837 days ago
For one time all six movies I picked were great, although very different:
1. TAXIDERMIA Hungary - Baroque, surrealistic, grotesque, aesthetics of ugliness, excess and beautiful visuals. Reminded me of Fellini, Greenaway, Dali, Francis Bacon. The characters are both touching and disgusting - a dimension difficult to achieve.
2. THE ISLAND/OSTROV Russia - a perfectly Orthodox movie, everything is there: redemption, humbleness, humour, simplicity, monks filled with vanity and pride. A touch of Tarkovski and Dostoyevski. Pavel Lunghin - great director. Last but not least - amazing images.
3. 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST/ A FOST SAU N-A FOST ROMANIA! Well, they
started making good movies back home and I'm damn proud about it! It's a kind of sad comedy or happy melodrama, lives of simple people, somewhere in a small insignificant town, trying to figure out if in 1989 they had a Revolution too or not, two days before Christmas - talk-show at the local TV. Caméra d'Or Cannes 2006
4. AUGUST DAYS/ DIES DE AGOST Catalunya/Spain - a slow road movie about the trip of two non-identical twins remembering the Spanish Civil War in a hot august, wandering on the plains and hills of Catalunya - great music and landscapes. I was in the right contemplative mood (it reminded me of my own Caribbean solo wanderings) so I enjoyed it.
5. THE ANGRY MONK Switzerland - TIBET "A roadmovie and a timetravel in the footsteps of the rebellious monk Gendun Choephel. Ultimately, this road movie also tells the story of a man who left home to search for something that could have liberated traditional Tibet from its rigidity. An outsider who was always open to new things, he eventually became a stranger in his homeland and homeless in foreign lands — a wanderer between worlds."
I talked to the director for a few moments afterwards. Conclusion: Tibet was not a country of peace and love before the Chinese came. It needed openness, only it came in a very brutal way, like a rape. The paradox is: now that more people have access to education and information; and they are confronted with the conquerors, they are more aware about the place of Tibet in the world and their own identity. Not all is lost, against all odds, all destroyed monasteries, statues, manuscripts. Their spirit is still strong.
6. GRBAVICA Bosnia Herzegovina - another amazing story, about nowadays life in Sarajevo. Great actress - Mirjana Karanovic I think.
People trying to lead a normal life, against the deep wounds in their souls, against memories or the lack of them. What happened there won't be mended for a few generations. How does it feel to have a child that came from rape by murderous soldiers, who might have killed your family? How can you tell a a Bosnian teen-ager that she's actually half Serbian and you don't know who's the father? God bless and help those people to recover, Muslims or Christians
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