Children of Heaven

In the beginning of Children of Heaven, directed by Majid Majidi, a young boy named Ali is at the town’s shoemaker getting his sister, Zahra, shoes fixed. on his way home, he misplaces her shoes and can’t find them. He goes home and tells Zahra that her shoes are gone and asks her to not tell their parents that he lost them. Zahra agrees and the two of them share his sneakers.

In the morning, Zahra wears the sneakers to school. After she is finished with her classes, she runs and meet Ali and gives him back the sneakers. Unfortunately, this makes him late several times to class and eventually told to go. Luckily for him, his teacher steps him and saves the day to let him go to class. The teacher like Ali because he gets good grades and is one of his brightest students.

One day, Ali and his father go uptown to the rich neighborhoods to try and make some money doing gardening. In the beginning, they don’t fare to well and get rejected by pretty much everyone. while taking a break, Ali hears a voice coming from the intercom and goes over and talks. It is a kid named Alireza who wants Ali to come and play. Ali says he is looking for work to do gardening. As they leave, she comes out with he grandfather who offers Ali a job doing gardening work. In the end, the grandfather gives them a big sum of money for the job. While biking home though, the brakes fail and they crash into a tree.

Back at school, Ali hears about a race but is first hesitant to do it but until he finds out that the third prize is a pair of shoes. he goes to the teacher and pleads to let him enter it and the teacher tests his running by making him do a sprint and allows him to enter the race.

While running the race, Ali starts to recall everything that has happened to him so far since he lost the shoes. Another turn of bad luck happens when Ali wins the race. he should be happy but is not because he didn’t get Zahra the shoes as promised. Ali returns home devastasted and rest his blistered feet in the water not knowing that his dad has just bought them each new shoes.

One of the themes in the movie is honesty. In the film, Ali father is chopping the sugar and their mother tells Zahra to bring him some tea. She brings it over to him and he sees that their is no sugar in it and asks her to pure some in. She basically tells him that there is a whole bunch in front of him but he tells her it is the churches, not theirs. With this scene, it shows that even though they are poor and fallen on hard times, they are still honest people.

Another scene involves Zahra noticing a girl who is wearing her lost sneakers. She and her brother follow the girl home and sees that her father is blind. Seeing this, Zahra has to much heart to would feel guilty going up and asking her to have them back. Eventually, Zahra and the girl become friends when Zahra loses her pen and the girl finds it and returns it. They are both good-hearted people.

Lastly, the film touches on the divide between the rich and poor and how separate and different they are. This is shown in the scene when Ali and his father go up town to the rich neighborhood to make some money.

The film was well-made by Majid Majidi and he has crafted a very touching movie. The first half of the film though is a little slow and at times, made me wonder if the whole losing the sneakers is going to be just what the movie is solely about. To my surprise, the second part of the movie really took off and pretty much became a whole bigger story and a lot more entertaining. I also likes how Majidi decided not to make the ending totally obvious or the Hollywood style ending where they some everything up in lie a minute. The scene ends with Ali sitting by the pond and resting his blistered feet in the water. Then, the goldfish in the pond come over to him and swim around his feet which is symbolizing that everything will work out for him and be alright. In conclusion, Children of Heaven is a good story that is very inspiring and uplifting.

Cinema Paradiso

Written and directed by Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso is the story of a kid falling in love with movies. The films is also an ode to cinemas of the past and its golden age where stars like Cary Grant graced the screen.

The film takes place in a sicilian village that is quite small. It has a main square and I guy that frequently runs around saying how the square is his. The film opens with an older Salvatore being informed of the death of Alfredo. Salvatore is now an accomplished filmmaker at this point. Salvatore is lying and bed and the film flashes back to his childhood in the village.

