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The Secret in Their Eyes – sp – When Juan Jose Campanella is not directing episodes of Law and Order, CSI or the like, he periodically returns to Argentina make a movie. In this case he directed and co-wrote the screenplay of The Secret in Their Eyes. Thus far it is the most successful movie in Argentina in the past thirty-five years and now in just few days after we saw it, we will find out if this Academy Award nominated movie for the Best Foreign Film will win an Oscar. ( addendum note: It won !!) It reminds us of the French movie, Tell No One, one of our all time favorites, as it is also a sophisticated detective story with an easy flowing but yet a complicated plot that keeps you thinking and guessing throughout the story and even afterwards. It is in Spanish, of course, with good subtitles. This movie is not only a mystery and a crime movie but it is also a subtle romantic film which has very good comedic moments. There is the use of a narrative technique that allows you to see the story through the imagination and the memory of the main character Benjamin Esposito played by well-known Argentine actor Ricardo Darin. There are skillfully done movements, which go back and forth in time as well as shifting the point of view, which on a few occasions took a few moments for us to orient ourselves. The acting, directing and photography were superb with great realism and therefore it surprised us to learn that the budget was only two million dollars. As required for all good movies of this genre, there is a strong ending, which will hold your interest and encourage further reflection. (2010)

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North Face – sp – If you are at all interested in mountain climbing – dangerous mountain climbing, or if you think you might want to learn more about risk taking mountain climbing this movie is for you. This is an award winning German film with English subtitles, set in Germany in 1936. The government has encouraged German mountain climbers to show the world how brave and strong they are by climbing this most difficult mountain. The chilling (and we do mean ice cold and freezing) attempt to do this feat is the main plot of this film. It is based on a true story. Most of it, including all the life and death parts of the movie, are based on known facts of an actual occurrence. One of the guests at our film course was a young alpine mountain climber who not only had heard of the actual events shown but verified that all the situations on the mountain , pitfalls and climbing techniques with pitons and ropes etc were quite authentic. This was a period piece nicely depicting the lavish hotel setting at the base of the mountain. However, most of the two hours and one minute of this film take place in the outside bitter cold. We also learned that this movie is in the tradition of some great German mountain climbing movies which we haven’t seen. While we were caught up with the suspense and adventure, we did feel there was too much time up there in the mountain with snow continually falling or alternating between flakes to avalanches. The movie was very skillfully done. The story line was interesting and painful, but wasn’t complex and stimulating enough for all we had to bear in watching it. (2010)

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The Class – rm – This is a French movie about a classroom of 14 and 15 year old teenager’s children and their interaction with a teacher. It is a slice of life of a country where immigration and different cultures influences the relationships in a classroom as does the usual teenage conflicts with authority. Perhaps something was lost in the translation on us but we didn’t get drawn into this movie although it appears to be very well done and actually won some film awards. (in French with subtitles) 2008

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Tell No One – rm – This is French movie in the best Alfred Hitchcock mystery tradition without any humorous touch. The movie takes it’s time in skillfully weaving the web around the murder in question. The lead actor is low key and outstanding. The movie draws you in and keeps you thinking during the movie and after it is over. (French with subtitles but you will not even realize you are reading them) 2006

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Paris 36 – sp – They don’t make many musical these days let alone a really good one, but French Director Christophe Barratier has not only done this but has discovered a new singing star/actress, 18 year old Nora Arnezeder . The story takes place in 1936 Paris and appears to reflect the complicated political conflicts of the time as well as the romantic flavor of this setting. While the storyline is one of reopening the music theater in town, the characters do have some depth, making it a worthwhile and enjoyable experience. If you love musicals or if you are any kind of a Francophile you will not want to miss this picture. In French with subtitles. 2008

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Red Cliff – sp- If Steven Spiegelberg were to decide to make a blockbuster movie about the US North-South Civil war and the Battle of Gettysburg most Americans would probably be quite familiar with the various leaders and generals. Even more so apparently are the Chinese and the people of other Asian countries knowledgeable about the cast of characters who took part in the great battles as the armies of the north tried to conquer those of the southern China, leading to the battle at Red Cliff, which took place about eighteen hundred years ago. Director John Woo felt that this was so much the case that he needed to make two versions of this movie, one for non Asian world with more background material and a two part film with even more details of the actual events for the Chinese and others who are familiar with the historical events.

