Ordet by Carl Th. Dreyer & Kaj Munk, 1955

Another danish movie that made it into this class was and oldie but a goodie. It was directed by another famous and not-forgotten Dane, the famous Carl Th. Dreyer. I have chosen to put Kaj Munk’s names as the headline also even though he did not direct or made the movie, but Kaj Munk was a very big part of this movie anyway. He was the one who wrote Ordet back in the 1940’s and without Kaj Munk there would never bee this movie. Kaj Munk is also very important to mention because he was also a very famous Dane that fought to his death for his country. I must admit I have not really heard so much about Munk before this class but when I asked my parents, they all knew who he was and what he had done. I thank my time here at Centro to teach me some stuff I did not even know in my own country

Even Dreyer’s work has passed my nose but seeing this movie, I actually liked it and would reccoment it to everyone who is a film-lover. It is way out of my favourite genre and even my teacher has discovered my very commercial taste, and that is true. I am loving the movies that is inside the line of “normalness” and Ordet is just reaching the line, I believe. The takes in the movie are very long and the dialogues are very long and slow but I did find it very good.

The movie is about death and life and about believing. Normally I would role eyes of movies where something happens that would never happen in real life. But I still felt drawn to the movie, maybe it was because it was in my language and the scenes are showing the danish country very well and I started get a bit homesick but I felt amused and curious all the time and could not get enough of it.

But it was only when my teacher was explaining the real story behind the movie I could see how beautiful and very intelligent this movie was. It is not about a miracle but to see the people acting when someone is acting crazy and to see how that crazy person is just person. And when a childs innocents and pureness is showing it is absolutely beautiful. I think I will always have my commercial taste but when I still have my open mind with me, and look behind the subtext I can truly see the beauty of a movie.

Maybe not every movie, but a lot more than usually. And therefor my time here has been very educational and I can bring a lot with me when I return home and for the future as well.

Marie Krøyer by Bille August, 2012

The last class of this semester was celebrated with a “danish-class” and the first movie we got to see was about one of Europe’s most famous women in the end of the 1800; Marie Krøyer. She was married to one of Denmark’s biggest and most recognised painter (I believe) we ever have had, P.S. Krøyer. Unfortunately she was living in his shadow and lived most of her marriage as a ghost. The movie is about her life when P.S Krøyer was suffering from mental issues. We learn of her relationship with her husband and lover and we are being giving an insight of what it was like to be MARIE KRØYER!

It is Bille August that is behind this biography of this interesting woman I do believe he made a good job. I am a great fan of Bille August work and he is known for making good movie. Marie Krøyer was from 2012 but his latest movie is only one year old and where very tearful in the danish cinemas. His most recognised movie he ever made was Pelle the Concur that even won an Oscar in 1989 and the Golden Globe for this movie. Bille August as very known and famous director not only in Denmark but worldwide. Everyone who has an interest in movies, does know of him.

This is one of the newest movies we have seen and that can also be seeing by the cinematography. It is not that the cinematography is bad because its new but the advantage of seeing old movies is that we really can see how they did somethings that were more difficult to make compared today.

I especially liked this movie because it gave a good insight of the danish country. The movie take place in Skagen, the most north place in Denmark I especially when they are at the beach where Krøyer is painting Marie and his daughter (see picture below) you get a hint of how the beaches in Denmark are. The costumes in this movie are very beautiful and it set us back to the upper class of Denmark back in the late 1800/start 1900. We are also going to witness when and where P.S. Crier was painting his famous paintings that are still a big part of danish art and that is what a biography should be all about. Giving the audience a peak of what happened. Even though some of the movie is fiction and not everything was as the movie showed I still think August has captured a good story.

Suna no onna by Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964

We are now in Japan – and my first thought was – this is going to be another wired movie. But surprise surprise… I loved it! I was entertained and excited from the beginning to the end. I thought it was a very very good movie and the picture and cinephotograpy is amazing. Every scenario has been thought of and the imagination and the story was perfect all away around. The actors where perfect castet and you got to feel their pain, sadness and scaredness when you see the location of the woman.

The story is about a man – a teacher – that goes in his free-days to explore the desert to find rare bugs to his collection. He gets shelter by a local that lives in the dunes and he soon discover that the village and the woman is trying to make him stay – for ever- he title is very simple because the woman is literally living in the sand with a roof over her head. Every night she has to get up and dig the sand away fro her house otherwise she will one day drown in the sand. She gets supplies by the village-people and she never leave the house. The man is clever and at one point he tries to escape and he does succeed but he gets lost and gets put back to his “wife”. One day he discover he can bring water on his own and that is becoming his ticket to resolveness.

