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"Children of Heaven" is 1997 film is from Iran. It's the kind of film that the whole family can enjoy. It's about a 9-year old boy who loses his 7-year old sister's shoes through no fault of his own. They are very poor and they both want to keep it a secret from their parents so they share his only pair of worn-out sneakers. She wears them to school in the morning, and then runs through the streets, gives him the shoes and he wears them in the afternoon. Such a plan is not without its challenges, however. She almost loses a shoe when it falls into a gutter. He's late for school. The shoes are worn. Both of them crave a pair of their own.
Amir Farrokh Hasherman is cast as the boy. He has the biggest, most expressive eyes I've ever seen and my heart immediately went out to him. Bahare Seddiqi is the little sister. She wears a long dress and a white head covering just like all the other little girls. It's their shoes that show their individuality and she is always looking at all the other little girl's feet. One day she sees a little girl wearing her own lost shoes, but the other little girl is the daughter of a blind beggar. Later, there is a footrace announced in the little boy's school. He finds out that if he wins third prize he can get a new pair of sneakers. The tension mounts.
One of the best things about this film is that it brought me into another culture. This is not about revolution and bombs and sadness. This is just a simple story about the love between a brother and sister. It transcends all cultures, and makes the audience see the humanity of the children. There's one scene where they clean the shoes and blow great big soap bubbles at each other. It certainly is heartwarming.Those of us who are comparatively well-off need to watch movies like this from time to time, just to remind ourselves what it's like for most of the people on this earth. It is so easy to get lost in our materialism, to become preoccupied with our looks, our clothes, our stuff, ourselves. I believe we are put on this earth to love God and to love one another, and that belief is summed up in the phrase: treat others as you would want to be treated. Embrace humility. Suffice to say that watching this movie will go a long way toward keeping you properly grounded. I loved this movie. Watching the brother and sister and how to treat people was mesmerizing. The interactions between Ali and Zahra in this film are phenomenally moving. What amazing actors those two youngsters are! Some highlights that moved me was the scene where the little classmate (girl) returns the lost pen to Zahra and of course, the foot race, which was filmed without music; all you hear are the pattering of the boy's feet. We adults can learn so much from children. If only we would only take the time to watch and to listen to them!
This is another outstanding film by director Mira Nair, who has previously directed such wonderful films as Academy Award nominee "Salaam Bombay", the lush and erotic "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love", and "Mississippi Masala". She is truly an artist, and her films are palpable with feeling and emotion that move the storyline.
The movie is set in New Delhi and takes the audience for a wild ride covering the last 4-5 days leading up to a big wedding between the daughter of an upper-middle-class Punjabi family and a "NRI" (non-resident Indian) who's an engineer living in Houston. They're meeting for the first time in the days before the wedding, which is only one of the movie's engaging storylines. My favorite was the romance between the goofy wedding planner and the family maid (culminating in one of the most romantic, make-you-weep moments I have seen in any movie). The movie also includes the requisite creepy uncle, who drives a disturbing storyline that helps take the sweet edge off the movie.
Director Mira Nair does a fabulous job introducing her characters -- they are so finely crafted that dialogue is totally unnecessary in a number of key scenes. The actors were wonderfully adept at communicating with little more than their eyes and hands.
The music is great and makes you want to get up and dance along with the characters (whose exuberance in the wedding scenes was such a joy to watch). The cinematography is lush and gorgeous.
This is a good movie, and is very entertaining. The characters are strong and each one is well defined in a short space of time, a credit to the writer and actors. However I feel that it tries to address a few too many issues, a strangely common failing of Western Indian movies. Why does the writer feel the need to address all the stereotypes and add a few non-stereotypical issues to fashionable value? Deceit, adultery, paedophilia, child abuse, prejudice, fornication, homosexuality, and more.. all too much for a one hour and forty-five minute film.
The theme relies on the strength, bond and values of family which are very predominant in Indian culture and Bollywood films.
