Priceless.

My Rating
(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R Runtime: 102 minutes
Genre: Foreign, Romantic Comedy, Comedy

For me, romantic comedies are a love-hate thing. There’s no in between; I either love it or hate it. A romantic comedy that’s not sappy, cheesy, or predictable is hard to find. However, if you’re looking for a good one, look no further.

Irène(Audrey Tautou – who you may know from Amelie, although you’ll hardly recognize her) is a gold digger who lives by taking advantage of rich men with her charm and beauty. When she and her rich boyfriend go on a vacation, she mistakes the bartender Jean(Gad Elmaleh) for a rich man. He becomes smitten with her, and now she must figure out how to get rid of him.

Although, I thought the role didn’t fully allow Audrey Tautou to display her acting ability, she does great with what they give her. Gad Elmaleh was fantastic in the role of Jean, though. I don’t think the movie would be that great if another actor had been chosen for the role.

I thought that Priceless is a great, light-hearted romantic comedy that, despite its predictability, offers witty comedy and a fun storyline. This would make a great date movie.

Netflix Page for Priceless.

The Orpanage

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 105 minutes

Genre: Foreign, Thriller, Drama, Mystery, Suspense

Now I’m not the biggest fan of scary movies. I usually like something with a little more substance to it. The Orphanage, however, has both a good plot and the ability to freak you out.

Laura purchases the old orphanage where she spent the early years of her childhood in hope to make it into a home for disabled children. Shortly after they move into their new home, Laura’s son Simón begins to playing with his new imaginary friends. At a welcoming party, Simón suddenly vanishes. As Laura tries to get her son back, a whole new mystery about her new home unravels. Produced by Guillermo del Toro (producer, writer, and director of Pan’s Labyrinth).

This movie will leave you on the edge of your seat, it will creep you out, it will give you chills. This movie wasn’t so much scary as it is creepy for me (although there where some parts where I couldn’t look because I was too terrified to see what was going to happen). This movie uses some great techniques to evoke a response from the audience. There were parts of the film where I was cringing because I was terrified to see what was coming next.

One of the reasons for that was the suspenseful music. I think music is key in thrillers and this one definitely nailed it. The acting in this film was great; Belén Rueda (who plays Laura) was perfect for the role. The cinematography also played a huge role in the creep out factor. Even just the way the light falls into the room added to the overall eerie feeling.

The best thing about this movie was plot! It’s great to see a suspense movie made these days that had a real plot and wasn’t all about gore and unrealistic special effects. You should definitely add this to your queue if you’re looking to be creeped out but still want to enjoy a good story or if you’re a fan of old suspense films.

Neflix Page for The Orphange
This movie is also available on Watch Instantly.

Good Bye, Lenin.

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 112 minutes

Genre: Foreign, Comedy, Drama

I don’t know about you, but I never learned about, or perhaps even thought about, the transition from socialism to democracy for the people for East Germany. Even though this film is about an unrealistic(but highly entertaining) story of one family, it still captures the heart of the transition.

Good Bye, Lenin! is the story of Alex Kerner and his family. When Alex’s mother sees him at an anti-communist rally, she has a heart attack and goes into a coma. When she wakes up, her doctor tells Alex and his sister that their mother’s heart can’t handle too much excitement or surprise. The problem is, she doesn’t know that the wall has fallen. Worried that her roommate at the hospital would tell her about it, Alex decides to take her home and tries to recreate the world as it was before the wall fell. But how far is he willing to go to keep his mother from finding out?

Even though all of the references don’t necessarily make sense to me(being that I live in the United States) but the main ideas transfer over easily. Change is hard, especially one as major as this. One of my favorite parts of this movie was seeing how East Germany from its own perspective. I feel like I’ve only seen films that express the negatives of socialism. I felt that this film wasn’t completely biased towards that prospective and that it was a nice change to see. As far as the actual changing away from socialism, it felt realistic. Not everyone was happy with the change, and there were moments where people missed the way things used to be.

This movie is definitely worth your time. It's funny and touching and really does make you think about how we take everyday things such as Coca Cola and Burger King for granted.

