European Film

Best European Films

From Alfred Hitchcock to Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman to Jean-Luc Godard, Europe has birthed many of film’s greatest innovators. And that’s just to name a few. The more you dig into the world of European film, the more and more gems you find. Scroll down to find the best European films currently reviewed on FilmRoot, or pick a country if you know what you’re after:

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

101

All the Cities of the North (Bosnia) Life in an Abandoned Resort

All the Cities of the North Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

If you want to take a step into the world of slow film, I recommend reading our introduction here first. If you’re already a veteran of slow film, or are looking to tick off Bosnia from your film map All the Cities of the North may be for you. Let me know what you find!

Image result for all the cities of the north

Why Watch All the Cities of the North?

To see a film from Bosnia (a first for FilmRoot)
If you’ve seen a few of the Slow Films on FilmRoot and want to see more!
You’re not after a fast-paced thriller, but a reflective film where the most exciting moment is when a guy blows into a bottle
For something to meditate to

The Breakdown

This film opens with a still shot of a man sleeping in a tent. Slowly he starts to move and you see a compilation of shots showing him: sharpening a stick, eating berries off of a tree, and washing the tent. It’s not thrilling stuff, this is the world of slow film.

As per a typical slow film, there’s little dialogue and a lot of long shots in which nothing much happens. In this case, there is no dialogue, the talking you hear is a couple of contemplative narratives.

The film takes place at an abandoned holiday resort in the former Yugoslavia. Two men camp and live together on the resort and what we see is the mundane things they do there, from berry picking to washing.

The only break from the script comes in a few shots of one of the weird complexes that Yugoslavia built in Lagos. The complex in Lagos also now in disrepair, but like the Yugoslav complex, local people have started living here. Whether this is symbolic of the fall of communism or renewal is never clear.

Conclusion

If you’re interested in learning about slow film, I recommend starting with our introduction to slow film. If you’re already a veteran then you may find something in this film that I missed. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t able to watch this film in a whole sitting that I didn’t find as much in it as A Mysterious Object at Noon or From What is Before. If you find something interesting, please comment below!

102

By A Sharp Knife – International Competition – SBIFF

In By A Sharp Knife, Ludovit finds out that his son has just been murdered by a group of neo-Nazis on the night of his graduation. Despite clear video evidence of the murder, the killers are let free. Ludovit leads a fight for justice whilst carrying his own feelings of guilt at pushing his son away.

It’s a bleak film which deals with grief and a corrupt judiciary department. However, unfortunately it feels limp. It’s an investigative, fight for justice thriller without the actual investigation. There’s no investigation into the murderers – why they killed David, who’s supporting them and why, and how they’re managing to influence justice. As a result, the court room scenes are lifeless as it just ends up in one person’s word versus another. Meanwhile the music and appearance of the gang boss adds drama which feels artificial.

Furthermore, the characters are left incomplete. Firstly, there’s the relationship between Ludovit and his wife. They don’t speak much about the death and there’s no exploration of their grief or any strains on their relationship. Which is why their sudden split and later reunion feels too underdeveloped – there’s no foundations for either.

Secondly, there are too many characters which are only present for one or two scenes. They appear and disappear in crucial plot developments in the legal procedure at the police station and court room. Because we only see them for a few minutes at most, we never know who they are, what their role is, and why they’ve been included in the film. They only manage to muddy the progression of the investigation and film.

Lastly, there are an unnecessary amount of images of the Most SNP bridge in Bratislava. One or two shots of it are enough to situate the film in the city – if viewers don’t recognize it by then, they probably won’t by the tenth time.

The inspiration of By A Sharp Knife is shocking. However, the following investigation never really feels threatening enough or real enough to turn the film into a memorable thriller. The underdeveloped characters and relationships and overproduced court room finale make the film feel limp.

103

Anori – A Love Triangle Framed by Greenlandic Myths and Icy Landscape

Anori Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Anori’s sweeping shots of Greenland’s snow covered glaciers and mountains sets an awe-inspiring tone for the film. The ethereal landscape shots add to the mystique of the Greenlandic myths spoken between Anori and Inuk that frame Anori. However, the beauty of the set up and intriguing mythical framing unfortunately don’t carry through into the bulk of the movie, as a simple love story and black and white battle between good and evil fall flat.

From: Greenland, Europe/North America
Watch: Trailer, IMDb, Website
Next: Tanna, Romeo + Juliet, Miryza

The Breakdown

Anori starts with panoramic shots of Greenland’s glaciers and snow capped mountains backed by loud idyllic music, not too far off the airy sounds of Sigur Ros. It sets a tone of wonder and mystique that supports the dreamy scenes of Anori telling Inuk the Greenlandic myths she learnt as a child. With both of them dressed in white and shot brightly, these scenes feel like they’re happening in another realm.

From the mystical opening, the film cuts to Inuk falling into a coma after an accident at sea. After Anori flies to the hospital to be with him, the film jumps into the past to show us how Anori and Inuk met and how their love for each other grew.

