The Unknown Woman

The Unknown Woman

Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, “The Unknown Woman” is a dramatic, thriller film out of Italy. The story is set around Irena, a Ukrainian prostitute on the run. Desperate to start a new life, she becomes determined to get a job as maid/ nanny. She goes to a high-class apartment building in Italy, and starts by getting a job cleaning the stairs. She attempts to insinuate herself into the lives of a wealthy Italian family that resides there.  Desperate to inch her way into working for the family, she deliberately cripples the family’s current nanny. She gets the job and begins to develop a peculiar bond with Thea, the family’s daughter.

As the film develops we see the use of flashbacks to help unfold who the real Irena is. We learn that Irena has been physically and emotionally abused, and even forced to bear several children, all taken away at birth to be sold for adoption. Irena believes that one of these children is in fact Thea, thus why she is so determined to work for the family. After rummaging through the house Irena finds adoption papers that assure her that Thea must in fact be her daughter.

As all this is happening, Irena’s former pimp is stalking her and has people threaten her. It’s later revealed that Irena ran away from her pimp, but before doing so, she stole his money and tried to kill him. The pimp furious at Irena and her disregard for his threats, rigs the families car, leading to a crash in which Thea's mother is killed. Finally, he pimp forces Irena to take him to the money and after a struggle, he falls and is killed as he violently hits his head.

The police investigate the death of Thea’s mother and believe Irena is the murderer. Irena comes clean about everything that has happened and explains how not her but her pimp is responsible for the murder. However, she is tried, and sent to jail. At the end it is uncovered that, DNA testing reveals that Thea is not her daughter after all. However, we see many years later after she is out of jail, Thea, a young lady now waiting for her.

I believe the theme of this film is to focus on the hardships of our life. It expresses how although we may not be able to escape our paths, we should not out rule the possibilities of a future we want.

This movie is very dark and explicit; it really gives you an in depth look at the life of someone who is abused and tormented. We watch as Irena tries to escape her past but and restart her life. Unfortunately, in the end it turns out Thea is not her daughter and she is sentenced to jail. However, I believe the ending is happy because she no longer needs to run from her past and we also see that after all these years Thea has not forgotten about her and wants part in her life. I recommend this movie.

 

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Eat drink man woman

Eat drink man woman

An interesting film that focuses heavily on Chinese culture, Ang Lee brings us a film to express the importance love and relationships. The film takes place in modern day Taiwan, and focuses around a family heavily set in Chinese traditional ways. An elderly master chef named Chu, lives in his home with his three unmarried adult daughters. Living in the house you grew up in is generally tradition for unmarried children. The three daughters are named Jia-Jen, Jia-Chien, and Jia-Ning.

Jia-Jen, played by Kuei-Mei Yang, is the oldest daughter. She is particularly shy school teacher, who seems to be very passive towards men as she claims she is still nursing a broken heart. She even seems somewhat envious of her younger sisters’ luck with men. Jia-Chien, played by Chien-lien Wu, is the middle child. She is a beautiful and successful career woman. She does not seem to be looking for a serious relationship, but she does occasionally sleep with a man who is an ex-lover. She later finds out that this man is engaged but still wants to cheat on his fiancé with Jia-Chien. She is sickened by this and breaks off their relationship. Also throughout the movie she finds herself in a personal dilemma when a man that her older sister claims to be the one that “broke her heart” begins to show attraction to Jia-Chien. Jia-Ning, played by Yu-Wen Wang, is the youngest. She is twenty year old who manipulates her friend in order to get to her friends boyfriend. Eventually she not only successfully wins over her friend’s boyfriend but she tells the family she plans on marrying him.

As the film progresses, each daughter encounters new men. These new relationships with these men quickly form, and as they develop the daughters roles are broken and the living situation within the family changes. The major theme of the movie is the importance of love and romance in one’s life, they need it to live. This idea relates to food which also plays a huge role in this film, because like love you cannot live without food. Much of the love between the family is only expressed through eating together.

