satire - FilmRoot

Dear Diary (Italy)

Dear Diary Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

You may have seen Rome and Italy in a number of films, but you have never seen it like it is in Dear Diary. Nanni Moretti will guide you around the country like the best tour guides – one that doesn’t care what people think of him. He parodies the Italians whilst making fun of himself for our entertainment. It’s a bit Monty Python esque and a bit Quixotic! Go watch this man’s stream of consciousness!

Why Watch Dear Diary?

For a visual stream of consciousness portrayal of Rome and Italy
It’s also a great comedy with plenty of parody
There’s a great soundtrack featuring Juan Luis Guerra and Cheb Khaled!
To see director Nanni Moretti dancing in a cafe

The Breakdown

Chapter 1. On My Vespa

‘Dear diary, there’s one thing I like the most.’ And cut to Nanni Moretti riding down the back streets of Rome on his Vespa. There’s music, there’s no cars, and the streets are beautifully lined with trees!

You know those moments when you are walking on your own and your mind starts to wander? Then a few minutes later you realise that you’ve walked a mile without paying attention to what you’ve walked past. Well, the only way I can describe this film is by comparing it to one of those moments. Nanni Moretti guides us around Rome, but as he keeps getting distracted as he is doing so and takes us on his tangents.

What’s even more amazing is that he even interrupts the improvised tour he takes us on. For example, in one scene he turns up at a group dancing merengue in a square in Rome. He walks up to the band singing and starts singing along with the lead singer. He’s kind of like a Don Quixote making his way around Rome. One thing is for sure, you’ll never get a tour of Rome like this!

Conclusion

Just like The Great Beauty this great Italian film just seems to flow naturally. But unlike The Great Beauty this film is funny as well! Where else are you going to see a Director riding around Rome on a Vespa while dancing to Cheb Khaled’s ‘Didi’. Plus, I haven’t even talked about the hilarious second chapter or the darkly funny third chapter. This is one to watch!

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

The Exterminating Angel (Spain) – Bunuel At The Top of His Game

The Exterminating Angel Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Ever had a party where the friends you invited just don’t go home? They’ve stayed for dinner, stayed the night, and even though you’ve fed them breakfast in the morning, they’re still here! Well that’s what happens in Bunuel’s Exterminating Angel. It’s intriguing, entertaining, and Bunuel-level absurd. You’ve got to love it!

Why Watch the Exterminating Angel?

See more of Bunuel’s dark view of human nature (watch Viridiana for more)
To laugh at the aristocracy just like Monty Python’s Twit of the Year
For surrealism at it’s finest – there are bears and sheep wandering through the house, floating hands, and chicken legs in purses!
To learn how to small talk and ditch someone you don’t want to speak to anymore onto someone else

The Breakdown

The film starts with guests arriving in their fancy cars at the gates of a mansion in Spain. As the guests are entering the house, the servants are trying to leave like rats from a drowning ship. But what is the problem with this house?

Well it’s full of the aristocracy that’s why. The guests have their fancy dinner, and continue to have drinks, and then coffee, then go to sleep. At this party, the guests just don’t leave.

In the morning, the host tries to get them to leave after breakfast, but his plan fails. None of the guests leave. In fact, in a surrealist twist, none of them can leave. They are somehow all confined to fight for survival in the morning room of this giant mansion.

Yes, this film is absurd. But it’s also intriguing and entertaining enough to keep on watching. As for the political allegories, Roger Ebert puts it best:

“The dinner guests represent the ruling class in Franco’s Spain. Having set a banquet table for themselves by defeating the workers in the Spanish Civil War, they sit down for a feast, only to find it never ends. They’re trapped in their own bourgeois cul-de-sac. Increasingly resentful at being shut off from the world outside, they grow mean and restless; their worst tendencies are revealed.”

Conclusion

This is vintage Bunuel. Just like in Viridiana he subtly makes fun of Franco’s Spain. In this case he makes fun of the aristocracy who are trapped in their upper class bubble (their own oversized mansion).

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

Hyenas – Infinite Wealth vs. Saving Your Neighbor

Hyenas Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

In Djibril Diop Mambety’s Hyenas, a former outcast returns to her African village a rich woman after being kicked out three decades earlier for getting pregnant out of wedlock. The town fawns over her wealth and rolls out the complete ceremony to welcome her home. However, she has other plans. She promises infinite wealth to the impoverished town and it’s residents in exchange for the execution of Dramaan, a local shopkeeper and the man who fathered her child without owning up. Will the community betray their beloved shopkeeper for wealth?

For more analysis check out Layla Gaye’s review of the film and it’s satirical criticism of neocolonialism and the corrupting power of wealth on a society’s morality.

From: Senegal, Africa
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Kanopy
Next: Bamako, Black Girl, Rashomon