Movies at Dawn

"What can we do? We must live our lives. Yes, we shall live, Uncle Vanya. We shall live through the long procession of days before us, and through the long evenings; we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us; we shall work for others without rest, both now and when we are old; and when our last hour comes we shall meet it humbly, and there, beyond the grave, we shall say that we have suffered and wept, that our life was bitter, and God will have pity on us."  -Anton Chekhov. Uncle Vanya Hello everyone! I'm back this month (am I a monthly blogger now?) with a movie I've been looking forward to watching since the beginning of the season: Drive My Car. Besides its massive critical praise and the number of awards it received, I was initially drawn to its title. I’m a big enthusiast of road movies, or any kind of movie that tells the journey of a character who reaches a better understanding of themselves, and Drive My Car was the perfect film for this case...

"The hardest things to talk about are the ones we ourselves can't understand."  -Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter Hello everyone! I'm back this month (or rather, year) with a brand new release, Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut The Lost Daughter, adapted from a novel of the same title. I feel like I should've waited to write the post until I read the original book, but I simply couldn't wait for it as I loved the movie adaptation. Now I'm writing this post with the e-book open in another tab, reading a chapter or two between breaks. Hopefully I can finish reading it by the time I finish writing this, which is going to be interesting... Thanks for joining me this week and I hope you enjoy reading the post! So, a few chapters turned into almost thirty, and before I knew it I found myself having finished the entire book. It was really, really  well written, and I suggest you read it before you watch the film - because I kind of regret not doing so. B...

  ROSE: What is it, George? GEORGE: I just wanted to say how nice it is not to be alone. Hello everyone! I've finally returned here the exact same way as I've started this blog, which is, dropping whatever I was doing and opening up my computer to start writing with or without reasonable motivation. It feels good to find the energy that drives me to write, delete, and try once again. At this point it would be a waste of space and energy to say how much I missed here, also trying to explain what took me back from writing all this time. One thing I'm sure of though is that now that the Awards Season has taken off, I'll be here a lot regularly just to complain about frontrunners (coughs, Belfast, coughs) and the critics' ignorance of Titane and Worst Person In The World... I'm also planning to return to older films and cults to rejuvenate the blog's atmosphere - because I'm too determined not to become an only awards blog! Now, let's talk about Jane Cam...

VINCENT: I don't care who you are. You are my son no matter what. Hello everyone! I'm back after a really busy weekend! As our tiny precious local film festival took off on Friday, I finally got to see my most anticipated films of 2021, so I've been running from one film to another for the past few days.  Is this how professional film critics feel all the time? (exaggerated sigh).  Even though I have three more films to see, I am super excited to talk about my favourite one so far: Titane, from the one and only Julia Ducournau. This work of hers hit me too hard this time, I can't stop thinking about it and am looking forward to seeing it once more after watching some interviews.  Well, until then, I'm here to discuss all about it ! Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Titane is Ducournau's second feature after Raw (2016) . Despite carrying similar themes such as exploring the animalistic side of human beings or displaying the malleability...

STEVE: We still love each other, right? DIANE: That's what we're best at, buddy. Hello everyone! I'm back with only a one week delay, which was about to turn to two if I didn't force myself to sit down to write. It's not that I lost interest in this blog (god, no!) , it's because I work all week and Saturdays are my only days off, so I tend to procrastinate writing even though I know I'll feel x10 better when I click on that publish button. Anyway, this week I decided not to be lazy, so to sum up this useless opening paragraph, welcome to this week's post! It's also the first post of the month, so be sure to expect some super exciting (I really can't stop thinking about it) news later this month! I'll give more details about it next week! For this week, I picked another Xavier Dolan film, a feature that is less controversial and definitely more touching: Mommy. To read my previous post about Dolan's other film, you can quickly click  here...

LAURA: It's awfully easy to lie when you know that you're trusted implicitly. So very easy, and so very degrading. Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great week! Mine went better than usual,  I've finally gotten used to the busy routine of school, so that's an improvement. I'm so happy to be back to the blog again, especially since this movie has been on my watchlist for a long time!  This week I decided to go a little more back in time and explore a film from the 1940's (another first for this blog!), Brief Encounter which I loved a lot. Let's give a little background about the film and explore its characters. I hope you enjoy reading the post! Brief Encounter is a romance movie adapted by a play of Noel Coward and directed by David Lean. The story revolves around Laura and Dr. Alec -both of whom are married- who meet at a railway station and gradually fall in love as they keep seeing each other every Thursday in the same spot. The romance built between t...

