Saturday, March 10, 2012

The “World” of Film


   It doesn’t seem that long ago when Hollywood was the center of the movie universe when it came to quality. Hollywood still controls the movie world, but over the last five to ten years other countries are putting out more films as good or better then anything the major studios are releasing. Last Year “A Separation” was nominated for Best Foreign Film and for Best Picture, something you will see more commonly in the future.
      Most people do not enjoy watching foreign films because of subtitles, but in a lot of cases it is worth them in order to see into a culture you may never get to see into. Take for an example “A Separation”, a film from Iran that deals with something that happens in the country often. The story revolves around a family who is going through a separation, when a mother wants a better life for her daughter and her husband wanting to stay to care for his ailing father. An accident happens involving the father and a tale where honor and religious beliefs play a part. Another big foreign film was “The Artist” which came from France and went on to win multiple awards at this year’s Oscars, including Best Picture. Another great film came from Japan called “I Saw the Devil” about a guy who torments a serial killer responsible for his girlfriend’s death.
            Movies have always been a window into worlds that we never see or a way to humanize people that we know nothing about. Foreign films do that not with other worlds but with other cultures. Don’t judge a movie on where it is from, judge it on its story and you might find something you enjoyed more then you thought you could.

 Brian Taylor



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