North America Best Films- Page 2 of 15

Icarus (U.S.) – Are All Sports Stars on Drugs?

Icarus Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

As the World Cup continues in Russia, the Tennis stars of the world play at Wimbledon, and the world’s premiere cycling tour kicks off in France, there’s no better time to watch Icarus. You’ll learn about the effects of doping, start doubting the even playing ground of all sports, before asking yourself: “what if they’re all doping?” To find out more about doping in sport and the political stakes of doping, watch Icarus on Netflix.

Related image

Why Watch Icarus?

If you’re a sports fan
If you like conspiracies
Meet a friendly Russian doping expert
Because it won the Best Documentary at the 2018 Academy Awards

The Breakdown

Meet Bryan Fogel. He’s an amateur cyclist who was on the brink of turning professional when he was hit with an injury. Whilst he didn’t get to cycle alongside Lance Armstrong like some of his friends, he still idolized the best cyclist from his country and generation for his 7 Tour de France wins. But, his view of professional cycling and Lance Armstrong came crashing down when Armstrong finally admitted to doping in 2013.

How did Fogel react? By choosing the toughest 7-day amateur cycling race available and riding it twice. Firstly, he rode it clean, and secondly on performance enhancing drugs to analyse their effect.

Long story short, he finished in the top 20 clean, but couldn’t improve his positioning whilst doping. But, what might have been a movie about how doping won’t immediately make you the best in any sport luckily doesn’t end there.

That’s because the guy helping Fogel to dope was the director of the Russian anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov. They both become friends as Rodchenkov helped him through his doping process. Rodchenkov gives him plenty of advice and laughs, and even hosts him at his home in Russia.

However, Rodchenkov later drops a bombshell: he oversaw the state-sponsored doping programme for the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. This confession turns Icarus into an investigation into the worldwide doping scandal that banned all Russian athletes from competing in the 2016 Olympics and rocked the sporting world.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Icarus is one of the most gripping documentaries out there, especially if you’re a sports fan. It’s got an interesting premise (how much does doping help) which sets up the story, but the twist lands in Fogel’s lap because of Rodchenckov’s confession. From there it’s the two of them versus the Russian State and the U.S. court system.

If you’re looking for more great documentaries, check out the equally thrilling Citizenfour about Edward Snowden. Like Icarus it contains a whistleblower vs. the state, but instead of sport’s doping, it’s a worldwide spy network.

Or, if you’re looking for a sport documentary which focuses more on the sport, check out the brilliant basketball documentary, Hoop Dreams. It’s like Boyhood meets Basketball.

Tremors – An Upper Class Satire as One Gay Family Man is Outed

Tremors Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Unfortunately Tremors carries the same name as a much more famous B-movie monster film from Hollywood. However, whilst they’re vastly different, they do share one thing in common: they’re both tongue-in-cheek comedies. Instead of laughing at the absurd huge worm like monsters in the 1990’s American version, you can laugh at the absurd response to the outing of a closeted gay man embedded in an upper class family life in Guatemala. It’s fun watching their stiff upper lips curl in long periods melodramatic weeping. The extremist gay conversion therapy that Pablo’s devout catholic family force him to attend to keep them together takes the satire to another level. All we can do is enjoy the levels the family goes to in order to hide their shame. Pablo’s out-and-proud lover is the only sane person in the film and watches Pablo’s family bewildered like us as it slowly disintegrates.

From: Guatemala, North America
Watch: Trailer, IMDb, JustWatch
Next: Dakan, Jose, I Am Not A Witch

Ixcanul (Guatemala) – Witness the Power of the Volcano

Ixcanul Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

In Ixcanul, the volcano is a reminder of the power that nature holds over our lives. Follow Maria as she tries to find a way to escape from her rural community and the looming presence of the volcano.

Why Watch Ixcanul?

Hear some Kaqchikel – there’s a lot of people in Central America who don’t speak Spanish
To spend some time in rural Guatemala
Arguably a great feminist film
Feel the constant presence of the volcano

The Breakdown

Ixcanul starts with a close up of a teenage girl’s face. Her mum appears behind her and starts tidying her hair, cleaning her face, and tying her colourful head band. Maria (the teenage girl) looks blankly at the camera. It’s clear that she’s being prepared for something that’s out of her control. Is she getting married? Whatever it is, she seems too stunned to care.

The next scene flashes back to the two of them feeding rum to some pigs to make them horny. The girl waits around and watches the pigs as they copulate. It’s clear she’s bored. The only things she does at home is help her mum with the cooking and care for their livestock. Therefore it’s not a surprise that she finds another teenager that works nearby to have sex with.

