Three films that are worth seeing
An Oscar nomination helps films, get more attention. Our winners tend to be smaller productions in terms of budget, but their content and quality are outstanding.
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
Rating absolutely worth seeing
A few journalists from the AP news agency remained in the strategically important Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which was bombed by Russia for 89 days and almost completely destroyed.
The journalists point their cameras and microphones at the suffering of the civilian population. They film desperate children, doctors in a maternity ward trying to evacuate their patients in dire need under a hail of bombs and many other atrocities.
The suffering of the people in the film “20 Days in Mariupol” is immediately tangible and reminds us of what has already been forgotten by many, but is still a cruel, unbearable part of everyday life in Ukraine.
The film was released in 2023 and has already won several awards at film festivals. The Oscar nomination in the “Best Documentary Feature Film” category has now focused the world’s spotlight on this war report. And rightly so. The journalists risked their lives to capture these images and broadcast them to the world.
It’s about more
We wish this film the widest possible audience. An OSCAR for the Ukrainian journalist and filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues on location would be more than deserved.
This documentary should be seen by all those who believe that this war is none of our business. People who don’t want to know anything about history and think maps are superfluous.
If these people are not even moved by the suffering of the elderly ladies who, wrapped in a warm blanket, tremble with every bang of a bomb, then we lose faith in humanity.
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL. Nominated in the category Best Documentary Film
ANATOMY OF A CASE
The opposite of Barbie
Actress Sandra Hüller shows in her role in the film “Anatomy of a Case“ The opposite of Barbie: no permanent smile, no perfect styling, no desire to please everyone. Instead, a fascinating spectacle in which every look, every clearing of the throat and every blink counts.
Sandra Hüller, Golden Globe Awards 2024 © PMC, Alamy Stock Photo
It is fascinating to watch her in court: Her vulnerability, her courage in not conforming to the usual clichés, her fear of losing her son, who may have witnessed the accident or the murder and has to testify as a witness in the courtroom, after the loss of her husband, who died after falling out of the chalet.
The movie is much more than a courtroom drama, it questions our perceptions, our assumptions and our prejudices.
Sandra Hüller is nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. With Emma Stone in “Poor Things” also nominated, this is a very difficult category to win.
We have seen Sandra Hüller on stage several times at Schauspiel Bochum. As Penthesilea and as Hamlet, even her breathing kept us in suspense. In our opinion, she deserves an OSCAR as an actress: for “Anatomy of a Case” or for one of her next films.
ANATOMY OF A CASE. Nominated in the category Best Actress in a Leading Role.
PERFECT DAYS
Right into the heart
The German-Japanese film “Perfect Days“, directed by Wim Wenders and starring Kõji Yakusho, has received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
Festival de Cannes 2023 © Alamy Stock Photo
This film is also the antithesis of Hollywood glamor: A precise, quiet, humane, poetic, calm, touching and optimistic film about the everyday life of a man whose job it is to clean toilets in Tokyo. A masterpiece by Wim Wenders, if you like, a sequel to Sky over Berlin.
We can see the richness of the actor’s inner world in his posture and his eyes, and we probably all wish we could take as much joy from the little things of each day as the main character of the film Hirayama.
The camera follows Hirayama from the moment he gets up in the morning, blinking happily into the morning sun, until he finishes work in an izakaya. We get to know his young colleague, who is unfamiliar with the dedication and care with which Hirayama cleans the toilets and who believes that more money would make a decisive difference to his life.
One suspects that Hirayama once led a different life and admires the intimacy with his niece, who visits him unexpectedly and accompanies him to work until her wealthy mother takes her home again.
A cinematic masterpiece, which we are thrilled, touched and wholeheartedly award an OSCAR.
PERFECT DAYS. Nominated in the category Best Foreign Film.
We will definitely be watching the OSCAR Awards, which will be broadcast live by ProSieben, on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 11:30 pm.
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Cover photo: 92nd Annual Academy Awards, Hollywood, Los Angeles © Abaca Press, Alamy Stock Photo
