Trois Couleurs: Bleu

Bleu is the story of a woman who looses her husband and daughter in a car accident that she survived. Her husband was a famous composer who was working on a special piece that was only half finished when he passed away. Rumors had been thrown around about her writing all of her husbands music. After he passes away she tries to commit suicide but can not go through with it. Instead, she withdraws her self from society, selling her house and moving into an apartment by her self. She wants no friends and no family so she can avoid heartbreak describing friendships and relationships as traps.

Her friends refuse to let her live a meaningless life and eventually track her down bringing her back to reality regardless of how reluctant she is. She meets her husbands pregnant mistress that she didn't know about until after his death. After meeting this girl and seeing that she meant a lot to her deceased husband, she opens up. She takes her house off the market and moves back in to work on her music with her husbands partner who happens to be the man she was having an affair with.

Through out the movie you can see a clear transformation in Julie. After her husband and daughters death, she becomes a shell. Not caring about anything, moving into her own apartment to live the rest of her life by herself with no friends and no relationships. As the movie progresses she is slowly drawn out of this rut by people that need her, starting with the "loose" woman in her apartment complex.

Although this movie moved slowly I enjoyed watching it. Along with phenomenal cinematography, Bleu, told an original and amazing story. Following Julie as she jumped off a cliff and with the help of her friends and people that needed her, slowly climbed back up.

Strawberry and Chocolate

The Movie "Strawberry and Chocolate" is about a University student named David in Havana, Cuba. He meets a gay man named Diego who is against Castro because of his look on the LGBT and his censorship of society. He has many posters and books that are not aloud as well as foreign booze and statues. David being a part of the communist regime thinks Diego is suspicious and tells his roommate Miguel.

Miguel convinces David to spy on Diego so they can turn him in for being against the communist cause. David starts to visit Diego on a regular basis and finds out about an exhibit. The more David meets with Diego the more he starts to change his view on the communist regime. Eventually David becomes very close with Diego and tells Miguel he is not going to spy anymore.

Diego changes David over the course of the movie and shows him what Castro is actually doing. Diego's exhibit gets cancelled and he gets very upset. He writes a letter to the government telling them how upset he is. He looses his job because of it and after getting turned down for a a job at the embassy he decides to leave the country. They took everything from him and made it impossible for him to get a job.

This movie was very good. It had a very in depth depiction of the reality of communism . It showed that Castro was running the country mentally as well as physically. Most people conformed to the Communist cause but some people like Diego saw the truth. David was blind until he met Diego and through out the movie Diego slowly showed him the truth and changed him.

The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is about a group called the FLN (National Liberation Front) fighting against French paratrooper's for their freedom. The group is set up like a triangle with the leader being the top. He recruits 2 men to work for him, each of these men recruit 2 men to work for them, and so on.

The FLN starts by taking out most of the police force in Algeria, the capitol city of Algiers. French paratrooper's were brought in to control the situation. The FLN continued to kill French police and blow places up but sneaking children past paratrooper's or dressing their women like french women. They would walk past the French Paratrooper's with bombs in their purses and leave them in public places.

Eventually the French paratroops take out the FLN by torturing and murdering FLN insurgents. Both side were ruthless; the FLN would kill French colonists and in return French colonists would form lynch mobs against the natives. Although the French paratrooper's won against the FLN, Algiers was still liberated from France through Algerians rioting in the streets for their freedom.

Although many of the subtitles were unreadable it was very easy to follow the movie. It flowed very well and gave you a good idea of what actually happen during the Battle of Algiers. This was a very informative movie and I'm glad I watched it.

Tsotsi

The movie "Totsi" or "thug" takes place in Africa and follows a young man. He is the leader of a small gang and right in the beginning of the film they show you how heartless he is when he stabs a large black man on the subway and takes his money. As the movie progresses Totsi does too. He steals a car after shooting a woman in the the stomic only to find the woman's baby in the back seat. Instead of leaving the baby in the car he shows that he isn't as hard as he wants people to think and takes the baby with him. This sparks a change in Totsi that snowballs through out the rest of the movie.

They go through Totsi's past and show that his childhood was nothing short of a nightmare. They give explanations to why he is the way he is. When he first gets the baby he is almost jealous of his life style and wants to give him a similar life to the one he had. This feeling slowly fades as he starts to do what is best for the baby and eventually brings it back it's family.

I was not expecting to like this movie, but i did. The drastic change that Totsi went through from beginning to end alone, was enough to make this a good movie. The cinematography was awesome as well, from the streets of the slum to the pipes where Totsi grew up. They bring you into his life and give you a real sense of what he is feeling. This made the movie flow very nicely and I never felt like it was dragging. All in all, I enjoyed this movie very much and would recommend it to anyone that likes a fast passed, well flowing drama.

Amores Perros

There are three stories in Amores Perros, and each of them could be a full feature in its own right. But they interconnect by a chance traffic accident. And each character's life is affected by it in different ways. All the stories have to do with love. All the stories have to do with death. And all the stories have to do with dogs. In fact, in each story, the dog is as much of a character as the people. The first story stars Gael Garcia Bernal, who later became well known for his roles in "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Crime of Padre Amaro". He wants to earn money to run away with his young sister-in-law who is being mistreated by his brother. And so he uses his dog in dogfights. The film opens with a wild chase scene in which he is fleeing from a competing dog fighter. That's when the accident occurs. The second story is about a beautiful model and her lover who leaves his wife and children for her. She has a dog, which she loves as if it were a child. She is injured in the accident and becomes wheelchair bound. When her little dog gets trapped under the floorboards in her new apartment, the story escalates. The third story is about a homeless man, a former revolutionary, who makes his living as an assassin. He owns several dogs and rescues the fighting dog from the accident. As the story moves along we discover that he has abandoned his family years before. His grown daughter thinks he is dead and has no idea that he follows her around.

This movie was fanominal. I thoroughly enjoyed whatching this movie and much like "Yi Yi" it didn't feel nearly as long as it is. I love the fact that it is 3 different storys combine into one main theme. Dogs bring the movie together with the help of an accident. Roughly translating to "Lifes A Bitch" and "Dogs love," Amores Perros reminds me of "Crash" by taking multipule stories and pulling them all together in an unexpected but brilliant method. I would recomend this movie to anyone that wants to see what a great movie is all about, period.

"Yi Yi" (2000)

A wedding and a grandmother's illness reveal fault lines in the lives of one Taipei family in Edward Yang's extraordinary film. Yi Yi is built from deceptively simple elements that together create a complex, warm, and utterly convincing portrait of family life. NJ Jian is a businessman facing bankruptcy, but he has to juggle his financial problems with family strife when his mother-in-law falls into a coma. NJ's wife, Min-Min, brings her mother home, and each family member--including daughter Ting-Ting and her delightful little brother Yang-Yang--spends hours talking to the old lady. These conversations become confessionals and the characters gradually re-evaluate their relationships. There are no catastrophic conflicts, only the ordinary, sometimes troubled, unfolding of lives. Yang enhances the film's sense of reality by frequently holding the camera back from the action. The use of long shots and unexpected angles makes it seem like the audience is eavesdropping, catching glimpses of lives passing by.

I really enjoyed watching Yi Yi. Although it typically is not my kind of movie this one really drew me in. Despite its almost 3 hour playing time I never got bored, in fact it didn't even feel close to 3 hours. This movie is stunning; the way that the young boy seems to live vicariously through his camera is something you don't often see. By shooting the movie as if you are a bystander draws you in and gives you the sense that you are apart of the movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of whether or not you are a fan of soap-ish dramas.