The Human Resources Manager [Israel, 2010]

Yulia, a Romanian guest worker in Israel is killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. Her body lays unclaimed in a morgue for over a week and when it’s reported by a local journalist, it turns into a public relations disaster for her employer, a large bakery/factory. Yulia has no family in Israel and the burden of what to do with her body falls to her employer. The bakery’s owner determines that the only proper course of action is to have the company’s human resources manager escort the body back to Romania and to deliver it to her family. He is, unsurprisingly, less than thrilled with the assigned task. His marriage is crumbling, his relationship with his middle school aged daughter is strained and he’s screwing up at work. In his estimation, a grim trip to Romania is the last thing he needs.

Through every step of the process, the Human Resources Manager (only the deceased, Yulia, is ever called by a name in the film) is aiming to unload the body and disentangle himself from this mess as soon as possible. Through various bureaucratic nightmares, he’s not able to do so and once on the ground has to transport the body over 900 kilometers to Yulia’s mother. It turns into a road movie and a rather dark one in which one man is trying to extract himself from the situation, a journalist is trying to make a name for himself off of the story and Yulia’s son is grieving and tempestuous. As the trip lingers on longer than expected due to snowy weather and a van with mechanical problems, their various selfish motives for being on the trip begin to erode and they’re all seeking a higher purpose. It sounds pretty straightforward, but there are unexpected moments along the way.  It’s a rather moving, but quiet film about one man’s transition from hard-hearted selfishness to a more humanistic, compassionate outlook on life.

TRAILER: The Human Resources Manager

I normally offer no commentary on trailers, but I’d say this one is poorly done. It’s cut to make it look like some kind of zany comedy at times and that’s far from the truth.

Barakat! [Algeria, 2006]

This was another case of choosing a movie due to easy availability. Another one found at the local library. Until this film, the only Algeria related movie I’ve seen is The Battle of Algiers, which is one of my favorite movies ever (probably top ten material or better.)

Set sometime in the 1990s in civil war embroiled Algeria, Barakat! is the story of Amel, a westernized doctor whose journalist husband has gone missing…presumably because of stories he’s written. Amel, and one of her friends, an older nurse named Khadidja set out to find Amel’s husband based on a tip Amel received about his abduction from a neighbor. Amel and Khadidja are constantly harassed and chided (no to mention even briefly kidnapped) during their journey for being immodest women (e.g. driving without an accompanying male, wearing pants in public, not wearing headscarves, etc.) Regardless of what is thrown their way, they defend themselves and won’t back down from the countless obstacles put in their path.

After having their car (and shoes) stolen, they stumble upon the rural home of an old widower. The kind old man feeds them, provides them shelter and clean clothing. After they fail to find a taxi that will return them to their city, the old man drives them on his donkey cart. It’s an atypical road movie, but one that I enjoyed very much. It’s slow pace certainly won’t be for everyone, but it’s message is powerful: war is absurd and the women of Algeria were having to fight a war within a war for their own dignity. Amel is strong and feisty and I loved her as a character. Khadidja had literally participated in and fought for Algerian independence against the French. That generational difference also led to several clashes between Amel and Khadidja. It’s a quiet movie, but a really thoughtful one and one I heartily recommend to patient viewers.

TRAILER: Barakat!

Here’s a fun bit of trivia I found after doing some research on the film: Rachida Brakni, the actress that plays Amel is married to French soccer legend Eric Cantona.

Tulpan [Kazakhstan, 2008]

I was not expecting to find a Kazakh film at the local library, but it was a pleasant surprise to find something so easily from a country not known for its cinematic output.

Despite having a 96% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, I just couldn’t get into this. Tulpan is the story of young man, Asa, who has just returned from service in the navy and is hoping to establish life as a shepherd on the steppe. He moves into the yurt of his sister (Samal), her husband (Ondas) and their three kids. Before Asa can begin his own life of shepherding, Ondas tells him he must get married because he can’t live on his own. Ondas has promised Asa a herd of his own as soon as he gets married. Ondas, Asa and a friend go visit the home of Tulpan, the only available woman on their part of the steppe. Her stern parents don’t seem terribly impressed by him and Tulpan (we never see her face or hear her speak) peeks at Asa through a curtain and she declines interest in him citing his big ears as the reason. Asa is distraught seeing as there’s no one else to marry and he carries on living in his sister’s family’s yurt. Ondas thinks Asa is clueless and is accordingly verbally abusive to him. And that’s basically it. That’s as much plot as we’re ever given. The rest of the time is just them herding sheep, laying around the yurt, arguing, etc. Nothing much ever happens and none of the characters are particularly likable (save for Samal who seems decent enough.) As one negative review I read of the film said, nothing really happens in this movie and the exotic setting of the steppe isn’t enough to save it. It’s like a faux documentary.Y ou get the bonus of a bunch of stillborn sheep and a rather lengthy scene of a lamb being born. Not much here for me. Can’t really figure out what the critics loved so much about it.