Anori relies on images and sound to convey emotion. Like the characters in a Terrance Malick film, Anori and Inuk don’t say much to each other and appear completely in awe of each other. Their racing emotions are carried in the melodramatic soundtrack whilst their growing love is visualized in the newly blossoming Spring landscape. The images and music are nice, but not unique. They hit the expected notes of a romantic TV soap or telenovela, which makes the melodrama a bit obvious.

The lack of dialogue also hinders the film’s ability to develop the characters. As the flashback scenes are bathed in bright light and melodramatic music, we only see Anori and Inuk through rose-tinted glasses. We never see another side to their lives or hear about their backgrounds, so we can only take them as unquestionably good people. This portrayal becomes more problematic when the antagonist to their love is revealed and is presented as evil incarnate. Whilst the antagonist has his own problems, they are shown to be caused by them, forcing us to accept that he is simply evil, with no chance of redemption. The lack of dialogue and character development leaves the three main characters as a bit one-dimensional: they’re either good or evil, leaving no room for our interpretation.

What to Watch Next

If you’re looking for quick tragic young romance,the obvious place to go is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Baz Lurhmann’s adaption is the most extravagant. Tanna is a great modern day adaptation set within the Kastom tribe from Vanuatu.

Or if you’re looking for films which combine love and myths, check out the melodramatic Mirzya from northern India.

Or for more indigenous films from North America, check out Edge of the Knife or browse the NFB catalogue of free indigenous films and take your pick.

104

Stitches – International Competition – SBIFF

In Stitches, a mother restarts her own investigation into the death of her newborn son 18 years ago. She believes he was stolen from her and that he’s potentially still alive. However, she has to also prove the police, her friends, and her family that she’s not insane.

The film spends most of its run time following the mother’s investigation. While she’s investigating, the audience also has to figure out if she’s crazy or not. She’s not the most engaging or sympathetic of characters as she doesn’t say anything to her family or friends. Her face is always blank and emotionless. We can only start to sympathise with her when her investigations are vindicated in some of the records she uncovers.

From that point on, the way she has to try to convince her family and friends of the truths she’s uncovered follows the routine of horror films:

The main character knows something the audience doesn’t.
The audience learns/sees something which makes them understand the main character.
The main character struggles to convince her friends and family.
Eventually, they prove something to a close family member or friend.
That friend or family member shows/convinces everyone else.

However, unfortunately there few things that let down the film for me. Firstly, I was never sold on the main character. Her face is expressionless for the whole film, making her hard to sympathise with or care about. Her actions and movements in contrast to her blank expression were always very obvious and rigid, which made them appear forced and unnatural, drawing attention to her role as an actor.

Secondly, it would have been good to have more background about the mother. it’s not clear why the lady starts the film so depressed all of a sudden. 18 years have passed, so why is she not talking to her daughter and suddenly so concerned to find her missing son again. It would also be good to know why she was put into a mental asylum and how she managed to get out and reintegrate herself into her family and society.

Lastly, I found the editing and cinematography of Stitches a bit off-putting. There were a lot of scenes with one character in clear focus with everything in the background blurred. In itself this works, but these shots were often cut with mid range shots where everything was in focus, making the editing feel a bit disjointed.

Overall Stitches covered an interesting story, but because of the hard to sympathise with feature character, I never got fully engaged in her investigation.

105

My Little Sister – AFI Fest 2020

My Little Sister starts with two protagonists: Lisa and Sven. They’re twins, and evidently very close. Even when they’re shot apart, as in the opening scene, they’re still connected – it’s a shot of Lisa giving blood followed by a shot of Sven sleeping alone in a sanitized hospital room. She’s giving her blood to help him fight cancer.

Over the first half of the movie, the camera follows Lisa and Sven equally. However, the narrative balance between them becomes more lopsided as the film progresses. Coinciding with Sven’s deteriorating health, Lisa takes up more and more screen time. The movie becomes less about how Sven copes with cancer and more about how Lisa deals with it. Whilst it confirms his physical end, her assumption of the film’s focus also represents her inheriting Sven’s spirit. She takes on Sven’s stage presence (he was known for being a charismatic stage actor) and assumes some of his characteristics. She becomes more independent and creative than she appears at the beginning of the film.

One example of Lisa’s change is in her marital relationship. After she takes Sven abroad to her home in Switzerland, she starts questioning her life with her husband Martin. He’s a symbol of the soft patriarchy that has frozen her in a place she doesn’t want to be. She has compromised her creative career to move to a remote Swiss town for his advancement, but got no support in return. Instead of considering a return to Berlin with Lisa, Martin mansplains that living as a housewife abroad is in Lisa’s best interests. Her role for him is to fulfill his ‘happy family’ image at work functions. Lisa’s revolt against his soft patriarchy is triggered by the arrival of Sven. He’s a reminder of her previous ambitions that have been forgotten in her nuclear family life abroad.

There’s no doubt that My Little Sister is a sad family drama. The only respite seems to come from the classical opera music that replaces diegetic sound in and following the most hopeless scenes. However, looking at it positively, we follow a character that inherits the freedom to become a more independent character. So if you can brave a film featuring an intimate relationship with a relative fighting cancer, you’ll be able to appreciate My Little Sister.

Head to our AFI Fest Hub for more reviews and short films from AFI Fest 2020.