by the otherworldly, mesmerizing Monica Vitti:

-          She has  all the qualities of a woman, perhaps a human being in general, just as the film covers almost anything we need in a work of art, except perhaps violence, of the physical kind

-          Claudia represents the angel, passion, confusion, forgiveness, frailty, temptation, the martyr, dragon, Super Woman or Ubermensch

-          She reminds one of Goethe:

-          « Das Ewig- Weibliche Zieht uns hinan »

The plot is not important I would say…

Or maybe not in sense it is in a crime story, where details are of paramount importance.

Sandro is involved with Anna, to begin with.

They meet with Claudia and sail with a group of rich people on a boat, near the islands of the Mediterranean coast of Italy.

After a quarrel, Anna is missing on this small, rather isolated island on which their party is looking for her.

The police are brought in, with helicopter, divers but to no avail, for they find no woman or dead body.

There may be some information on the shore, where they have caught a group of poachers that may know something.

After this, it is off to a village where a pharmacist may have seen the missing woman and help Sandro find her.

The most important aspect in all this is the fact that Sandro and Claudia become involved with each other.

Claudia is torn and refuses to accept that she is falling for the boyfriend of her missing girlfriend that could well be dead.

But the passion, attraction and eventually love may be too strong to resist and after making Sandro get off the train, when the two meet again they start a relationship that appears to be intense and passionate.

Only Sandro may be experiencing a psychological phenomenon called The Honeymoon Effect way too soon.

Marcel Proust talks about this in his masterpiece, in my view the best novel ever written, Remembrance of Things Past, to explain situations wherein once we have the affection of a lover, we are not interested anymore.

When Claudia and Sandro go to the village where the pharmacist is supposed to have seen Anna, they see marriage at its worst.

The woman married for only three months is unhappy in the place and the man is obviously interested in any good looking woman, but less, if at all, in his own wife…

-          The very picture of marital bliss, says Sandro

There are many awesome scenes- Men on the street, bullies, harassment artists of “antan”, and many symbols:         the sea, clergy, the law.

I identified with Sandro, especially when he mentions his profession and the challenges he is facing, which sound like the stepping stones or stumbling blocks I have ahead:

“Sandro: [Admiring the buildings of a small town from a roof top] Such imagination. Such movement. They were concerned with the architectural aesthetics. Such extraordinary freedom. I must go ahead and leave Ettore. I'd like to work on design again. I used to have ideas of my own, you know.

Claudia: Why did you stop?

Sandro: Why, why, why? Because it isn't easy to admit that a red floor suits a room when you are thinking exactly the opposite. But the lady wants it red. Because there is always a lady... or a man... and so... Once I was asked to make the estimate for the construction of a school. It took me a day and a half. I earned four million lira. So I went on giving estimates of other people's projects. Why are you looking at me this way?

Claudia: Because I am convinced you could make really beautiful things.

Sandro: I don't know. I really don't know about that. Who needs beautiful things nowadays, Claudia? How long will they last? All of this was built to last centuries. Today, ten, twenty years at the most, and then? Well...”

The Florida Project, by Sean Baker, with Willem Dafoe

The Florida Project, by Sean Baker, with Willem Dafoe

7 out of 10

This film has been much appreciated

-          It has an astonishing metascore of 92

-          That means that nearly 200 critics thought this work outstanding

I am afraid I disagree.

-          Yes, Willem Dafoe is excellent

-          It is not his Jesus in The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ, but it is a strong performance

Brooklynn Prince and the other children acting in this motion picture are excellent.

Without being a liberal- at least not in the defamatory American sense- I think that children have a hard time on films like this one…

-          Perhaps on any movie

-          First They Killed my Father comes to mind

Moonee is the daughter of an unfit mother, no matter how much she protests when the police come to take her.

There probably is a grain of truth in her accusation that the law has acted carelessly, but Jancey is a failure as parent and not just in that capacity.

In fact, from the very start of this film, this anti-hero becomes a reason to disengage with the narrative, on account of her obnoxious character.

They all live in a rather poor property, where Moonee and her friends spit on the car of their neighbor and then on her daughter.

