Reviews
Corrina, Corrina (1994)
Beautiful and Simple
I love the start of the movie: Feet and shoes of people in the funeral. We do not know how the mother died. They do not tell and we do not really need. I like movies that does not give excess information. It is also beautifully tangent with race issues without poking our eyes about it. Children's part in the movie was extra beautiful! There is a wonderful scene that starts with the gospel song "This little light of mine" where black and white kids are on the tree and asking each other "Do you taste like chocolate?" and the other asks "Do you taste like vanilla?" and then they lick each other to see. This is not just a cute movie but also simply substantial.
English as a Second Language (2005)
a very bad movie
This is such a substandard, poorly acted, written and directed with no sense of reality. I have no idea how did it get any award.
People in ESL classes look more like upper class Mexicans, the main actor himself look more like a substandard American playboy who pretends not knowing any English. Dialogs are empty, saying too many things and slightly reminds you of a bad Latin American soap operas with exaggerated acting. Posh mother cleaning house just to find "pregnancy test", far from reality. I personally liked her wig and erotic sleeping attire near the end of the movie.
In fact i don't wanna waste any time talking about this movie, I am highly disappointed with this movie.
Deutschland im Herbst (1978)
Germany democracy is facing with a hard challenge
This is a melancholic semi-documentary about the West Germany's traumatic autumn called as "Deutschland Herbst". The prominent businessman Hanns Martin Schleyer who was a member of the board of directors in Daimler Benz and leader in several employer and industry associations was kidnapped and killed by extreme-left RAF. He was formerly SS worked as an important deputy and adviser to Bernhard Adolf, one of the German economic leaders. Schleyer's uncompromising position towards workers made him a target in the West Germany.
The movie plays with different positionalities. Germany democracy is facing with a hard challenge after the WW2. If you do not know much about these events, you better read about it. The Businesman's chic funeral, his ex-SS experience and policies in the West Germany, RAF's actions are all putting you in a mixed feeling. Left and democracy are under pressure with a lack of hope. I felt like RAF was representation of this hopelessness.
It is a very simplistic semi-documentary but very successful. End of the movie was very moving with the song "A Tu Salud". I highly recommend you to see it. Despite you may not know much about Germany or the specific context, it has a lot of relevance to today's democracy and freedom problems.