MIMA KIRIGOE: I don't know anything about myself anymore. ERI OCHIAI: Well... How do you think you know that person you were a second ago is the same person you are now? A continuous stream of memories. Given only that, we all create illusions within ourselves, saying that we each have only one fixed persona. Hello everyone! After a busy week (I really should get used to those!), this time I'm back with an anime for the first time in this blog! Even though it's a different concept, I loved everything about Perfect Blue, it was a film that seems relevant even today. Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Perfect Blue is the directorial debut of the talented animator Satoshi Kon. Kon is known for successfully depicting the blurry lines between imagination and reality in his films, which is also one of my favourite themes ever established in cinema. After watching Perfect Blue, I immediately added Kon's other films to my list, so be sure to see more f...

SIMIN: Your daughter's future isn't important to you? JUDGE: There are a lot of children who live in this country. You say none of them have a future? SIMIN: I prefer my child doesn't grow up in this situation. I have the right as a mother. JUDGE: Which situation? [ Simin doesn't reply to him.] Hello everyone! I'm back later than usual once again, but now that another academic term has started (oof), I can continue posting regularly to relieve any stress caused by school! In times like these I really appreciate the presence of this blog, it's one of the few things that genuinely makes me happy. Let's start our post of this week, A Separation by the brilliant Asghar Farhadi! Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! A Separation is both written and directed by Asghar Farhadi and is his fifth feature. By successfully depicting a realistic portrait of the sociopolitical texture of his country, Farhadi has become one of the notable directors o...

MARION: I'm already thinking of you. Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's post about Celine Sciamma's latest feature, Petite Maman! I'm particularly excited about this one because I got to see the film earlier than most of the viewers. Although not as grand as her previous feature Portrait of a Lady on Fire , this time  Sciamma tells a minimalistic story that can easily resonate with the audience . The film tells the story of Nelly (8), who has recently lost her grandma and is staying at her mother's childhood home to help her clean out. Petite Maman is, in essence, a time travel movie. As Nelly wanders around the forest and seeks company, one day she befriends a girl at her age, Marion, who will later turn out to be her mom at the age of eight.  Instead of focusing on the touristic aspects  like most of the other time travel movies, Petite Maman follows a different path that urges the audience to question how would we get along if we were to meet our parents as a...

ALEXANDRE: Why, mother, does nothing happen as we wish? Why? Why does one have to rot in silence torn between pain and desire? Why did I live my life in exile? Tell me mother, why can't one learn to love? Hello everyone! I'm back this week (at a regular time, finally) with a  Theo Angelopoulos film, Eternity and a Day. Films of Angelopoulos have been on my list for a long time as he's known to be one of the greatest auteurs of cinema. To my delight, Eternity and a Day never disappointed me, and it pulled me into the story so much that some scenes replayed in my mind long after I finished the movie. Before I start, I'd like to thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Eternity and a Day is part three of the series "The Trilogy of Borders". Each film in the series tells about a certain voyage the main character goes through. In Eternity and a Day, we see our protagonist Alexandre taking a journey filled with his past regrets, memories, and ...

DELPHINE: I'm not normal, like you. I make an effort to try to listen, to talk to people. I watch what's going on. If people don't come to me it's because I'm worthless and... if I had something to show, people would see it, that's all.  Hello everyone! Summer has been quite busy for me with travelling  (which is something I haven't done in 1.5 years!)  and constantly packing stuff, so I couldn't find time to update the blog. I'm really back this time though, and for this post, I chose a beautiful summer classic called Le Rayon Vert! This is my first Eric Rohmer film and it definitely won't be the last as I loved his style.  Let's give a little background about the film and explore its characters. Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Le Rayon Vert is Eric Rohmer's fifth movie of his series called Comedies et Proverbes. The series consists of six movies and each movie starts with a quotation: "Ah, for the days/...