IFI French Film Festival, and Japanese movie

I know at times it feels like all I'm doing is sketching, drawing and painting. Well, it does take most of my free time, but I do occasionally manage to do something else!

The IFI had a few good movies last month, which I enjoyed.

L'heure de la sortie (School's Out): a pretty bleak movie about a locum French teacher who arrives in a private school after his predecessor threw himself out a window during class. As the story develops, we realise that there is a group of high-achieving students who spend a lot of time together and seem to have sinister plans. It managed to surprise me. (Don't read the full link if you'd rather not know too much!)

Le grand bain (Sink or Swim): A star-studded movie that doesn't take itself seriously. It can only be French! A group of, well, losers train in synchronised swimming. Male synchronised swimming, that is.

Shoplifters (manbiki kazoku): at times heart-warming and heart-wrenching, a beautiful story of a Japanese family, united by love, if not actual family ties!

Airplane movies

I'm struggling to catch up with my blogging, I have to admit. I would like to talk about the holiday, and all the lovely things we experienced, the wonderful foods we ate. But it seems so far away already. So I'll start here.

We don't go to the movies very often. With Netflix, I rarely feel the need. But it's hard to beat a good movie. These 4 that we watched on our various flights were brilliant!

• The Shape of Water - an atmospheric love story, set in the cold war, with a fantastic watery element to it. Loved it.
• Isle of Dogs - an animated fantasy movie set in Japan. The premise is that all dogs are banished to an island and have to fend for themselves. A young boy comes looking for his dog. Full of adventure and humour!
• Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri - a heart-wrenching story of a mother whose daughter was raped, tortured and killed. Months after the murder, the police are no closer to solving the mystery. Amazing performance by Frances McDormand
• Au poste - a weirdly funny French movie about a police interview that goes wrong. 

Downpour

I thought this would be nice while we're enjoying endless sunshine and drought! A short Irish movie I came across when reading a book called Rain, A Natural and Cultural History. A great read, by the way, particularly when the sun is shining! I hope you like this little beauty.

Japanese Film Festival

I got to see two movies at the Japanese Film Festival this year. I enjoyed both and gave them both an 'excellent' rating (as part of the festival, you can give each movie a rating). I would have liked to see a few more, but there was only so much time in the day!

Her Sketchbook (sekai wa kyo kara kimi no mono)


A lovely story about a young woman who has withdrawn from the world, only working in a factory because she doesn't have to talk to anyone. When she loses her job, her father finds her work as a tester for video games.
A beautiful story, and also an interesting insight into the hikikomori in Japan, a phenomenon I had never heard of before, but something quite widespread in Japan, when young people gradually withdraw from society and don't interact with the outside world.
The movie manages to be both tender and humorous.

Dear Etranger (osanago warera ni umare, which literally means 'a young child was born to us', so I really don't know where they got the English title from!!)


Life is not easy when you have a daughter from a first marriage, your wife has two daughters from her first marriage (one of which is young and doesn't realise that you're not her real dad, and the other is a teenager, full of angst and anger, mostly targeted at you), and your wife tells you she is pregnant, more or less at the same time as you're told by your boss that your job is not secure and you will be transferred from being a middle manager to working on the factory floor. But this man, Manoko Tanaka, loves his family, and keeps on giving his best, no matter how far he is pushed. A beautiful story, showing that Japanese men can express their love for their family and don't spend all their time at work. He's not perfect mind you. He does occasionally lose his temper, and he doesn't tell his wife about his demotion for a few months, continuing to go to work in his suit as if nothing happened! An interesting look at real life for many restructured families!

Snow movies

4 days more or less house-bound with the snow. We managed to keep ourselves occupied, so we didn't binge on Netflix too much. Two good movies.

• The Revenant: Beautifully shot and a tense story. A man is abandoned after he is attacked by a bear in the wild west mountains somewhere in North America. His struggle for survival, and revenge, takes its time to unfold. A tad long, but a good story.
• I don't feel at home in this world any more: Don't be put off by the long title. I have trouble remembering it. This is a great movie. About a nursing assistant, Ruth, who is finding life frustrating, with a lack of connection to others. Her house is burgled and the police isn't exactly helpful. So she takes matters in her own hands. It's dark and gruesome in parts, hilariously funny in others (or even in the same parts). It's full of humanity. 

Christmas movies

None of the movies we watched over Christmas were picked for us specifically. There were four of us to entertain, with a range of tastes difficult to reconcile - science fiction, factual, war, French romantic comedy, James Bond (I don't know what category to put that in). I watched and enjoyed most of them, as I am both a fan of science fiction and French romantic comedies.

