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The Wild Pear Tree Mini Review

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Film Block: Director : Nuri Bilge Ceylan Cinematography : Gökhan Tiryaki Produced by : Zeynep Özbatur Atakan Screenplay : Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan There is only a select handful of movies that have the right to be three hours long, and The Wild Pear Tree is not one of them. Written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, this movie is nothing more than a pedantic screen rendition of a classroom lecture that is torturous to watch. I saw the premiere of this at Cannes this year, and within the first twenty minutes, both people on either side of me were asleep, and many were getting up and walking out of the theater. An hour and a half into the movie, I too decided to walk out. While the landscapes and setting of the film were gorgeous, that’s about the only good thing I have to say about it. The entire film was just dialogue, with conversations between the characters that would last up to fifteen to twenty minutes. There was no discernible plotline from what I coul
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Girl Review

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Film Block: Director: Lukas Dhont Screenplay: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens Cast: Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter Written and directed by Lukas Dhont, the film Girl is a view into the life of an adolescent transgender girl, Lara (played by Victor Polster), who is attending a dance academy while trying to cope with the fact that she was born in the wrong body. When the film picks up, she and her father are in the process of meeting with a doctor to prepare for a surgery that will change Lara’s genitalia into that of a male. Lara (played by Victor Polster) is excited for the surgery, but continues to have setbacks throughout the film that eventually drive her over the edge and lead to a graphic and emotional ending. This film gets a few things right, but overall misses the mark on one huge aspect: the pacing. The first two thirds of it were rather boring and repetitive; the scenes would rotate between Lara in her dance class at school, to Lara living at home and looking dis
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5/20/18

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The last day of the festival! Today was much better than yesterday because I saw one fantastic film fairly early in the day and decided to leave it at that and not ruin my day with another movie that could possibly be bad. The film I saw was BlackkKlansman, and it was absolutely fantastic. The issues that it tackled are ones that I was already passionate about before the film came out, and I'm so glad that someone tackled it in such an in-your-face, effective, and professional way. The film was amazing, and when the American flag came up on the screen at the end of the movie, it was dead quiet in the theater. Like, absolutely silent. It made me so happy that everyone was listening and was so enraptured and moved by the movie that they were so quiet when it ended. After that, Courtney and I got some food and headed to the beach to eat it, and I got ANOTHER hotdog stolen by a seagull while we were there. That's the second time that's happened on this trip. The bird pulled
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5/19/18

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The two movies I saw today were Dogman and The Wild Pear Tree. I watched Dogman with Faith after a relaxing morning in the Ampav with the usual free coffee and beach views. I didn't love the movie, but I could definitely appreciate it for what it was -- the acting was very good, as well as the pacing, even though it took a fairly unexpected turn near the end. I could sense that there was some greater purpose or theme of the movie that I was missing after watching it, but I was too mentally exhausted to try to figure it out. So overall, an "eh" from me. It was okay. The rest of the day was pretty chill as well -- I just wrote my review in the Ampav and waited until it was time to get dressed for the premiere of The Wild Pear Tree. I had begged early in the morning and was able to get two tickets to the premiere since Courtney and I hadn't been to one yet, so all we had to do was wait until around five to get dressed and head to the red carpet. The Wild Pear Tree
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Angel Face Mini Review

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Film Block: Director: Vanessa Filho Producers : Carole Lambert, Marc Missonier Cast : Marion Cotillard, Alban Lenoir, Ayline Aksoy-Etaix, Stephane Rideau, Amelie Daure, Mario Magelhaes, Joel Boudjelta Director Vanessa Filho’s film Angel Face premiered at Cannes this year and had both good and bad aspects. Marion Cotillard plays a party- and drug-heavy irresponsible mother living with her eleven-year-old daughter Elli on the French Riviera. She runs off with some guy partway through the movie, leaving Elli to fend for herself. Elli seeks comfort from a young man who visits their apartment complex, and stays with him until her mom returns. The cinematography and acting were fairly good, but the plot was a bit disjointed with too many loose ends that were never tied up. It was one big engine rev for a conclusive ending that never came. I walked out of the theater thinking that the film was fine, but I didn’t understand what it was trying to tell me. It didn’t have any overarch
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Little Tickles Review

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Film Block: Writer : Andrea Bescond Director : Andrea Bescond Executive Producers : Francis Kraus, Denis Pineau-Valencienne Cast : Andrea Bescond, Karin Viard, Clovis Cornillac, Pierre Deladonchamps, Grégory Montel, Carole Franck, Gringe, Ariane Ascaride, Cyrille Mairesse, Leonie Simaga Little Tickles opens with a long take of the main character, Odette (played by Andrea Bescond) dancing in an all-black landscape. Her routine is well-danced, but jerky and rough, as if she is in pain or being tortured. These dances occur a few other times throughout the film, and are a manifestation of Odette’s conscience. They show the audience what’s going on inside Odette’s mind as her present-day self (who is in her thirties) recounts the terrors of her childhood to her therapist. Throughout the film, she walks through memories, dances, and fantasies as she tries to cope with the fact that she was raped and sexually abused by one of her father’s best friends for her entire childhood.
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5/18/18

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I was very disappointed in both of the movies that I saw today. I saw Girl and  Cold War (finally), and I didn't like either of them. I really hated Girl, partly because it was slow and repetitive for the majority of the film, but mostly because it ended with a very graphic scene that was hard to watch. Well, technically I didn't watch it, because I closed my eyes and covered my ears, but I still knew what happened. Maybe it's just because I really hate graphic gore and violence, but the movie did not jive well with me at all. It also didn't sum up the plot at all at the end -- it just kind of left us hanging, which I always hate. I also didn't like Cold War very much, even though everyone else seemed to love it. It was just over-hyped too much by my friends, so I had pretty high expectations going into the theater. But even so, I don't think I would have liked it that much if I hadn't expected it to be great. The music and cinematography were good, as w
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