Non-English Movies... i guess

I downloaded Ayreon’s album called “Human Equation” yesterday, and that’s presently playing in the background. That music pretty much restricts one from watching any other thing. That, coupled with the fact that I don’t feel like reading Wilbur Smith’s ‘A Time to Die’ at this moment, I thought I would put down some great movies, that one just doesn’t stumble across often.

All the movies below are awesome. Thought provoking. And totally different from the regular mainstream movies.

Mogari No Mori [The Mourning Forest]
The Mourning Forest is a 2007 Japanese film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was awarded the Grand prix at the Cannes film festival. It tells the story of a nurse who is grieving for her dead child. She works at a nursing home and grows close to an elderly man suffering from dementia who is searching in the local forest for something connected to his dead wife that he cannot explain. On this unexpected journey of discovery, an eloquent story unfolds against the lush and tranquil setting of Japan’s forests.

The movie is all about ‘human warmth through understanding’. The growth in relationship between the nurse and the old man is beautifully pictured.

It is also one of the slowest movies that you will ever watch.

Jisatsu Sakuru [Suicide Cirle]
Tagline: Well then, goodbye everybody.
Suicide Circle [Suicide Club] is a 2002 Japanese independent film, written and directed by Sion Sono, that gained a considerable amount of notoriety in film festivals around the world for its controversial subject matter and gory presentation. It won the Jury Prize for "Most Ground-Breaking Film" at the Fantasia Film Festival. It deals with a wave of seemingly unconnected suicides that strikes Japan and the efforts of the police to determine the reasons behind the strange behavior.

Although parts of this movie, makes one squeamish, the overall effect is of wonderment and stupefaction. It makes one look at life from a different perspective.

La Haine [Hate]
Tagline: So far, so good…
La Haine is a film directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, released in 1995. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live life in the streets of Paris. Kassovitz won the Best Director award at the Cannes festival

This movie is supposed to be so ground-breaking that the then prime minister Alain Juppé arranged a special screening and ordered his entire cabinet to watch the film.

The most important quote of the movie is the one it begins and ends with:

"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... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!"

It deals with the society’s negative view of cops in times of strife, racism, etc. The best part is, it tries to offer no solutions, just paints it raw and strong.

PS:

1. check out Ayreon if you want to know what rock-operas are all about.
2. the movie list above is not exhaustive… will be back with more later.
3. these movies can be found in mininova.org