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 love great film or want to be guided around 1970s Mexico City, you’ve come to the right place. Roma is one of the best films you’ll see this century. It’s stream of consciousness narrative feels like life and memory, and the acting and cinematography is a visual treat. Open you’re mind and immerse yourself in Roma.
Battle of Algiers is brilliant. If you want to feel like you’re part of the revolution against colonialism, this is the closest you can get. Shot on location in Algiers and using non-actors, it’s one of the first and best examples of cinéma vérité – a film that feels like a real documentary. So dive in and experience both sides of this war – the French colonizers and the Algerian freedom fighters. You’ll come out a more enlightened revolutionary.
Soviet-made Cuban films don’t do half measures, they go all in. I am Cuba is no exception. The cinematography is more stylish than most films you’ll ever see and some of the shots are truly unforgettable. Add in Cuban history from the 1920s to the 1950s and you’ve got one truly epic film.
If you’ve ever dreamed of falling in love under the Italian sun, this film may just take you to dreamland. Call Me by Your Name has all the ingredients for a perfect romantic film. It’s got sun, fresh food, beautiful people, lakes and rivers, and freedom. All you’ll need is a glass of wine.
Why Watch Call Me by Your Name?
If you like sensual romance (also see Guadagnino’s I Am Love)
To escape to the beautiful Italian summer
It’s been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars
If you like coming-of-age stories
The Breakdown
Call Me by Your Name starts with 17 year old Elio. He’s chilling in his parents house in Northern Italy with his girlfriend Marzia for his summer holidays. A few seconds later, Oliver arrives, a grad student from Elio’s dad’s university class in America. He’s come to Europe for the summer to help Elio’s dad with his research and lap up the Italian sun.
The Italy we see in Call Me by Your Name is the Italy we dream of. The sun is forever shining and the warm colours almost give off the heat. As this is set in the 1980s, before Internet, there are no phones or computers as we know today, and these guys don’t watch TV. Instead, they swim, play volleyball, lounge in the sun, eat Al-fresco, and read. It’s pretty much the ideal summer holiday – everyone is happy and relaxed. Plus, the beautiful environment heightens the beauty of everyone within it.
It’s also no surprise that Elio and Oliver are attracted to each other. Everything you see in their environment symbolizes the ripeness of their relationship. There are trees laden with ripe fruit, flies buzzing on and off the screen (you can always hear them), and fresh water. In addition, there’s the constant sun. The environment is a metaphor for their growing love for each other, identifying it before they do.
Whilst the sensual environment reveals their growing love to the audience, Elio and Oliver are still unaware of each other’s feelings. Instead, they performing an intellectual mating ritual in which they both try to show-off their proficiency in high art to the other. Firstly, Oliver manages to prove his intelligence by correcting Elio’s dad on the origins of the word ‘apricot.’ Secondly Elio gets his chance to show-off when he plays the guitar and piano. The ‘mating ritual’ finally ends when Oliver admits defeat and asks Elio if there is anything he doesn’t know which gives Elio the confidence to subtly declare his love.
Conclusion
If you’ve seen any of Guadagnino’s other films, you’ll know that he’s a master of sensuality. In Call Me by Your Name he doesn’t disappoint. It’s the perfect coming-of-age story of Elio’s first love. You’ll almost forget it’s a gay romance (if Oliver doesn’t keep repeating ‘let’s be good’) as this film is first and foremost a beautiful romance.
If you’ve seen Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan you need to see Loveless. If you haven’t seen Leviathan, what are you waiting for? Loveless is another dark drama from Zvyagintsev of epic proportions. It’s comparable to one of Shakespeare’s dark plays updated for the digital age. Plus, it’s not just a reflection of Russian society, but a reflection of all our lives.
Why Watch Loveless?
You can’t find better drama than this
It’s a story you usually don’t see on screen – what happens after the happy marriage – and yes, it’s dark
It’s the follow up to Zvyagintsev’s award winning Leviathan and it’s already won the Cannes Jury prize, you don’t have to rely on our opinion!
The setting! The snow and empty spaces make it even more chilling!
The Breakdown
Loveless starts with snow. It makes the town it falls on seem more serene; the calm before the storm. It’s the end of school for the day and the camera follows 12 year old Alexey as he walks home on his own. He finds a strip of police ‘do not cross’ tape and waves drags it along with him through the snow before throwing it into a leafless tree. Unlike his parents, he’s just a regular kid.
The opening 5 minutes of the film are focused on Alexey, but then the film is hi-jacked by his parents. When Alexey returns home, we find his parents arguing (they’re getting divorced). From their argument, we follow them through a day of each of their lives at work and their affairs for the next 30 minutes of the film. Alexey’s parents are doubly selfish. They steal the film’s narrative from him and also indulge in their own self-interests whilst they have the limelight. They force Alexey out of the film.
You may also notice the abundance of empty spaces and silence in the movie. The director may linger on a shot after the character has left or remain fixed on a character for slightly longer than normal. Zvyagintsev left these visual and audible pauses for us to give us time to think. This allows us to become ‘co-authors’ as we have time to add in our own interpretations. You’ll see that whilst Loveless is a Russian film, the message is relevant to all of us – making it possible to interpret.
Conclusion
Loveless was one of the stand out films for me at the London Film Festival 2017. Just like Leviathan (which you should watch if you haven’t already) it’s storytelling is at the top level. On top of that, the visuals are a perfect compliment – they make the dark bits of the story darker, and offer us breaks to become co-authors.
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