Walk on Water

“Walk on Water” is an Israeli film directed by Eytan Fox in 2006. The film centers on Eyal, an agent in Mossad. Eyal is a hit man paid to kill those who threaten Israel. Due to his wife’s recent passing due to suicide, the agency thinks he should take on less challenging assignments.

His next assignment is to find and kill a Nazi war criminal and get him “before God does”. In order to gain access to the Nazi’s whereabouts, Eyal posses as a tour guide for the Nazi’s adult grandchildren. As with many of these stories, Eyal truly befriends the grandchildren, Axel and Pia even though he has a job to do.

This film surprised me. The variation between languages was very interesting and easier to follow than one would think and helped make the story believable. It almost felt like a documentary with us following around this real life agent.

The acting was also very well done. There were plenty of moments were I felt emotionally attached to the characters instead of analyzing the film. It was very entertaining and wonderfully done.

India: Bombay

“India: Bombay” is an Indian film directed by Mani Ratnam in 1995. It centers around two people who fall in love when they aren’t supposed to, much like Romeo and Juliet. Shekhar, a man from Tamil Nadu, is a journalism student. While visiting home, Shekhar sees Shaila Bano, a Muslim schoolgirl.

Their families do not approve of their engagement and refuse to be a part of it. Shekhar moves with his wife to Bombay where they start a family. After many years apart from their families, both Hindu and Muslim families come to visit them in Bombay. Increasing religious tension between the Hindu people and Muslims becomes the catalyst for the Bombay riots.

The story is a little odd but once you get used to the random singing, everything becomes a lot easier to digest. The acting is fine, while much of it seems like over acting, it oddly fits the story well.

The second half of the film is much better than the first half in that the subject matter becomes much more serious and the over acting seems to fit better.

While not one of my favorites from the class I am still glad we watched it.

Dreams

“Dreams” is a Japanese by Akira Kurosawa made in 1990. This film struck a huge chord with me since I am a huge Kurosawa fan. Also being an anime fan, this film is almost like a live action anime. The scenery and colors were vibrant and beautiful while the story was highly emotional and almost trippy.

The film is based on Kurosawa’s own dreams throughout his life. There are 8 dream sequences in all and each one brings a new story, characters and dynamic to the greater picture of the film. The film highly relies on visual story telling rather than dialogue, which in this case is a brilliant use of imagery.

I thought that the acting was fine although there isn’t that much dialogue but for what little there is, the story isn’t hurt by it.

It is escapism at its finest and as soon as the film begins I was totally sucked into that world of dreams becoming reality. I felt emotionally attached to the characters in this film more so than in others because of the lack of dialogue. I felt that the less the characters spoke, the more I could imagine myself as them and could experience what they were going through. It is a truly magical film and one of my personal favorites.

Eat Drink Man Woman

“Eat Drink Man Woman” is a Taiwanese film directed by Ang Lee in 1994. The story centers on a semi-retired chef, Chu and his family. He lives with his three daughters who are all very different. Jia-Jen is the oldest and a schoolteacher whose heart was broken. Jia-Chien is the middle child who is a big career woman. Jia-Ning is the youngest only a twenty year old.

Throughout the film, these three women grow and learn about themselves through the new men in their lives.

This was one of my personal favorites in this class. It was very funny but also very heart-felt and emotional at times. The film also made me extremely hungry due to the massive food scenes since the father is a chef.

The acting was wonderful and the story was deeply entertaining leaving me starving.

Tsotsi

"Tsotsi" is a South African film by Gavin Hood from 2006. It centers on a mischievous young man named, Tsotsi. Tsotsi is the leader of a gang and while tries to steel a woman’s car; he shoots her only to realize that she has a three-month-old baby in the back seat.

The film centers on Tsotsi attempting to care for the child. After he realizes that he is as immature as the baby, he threatens a local woman to help him take care of the baby.

Not a favorite of mine, Tsotsi’s story didn’t catch my interest one bit. It felt like Tsotsi didn’t have any common sense to take care of minor problems let alone the major problem of him stealing a baby when he could have just left the baby outside of the car with the mother and then drove off.

I don’t usually tell movies what to do but to me it was frustrating to sit there and watch.

As for the basics, the acting was well done and the editing kept my attention for the duration of the film.

The Unknown Woman

“The Unknown Woman” is an Italian film by Guiseppe Tornatore from 2006. One of my favorite films from this class by far. The story follows Irena, a Ukrainian prostitute on the run from her former boss who wants nothing more than her dead.

After an unfortunate accident with the nanny, the people she is staying with ask if Irena will become the new nanny. Throughout the flashbacks of the film we learn of Irena’s physical and emotional abuse due to her former life as a prostitute. We learn the little girl Irena looks after is being bullied at school because of a condition in which she is unable to keep her balance and falls easily. Irena teaches the little girl to be strong and eventually to stand up for herself at school.

The acting in this film was outstanding, especially Kseniya Rappoport who played Irena. The film was fast paced but not always, leaving breathing room between emotionally disturbing flashbacks as we learn of Irena’s past.

One of my personal favorites that came out of this class.

Bleu

“Bleu” is a French film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. From the moment the film began, I knew this was something different. From the famous editing in and out of the same scene to the depressingly drained color pallet of variations of blue, this film was made to leave an impression on you.

Personally the film wasn’t my favorite. The story was very drab and the way it unfolded wasn’t exciting to me. It was only 100 minutes long but due to the music and editing it felt slow and dragged on.

Although the story didn’t catch my interest, I can’t say anything bad about the acting. Juliette Binoche is very believable and sincere in her role as a widower looking for answers.

The colors (or should I say color) throughout the film were very cold, making me feel like I wasn’t wanted or that the character just wanted to be left alone, which was fine by me. With too many false endings I was waiting for this film to be over.