For something about Kazakhstan that I did enjoy, I’d highly recommend Christopher Robbins’ travelogue/history Apples Are From Kazakhstan. It is a spectacularly well written and fascinating book.

TRAILER: Tulpan

Miss Bala [Mexico, 2011]

One of my stated goals at the outset of this project was to watch recent(ish) films (preferably within the last decade or so.) I didn’t want to turn this into a “world cinema’s greatest hits” as that would be easy, predictable and not enlightening for myself or anyone else. On the other hand, I didn’t just want to dig up a bunch of unwatchable crap simply because it was obscure or unknown. As I chronicle my film watching with this blog, I’m hoping readers will find something they wouldn’t have otherwise. I have to give a tip of the hat to a blog I stumbled across that’s simply called Foreign Films. It’s been a great resource for me and has helped steer this project greatly in its early stages. It was on that website that I found out about Miss Bala.

Miss Bala, is the story of Laura, the daughter of a clothing merchant who decides to enter her state’s beauty contest in hopes of winning in order to better her life and her family’s in the process. She’s somewhat flippant about the whole endeavor though and doesn’t come across as an obsessive, entitled beauty pageant contestant. Her natural beauty, indifference and happy-go-lucky attitude towards the pageant make her instantly likeable and sympathetic.

After getting accepted into the pageant, she meets her friend in a nightclub later that evening and this is when all hell breaks loose. A cartel invades the club and kills several people (including federal agents.) Laura was hiding in the bathroom, but they notice her as they’re escaping from the rapidly approaching police. Her witnessing this incident is ultimately what gets her sucked into helping them in some of their endeavors (against her will it must be added.) She’s put between the proverbial rock and a hard place in that she’s breaking the law if she participates, but she’s been told her brother and father will be killed if she doesn’t. Reluctantly, she goes along with it to protect her family. If the premise sounds far-fetched, it isn’t. The film is loosely based on a 2008 story where a pageant queen was arrested with members of a cartel.

It’s a powerful film with some brutal violence, but definitely worth watching. Stephanie Sigman is incredible as Laura and I will be checking out her other projects in the future.

TRAILER: Miss Bala

This film had so many great movie posters that I wanted to include a few more beside the image at the top of the post:

The Trap [Serbia, 2007]

Serbia  is economically reeling after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević. Communism has collapsed, privatization is the order of the day, nouveau-riche kleptocrats are getting wealthy and foreign capital is exploiting a bad economy of unemployed and underemployed Serbs.

Mladen Pavlović is a construction engineer at a state owned company undergoing privatization. The future is uncertain, money is tight for Mladen and his wife Marija, an English teach at a primary school. They have an eight year old son Nemanja. Despite lean times, the Pavlovićs make ends meet and rent a simple apartment and own an early 80s Renault. Not wealthy by any means, but still better off than a lot of folks. And then disaster strikes.

Nemanja collapses during gym class and after a thorough examination it’s determined he has a heart condition that requires immediate surgery. No hospital in Serbia can perform the operation and their nearest option is Berlin. The operation costs 26,000 Euros and it is not covered by their health insurance. Needless to say, 26,000 Euros in post-war Serbia is a gargantuan sum of money.

Against Mladen’s wishes, Marija places ads in several newspapers asking for help as the family figures out ways to raise the money needed. Mladen gets a call one day from a man saying he can help, but that he wants to discuss the matter in person at a hotel cafe. Mladen has no idea what to expect and is shocked when the man offers him 30,000 Euros for the surgery and travel expenses. But there’s a catch. Mladen must assassinate a wealthy businessman and he can’t even mention it to his wife. The man gives Mladen 48 hours to make his decision.

