Category: Western European
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In this long-spanning retelling of the legendary Charles Aznavour, excellent direction and performances are nearly drowned out by an exorbitant length and the film’s own ambition. Coming from a poor Armenian immigrant family in France, Charles Aznavour knew that he wanted to be onstage since he was a child. After a struggling career singing cabaret…
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A hustling food delivery man navigates a Kafkaesque system of immigration in this gripping story, with a standout performance from lead Abou Sangaré. Souleyman is a man whom you wouldn’t think twice about when you pick up a takeaway order from him. A delivery driver who originally hails from Guinea, Souleyman is trying desperately to…
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The White Ribbon stuck with me far longer than I thought it was going to. While Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (1997) was effective in making the audience feel like an active participant in the sadistic murder of a family, The White Ribbon was spine-chilling in how it made me akin to a willfully ignorant bystander.…
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I had a very unpleasant time watching Funny Games (1997), which I now understand was the point. Unlike the other films we have seen in this class, director Michael Haneke deliberately sought for the audience to view the violence onscreen as bystanders. This is exemplified by Peter and Paul breaking the fourth wall to interact…
