تالة مون أمور ([Thala mon amour] 2016, Mehdi Hmili)

2011, Tunisia. The Arab Spring has started. People are demanding their rights, among them Houria, a seamstress working in a factory. Mohamed, her former boyfriend, manages to escape from prison. He tries to find her in the turmoil. His plan is to move to Algeria. But Houria wants to change Tunisia.
Thala mon amour is thus a tale about getting involved or keeping private. The question is mirrored by an elderly couple, a midget and his quarrelsome wife.
As someone who does not know Arab culture intimately, there are some difficulties, especially when the midget speaks. It is not easy to decide, if he mode of speaking is realistic or just bad acting. (I wish, I had someone with whom I could discuss such questions.)
The camera work is a very shaky hand-held camera. Many fast camera movements, especially in indoor scenes are simply too enervating.
This film gives an idea about the Arab Spring from within. This is the most interestin about it.
5/10

Fuglene over sundet (2016, Nicolo Donato)

The story of saving the Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi extermination camps is well-known. It's a story of how a people united their forces and fooled the occupation forces. It is a story of how a people helped the neighbors to escape and survive. It is a glossy story of the common man's heroism. In recent years there came scratches to this tale. We have heard about fishermen who took overprice for sailing their Jewish countrymen to Sweden. There have been failings also. Not only "German Nazi pigs" were hating and hunting Jews, but there were also Danish Quislings. Thus an interesting situation, even with clear parallels to current affairs.
Is this converted to a relevant film? Donato tells the story of Arne Itkin, a successful jazz musician, His wife hears in the synagogue that the German occupation forces are going to deport the Jewish citizens. Arne, however, is carefree - this cannot happen in Denmark. Instead of preparing their escape, he suggests domestic coziness in the bed. Thus we know that he is an artist and not seeing what is going on around him. However, also Arne cannot close his eyes when the Germans actually come to deport them. Within a second they change from citizens to refugees. They are told that the best chance is to take to the harbor of Gilleleje. (The rest of the plot is history. I won't tell it here; Google knows it already.)
This is a film one should like, but there are different factors  that make it difficult to enjoy it.
First - the photography and cinematography. Large parts of the film happen in darkness in a matter that make it difficult, sometimes for me impossible, to see what is going on. OK with "natural light", but we need to know what is going on.
Exaggerated use of close-ups focus on parts of the faces, as if this was a chamber play. Presumably the intention was to show us the despair of the sudden homeless family. But to see a cut-off face without surrounding does not really work, at least not for me. Another reason is that the actors - and they are mostly really good actors - don't have much to work with. This leads to ...
Second - the dull script. The Itkin family is at best sketched, character development is missing. All stereotypes from films about Nazis are used. Dialogues are like speech bubbles and stilted statements. The actors seem to read from a batch card.
Across the Waters - thus the English title - is mainly interesting because of the plot twist  hinted at before. Take it as superficial time pass without expectin much from it.
5/10

علي معزة وإبراهيم ([Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim] 2016, Sherif El Bendary)

For a simple film watcher it is not so easy to get access to quality films from Arabic speaking countries. If there is a chance to see one, it is equally frustrating to get access to more information about instructor or the respective film. Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim was - as it seems - screened at different film festivals, which is a pity. This is a very fine film, almost a fantasy comedy.
The film starts with Ali bringing a gift to his fiancée Nada, a large pink teddy bear. They are stopped by the police who assumes that they drugs and the stab the cute teddy bear. At home Ali calls fro Nada. Ali's mother is watching a soap on TV and makes snappy remarks about Nada. We understand her when we learn that Nada actually is a - goat. The other outsider is Ibrahim, a musician who hears awful shrieking noises, that take awa the lust for life from him. - Both get advice to throw three stones into the "three bodies of water" in Egypt.
Ali and Ibrahim start on a journey that will change their life forever. They are for better and worse dependent on each other and end up to become friends.
In this film reality and imagination are intertwined. The fantastic and the realistic are thus not on separate levels, but the fantastic is a necessary part of the ordinary life.At times we might even doubt if something is strange but real or unreal but still integrated in reality.
This is an amusing film that is solidary with its characters. As beginner to films from Arabic speaking countries I was very surprised to see such a nice film with likeable characters and warm humour.
8/10

Liberty (1929, Leo McCarey)

Laurel and Hardy are on the run. In the hurry they took on each other's trousers. They find privacy to change on a skyscraper in construction. But there the imminent fear of falling down.
The first half of this film is classic Laurel & Hardy stuff - the "boys" interacting with other persons (vigilant policemen, a suffering record shop owner). In the second half they are alone, interacting with themselves only and trying to get down the skyscraper.
Although it doesn't have the anarchic humour of classics Laurel & Hardy it is still funny to watch.
6/10

Mr. X (2015, Vikram Bhatt)

The critics have been very harsh on this film, but I rather liked this fim. Yes, it is not at all realistic - everybody can see that it has a sci-fi component, although it seems to be set in a contemporary environment. It is about corruption in the police department, somehow, but it's also about revenge versus normal course of justice.
Yes, continuity takes some giant leaps in this plot, but on the whole it was an entertaining experience. It is not a general experience to be invisible in this world and additionally be in love with a visible woman, but even though this is a far-fetched constellation, I enjoyed this. It is entertainment and why not have an invisible super-hero?
Probably I would forget soon that I have seen this film, thus it is necessary to write a note about my viewing experience.
5/10

