About a month ago I posted the introduction and the first episode of “International Cinema“, my little project to travel around the world in the movies. Today I’m delighted to introduce you to Episode II, this time with slightly less obscure countries, but possibly slightly more obscure movies. Enjoy!

Finland

Mies vailla menneisyyttä Mies vailla menneisyyttä / The Man Without A Past (2002)
The best word to describe this movie would be “Finnish”. It’s totally different from what I expected from the title and from some photos I’ve seen. It’s a very very quiet, but good movie about a man who comes to Helsinki on a business trip, gets hit on the head and forgets who he is. Because there is apparently nobody in town who knows him, he makes friends with some very poor people who live in a shack on the outskirts of town. He finds a job with the Salvation Army and makes some more friends there. He struggles to make a living in poverty.

Kukushka Kukushka / The Cuckoo (2002)
Well this is actually a Russian movie, but I put it under Finland because Finnish is the dominating language. Taking place at the end of WWII, it’s about a Saami woman who lives alone in the middle of nowhere, in her little wooden shack. She helps a Russian soldier who was shot by taking him into her home and treating his wounds. A little later a Finnish soldier finds her house and she also starts helping him. However, all of them speak different languages and they don’t understand each other. If they talk at all, that is. Half of the movie nobody talks and the other half they don’t understand each other. Pretty interesting, actually.

Iceland

Mávahlátur Mávahlátur / The Seagull’s Laughter (2001)
It’s the swinging 50s, in Iceland! Beautiful, mysterious Freyja comes home to her family after having lived in the US for a long time. She causes a lot of furor, a lot of talk and some trouble.

This was an outstanding movie, one of the best international ones I’ve seen. Some great acting from Hilmir Snær Guðnason (who I knew from his German-speaking role in Erbsen auf halb sechs (Peas at 5:30)). What confused me was Heino Ferch. I didn’t recognize him until after the credits, but I did notice that his voice was dubbed, painfully obvious in some scenes. I really wonder why they cast a German actor in an Icelandic role who doesn’t even speak Icelandic. It doesn’t make sense. It’s totally different from Hilmir Snær Guðnason, who actually spoke German himself and with an accent in that German movie.

Mávahlátur Hafið / The Sea (2002)
Story-wise this is similiar to Mávahlátur. Guy who studies in France comes home to Iceland and faces lots of trouble with his family. But I didn’t like this movie as much. It’s a little sadder and the story is a little slow. It’s not as captivating as Mávahlátur.

South Korea

Oldboy Oldboy (2003)
Oldboy is pretty famous for a foreign movie. A lot of people seem to like it just because it’s so graphic. I’m not sure how much I like it. It’s such a weird story and I can’t make sense of why someone would do something like that. Either of them… All of it…

I'm a cyborg, but that's OK Saibogujiman kwenchana / I’m a cyborg, but that’s OK (2006)
From the director of Oldboy comes a totally different kind of film. This is sort of a love story, set in a loony bin. Young-goon thinks she’s a cyborg and instead of eating regular food, she licks on batteries. A guy in the looney bin likes her and tries to help her with her food issues. It’s as weird as any loony bin movie, but very sweet.

Spain

El Día de la bestia El Día de la bestia (1995)
A favorite in the “metal” scene, this movie is about a priest who has to commit sins in order to prevent the apocalypse. Since that’s gonna happen pretty soon, he finds help from his new landlord’s son (a Heavy/Thrash Metal fan) and from a TV magic guy. This combination provides a lot of fun 😉

La mala educación La mala educación / Bad Education (2004)
As a screenplay and a movie in a movie, this tells the “true” (but in reality made-up) story of two boys in a catholic school of the 50s (or 60s?), how they start a sort of sexual relationship, how their principal discovers this and how all of that influenced their later life. A little hard to describe, but it’s a very good movie. Very good cinematography too.

Alatriste Alatriste (2006)
Set in Spain’s golden century, this film tells the story of Captain Alatriste and how he fought several people (like the Dutch). It’s a very historical film, but hey, it’s Viggo Mortensen speaking Spanish in a Spanish movie (and sporting a porn beard)!

Pan's Labyrinth El Laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Does this film really still need an introduction? 😉 Best Guillermo del Toro film I’ve seen so far. One of the best films of the last 2 years. It’s very disappointing that this didn’t win an Oscar. It really deserved one.

Volver Volver (2006)
OK, I gotta admit I didn’t really understand this, but that was because I watched it in Spanish with Spanish subtitles and my Spanish was nowhere near good enough yet to do that. But it did look like a pretty good movie. I have to catch up on Almodóvar’s other stuff sometime soon.