This movie, although a bit long, grasps the attention of its viewers from start to finish. Full of unexpected twists and turns, your interest is almost impossible to be lost. Seeing the traditional and very different Chinese culture to that of ours is something to not take for granted. The film really shows you how different these people live yet how similar they act to us. I highly recommend this film; I think it’s one of the best foreign films I have seen.

Bombay

BOMBAY

Bombay is a 1995 Indian film directed by Mani Ratnam. The film takes place in different Indian villages and cities, but the main focus is around Bombay and the religious controversies there.

India as a whole is a place is dealing with a constant religious tension between Hindus and Muslims. Shekhar, the son of a traditional Hindu father, is student studying in Bombay. Shekhar visits home to see his family, and while there he spots a beautiful girl. She is a young Muslim girl named Shaila Bano. Shekhar becomes heavily infatuated with Shaila and decides to pursue her. At first Shaila is timid and fights Shekhar’s many attempts to gain her attention. However, eventually Shekhar gains her affection, and they fall in love. A love that will be seen as taboo, especially by their fathers, due to the religious differences between the two.

Due to the persecution by their families; Shekhar and Shaila flee to Bombay. The two get married and begin a new life in Bombay. They start a family and give birth to twins. They live and grow as a family for some years practicing both of the religions. In the meantime they have worked on and settled the tension between themselves and their families.

However, meanwhile in Bombay all is not well. Religious extremists cause a huge wave of riots and religious attacks that leave hundreds dead. Shaila and Shekhar worry increasingly over the safety of their children, whom they raised with both Hindu and Islamic traditions. They are constantly under threat and fear for their family and the life they have built.

All together the film focuses on one thing, religion. The theme of the film is religious tolerance and overall acceptance and understanding for all people regardless of their beliefs.

Personally, I did not enjoy this film. The use of song and dance is not entertaining to me. I understand that these “bollywood” films are heavily known for this type of thing, but even if I looked past it I found the film to be dull. The film is too long (213min) and does a poor job of grasping full attention. I don’t recommend this movie.

Three Colors: Blue

BLUE

A 1993 French film written, and directed by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski; “Three Colors:

Blue” is the first part of Kieslowski's trilogy on French life. Blue is a film about a middle-aged woman named Julie. Julie starts a new life after surviving a tragic car accident which takes the lives of her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter.

Julie separates herself from her past, including all its memories and people involved. She even destroys the last unfinished score of her husband's work; which was a piece celebrating European unity, following the end of the cold war. However we see pieces of the music haunting her thoughts throughout the film. Julie decides to leave the house she lived in with her family and takes an apartment in Paris. She erases all contact with everyone and anything in her past, except for a small chandelier of blue diamond’s that belonged to her daughter.

 She tries to cut off her past and start anew alone, but her past will not let her go. Oliver,

an old friend and coworker of Julie’s husband, finds her and confronts her despite her attempts to be alone. Oliver seeks after because he has feelings for her and also because he believes she secretly was the true author of her husband’s most recent work. Her past begins to haunt her more and more, and as we learn more about Julie she learns more about her past; including that her husband was having an affair. While both trying to escape Olivier and his obsession with her husband’s final work, and attempting to uncover who her husband's mistress was, Julie finds herself becoming more and more absorbed into her past.

Eventually, she discovers the woman that her husband was having an affair with, and finds out that she is carrying his child. Out of compassion, understanding, and a desire for change, Julie gives the woman the house where Julie and her family once lived. Julie also decides to not work with Oliver and finish her husband's last composition. However, Oliver and she agree that the truth about her husband's music would not be revealed as her own work. Finally, the movie ends with the finished composition being played as the images of all the people in the film.

According to Kieślowski, the theme of the film is “liberty,” specifically emotional liberty. We see this theme represented in Julie’s attempts to free herself from her past and the emotional stress and grief she is dealing with after the tragedy. She quickly lets herself become emotionless and cold. However, she remains linked to her past and cannot completely allow herself to runaway and die inside. This is symbolized with Julie keeping chandelier of blue diamond’s

 that belonged to her daughter.