• Gladiator: Long time since I'd seen this one. But it still delivers its punch lines (and sword strikes). When translating, I tried to keep it simple - this guy is good, this guy is bad, really really bad.
• Valerian: I loved the Valérian et Laureline comic books when I was younger. The reviews of this Luc Besson movie were not great, but I actually enjoyed it. More humour than the trailer implied. And Cara Delevingne plays Laureline better than I would have expected.
• Il a déjà tes yeux (He even has your eyes): a story of adoption in France, with a twist. Great fun. Probably my personal favourite in this list.
• Dunkirk: I didn't watch this one. I had seen it in the cinema. The music alone will stress you out, if the scenes of soldiers caught on the beach and trying to escape the carnage leaves you cold.
• Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément (Blind Date): a love story, a pianist and a game developer (who hasn't gone digital) don't meet, but fall in love. (They meet at the end)
• Mars: this is a docu-drama on Netflix - 2016: interviews with players in space exploration and scientists interested in how man could survive on mars; 2033: fictional first manned flight to mars, exploring the various things that can, and do, go wrong. I'm looking forward to the second season!
• Spectre: James Bond. The French actress was really bad. And I'm more of a Roger Moore fan anyway.
• Back to the Future: My dad had seen a DeLorean in town recently. So it seemed appropriate for Stephen's Day. But difficult to explain in French to someone who doesn't know the American 1950s look versus 1980s. My mum got very confused. But I thought it was as brilliant as the first time I saw it!

Departures

Another movie with Masahiro Motoki, Departures is available on Netflix. The movie won the Oscar for best movie in a foreign language.

Motoki is a cellist, who goes back to his own town with his wife after the orchestra he plays with is disbanded. He answers an ad for a job, not really sure what it's about, a travel agency maybe? It turns out the job is that of encoffiner, a ritual mortician who prepares the body before the funeral. After a rough start, he becomes good at his job. The problem is that there is a Japanese social taboo against people who work with the dead. When his wife finds out what his job is, she has a tough time accepting it.
A beautiful, delicate movie, dealing with a difficult subject.

Happy Hour

Another movie from the Japanese Film Festival - I would have gone to see many more, but there were not enough hours in the days.
Be warned. Happy Hour is over 5 hours long. But worth every minute! It's the story of four women's friendship, and how what happens in one woman's marriage provokes the others to think about their own lives. Some scenes are long, but every moment counts.






My thoughts when the credits rolled were:

1. Japanese women want more out of life than what's traditionally on offer.
2. Japanese men haven't got a clue.

If you've got 5 hours to spare, Happy Hour is well worth the time! And if you understand the ending, let me know! Because it did confuse me.

The Long Excuse

Another Japanese movie - seen at the Japanese Film Festival at the Lighthouse cinema in Smithfield.

The Long Excuse is about two men whose wives die in a coach crash while on a weekend away. The men couldn't be more different from each other. They grieve very differently. And yet, life, or death rather, forces them onto a common path.

A wonderful performance by the lead actor, Masahiro Motoki - did you know that he started his career in a boy band? I can see why!!

Bonus: the cutest little girl, Tamaki Shiratori - I don't generally like movies that throw in a couple of cute kids just to appeal to a broader audience, but this little girl is the best! Ganbare Ganbare!

An

April was not only a month of Fake Journaling, but it was a month of Japanese movies for me - a combination of the Japanese Film Festival, Google Play and Netflix.

To say that An was a sweet movie might be a bit of a bad pun (the English title is Sweet Bean), but it is the fist word that comes to my mind when I think of it.

A very gentle story about an old woman who starts to work in a little dorayaki shop. She makes her own delicious red bean paste, and the shop soon thrives. However, rumours start to spread about her gnarled hands... It's not all sweetness and pie, but it is beautiful.

PS - I've never tasted dorayaki, but I will have to try it some day!

Available on Google Play.

Sing Street

A lovely movie, Sing Street. On Netflix. Set in Dublin, on Synge Street, not the poshest part of town. And that school reminds me of the stories a friend told me when she was doing her teaching practise there (if I remember correctly) - she had just finished art college and was doing her H Dip. And that wasn't the easiest of schools to start your teaching career. She said to me once that she knew she had "lost" her class the moment she stamped her foot to get the boys' attention. She failed that year. She is now a wonderful teacher.

I digress, as usual.

Great little story - young teenager moves to rough school because his parents can't afford the posh school anymore. Christian Brothers are sadists. There are bullies. Nobody cares. But music is his salvation. He sets up a band, just because he likes a girl and wants to impress her. But he really doesn't know what kind of music he wants to play. Still, with a few other misfits, and despite everything, he gets the band off the ground. Will they sound like Duran Duran, The Cure, or Joe Jackson? Well, yes, you've guessed it, the movie is set in the early eighties. Which adds to its delight if you're from the same generation as me!