Dreams is a profoundly personal film by a hugely significant filmmaker in the twilight of his career and life. It is eight short stories that make up one great visual film. The film is apparently based on various dreams that Akira Kurosawa had throughout his life. The first is Sunshine through the Rain and follows a young boy who witnesses a kitsune wedding. The second is called The Peach Orchard and takes place during Hina Matsuri or the Doll Festival. A boy's family cuts down their peach blossoms before the festival and dolls from his sister's collection become animated. The Blizzard follows snowbound survivors on a mountain whose will to live is tested by a mysterious female spirit. The Tunnel tells the story of a dead soldier returning from war. The Crows includes an appearance by Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh. This stunning vignette follows a Kurosawa-like character that travels in and out of Van Gogh's paintings. The nightmarish sequences include the apocalyptic Mount Fuji in Red and The Weeping Demon, which both no doubt touch on crucial cultural anxieties regarding nuclear technology. Finally, Village of the Watermills ends the film with death, but also with jubilant celebration of life in general. I'm tempted to assume this is just Kurosawa's subconscious literally translated to the screen. The images in Dreams are carefully symbolic and although they don't form one message at large, it does provide broad lessons and general wisdom. It also provides some absolutely gorgeous cinematography. It can be criticised as being slow. If the thought of walking through an art gallery and taking several minutes to sit or stand in front of some pictures to fully study and appreciate their beauty seems "slow" to you then you might not like it. However, if you can imagine yourself enjoying watching an expressionist/art noveau/surrealist set of pictures come to life on your TV screen then you might like it.Story-wise, the dreams play with the themes of death and loss, both human and of nature. The displacement of Japanese forests, the lack of safety standards at nuclear power plants, the loss of traditional Japan, the pointless loss of lives in war...sad themes at best. Yet at the end, hope is offered, in a small nook and cranny, like a flower blooming amongst concrete.I liked the movie for it's different approach and I would like to watch other Kurosawa films to get an even better feel for the direction and imagery of his thoughts.
For a blind person, it would seem like a dream come true to have their sight restored. But what if it came with a price? That is the idea behind the Pang Brothers' "The Eye," one of the most minimalistic -- and chilling -- horror movies in years. Wong Kar Mun has been blind since she was two, but a cornea transplant restores her sight. At first she can only see blurry figures. But then, Mun sees shadowy phantoms leading away the spirits of the dead. Even worse, she sees the ghosts of suicides lingering on, doomed to repeat their deaths until they are put to rest. Horrified by this, she goes to her psychotherapist Dr. Wah for help. Stretching professional ethics, the lovestruck doctor manages to get the records of the donor, and they go to see her family in a rural village. And guided by dreams and visions, Mun learns of the tragic life of a girl, Ling, who could foresee death... If you like serial killers, buckets of blood and screaming blondes in your horror movies, don't watch "The Eye." As a horror movie, it will be too subtle, too quiet, and too full of intelligent questions about life and death. There are only a couple of real "horror" moments in here, where things look grotesque. Most of the time, it's psychological in nature; at one point, we hear that suicides are doomed to repeat their deaths -- it's horrifying enough to contemplate someone killing themselves, but doing it over and over? Even worse, we see this in action. And the Pang Bros. handle this wonderfully. Many of the ghosts appear and vanish quickly, giving a shock to the audience; at other times, they explore the changes that sight brings to Mun's life. But at the same time, the Bros. add a softer side to this movie, such as Ling's reconciliation with her mother. It's a credit to the Bros. that this is touching, not syrupy. A lot of the impact of the film can be credited to Lee and Chou. Lee especially, for showing a range of emotions, including joy, grief, hysteria and peaceful acceptance. Boyishly handsome Chou balances out Mun in a very believable, by merely being a pillar of strength and believing her seemingly crazy stories. The only flaw is that he seems to fall for her too quickly. With good acting and a really chilling script, "The Eye" is one of the rarest kinds of horror -- the kind that horrifies the mind, rather than the stomach. Mesmerizing and really spooky. I liked the film. The theme behind the movie would be that sometimes what you don't see can be just as appreciated as what you do see (and what you might not want to see!).
Gong Li gives a great performance as a nightclub diva who is the mistress of a mob boss. Told from the point of view of a boy sent by the gangster to wait on the arrogant singer, the story follows these characters over several days as they flee Shanghai to hide out in the countryside.Acting is universally good, especially the roles played by the boy, Wang Xiaoxiao. He's wide eyed with wonder and very believable. The director is Yimou Zhang. I've seen several of his films and they are all good, but this somehow misses the mark. It was well done well but I was uneasy throughout and found it dragged a bit. Shanghai Triad is successful inasmuch as it depicted a time and place and atmosphere. I recommend it for its style and introduction to Chinese film. It's a special movie other than the bland script. It's a movie about acceptance and humanity. The character's seemed fully developed to me and the scenery was wonderful. I always love a movie because of it's beautiful visual effects. I think that that is half of the movie, if you can describe the sights and sounds that the character feels as well as their thoughts and feelings. But it was a wonderful movie from that aspect. I loved how at the end the little boy ran to save Gong Li, even though he hated her and feared her at the beginning. There was something very noble and special about that.
