Not My Cup of Coffee (Bonus Paper)

Image Source:
https://ipolitas.wordpress.com/tag/a-coffee-in-berlin/

Oh Boy or A Coffee in Berlin is a German film in 2012. I believe it was a depressing film, as almost every character in the film has an unfortunate story to tell. The color of the film was mainly black and white. I thought it suited the movie well, given that it was gloomy. The main character, Niko, for instance, is experiencing a tragedy. He drops out of law school as he is trying to discover himself. It is worth noting how his father is not proud of what he is done.

The movie revolves around Niko, as he tries to drink a coffee. All throughout the movie, he tries to drink a cup of coffee, however it seems that he never gets to drink one until the end of the movie. Throughout the movie, I felt like I was listening to various stories by individuals who are suffering from past traumas or hardships. One of which is Julika, who is an old friend of Niko. She used to be bullied for being fat. She also reveals that they never continued to be classmates in school because she was moved by parents to an education for having an overexcitement condition. Another story that I found depressing was his neighbor who wanted a child but couldn’t have one. Eventually, the situation got worse when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. As a result, he is left depressed. 

The movie also does not spare the main character. I felt that he was also quite unfortunate, as seen in what he experiences in the movie. From the very start of the movie, he already experiences an obstacle. Aside from the fact that he never gets his cup of coffee, he is also dealing with personal matters. He dropped out of law school, as he felt that he needed to find himself and law school did not seem to fit him. 

For the plot, the movie does not seem to focus much on other characters except Niko, as every character he meets has no relationship with the rest that he meets. In other words, there is not much connections between each person he meets. In typical Hollywood movies, main characters usually go on a journey and there is a significance in every scene that contributes to the buildup of the movie. 

In terms of the ending, like the European films we watched, it shows an ending that has no dialogue but is revealed through an action that implies a form of closure. In this film, Oh Boy shows the various scenery of the city such as factories, traffic, and many more then it ends with Niko finally drinking a cup of coffee that he has requested from the very start of the movie. 

Overall, it was a movie that was not happy. It certainly possesses a depressing mood. Although Niko finally gets his cup of coffee, he meets various people along the way such as strangers and people from his past that are suffering various hardships as he himself as well is left to deal with personal matters.

A Coming of Carnage Film

The film, Raw, focuses on Justine who is played by Garance Marillier, when she enrols in a veterinarian school. At the age of 16, she brilliantly explores herself and her dream to be a veterinarian. Yet, the longer she stays in her, the more she discovers and immerses herself into this dark, shameless, and ravishing reality, where in she slowly caves into her desires and temptations. Slowly, but surely, she faces a terrible discovery among herself and her own family as well. Her true self, who she was and she was capable all along starts to emerge in the scenes. 

Coming of age? More like, coming of carnage. The film takes on a dangerous and seductive twist to the idea of it as a coming of age plot. It follows a teenager’s awkward and troublesome experience of having to go through your first party, initiation, kiss, or sex. It all seems very innocent at first, but it all goes downhill from there when Justine discovered her unusual desire for human flesh. Other than being a coming of age film, “Raw” also tries to explore the horror genre especially with its element of cannibalism that is the main highlight of the film. At the moment when Justine ate the finger of her sister, that was considered to be the fall of her innocence, the emergence of her sexual awakening, the start of her lustful fantasies and desires. Cannibalism and the eating of human flesh was the whole meat of the film for it was used as an important point of Justine’s coming of age.

It demands the disgust and horrific faces of the audience when each bite is made, when every drop of blood is licked, and when flesh is devoured. Julia Ducournau, did not stop at the eating of the finger, she went all the way with the leg of Justine’s roommate being eaten. It will cause you to be on edge every time. Always trying to cover your eyes before the teeth sinks into the skin. But what I like about it, is that it is not as bloody or explicit as Saw or any other American horror gore film. Ducournau makes sure that the sequences and the cinematography make the film very tasteful and artistic, hypnotic and visually striking. The lighting and editing make it a very pleasant and refined film to watch. Everything was properly executed that it makes itself one hell of a masterpiece. 

In such a way, the film highlights the idea of female empowerment. Not because of the fact that women were eating men in the film, but rather, highlights the empowering capabilities of the female characters in the film. Justine and her sister did not mind being at the “top of the food chain” (sorry for my pun), but they knew who they were, they knew what they want, and did not stop at anything to go after it. Even if it means getting yourself hit by a car in the middle of the road to feed yourself. 