Mladen hopes against hope that the man never calls back, but he does. He leaves Mladen a pistol and a 3,000 Euro deposit at a drop and tells him to await further instructions. Mladen reluctantly makes the pick-up. His instructions arrive a few days later and the target is the father of one of Nemanja’s classmates. Mladen doesn’t know the man, but he does know his wife Jelena from times their children have played together on a local playground.

This sets up a nightmare scenario for Mladen. He has the means to save his son, but it comes at an astronomical cost with incredible risks attached. Reluctantly, Mladen proceeds with the hit. This is where the real action starts, the man that hired Mladen stiffs him on the remaining 27,000 Euros and Mladen’s transformation from mild-mannered engineer to revenge seeking killing machine is complete. Understandably, the stress Mladen is silently enduring tears at his marriage as well as his sanity. Needless to say, this is an incredibly heavy film that asks some incredibly dark questions about humanity. Believe it or not, despite all I’ve said, I still haven’t spoiled the ending. There are quite a few more surprises for the viewer. I definitely want to check out some more of director Srdan Golubović’s films. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Nenad Teofilović.

TRAILER: The Trap

Under the Bombs [Lebanon, 2006]

This is, without a doubt, the most personal film for me in the project so far. Under the Bombs is set during and just after the 2006 Israeli bombing of Lebanon. First and foremost, I have a friend from college that lives in Beirut so I was worried for his and his family’s safety. Secondly, in the spring of 2006 I was starting to consider places to do internships for my master’s coursework and through said college friend, I was going to seriously try to do my internship in Beirut. The plan was to knock the internship out in about six to eight weeks: work four days a week and spend the other three taking trips throughout Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan and finishing things off with a trip to Armenia and/or Israel before heading back to the United States. And then the bombing happened.

Needless to say, being faced with possibility of being hit by missiles gives one a rather long pause when considering an internship in a place with a high potential for becoming a war zone. After thinking about it for a while, I abandoned the idea of the internship there because it just didn’t seem stable enough at the time to go. Turns out it would’ve been fine, but I think it was the right choice based on the information I had at the time. Anyway, on to the film…

Zeina and her family are Lebanese, but live in Dubai. She and her husband are divorcing and they’ve sent their son Karim back to their village in southern Lebanon to live with her sister while they sort out the messy details of their separation. Enter a bunch of Israeli missiles fired into civilian areas and Zeina heads back to Lebanon to find her sister and son since she can’t reach them via telephone. She has to enter the country via a circuitous route because of Israeli control of the airport and seaports. Once in Beirut she searches for a taxi driver to take her south, but no one will go citing how dangerous it is. Eventually her persistence pays off and a cabbie named Tony agrees to drive her after demanding an incredibly hefty fee for the trek. Zeina is incensed at the high fee, but as Tony tells her “I’m not risking my life for nothing.”

Needless to say, trying to find someone in the aftermath of repeated bombing is a difficult prospect. Infrastructure is decimated (they repeatedly come upon bombed out bridges and have to change routes), communications range from non-existent to undependable. Misinformation is everywhere. It’s utter chaos and Zeina feels like she’s on a wild goose chase. As they continue on through problem after problem after problem and misdirection after misdirection Tony begins to soften and becomes a helping hand and not merely a hired hand. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it’s an incredibly moving road movie about two strangers drawn together by the most horrific of circumstances.

The incredible thing about this film is that it uses only two profession actors (Zeina and Tony) and was filmed during the war. This blurb from the film’s official site really sums up the urgency and gritty reality of the film:

Under the Bombs is a visceral expression of anger and pain from a Lebanese man who could no longer tolerate seeing his country ransacked by war. This war began on July 12th 2006. Ten days later, in the most precarious of circumstances, Phillipe Aractingi began shooting “under the bombs.” He only hired two actors. The rest of the characters in the film: refugees, journalists, soldiers, religious people, and militants all played their own roles. All of them, caught in the turmoil and the ruins of war-torn Lebanon. All living this new tragedy as an intimate part of themselves.

I’d strongly urge anyone to watch this film. It’s remarkable seeing the hell reigned down on a civilian population by war. It really hammers home the nightmarish toll civilians bear during wartime. Horrific and powerful stuff. I sincerely hope Lebanon is spared this nightmare in the future. It’s particularly hard watching this as an American knowing my country helps fund and/or arm these bombing campaigns.

