Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009) -- Mia, an aggressive fifteen-year-old girl, lives on an Essex estate with her tarty mother, Joanne, and precocious little sister Tyler. She has been thrown out of school and is awaiting admission to a referrals unit and spends her days aimlessly. She begins an uneasy friendship with Joanne's slick boyfriend, Connor, who encourages her one interest, dancing. With all of its reality-based notions and roots in the poorer side of England, this is a very artistic movie, with a debuting actress that really steals the show as the typical isolated and troubled teenager. And in reality, many British movie of the last 15 years have been very based on the harsh realities of the poorer side of society, with movies such as
Trainspotting and
This is England, and
Fish Tank is no exception. Save for a few moments, the lack of sympathy one feels for Mia actually works for the better, by showing the type of environment and lifestyle youths live in nowadays. Still, the rest of the characters really showed their talent, and it's the straight forward attitude of the movie what probably will have many people thinking that couldn't be done, but it's also the best way to show the audience what real life entails in current society. Thankfuly, Fish Tank doesn't get too preachy, but just shows you what's there to see. Another great example of the awesomeness that British cinema can be. 7.5/10
Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, 2011) -- A Sicilian family deals with the arrival of a group of immigrants on their island, while dealing with their own lack of money in the turmoil of the Euro recession, and despite all that, the movie manages to be light enough. It starts out with a generational battle going on between grandfather, father and son, where each one thinks he knows what they should do with their lives, but there's also many battles going on within the island. The movie also acts upon the disembarkment of illegal African immigrants on the island, and everyone's position towards them and the authorities' position on the matter. In the end it's a coming of age movie; not towards maturity, but of a new era, a global age with new challenges and the way traditions may or may not survive it. 6/10
Walk on Water (Eytan Fox, 2004) -- An Israeli Mossad agent is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson in Israel. The two men set out on a tour of the country during which every belief is challenged. The movie touches on many fragile subjects between Israel and Germany, which still exist nowadays, and the way people deal with it. Truth be told, it's hard on many levels for Israeli's to make a movie for the global market where they aren't shown as the bad guys on subjects such as the Palestines, and this movie actually goes out of its way to make it PC, but at a certain point, it just overflows with the excessive selfrighteousness of the characters. Beside that, it's a very well written and directed Israeli movie that delivers well and comes across the globe and works for everyone. The controversial issues are faced, the acting is very good and the plot is well constructed. 6.5/10
Le Trou (Jacques Becker, 1960) -- Just as 4 cell-mates are about to launch their elaborate escape from a tiny cell, a detainee from a cell-block under repair is transferred in. The 4 all face certain conviction & long sentences. Does the young new jail-mate have the same incentive, and if so can they trust him? The result is honestly, one of the best prison-break movies I have seen, as masterful as
The Great Escape and
Escape from Alcatraz, detailing the meticulous preparation for the escape and the close calls that make it tense enough to keep you glued to the seat. A very existential movie filled with amazing entertainment, with some scenes that are maybe too long, but don't detract from the movie's quality. Jacques Becker died 2 weeks after completing the movie. 8/10
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