Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven, 1997)

Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven, 1997) is an Iranian film directed by Majid Majidi. It is a beautiful story of a boy named Ali, his ypunger sister Zahra, and their parents.

In the very beginning of the story, Ali loses his sister's pair of shoes while shopping for groceries. He tells his sister, but they keep the loss a secret from their parents in fear of being punished by their father, knowing he does not have enough money to buy another pair.

Throughout the movie, Ali and his sister Zahra share Ali's pair of sneakers. Zahra uses them during the day when she goes to school, then races to meet Ali in an alleyway to give them back to him so that he can use them to go to school as well. This creates a daily routine for the siblings. Everyday, Zahra goes to school embarassed to have to wear her brother's sneakers, and, in the afternoons, Ali is late going to class.

Towards the end of the movie, Ali enters a race for which the third prize is a new pair of shoes. However, much to his dismay, but to the joy of his peers, teachers, and parents, Ali comes in first place and wins a different prize. At the conclusion of the movie, though, it is revealed that their father actually buys Zahra a new pair of shoes and Ali a new pair of sneakers

One theme throughout the movie was the innocence of kids - specifically Ali and Zahra. It was an innocent mistake for Ali to lose his sister's shoes, but he was burdened with the guilt for the rest of the story. They went through much trouble, embarassment, and inconvenience having to deal with the loss of the shoes, thinking it was such a big deal. One scene which depicted their innocence was when they were cleaning Ali's sneakers in the pond. They were blowing bubbles and having fun with each other, and I thought that this part just showed how much joy was in their lives despite their standard of living.

To me, I found every detail of each setting of each scene to be interesting. It just takes place in a completely different environment than I am used to seeing in movies. The story took place in locations that I had never before been exposed to or seen. Even from the very beginning, I found the set up of the grocery shop to be very interesting. I also found it neat how they did their laundry outside right in the pond. I also noticed how closely the houses were put together and how there were very narrow alley ways with the drain and gutter running through right down the middle. Also in the movie, for some variety of setting, a couple scenes actually took place in a richer neighborhood where the houses and properties were much larger and protected by gates.

Also, the main characters in the movie, Ali and Zahra, were young children. Obviously, they had to be played by young child actors and despite not much experience, I thought they both did an excellent job playing their parts. Not once throughout the course of the film was I not convinced of their roles. It was as if the actors were actually their characters in real life.

Children of Heaven is a simple story which is very heartwarming and amusing. It is a movie that will make you smile and give you good feelings inside.

Dreams (1990)

Dreams (1990) is a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. The movie comprises eight parts, each with its own seperate story.

The first dream, Sunshine Through the Rain, shows a little boy witnessing a mysterious wedding ceremony of foxes in the woods. This sacred event is forbidden for humans and the boy's mother notifies him that he will probably be killed unless the foxes decide to be merciful after the boy begs for forgiveness. The story ends with the little boy walking in a field towards the a rainbow, which is the location of these beings.

I thought this first story used great cinematography. The setting of the forest where the ceremony was held and the field of flowers with the rainbow in the sky and the mountains in the background provided beautiful backdrops and landscapes to observe. The choreography of the wedding ceremony was also interesting to watch, as well as the costumes they wore. This first story was very visually entertaining.

The point of the story is very basic, too. Each segment of Dreams comes with a message about how humans should and how they do treat nature - whether it's the atmosphere, plant-life, wildlife, or themselves. The message of this story is not to tamper with nature.

The second dream, The Peach Orchard, begins with a boy seeing an imaginary girl. He chases after her and she leads him to an empty hill which used to be a peach orchard. The boy is confronted by dolls, who are like the gods of the peach trees which used to occupy the hill. They scold him for his family cutting down all the peach trees, but the boy is forgiven when they discover that it was not his fault and that he is truly sad that the peach trees are gone.

This story used very beautiful costumes. The spirits of the peach trees all had very colorful and intricate costumes on which were stunning to see. To add to the effect, they also performed a very intriguing and symmetrical dance which brought all the peach trees back. The little boy also did a good job acting and was very convincing with his emotions. This story sends another message to not mess with nature and to cherish the trees and plantlife that we have.

