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...

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...

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/...

Hello everyone! I'm back much later than usual this week because everything has been quite hectic recently. I missed blogging terribly though, s o to celebrate my return, I chose an extraordinary film: Raw by the brilliant Julia Ducournau! I've heard Ducournau's name a lot recently as she won the grand prize at Cannes Film Festival with her latest feature Titane, so that led me to explore her films more. Much to my delight, Raw never disappointed me and I can't wait to talk more about it! Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post (I even missed writing that sentence!). Aforementioned, Raw is written and directed by Julia Ducournau. It is her first feature film, though she directed a short feature called Junior in 2011 before. Both films carry similar themes in them: a coming-of-age story told in a uniquely exciting way. With its interesting plot, Raw takes centre around our protagonist Justine who demonstrates cannibalistic behaviour throughout the fil...

BERNADETTE: [ to Bob] Believe me, Bob, these days gentlemen are an endangered species. Unlike bloody drag queens who just keep breeding like rabbits. Hello everyone! I'm back this week with the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! As you may know, in honor of the Pride Month I'll be covering LGBTQ+ movies in the next weeks - and Priscilla (bear with me the title is too long!) is the second film of this series. If interested to read the first one, I invite you to  visit this link  before we start ! Now, let's talk more about our movie for this week and explore the characters! Priscilla is written and directed by the brilliant Stephan Elliot. The film tells the story of two drag performers and a transgender woman's journey across the Australian desert to perform their act. While many people think the plot focuses on drag culture, Elliot  says that the real heart of the movie lies in seeking acceptance of what drag performers do for a living. I'll ta...

PSYCHIATRIST: Your parents say you're always lying. ANTOINE: Oh, I lie now and then, I suppose. Sometimes I'd tell them the truth and they still wouldn't believe me, so I prefer to lie.  [1] Hello everyone, welcome to this week's post about the movie Les Quatres Cents Coups (The 400 Blows) by François Truffaut. I was quite prejudiced about the movie because of its production year (something I'm trying to work on), but Truffaut has such an amazing storytelling ability that eventually proved me wrong. It was a very emotional yet satirical movie, and I'm so excited to talk about it. Thank you so much for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Les Quatre Cents Coups is Truffaut's first feature, and it was a very successful one as it received many awards including the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival. The reason behind its success is the film's intimacy. It follows a 14-years-old boy who is left without attention and care from his parent...