Film Difficulty 3

To help you ease your way into our world, we have devised a the film difficulty ranking system to rate the difficulty of each film reviewed on our site. The easiest to watch films (the Rom-Coms and Superhero flicks that you watch anyway) will have a rating of 1. Foreign language films automatically add one point, as do black and white films, and films with strange and hard to follow plots. Welcome to Film Difficulty 3.

Film Difficulty Ranking 3: More of a challenge for those familiar with foreign films. Level 3 is like a mix between an intriguing European mime artist and your most interesting and demanding school teacher.

If you’ve mastered these films, move onto Film Difficulty Ranking 4.

No (Chile) – Probably The Best Film About the Fall of a Modern Dictator

No Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

No is probably the best film about the fall of a modern dictator (Pinochet in Chile).

Why Watch No?

To see what life was like in a country where police brutality was not just normal, but expected: Pinochet’s Chile
If you work in advertising and want to see how you could change the world
Because it’s got Gael Garcia Bernal in the lead role, that guy in Motorcycle Diaries, Amores Perros, Desierto, and many more
It’s another great film from Pablo Larrain; for more check out Neruda, Jackie, and Tony Manero

The Breakdown

It’s 1988 in Chile, and Chile is still being lorded over by Pinochet, one of the world’s most repressive dictators. After 16 years in power, growing international pressure has forced Pinochet and the Chilean government to hold a vote where the public can vote ‘No’ for a democracy or ‘Yes’ for another 8 years of Pinochet. Gael Garcia Bernal plays Rene, one of Chile’s top advertising professionals who has been given the opportunity to lead the ‘No’ campaign to end the Pinochet dictatorship.

You’ll see that the team behind the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns use completely different advertising tactics. Whilst the ‘Yes’ campaign goes for very obvious propaganda messages depicting Pinochet as a national hero, the ‘No’ campaign message simply tries to depict ‘freedom’ (kind of like your typical Coke or Pepsi ad). If you don’t know anything about advertising, this film is worth watching just to see how people use adverts to influence people.

You’ll also notice that this film looks different from most. To film it, Pablo Larrain used 3/4 inch Sony U-matic magnetic tape, which some might recognise from old TV news shows. It’s grainy look gives the film’s storyline more credibility as it makes it appear more like a documentary film. It made me believe that Rene was an actual person, and that this whole film was based on truth. In reality, it’s only based on a true story.

Image result for no film

Conclusion

No is shot well, has a great story line, and you’ll learn something about Chilean history. It was also nominated for an Academy Award so I’m not wrong.

The Death of Mister Lazarescu – A Dying Man in Real-Time

The Death of Mister Lazarescu Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Meet Mister Lazarescu. He’s an old man living in an Communist-era apartment block in Bucharest with some cats. Problem is, he’s an alcoholic, and his last few drinks are sending him over the edge of life. Join him in his last few hours as he navigates the bureaucratic Romanian health system. It’s his last nightmare and one to put you off drinking for life.

From: Romania, Europe
Watch: Trailer, Watch on YouTube, Buy on Amazon, Watch on Vudu
Next: I, Daniel Blake, Beauty and the Dogs, Cosy Dens

Underground – A Madcap Satire of 50 years of Yugoslav History

Underground Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Underground?

For a crazy Yugoslav history lesson
If you’re a fan of eccentric comedy – also found in Italian films, Luis Estrada satires, and Monty Python
If you like a good old Brass Band

From: Serbia, Europe
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Mubi
Next: Dear Diary, Cosy Dens, The Marriage of Maria Braun

Silvered Water, Syria Self Portrait (Syria)

Silvered Water Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

How much do you know about the Syrian Civil War? Here’s an opportunity to learn how the crisis started and to see footage made by different sides of the crisis. Silvered Water is made from 1001 images shot by the Syrian people across the opening years of the Civil War. You will be presented with an array of evidence so you can debate the Syrian crisis with your friends and family.

Why Watch Silvered Water?