Salvatore is in love with watching movies but even more so, he is intrigued by the projector and sneaks his way up there anytime he came. The cinema’s projectionist is a man named Alfredo. He calls him Toto and kicks him out of the projection room constantly. Salvatore also likes to snatch film celluloid when he came and piles it in a tin that he keeps under his bed with a photo of his father. eventually, the film catches on fire and burns the picture of his father, who was killed in war. His mother beats him but Alfredo walks by and intervenes which kicks off their friendship together.

One day, the cinema’s projector catches on fire while Alfredo is showing the film on a wall of a building outside to make the crowd happy. Salvatore runs in and saves Alfredo. This fire has left Alfredo blind.

A man, Ciccio, steps in and rebuilds the cinema and Salvatore is made the new projectionist. Alfredo and Salvatore’s relationship is very solid at this point and he asks Alfredo for advice a lot and Alfredo gives him it usually by quoting a film.

In his spare time, Salvatore experiments by making films on his own and one day notices the beautiful Elena. he eventually wins her heart and they have a quick relationship but loses her because her father doesn’t care for Salvatore and she moves away. Salvatore goes into the military and write to her only to have the letters come back to him. Alfredo tells him to move away permanently and never come back which is he does until Alfredo’s funeral.

The film deals with the subject of censorship. In the movie, the village’s priest watches the film before it is shown to an audience. he rings a bell when he sees something in it that he doesn’t like which is usually a kissing scene between the characters. Alfredo is then forced to cut them out of the reel and the audience is annoyed by it. After Ciccio takes control of the cinema, he shows the films uncut and the audience gets to witness a kiss on screen for the first time.

At the end of the film, Salvatore is giving a film that Alfredo made for him before he passed. When he views the film, he sees that it is all the kissing scenes that he was made to cut out. This scene is probably one of the best scenes ever created because it packs such a punch. There isn’t much action at all as he is just watching the film but with its cutting back and forth between the film and Salvatore's reaction makes it pack so much emotion. Futhermore, the music score over it is very sad yet surprising uplifting. It gives the film’s audience a sense of closer and also for Salvatore who seems to now be content with his life now.

The film is well-made and the music in it is phenomenal. the score was done by the great Ennio Morricone. He has done the score for films like Once Upon a Time in the West, The Mission, and The Good The Bad and The Ugly. The acting was very solid in the film and the scenes were well edited and put together. The tone of the film was uplifting of sorts in the end but it was also sad as it showed pretty much the death of the old-school cinema. The scene where Salvatore and other members of the village watch the cinema being demolished is devastating as you feel like they have just lost their connection and bond to each other. At its heart, Cinema Paradiso proves why we enjoy watching films and the power of them.

Central Station

Central Station is a movie about a young boy and an older woman who go on a journey together to find the boy’s father. This Brazilian film was directed by Walter Salles. The film takes place in Rio and the older woman, Dora, works as a letter writer at the city’s main train station. She spends the day writing letters for people who can’t write themselves and charges them money and even offers to mail them which she never does. One day, a mother and her son, Ana and Josue, come to her to write a letter to their father which she does. However, Josue’s mother gets hits by a bus and dies leaving Josue now without no family.

Dora takes the boy in and sells him for money to a couple who is into human trafficking. Dora’s friend, Irene, convinces her of the wrong she does and Dora steals him back and the two take off to find his father.

Along the way, they meet a truck driver who offers to give them a ride after they missed the bus. Dora takes a liking to him and gets to close making him discomfortable. He leaves them.

Dora trades her watch to get them a ride to Bom Jesus where Josue’s father is supposedly is. Once there, they head to the address where he lives. When they get there, she finds out he sold this house and moved to a new area. Dora and Josue then leave and head over.

When the search comes up empty, Dora tries to get a bus ticket for them to go back home but is told the bus doesn’t come til the morning. A man, Isaias, notices them and introduces himself as the son of the person they are looking for. He invites them to dinner and they go the house where the meet the other brother, Moises. Dora reads a letter that their dad has written to them and in the morning she leaves Josue to live with his half brothers.