The woman sees the manager- Bobby aka Dafoe- and they both knock at the door of the smoking Jancey.

She not only smokes in bed, but makes her daughter “benefit” from the advantages of second hand smoking.

She takes the daughter and the other kids she is “supervising” to clean the car, but that becomes an ugly scene.

-          For this viewer anyway

There is a side that we need to sympathize with and if Jancey is far from being the perfect mother, we could use compassion to understand…

-          But it would take a lot of compassion…

I was reading from a book by Tchich Nhat Hanh:

-          He gives the horrible example of an eleven year old raped by pirates

-          After that tragedy, she kills herself

-          But this Buddhist monk speaks about the way he tried to see things from the villain’s point of view:

-          An uneducated boy, living in a destitute family and neighborhood that has no idea about what he is doing…

-          Well, at least that was the process through which this figure of peace arrived at an acceptance…

And Jancey is both a victim and an abuser.

She knocks down and beats a former girlfriend when the latter accuses her of being a sort of prostitute.

Which in a way she is.

Even if this downfall is brought about by very difficult circumstances:

-          Lack of education

-          Need to feed her daughter

-          Lack of training or skills to get any job

-          Being caught while peddling some perfumes on a hotel property…

The bottom line is that I deeply disliked the heroine and her manners, attitude, her throwing a tampon at the window of Bobby’s office.

And the tampon was taken from her underwear…

-          And it was bloody

-          I mean come on!!

Midnight in Paris, written and directed by Woody Allen

Midnight in Paris, written and directed by Woody Allen

Midnight in Paris is a formidable comedy!

-          C’est genial! As the French would say

It is sophisticated, thought provoking, amusing, intelligent and…science fiction to a certain, acceptable extent.

This great film won:

-          The Academy and Golden Globe for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

-          It was also nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actor, Best Director and won many prestigious prizes

The hero is an American writer, Gil, portrayed by a very casual, excellent Owen Wilson, who seemed to be also playing:

-          Woody Allen-

-          I thought the actor had the manner, the style of the writer- director of the film

-          But I could be wrong

Gil is travelling with Inez and her rich parents to Paris, a city that mesmerizes the American writer and eventually takes him to another world.

The relationship with Inez and her parents is complicated.

The father is suspicious of this man who is indeed very different and finally not really suited for his daughter.

He hires a detective that confirms the worries and reports that Gil is taking an automobile every night.

One of the very humorous moments of the film involves the aforementioned detective that takes one of these cars…

-          Only he arrives in the middle ages, at the court of some king

-          And the courtiers and guards are chasing him in the splendor of Versailles- if that was the palace- and want to take his head off

For the main twist in the plot involves…time travel.

Fortunately, this is not taken seriously, it only serves as an occasion for meditation and other hilarious moments.

Gil is fortunate to travel to a time that he considers The Golden Age.

That is of course disputed by a woman he falls for who claims that the 1890s are the Golden Age and indeed:

-          They meet Paul Gauguin and Edgar Degas

-          This is after they had come to the table of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

A metaphysical discussion ensues and it has many funny elements, inserted by Gil with his mention of…antibiotics:

-          What is the Golden Age

-          Some would say 1890s, but then others would go further to…Kublai Khan perhaps

Anyway, Gil was satisfied with the period to which he had first travel and where he has met the geniuses of the age:

-          T.S. Elliot, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Ernest Hemingway and others…

This of course is the occasion for exquisite, magical dialogue that is also memorable in its depth and intensity:

-          “Gertrude Stein: We all fear death and question our place in the universe. The artist's job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”

One of the stars involved in this momentous project is the…First Lady of France at the time of the filming, Carla Bruni

The first lady of France reads and translates…imagine Melania, that would make some comedy, only it would be slapstick and or laughing at the disabled…

“Ernest Hemingway: I believe that love that is true and real, creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well, which is the same thing. And then the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face, like some rhino-hunters I know or Belmonte, who is truly brave... It is because they make love with sufficient passion, to push death out of their minds... until it returns, as it does, to all men... and then you must make really good love again.”

