My May Movie Selection

May was a very busy month, with completely new professional projects, many books and a lot of time spent learning languages, but relatively limited amount of time for watching movies. However, I got to see some movies that are worth sharing my impressions.

Kajillionaire directed by Miranda July

A young 26 yo lady with the given name by her odd trickster parents Old Dolio Dayne is trying to break up from her hopeless life. From an early age, she was taught all the possible tricks in order to help her alternative-hippy-minded parents - crocks, actually - to steal a bit from here, or from there. An odd blonde long-haired character, a looney like her parents, she is almost out of it, while discovering little things in life - such as wearing something else than the loose sport suit. It is a tragi-comic slice from the life of an odd American family, at the survival limit. Kajillionaire shines by the game of the main actors, although the story is not so complex.

Brüder, a documentary directed by Züli Aladag

A 3-hour long documentary directed by the Turkish-born Züli Aladag, Brüder - Brothers - follows the journey of a normal German boy - with girls, drinks, drugs and techno dancing - in the heart of the Daesh - the Islamic State. Allured by Salafists to join their ranks, Jan is getting lost between two worlds, giving up everything without being able to figure out what exactly he got - except the relative religious comfort. It is an interesting topic if you are interested in religious extremism and youth radicalisation.

Mother directed by Bong Joon-Ho

With a ending less bloodier than Parasite it remains a memorable movie, with a mother whose duty towards her intellectually diverse son takes the shape of a monomanic hybris. Although the social critique is less transparent than in Parasite, still the mother is caught in a net of local connivences and the lack of any trace of human empathy towards the son. Her strong belief in the innocence of her son and her obstinate search for the truth are strong enough to define her exclusively through the features of her definition. She is a Mother, par excellence, in the very extreme sense of the definition.

Cinema Jenin directed by Marcus Vetter

I believe in the transformative power of cinema and culture in general. People, especially young children, exposed to culture, do have more chances - although not fully guaranteed - to open themselves towards the other based on their human curiosity and not on the religious or passport identity. Cinema Jenin, a project of the German film director Marcus Vetter, reminded me at a certain extent of Kabullywood. In both cases there are enthusiastic people ready to invest time and energy in reviving a cultural project, but there are even many more who prefer to keep their people in ignorance and hate. If one will watch with attention and without prejudice this movie, will maybe find the answer to the question why a Palestinian-Israeli dialogue is so difficult on the cultural front: because people who do it openly, especially on the Palestinian side, may pay with their own life, in a realm where indoctrination and the lack of alternatives feeds the extremism. Unfortunately, local interests decided to kill Cinema Jenin a second time, this time for ever, as in its place a real estate project is under development. 

With a beautiful summer winking on me, I hope to have some time to see my long list of movies that I prepared for June. If not, there will be time in July as well. Better breath and drink the summer now, until the dark and cold weather will let me with no alternative but staying at home.