The sun is still shining

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Last night I watched Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
It's a brilliant semi-documentary. I believe it was nominated for the foreign film Oscar in 2005; stars Julia Jentsch as the German hero of the White Rose movement. What I loved best was the constant reference to the outside world--Sophie's intermittent glances outside windows--the ceiling of the atrium, the window in the prison, the window in the interrogator's room.
The best scene, I think, was one of the last ones where Hans, Sophie, and Christophe share a cigarette before the executions. It was terribly moving. My mother came home to me bawling on the couch.
The writing was perfect, as was the cinematography. The acting was more than decent as well, although I have to say that that's largely because of Jentsch.




I also watched Underdog, this pretty short film about coming-of-age in Israel, unforeseen consequences, and the beast within the human. Directed by Eran Merav. I heard about it several times before; apparently it's been lauded by critics for a while, and I know that it won some award at the Berlin Festival. Also recommended to anyone who enjoys a great clip. It's less than half an hour long.


This morning I was in the mood for another short so I watched Intervals, by Paul Greenaway. It's a rather experimental sort of film, using black and white stills and observational clips from the 1960s (?) in Venice. After watching I said "Hmmm?"


I love the feeling of watching a good film.
Tonight I think I'm going to watch The Dead, and then Great Genius and Profound Stupidity. I think De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté is playing early tomorrow morning, and I've only watched that once before...


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