Take these posts as my foot prints.
Honestly, I’m not particularly drawn to survival dramas, but I felt compelled to explore this one since it’s nominated for the Oscar Best International Feature Film, representing Spain. As I delved into reviews and filmmaker interviews, I found myself more intrigued by the process of making such a large-scale movie than the film itself.
Continue reading “The Society of the Snow”
Picture yourself as the smartest and most courageous member of your family. You see a way out of the corner you’re all stuck in. But sadly, just because you’re a woman, your voice doesn’t count. That’s the tragedy of Leila. But as the title suggests, it’s not only Leila’s story; it’s also about her brothers.
Continue reading “Leila’s Brothers”
Still on my quest for movies featuring older women as protagonists, I stumbled upon “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” after thoroughly enjoying “The Lady in the Van”. Let me tell you, it’s a genuine and touching film (pun not intended).
This British comedy-drama premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. It follows a middle-aged woman who decides to hire a young sex worker to experience pleasure for the first time in her life. It’s a hot topic, for sure. 🙂
Continue reading “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”
Manele Labidi has been busy putting the final touches on her upcoming second feature film, ‘Queen Mom’ lately, but I recently had the chance to catch her debut, ‘Arab Blues.’ I enjoyed its light tone and how the nostalgic Italian songs created that breezy Mediterranean vibe.
Continue reading “Arab Blues”
Just have to share my latest obsession – Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat’s series, ‘El Encargado’ (The Boss) and ‘Nada’ (Nothing). Apparently, this Argentine filmmaker duo has a knack for creating characters that you shouldn’t really like but somehow end up totally loving. In both of the shows, I think the tone, comedic timing and dialogues are just brilliant. Also, I can’t help but feel the filmmakers’ confidence in their storytelling. They don’t rush things or overload the plot. It’s really refreshing and inspiring to see.
Continue reading “The Boss & Nothing”
So, here are some Irish folks not hanging out in ‘Belfast’ but ‘In America’ this time.😊 After checking out Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” I decided to dive into “In America,” a 2002 film that follows an Irish family’s journey to start afresh in Manhattan. Just like how Belfast echoes Branagh’s Irish childhood, “In America” pulls from Jim Sheridan’s own life experiences.
Continue reading “In America”
I came across this one while on the hunt for ‘movies with a grumpy old lady.’ If only there were a sub-genre for that. 😊 The 2015 British film ‘The Lady in the Van’ is an adaptation of the acclaimed writer Alan Bennett’s memoir of the same title. It delves into the peculiar relationship between Alan Bennett and the eccentric old lady living in her van parked in his driveway for fifteen years. The memoir transitioned first into a stage play and then into a movie, both under the direction of Bennett’s long-time collaborator Nicholas Hytner.
Continue reading “The Lady in the Van”
I was about to watch Gaspar Noe’s Vortex based on some positive reviews, but somehow I ended up hooked on this French mini TV series I hadn’t even heard of before. I might have gotten caught in a little vortex there. 🙂 Luckily, it turned out to be a satisfying watch, packing in almost everything I was after: romance, time travel, and police procedural elements, all in full swing.
The 2022 French mini-series Vortex, directed by Slimane-Baptiste Berhoun, follows a police officer who reconnects with his late wife thanks to a virtual reality glitch. He attempts to shed light on the mysterious accident that took her life 27 years earlier. Across the six episodes, we navigate between 1998 and 2025, and what really grabs you is the butterfly effect—a concept we know from films like Back to the Future and, well, The Butterfly Effect. Changing something in the past inevitably has consequences in the present, creating a powerful dilemma for the main character, especially when considering the fact that we usually have to let go of the past to have what we have now.
Apparently, this series is the brainchild of the acclaimed French author Franck Tilliez. Iris Bucher, one of the producers, reveals in an interview that Tilliez initially cooked up this concept as a crime series with looped episodes. However, when it wasn’t picked up by various broadcasters, the project was put on hold for about seven years. (I feel the frustration, Tilliez!) Given a second chance, and with Tilliez unavailable, screenwriters Camille Couasse and Sarah Farkas took over, introducing juicy elements like a love triangle and virtual reality. France 2 committed to the development, and after being broadcasted there, it’s now streaming on Netflix.
It reminds me of the 2000 movie Frequency, where a son reconnects with his late father through radio waves. Seems like technology evolves, but our itch to fix the past remains steadfast.
I guess I am quite in awe of the fact that Kenneth Branagh not only made adaptations of Agatha Christie’s works such as ‘Death on the Nile’, ‘Haunting in Venice’, and ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ in the past few years, but also successfully created ‘Belfast’.
Continue reading “Belfast”
Being a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro, I just had to drop by and say, “The book beats the movie!” 🙂 But on a serious note, I admit translating the magical atmosphere, deep layered character emotions, and Ishiguro’s distinctive language to the screen is no small feat, as Ishiguro himself humorously noted in an interview, saying, “I try to write un-filmable novels.”
Continue reading “Never Let Me Go”
A Screenwriter’s Journey 