DesertTalkies Film Reviews!

  CAIRO STATION [1958] Starring: Hind Rostom, Youssef Chahine, Farid Shawqi Direction by Youssef Chahine Language: Arabic  I live in an Arabic speaking country, and so I am surrounded by Arabic media: Arabic television, film, and music. It seems to be a lot of the same: romance interspersed with family drama (much like the Bollywood of the 1980s-2000s). I was looking through Netflix only to find poorly made Arabic horrors/thrillers, and what seemed like an infinite amount of Romantic comedies. However, when I saw Cairo station and read the description, I was hooked. Black-and-white, 1950s, murder, mental deterioration, obsessive romance? Count me in! (I realise now that I sound slightly strange saying that on here). It only took a little bit of further research to back up my assumption that this movie was miles different to any other Arabic Egyptian film of the time. I guess that this movie had the same effect that Darr had on Bollywood cinema in the 90s.  Setting the mov...

  MOONLIGHT [2016] Starring: Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monae, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Naomie Harris Direction by Barry Jenkins Language: English In 2016, I turned 11. I had watched La La Land in the cinema, but was too young to watch Moonlight. I loved musicals even then, and so I thought I was supposed to love the movie. So I resented Moonlight when they were the ones that ended up winning the Oscar on that fateful day in 2017. The movie has always been in the back of my mind: I've been wondering about it of late, and it was only until it came up on my Netflix recommended list that I decided to watch it.  Side note: I didn't realise that A24 was involved in the production and distribution of so many critically acclaimed films! Moonlight, Lady Bird, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Whale, Aftersun. The list goes on and on. A24 is my kind of production house, that's for certain.  What can I say about Moonlight? It was alright, I guess? I don't know. I watche...

  A Star is Born [1954] Starring: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Tommy Noonan, Lucy Marlow Direction by George Cukor Language: English 'The night is bitter, the stars have lost their glitter. The winds grow colder, suddenly you're older. And all because of the man that got away! No more his eager call, the writing's on the wall, the dreams you've dreamed have all gone astray.' 'Ever since this world began, there is nothing sadder than…a one man woman, looking for the man that got away.' 'I'll get by as long as I have you, though there'll be rain and darkness too, I'll not complain, I'll see it through.' In the past, I was a staunch believer in the fact that Bollywood Hindi songs were always better than English Hollywood ones. Anyone who told me otherwise purely didn't understand the beauty of Bollywood, and I would dismiss their opinion straight away. However, I have realised the errors of my ways after this movie right h...

  Parasite [2019] Starring: Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-sik, Park So-dam, Jung Ji-So Direction by Bong Joon-Ho Language: Korean  I think it's pretty obvious to assume that anyone who has seen this movie now has trust issues. I watched this film when it was out in the cinema, and, being under 15, I had to sneak in to actually see it. Luckily the movie attendants were none the wiser. What I saw as a result result of seeing this was a thriller I actually enjoyed (I don't tend to like them), extraordinarily high levels of violence, and a movie that I would eventually come to revere.  At the time I watched Parasite, I had started to see changes in my exposure to Korean culture through media. My playlists were full of K-pop, and my Netflix watchlist was full of K-dramas. But this was the first time that I had actually seen a Korean movie. I can definitely say that it was a whole WORLD away from the wholesome feeling that I had come to associate with Korea. What I saw was the 'seedy...

  CHILDREN OF HEAVEN [1997] Starring: Mir Farrokh Hashemian, Bahare Seddiqi, Reza Naji Direction by Majid Majidi Language: Farsi I had originally seen this movie in 2011, but I was too young to fully understand the meaning or significance of the movie. However, for some reason, the movie has come back to my mind of late and so I decided to watch it. Let's just say that the Iranians are the kings and queens of heart-wrenching cinema. I plan to explore that statement over the coming weeks. Showcasing the relationship between siblings through a child's eyes was especially powerful. The fact that it didn't win the academy award for international feature film in 1998 just shows that the Oscars aren't everything, I guess.  The psyche of children really came to light in this movie, and the innocence and fragility of them was so endearing to see. It really put my problems into perspective - the fact that shoes were the focal point of such giant issues for the children really ex...