This week was a mix of different foreign language films that, in my opinion, were able to break away from the stereotype oftentimes attached to them. These films were Let the Right One In [IMC DVD 791.4367 L645 2009], Gomorrah [IMC DVD 364.106 G634 2009], and The Good, the Bad, the Weird.
The first film, Let the Right One In, is a Swedish horror film which follows the story of Oskar, a bullied boy, who becomes friends with Eli, a vampire child. However, this movie is more than just a vampire horror movie. Instead, we learn about the bond of friendship and what those limits are. This film is one of my favorite “vampire” movies, because the portrayal of Eli’s character is so believable and serious in its fantastic representation. The cinematography has its own beauty as well, featuring predominantly in snowy, dark landscapes. I highly recommend watching this film subtitled instead of dubbed, because the voices match the characters much better in the original language.
My second film, Gomorrah, is an Italian mob movie, but again, this movie is much more than that. Gomorrah is the adaptation from a non-fiction book which was written about the Italian mob, Camorra. The film follows five different narrative stories, all of whom are intertwined in the mob life. In this film, mob life becomes connected to everyday life: two teens steal mob weapons in an attempt to take control back for themselves; a young boy breaks ties with his friend when he chooses the opposing mob family to join; a tailor finally gains recognition for his work from the Chinese, only to be shut down by the mob; an “accountant” who is employed by the mob to give out money to pacify locals; and a businessman works with the mob to acquire land which he then turns into toxic waste dumps, hurting local citizens and businesses. The stories are powerful in this movie, but the lack of climaxes create a sense of continuance, imbuing the feeling that these lives have been characterized by this fear for so long that there is only a sense of weariness and inevitability. It’s hard for me to recommend this movie, because of this, but I can appreciate what the director was trying to accomplish and appreciate the real life situations that Italy’s citizens are facing.
Finally, my last movie was The Good, the Bad, the Weird, which was a movie I borrowed via InterLibrary Loan. This film is categorized as a South Korean western, which I thought it did extremely well. Inspired by Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, it follows the story of three different men who are all after a treasure map. There are several goofy moments, but overall it was an enjoyable movie which had a well-defined plot line and great cinematography.
The IMC has just switched over its DVD display to an unconventional Valentine’s display—Tearjerkers! Check out your favorite sad movie, and as always, follow along on your own film travelogue journey at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .
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