This movie is very dark, complicated, and quite frankly depressing. However, it’s still a very good movie. We get to see the personal battles and depression that Julie must deal with first hand; we get a real feel for the absolute madness she is dealing with mentally. This is a genuine film that holds nothing back and throws the truth right in the viewers face. I highly recommend this film, especially to those who like real characters with authentic personalities.

Central Station

Set in Brazil, a young boy tragically loses his mother in a horrific accident. The boy named Josué, is left on his own to fend for himself, he has no one around him to take care of him and the only living relatives he has live very far away and have no connection to him. The only person who has any idea of who this boy is and of his situation is a bitter older woman named Dora. Dora works at the local train station, she helps the illiterate write letters and mail them to people. Just before the accident Josué’s mother had Dora write a letter to Josué’s father. Dora witnesses the accident and decides to take the boy into her own hands. What may at first seem as a humane gesture turns into Dora selling the boy. Later after being guilted by her friend, Dora steals the boy back from the people she sold them to. She plans to take the boy on a bus that will take him where his father lives and leave him there.

Once they reach the buses final destination Dora plans to sneak of the bus and leave the boy with the bus driver so that she can wipe her hands clean of him. However, Josué leaves the bus and Dora spots him and decides, undesirably, she must help him get to his father now.  After a long journey full of stealing, haggling, and upsets; Dora finally helps Josué find the residence of his father. They discover that Josué has two older half brothers and that his father is a low life alcoholic who has been absent from his residence for some time.  Dora leaves Josué with his two capable and caring half brothers. She leaves on the bus and is left with a picture of Josué and her to always remember him.

All together this movie is one complete bore. It’s like listening to someone tell a story in 106 minutes, when in fact it could be told in 5. The characters are not appealing to begin with and remain that way throughout the film. Towards the end of the film I imagine the director hoped to make you feel sympathetic for these characters as they learn from each other and become more compassionate; trust me it doesn’t’ happen. Josué is nothing but a little brat plain and simple, and the heartless bitter old hag that goes by the name of Dora deserves to be lonely for the rest of her life. I guess what I’m trying to get across is that I recommend this movie to no one, and hope I have the pleasure of never viewing this film again.

Tsotsi

Set in the slums of South Africa, the film Tsotsi written and directed by Gavin Hood, shows us the life of a young hoodlum. A young man who goes by the name of Tsotsi, which means “thug,” lives a ruthless life of crime as the head of a small gang. Hardened by his tough life, Tsotsi seems to be heading down a bad path as he is shown stabbing a man in a robbery; striking one of his own gang members; and even degrading a crippled homeless gentleman. Continuing on his careless path he one night decides to highjack a car in a wealthy neighborhood. However, the owner of the vehicle resists his attempt to steal her car, and is shot in the stomach by Tsotsi. As Tsotsi speeds off in the car it comes to his attention that the woman left her baby in the back seat of the car. For whatever strange reason he decides to leave the car and take the baby back with him to the slums. As he develops the idea to take care of the child he forces a local mother, Miriam, by gun point to help him take care of the child. Eventually, after a series of events including Tsotsi returning to the home where he first stole the child and murdering one of his own gang members, Miriam becomes aware that Tsotsi stole the child and pleads with him to return it. Finally, the movie ends with a selfless Tsotsi, willingly returning the child to its parents and turning himself in the surrounding police.

Tsotsi, the story of a young man with a tough childhood striving to survive by any means possible. We watch as this cold; heartless individual is challenged by this child to develop a sense of sympathy and compassion; and in turn completely change his behavior all together.

I really enjoyed this film and highly recommend it to everyone. The storyline is really intriguing. In America today we see these movies about gangsters with hard lives that just seem more cliché than the next as it glorifies a criminal. Here is a film that really shows a young man with a hard life that struggles to survive. Tsotsi is not glorified nor meant to be a character the crowd is supposed to feel for. Yet, we can’t help but want for him to change his ways and succeed even though he’s nothing but a simple cold hearted criminal. The film is a must see for anyone who like the tough; street thug; gangster movie.

