This year I had in mind to watch the entire cadre of Oscar nominated foreign language films. Admittedly, I have only seen one so far. I have had them on my Netflix queue for months but keep pushing the down in the order. Watching a foreign language film takes a little more of my brain power than I have lately, especially after a long day of hanging out with middle school students. I thought I was going to get the original Upstairs, Downstairs, but for some crazy reason, there is a long wait for that. Really America? People are going nuts for Upstairs, Downstairs these days – and not even the new one. Anyway, I finally ended up with I am Love, the Italian nominated film with Tilda Swinton, speaking Italian. It’s a doozy! It begins with a formal family dinner with the mega-rich Reccci family where cracks in the beautiful family demeanor become apparent. The cracks become chasms as the film progresses. The way the movie is filmed is interesting. Long, languorous shots of empty rooms or bees buzzing over flowers, for example. It also a lot about passion and love as the title suggests, but it all seems very chaste, until whoza, a very revealing sex scene, which seemed out of place, I thought. It’s a pretty fascinating film, overall, and it’s good to watch a movie that pushes the boundaries of what you think film should do. So, I’ll get working on the rest of the list (see below) I believe Biutiful is next.
2011 Oscar Nominees for best Foreign Language Film
I am Love, Italy
Dogtooth, Greece
Biutiful, Mexico
In A Better World, Denmark
Incendies, Canada,
Outside the Law, Algeria
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Comment One, you seem to have a spam comment above you might want to delete... Comment Two: We just re-watched "I Am Love" here at Brimhall, and all agree it is an under-reported good film. I love especially the final scene-- both the cinematography and the use of music are turned on high for an incredible ending. And though I love the baroque/surreal/avant-garde better than some, ma & pa liked the film as well. Did you finally watch all of these films, Mary? If not, everyone around Paris was convinced that "Incendies" was an excellent film-- intense, tearful, and political. Et c'est en français, surtout!
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