Category Archives: Movies

Finally Dawn – Nothing Like You Would Expect

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fandomwire.com

This is a very good movie, for the simple fact that it is not what you would expect. Firstly, as the photo shows above, it is not about Josephine (Lily James front and center above) as the movie posters want you to believe. Willem Dafoe only plays a character actor, who actually speaks Italian most of the film, not perfectly, as well as English to translate. It is not your typical post-WWII Italian film either, as you come to believe in the beginning and keep expecting it to be throughout. The film is about Mimosa (Rebecca Antonaci – who doesn’t even get a Wikipedia page), and even the name is rather cute and has a hidden meaning I think. Mimosa is a delicious breakfast drink of champagne and orange juice. Thus telling us that she has two sides to her. She wants to have fun but she also has very good values. Her values are the suspense of this film. You fear for her not returning home, as is promised many times throughout.

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In the Land of Saints and Sinners – and a Black Guy?

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The secondary title of this Irish film set in 1974 which is meant to be about Irish history should be “There is an African in the Pub.” He has absolutely NO relevance whatsoever to this film, which I am calling a pseudo historical fiction. Yet, the filmmakers had to stick him in and had to have Liam Neeson’s character Finbar, babysit him throughout, because it is important to them to bypass the real reason we are watching this film – to focus on a part of Irish history.

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There’s Still Tomorrow – Italian film by Paola Cortellesi

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This 2023 film is not at all what you think it is about. You won’t find out until the very end, why she is going through that door and then the whole movie is a question of “What the F?” This is not a Fellini type film – but it does have weird scenes. I felt it was more like Roberto Benigni’s film “Life is Beautiful.” Making a joke at the macabre. It is not set up as a mystery, but it is when you see the ending and think back at the whole story. It is like a schizophrenic journey. Didn’t this happen? Didn’t we see the set up for all of this conclusion?

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Maria von Trapp by Maria

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Of course you want to believe that the von Trapp family walked over the mountains onto a plane and came to America. Not really the case. I read the book Maria by Maria von Trapp recently and got a different sense of the Sound of Music. Firstly, they did not make millions off of this movie, they gained $9K after she sold her rights to a German film company, prior to Hollywood knocking on her door. Sadly, Hollywood doesn’t care – no surprise there – about taking over someone’s life. Even better when they reap all the rewards and gain 100% profit. Maria had no idea that her families story would generate millions either. They needed money, which was the case for many years before the Trapp Family Lodge began to really take off in Stowe, Vermont.

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M – German Film 1931 – Peter Lorre

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What an amazing film to watch, utilizing the young – 27 years old – talents of Peter Lorre (born László Löwenstein) a Hungarian Jew (eventually coming to America). “M” was his second film, so he was just beginning to craft himself into the great actor he would become and you can see it, most especially toward the end in his final scenes. I would like to add, for some people who aren’t aware, that he was posthumously made famous for being a huge part of the song “The Friends of Mr. Cairo,” on the Vangelis soundtrack of the same name. He was an enigma, a unique character actor. A legend.

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The Red Virgin – Captive of the Narcissistic Mother

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Hildegart Rodríguez

Who was Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira and what made her become the obsessed narcissistic mother of Hildegart? So little is known about this woman but much is known about Hildegart because of her writings. She was conceived sometime in 1914 and born at the end of the year on December 9th in Ferrol, Spain. She died 18 years later at the hands of her mother’s gun. In the meantime, she was the protégé of her mother, who held her emotionally and sometimes physically captive in their home where she was under the “protection” of her mother. We only have the Spanish movie “The Red Virgin,” to give us a glimpse of what the screenplay writer wants us to know and understand.

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In the Mood for Love, A Chinese Masterpiece in Avant Garde

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A 2000 film by Wong Kar-Wai, this is a brilliantly directed, choreographed, acted, film with amazing camera work that will have you wondering what is going on. I say the latter because you will want to watch this at least two times to understand what is going on. This was the consensus of my movie group last night. I loved it the first time I watched it, but was confused, as an American, by the names, the characters and all the cameo type scenes. I loved it once I figured out what was going on the first time, and then the second time, being prepared for what was about to take place, I could relax and prepare and enjoy. I have learned with foreign films – trust the director – he knows what he is doing.

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Temptation (1946 film) – The Trauma Bond Experience

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Last night I went on Youtube to look for something interesting and different to watch. I had no idea I could actually watch an entire film without advertising, while not being a payer. I clicked on the link thinking it was a critic engaging in a discussion of the film and ended up watching this wonderful storyline.

The film stars Merle Oberon who was a British-Asian actress (her Asian heritage was a secret to the audience in that time period). This was my first time to see her in a movie other than Wuthering Heights. In Temptation, a woman named Ruby is looking to strengthen her financial picture, and goes after an Egyptologist, Nigel. She shares her secret ambitions with her doctor, assuming that he must keep this secret. She assumes he does. Her marriage takes her to Egypt, and she leads a very boring life until she meets Mahmoud Baroudi. This is when the trauma bond begins.

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Isabelle Huppert – Talking About Elle

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Isabelle Huppert is being interviewed by an Arabic man by the name of Husam Sam Asi. This is in English but it has Arabic subtitles. I was not impressed with his questions but I was taken by Isabelle’s ability to handle these questions. She is not trying to please him or anyone. She is simply being herself and not being taken in by the political correctness. He on the other hand, looks upset and frustrated that she is not agreeing with him. I found her responses to be ruthless and yet noble, diplomatic and sophisticated.

The questions meet an American audiences whims, so they will be attractive to Americans. However, this interview clearly shows that Europeans are much more mature.