Hello and welcome to May! Yes, exams are upon us in the final stretch of the academic year. But with the stress of exams, comes the need for some downtime along with the revision. My perfect escape from stress and work – to escape into a good film., and I have just the four films to help you escape the exam drama for at least a brief time. This month we have our annual spotlight on foreign language films, two from Europe and two from Asia to be exact. As you may know, film is not native to Hollywood or the UK, it comes from all around the world. Different countries may have different approaches but the end result is similar, a brief escape from everyday life, telling a rich story told with vivid imagery.
We begin with Danish/Swedish co-production In A Better World (2010), a thriller directed by Susanne Bier (famous for the American films Bird Box & Serena). Its main cast is comprised of Mikael Persbrandt (The Hobbit, Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga), Trine Dyrholm and Ulrich Thomsen (The World Is Not Enough, Hitman). Persbrandt plays Anton, a Swedish doctor who regularly commutes between his home in Denmark and work in a refugee camp in Sudan, where he treats mostly female patients who are victims of a warlord. He is married to Marianne (Dyrholm) but they are separated after a past indiscretion of his, and they have 2 young sons. The story focuses on both his personal and professional lives, as he juggles problems with his eldest son and the looming threat of the warlord’s revenge. Then problems with his son Elias in particular, begin when he makes a new friend in Christian who is having problems with his own father Claus (Thomsen), and may well be a bad influence on Elias. Though there is more than meets the eye to Christian’s behaviour.
A Better World received solidly positive response in reviews, with Kim Skotte [Politiken] calling it a “powerful and captivating drama”. Whereas Roger Ebert praised the characterization in the film, stating “The story of the boys works well - and their fathers are well-drawn and seen with sympathy.” It won Best Foreign Language Film at both the 83rd Oscars and the 68th Golden Globe Awards, as well as the European Film Award for Best Director. Unlike the other entries this month, parts of this films dialogue are in English, so it may be a little easier to follow. You can watch it now, anywhere, anytime, only on e-stream. View the trailer by clicking the link below:
From the north of Europe to the South, next we have Spanish drama, Bad Education (2004). Directed by Pedro Almodóvar (The Skin I Live In), it features Gael García Bernal (Coco, Letters to Juliet), Fele Martínez, Daniel Giménez Cacho and Lluís Homar. The premise begins in Madrid (Spain) in 1980, where struggling film director Enrique Goded (Martínez) is on the search for his next project. He suddenly receives a visit from an actor looking for work, who also claims to be his former friend and first love from boarding school, Ignacio Rodriguez. Now using the name Ángel Andrade (Bernal), he has developed a short story titled “The Visit” he wants Enrique to make into a film, with himself in the starring role.
“The Visit” tells the story of their time together at the Catholic boarding school they both attended, and of a fictitious reunion between the two, years later. It is set in the year 1977 and tells the tale of a transgender drag queen called Zahara (originally Ignacio). After a brief encounter with Enrique, Zahara decides to return to her old school and confront her abuser, Father Manolo (Cacho). She blackmails him into not publishing her story “The Visit” about the abuse she incurred during her time their back in 1964. Enrique is visibly intrigued and is hopeful of adapting the story, however he begins to have doubts Ángel is who he says he is. The mystery deepens as we discover exactly how much of “The Visit” is disturbingly factual.
Though flying somewhat under the radar, those that saw this film absolutely lauded it – Ann Hornaday [The Washington Post] wrote, “To watch Bad Education is to revel … in the power of cinema to take us on journeys of break-taking mystery and dimension.” While Peter Travers [Rolling Stone], simply labelled it “A rapturous masterwork.” It has since become a cornerstone of Spanish cinema. It is available only to loan on DVD in the Library now, and you can watch the trailer by clicking the link below:
With the third entry we transfer our focus to the continent of Asia, specifically Iran and the film Taxi Tehran (2015) (also known as Jafar Panahi’s Taxi in some countries). Jafar Panahi (The Year of the Everlasting Storm) both directs and stars in this documentary type film. It follows Jafar as he masquerades as a share Taxi driver on the streets of Tehran (the Iranian capital), an expose on the people and culture of Iran. He forgoes any payments for his servicers, instead asking them to share something about their lives, meeting all manner of people on his journeys who share different beliefs and superstitions, some quite hilarious. Interestingly, Panahi also picks up his real-life niece Hana throughout the course of the film. Hana asks her uncle for advice on creating a short film, while the two discuss several very real and styrict rules on creating films in Iran.
