Category: Foreign

In The Fade

Director & Writer – Fatih AkinIn The Fade

Co-Writer – Hark Bohm

Producers – Nurhan Şekerci-Porst, Fatih Akin, Herman Weigel

Director of Photography – Rainer Klausmann (BVK)

Original Score – Joshua Homme

Starring: Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Johannes Krisch, Samia Chancrin, Numan Acar, Ulrich Tukur, Rafael Santana, Hanna Hilsdorf, Ulrich Friedrich Brandhoff, Hartmut Loth, Ioannis Economides, Karin Neuhauser, Uwe Rohde Ali, Asim Demirel, Aysel Iscan.

Winner Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globes
Winner Best Actress Cannes Film Festival

Director Fatih Akin collaborated with co-writer Hark Bohm to create, In The Fade after watching court proceedings against the National Socialist Underground (NSU): a far-right terror cell who allegedly murdered ten people and carried out two bombings in Germany between 2000 and 2007 for no other reason but for the victims having a non-German background. The NSU were also thought to have detonated a nail bomb, injuring 22 people in a Turkish neighbourhood in Cologne in June 2004.  See article here: NSU Trial

Based on the truth of these racially motivated murders, In The Fade shows the crushing loss of Katja (Diane Kruger) when her husband, Nuri Şekerci (Numan Acar) and son Rocco (Rafael Santana) are blown to pieces in a bomb blast planted in a high density Turkish area in Germany.

Set in three parts: Family, Justice and The Sea, we follow Katja as she grieves her family including the court case against the accused, a neo-Nazi husband and wife, as the horrific detail of the nail bomb is explained as evidence, to Greece where Katja revisits the memory of her family when they visit the sea-side: a fitting place to seek justice in the stunning conclusion where the audience is left speechless.

This is a powerful film that begins quietly, the evocative soundtrack used sparingly with music from the radio to the sound of rain falling, to build as the film nears its end.

I felt every step of this film from the hand-held footage of Katja and Nuri getting married while he was in jail, to Katja’s relationship with her sister and mother and in-laws; all the relationships and intense grief shown with a powerful performance from Diane Kruger.

The audience is able to bare and feel Katja coping with the loss because the story is sincere and told through the reflection of rain running down windows reflected onto her face like tears;  through the pain of a tattooist’ needle unable to register through the pain of reliving the death of a son while the killers sit in the same court room.  But the real emotion comes from the happy moments, seeing Katja relive what has been lost.  Watching the family laughing on a recording on her phone – those are the moments that get you.

This is the reason I review films: to be exposed to movies I wouldn’t otherwise watch because I know it’s going to be confronting.  And, In The Fade is filled with rain and tears and loss but there’s also a powerfully gripping story here, beautifully told.

Kedi

Kedi

Directed by: Ceyda Torun

Produced by: Ceyda Torun, Charlie Wuppermann

Starring: Bülent Üstün

Music by: Kira Fontana

Cinematography: Alp Korfali, Charlie Wuppermann.

Dedicated to the street cats and the people of Istanbul who look after them, Kedi is a surprisingly philosophical film.

I’m a cat lover, always have been.  From catching wild kittens out on the farm to forever walking around with cat fluff on my clothes, no matter how much time I spend de-fluffing, there’s always my cat, Cloud’s (AKA Ching, Chong, Chunk’s) signature silver fluff adorning my outfit.

So, I went into Kedi thinking I was walking into a documentary about the culture of Istanbul and the history/relationship of the people with the wild cats who have roamed the streets for over 1000 years: Kedi is so much more and runs far deeper than a history lesson.

What really absorbed me into this film was not the cats but the people who have a relationship with one or many of them.

These are street cats who roam freely around the city but for some reason, they decide to adopt a particular human for food, affection and love.  To then become part of the family.  It’s not the people who are helping the cats, it’s the cats who are helping the people.

One man shared he had a nervous breakdown where no medication could help.  But when he started feeding the street cats he began to talk and laugh again.

There’s a real depth to the relationships between the people and these wild cats.  Leading to discussion about the personality of the cat to statements about the meaning of life.

And how cats are so different to us that they’re like aliens or even superheros with amazing powers, to climb and jump up seemingly impossible places and to always land on their feet.  Yet, we are still able to build a relationship with these bizarre creatures.

The cinematography allows the audience to get up close to the cats, to show the wild nature of their eyes, to follow them around to see their independence and freedom while lounging on the edge of a terrace five stories up, to the street level to see the demand for attention, for love or food or a passer-by wanting to touch their fur and giving them a pat.

It’s fascinating to see this indulgence and to see how tame the street cats really are, which leads to the contemplation of the people and how they reflect about their own lives when relating to their adopted pets.

I always thought of cats particularly when travelling overseas solo, as friends, and finding comfort when one decides to hang out on a chair next to me, keeping me company on my journey.