Band of brothers

I honestly appreciated the fact that, for the graduating seniors, we ended our European Film class with the film Heavy Trip (2018). It was a really lighthearted and fun movie to watch (especially comparing it to all the other films we watched like Persona or Raw). At first, I was not as excited to watch it since it was going to be a movie about a heavy metal band, and one of the genres I did not really mesh well with most is, in fact, heavy metal. The music may not have jived well with me, but the story surrounding it and the jokes surely did.

I loved the subtle humor it brought out. My favorite scene was the part when the band jumped off the cliff and “resurrected” onto a land with people role playing a Dungeons and Dragons type of game. It was just so funny to me. I thought they were all going to die or something because the scene where they jumped off the cliff seemed so dramatic. They were kind of saying their goodbyes already. When they arose from the ocean, asked if they were in hell, saw people “crucified” on crosses, etc. I laughed so hard. It was so weird but so funny to me at the same time. At this point in the movie I just wanted to ask, “What is happening?” because I literally did not know what the writers were thinking about when they wrote this film.

All weird jokes and scenes aside, I felt a little “proud” towards the end when they were able to perform in front of a big crowd for the first time in 12 years. After all their hard work and perseverance of becoming a great metal band, they were able to achieve their dream despite all the obstacles that came their way. I think they also wanted to send the cliche “don’t give up on your dreams” message to the audiences who watched this movie. Their situation may have seemed exaggerated (they worked for 12 years… with one song… and never gave up) but it can actually be parallel to reality. Some people work so hard and only see the fruits of their labor after so long. Even though the journey of Impaled Rektum was very difficult, they still overcame those challenges and succeeded in the end.

The scene where Turo pukes in front of their audience before both of their performances reminded me of the same thing happening in Pitch Perfect. It was a parallel of how the band (Impaled Rektum) and the group (Bellas) both failed at the start but claimed victory in the end. The parallelism did not end there though — both groups were able to claim victory because of their sense of camaraderie and companionship with each other. Impaled Rektum’s brotherhood within the band was, I think, the main thing that glued them together and drove them towards success. It was a heartwarming sight to see their appreciation of each other and how they would not have been able to get to where they were if it were not for one another. The importance of friendship and brotherhood was very spot on and visible in the film, which I highly appreciated.

Comedy With a Little Adventure (Bonus paper)

Image source:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453451/

Mr. Bean’s Holiday was a film that had a lot of humor and a sense of adventure. It is not really similar to the comedy films of America such as American Pie, Blockers, Central Intelligence, or Bad Moms. This is because Mr. Bean’s Holiday does not really show its main character speaking fluently or being understood. The comedy in this film was not hinged on the words that come out of the main character but rather it relied on the unfortunate events and laughable behavior of Mr. Bean. An instance of this is how he wasn’t able to catch his train due to the fact that his tie got stuck in the vending machine, when he inserted his bill that was stored in his necktie. On the other hand, American films would usually generate the comedic feel from a dialogue between characters or punch lines. The main character, Mr. Bean never really says any punch line although it is worth noting how his expressions also contribute to the comedic element of the movie.

Another element that gives Mr. Bean’s Holiday a comedic feel is his mischievous behavior. Common in most comedic movies, including US films, there is always a naughty side of its characters that make the overall movie funny. What differs is that US movies tend to make jokes that could be linked with sex, drugs, or drinking. In Mr. Bean’s Holiday, his behavior is far from any of those vices but rather it is very childish. One instance of this is how he calls every possible phone numbers which the father of Stephan was showing through the window however the last two digits were blocked by his fingers. While calling each number, he is oblivious to how his phone call affects the people in the other end of the line. Another instance is how he did not like the oyster served to him as it was still alive so he places all of it in a woman’s bag. Lastly, he also dresses as Sabine’s grandmother as a disguise during the premiere of the movie of Sabine and eventually disrupts the whole thing altogether. 