The third dream, The Blizzard, was skipped in class.

The fourth dream, The Tunnel, began with an army commander walking towards a giant tunnel. An angry dogs comes out and towards the commander, barking at him ferociously. The commander hesitantly walks past the dog and continues on through the tunnel. On the other end, he is confronted by a dead soldier who is confused about whether or not he is dead. The commander convinces the soldier he is dead and sends him back into the tunnel to be at peace. Shortly afterwards, a whole platoon marches out of the tunnel and confronts the commander about the same thing. The commander is terrified and stricken with guilt. Eventually, he takes partial blame for their deaths and sends them back into the tunnel. The dog comes back out in the end and barks at the commander again.

This dream had a much eerier feel to it than the first two. The first two dreams were visually pleasant, but the shades and tones of this fourth dream were much darker. The lighting, make-up, and setting of this setting fit the story perfectly. Obviously, the message to this one is that war is a horrible thing and nothing good comes from it. The only thing that comes out of war is death and, in the end, nobody wins.

The fifth dream, Crows, was another visually stunning part. It begins with a man looking at works of art in a museum or art gallery. All of a sudden, he enters one and begins his search for Vincent Van Gogh. Each work of art he traveled through provided such rich and colorful scenery. In the middle, he find Van Gogh, played by Martin Scorcese, painting in a field. Van Gogh blabs on about painting and escapes the man. The man walks through several more paintings before the story ends.

The sixth dream, Mount Fuji in Red, is complete chaos. Mount Fuji is erupting and nuclear power plants are exploding all over the place. Everyone is panicking and there is disaster everywhere. The story then moves to a cliff of a shore where there are only a few people left. One of them is a corporate business man at one of the power plants who explains about all the different colored toxic fumes and what they will do to you. He then talks about how stupid it was for men to mess around with such dangerous chemicals and how he feels guilty for taking part in such careless matters.

The seventh dream, The Weeping Demon, takes place in a barren wasteland. A man is walking though and comes across a demon. The demon explains that the planet is nothing but a waste after all the bombs, missiles, and chemicals created by men has destroyed it. No one is to blame but themselves as it is the result of mankind's pollution and use of toxins. There is a crowd of demons there who live in eternity for their sins and the pain they have caused. This is like a continuation of the last segment, which continues on about humans taking responsibility for their pollution and other hazardous material to the planet.

The eighth and final dream, Village of the Watermills, leaves the movie on a happier note. Just like the first two stories and the one in the middle titled Crows, this final segment takes place during the day with lots of nature present. A man is walking through a quiet, peaceful village with lots of beautiful scenery and green grass everywhere. He comes across an old man with whom he has a conversation. The old man talks about how everyone in the village lives a very natural way of life. They do not use electricty or any more of anything that they need. Everything they use is all out of necessity and they keep their polluting and negative effect on the environment to a minimum. The lesson of this story was more of an accumulation of all the messages of all the stories of the movie put together. I actually enjoyed Village of the Watermills the most and I liked many of the quotes the old man used very much.

All in all, Dreams was a very enjoyable and positive way-of-life teaching movie. I agree with and appreciate all the messages the movie had to offer. The cinematography in this movie, in each segment, was excellent. The costumes were very well-done and fitting to each story. Dreams is a movie that I would like to and will share with and spread to other people.

Yao a yao yao dao waip qiao (Shanghai Triad, 1995)

Yao a yao yao dao waip qiao (Shanghai Triad, 1995) is a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou. It takes place in Shanghai, China when the streets were ruled by organized crime. The story is told of Shuisheng, a young, naive country boy, and the things he experiences during his time as a servant of Xiao Jingbao. This beautiful woman happens to be the mischievous mistress of Shuisheng's distant uncle, Tang, a powerful and extremely wealthy Triad crimelord.

Shuisheng is brought from the country to Shanghai by his Uncle Liu, another servant of the Tang crime family. Liu takes Shuisheng to the Tang estate and gives him a tour of the place, showing him the ropes along the way, and introducing him to Xiao Jingbao - the spoiled performance singer of the boss who Shuisheng serves for the remainder of the movie. Shuisheng, at first, is overwhelmed and out-of-place of all his responsibilities and this new, exciting, and loud environment suddenly thrust upon him.

