Archive for the ‘Wadjda’ Category
The Velvet Café’s top list of 2013
Bloggers make their top lists of the year earlier and earlier. Publishing them in the beginning of December is not unusual. I insist on waiting until the year is over before I do anything about my list. However this year I’m a little later than usual, for no good reason. I’ve just been busy and haven’t come around to it.
I don’t expect anyone else to be particularly interested in my list at this point. But I don’t make it for you, I make it for me, because it gives me a sense of order and because I’ve found that those year lists are pretty useful as reference material. So here I go anyway. Late, but dedicated.
The rules
My rules are the following: movies that either had their first theatrical release in Sweden or were released directly for DVD can be taken into consideration. Screenings at film festivals don’t count, since they’re so limited and out of reach for most of us, including me.
If you wonder why I haven’t included a certain movie, chances are that I haven’t seen it yet. Here are some examples of movie which will be 2013 films as far as I am concerned, either I’ve seen them or not: Her, Only Lovers Left Alive, American Hustle, August: Osage County, Inside Llewy Davis.
Needless to say this was hard. Like super hard. And if you asked me tomorrow, the list would have shifted into a different shape. It’s mood relatd.
And now ladies and gentlemen – bring on the list!
Honorable mentions
First a few movies that didn’t make it into the actual list but which I want to give a nod:
The Bling Ring
I felt emotionally disconnected from Sofia Coppola’s movie, but it worked for me at an intellectual level.
Liv and Ingmar
This might be old news for Bergman experts, but to me this documentary put the relationship into a new light.
World War Z
The film is pale compared to the book it’s based on, with little more than the title in common. But I give it as much as that the mass scenes with zombies were awesome.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Another round of Battle Royale. It was enjoyable but I hope they’ll get do something different in part three. This was basically more of the same.
Foxfire
One of three movies this year about gangs with criminal girls. My initial sympathies for them faded pretty quickly.
Trance
OK, I admit that it was forgettable even if I dislike the word. But it was fun as long as it lasted
30-50
About Time
It was a milk chocolate movie, for days when all you want to do is to hide under a blanket and comfort yourself with huge amounts of TV and sweets.
Anna Karenina
Oh, the dresses. The dresses!
Django Unchained
Five minutes was all it took for Django to win me over. Those five minutes didn’t just introduce the heroes – the bounty hunter Dr Schultz and his to-be partner Django, former slave. It also contained the main features of the movie I was about to see: a well balanced mix of drama, comedy and stylish, choreographed over-the-top violence.
Don Jon
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut as a director holds a lot of promise and if he decides to go on with a career not only appearing in movies, but also making them, I’ll be in line to watch them.
The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug
A little bit better than the first one, partly thanks to Tauriel, badd-ass elf woman.
Mood Indigo
The first half of the movie is just one long visual crazy party. It’s like having sparkling champagne straight into your veins
Mud
The gaze of a child gave it the shimmer of a fairy tale. Next time I’d love to see a female protagonist though.
Oblivion
Many claimed Oblivion was bad in different ways. I didn’t notice. I was too busy having fun watching it.
Only God Forgives
Only surface? Perhaps. But what a surface!
Pacific Rim
I didn’t have a good excuse. But I fell in love with it nevertheless.
Promised Land
Gus van Sant’s latest movie just disappeared. I wonder why. Could it be about politics?
Philomena
Judi Dench defies the natural laws. She only gets better the older she gets.
Ruby Sparks
From my review:
“Ruby Sparks is by no means a profound movie, but I thought it was pretty damned fun, and considering how picky I am with “fun”, that is high praise. But there’s more to it than just the light hearted comedy; it puts its finger on easy it is to get into a mode where we try to reconfigure our loved ones and how unwise such attempts can be.”
Rush
This was surprisingly enjoyable – even for someone who couldn’t care less about formula one.
Side Effects
This made me think of director such as Alfred Hitchcock. It’s got the ingredients: a conspiracy, a battle of wills, cunning plans that are so entertaining that you forgive them for being implausible and women who are as dangerous as they’re beautiful. Besides it’s got Jude Law, who keeps aging with grace and dignity. In the absence of James Stewart, he’s a perfect fit for the role.
Silver Linings Playbook
This film did for mental illness what 50/50 did for cancer: took a bit of the drama out of it with humour.
Spring Breakers
The party went on and on and I didn’t know what point it tried to make. But it was pretty.
Tom at the Farm
Xavier Dolan, the Canadian wonder, made it again. He’s got talent you could die for.
Warm Bodies
Braiiins! I was charmed.
Wadjda
A punk girl in Saudia Arabia and her drem of a cycle. Infuriating with a little rim of hope.
10-30
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The story of Hushpuppy – my hero!