The story touches on several themes. One theme is guilt as Dora faces the guilt in selling Josue for money knowing that she has done a terrible wrong. She steals him back and tries to help him find his father to rid herself of the guilt. Another theme of the movie is alcoholism because Josue’s father is an alcoholic and in the movie, he has lost pretty much everything from money to shelter to his family. It shows the consequences of such actions. A final theme in the movie is that the movie focuses primarily on the relationship between Josue and Dora. In the movie, they go from being complete strangers to pretty much like they are family as they search for their father.

Also, the movie touches on some dark themes such as human trafficking and violence where the people take the law into their own hands.

This movie doesn’t focuses much on action. The most action in the film comes in the beginning of the movie when some guy steals from a stand at the train station and is chased down and shot. The movie is about the characters and the director makes sure that is doesn’t stray away from that. The music is subtle and the camera is slow-moving. There are no quick cuts are crazy effects. Also, nothing is the movie is over-the-top. The Cinematography is good such as the scene where Dora is chasing Josue through the crowd of pilgrims who have journeyed to that area to pray. The scene is lit by all the candles and it looks amazing. The script is very well done and the dialogue sound realistic. However, the pacing of the film is its only downfall. It is very slow at times but maybe that is what the director was going for. Maybe he wanted the story to unfold at its own pace and no like it was injected with adrenaline.

In conclusion, Central Station is a very touching film and well-made and definitely is a movie that should be seen at least once.

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams is an interesting piece of work. The film consists of eight different segments that are based on Kurosawa’s own dreams. From beginning of the film to the end, Kurosawa takes us on a journey from the woods to the peach orchards to the inside of one of Van Gogh’s painting and even to a nuclear explosion. Some dreams come off as surreal while other are complete nightmares.

The first dream segment in the film involves a little boy. He is told by some woman about how the so-called foxes come out to have their weddings during this time when the sun is shining bright. The woman warns him to not go watch the ceremony. However, the boy defies the orders and goes out into the woods and watches the wedding, which happens very slowly take place. Eventually, the boy is spotted by them and runs. When he returns home, he is locked out and the woman hands him a knife that the foxes gave her to give the boy so he can kill himself. She tells him that he must go to them and beg for their forgiveness. The last scene of the film is probably the best looking in terms of cinematography with the boy walking across the field towards the mountains that has a rainbow crossing over it. The theme of this segment is definitely to do what your told and that consequences comes with disobeying and you have to face it.

Another segment in the film is called “The Peach Orchard.” In the segment, a festival is taking place where the peach trees go into full bloom. The boy’s family, however, cut down the peach trees. His sister has a collection of dolls that represent the trees. The boy see a girl running through the house and takes off following her to the now treeless orchard. In place of the trees, are her doll’s now and they do a song and dance and eventually turn into fully bloomed trees. When the boy goes up the hill to look at them, they have turned backed to the dead trees. He does find one peach tree sprouting again tho. The editing is this segment is very well done and the music is also very good in the segment. The theme of this story is obviously love for nature and how people have a connection to it such as the boy who felt horrible for the trees being cut down.

Kurosawa also goes into some nightmarish segments. One is about a nuclear plant explosion at Mount Fuji, and another involves a soldier feeling guilty for the lost of his men. The nuclear explosion segment seems to represent how man will be downfall of itself by way of technology. In all the film, the soldier segment was probably the one with the most impact. a soldier approaches a tunnel and first has an encounter with a dog that seems from hell. The dog is shown using a red tint. The soldier enters the tunnel through the darkness to the other side. One of his soldiers, that he had charge over emerges. His face is blue symbolizing that he is dead. The soldier persuades him that he is dead and returns to the tunnel only to re-emerge with the whole platoon. The soldier explains to him the guilt he has for sending them to their deaths in war and commands them one last time to go back into the tunnel. The segment ends with the dog emerging again.

