Close up by, Kiariostami is practically a half documentary, and the other half was actually legitimately a movie. During this film, the concept of this film being portrayed in this way, was something that I was not personally a fan of. Ok so, during the film a guy is impersonating famous Iranian movie director Mohsen Makmalbaf when given a chance to do so on a bus ride. This impersonating game goes too far and ends up in court suspected of fraud. This is based on a real story and Abbas Kiarostami got unto this quite early on. The film shows a great deal of love towards Sabzian, and everyone else involved in the case that occured in the film. Astonishingly  to think that after the trial was over, they all agreed to participate in the reenactments of earlier events. Overall for this film, I was not really a huge fan. The way how the movie was portrayed and given out, kinda confused me. Especially with the movie basically being a documentary. Raising some of my eyebrows, it is probably a film that I would watch again, regardless of the fact that this film expressed unique styles of film that would possibly open the eyes of other viewers.

The Crimes of Padre “Father” Amaro, by Carlos Carrrera starts with the male lead as an idealist, showing kindness to a fellow bus passenger whose money is stolen during a holdup, but when he arrives at the parish, he quickly caves in to the established order of the church. Throughout the film, there is several scenes of sexual abuse, that can be offensive to a large group of people. It definitely adds up in the movie as you learn how gruesome and evil the male lead really is. This film was something that put a train a thought in my mind. Are these kinds of stories real? Do people actually commit these sort of manners under the site of god? In present day is there actually people that are in the same boat as this guy, and commit the same forms of sexual abuse? With these thoughts nagging in my mind practically through the entirety of the film, this is a type of film that is powerful to watch. In some viewpoints it can be too much for some viewers. But personally, watching this unique style of cinematography and the given storyline was something that opened my mind to a lot of questions.

In the mood for love, by  Wong Kar-wai was one of the films that defentiley was drama filmed and is primarily a love story with two people having an affair, but are pressured to not basically being together. The female lead, looks at some scenes practically stunning and the way Wrong Kar-wai created scenes to fit the contrast of her outfits were really enticing. First and fourth most, this film being colored defentiley reeled me in a little more. But the story moves practically as fast as a sloth, most of the actors seemed quite bland, I think at one point I accidentally fell asleep. The only thing that was enticing me watching was the cinematography, and the how well the director contrasted colors amongst this film. In general though, I was not really a fan of this film. It is something I don’t really want to watch again, and something that I probably won’t watch again for the rest of my life. Also I never have really been a fan of love stories, so that can also be a factor that did not excite my confidence. But looking at it a little now, if you are a fan of romanticism and love stories in general. This is something that I would recommend, ignoring the fact that this film was incredibly slowwwwww.

Milky Way by, La Voie Lactée is an intriguing film involved with the spanish culture life. With this film being in the same category as my culture, it was something that I was incredibly interested in. The way how the director mixed this movie with the biblical stories and historical events. The most interesting part of this movie is the spanish priest who tells the story of one Virgin Mother’s wonder. The movie feels very real, since there is no soundtrack and the characters behave naturally in a common environment that the director put them. Without a doubt, there are some strange scenes, like for example a person being inside and outside a room at the same time. This unusual combination of realistic and unrealistic segments gives the movie a vibe of artistic yet interesting values. This was one of the films I wished I had time to watch a second time. The way it was filmed, I feel like if i had the idea of the entire story before watching it, I could understand the real meaning and values of this film. This film is something I would recommend if they are interested in learning a little more about the spanish lifestyle. 

With Bollywood and Indian movies in general not personally really bringing formality upon  my arsenal. Being employed at a Movie Theatre for almost around 3 years informed me with how popular and how entertaining these films really are. Pather Panchali,  Satyajit Ray was a film that I had to look both sides on. The positive note of this film is a very minimalistic type of movie. Not only the fact with just it’s sets, costumes, or camera work, but with it’s story too. It’s being very simplistic, which in this case is a real good thing. The performances in the film were rather interesting and you could tell the work behind the scenes took so much effort. This movie also reflects off the ideas of how people really struggled back then. Living off a family is just barely keeping going. A man, his wife, and their two children live on a thriving level, trying not to starve. It’s most definitely a powerful movie to watch. In general, if I had no back knowledge of these types of films, I probably would not really be a fan of it. But since I have a little familiarity with the culture and background, it was something that I enjoyed