A wonderful motion picture.

Silence, based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, directed and written by Martin Scorsese

Silence, based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, directed and written by Martin Scorsese

I am not sure why this film has not enjoyed more recognition and acclaim:

-          Was it because it is 2 hours and 41 minutes long?

-          Maybe it is the suffering that is portrayed within?

-          On the other hand, the metascore for this work is 79

-          Which means critics have been very favorable

-          But not members of the Academy

This motion picture has so many strong points:

-          It is a phenomenal story about calling

-          Resilience is also in evidence throughout the plot

-          Extraordinary human signature strengths are presented

-          We have role models and vicious men

In the seventeenth century, two Portuguese priests arrive in Japan.

There had been thousands of Christians in this land.

But the swamp is mainly responsible for the unsuccess of Christianity in these islands.

At least that is one version that is presented by the villains of the narrative.

Rodrigues and Garupe, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver respectively, are the only hope for some believers.

But they are also an extreme and present danger.

The authorities are torturing and killing Christians.

There is a prize of 100 silver coins for anyone who would give information that would lead to the capture of a Christian.

The prize is raised to 300 for Rodrigues.

The way the Japanese that try to destroy Christianity and Christians in their land see this is simple in a way:

-          Foreigners should keep to their own lands

-          In their own territories they should preach

-          Not in Japan

The Inquisitor and his men are of the opinion that the tree of Christianity will not grow in the earth of their islands.

But they use incredible torture to make sure that the priests and the believers abandon their faith and become apostates.

In the case of Garupe, they can see that he would rather die in the place of members of his flock and try blackmail:

-          Take me instead! Take me! He shouts

The evil torturers threaten Rodrigues that if he does not give up his religion, the other prisoners will be tortured.

And they are all asked to sin, to step on the image of Jesus as a sign that they are changing their ways and denying Christ.

Garupe and Rodrigues have been trying to find Father Ferreira, who is rumored to have abandoned his faith:

-          I do because you are just like me. You see Jesus in Gethsemane and believe your trial is the same as His. Those five in the pit are suffering too, just like Jesus, but they don't have your pride. They would never compare themselves to Jesus. Do you have the right to make them suffer? I heard the cries of suffering in this same cell. And I acted.

Indeed, faced with the option of being the cause of the torture and death of others and being abused himself, Ferreira has given up his faith.

Or at least he made the gestures required.

Liam Neeson portrays this tormented figure.

He is now married and has children.

The former father has written works that deny Christianity.

With Rodrigues, he is charged at one point with checking items from European ships to see if they contain forbidden materials.

-          Christian figures that is

-          And crosses

Excellent motion picture.

My Life as a Dog based on the novel by Reidar Jonsson

My Life as a Dog based on the novel by Reidar Jonsson

This is an outstanding work that has won

-          The Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language

-          It was also nominated for Oscars, BAFTAs and other prestigious awards, many of which it has won

It is the mesmerizing story of a Swedish boy called Ingemar, who is about eight years old when he has to move from home.

-          This is a formidable tale of Resilience

-          Coping with Adversity

-          Growing and reaching maturity at a tender age

-          It is also a narrative about comparing with others in a positive sense;

-          The hero keeps saying it could have been worse

-          One of the characters he compares with is: Laika

-          That poor dog had been sent into space, but without enough food to survive

-          Ingemar thinks it could have been worse- take the case of Laika

He also thinks of other people who have had to suffer a lot, even more than himself and maybe his mother.

The only parent that is at home with Ingemar and his brother is really ill and cannot cope with the challenges presented by two boys.

This has a tremendous impact on the young Ingemar, who feels rejected and even wonders about his guilt:

-          Tell me I did not kill her

Given the health of their mother, Ingemar and his brother have to leave their home and their dog is taken to a kennel.

I am not sure what happens to the poor, gentle bitch, but I fear the worst.

-          “In fact, I've been kinda lucky. I mean, compared to others. You have to compare, so you can get a little distance from things. Like Laika. She really must have seen things in perspective. It's important to keep a certain distance. I think about that guy who tried to set a world record for jumping over buses with a motorcycle. He lined up 31 buses. If he'd left it at 30, maybe he would have survived.”