Behind the Candelabra
It was a shame that this was marketed as a TV movie.
Blue is the Warmest Color
This movie quickly got a reputation for its sexual content. But far more interesting than the sex scenes is to see how the relationship evolves and what a struggle it can be to overcome class differences.
Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett was magnificent. The movie as such was good too. Regardless of the debate about Woody Allen’s person.
Café de Flore
A delicious movie for everyone who loves the bittersweet. Strangely it never got any cinematic release in Sweden; it went straight for DVD.
Frankenweenie
A 3D movie in black and white? Not a hit with the big audience, it appears. I was alone in the theatre watching this, which didn’t make it less enjoyable. Oh, Sparky! Movie dog of the year!
Frances Ha
Some movies have a “soul”, if you get what I mean. Others don’t. Frances Ha has it. And it has New York City. And Greta Gerwig, who is wonderful.
Fruitvale Station
From my review:
“I was reminded of that behind every news headline you see about someone dying in a crime or violence related incident, there’s also a hidden story about the people involved. There are children who lose their parents, mothers who lose their sons, partners who lose their loved ones. And each one of them is a human being, not as different from me as I may think as I throw a glance at them from the other side of the platform at the subway station.”
The Great Gatsby
I thank Baz Luhrmann. God knows how many more years I would have waited to read the book if it wasn’t for the beautiful, sparkling and loving (and actually surprisingly faithful) introduction he made with his movie.
Hotell
I’ve seen it twice now. This is probably the funniest Swedish movie of 2013 – and at the same time it’s very gripping. Remake, anyone?
The Impossible
You enter the theatre annoyed by an issue with your computer, and you leave it with tears and a new spark in your eyes, grateful of what you have. Grateful of your family, grateful of your health, grateful of living in security. Grateful of being one of the winners in the lottery of life.
The Master
From my review:
“ The Master is the kind of movie that begs you for revisits. I would happily come back again to it, to enjoy the cinematography, which is stunningly beautiful, even if you haven’t had the opportunity to see it in 70 mm format, to once again be captured by the score and – above all – the outstanding acting performances.”
Les Miserables
From my review:
“Les Misérables is big, beautiful and shamelessly sentimental. I can understand that it’s not for everyone, but it is for me.
I left the theatre, satisfied as if I’d just had a delicious five-course dinner with the freedom song of the rebels ringing in my ears. This is a meal I’d be happy to eat again.”
Lore
A movie about nazi children that manages to not sort people into boxes. It stayed with me for a long time after watching it.
Prisoners
From my review:
“When I left the theatre I felt exhausted and a bit bruised. It’s not just because the running time is long (over 2.5 hours); it’s also that there’s so much to take in as a viewer during those hours. I couldn’t have been more tired if I had been binge watching an entire season of a TV series.”
The Reunion (Återträffen)
This film about bullying really got me thinking about what took place at my high school so many years ago.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Beautiful lens flares and Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. Perfect.
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polley took a trip into the family swamp of myths and lies and got us all thinking about the stories we tell.
The Way Way Back
Growing up can be a pain, especially in the neighbourhood of jerks like Trent. But it gets better. But it gets better.
We are the Best!
I was a punk rocker in the early 80s, so basically this is a movie about me. How could I possibly not love it?
1-10
10. Captain Phillips
Why Tom Hanks didn’t get an Oscar nomination for this is incomprehensible.
9. The Broken Circle Breakdown
Leave your inner cynic at home.
8. The Place Beyond the Pines
A hard hitting, beautifully constructed drama in three acts. I bought each one of them.
7. Zero Dark Thirty
Opening in the very beginning of the year, this movie made such an impression that it lasted through the entire year to appear in the top 10. Not bad.
6. Cloud Atlas
It breaks my heart to think about how badly this movie made in the box office so I avoid thinking about that part. I’ve seen this movie twice now, and it only gets better. This was a bold and beautiful movie.
5. The Act of Killing
If you’ve seen it, you know why I’m tempted to give up on the future of humanity. I can’t recall any documentary that is anywhere near as disturbing, as horrifying, as nauseating as this one was. The villains are unspeakably evil and make the bad guys in ordinary action movies seem like decent people in comparison.
4. 12 Years a Slave
From my review:
“This is so much more than a monument over people’s suffering in the post, more than a history lesson about something that you “should know about”. It’s also a movie about the present, about the uglier features of the human nature. It points out mechanisms that are still in use if we open our eyes. And this is what makes it such a tough – and important – movie to watch, relevant not only to an American audience.”
3. Before Midnight
With every conversation another layer is added. I want to grow old with the Before-movies.
2. The Hunt
This movie hit me like a punch in my guts when I watched it in the beginning of 2013. I haven’t recovered completely yet. What’s most troubling about this film isn’t how the neighbours, family and friends treat xx when wrongly is accused of child molesting. It’s that I can’t rule out that I would do the same if I was in their situation.