As mentioned all in all the movie is very good and exciting and the story is so well-written. A hidden pearl among lots of treasures. This movie even won the special jury prize in Cannes film festival in 1972. He was known as a great director and I would love to see more of his work.

Sedmikrásky by Vera Chytilová, 1966

Through the whole movie I was thinking What are these girls doing? and actually got very puzzled by their behave and how screwed up they where. I became very fascinated by some of the scenes that where very very colourful and shifted from being grey to sometimes green and purple. The movie is very simple, if you are not looking at the whole perspective.

The two sisters are scamming older men to get a good feast out of them and afterwards they run away. They are harmless and seemed very bored with their lifes and they have absolutely no intenstions of behaving humanly and act like spoiled brads. Sometimes I was laughing but also because I knew it was a movie. Never in my life I would meet girl like these.

After the movie was finish I got to understand the meaning with this simple movie. It represent the fun in the life but is has consequences. And the end of the movie proves the consequence in a good way. This movie is Czech and they have experienced a lot of war especially after the world war II. So I got to learn of the symbol this movie is showing and what its really about. Like when a war is presenting it is not thinking 10 years ahead. It is strategies and fighting people and countries and consequences are only showing when the war is over. After I’ve leaned the true meaning I suddenly got a whole new perspective on this movie. I now see how pretty and very clever this is made.

The director and writer of the simple but intelligent movie is another woman in a mans world. Vera Chytilová also had to fight for her work and was at one time banned from the Czech cinemas. It was only years after her work got the recognition it deserved. By searching of more information of this great woman I found this I thought was very important to share: 

“Chytilová is cited as a militant feminist filmmaker.Josef Škvorecký states that Chytilová “In a true feminist tradition Vera combined intensive intellectual effort with a feminine feeling for beauty and form”. 

“Daises is seen as a feminist film due to its attitude and active critique of male attitudes towards sex.However Chytilová did not see herself as a feminist filmmaker, but rather believes in individualism, stating that if a person does not believe in a particular set of conventions or rules then it is up to that individual to break them.”

Khaneh siah ast by Forugh Farrokhzad, 1963

 

La casa es negra or The house is black is a very strong and very beautiful movie I have ever seen, in a longer time. It only last about 20 min. which is kind of sad because you feel like you want to know more about this house and place. It is a documentary by Forugh Farrokhzad and for me it was the first time I got introduced to her work and I must say I was very impressed. We are in Iran and even just to see a woman doing a documentary from Iran is huge enough because of some things that is going on with womens rights and free speech. But that is a mother issue.

This documentary starts with a introduction of how much ugliness there is in the world and what we are about to see is no near compared to that. And she is so right, what we did see and experienced was a journey into another world of humans living i the black house. People that had some kind of misshapen. Either by birth or by incident.

Forugh Farrokhzad was i young but great poetic woman and did only become 32- ears old because of a car accident. She is known and recognised as one of the 20th-centuries most influential women and by reading about her life, She is an inspirational woman that has fought her entire life. She was married away as only 16 and her poetry for even abandoned because of some issues and disagreement of religion causes. But luckily she was discovered and not forgotten.

It is very sad to think of, what might had happen to this incredible woman is she had lived her life to the fullest. I believe that women like her could definitely changes the world and make it a better place. Just for a while.      

Uccellacci e uccellini by Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1966

Totò and his son Ninetto roam the neighbourhood and the countryside of Rome. During their walk they meet a talking crow.

The Crow tells them about Ciccillo and Ninetto and After many months, they succeeded in preaching the commandment of love unto the species separately, but were not able to get them to love each other.

The Crow still following them and continuously speaking to them. They meet many other people, land-owners, a family living in a slum that Totò threatens to drive them out of their house; a group of travelling actors who persuade the pair to push the group’s Cadillac for them, an engineer who is waiting for Totò to give him the money he owes him. After having met a prostitute, they end up killing and eating the Crow, whom they found to be unconscionably boring. Pasolini declared that Uccellacci e uccellini was his favourite film, as it was the only one that did not disappoint his expectations. Art historian David Gariff notes that the composition of some of the scenes is visually similar to famous Italian paintings.

Personally I did not think much of this movie. for me it was in the low end. Maybe because the story did not got my interest or I did not understand it. But I believe there was a good reason that we should see it. But I must say, it was not for me and my scandinavian taste. I actually do not think it could be measured in cultural taste and when your taste is as mainstream as mind you maybe agree with this post.

I am not against any movie and I love to explore what the world has to offer with several movies.