Taxi Tehran was a hit (everywhere but in Iran) and won both the ‘Golden Bear’ (the most prestigious award) & the FIPRESCI Prize (an International Critics Award) at the Berlin International Film Festival where it premiered. It is a brilliant showcase on the lives of everyday Iranian people, and the constraints of being a filmmaker there. In fact, 5 years before this film was released, Panahi was actually banned from making films and travelling for 20 years by the Iranian government – due to some of his previous works not always portraying the nation in the best light – he made it (and several other projects) anyway. But his niece had to collect his awards at the Festival on his behalf. It can be watched only on e-stream and you can see the encapsulating trailer by clicking the link below:
The last entry for May is the author’s choice: Chinese production, House of Flying Daggers (2004). A Wuxia romance film with martial arts a plenty, directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero, The Great Wall). The main cast was surprisingly small and consists of only: Zhang Ziyi (Rush Hour 2, Godzilla: King of The Monsters), Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro (Tarzan). The synopsis takes place in approximately 859 AD, near the end of the real-life Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) of China. Due to the Tang Dynasty’s decline, several rebel groups have been established looking to take control, the largest of which happens to be the ‘House of Flying Daggers’.
This particular house is based in the Fengtian region [now known as modern day Shenyang], battling the corrupt government there that constantly oppresses the people. Their unusual name derives from the special throwing daggers they use which never miss their targets – and much like our own Robin Hood, they steal from the rich & give to the poor, which unsurprisingly is highly supported by the locals. One group that does not support them however, are the Police – and to that end, two Police officers, Leo (Lau) & Jin (Kaneshiro) are tasked with finding and eliminating the leader within ten days at the behest of the military. This is in spite of the fact that no-one actually has a clue who the leader is.
Leo & Jin decide to achieve their goal by in filtrating the group by arresting a young blind woman, Mei (Ziyi), who some suspect to be the daughter of the previous leader. They then proceed to trick her into thinking they are rebel sympathisers wanting to join the group by setting her free. As Mei takes Jin to the Flying Dagger headquarters, Leo covertly follows with more officers to gain information and recognisance. The plan is unexpectedly upturned however, when Mei & Jin begin to fall in love. But is this new love doomed to fail because of the secrets both of them are hiding from each other?
House of Flying Daggers was incredibly well liked by both critics and audiences. It reportedly received an impressive 20-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere (not a usual occurrence). It received high praise for its visuals and action and was the 5th best reviewed film of 2004 on the website Metacritic. In terms of the reviews – Phil Hall [Film Threat] said: “House of Flying Daggers is a film that sets several new standards for production and entertainment values – with an endless supply of imagination and a kinetic force of nature in its amazing star Zhang Ziyi, [House of Flying Daggers] cuts all other films to shreds.” Desson Thomas [The Washington Post] labelled the visuals as “simply the best in the world.” And Roger Ebert [Chicago Sun-Times] proclaimed “Forget about the plot, the characters, the intrigue, which are all splendid in House of Flying Daggers, and focus just on the visuals.” Controversially it was snubbed for a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars despite being submitted as China’s entry, it was however nominated for Best Cinematography but failed to win. It also failed to win a single one of the incredible 9 BAFTAs it was nominated for. You can watch this action spectacle now on e-stream. Need a sneak peek to wert your appetite? You’ll get it by watching this exhilarating clip in the link below, of Mei’s escape from the Police:
They may not be in the English language, but that doesn’t mean they are not just as watchable or enjoyable, and they all come with English subtitles. Come down to the Library on get on e-stream now and get your escape from the exam stress, you might even learn a bit of a new language at the same time, which could come in handy if you happen to be going on a summer holiday to a country speaking one of those languages – but more on that next month…
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