Jasmim Talks Cinema

2018: A Year for New Voices in Film  Another year has come and gone, and it was a weird and chaotic one. With world leaders that make no sense, populism overtaking all corners of the world, and climate change looming ever closer, our world may seem hopeless. Fortunately, we have cinema to lighten up our lives and give us hope the future. This year we've had some of the most original and important films of the century, with incredible masterpieces one after the other. And one of the most evident aspects of this year's cinema is the dominance of stories about those who are usually silenced by society and dominance of female-lead stories and female-directed films.  For far too long, these stories have been side-lined and ignored. For far too long, women have merely been the observed, the target of the male gaze. But not anymore. If we have seen anything this year, it's that the world is changing, and as misogynistic and racist leaders are gaining power, artists and audien...

Illegal Being - A Distant Future Not So Distant  If Look What I've Got In My Shopping Bag was the birth of a new talent, Illegal Being  is the maturation of that talent. Far from giving us any disappointments, Matthew Reynolds reveals that his talent wasn't just beginner's luck in Some Guys With a Camera's most ambitious project to date, being able to execute it and revealing a versatility in genres and themes. In a brilliantly written film that englobes political satire, romance, and Lynchian imagery, Reynolds proves that he's a very promising filmmaker of our Generation Z. This is an extremely important and original look at our current political climate, where we see a world where the word "alien" employed by so many conservative politicians is a bit more literal. Through this, we are shown an intelligent satire that will grip you from beginning to end and make you think. This is a film about a distant future that may not be as distant as it may see...

Roma - An Intimate Panorama of Life  Sometimes there are moments in our lives when we look back at our past and look at it in a different light. We remember how things were in a different way and maybe we give more value to certain things that we may not have valued while we were living at that moment. Sometimes we need to stand in a certain distance in time to fully understand these moments. We create a panoramic view of the past when we do that. And this is exactly what Alfonso Cuarón does in Roma , and that's why it's so easily such a personal and yet, at the same time, universal film. It's a look back into his childhood. However, what he reflects on isn't exactly his own childhood per se. This is a story about life and everything that it involves in all its complexity, simplicity, realism and contradiction. It's a reflection on the past while looking from the present, and not in a nostalgic way, but in a compassionate way. It's a beautiful look both at ...

Shoplifters - The Bonds in a Family  What is a family? What makes a group of people a family? Is it something as simple as a connection by blood? Or can it be something much deeper and binding? Hirokazu Kore-eda brilliantly weaves a captivating story that makes us question the traditional concept of family. As we see the lives of a family of thieves unfold before our eyes, we are hit with the realization of what might be the answer to these questions. Through techniques similar to Yasujiro Ozu, Kore-eda shows us through sympathetic lenses a tale of love and struggle for survival that will make your heart ache with emotion. When the film ends, we are left with a hollow space in our hearts where the warmth radiated by this family once was. There is really nothing like it.  As the title suggests, this film is about a group of people who are shoplifters. The film starts by showing us a man and a boy - Osamu and Shota, played by Lily Franky and Jyo Kairi, respectiv...

The Rider - A Search for Identity   The Western is a traditionally heavily male genre of cinema. It's probably the genre that has more masculine appeal to it and that most explores themes related to masculinity. With that in mind, why would a woman want to direct a Western? Maybe precisely because of this is The Rider  such an innovative film and a game-changer. Chloé Zhao brings a breath of fresh and poetic air to this masculine genre and raises an important question that is so important and present in our modern society through the story of a young cowboy: what is the male identity today? What does that even mean? All throughout history, masculinity has been associated with strength and power. But that leaves no space to explore other more fragile aspects present in every man. In a time when identity is something so debated in our society, it's only necessary to question the male identity so that we can come to terms with more fragile elements in it. And through the sen...

Jasmim's Choice 2003 Best Film: Winner: Lost in Translation A Tale of Two Sisters American Splendor Dogville Elephant Good Bye Lenin! Kill Bill: Vol.1 Memories of Murder Oldboy Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring The Barbarian Invasions The Dreamers The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King The Return 21 Grams Best Director: Winner: Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation Kim Jee-Woon, A Tale of Two Sisters Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Distant Lars Von Trier, Dogville Gus Van Sant, Elephant Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill: Vol.1 Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Bong Joon-ho, Memories of Murder Park Chan-Wook, Oldboy Kim Ki-Duk, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring Denys Arcand, The Barbarian Invasions Bernardo Bertolucci, The Dreamers Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Andrey Zvyagintsev, The Return Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 21 Grams Best Actor: Winners: Bill Mu...

My coverage of the Lisbon&Sintra Film Festival: Last week I went to the Lisbon&Sintra Film Festival (Leffest), which took place between the 16th and the 25th. I watched 8 films and 1 short that I absolutely loved. Here are the reviews I wrote and posted on my Instagram and Facebook accounts with some minor changes and additions. Day 1 - Psychogenic Fugue (directed by Sandro Miller)/Inland Empire (directed by David Lynch)  On the night of the 16th of November, I had the most Lynchian experience in my entire life. Everything in the way the festival organized the event of the opening of the festival's retrospective of Lynch's work (Waiting for Mr. Lunch) just felt so brilliantly out of a Lynch movie (in a good way). Everything started with Chrysta Bell singing live the song "Polish Poem" from Inland Empire. Everything about her performance just felt like something out of a David Lynch movie, which means Leffest did an amazing job. Then we were gr...