The Slow Business of Going (2000, Athina Rachel Tsangari)

Petra Going (the character "translates" her name as Rolling Stone) is working for Global Nomads. They travel around and collect impressions that later are uploaded to a database. Petra Going meets on her frequent travels different types, a slapstick, k man, a tango man, a hypothermiac, a gunman. They talk, they interact and there is in my view no point to all this.
This film is as if someone took a manual of art house film making, tore it into pieces and followed the recipes in a random order. The result is a hotchpotch of different styles and manners which is almost impossible to watch.
Few people came to the screeing I attended, almost half of them left the hall before the end of the film. This might indicate that this film is mainly for hardcore indie film lovers.
I don't mind seemingly pointless films. Holy Motors is a film with a similar departure, but without the amateurish acting and cinematography.
2/10

Die missbrauchten Liebesbriefe (1940, Leopold Lindtberg)

Es ist schon erstaunlich, dass dieser Film auch noch nach mehr als 70 Jahren zu charmieren versteht. Damit meine ich nicht charmieren im oberflächlich nostalgischer Weise, sondern durchaus positiv.
Das liegt natürlich vor allem an der großartigen Vorlage, der Novelle von Gottfried Keller. Dennoch ist ein guter Regisseur erforderlich, um aus einem großen Stoff auch einen großen Film zu machen. Leopold Lindtberg ist dies gelungen.
Wilhelm (Paul Hubschmied) ist der neue Schullehrer in Seldwyla. Er hält nicht von der Prügelpädagogik, die von seinen Vorgängern in Seldwyle praktiziert wurde. Er fördert die Kinder stattdessen und erreicht so, dass sich die Kinder nachhaltig für Bildung begeistern. Sein Nachbar ist der Nachbar Störteler (Alfred Rasser). Er ist Kaufmann, aber auch Freizeitdichter it einer unglücklichen Liebe zur Literatur. Unter seinem Pseudonym "Kurt vom Walde" werden dennoch gelegentlich seine Stücke in der Gartenlaube veröffentlicht. Seine Frau Gritli (Anne-Marie Blanc) ist eher schlichter Natur, eine gutmütige, unprätensiöse Frau. Störteler muss auf Geschäftsreise und hat nun den Einfall, Gritli schwülstige Liebesbriefe zu schreiben. Sie soll diese im gleichen Stil beantworten. Diese Aufgabe übersteigt natürlich ihre Fähigkeiten. Deshalb steckt sie Wilhelm die Briefe zu, erklärt ihm, dass das ganze ein Scherz ist und bittet ihn diese Briefe  stilgemäß zu beantworten. Wilhelm ist eine schwärmerische Natur und wähnt sich der zwar verheirateten Frau geliebt.
Als der Schwindel mit den mißbrauchten Liebesbriefen auffliegt, kommt letztendlich Herz zu Herz und Schwulst zu Schwulst.
Der Film ist angenehm natürlich - kein Überagieren, sondern eine stimmige Darstellung eines auch heute noch faszinierenden Plots. Besonders reizvoll ist der Wechsel zwischen Hochdeutsch und Schweizerdeutsch. Hochdeutsch für pathetischen Schwulst, Schweizerdeutsch als Alltagssprache.
Heute würde Störteler vermutlich seine Äußerungen in einem Blog veröffentlichen und auf "Followers" hoffen.
8/10

告白 ([Confessions], 2010, Tetsuya Nakashima)

Reception of this film might suffer from misdirected expectations. This is not a film with abundant  graphic violence. Fortunately it is not like Miike's Lesson of the Evil - and I am happy for that. This is more like Solomon's Perjury by Izuru Narushima, but less long-winded. Confessions is a psychological revenge thriller.
Last day before spring break in a school somewhere in Japan. A young teacher tells her class that she won't return after the break. She also tells class her  story about her murdered daughter and that the murderers are in the classroom. Her revenge is that she has infected the school milk of the culprits with the HIV virus.
Naoki (Kaoru Fujiwara) is shattered. He isolates himself. When his moither finds out that her beloved son actually killed a human being, she attempts a murder suicide.
Shuya (Yukito Nishii) is suffering from a mother complex. His mother abandoned him to pursue her career as a scientist. When Shuya sees that one of his inventions is in the media overshadowed by a family murder, he changes career and wants to become a criminal master mind to get his mother's attention.It seems that this class has a more than usual share of wannabee Raskolnikovs, as Mizuki (Yukito Nishii), a girl from the same class has killing fantasies.
In the end we see that condemning the boys to a life in hell is the most efficient revenge.
This is a loveless world, no compassion, only lust and greed. There is a lot of competition to become the best, even if the 15 minutes of fame include blowing up oneself and the whole school.
Those schoolkids still have to learn the value of life (命). This kanji is used in the film. The dictionary informs me that this character also means fate or destiny.
The plot is captivating as we continually get more information on the characters and their actions. In the middle, however, I was almost losing interest, as I thought that everything already had been told. However, it still continued to surprise me.
There are some annoying things in this film: there is an almost continuous soundtrack going on. Sometimes known pieces, sometimes soft supermarket music. This really got on my nerves. For me this would have probably worked better with different and less background noise. Nakashima also overuses certain gimmicks, like slow motion. It does not always serve a purpose. Or reflections in convex mirrors. - On the other hand the young actors are amazing, displaying a wide range of emotions.
6/10