Destination Europe » Movies

White Night Wedding

Andrea — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:44:20 +0000

It seems to me that the further north you go, the stranger the people get. Well, if you believed everything you see in their films, that is.

White Night Wedding is an Icelandic film, set in the middle of summer when it’s light all day and all night long. That’s kinda weird in itself. This is part comedy, part drama. Would have been better as one or the other.

Movie #: 24

Sex and The City 2

Andrea — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:56:32 +0000

Who am I kidding, I knew it was going to be crap but I just couldn’t resist. For serious SATC fans only.

Movie #: 23

Tamara Drewe

Andrea — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:22:49 +0000

I saw this cute little English movie today. Tamara Drewe goes back to the little village where she grew up with intentions of selling her late mother’s house. Once there she manages to get in trouble with the locals and all the men who seem to be after her. Quite a quirky movie with some of the characters kind of half done but it was fun anyway.

Movie #: 22

Five Hours From Paris

Andrea — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:00:01 +0000

To fall in love with someone when you are already married. Not good.

Five Hours From Paris is a sweet romantic film set in Tel Aviv. Recommended!

Movie #: 21

Soul Kitchen

Andrea — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:23:25 +0000

I haven’t seen a German movie for ages and I don’t recall ever seeing a German comedy. Soul Kitchen is set in Hamburg where two German brothers of Greek origin run a restaurant and get into a number of difficulties including gambling, debts, the health department and of course girl troubles. It’s fairly light and funny in parts but it got a bit silly at the end.

Movie #: 20

Precious

Andrea — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:14:59 +0000

While Precious is not based on a true story, it’s a composite made up of similar stories heard by a literacy teacher in Harlem during the 80s. Precious is 17, illiterate, and pregnant with her second child. Physically and sexually abused by both of her parents, her life is barely worth living. She finally gets a chance at a better life when she changes schools, learns to read and write, and gets the support and care she needs from her teacher.

This story is pretty fucked up, tbh. It’s crazy what she goes through and even crazier to think that this kind of thing actually happened.

Surprise appearances by Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz.

Precious is by far the best movie I’ve seen this year. Go see it!

Movie #: 19

Tete de Turc

Andrea — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:57:57 +0000

I saw another good French movie on Friday, Tete de Turc. Set in one of the poorer suburbs of Paris, a teenage boy of Turkish decent gets involved in local riots and ends up throwing a Molotov cocktail. It lands under the car of a doctor there to help a resident. The boy panics but manages to pull the doctor from the burning car. The authorities don’t realise that he is the one who threw the bomb and is later declared a hero. The doctor’s brother is the policeman on the case to find who was responsible and even though no one is talking, he slowly figures out what happened.

I’m not a huge fan of police thrillers but this is worth seeing, at least to get an idea of what life is like in the banlieue.

Movie #: 18

8 Fois Debout

Andrea — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:10:12 +0000

Finally a movie worth seeing. Julie Gayet plays a woman without a proper job (and little chance of getting a job) who is months behind on her rent and is about to be evicted from her apartment. She can’t afford to look after her son so only sees him every other weekend, if that. She struggles in job interviews and can’t even get a basic job at a supermarket. She befriends a guy in her building who is pretty much in the same situation.

What this movie really shows is how easy it is to end up alone and living on the street with nothing. If you live month to month with your paycheck, as so many people seem to do, it just takes a run of bad luck to end up with nothing.

I’m always surprised at how so many people don’t know how to manage their money and invest for the future. These people are just asking for trouble.

Movie #: 17

New York I Love You

Andrea — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:33:58 +0000

I like movies where you have lots of little stories which eventually intersect each other. In New York, I Love You, you have lots of little stories but they don’t intersect in the end. It’s like snippets of New York life. I suppose that the point, life is full of lots of little moments which mean something, or nothing. I just don’t like that you can’t connect with any of the characters as you never get to know anything about them. By the same people who did Paris, je t’aime. Both are pretty forgettable.

Movie #: 16

Ajami

Andrea — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:45:58 +0000

Ajami is another movie which I thought could have been great but wasn’t. The movie tells a number of different, related stories in Ajami, in or near Tel Aviv. There is a lot of desperation, poverty, and violence in their everyday lives.

I don’t know if this movie was boring or if it’s just me who is bored with movies in general. It just wasn’t very engaging.

I’m yet to see a great movie this year. Hopefully something better will be coming out soon.

Movie #: 15