Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) *** - A group of men including police, prosecutor, a doctor and the murderers drive through the Turkish countryside in search of a dead body. This is Turkey's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category this year and I don't think it's gonna make it in (but then again, I said that about Milk of Sorrow). Not because it's not any good but its lumbering pace may be a trial for a lot of people to sit through. It was a little trying at times for me but the film's hypnotic and GORGEOUS photography of the exotic locale and the fascinating character bits of the ensemble made the film well worth it.
Nightfishing (Chan-wook Park/Chan-kyong Park) *** - I'm not a fan of Old Boy but Chan-wook Park is an intriguing filmmaker whose films I'd wanna see more of. This is a film shot entirely on an iPhone 4 and it looks pretty darn good. But beyond the gimmick, the film tells the story of a fisherman who catches something and there's an intriguing twist. It's only half an hour long but it's a solid piece of work.
This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi/Mojtaba Mirtahmasb) *** - A little background for those not in the know: Controversial Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was arrested, tried and sentenced to six years in prison and a ban on writing and directing films and travelling abroad for 20 years by the oppressive Iranian government. This documentary is sort of slyly giving the middle finger to the government as Panahi and Mirtahmasb document one day of Panahi's house arrest as he awaits for his appeal. Nothing particularly earth-shattering happens but it is an intriguing look into the private life and career of one of the world's most important filmmakers and the importance of artistic freedom.
8 comments:
Watching people roam around looking for dead bodies sounds a little tedious. The day in the life of the political prisoner/filmmaker sounds pretty tolerable though.
I commend the guy who made that last movie. Wait wait, it's not a movie. Look away Iranian government, no movie here.
They all seem interesting.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is a great movie.
Anatolia sounds pretty good, and I might check out Nightfishing just to see how they pulled off filming it with only an Iphone. You have a lot of interesting obscure films on this blog. :D
I want to see nightfishing
The sad thing is I've never heard of any of these, anywhere. I guess it's time to go watch them soon.
Hmm, I like the sound of this stuff, I'm seriously behind in my movie watching and your blog adds plenty more to my list on top of those already there!
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