Netflix Page for Good Bye, Lenin.

The Band's Visit

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 87 minutes

Genre: Foreign, Comedy, Drama

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen very many Israeli films, if any. Both touching and funny, this one certainly makes a good first impression.

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra takes a trip from Egypt to Israel in order to play at the opening of an Arabic cultural center. However, the arranged transportation fails to show. So instead they must find their own way there. The band boards a bus to a town with a similar-sounding name, and becomes stranded there. The town is in the middle of the desert and there is nowhere for the band to stay. However, the woman who owns the restaurant and then two men who occupy the tables out front of the restaurant take them in for the night.

Keep in mind, this is one of those slice of life movies, so don’t expect too much action in this one. The movies tagline says it all, “Once-not long ago-a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this...It wasn't that important.” It’s just people of one culture interacting with people of another. It’s simple, yet it shows that in every culture there is loneliness, love, loss, and joy. The characters are all realistic, complex human beings, who you get to know more of as the film goes on.

Comedy-wise, my favorite scene is when Haled, the young ladies-man of the band, accompanies one of the men he met at the restaurant, who happens to be quite awful with the ladies, to the local roller rink. His date begins to cry and he has no idea what to do. Haled decides to help him which results in a really cute and funny scene in the movie.

As far as serious moments goes, the one that stuck in my mind the most is when the band member who wrote an unfinished concerto is sitting a room with the man who he’s staying with and his child. He then gives him solemn advice on how to finish his concerto after all of these years (I don’t want to spoil it).

The music in the film was beautiful. I loved the hauntingly beautiful unfinished concerto. It went perfectly with the shots of scenery shown while it was playing. The song in the last scene was the perfect end to the film. I just wish there was more music in the film since it was so magnificent.

Netflix Page for The Band's Visit

Paris Je T'aime.

My Rating

(out of 5 envelopes):

MPAA Rating: R

Runtime: 110 minutes

Genre: Foreign, Comedy, Drama

Paris Je T’aime isn’t your typical film. The movie is divided into 18 vignettes about five minutes in length, each with a different director, set in a different part of Paris. Every vignette is about love. And you feel it through the entire movie.

That said, some of these stories are amazing, some of them mediocre, and some...well, bad. However, there are considerably more good than bad.

My Top 3 Vignettes (in order they appear in the film):

Le Marais

Director: Gus Van Sant

This vignette is about a teenage French boy who walks enters a print shop. He has a gut feeling that one of the workers is his soul mate and he tries to explain how he feels.

You know that feeling when you meet someone you’ve never met before, but you feel like you’re inexplicably connected? Well, this vignette totally captures that feeling, which is why I love it so much.

Faubourg Saint-Denis

Director: Tom Tykwer

A blind college student receives a call from his girlfriend who breaks up with him. He reminisces about their relationship from the moment they met to the present.

This is a lot better than it sounds. This is probably my favorite story in the movie. Natalie Portman plays the girlfriend and is absolutely wonderful in the role. This story ends up being an incredibly touching 5 minutes.

14e arrondissement

Director: Alexander Payne

In this vignette, a mail carrier from the US recounts her long awaited trip to Paris. She comes to the city alone and remains alone through the entire trip. But in the end she ends up falling in love with Paris.

This was the perfect story to place at the end of the movie. This story is funny and meaningful. I felt like I, too, had fallen in love with Paris by the end of this film.

My Least Favorite Vignette:

Porte de Choisy

Director: Christopher Doyle

A beauty product salesman makes a visit to Chinatown to try to sell his goods in this story. I honestly didn’t fully understand what was happening in this one. I didn’t get where the whole love part was supposed to come into play. I think that this was the only vignette I didn’t like.

Overall, I thought the film was beautiful. The mishmash of directors and writers shows just how multifaceted love really is and what it means to other people.

Netflix Page for Paris Je T'aime
This film is also available on Watch Instantly.

If you enjoyed this movie, they’re coming out with another movie like this called New York, I Love You. See the trailer here .