The Salesman (Forushande in Farsi, in original) is an outstanding and mesmerizing Iranian movie released in 2016. I think I like the word mesmerizing. This movie won the Oscar for the Foreign Language Movie in 2017, a controversial year with weak movies. The Salesman came up like the oil in water. As a reminder, 2017 was the year I haven't published my Oscar winners because of movies like Moonlight, La La Land, 20th Century Women... On top of that, the circus at the ceremony, the … [Read more...]
English Vinglish – An Exceptionally Entertaining Indian Drama/Comedy
English Vinglish is an amazing Indian movie (the second presented here) released in 2012. It has now a 7.9 imdb rate out of ten with over 25k votes, which made the movie virtually accountable for the famous imdb Top 250. When I was still navigating in the nineties, I made some Indian friends who told me a lot about Bollywood and the stars of that moment. So, I learned about Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Darmeendra and others. I knew Raj Kapoor since I was a kid and I have … [Read more...]
Headhunters – An Insanely Entertaining Norwegian Thriller
What a pleasant surprise I had while watching the Norwegian crime/thriller/drama Headhunters, "Hodejegerne" in original! It is a 2011 Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany co-production with meaning. Some of the critics say it lacks logic. I don't think so. Every second is planned to mean what it has to mean, and the surprises are plenty. One doesn't need a lot of explaining while watching Headhunters. I have been first intrigued, then pleased. The message is also fine, because unbelievably, it's … [Read more...]
Amores Perros
Amores Perros is a 2000 Mexican drama thriller film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. I didn't know till recently that it made part of a trilogy, of whom the other two parts were 21 Grams and Babel. I liked 21 Grams, I liked only the story in Babel (wonderful story broken up by Brad Pitt "World War Z!" style, he's a specialist in being utterly non-credible), but I have enjoyed this one, Amores Perros, the most. [source: imdb] I have to be ashamed … [Read more...]
Valley of Flowers
Valley of Flowers (La Vallée des fleurs) is a 2006 French-German-Indian Independent Film directed by Pan Nalin of Samsara fame. This is one of the best movies I've ever seen, it is beautiful, catchy, passionate, and spiritual. I think that it is unfortunately not known at large. I feel that writing about it, is revealing enough to spoil the surprise. [source of all pics: imdb] It is an adventurous romantic drama, it is a love story of at least two centuries, started at the beginnings of … [Read more...]
“All Iz Well”
India is an amazing country, as I have already stated in the linked post. I have finally watched these days, a real Bollywood masterpiece, one that has broken the box office record outside India at the time of release, in 2009. Usually it is a matter of tastes regarding this musical tragedies, some of them are really entertaining, others are just boring and stereotypical. Not this one. 3 Idiots is a perfect mix between comedy (it is more of a comedy than a tragedy), drama and music. Actually it … [Read more...]