Babettes Gæstebud by Gabriel Axel, 1987

This movie is a famous classic for Scandinavian like me. It is still a movie that is mentioned in the classrooms and even the adults conversation because it represents more than just a dinner. As growing up in Denmark we has often heard about the great Karen Blixen, who wrote the novel, and her other works. And even this movie was a must to see, not only for a dane like me, but for everyone.

We are being introduced to two daughters of the local minister that after their fathers death is still living in the farm somewhere in Denmark. It is in the 19th century and people back then had evener really tried a lot of different foods. Because the daughters one day in their earlier life had met a french singer he one day wrote to them to take care of Babette that had lost everything in the war in France.As good christens as they are, they of course accept Babette into their home and Babette is learning the way to live, very fast. The people that lives in the minister farm are now all used to Babette and her cooking, but they still don’t know what they else can expect from her and what they will awaits them.

The movie won an Oscar for best foreign movie. The first danish move that ever had won an Oscar. And I do understand why. Not only is the story in every way beautiful but the cinephotographic is perfect.

The menu that is created, that is Babettes creation, has become international classics. And I must say after seeing this movie-pearl I got very hungry myself. The menu is more than a menu and is a symbol of thankfulness and love for one another.

Gabriel Axel was born in France but moved to Denmark almost right after his birth. He became accepted to the Danish royal theatre in Copenhagen and he is known as an actor, director and scriptwriter but Babette’s Gæstebud is his most valuable work. It is not only a scandinavian pearl but a pearl in general.

Apsolutnih sto by Srdan Golubovic, 2001

We are now in Yugoslavia with this movie and we are being told a story about two brothers that lives together but has vey different lifes but has one thing in common. Igor, the older brother is a former champion in shooting, but because he went to war, he became addicted to heroine and is wasting his time and money on drugs and finds himself owing a lot to the mafia. Sasa, the younger brother, is about to become the new champion in shooting and people even say that he has the skills to become better than his brother. He trains regally, has a sweet girlfriend and the world lies on his feet. But because of Igor’s stupids mistakes, Sasa finds himself drawing in troubles as well. But Sasa is made of a different fabric than Igor and he won’t let anybody screw with his life.

I personally think this story was exiting from start to end. I think that the actors was very believable and brought that extra to this movie. The cinematography is amazing and the close-ups together with the way they are edited is splendid.

Even though it is another movie where you do not understand anything (except for the subtitles) it does not matter. The directing and acting brings so much lifes to the movie that it does not matter at all that the movie is in a language that is very hard to understand.

Srdan Golubovic is a Serbian director and by making this movie it did participated in main programs of over thirty international film festivals, including Cottbus, Rotterdam, Thessaloniki, Toronto and San Sebastian, winning 10 international and 19 domestic awards. I do understand why all the winning. Amazing movie!

Tini zabutykh predkiv by Sergei Parajanov, 1965

This is one of another on my list that are bit more to the “special” side. I am not loving all the movie I get to see but I do keep my mind open for especially movie like these. We are still in Europe but this time this movie is taking us to Ukraine where we meet Ivan that falls in love with Marichka, the daughter of his father’s killer. But lifes does not goes as panned for Ivan as it should be. His love dies and he finds a new wife but he can’t forget his lost love. The movie is based on the book by the Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky and this movie was made by the Russian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov and by making this particular movie, he had done his first big movie. You can say a lot of this movie and I truly believe that some people will love it and some people will hate it, but I do think everyone can agree on that this movie is very colourful and the costumes are really good work.

It could look like a good lovestory with lost love and new-finding strength but for me it was a little to special to understand the true tragedie this movie represent and I am very convinced that it probably is very popular by many other film-lovers.

The movie is beautiful made with spectacular lightning and the grading of the colors. It definitely gave the movie the right mood. But for me it was not one of my favourites. But as always watch it, because you never know what you are going to miss out of.

Amator by Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1979

 

A polish movie from 1979. My first expectations when I heard it was a polish movie, was not very high. Not that I am against polish movie but I never knew they made interesting movies. If it would not been for this class, I would never had the honor to see so many great movie I never knew existed.

And AMATOR is definitly one of the most memorable. Not because it has great effects but I like the stories and the characters. This movie is a great example on the small things that can make a movie very special. The script and cinematography is just remarkable. The story is about a man that buys a recording camera because he wants to film his daughters birth but because he is the only one in town that owns a camera, he suddenly becomes a photographer for more then he expected to be. His company takes immediately advantage of his skills and even Philip (main character) gets drawn of his new profession. You see how he slips a little bit away from his family and life even though he is very blessed with a amazing wife and a baby that they wished for.

Krzysztof Kieślowski  is also internationally known for The Decalogue (1989), The Double Life of Véronique (1991), and The Three Colors Trilogy (1993–1994) and has received a lot of rewards as well. He is with a look!