He does a clumsy and poor job of taking out his orders, breaking and spilling things all ove the place along the way and Xiao has very little patience. On top of that, Shuisheng witnesses many shocking and intense events living among ruthless gang members. As the movie progresses, the Tang family gets involved in a gang war with an opposing force, led by a character named Fat Yu. During a shootout, Shuisheng's Uncle Liu is killed and the boss is injured.

As a precaution, Boss Tang, Xiao, Shuisheng, and a few others take a boat to a remote island in the meantime, to protect and hide the boss while things cool down. The island is occupied by only a poor lady and her young daughter. In the end, it is discovered that one of Tang's closest men, Song, had been a traitor the whole time. He had also been having an affair with Xiao Jingbao the whole time as well. He had been planning to have Tang and his people killed on the island, but the plan backfires as Tang had already known of his scheming. Song is taken out as well as all of his men and Xiao. The story ends on a sad note as Tang sails back to Shanghai with the daughter of the now murdered poor lady on the island and Shuisheng as an unwilling servant held in captive.

Shanghai Triad was probably my second favorite movie that we have viewed in class after Tsotsi. The cinematography was beautiful and well done, especially during all the scenes which took place at the lavish Tang estate. The settings, props, and costumes of the movie were all very fitting and impressive, giving the viewer a strong feel of being present in each scene of the movie. Another quality that helped that feeling was the camera work and the angles used in this aspect. The director did a good job of using the first person point of view to make you feel as if you were in Shuisheng's shoes. This specefic effect stood out in one scene in particular - the one where Shuisheng followed a trail of noises and gunfire to a pool of blood. Shortly afterwards, he discovered a room where dead bodies of Tang gang members were being washed and taken care of, among them Shuisheng's Uncle Liu. The first person point of view, followed by Shuisheng's facial reaction was a great way of portraying the boy's feelings of what had just occurred.

I was also fascinated by one theme that I, myself, noticed throughout the film. It was the contrast of innocence and sin, which I found to be prevalent during the course of the story. Shuisheng, as a young, poor, and naive boy from the country represented innocence. He had never before witnessed the horrid things he was suddenly surrounded by when he started serving the Tang crime family. On the other side of innocence was everyone he was surrounded by - gang members who lived dishonest lives and even killed others. Shuisheng's innocence was strengthened by his curiosity and the music they played during the parts he snooped around to see what was going on - specifically the scene where he was walking up the stairs of the mistress' house to discover her affair with Song.

Another part of the storyline which I enjoyed was the character development of Tang's mstress, Xiao Jingbao. At first, she is portrayed as a mischievious, selfish, stuckup, and spoiled woman. She wants all the attention and adoration from everyone, and when she does not get what she wants, all she does is whine and complain until she gets it. However, especially after she moves to the remote island, she begins to grow as a person. She sees the lady living there and the daughter, and at first, thinks of herself as above and better than them. Eventually, she begins to relate to the poor lady and even comes to her for comfort. When she finds out that she had been killed and that she herself was partially to blame, she is full of guilt.

One thing that surprised me about the movie was the ending. I was not expecting it to end on a sad note at all. However, it made the film all the more better. It was a surprise ending and made the story entertaining from the very beginning to the very end. Shanghai Triad is a movie which I enjoyed thoroughly.

Yin shi nan nu (Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994)

Yin shi nan nu (Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994) is a Taiwanese film directed by Ang Lee. It takes place in modern day Taipei, Taiwan, and tells the story of an aging master chef named Chu and his three beautiful and single daughters: Jia-Jen, Jia-Chien, and Jia-Ning. They have a warm bonding tradition of having a nice family dinner with each other every Sunday evening. Each of these characters has their own personal issue with love in their lives and their stories are shown and progress throughout the movie.

The elderly father, Chu, is alone after losing his wife long ago, who apparently was his one true love. He feels even more lonely when he realizes that all three of his daughters will eventually move out and be married sometime in the future. In his ripe, old age, though, he learns to deal with this in a peaceful and happy way.

