Auckland International Film Club

It is time for a rom-com weepy but with a punch. This film was nominated for the Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language - and made the shortlist. A young couple's relationship is tested when their daughter develops a serious illness. This film is also a musical (bluegrass) which is something of a first for us!

However, this is no weepie rom-com soap. It takes us to the heart of a relationship under strain. The New Zealand Herald reviewer wrote:

"Heldenbergh and Baetens [the two leads] do mesmerising work on Van Groeningen's script, in which not a word or a glance is wasted. Time after time the camera takes us in really close and they never blink. The opening 10 minutes, a sustained display of astonishing virtuosity, makes us feel like we have known these two for years. But the film's cut takes us deeper still, cleverly merging past and present (we don't see the couple meet until the mid-point) in a way that freights the smallest moment with heavy dramatic irony."

We are in a season of films on Sunday afternoon about films about life in a war zone, especially Palestine.
I have chosen films that are not propaganda.
The attempt is to lift ourselves above that and do a deep dive into the realities of lie in such areas. In this film, Tarek and his mother, Ghaydaa, cross the border from Palestine to Jordan along with tens of thousands of other people.

When I Saw You was selected at as the Palestinian entry for the best foreign language film at the Academy Awards. The New York Times reviewer wrote:
"A soft-centered child's-eye view of alienation, toughened by fine acting and Hlne Louvart's full-bodied photography."

The Total Film reviewer wrote: "political without point-scoring, Jacir remains true to a child's-eye view, with Asfa's delightful, exuberant performance always upfront."

"Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir's second film is slight yet significant - and, because of the situation in Syria, timely - story about a boy whose courage inspires hope among the hopeless."

A must-see for us all as we a look into the lives of familes fleeing from war - anywhere.

I am really excited about showing this film. It was nominated for the Academy Aaward for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The film depicts a romance in which two people share a re-occuring dream - that they are a pair of deer in a forest. The film is beautifully shot (you will love deer after this). A lot could be said about this film, but it takes us into world of autism and socially damaged indiividuals

The Fictionmachine reviewer wrote "technically it is superb. Cinematographer Máté Herbai turns every shot into a beautifully composed painting. The film’s use of colour is superb. The scenes of the two deer are remarkable to watch, and capture the animals in such an emotive fashion."

Some won't get it, but nothing new in thw world of cinema there!

One of the absurdities of the crazy war in the Middle East is that Israel, Iran and Palestine all produce well made films that depict beautifully the human condition with all our complexities. loves and frailties and or common humanity. In our film club we have seen these films. How can humans possibly fight each other? Why?

In this tragi-comic film, a father and son are both professors at the same university in Jerusalem. They have a classic love/hate relationship. We don't necessarily end up siding with either of them, as neither really gain our full sympathy. But we "get" them and that is the genius of the film.

Some reviews:
“Footnote requires little knowledge of Judaism and its texts. Rather, it's about the complications of love, guilt, and rage.” The New Yorker
It's not easy to make Eliezer a sympathetic character, yet Bar-Aba's demonstration of fleeting vulnerability awakens inevitable, if equally brief, compassion.” Washington Post
“This is brainy, bravura filmmaking of the highest level, a motion picture that is as difficult to pigeonhole as it is a pleasure to enjoy.” Los Angeles Times
“Shows just what you can do with a carefully constructed plot and lovingly drawn characters - even if, in the end, neither of them is particularly lovable.” London Evening Standard

Nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film and won the prize for screenplay at Cannes