Aside from the comedic feel, another thing that struck me was how Mr. Bean’s Holiday gives an adventure feel because of the sceneries and the shots that it shows. It is as if it is marketing the beauty of Cannes or Europe in general. An instance of this is how Mr. Bean hikes a mountain or when he sees a Cannes photo there is a background music that conveys heavenly. It also shows scenic shots when Mr. Bean travels with Sabine and Stephan in his classic Mini Cooper. The movie allows its audience to travel with Mr. Bean, especially when there are shots of the film that use his camcorder, which he won from the raffle as well. Adventure films from the US are usually about a world that is fictional or alien such as Journey 2, Avatar, or Kong: Skull Island. 

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It was really funny as it showed the classic behavior of Mr. Bean. The additional characters also contributed to the film, as they surprisingly successfully deal with his mischievous behavior.

That’s not sushi, sis

When we were warned that the film we were going to watch may be scary for some of us, I suddenly got worried. I am personally not a fan of horror or gory movies. I get scared whenever my friends force me to watch a film of these genres. Which is why I got a little anxious when the film Raw (2016) started showing in class.

The film was not what I expected at all. I expected to be scared or really grossed out, but I was actually just entertained. What drew me in was the story of how Justine tries to adjust into veterinary school. The question of whether or not she should conform just to fit in was very realistic to me. Most adolescents and young adults often feel like they have to change who they are just to be liked and to gain friends, especially when they enter a new environment. I honestly believe Justine’s self-control was very good, even when Alexia was forcing her to eat the rabbit’s kidney. She was really holding her ground because she believed that she had to stick to her values (vegetarianism) even though she was put under the spotlight in front of everyone in the university and was being coerced into eating it just so she could pass the initiation. However, Alexia forcing the rabbit’s kidney down Justine’s throat just proved how strong peer pressure was for me. Even the strongest willed people can be torn down by peer pressure, which is a sad reality that Justine had to face in the movie.

Justine giving in to conforming to the ideals of the students caused her downfall. I honestly think Alexia got what she deserved, from seeing her sister feeding on her finger all the way to getting imprisoned for killing Adrien. She was the reason why Justine’s parents’ perseverance to keep Justine from giving into her cannibalistic ways failed. Justine was living a normal, good life before her sister ruined it for her by letting her have her first taste of meat. Alexia probably knew that Justine was going to discover their family’s “dysfunction”, but she still forced it to happen for her little sister. Isn’t that messed up? Alexia was honestly such a horrible sister. She even made things worse by exposing and humiliating Justine during the scene when she led Justine to the morgue. Throughout the movie, I was wondering to myself what Alexia gained from leading Justine astray. She wasn’t really getting anything out of it other than the fact that she could finally feel like she is not alone since her sister is also as crazy as she is.

The film made me feel uncomfortable in the sense that it made me realize how cannibalism is really scary, especially if it happens in real life. However, despite the cannibalism, there really was the underlying theme of every single one of us trying to strive for acceptance, no matter what the cost or consequences. I believe Justine did not have any fault whatsoever, she was just mixed up into the whole mess. She inherited the cannibalistic tendencies because it was hereditary, and she was forcefully introduced to it. I feel like her family could have handled the situation way better than they did in the film.

Under the Tree (2018)- Bonus Review

Believe it or not, I did spend a lot of time in deciding which movie I would use for this bonus review. Looking back on the movies that I have watched in our film class, I thought the movie Under the tree would be an excellent addition to the list of European films that have made me glad from watching it. Now, that isn’t to say the genre of this film was a happy one, in fact, its darkly funny slice of what I guess is Scandinavian humor (not even sure if there is one). The bleakness and the dark comedy twists surprised me when I found out that Icelanders are actually the fourth happiest people n in the world. Upon research, the director was quoted to have been inspired by Iceland’s high rate of “neighbour rage”, again surprised that they are still the 4th happiest. The increasing feud among neighbors are perhaps an inevitable problem for the Viking descendants, but the film encapsulates the ongoing issue in its part-thriller, part-intelligent relationship drama, topped with a juicy dollop of savage black comedy.

What I liked about this film, and actually a lot of the films we watched in class, is the sudden change of direction of the genre. This film took a quick reversal from being a drama movie about a family and their bickering neighbors to a much darker genre on porn, spy cameras, suicide, and a large tree that people are always fighting about. Whats there not to love?