Each of their daughters have their own personal problems with love as well. The oldest one is a school teacher who is coping with her own heartbreak. She had recently gone through a breakup with a close lover and is learning to deal with the heartache. The middle daughter is an ambitious woman with a good job as an executive for an airline company. Her problem with love is that she is unwilling to settle down with a man and very hesitant to committ to a long-term and serious relationship. And finally, the youngest daughter is a student who is curious about having a true love life.

Throughout the film, each of the daughters get involved with new boyfriends, who help them overcome their problems with love. They grow as people as the movie progresses, together as a family.

The most obvious theme in this movie, to me, was the purpose of intimate relationships. Suggested by the title of the movie, love is just as essential to life as is eating and drinking. I appreciate and am a strong advocate for this particular message of this film. Love is a wonderful and beautiful thing which trascends all boundaries. It something that everyone should have and experience everyday in their lives. It gives purpose to life itself and inspires and motivates individuals to live life to the fullest.

Another thing I found very interesting about the film is how they related the food they made each Sunday for dinner to the stories of the characters' love lives. Each meal was designed and cooked a certain way and was also presented in a way which related to the relationships each character was involved in. This was a very neat detail to observe and analyze throughout the movie.

Yin shi nan nu was a very heartwarming and pleasant movie for me to watch. It provided many humorous parts at which I actually found myself chuckling outloud by myself. I enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end.

Hable con ella (Talk to Her, 2002)

Hable con ella (Talk to Her, 2002) is a Spanish film directed by Pedro Almodovar. It tells the story of four people - two men and two women. One of the men, Marco, is a journalist who constantly visits his girlfriend, Lydia, at a clinic. Lydia, a bullfighter, is in a coma after being gored by a bull. Marco sits by her side, day by day, in hopes that one day she will wake up. The other man, Benigno, is an affectionate nurse at the clinic who looks after another female patient there named Alicia. She is a dance student who fell into a coma after being hit by a car in an accident while walking across the street.

After coincidentally sitting next to each other at a ballet in the very beginning of the movie, Marco and Benigno meet each other at the clinic and see each other frequently. This leads to them growing a close friendship with each other. Marco observes how lovingly Benigno takes care of Alicia, giving her body rubs and talking to her in her coma, among other things. It is eventually revealed that Benigno actually has a sick obsession with his patient, whom he previously stalked before the accident.

During the course of the film, through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, the stories of the relationships between Marco and Lydia and Benigno and Alicia are revealed. They show the seperate histories of the two pair and how they met, the tragic events that forced the two women into their comas, and eventually, what becomes of their relationships.

One day, when Marco comes in to visit Lydia, he sees that another man is already in her room by her side. It a former lover of Lydia and it turns out that they had gotten back together a whole month before Lydia fell into her coma. Sadly, Marco stops visiting and ends up moving away to write a travel guide. He eventually discovers that Lydia dies while still in her coma.

On the other hand, Benigno is suspected of raping Alicia in her coma after it is discovered that she is pregnant. Shortly afterwards, he is put into a mental institution where he attempts to overdose on medication enough to put himself in a coma, but not enough to kill him. The plan ends up backfiring as he overdoses on the medication. Meanwhile, Alicia wakes up after having her baby. She continues living her life, going through rehabilitation and being taken care of by her dance instructor.

I found Hable con ella to be an interesting story. It was well done and kept my attention for the entirety of the film. The acting performances were all excellent and all the actors were very convincing of their roles. Sometimes I found all the flashbacks and flashforwards a little bit confusing, but after a while, I was still able to figure everything all out.

I also noticed that the ballet performance in the very beginning of the movie related to the whole story very well. The performance included two ballerinas who seemed to be unaware of their movements and what they were doing, which, in my mind, represented Lydia and Alicia in their comas. They were bumping into walls and gliding all over the place as two men pushed chairs that were all over the stage out of their way. These men represented Marco and Benigno, who looked after and kept Lydia and Alicia company throughout the movie. I found this relation to be quite interesting.