TRAILER: UNDER THE BOMBS

Fish Tank [England, 2009]

I’ve not come up with any solid methodology for picking films for this project. Some of it’s been as simple as “The library has this movie from Uruguay” or “I like Arctic Monkeys and Alex Turnder did the soundtrack to Submarine so I’ll watch it.” Regarding Fish Tank, I literally knew nothing about it. I saw the case at the library and said to myself, “Criterion Collection? Made in England? Done.” I didn’t even bother reading the synopsis because I’ve only ever been disappointed by a handful of Criterion Collection movies. I didn’t bother reading the synopsis before I started watching it either. This was a particularly interesting movie to go into blindly.

It’s pretty obvious from the get-go that the film focuses on the life of Mia, a teenager in estate housing in England. As the film unfolds you discover she’s temperamental, prone to violent outbursts and has absolutely zero guidance from her layabout mother. It’s chaotic home life personified: kids run amok, no father in sight and a mother with a pissy attitude about everything who’s more interested in having her fun than she is in the welfare of her children. Dance seems to be the only thing Mia finds any solace in and she frequently breaks into an empty apartment in her housing block to dance and/or drink by herself with her headphones.

Enter Connor (played by Michael Fassbender), mom’s new love interest. He’s good looking, affable, serene and employed. Despite it being her mom’s new man, Mia instantly develops a crush on him and it’s easy enough to dismiss as a schoolgirl crush. Before too long though, it become apparent the crush is mutual despite the age difference and there we have the central conflict of the movie. He’s good for Mia and encourages her to pursue her dreams, but then things go too far and the household turns chaotic again. The chaos extends well beyond the household actually and all hell kind of breaks loose in everyone’s lives. The more the movie goes along the more you can tell it’s going to get more and more messed up. That being said, it was compelling and impossible to look away from and it’s not hard to imagine why this film picked up a ton of awards at various festivals and ceremonies. Definitely one to watch.

The Bow [South Korea, 2005]

Part of this project is me watching films I’ve never seen. I haven’t seen this before, however, it is the first one I’ve watched by a director I’m semi familiar with. I’d seen two of Kim Ki-duk’s previous films: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring and 3-Iron. I particularly enjoyed SSFWS, though 3-Iron was quite good too. With that being said, I had very high hopes for The Bow but felt a bit let down by it. The basic synopsis is that an old man and a 16 year old girl live on a fishing boat and while he at first appears to be her caretaker, it’s quickly revealed that he plans on marrying her when she turns 17. She seems fine with this arrangement and appears happy with her life on the boat. They support themselves by hosting tourists on the boat to go fishing. Things unravel when a man and his teenage son show up and there is an immediate attraction between the two teens.

The young man’s arrival ushers in a tsunami of tension because the old man gets particularly ornery and begins being cruel to the girl. As tensions rise, the boy makes it plainly known that he intends to rescue her from her life aboard the ship. The girl starts to gravitate toward him and begins to get angry with and dismissive of the older man for trying to control her interest in the boy. The day comes where he aims to take her off the ship and that’s when the Stockholm syndrome kicks in. The old man attempts suicide in the most bizarre fashion and that’s what brings the girl back. They proceed with the marriage (with the young man on board the ship) and when they take the smaller boat away to consummate the marriage, one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen on film occurs. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but damn, it was ten kinds of weird and has to be seen to be believed. I showed that scene to someone and the response was “Why would you show that to me?”

I like the fact that the film is shot entirely on boats and the fact that there’s barely any dialogue, but there were a few things about it that annoyed me. For one, the music was distracting. It’s a pretty serious movie and yet the soundtrack seemed like the Korean version of something that’d be on the Hallmark channel. It was incredibly plastic and sappy and just didn’t fit at all. Perhaps that was intentional. Maybe the music was representative of the unrealistic nature of the relationship, but I feel like that’s a stretch. And that last scene was just beyond bizarre. I know Kim Ki-duk’s films are often controversial and I like some of them, but The Bow was the first serious letdown I’ve had watching one of his movies. It’s also the first major letdown of this project. That being said, I can’t recommend his earlier film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring highly enough.

TRAILER: The Bow