1. Gravity
Am I a shallow person for loving Gravity slightly more than 12 Year a Slave? Maybe. But is my comfort blanket and biggest fear in equal measures. I neglect it, I ignore it, I forget about it at times. But it’s always present. Gravity reconnected me to space, and thus to myself. Besides it was a hell of a ride and I’ll never think of 3D the same way again. I don’t regret putting it as my number one. That’s how I felt about it, and there’s nothing I can do about it. My only regret is not watching it multiple times in a theatre when I had the chance.
My international 2013 list
Finally: here is another version of my top 10 list, where I’ve removed the films that are considered 2012 releases in most countries and included the ones that I’ve had the chance to see.
1. Gravity
2. The Hunt
3. Before Midnight
4. 12 Years a Slave
5. The Act of Killing
6. The Place Beyond the Pines
7. The Broken Circle Breakdown
8. Captain Phillips
9. Blue is the Warmest Colour
10. Prisoners
If you’re not a feminist already, you’ll be one after watching Wadjda
My 19 year old daughter announced to me from London that she’d had a tattoo made on her ankle. The motive was the female symbol, the circle with a cross beneath it. “I know that I’m going to be a feminist for the rest of my life”, she explained to her mother, who usually is a sceptic towards tattoos, at least when it involves her own children.
As time has passed, her mother has come to terms with the tattoo and even started appreciate it. It seems to help my daughter to stay strong and remain sane in a society that hasn’t come as far as she’s used to in terms of gender equality. She recently reported about yet another bad incident at the gym, which left her upset and infuriated. “Days like this I look at my tattoo to remind myself that I’m a strong, ass-kicking woman”.
If my daughter founds London somewhat misogynistic, I wonder what she’d make of living in Saudi Arabia. The level of oppression that the Saudi Arabian women experience every day makes the everyday sexism we encounter in Europe seem trivial.
The reason why I’m bringing this up is that I recently watched the Saudi Arabian film Wadjda.
A miracle
It’s a bit of a miracle that this film could be made at all in a country where there isn’t such a thing as a theatre (I reckon it’s considered a “sin” of some sort) and where women spend most of their days hiding, behind a veil or behind curtains in houses in order not to be seen by men. Not only is this movie about women, and particularly about one girl, Wadjda, who doesn’t silently accept the role that has been given her, but rebels against it in her own way. It’s also directed by a woman, Haifaa Al-Mansour, who in order to be able to do the outdoor shootings had to hide in a van and do the direction from a distance. I can only imagine what she’s gone through in order to make this film at all. She must have a mighty good tattoo somewhere on her body, providing her strength.
The story is simple. 10 year old Wadjda looks like most other 10 year old girls when she’s dressed in the mandatory veil and dark foot-long dress. But she wears converse shoes, listens to pop music at home and is great at playing video games – all things that are considered unsuitable for girls. Her rebellious attitude regularly puts her into trouble at school.
One day her life takes a new turn as she sees a green bike for sale. She wants that bike badly, so she decides to raise the money herself, which ultimately brings her to a Koran reciting competition.
Upsetting
I found Wadjda pretty upsetting to watch. While I’ve read in the newspapers about the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and that they for instance aren’t allowed to drive a car, it gets much closer to you when you see it played out like this. Wadjda is of course an imaginative girl, but her experiences are shared with thousands and thousands of girls.
As much as I understand that people live in different ways in different countries and that we should respect cultural differences, not forcing a western lifestyle upon everyone, what we see here is completely unacceptable. There’s one half of the population keeping the other half as slaves and prisoners in their own homes, treating them as things rather than as human beings with equal rights.
This is exemplified, not in big gestures, but in small, but telling scenes, which on several occasions brought tears into my eyes. One example is when Wadjda talks to her mother about the family tree that her absent father has put on the wall. In vain she’s looking for her own name until her mother says that she should stop looking, because it’s only men on the tree, they’re the only ones that count. Wadjda then takes a note, writes down he own name and attaches it to the tree, as an additional leaf. But the next day she finds the note crumbled on the floor. Someone didn’t think she belonged on the tree.
A new hope
However there isn’t just misery in the film: there’s hope too. Wadjda is a survivor. She reminds me a bit of Hushpuppy from Beasts of the Southern Wild. It takes more the joint forces of the Saudi Arabian culture to break her.
And there are more Wadjdas out there, such as the women who recently drove cars against the law. Change is in the air and no matter what happens, they should never forget that they are strong, kick-ass women who rightfully claim their rights as human beings.
I hope they have tattoos on their ankles as a reminder.
Wadjda (Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia 2013) My rating: 4/5
The Velvet Café 