Movies at Dawn

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/

HUBERT: Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land! Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's unusually early post: La Haine by the brilliant Mathieu Kassovitz! This film is especially important because I finally watched it in a movie theater! It felt great to laugh with a room of people and shed some tears in the end. Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! Mathieu Kassovitz is originally an actor that is most famous for his film Amelié (2001). He started writing this film following the accidental shooting of an immigrant by police - which I'll mention more in a bit. La Haine, similarly, tells the daily lives of  " black-blanc-beur" (black-white-Arab) boys living in the Parisian ghetto. The main conflict of the film is built between the minority groups and the police. Despite taking a ser

MARTIN: I gave God a chance to kill me. He didn't do it, so he's pleased with me. Hello everyone and welcome to this week's post! I chose a slow-paced film for this week called The White Ribbon by the auteur Michael Haneke. There is a lot to talk about this film and I can't wait to share my thoughts with you! Thanks for being here and I hope you enjoy reading the post! As usual, let's give a little background about the movie. The film takes place in a small German village in the years close before World War I. Throughout the film, a shocking series of incidents happen to the village, and the residents are left questioning who might have committed those crimes. In the end, however, we don't know who is behind those crimes, it's up to the audience's interpretation.  As this was my first Haneke film, I didn't know that his films are often left open-ended. The reason is that he wants his audience to work on his films and put some thought into them, which

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