Hable con ella is a movie well done and well directed. I enjoyed it and found the story to be enjoyable.

Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue, 1993)

Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue, 1993) is a French film directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. This is the first movie of three. Each one is named after a color of the French flag - blue, white, and red, which represent certain French ideals. Like the purpose of the color blue in the flag, this first story of the trilogy represents liberty. It tells the story of Julie, the tragedy she survives, and the way she copes with the outcome.

In the beginning of the movie, Julie survives a horrible car accident, but loses her young daughter and her husband, a proclaimed music composer. Shortly after learning the most unfortunate news, while still in the hospital and recovering from her injuries, Julie attempts to committ suicide by overdosing on medication. She is unable to follow through on this desperate act, however, and lives on, trying to deal with her tragedies in another way.

After being released from the hospital, Julie decides to forget everything about her past life. She cuts off all connections she has from her previous life and leaves her former home, bringing hardly anything with her. She stops keeping in touch with former friends and acquaintances, and moves away, attempting to start a brand new life.

However, the harder she tries to forget about her past life, the more it seems to come back to her. Julie tries and tries to distance herself from the memories of her recently deceased husband and daughter, but eventually can no longer deny their legacies. With the help of Olivier, a close friend of the family, Julie acknowledges and faces her loss. Together, they work on completing her late husband's score, which is supposed to be a masterpiece honoring the unity of Europe. During all this, Julie discovers that her late husband was having an affair with another woman. She meets her, learning that the mistress is also pregnant with her late-husband's child. Julie comes to terms with the facts and even ends up generously giving her and her husband's former estate to the mistress and unborn child. Julie also seemingly ends up in a relationship with Olivier, who had apparently always loved her.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu is a tragic, yet beauitful and inspiring movie of life and death. It is a story which represents liberty from tragic emotion. Throughout the story of the film, Julie learns that she can not simply forget her former life altogether, but must face the painful fact that her family is gone and honor their memory before moving on. The leading actress, Juliette Binoche, did an excellent job as Julie. She evoked strong emotions in her performance throughout the whole movie which made it easier to understand what the main character was going through.

The story was well-written and kept me constantly interested in what was going to happen next. All in all, Trois Couleurs: Bleu is a good movie and has me curious to see the other two parts of the Trois Couleurs trilogy.

Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993)

Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate, 1993), directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio, is a Cuban film which takes place in Havana shortly after the revolution. The main character, David, is a young college student who is a proud Communist. One day, he meets a friendly and interesting man named Diego. He is a vibrant, homosexual artist who disagrees with the governments efforts to censor works of art (which is an essential part of who he is) as well as control the minds of the country's people.

Diego is attracted to David and lures him back to his apartment, using works of art to capture his interest. Diego is not only attracted to him physically, though. By spending time with David, Diego intends to open the mind of this nationalistic student and show him that not everything the government attempts to control or censor are horrible and awful things. Diego tries to show David the beauty in these works of art and the freedom of his lifestyle.

At first, David is skeptical and suspicious of Diego's interests and way of living. He disagrees with and disapproves of Diego's ideas. David only visits him in the beginning to spy on him, viewing him as an enemy of the country. However, the more time David spends with Diego, the more he learns and becomes open to his ways. In the end, David accepts Diego as a good friend and has a more open-minded mentality.

Fresa y Chocolate is an interesting film about people and their ideals. The movie teaches important lessons about conformity and peoples rights and freedoms. I enjoyed the story, because it provided an intriguing dynamic between David and Diego - two characters who seemed to have opposite ideas. I also appreciated the character development of David, which turned out to be very satisfying. He started out as a conservative and prejudiced person of Communism, but grew to become more respectful and open about other views and beliefs.

The movie not only taught important lessons, but provided comedy as well. Although it sent a message which should be appreciated by all people, it also had its light-hearted moments. Fresa y Chocolate was a well-done movie with a good story, which was easy to follow. The actors all played their parts well and were very convincing of their roles. All in all, I enjoyed the movie and I think it is a good idea for everyone to go see it to expand their minds and open their hearts if nothing else.