Kedi opens another layer, allowing the people of Istanbul to talk about their world view and the impact these roaming cats have had on their lives.  I could see the warmth of the people and their indulgence, the cats allowing their sense of adventure and humour to shine through, because these cats wouldn’t be adopting them otherwise.

A beautiful film about humanity and a realistic portrait of the day-to-day lives of the residents of Istanbul.  All captured with some crafty camera work.

A surprisingly thought-provoking film.

Mountain Cry

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★Mountain Cry

Rated: M

Directed by: Larry Yang

Adapted Screenplay: Larry Yang

Music by: Nicolas Errèra

Cinematography by: Patrick Murguia

Starring: Yueting Lang, Ziyi Wang, Taishen Cheng, Ailei Yu, Jin Guo, Caigen Xu, Chendong Zhao; Siying Li.

Language: Chinese Mandarin

Subtitle Language: English

Based on: Lu Xun Literary Prize recipient novel of the same name written by Ge Shuiping.

Mountain Cry is a Chinese tale of a mute girl, Hong Xia (Yueting Lang), who moves to a remote rural village with her two children and abusive husband, La Hong (Yu Ailei).

After her husband is killed by a detonation used in a badger trap set in the woods, a young villager, Han Chong (Ziyi Wang) is blamed for the accident.  The village council then forces Han to look after the young widow and her children until the debt is paid for killing her husband.

Mountain Cry has been beautifully adapted to the screen with director and screenwriter Larry Yang relating this amazing story of Chinese village life and the two main characters slowly falling in love.  But this film is so much more than a romance, there’s crime here and mystery.

The characters show more of themselves with each action, with each scene adding weight to the adage, show don’t tell.  There was such a gentle touch here with tragedy and longing, freedom given and taken away, responsibility and loyalty and love all revealed like leaves slowly falling.

When novels are adapted to the screen there can be the feeling of parts missing or the story being rushed or glossed over, but Mountain Cry was a complicated story given depth, revealed slowly allowing the audience to become absorbed by the mystery of Hong Xia’s life.  Not surprising that the film won Shanghai International Film Festival Media Award Best Director Award and Shanghai International Film Festival Media Award Best Scriptwriter Award.

Although set in 1984, there was a classic feel to the story: old fashioned tools used for farming, handmade paper and painted writing, and the echoing sound of voices and drums like the heartbeat of the vast mountains.

The scenery was captured beautifully by cinematographer, Patrick Murguia.  And the soundtrack a fitting accompaniment (Nicolas Errèra) to this classic Chinese tale.  But it was the characters who were the focus, and their relationships.

Although a tragedy, the story was lifted by the simple warmth of Han Chong and his ginger kitten, but you need a quiet mood for this one.  And I have to say the film was slow at times.  But by the end, I was completely absorbed and pleasantly surprised by the mystery and beauty of the story.

A slow reveal but well worth the journey.

 

Mustang

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)

Director: Deniz Gamze ErguvenMustang

Screenplay: Deniz Gamze Erguven and Alice Winocour

Starring: Gunes Sensoy, Dogba Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Hayda Akdogan and Erol Afsin.

Originally screened in the Director’s Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

Set in Inebolu, a Black Sea village 600 kilometres from Istanbul, Mustang is about the freedom of five young sisters with wild hair trailing down their backs, with a glance and an innocent smile that can lead to so much trouble.

Brought up by their grandmother after the death of their parents at an early age, the sisters are suddenly, overnight, declared whores who need to be married off before they lose their virginity.

The girls are banned from going to school and bars are installed on the windows of the house: a prison built with good intentions.

The girls remind one of these wild horses, the Mustang, so free and shameless, so comfortable in their own skin facing towards the sun, socks stuffed down bright pink lacy bras and imagined sea shells found under a sea of blankets.

I can relate, growing up as the youngest of three girls on a farm in the middle of no-where.

Running through paddocks, playing chasie on hay bales, skinny dipping in the pool.  Idyllic days.  But society catches up.

Mustang depicts the fight between the new world and the tradition of the old and how the expectations of society can do so much damage to the individual.

Trapped and forced into marriage – what a nightmare.

What I enjoyed most about the film was the lack of vanity in the characters or the style of film.  It didn’t feel like I was watching a movie but was given a hidden window into the secret world of the young sisters.

Mustang doesn’t romanticize the characters, the behaviour felt authentic: these are wild young girls, not angels.

I loved how there was no pretention in showing how girls actually behave and the pressures that have to be tolerated to a point of change or destruction.

The beautiful sisters are so free and shameless because there’s nothing to be ashamed about being young and beautiful.  And the film captured this beauty so well, the girls unaware of people seeing their wild spirit, deciding they needed to be broken.

I was captivated by these young sisters, from start to finish.

As her first feature film, Deniz Gamze Erguven has given us a story that feels like it should already have been told, and I congratulate this fresh view of life that is usually hidden behind closed doors.

 

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