This is not a movie to see on an empty stomach. Writer-director Ang Lee's 1994 Oscar nominee tells a family story about a chef and his three daughters through the meals the chef prepares and serves his family. This touching, dryly funny story of a family coping with personal lives and the way those lives intersect with the family relationships captures a shift in generations in Taipei. The father, a famous chef who has lost his taste buds, still cooks, though he draws no pleasure from eating. His daughters, meanwhile, deal with both the disappointments and surprises of daily living and the way their adult lives compare to the expectations the widowed father had for them. A subtle, amusing--and mouth-watering--comedy of impeccable manners.
This film is set in Taipei, and is spoken in Mandarin. The opening scene of this movie shows Master Chef Chu at work in his own kitchen at home in preparation for "the Sunday dinner." My mouth was watering after the first 5 minutes! It's a ritual in the Chu family for the [widowed] father to get together with his three daughters for this weekly meal no matter how tight the schedules of or how unwilling the daughters are to come. The eldest daughter is a devout Christian and high school chemistry teacher. The second daughter is an airline executive and the youngest daughter is a fast food chain cashier.
All three daughters aren't married and aren't in any serious relationships at the beginning of the story. But as the movie progresses and each of them find love under the strangest of circumstances, each has an "announcement" to make around the dinner table come Sunday. The audience can't help but feel bad for the father who's getting old and seems to be at odds with her daughters for every small matter. Each daughter's relationship reflects the uniqueness of individuals.
The important theme to this story is hinted at when the father repeats to his daughters that he has lost his taste a long time ago. The audience later knows that he was referring more to his taste for life rather than his physical inability to distinguish flavors. This lack of appreciation for life comes with age as well as his loneliness from accepting the inevitable -- that his daughters are going to leave him alone someday.
I loved this movie. Seeing that I am getting married next year and will be moving out of my home at an age closer to 30, I know my dad and I share the same bond as the movie portrays. I loved this film and have seen it numerous times. It was heart-wrenching in that no matter what culture you belong to, the father-daughter(s) bond is very real and very strong.
Marco is in love with Lydia, a female bullfighter who is gored by a bull and sent into a coma. In the hospital, Marco crosses paths with Benigno, a male nurse who looks after another coma patient, a young dancer named Alicia. From Benigno's gentle attentiveness to Alicia, Marco learns to take care of Lydia... but from there, the story goes in directions that deftly manage to be sad, hopeful, funny, and creepy, sometimes at the same time. Talk To Her is a movie about loneliness, the fragile connections between human beings, and the worlds we create within ourselves. Benigno is a lonely man, who had lived in isolation taking care of his mother for most of his life. Through his window he watches Alicia, practicing in a dance studio across the street, and falls deeply in love with her. This window is his only contact with the outside world, and Alicia becomes his entire world. Then Alicia is in a car accident and falls into a coma. Benigno works at a hospital as a nurse since his mother died. He serendipitously is hired to take care of her full-time, which he does with care and love and joy. He dotes on her, and tells her everything as if she were an imaginary friend. Although she is completely unaware of it, he is now her window to the outside world. Then Benigno meets Marco. Marco is a journalist who has fallen in love with the bullfighter Lydia, who has just been admitted to the coma ward after being gruesomely gored by a bull. Marco visits Lydia daily, while Benigno cares for Alicia down the hall. Benigno reaches out to Marco, which first frightens Marco because of Benigno's awkward lack of inhibition, but then they soon realize they share an intense yet one-sided love. They are both lonely men, who hide away from the world, and while they are limited in their abilities to connect sincerely with healthy human beings, they find themselves easily poring out all the love and locked up emotion inside them into their coma patients. This one-sided love for their coma patients slowly morphs into their own real friendship. Benigno supports Marco when Lydia dies, and Marco becomes the only one who will try to help Benigno when what Benigno believes was an act of love lands him in jail. Alicia finally wakes up, from what can only be described as giving birth to herself. I loved this movie. I thought it showed the dark and perverse nature of men with compassion. It is excellently acted but it was so depressing that I felt I needed to watch sitcom after sitcom just to get over the melodramatic morose feeling of the movie. Pedro Almodovar also did a fantastic job as a director.