Dreams

Dreams is a vivid fantasy made in 1990, written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa, a Japanese film maker, made this film to express several dreams he himself has had. Essentially the film is eight artistically made films based of very intense and strange dreams. Each dream is so artistically made and well planned out that it gives the real feel of a dream state. As in real dreams, it leaves viewers with a slight confusion and unsettling uncertainty of what will happen next.  

Japanese culture plays such a major part in this film. Each dream very effectively uses metaphoric tales and imagery to explain Japanese culture. For example, in the dreams such as Sunshine Through The Rain, and The Blizzard we see the use of Japanese folklore and the impact it holds on Japanese life. In Sunshine Through The Rain, focus is held on a young boy who chooses to ignore the warnings of his mother to stay home. In Japan there is a legend that states that when the sun shines through the rain the Kitsune have their weddings. In Japanese folklore, the Kitsune are believed to be a spirits or magical creatures who posses both the features of human beings and foxes. The boy defies the wishes of his mother and ventures into the forest. In the forest he witnesses what seems to be some kind of ritual dance held by the Kitsune; the boy is apparently spotted by the Kitsune. When the boy returns to his house his mother tells him that a fox had come by the house and left behind a knife that he must use to kill himself. The boy pleas with the mother as she insists he must leave and beg forgiveness from the Kitsune. The boy leaves in search of the Kitsune. The final scene shows the boy, apparently traveling on his search for the Kitsune, underneath a fantastic view of a beautiful rainbow over hills.

The major themes of this film fall into two categories: 1) very easy to understand 2) very hard to understand. Because the film is so heavily influenced of Japanese culture and themes it at some points is difficult to reveal the theme by someone who is not fully aware of the Japanese culture. This can at some points cause the film to seem overly bizarre and even cause a viewer to lose interest.

The film itself is an absolutely amazing concept. Each dream is a bizarre adventure that seems impossible to comprehend, as dreams usually are. This film is a great film, however I wouldn’t recommend to those without a love for the visual arts. This film in itself is a masterpiece in terms of its visual aspects. However, there is no real storyline to follow and can leave those with short attention spans lost and frustrated.

Talk to Her

“Talk to Her” is a 2002 Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodovar. The film is a dramatic film based off the lives of two men, Marco and Benigno. The first time these two men cross paths is at a theater, unaware of who each other are they don’t think much of it till Beningno recognizes Marco at the hospital. Marco is at the hospital to visit the love of his life, a woman named Lydia. Lydia is a famous matador who after being viciously gored by a bull is put into a coma.  Benigno is a nurse at the hospital and personal caretaker of a patient in a coma there named Alicia. Alicia is a beautiful young dance student who Benigno has known previously before the coma. Secretly Benigno has been in love with Alicia for a long time, even though he barely knows her.   We see both the story of Marco and Lydia as well as the story of Benigno and Alicia unfurl through a series of flashbacks. Eventually after these two men become acquainted they develop into very good friends and share their stories with each other.

After being informed by Lydia’s ex-lover that a month before her coma they reunited as lovers, Marco leaves the hospital and travels to Jordan for work. In Jordan, Marco is made aware that not only has Lydia past away in her coma but Alicia has been discovered to become pregnant in her coma. It is discovered that Benigno has raped her out of the far-fetched mindset that she feels the same way about him and they are together in love. Benigno is sent to jail where he develops the idea to escape jail and be reunited with Alicia. He tries to overdose of pills and be transferred to the hospital where she is, however his overdose turns fatal. Ironically, during childbirth Alicia wakes up out of her coma. Marco, who has come back to Spain, moves into Benigno’s old apartment across form Alicia’s. He eventually runs into Alicia at a show in a theatre. The end scene finishes with Marco and Alicia catching glances at each other and the words saying “Marco y Alicia,” possibly implying they will form some sort of relationship now.

Overall, I felt the film was very good and well made. The use of flashbacks really helped as to understand the characters on a deeper level.  Although some parts of the story I found very unusual and some of the imagery to be bizarre, I felt that the story was strong and was represented as best possible. The acting was very good, which was definitely needed for a film based so highly of human emotion and human psyche. I do recommend the to any of those looking to widen their range of film.