You want to know a bit more about why the Syrian refugee crisis started
Witness revolution and war from first hand mobile footage
Unlike some films, nothing is hidden from Silvered Water – the violence, the torture, the dead bodies are all real
To see how important film is in documenting history

The Breakdown

This film is a compilation of 1001 images shot by Syrian men and women. It starts with footage of a dripping water tap surrounded by rubble. Next we are shown a newborn baby being washed and a man in underwear crouched in a corner. The half-naked man is beaten and tortured. He is the one that wrote “Topple the Regime” in graffiti. The authorities tell his parents to “forget about him,” to “go make another one,” and if they can’t to “send their women to him”. This is the start of the Syrian crisis.

Silvered Water is a documentary of the Syrian crisis as recorded on the mobile phones of the population. Nothing is spared from the camera as phone cameras explore dead bodies lying in the street. The close-ups of the wounded and the deceased may seem a bit over-the-top just like a gory Tarantino film. However, this is real life, the camera focuses on the violence as if in disbelief of what is happening in Syria. The gore is shown as it is part of life in Syria, and it must be shown to shock people around the world into awareness.

The amazing part of Silvered Water is that it is constituted from footage of both sides of the crisis. Everyone is making their ‘movie’ of the events. As a result, Silvered Water, is a combination of the cinema of the murderer, the victim, the poetic, the realist, and more. It documents the perspectives of the nation.

Conclusion

The makers of Silvered Water want people to watch this film to then talk and debate about it. The narrator describes an acquaintance who asked for his help in setting up a film club. To start a film club, all you need is to watch a film and then talk and debate. Silvered Water is not meant to be watched alone. The makers want as many people watching it to then talk about the issues together.

The directors also imply that everyone should add their story or opinion to the film’s thread of images. They have documented the cinema of the murderer, the victim, the poetic, and the realist, but we must add the final piece.

The Structure of Crystal (Poland) – Contemplate Life with Two Old Friends

The Structure of Crystal Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Be a fly on the wall as two old friends meet up after years have passed. The serene setting and conversation about the meaning of life will keep you feeling warm and calm like a mug of hot tea. Watch it here (Amazon via Mubi channel) and read more about it below.

Why watch The Structure of Crystal?

Experience life and it’s simple pleasures
Contemplate the meaning of life
Hear a beautiful soundtrack
If you’re a fan of early Ingmar Bergman (see Wild Strawberries for a perfect comparison – read more here)

The Breakdown

All we can see are two people standing on the distant horizon. They’re silhouetted against the pale sky and snow covered landscape. Their isolation is broken by a horse pulled sleigh which slowly makes it way past them. You can tell it’s going to be a slow and serene film; if that’s what you’re looking for you’re in for a treat.

The film takes place in rural Poland. The two people in the opening scene are Jan and his wife, both of them waiting for Jan’s old friend Marek to arrive. They studied Physics together at university but their paths have diverged since. Jan got married and moved to the remote countryside whilst Marek carried on studying physics and now travels the world with his degree.

The director perfectly captures the awkwardness of two old friends seeing each over for the first time in years. There’s lots of hugs and small talk, but neither of them really say anything to each other apart from how happy they each are to see each other. The feeling is perfectly captured when they all sit quietly at the dinner table not saying anything. The only thing you can hear is the clashing cutlery and the ticking clocks, emphasising that Marek’s stay is limited.

“I thought I had so much to tell you but now you’re hear I don’t know what to say”

Jan can’t break the small talk or silence, but Marek assures him their old friendship will resume. They eventually get round to talking about their past and their future. Both of them try to encourage the other to adopt their lifestyle.

Ticking Clocks and Ingmar Bergman

If you’re a fan of Ingmar Bergman, you might find some similarities between this film and Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (if you haven’t seen Wild Strawberries you need to watch it here on Amazon).

Both film’s have a similar contemplative feel and serene style. Furthermore, they both explore our search for meaning in life, which in both films becomes especially significant as the professor in Wild Strawberries feels himself getting closer to death, and in this film as the ticking clocks mark the short time Jan and Marek get with each other to catch up. Ultimately, they each reflect on their own choices and find peace with the path’s they have chosen.

Image result for structure of crystal film

Conclusion

I love contemplative and serene films, but I never feel like I can do them justice in writing. Like the early Ingmar Bergman films, The Structure of Crystal is all about the tone of the film. It’s a tone which somehow makes you calm and receptive but not sleepy. It’s just like listening to someone read you an interesting book when you’re tucked up in bed.

Watch The Structure of Crystal here (Amazon). And for more similar films, check out Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and Seventh Seal.