Where We Are:  Re-Unified Germany (Germany post-1990)
wikipedia

What We Watched:


Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run)
Year of Release: 1998
Directed By: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri
Genre: Suspense/Thriller, Action

Overview:
A thrilling post-MTV, roller-coaster ride, RUN LOLA RUN is the internationally acclaimed sensation about two star-crossed lovers who have only minutes to change the course of their lives. Time is running out for Lola (Franka Potente). She's just received a frantic phone call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who's lost a small fortune belonging to his mobster boss. If Lola doesn't replace the money in twenty minutes, Manni will surely suffer severe consequences. Set to a throbbing techno score, "Lola's like a human stun gun!" - Peter Rainer, New York Magazine.

My Thoughts:
We all know Bugs Bunny should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.  But what if he had?  Things would have turned out very different.  That's the basic premise, and theme, of Lola Rennt.  What effect do Lola's actions have on the future?  What is the role of chance?  Of luck?  Can you hit the reset button and give it another go?  And what would happen if you could? 

It's a fun, fast paced film, done with technical skill and lots of "gimmicks" - animated sequences, speed ups and slow downs, split screen.  I really liked Franka Potente's portrayal of Lola, though I did wonder what she saw in Manni.  You don't really learn a lot about him, about what makes him the guy for her that she is willing to do all this for.  But maybe you don't need to.  It's still a good film.  Recommended.

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall: 3.75/5

Where We Are:  Germany - Weimar Republic
wikipedia



Menschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday)
Year of Release: 1930
Directed By: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer
Starring: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Christl Ehlers
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Documentary

Overview:
Years before they became major players in Hollywood, a group of young German filmmakers—including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann—worked together on the once-in-a-lifetime collaboration People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag). This effervescent, sunlit silent, about a handful of city dwellers (a charming cast of nonprofessionals) enjoying a weekend outing, offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.

My Thoughts:
This was a fascinating movie.  While a worthy enough film on its own, it's most interesting as a document of Weimar era Germany.  The look at Berlin in 1929, of her people and her robust public transport is a wonderful historical document.  I was reminded of Man With a Movie Camera in that the film documents the people and their city.  Of course, it doesn't have the camera tricks that film did, and adds a story that we follow as well as the documentary footage.  Without the camera tricks the film feels much more realistic.  It has a carefree, summery feel, spontaneous and unpretentious.  Yet I agree with the view offered in the accompanying documentary, that it is ultimately cynical about the relationship between the sexes, since Brigitte desires to see Wolfgang again next Sunday, but he has plans with his buddy for soccer.  Having gotten what he wanted, he has no desire for anything further.  Worth watching for the wonderful camera work, the interesting historical Berlin, the nostalgic atmosphere, and the film history connections.  Five of the people working on the film went on to do very well in Hollywood (Wilder, the Siodmak brothers, Ulmer & Zinnemann).

Bechdel Test:  Fail

Overall: 4/5

Quoting Danae Cassandra:

Quote:
It's now time for Christmas movies, but when we get back next year I think we'll go to Czechoslovakia.

Get some DVDs of Karel Zeman over Christmas, and you can have an extended stay in Czechoslovakia.

Quoting W0m6at:

Quote:
Quoting Danae Cassandra:

Quote:
It's now time for Christmas movies, but when we get back next year I think we'll go to Czechoslovakia.

Get some DVDs of Karel Zeman over Christmas, and you can have an extended stay in Czechoslovakia.

Just returned from Prague yesterday. The Christmas markets in downtown Prague really do create a special atmosphere in this season. 

Where We Are: Czechoslovakia
wikipedia

What We Watched:


Sedmikrásky (Daisies)
Year of Release: 1966
Directed By: Vera Chytilová
Starring: Ivana Karbanová, Jitka Cerhová
Genre: Experimental, Comedy

Overview:
Maybe the New Wave’s most anarchic entry, Vera Chytilová’s absurdist farce follows the misadventures of two brash young women. Believing the world to be “spoiled,” they embark on a series of pranks in which nothing—food, clothes, men, war—is taken seriously. Daisies is an aesthetically and politically adventurous film that’s widely considered one of the great works of feminist cinema.