Throughout, Ingemar is mostly positive, as it is clear from the quote above and he is thinking of other examples of men and women who had a worse luck.

There is the example of a missionary who went to Africa to try and spread the word of God and was killed in her church.

The father of the hero is supposed to be packing bananas on the same continent and his son defends him:

-          Who would take care of bananas if he would be here with me?

When he moves to a small town, there are accidents and funny events that take place, involving colorful characters.

There is a very sick neighbor, who cannot abandon his bed and who wants Ingemar to read for him some texts…

-          But these texts are from a…magazine with underwear for women!!

-          I thought this funny…I am not sure if it would be considered perverted, for the messages were rather innocent

I was thinking though that at times the effort of the hero and other child actors involved in this and other films is tremendous:

-          Perhaps more than it is good for them?

-          Even if we take into account all the measures to keep them shielded

-          I was thinking especially of First They Killed my Father, but also My Life as a Dog in some instances

When characters fight, yes, there is a pretense and they mostly mimic punches and hits, but it is still a pretense that they fight each other.

I am getting too liberal probably.

It was just a thought.

And the film is phenomenal!!

Sculpture

Boxing

Neighbor with magazines about underwear

First They Killed My Father written and directed by Angelina Jolie, Loung Ung co-wrote the screenplay based on her book

First They Killed My Father written and directed by Angelina Jolie, Loung Ung co-wrote the screenplay based on her book

I think I have read somewhere that this exceptional film was not kept on the short list for the Academy Awards.

But I may be wrong.

It is anyway deservedly nominated for the Golden Globe for:

-          Best Motion Picture- Foreign Language

This is where it is competing with another outstanding film, Nelyubov aka Loveless, entered in the awards race by Russia.

Communism has inflicted incredible suffering on multitudes around the world, including in my country.

But the extent of the hardship is paling when compared with Cambodia or Kampuchea as they called it for a while:

-          The atrocious Khmer Rouge regime massacred about a quarter of the population of the country!!

-          Between one and a half and three million people have been murdered!!

And this terrible narrative is the subject of this memorable motion picture.

-          It could be compared with The Killing Fields, another masterpiece dealing with the horrors that took place in Cambodia

The start of the film is almost or perhaps really funny:

-          ‘Please allow me to introduce myself

-          I'm a man of wealth and taste

-          I've been around for a long, long year

-          Stole many a man's soul to waste

-          …

-          Pleased to meet you

-          Hope you guess my name

-          But what's puzzling you

-          Is the nature of my game

-          …

-          I rode a tank

-          Held a general's rank

-          When the blitzkrieg raged

-          And the bodies stank

-          Pleased to meet you

-          Hope you guess my name, oh yeah

-          Ah, what's puzzling you

-          Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

-          (Woo woo, woo woo)

-          …”

The lyrics of the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil are used to introduce comments about the American intervention in the country.

Millions of tones have been dropped on this country that was neutral at the time and American officials denied any wrongdoing…

But this is anyway just a small part of the terror, the horror depicted in this film, which has Loung Ung at the center of the plot.

The seven year old girl has to leave the capital with her family and they endure physical and psychological torture.

The Khmer Rouge confiscate all possessions, speaking about the future of the country which will be Paradise on Earth.

The reality reminds me of a joke we used to have with our own president visiting the USA and talking for a few minutes with heaven from there and paying only $ 50,000, but when he is back home, he spends only $ 5 for a very long, five hours call with hell.

This is puzzling him:

-          How come, he asks the operator, this is just $ 5?

-          This is the cost

-          But in America, I paid $ 50,000 for five minutes?!!

-          Yes, but this was a local call…

In other words, the propaganda of the Khmer Rouge regime boasted about how great their paradise is or will be.

But in reality, this was hell!!

I was wondering throughout about children in films- yes, they are protected and maybe enjoy a lot of going on.

But I still think at times that some of them are not really so uplifted by what they have to pretend to have suffered in fiction.

Otherwise, this film is stupendous.