As is the fate of all husbands, Atli gets caught watching porn by his wife. I do think that the fact that the porn video was of himself and another woman did make it far worse than the problem initially seemed to be. I wasn’t entirely surprised to see Atli getting kicked out of his house and moving back in with his parents. Despite having done what he did, Atli is able to convince the audience to feel for him. He seems miserable and pity living with his parents. What made it even sadder was his attempts to patch things up with his wife. Slowly, the film starts to unravel the pandora’s box and all its darkness to the audience when the quarrel between Atli’s parents and their next door neighbors began to take place over the fate of the giant tree.Under The Tree is very perceptive about family relationships – about bad faith between generations and between husbands and wives as well as over the garden fence.

The Heavy Trip of four Impaled Rectums.

The best part of this film has to be the moments when people ask of the genre a band named “Impaled Rektum” would do. If anyone had asked me prior to watching the film, I would have had no idea. To be completely honest, I don’t think I would have even be remotely interested in the genre of “Symphonic post-apocalyptic reindeer grinding christ abusing extreme war pagan Fennoscandian metal.” One thing this film has taught me however, is that when given the effort, even death metal could be used funny at times.

As most movies that belongs in the music-genre begins, the film starts off with a misfit riding down town to join a group of other misfits at a basement to seal covers of other metal bands. While the word misfits has become too ironic after Bohemian Rhapsody, and they were no where like Queen in any way except for the long hairstyles, it is really the only word that I can think of for the group of metal heads in a small town in Norway. While I’m not much of a singer myself, it wasn’t very difficult to know that the lead singer had talent, but they’ve only been performing for themselves in the basement and never for a proper crowd. They dream of becoming a band with a song of their own, and after a lot of happenings such as a stuck reindeer in the grinder and a certain promoted being showered with reindeer blood, they are finally able to produce a song and has a shot in making it to the big leagues. However, as it is the case with almost anyone who has to take that leap of faith and hope for the best in their pursuit of happiness, the reality was a lot harder than they had initially thought.

I think the message this film was trying to get across to the audience wasn’t only that heavy metal can be funny and tolerable, it was actually that the journey to happiness is actually a steep and almost an impossible journey. However, through determination and conviction that the job is really what you’re looking for, and if you’re lucky, just miraculously lucky enough to survive a cliff jump from about 15 stories high, then you may just make it. Oh the irony.

L’Avventura

L’Avventura (1960) is probably the most exhausting movie that I have watched in this class. Dredging through the entire 143 minutes of the movie’s running time, with characters fleeting aimlessly from scene to scene and a plot that didn’t seem to be going anywhere, the film was definitely a difficult one to watch. But departing from the initial feelings of boredom and exhaustion, I realize now that the film captured a fundamental human emotion: emptiness.

In terms of the movie’s plot, Anna’s disappearance was a point of frustration. It would seem to be the central question in the movie, but as the movie progressed, it got less and less significant, eventually remaining unresolved. The characters’ indifference towards her disappearance was unsettling, save for Claudia who seemed genuine in her attempt to look for her. Looking at what the film tried to focus on, I feel like the loss of Anna does not serve as a major point in the film’s narrative; instead, it serves as a showcase of her acquaintances’ lack of depth.

This emptiness is evident primarily in the characters. I didn’t find any of them likable because their intentions weren’t clear, and it seemed that they acted based solely on their whims. Sandro, for instance, instead of focusing on looking for Anna, is seen to flirt and sleep around with the women he encountered. Faced with major issues (someone mysteriously vanishing, a budding romance), they confront them superficially, and then proceed to be swept away with the circumstances they find themselves in. They succumb to earthly pleasures through their lavish lifestyle, seemingly detached from the reality of the situation they find themselves in. Claudia’s character is an exception at times when she is shown sincerely looking for Anna, or for feeling some sort of guilt over her relationship with Anna’s lover, Sandro.

But most of the time, they appear to be floating beings that use their money to escape any form of responsibility or moral obligation. This reveals the emptiness within them, how their riches do not merit a filling sense of happiness. We see them capable of giving and receiving love, capable of sustaining a substantial form of human connection, but they grow bored and move on to other ventures, only to find themselves bored again. Even the island where they escape to, the “adventure” leads to this mundane, rocky landscape that isn’t really what comes to mind when you think of a travel destination.

