Steve's International Film Festival

I've been watching quite a few movies lately, from all over the globe. These include the Korean Welcome to Dongmakgol, the Japanese Tonari no tottoro, the Mexican/Spanish Pan's Labyrinth and the German/Turkish Head-On. So here are some thoughts on them...

I saw the first part of Welcome to Dongmakgol on the coach ride back from the Demilitarised Zone to Seoul. Set in the Korean War, its a story of two sets of soldiers, one from the north and one the south, who happen to meet in a village in the mountains. The villagers of "Dongmakgol" are totally removed from and unnaware of the war that's raging all around them, not even understanding the threats of guns and grenades. Its warm and slapstick openings make the sad and heroic ending even more poignant, and highlight the futality of war and common bonds of kinship and solidarity without shovelling on any moral lessons. Well worth seeing.

Tonari no tottoro, or "My Neighbour Tottoro", is one of Hayao Miyazaki's (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle) most famous films. Its a story for children involving a bus that's a cat and three "Tottoros", cute creatures that like the sound of rain on umbrellas. I'm not a huge fan of manga, but this is such a nice story, very different from other Miyazaki epics like Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa. Its short and simple, but completely enjoyable.

Less sweet and certainly not simple is Head-On, a story about two Turks living in Germany who marry each other for convenience and slowly start falling in love with each other. Its full of sex and violence, and has won lots of awards. I enjoyed it as much as I could understand it (we watched it in German with Japanese subtitles).

Finally, and best of all, is the amazingly fantastically wonderful Pan's Labyrinth. Anyone who listens to Mark Kermode's movie reviews will know how he raves about this film, and the praise is definately well founded. It's directed by Guillermo del Toro, and set in Spain a few years after the Spanish Civil War. The story revolves around the difficult life of a young girl, taken with her mother to live with her stepfather, Captain Vidal, who is hunting down a band of resistance fighters in the hills surrounding a small town. The horrors she experiences in real life are reflected in the fantasy world she creates, complete with ambiguous "monsters" and a powerful lessons about the need to question authority. Its a complex and gripping film that masterfully combines the real and imaginary. An absolute must-see.

In other news the Blues beat the Saints 2-1 to leave promotion in their own hands! Only 4 games to go...