Seven Samurai by Kurosawa, is rather an action packed film that sustains a small farming village bombarded by marauding attackers,  hires 7 professional Samurai to rid of the dangerous enacted attackers. The movie being 3 and a half hours did make it feel awful dragging, but the cinematography in this film was awfully excellent. Personally, it never really felt like a boring film to me, as I have always been incredibly interested in the art of martial arts and what not. Honestly, regardless of the fact that I’ve been interested in this form of culture, this film was incredible. Seeing this mismatched group of men band together to risk their lives for people they didn’t really respect. The way how the director created character relationships, the way how the movie entices the viewers, and even comedic relief to reel in the situation at times. With this film trailing back all the way to around the 50s, it fascinated me to learn and watch basically the “art” of what it is like to be a samurai. And not gonna lie after this film, I looked around the internet to learn more about this culture. I would definitely recommend this film if you have the time to watch it, it is so worth it!

Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica,Post-war and post-fascist, this minimalistic story arguably presents some of the best interpretations of humanistic values in both classic and modern cinema. A poor man relies on his bicycle to do his job, but it is stolen, leading to much frustration and anger. Being a foreign film it is, the simplistic story rather interested me. Back then the concept that people were forced to do jobs that were not part of the wealthy side, and also the primary issue the people had a really hard time finding jobs in general. This movie expresses the powerful concept of a character who has to go through these daily struggles to provide money. On another note, I found the film rather dragging and the scenes seemed most of the time average.For the most part, our lead character is pretty unlikable and doesn’t do enough to make himself appealing anyway. The acting is fine, the film looks fine, and the directing is fine, but in the perspective of the film. It did not seem good enough for me. I found too many things in the film to just be average. At the time this movie seems very intrinsic and interesting but ,the style did not fit my interests.

“Metropolis” by Fritz Lang, an all time classic which induces creative imagery and a dehumanizing montage of robotics. This film also depicts several mainstream ideas and is reflected and created with no sound. Silent films have always been overacted and very cheesy to look at, but it’s amazing to me to see how excellent the film expressed the mood so well. The reason why Metropolis is so well loved and respected is not only because of the mood it captured, but how amazingly mind boggeling it was, I think since the time that electricity was discovered, we’ve all dove in with how far we could go with technology. And Metropolis is a haunting picture that captures it so well. With the history of how far back this film goes, its crazy how you can actually definitely tie this film  in with present day technological conspiracy theories. This film in general expresses an excellent way with how cinema can be expressed even without sound. This is definitely a film that someone should watch, as it specializes in the art of film.

Man With The Movie Camera, by Dziga Vertov’ gives a startlingly modern viewpoint in a form of soviet cinema,this film utilizes an eye popping style of rapid editing and incorporates unique styles of other cinematic effects to create a work of stressful power and energy. Film pioneer Dziga Vertov uses all the cinematic techniques such as split screen, slow motion and freeze frames. The way he used these effects at times confused me, and personally these cinematic techniques were overused. With limited storytelling it kinda confused the concept of a “film” to me. In a formatic viewpoint of this film, it did reflect the imperfections and the underreaching havoc that does occur in a soviet state. This film also rejected the outlook of specific sets, or actors and was filmed as almost as a montage of being in a city. Basically all in all this movie is reflecting a story of what it is like to be in a city, not only that it expresses the art of film itself. Overall, I was not really a fan of this film. Going in I generally thought a storyline would be expressed, but the gradual clips and editing, evidently breached confusion for around half of the film.

François Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” is evidently listed and quite personally viewed as one of the greatest films in all of foreign cinema/French. As an important film and subsequently proved to be immensely influential in the context of the French New Wave, it personally awed, amazement, and intrigued me to watch this film. Although several films in the movie do feel ongoing it gave out this ongoing vibe of what it is like being a kid almost. With Antione (the boy) sorta flashing me back to gruesome memories of how troublesome I was as a child. Not only the concept of personal relations, the way how this film was simply scripted was quite impressive. The film being simply made, yet the images stay in your mind long after the film has ended. Waking up the next day after watching this film made me think how fascinating this movie really was. Antoine cutting up at school, On the centrifuge. The happy family outing to the movies. Stealing the typewriter. Spending the night in prison. And the freeze frame at the end. Watching this movie definitely gave me excitement and is something I would definitely recommend to someone who is interested in diving into the cinematic world.