Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part 1: Rust

This is the first part of a trilogy that documents the lives of workers in the city of Shenyang before and after they were laid off as the factory went bankrupt.

Liked how the workers were able to act naturally in front of the camera and spoke freely about what they thought! Learnt a bit more about the situation in China through this great documentary! I am already looking forward to the next two parts of the trilogy!

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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Brussels

The story is about three days in the life of a widowed housewife named Jeanne Dielman who stayed with her son.

Liked the rhythmic sound of the protagonist opening and closing the doors as well as switching on and off the lights! I was impressed by how organised and neat she was! The dishes that she made on screen looked delicious too!

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The Name of a River

The story is an autobiography of an influential Indian director called Ritwik Ghatak done in an abstract mythical style.

Liked the nice songs in the film but wished that I had more background knowledge on the Indian history and fables to understand the film even better!

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Scenes of City Life

The story is about life in Shanghai during the mid thirties.

Liked the special sound effects in the film! It was interesting to gain an insight into the thoughts of young people during that time!

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Nazarin

The story is about a priest living in a rural Mexican village during the early twentieth century. He tried to live a holy life but this caused unexpected conflicts as it was against social norms.

Liked the interesting story and the ambiguous ending! Not really sure if the priest was a fool or simply a religious fanatic though.

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Humanity and Paper Balloons

The story is about the plight of poor people during the Tokugawa era. One of them was the wife of a ronin and she makes cheap paper balloons at home.

Liked the interesting plot but was depressed by the pessimistic view of life!

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The Cow

The story is about a young man's love for his cow and what happened when he discovered that it was missing one day. The cow had died but the villagers tried to hide the truth from him.

Liked the interesting depiction of the rural life in an Iranian village! I could tell that the young man really loved his cow through his interaction with it!

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Daybreak

The story is about a young girl who moved to Shanghai together with her boyfriend during the early thirties. Their boss was rich and powerful and he often abused his power.

Liked the flashbacks of the couple's happier moments and the actress's nice smile!

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And Quiet Rolls the Dawn

The story is about one family's daughter who was suspected to be missing when she did not return home from work as usual and its impact on the neighborhood.

This was a late seventies film, so there was no mobile phone for the daughter to call home during that time. Liked the social commentary on the role of women in Indian society and the depiction of a typical daily life at the rural Indian neighborhood!

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Black Girl

The story is about an African woman coming to France to work as a maid and how she felt about it.

Liked the voice-over narration that described the protagonist's feelings! A little bit shocked by the ending though. This would make great teaching material for new maids and their potential employers!

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The Girl Who Sold the Sun

The story is about how a handicapped girl decided to work in the city by selling newspapers whose title is "The Sun".

Learnt a bit more about the lives of street children in Africa! Was impressed by the little girl's optimism and resourcefulness!

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Nine Days of One Year

The story is about the struggles of a group of nuclear scientists in Russia during the sixties.

Liked the speech on the role of war in advancing science and vice versa! The inner monologue of the workaholic scientist's wife was interesting too!

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The Bakery Girl of Monceau

This is the first part of the "Six Moral Tales" series by Eric Rohmer. The rest of the films in the series are "Suzanne's Career", "My Night at Maud's", "La Collectionneuse", "Claire's Knee" and "Love in the Afternoon".

The story is about how a young man befriended a beautiful girl whom he always bump into in the street. The beautiful girl disappeared mysteriously without leaving her contact number. The young man roamed the streets in search for her and he became a regular customer of a bakery in the process as he wanted to save time on his meals. Will not reveal too much of the rest of the story but he eventually faced a moral choice in the end.

Liked the narration that described the thoughts of the protagonist! The pastry in the bakery looked really delicious!

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The House is Black

This is a documentary about lepers living in Iran. Their condition is described alternately between a man narrating facts and a woman reciting poetry.

Liked the sound of poetry and how it matched the images shown! The ending was pretty good as it showed how the children of the lepers felt about their parents!

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Astro Boy

The story is about a robot made in the image of a scientist's son who died in an accident. This is an adaptation of a Japanese manga and TV series.

The protagonist looked quite cute with his big eyes and spiky hair! Was inspired to check out the TV series online after watching the film and I found the TV series to be even more interesting! The soundtrack and the storyline are both even nicer!

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Crimson Gold

The story is about the life of a pizza delivery man in Iran. The title referred to the jewelery that he wanted to buy from a shop but was humiliated by the owner who felt that he could not afford it.

Liked "The Mirror" better as it was more unpredictable. Felt a little bit bored with the protagonist who had a monotonous job. The pizza looked delicious though! Maybe that was part of the reason why he became so fat!

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The Ritual

The story is about how a single woman hides her pregnancy by staying in the temple but eventually had to be evicted when people in the village found out about it.

Liked the anthropological approach to explain the unreasonableness of the caste system in India! The protagonist violated social norms but was kind towards the untouchables. The senior Brahmin students knew the rituals by heart but physically tormented their junior. Great performance by the lead actress!

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The Green Ray

The story is about a woman who went on a vacation by herself. She has just broken up with her fiance and hoped to start a new relationship.

Was quite puzzled as to what the green ray represented until towards the end of the film and everything pieced together quite nicely! This film reminded me of films by Hong Sang Soo with its theme of a lonely person, episodic structure and seemingly random dialogue!

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The Song of Sparrows

The story is about how a middle aged man working in an ostrich farm was fired and accidentally found work in the city as a motorcycle driver. His family life suffered in the process.

Liked "Children of Heaven" better as the protagonist was a really unlikable guy, shouting at his kids for no reason at all most of the time! Hope no animal was hurt making this film!

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Hunger

The story is about a talented writer struggling to survive in the city. He is poor but still tries to live with dignity.

Liked the interesting dream sequences especially the one with the dog!

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