My Thoughts:
This was an interesting film. What I got from it was it's points about the condition and place of women in society, how women are not truly seen or understood, and are locked out of full participation, leading to absurd spoilage. Another point the film has is how asking for help leads to continuing a broken system and therefore the only way to truly achieve help is to help oneself. It would be a really interesting film to use in a college class to analyze from various theoretical perspectives. I don't regret watching it.

I also think it unlikely that I will ever watch it again. It had absolutely no story, moving from scenario to scenario with little (or no) transition or logic, and was completely absurd. I think the director intended this, that pure absurdity is what she wanted to achieve, and in that she was successful, but that doesn't necessarily make for a film that is rewatchable. Also, while the women were active and central to the film, the film's entire focus, all they really did was live off manipulating men and gorge themselves on pleasures. Yes, the point I think was that because women are spoiled by society (in the sense of spoiled food) then why should they not spoil themselves (in the sense of a spoiled kid), but this doesn't ultimately enact change.

I can't think of anyone I could recommend this film to, outside of that one usage I mentioned above. Art film - yes, experimental film - yes, good film - not so much.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 2/5

Okay, we went to Romania instead.  I have four films from Romania.

- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- 12:08 East of Bucharest
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
- The Way I Spent the End of the World

Unfortunately, we watched 12:08 East of Bucharest.

Where We Are:  Italy
wikipedia



Ieri, oggi, domani  (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)
Year of Release:  1963
Directed By: Vittorio De Sica
Starring: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni
Genre: Comedy, Romance

Overview:
Academy Award® Winner Sophia Loren (TWO WOMEN) and Marcello Mastroianni (LA DOLCE VITA, 8 ½) co-star in Vittorio De Sica's delightful comedy anthology in three hilarious sexual escapades that helped make them the two most popular Italian performers of 20th century cinema.

The final vignette featuring Loren's notorious striptease, was recreated decades later by Robert Altman in READY TO WEAR. This brand new 16x9 high definition digital transfer has been created from the original 35mm 2P negative restored in collaboration with De Sica Foundation.

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW, winner of the 1964 Oscar® for Best Foreign Film, remains one of the most beloved Italian films, and has never looked better.

A masterful comedic film by Italy's greatest neo-realist director, Vittorio De Sica (THE BICYCLE THIEF, TWO WOMEN), available for the first time ever on DVD in America, uncut in its original aspect ratio.

My Thoughts:
This was a lovely, entertaining, sometimes funny, sometimes sexy anthology film. The first story concerns a poor family in which the wife is the breadwinner as a seller of contraband cigarettes. She finds out after she is caught at it that she cannot be arrested while she is pregnant, and thus she and her husband keep having children to keep her out of prison. Much more amusing than it sounds. Loren is beautiful and plays her part superbly, but Adelina so completely dominates her poor husband (Mastroianni is also superb as the henpecked hubby) that she can be a bit unsympathetic. Of course, not nearly as unsympathetic as Anna, the rich snob Loren plays in the second story. The second story is very lackluster, concerning a rich woman on the cusp of an affair with a writer, and Loren's character is really nasty in it. The third story swung the film back up, with Loren playing a high-class prostitute and Mastroianni one of her clients. While I feel like the first story was the most fully developed, I liked Loren's and Mastroianni's characters in the third story the best.

The film has a lot to recommend it - great acting, good cinematography, a sexy striptease by Sophia Loren, and it's not without something to say, even in the second story that I didn't like as much as the others. Recommended.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

That's great news about the blu-ray.  I need to get a new copy of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.  The copy I got off an Amazon reseller is not in the condition I would like (there were several skips during the film).  Definitely hitting the wishlist!