The only problem is that her parents have just promised her hand in marriage to their boss. He’s the reason why they’re living in their house with the things they own as he’s the one renting it to them. So when her mum finds out Maria is pregnant she tells her off for ‘not counting her moons’ and puts together a plan to try and get rid of the baby.

The Power of the Volcano

Whilst the volcano never erupts, it’s power is always felt through the film. In every shot of the landscape, it looms in the background as if it is controlling their lives. In a way it is.

It is the wall that is blocking them from prosperity. On their side of the volcano, there is nothing, just barren land and boredom. But on the other side there is the United States and Guatemala City which both promise a better life. Just look at Maria’s fiance who travels to see them once every few weeks. He comes from the other side of the volcano and owns a car, the house Maria and her family live in, and is able to speak Spanish. He is obviously from the same part of Guatemala as her (as he also speaks Kaqchikel), and therefore the same lifestyle, but he has managed to find prosperity by venturing past the volcano.

Image result for ixcanul

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Ixcanul has great cinematography and strong female characters ensnared by the power of the volcano. It is the blockade between their barren farm and a better life as on the other side is the city and the influence of the U.S. Can they make it to the other side?

If you want to see another film about a young kid/teenager trying to break the monotony of their life, check out Wadjda. It’s a coming-of-age story of a young girl in Saudi Arabia who is desperate to ride a bike, despite all the pressures on her to become a woman.

Or if you want to see more films about young adults trying to find a better life, check out:

Makala – a documentary about a young man trying to transport a bike load of charcoal across arid landscape to be able to buy a new roof for his house.
City of God – the heart-racing action film about a few kids trying to escape the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
Beijing Bicycle – the story of a teenager struggling to make a bit of change as a bicycle delivery boy in Beijing.

Silent Light – The Emotional Burden of Love

Silent Light Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

It’s obvious Silent Light is going to be a beautifully shot film once you take in the 10 minute opening. It’s one of the most stunning openings you could see – best saved for the big screen. Whilst the images are stunning, they never feel forced, just like the script, a simple story of a family man having an affair with another woman. It’s depth lies in it’s patience and transparency of the characters who hide nothing from their friends and family, or from us, the audience.

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer, Buy on Amazon
Next: Ordet, Tree of Life, Y Tu Mama Tambien

Towards The Battle – Spain/Latin American Competition – SBIFF

In Towards the Battle, Louis, a French photographer, gets lost in French occupied Mexico in the 1860’s. He wants to photograph the French-Mexican War, but gets lost in the Mexican wilderness trying to find it. However, his encounter with Pinto, a Mexican peasant, gives him the companion and support he needs to carry out his quest.

Louis is in Mexico as commissioned by the French army. He holds a permission slip from the French general which acts as his pass to freely travel the region without reprimand from the roaming French army. It’s the only thing that separates Louis from the rabble of the French army. If he loses it, he’d be conscripted into the army, or, if he’s lucky, sent back to France.

Whilst he can escape from the marauding French army, he can’t escape from the Mexican wilderness. As the scenery changes from mountainous scrub-land to deep rain-forest, Louis is (literally) one step away from a premature death. It’s obvious he can’t survive by himself with two horses carrying his huge amount of photography gear. Luckily for him, a Mexican peasant named Pinto finds him when he’s starving and gives him the food he needs to survive.

From that moment on, they become Don Quixote and Sancho Panza-esque partners. Louis is Don Quixote: a leader of a well off background that loses himself in the quest of one of his hobbies. Instead of chivalry, Louis drags a mountain of photographic equipment across the Mexican wilderness in search of a war that doesn’t appear to exist. When Pinto finds him, he’s already gone a bit mad in his quest to capture a photo of the elusive war. Pinto is Louis’ Sancho Panza: a Mexican peasant that knows Louis is mad, and doesn’t understand him (he doesn’t speak French), but happily goes along with Louis’ delusional quest because he’s got nothing better to do. Along the way, he saves Louis a couple of times, and subordinates himself to him to allow Louis to live out his fantasy. The Don Quixote allegory gives Towards the Battle a timeless feel, and gives an extra layer to Louis’ madness and his slow progression to his own awareness which he reaches in the final scenes.

From the scenery to the setting to the characters, Towards the Battle was one of the films that flew under the SBIFF radar. It’s a well made update of Cervantes’ Don Quixote applied to the French occupation of Mexico. It’s used to show the madness of the French in Mexico and the absurdity of the French occupation of Mexico. The French (Louis) and Don Quixote both live a world away from the reality.