November was a good month for movie watching. With the days getting shorter and cold, I´ve spent a good amount of hours watching both artistic and documentary movies, both on MUBI and by using various public library loaning services. Hopefully, my December will get even better, as I have a very long list of movies that I plan to see until the end of the month, both in German and French, including documentaries.
La Daronne (Mama Weed) directed by Jeab-Paul Salomé
La Daronne (Mama Weed) featuring Isabelle Huppert is a serious comedy, about an Arabic/French interpreter for the Police ending up through a flip of circumstances, as weed dealer. A very successful one, as smart people can survive in any situations. She is one of a kind: while trying to overcome the years of trauma of suddenly losing her husband, she fells in love with a colleague but how would she keep away from him, and the law authorities in general, her newly lucrative activity? It´s a very funny story reminding how important is to keep being human, no matter where you work for and the circumstances.
Mobutu, roi du Zaire directed by Thierry Michel
A long documentary film - and TV series - produced in 1999, Mobutu roi du Zaire/Mobutu kind of Zair is dedicated to the machiavelistic stardom to power and personality cult of Mobutu Sese Seko. He raised to power in the shadow of Patrick Lumumba - whom he happily betrayed - being involved in Congo´s struggle to independence from Belgium, ending up as the bad landlord of a country whose inhabitants were expected to praise his outstanding achievements - including on enormous mass gatherings. As this year I dedicated a lot of reflection to colonialism and its many manifestations, this movie was an useful resource to figure out more about how the African independence movement was hijacked from its initial aims.
Hidden directed by Jafar Panahi
Nightmare directed by Akiz
The Nightmare directed by the German film director Akiz is about a bizarre outwordly creature hunting a young clubbing girl from a middle class Berlin family. In a very awkward way, there is an exploration of our hidden layers of the mind, especially during the teenage years. I loved the music first and foremost, but I was not so impressed about the topic. Also, for me, the actions of the characters did not match too much the assigned actions in the story. As privy to many complex nightmares, I wished I can forget this movie as fast as possible.
Diplomacy directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Diplomacy by Volker Schlöndorff is my favorite movies of the month. Schlöndorff also written the scenario for The Tin Drum/Blechtrommel after the novel of Günter Grass which I didn´t like it when I watched it, but I never been a fan of Grass anyway. Diplomacy focuses on the last days of Paris under German occupation and the brave - for the specific historical and political context - decision of the German commander of Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz to avoid the destruction of the city. The meeting between the diplomat and the military was for me the most interesting part as it showed how different the ways of the world may be, but how the power of words can reverse even the most dramatic turns of events.
Diplomacy is a perfect meeting between an excellent story, with characters played by very good, mature actors. It is one of those movies I will happily see again one day.
The Hate U Give directed by George Tillman Jr.
My review of The Hate U Give is waiting to be written for a year - hope to do it soon, promise - but the movie is equally worth mentioning. It follows the outline of the successful story by the former teen rapper Angie Thomas but amplifies the dramatism of the story through a very inspired play of the actors and equally powerful images.
The main actress, Amandla Sternberg is simply amazing, as her play transmits the power of coming-of-age of a young girl who does not want to accept the generational injustices she and her ancestors were the victim thereof. For me, the movie and the book were the perfect pendant to more academically oriented books like Caste.
Uferfrauen - Lesbian Life&Love in the GDR directed by Barbara Wallbraun
Although they assumed their atheism, the communist countries were putting LGBT people under the same stress as in a religious dictatorship. They were imprisoned, blackmailed and put under the strict surveillance of the intelligence services. Uferfrauen is a documentary about lesbian ´life&love´ in the GDR times, collecting stories about becoming aware of your sexuality in times of inauthenticity. The stories do have a strong personal touch and are more than testimonies about crazy times, but genuine stories of finding out and even fighting for freedom and happiness.
Skin directed by Guy Nattiv
Based on a true story, Skin directed by Guy Nattiv features an American neo-Nazi played by Jamie Bell saved by love. It is an aggressive film but with a very good play of actors and a story which focuses on the struggle between darkness and light that although painful can sometimes save us from ourselves.
What interesting choices, thanks for the recommendations!
ReplyDeleteWelcomed! My pleasure! Have a lovely weekend.
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