The 2 ½ hour movie which we saw has a brief English narration at the beginning and then is in Mandarin with English subtitles which you soon forget are present. It shows the personal and political decision of the northern dynasty to send it’s huge army which probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the south to squash the smaller southern coalition. A great deal of the movie consists of battle scenes on the ground and between naval forces. At first we had the impression we were watching a Chuck Norris or Jackie Chen movie that we would only have seen in coming attractions, with bodies whirling through air, swords and spears impaling soldiers, blood squirting out of the period armor, catching spears in mid-flight, horses rearing up, thousand of arrows flying through sky and all sorts of acrobatics. People are being killed everywhere except the main characters who seem to be able to leap between thrusts of opposing soldiers. Then after awhile we realized that in fact we were watching a classic operatic story and ballet in a beautiful setting. John Woo told our film course that he used 1500 hundred Chinese soldiers in the movie and made them look like many times that number of warriors by computer generated editing techniques that he also used to enhance the magnificent appearing background. The movie also vividly shows the brilliant military strategies that were used by the outnumbered army including clever troop formations, innovative weaponry and an exquisite understanding of the forces of nature. Woo also chose to create a story line that was not in the known history of these events that involves the role of some very brave, strong and attractive women.
In the end it is a beautiful, poetic epic movie with an antiwar theme but yet pays homage to the value of people working together for a just cause even against daunting odds. This film has a cast of thousands, used 24 cameras and took 4 1/2 years to make. It obviously cost multi millions of dollars to produce which came from many countries including the Chinese government. We can’t see how it will miss being a tremendous hit in the Asian world and is bound to have a great following in the US. Anyone seeing this movie should be sure to not miss the closing credits, which includes some very moving verse. (2009)

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Dear Frankie – nf – This is one of those British films that takes about five minutes for us to get used to the accents and understand what they are saying. Although, it turns out that Frankie one of the main characters in the movie, a charming 9 or 10-year-old boy doesn’t say any words as he is deaf. We learn that this was the result of his father beating him as a small child. Mother and child along with grandmother have kept on the move in Scotland so father will never find them. Mother played by Emily Mortimer has a touching, loving, very close relationship with Frankie and has created a story for him that his father is away at sea. She secretly writes letters to him and intercepts her son’s outgoing mail so she really is also hearing his “voice” about his feeling and observations of life. Frankie although very bright in school is chided by his schoolmates. When the boat on which the father is supposed to be sailing is noted to be coming into port, the mother, who is quite lonely herself decides that she needs to present a man as Frankie’s father for him to briefly meet. She arranges for a stranger, sensitively played by Gerald Butler, to be the father for one day before he goes off to sea again. Needless to say, intertwined with lovely scenes of “father and son” and sometimes mother, especially at the stark but beautiful Scottish seaside, there are some complications. First time director Shona Auerbach has cast her characters very well and captured the emotional relationships between them. The story is somewhat drawn out and simplistic but the acting was excellent. (2004)

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The Lives of Others – nf – When this movie was first showing in local theaters we both recall thinking that despite good reviews , it was probably going to be a very dreary film about listening in to people’s conversations, so we skipped it. We now see how wrong we were, as we were very riveted to this sensitive historical drama set in East Germany during the mid 1980s. It is the story of the surveillance by the secret police of a successful playwright and his actress girlfriend. There is an opportunity to see conflict, change and growth in the main characters, particularly in that of the most committed officer who is secretly spying on this couple for the government and comes to understand them. The movie reflects the oppression that so many people endured during this time, as well as exposing some of the hypocritical motives of the people who persecuted them. It is suspenseful yet evokes emotion and has a subtle and near perfect ending. The actors are excellent veteran German actors and the playwright and Director is East German Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck who made his debut feature film with this movie which won a well-deserved Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The Netflix DVD has a not to be missed interview with this relatively young director which highlights the research and great thoughtfulness which went into the script, casting, music and production of this outstanding, authentic movie. The movie is in German with subtitles. (2007)

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Captain Abu Raed – sp – This is one of few films made for export from Jordon. It is non-political. It is a beautiful film that shows life in rural Jordon but what makes this film so worthwhile is the sensitivity and depth in which it shows the ability of human beings to care for others. It also shows some important universal conflicts. The young children in the movie are important players and the actors were found by holding auditions in various orphanages. The movie has won numerous awards in movie festivals and the lead male Jordanian older actor should be a candidate for many awards. (Subtitles but you forget that they are there) 2007

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Everlasting Moments – sp – This is Swedish movie which follows a women through her poverty, abuse and the discovery of her special gift which is being a sensitive photographer of the people and the times. The movie is one of the longest we have seen in awhile (132 minutes) and felt like it. Jan Treoll is a skillful director but the movie is having difficulty getting distribution in the US . We can understand why it hasn’t been picked up yet as it wasn’t quite our cup of tea. (In Swedish with subtitles) 2008