When sick and in bed.......

I was down with fever for a whole week a while ago. The easiest way to entertain yourself in such situations is to watch movies. I ended up watching quite a few very nice movies. Two of the best movies I watched were as follows.

1. A Separation- 

It is a 2011 movie by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. The movie is about how different people can perceive the same situation completely differently and how it can lead to very complicated scenarios for everyone involved. A very tight script, executed brilliantly by the director, it will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. There are underlying themes of religion, class-bias, woven in very beautifully into the script, therefore adding many layers to the story. The father-daughter relationship is depicted beautifully in the movie and was one of my favorite bits of the movie. Its a movie of brilliant performances too, but the performance of the teenaged daughter Termeh, takes the cake. The movie very easily has made into my favorite movies list. I had watched only one Iranian movie before this, this was my second Iranian movie and I am definitely hooked and waiting to watch many more.

2. The grave of the fireflies-

A heartbreakingly beautiful tale of a brother and sister's struggle to survive during the World War II in Japan. Seita takes care of his little sister, Setsuko like a parent would, when their mother dies during bombing and their father is away at war. It is an animated movie and the animations may have been used to dampen in some way the pain and suffering shown in the movie. The animations are done in the typical Japanese style and lend an element of innocence to the whole story because the storyteller happens to be the elder brother Seita, talking about his little sister Setsuko. The film leaves you thinking about how a war can or had affected the lives of people in the past.

I watched two other movies made by directors closer to home, and will write about them in the next post.....