Oh, and the main actor is the nephew of an acquaintance's husband. But this is Ireland after all.

Money Monster

It's a couple of months since I saw this movie. But it was good. So I wanted to tell you a little bit about it.

Georges Clooney is the presenter of a TV show called Money Monster - he analyses the markets, gives tips on investments, all in a manic, tongue-in-cheek, kind of way. Julia Roberts is the producer of the show.  Jack O'Connell is a young man who lost all the money he had, which wasn't much, because he followed Clooney's advice. He's not happy. Well, actually, he's very angry. And he's not blaming himself.

It sounds formulaic, but, in my opinion, it works. And I think Clooney and Roberts have fantastic screen chemistry, even though they are barely ever on stage at the same time.

Our Little Sister

Even if you don't speak Japanese or you're not into Japanese culture, Our Little Sister is a lovely movie. A simple story, aren't all the best ones simple? Three sisters go to their estranged father's funeral, and meet their little sister. As she is not happy with her father's new wife/widow, she agrees to come and live with her three sisters. It sounds like the father wasn't the most reliable husband/partner, doesn't it? And the three older sisters's mother isn't much better. But the four sisters have got each other. And that's all that matters. And don't you love the feeling of the heat of a Japanese summer? And how a traditional Japanese house is perfect to let in the cooling breezes. And it was wonderful to see the making of umeshū (plum wine)! I'll be watching this one again and again!

Christmas movies

It's not easy, finding movies that will please everyone. Mother will leave the room and play on her iPad rather than watch science fiction. Father will go to bed early if the movie is too romantic. Then there is the question of French or English, sub-titles or simultaneous translation by yours truly?
Deafness doesn't help.
But a little bit of advance research is always good. And Netflix do carry a small range of French movies. And Google Play was available for the movies that Papa was interested in (although they were not available for rent, just for sale).

• Attila Marcel: a very sweet movie; sad and funny; funny and sad; if you like Amélie, you will probably love this story of a young man whose parents died when he was two and who's been brought up by his two eccentric, doting and overbearing aunts since.
• Emotifs Anonymes: Romantics Anonymous in English. Another quirky story. Romantic, yes, but my father watched it to the end. Probably because a famous actor from our hometown was in it, Benoît Poelvoorde. A love story - and how suffering from social anxiety disorder should not stop anyone from finding true love. And no, I didn't know him when I was young, although we are the same age. He went to boarding school, and clearly didn't mix with us riff raff kids.
• Saving Mr Banks: we had taped this one, so it was in English only. My mother showed no interest, whereas my dad found it really interesting (I translated the occasional bit, throwing an explanation here and there when I thought the plot needed it). Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are fantastic as Walt Disney and P.L. Travers negotiating the film rights for Mary Poppins. I loved it.
• The Martian: this was a special request from my Dad. We had to buy it on Google Play, as it wasn't available to rent. But that's OK. I enjoyed it. And I'll probably watch it again. Needless to say, my mother showed no interest in this movie whatsoever.
• Interstellar: another request from my Dad. We'd already seen it before. It's OK. But too long. And too clever.

After my parents were gone back home and I was feeling better, we also watched Our Little Sister, a gift from a friend. A wonderful Japanese movie. I'll have to tell you more about it in a separate post!

The siege of Jadotville

An interesting movie on Netflix - about an Irish UN peace-keeping force in the Congo in 1961. And how politics, at all levels, including the Belgians, the French, the Americans, and the highest ranks of the UN, does not care about individuals on the ground. And how history can silence bravery. But not forever.
Conor Cruise O'Brien doesn't come out of this movie looking too good.

PS: We were in Japan for the last two weeks, and I have lots of photos to share, but it will take me a while to get sorted, so bear with me!

Love and Friendship

Because I don't get to write them until well after the event, I like to keep my movie reviews brief. After all, the movie I'm writing about is probably no longer showing in the cinemas, so my musings will be of little interest to most people.
This one, Love and Friendship, is based on a Jane Austen story - Sense and Sensibility, Love and Friendship, you get the idea.
Whether or not the book is as full of irony and social commentary as the film, I have no idea. But the movie was much better than I had expected. It's basically the story of a young widow, who works through her contacts in society to find a new husband for herself and her teenage daughter. She is independent-minded, scheming, beautiful, witty, and she really doesn't care what people think of her, unless they are prospective suitors of course. Much more a 21st century independent cougar than what I imagine an 18th century widow would be! It just shows that human nature hasn't changed much over the centuries, I guess.
Very witty throughout. And it all works out beautifully for everybody in the end.

