My October Movie Selection

Time passt fast and we are two months shorts from the end of 2021. It´s just a number, after all, and not necessarily relevant when you are grateful for every second of your life. And when you add movies to your days - or weeks, there are new doors of the mind and the souls opening up in the front of you. 

Compared with September, I dedicated much more time watching movies this months, and I am happy to bring to you a fine selection of my October Movie Selection.

OSS117: Cairo, Nest of Spies directed by Michel Hazanavicius

Based on the popular series created in the 1950-1960s, at the very beginning of the Cold War, by Jean Bruce, OSS117 is the French - more joyous, 99% more womanizer and...utterly ignorant - version of James Bond. In the 2006 movie co-written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius he is on a mission to break into a Nazi network operating post-war (based on true facts) in Egypt. It is a hilarious parody made around a spy who is drinking for ´the colonial empire´ and follows Nazis training in pyramids. A relaxed movie for Cold War history buffs, that I watched on MUBI. 

Hail Satan? directed by Penny Lane

Also on MUBI, the documentary Hail Satan? directed by the award-winner of Our Nixon, Penny Lane (her real name, not the song), is an interesting approach of alternative religious groups. The Satanic Temple is a marginal movement who aimes at a revolutionary status claiming independence and activism against the religious priviledges. For someone interested in marginal groups and religious movements it is an interesting journey but there is a lot of critical thinking that may be kept in mind when dealing with its concepts and philosophy.

Short Film: Summer Vacation directed by Sharon Maymon and Tal Grant

A short Israeli film, also available on MUBI, Summer Vacation directed by Sharon Maymon and Tal Grant outlines a funny yet tragical love triangle set during the hot Israeli summers. Should I say that I miss the vibe and the real hot Middle Eastern sun? The perfect hiding for a story of old secrets, well hidden secrets. But alas, it´s a small country and world so why not being honest with each other and, especially with us?

Marmoulak (Lizard) by Kamal Tabrizi

I wanted to watch this movie for ever, but couldn´t find any good English translation therefore I had to wait more while intensively searching for a satisfactory available version. In the end it happened but I felt that the translation was not good enough but watched it, nevertheless. 

Lizard (Marmoulak) directed by Kamal Tabrizi is a comedy - comedies are rare in the Iranian cinema, I dare to mention - with a very direct take to the religious establishment. The film was forbidden for a while, as the Marmoulak - the prisoner who escaped disguised as a mullah that enjoyed greatly the priviledges of wearing a turban, with no other credential needed, was not the character that the religious people in power wanted to see. They have probably their own reasons to be afraid of their own image in the mirror.

Neurasthenia (Noorastani) directed by Omid Tootoonchi

Neurasthenia (Noorastani) directed by Omid Tootoonchi is by far my favorite movie of the month. It features a topic very dear to me, mental health. The main character, the 25-year old Shahriar (excellently played by Poolad Mokhtari) is experiencing chronic depression due to social failure and family problems. It is a very rough movie but important, especially given the tabu surrouding the mental health, including among young people. The timeline construction of the movie adds on to the overall tension, with the movie flowing mostly as a therapy session, a dialogue of Shahriar with himself and the world around him.

Kabullywood directed by Louis Meunier (2019)

Staying in the area, but in even more dramatic situation, Kabullywood directed by Louis Meunier is the story of a group of young friends struggling to bring back to life an old cinema in the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul. After the Talibans first came, they did not allow public screenings, as well as balloons or kites. With the Talibans taking again over the country, one can only imagine what hardships are going through all those simple people who want to have a normal life, watch movies, go out. Especially women hit hardly by the remains of the patriarchal society with men in charge of their bodies and lives and talibans on the street limiting their social life. 

The film is unfolding as a documentary but equally offers a story of its own while telling an unique story of friendship, betrayal and perseverance against political adversities. 

L´Affaire Farewell directed by Christian Carion

I bet I´ve seen this movie before, but maybe I am getting old and it was because I was familiar with the story but anyway, I´ve watched it (presumably again) and did not dislike it at all.

Based on a true story, it is a Cold War story with cynical spies and a world split in two but in fact made of many many small interests. Sergei Grigoriev (played by Emir Kusturica) is a disillusioned KGB spy who loves champagne and French poetry who sold to the West, via the employee of a French company, the network of KGB operatives on the other side of the Iron Curtain. In real life, the revelations were among the most important the Western powers got access to, and most probably speed up the fall of the Soviet Union - where Gorbatchev was becoming more and more powerful by the day.

Due to its closeness to facts that took place in the recent history, Russia did not allow the filming to take place within its territory and did not allowed Nikita Mikhalkov (which I am almost sure would have not been interested anyway, as he shares hardcore nationalistic views anyway) to play the role of the spy, hence Kusturica´s presence. 

The movie is not only well played, but has some interesting hints that may please anyone curious to figure out all the many stories and way many more struggles of the Cold War underworld.

Un Divan à Tunis directed by Manele Labidi

Ending the film month with a hilarious story by Manele Labidi: Un Divan à Tunis (Arab Blues). Selma, 35 years old, played by the very talented Golshifteh Farahani returns to her homecountry of Tunisia to open a psychoanalisis practice. Caught in her net of insecurities, she is fighting against the society preconceptions about: unmarried women, women living alone, women with a profession, psychologists and everything that can be reduced to conspirations and sometimes the work of Mossad. Freud, whom she carries from Paris back home, may be taken for a Muslim Brother (from the Brotherhood) and regarded with suspicion. 

It is a lot to laugh about in this movie, but also to think about such as the longing for coming come from the exile and being courageous to take the risk of leaving the safe and predictable environment for a more rewarding a challenging project.

It is all for now, but my list for November is already set. Only need to find out more time to watch and write about it.