Antonioni’s work was controversial upon its release due to the audience’s reaction to a film filled with ennui, which points us to the direction of how film is created and consumed conventionally. But having scratched at the surface of what he tried to achieve with L’Avventura, we witness a beautiful and authentic display of a prevalent human experience. It may appear inaccessible to some due to the bourgeoisie nature of the people it portrays, but it does capture the universality of escaping from the realities of life and being filled with dread. As one of the three 1960’s film shown in the class, the movie does set the tone for the European cinema being stylistically determined at the time, as seen in its hole-filled narrative, as well as the detached characters it presents. Perhaps, it achieved to impart the sense of lethargy its characters had to the audience.

The Edukators: Taking extracurricular activities to the next level

So The Edukators are the real ones who are taught a lesson, let me explain…

When I found out that Daniel Bruhl, the actor who plays the main character in “Goodbye, Lenin!”, was also playing one of the main characters in this movie, I was pretty excited since I like his roles in the past. His role he played in the movie was good, but I wouldn’t consider it fantastic.

I think that the movie presents an interesting situation with the dynamic between the main 3 characters (Jan, Peter, and Jule) and Hardenburg. Most of the movie takes place in a cabin in the Austrian Alps where the main 3 have kidnapped Hardenburg after a “heist” gone wrong. I put heist in quotation marks because the main characters “educate” wealthy people by breaking into their houses as a form of anti-capitalist.  Instead of stealing from them, they just rearrange their furniture and vandalize the houses.

While at the cabin, Peter grows increasingly suspicious of Jule and Jan because they seem like they are becoming more and more friendly and touchy with each other since Peter is Jule’s boyfriend. While this is ongoing, Hardenburg is also growing, but more towards his old, younger and rebellious self. Hardenburg, despite being the leader of the Socialist German Student Union when he was in his youth, eventually became a product of the “system”. That system being the world of capitalist and corporate life. I think that the development of Hardenburg throughout the film is more significant since he learns to rediscover his true self.

The three main characters of Jan, Peter and Jule, isn’t really anything new in terms of film or even in fiction. The story of their love triangle is fairly predictable, but their characters learn to not judge people based on appearance, especially when they find out  about Hardenburg’s youth. In the end, they are able to get away from the authorities and leave Hardenburg on good terms. The last scene of the movie implies the three have settled their differences since they are all laying in bed together. So yay for polygamy? haha

Parfum: Desperation of Being Loved (Bonus)

s592.jpegParfum is a German TV series that airs I found Netflix. The story revolves around a famous singer who was found dead in her house and all of her body parts that secrete a scent like her armpits, genitals, and scalp was removed. She was part of a group of friends in their teenage years; they were a group of 5 and this girl was adored by everyone she meets. When they were teenagers, their group had an obsession about the book, “Perfume” by Patrick Süskind and they tried to replicate making scents by first, killing a dog in their hideout. I found some similarities with Raw, given the bloody scenes and intentions of the characters. So in the present, they speculated that someone might have used her scent as well to make a perfume that can make people fall in love with whoever uses that scent. With her death, they got a detective to work on the case and there were 2 more killings in the tv series, one was a prostitute.

The atmosphere of the tv series was very dark, given that it is a drama that revolves around a murder case. It really depicted real-life problems like an abusive husband, dealing with fame, being a mistress, and so on; however, they were not dramatized and romanticized and it showed both the good and the bad things around those problems that actually happen in society. Despite the film being set in a German country, it was still understandable and showed the cultural differences of their country with the usual American TV shows. Moreover, the structure of the tv series was not linear which makes it sometimes confusing; however, the stories that the past shows were very informative and entertaining that makes one want to have more information about the past. All of the flashbacks and stories about the past were very detrimental in figuring out the plot line and helped in the very shocking plot twist.

After watching the tv series, I was left shocked and trying to be the pieces together because it was very unexpected. I would recommend this tv show to other people because it is something new and fresh in contrast to all those romantic comedies coming out. In the TV show, it turns out that none of the obvious suspects were the actual killer and it was the sweet, innocent psychiatrist who were murdering the three girls just because she wants to be loved. She was giving their body parts to Moritz, the perfume maker who does not care where the ingredients for his perfume-making is sourced. However, that was just season 1 of the tv series and there will be a next one wherein the detective will make use of her newfound knowledge about scents to fix her problem with her boss who will be the father of her baby. However, there is a catch because he is married and they have children. Ultimately, the story shows how there are some people who are very desperate to be loved that they will result to drastic measures – may it be about a daughter craving the attention of her mother who is only concerned about her twin or a mistress trying to have what she cannot have that results to home-wrecking.