The Last segment of the film involves a man stumbling upon a village that consists of watermills. The set design is amazing in the segment showing the peacefulness and surreal beauty of a village that has no modern technology. The man meets an older guy and they have a chat. The segment ends with the man witnessing a funeral possession that is upbeat as the play music and dance as they carry the person to their burial spot. The theme of this segment is definitely how technology does not have control every day life and people can survive with nature alone and not rely on technology.

This film was very interesting. It was very experimental and well-made in terms of production. The film has great cinematography and sets whether it be the boy walking into the mountains, the inside of a Van Gogh painting, Mount Fuji illuminated by a sky of red, or the peaceful village of waterfalls. The editing is smooth but some segments are extremely slow moving and could have been edited a little tighter to create a faster pace expecially for “the Weeping Demon” segment of the film. Overall though, the film does a great job in showing how great a director Akira Kurosawa is.

Amores Perros

Amores Perros, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is an intense movie that weaves together three different stories together connected by a single incident. In the movies, a car accident is used the connect the three stories.

The first storyline follows a guy named Octavio, played by Gael Garcia Bernal. Octavio is in love with Susana, who is his brother Ramiro's wife. Octavio is upset by the abuse she gets by Ramiro and wants to run away with Susana. So, to raise money, Octavio gets involved in Mexico City's dogfighting ring. Together with his dog Cofi, they begin raising the money by winning the dog fights. However, out of nowheres, Susana leaves with Ramiro. Octavio gets into one last dog fight but its goes horribly wrong leaving Octavio fleeing for his life. After a chase, Octavio's car gets hit at an intersection.

The driver of the other car that Octavio hits is a girl named Valeria, which is the movies second storyline. Valeria was a supermodel before the care accident which damaged her leg and now confines her to a wheelchair. She is living in an apartament with Daniel. Valeria has a dog named Richie, who disappears under the floorboards while fetching a ball. This triggers a series of fights between Daniel and Valeria, who is shaken up by the disappearance of the dog. At the end of the storyline, Valeria has her leg amputated.

The Final storyline involves an assassin called El Chivo. He used to be a teacher than joined a guerrilla movement and left his wife and daughter. Upon hearing of his wife's death, he tries to see his daughter but he can't actually face her. Chivo's storyline is connected by Octavio's dog Cofi, who he rescues from the car accident. Towards the end of the storyline however, Cofi kills all of his dogs.

This movies deals mostly with the themes of love. For Octavio, it was his love for his dog Cofi and for Susana. In Daniel y Valeria, it was for between the two of them even tho Daniel was still married in the beginning of the film. In El Chivo's storyline, it was a husband's love for his wife and daughter. However, the theme of betrayal plays heavily to. For Octavio, he eventually feels betrayed by Susana, who is thought loved her, when she leaves with Ramiro. Even when she sees him again at Ramiro's funeral, she stands Octavio up at the bus station once more. In the movie, Daniel is unfaithful to his wife and sneaks around with Valeria before eventually leaving his family for her entirely. Lastly, in El Chivo's story, his wife and daughter is betrayed by him as he ups and leaves them for some guerrilla movement type of deal.

Another theme of the movies is corruption which is shown by all the illegal dog fighting in the movie that is happening. Futhermore, the officer who captured El Chivo, is now having him assassinate people for him.

This movie was very gritty. It involved a lot of handheld camera work, low-key lighting, and choppy editing. The movie is also unflinching in showing the cruelty of dog fighting as many dogs are killed in the movie. The plot of the movie is incredible as it weaves these stories seamlessly in and out of each other from characters passing each other on the street or the car accident. The movie also plays with its timeline jumping from past to present then back again and so on. I liked how the film was not afraid to touch on the topic of dogfighting and give us a sense about how wrong this is but yet how it also thrives in areas such as Mexico City and is extremely profitable. Amores Perros is a great movie in general from its acting to its action to its storyline.