Petal Dance

These days, I take every opportunity I can get to listen to Japanese radio. To sharpen my ear. I have an interesting capacity for listening to a radio programme for half an hour and still not be able to say what the programme was about! Not a clue. I do catch the odd word, which I guess is encouraging. But I have a long way to go! I might be listening to the equivalent of the Gerry Ryan show for all I know, so what hope have I got?

TV is a little easier, as you can see the context of what's going on. And with subtitles, it's much easier of course.  For the last little while, I've been watching Good Morning Call, a teenage series set in Tokyo, on Netflix. It's great fun, watching 16 year-olds fall in love, Japanese-style! I've just learned that it's based on a Shoujo manga of the same name. And a shoujo manga? I hear you ask! Well, that's a manga aimed at a teenage female readership! (I learned that in the last 5 minutes!) But the point I wanted to make is that while watching it, I've actually learned new words! For instance, I had always learnt that "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me" is "sumimasen". But in a more informal context, you can use ごめん(gomen), or ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) if you want to be a little less casual!

So, when I had the chance to watch a Japanese movie, I decided to take it. Now, there was not that much chat in Petal Dance (ペタル ダンス Petaru Dansu). It was quite a bleak movie, about a young woman who has tried to kill herself, and two friends from college, who haven't seen her in 6 years, make the trip to go and visit her. Another young woman, whom they've just met, drives them North on this road trip. Very few words are exchanged. It's all looks and repressed emotions. A very different side of Japanese culture from Good Morning Call, which is all teenage madness and giggles! But I liked the atmosphere of it, and the cold, bleak landscape - all very pale blues, pinks and golds that even made me feel cold. It makes me want to watch more Japanese movies.

Advantageous

Another movie review. Another movie on Netflix (we'll never need to go out ever again). Based on the photo on the Netflix site, I thought Advantageous was going to be a Korean science fiction movie, Blade Runner style. But it's not. OK, it's set in a dystopian near-future. It's set in New York, where Central Park still exists, but all the high-rises are a lot taller, terrorist attacks seems to be a daily occurrence, competition for good schools is fierce, and there are not that many men around. But women still love their children, and would do anything for them. Not everything is explained, nor does it need to be. Days later, the story is still staying with me. My kind of movie.

Still Alice

Don't watch this movie if you don't want to cry. Basically Alice (Julianne Moore), 50, is a talented linguistics professor, married to a professional man (one of the Baldwin brothers - I can't tell them apart), with three grown-up children. But she discovers she has early-onset Alzeihmer's.

Still Alice tells us how she copes, how they all cope. Until they can't cope any more. Beautiful.

(Available on Netflix by the way)

Movies

It's so long since I've seen some of these that I can't remember what they were about. Let's have a go!

• The Hours: This is the one where Nicole Kidman plays Virginia Woolf. Also with Julianne Moore. OK. Quite sad and serious. All about connections.
• Chef: I have no memory whatsoever about this one. Well, now that I've read the Wikipedia summary, it's vaguely coming back to me. But no lasting impression.
• The Lunchbox: Indian movie - you've heard about tiffins, these lunchboxes that Indian housewives prepare and that are collected and delivered to their husbands in the office at lunchtime. Well in this movie, a box goes to the wrong man. A beautiful story.
• Two days, One night: Marion Cotillard plays a woman who has lost her job and is trying to convince her colleagues to take a pay cut so she can have her job back. She's a great actress, but the rest of the cast was quite amateurish, I thought. Set somewhere in Northern France near the Belgian border.
• The one I love: really clever story about love and betrayal. A couple is going through couple's therapy and the therapist sends them for a luxury retreat in a remote estate. All smoke and mirrors. Or is it? Loved Elisabeth Moss in it, who was the young copywriter in Mad men.
• Tracks: Well, I thought this movie was called Steps, but I was wrong. This is the true story of a young woman crossing the Australian desert with camels. That was quite good actually.
• Begin Again: Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. A complicated story about the music industry. Not very good from what I remember
• Dogtooth: A weird Greek movie about a strange family - the parents keep their three young adult children ignorant of the world outside. Fascinating, but really really weird.
• A Separation: an Iranian movie about a couple. The wife wants to leave the country with their daughter, but the husband wants to stay to look after his elderly father. The wife leaves him and goes to stay with her parents. In the meantime, the husband brings in a woman to look after his father while he is at work. An interesting view into a country we know little about.
• Margin Call: Basically this is a movie telling us how greed and young mathematicians caused the financial crash. Great movie.
• Life of Crime: Jennifer Aniston is a rich wife, and is abducted by a small gang. The only problem is that her husband doesn't really care about her. Dark humour. Loved it.
• Kajaki, the true story: war movie set in Afghanistan. A true story about soldiers becoming trapped in an old minefield. I could not watch some bits, but it was really good!