Film (2019)
A Sister (Belgium)
Brotherhood (Canada-Tunisia-Qatar-Sweden)
NEFTA Football Club (France-Tunisia)
Saria (USA)
The Neighbor’s Window (USA)
Each of these excellent films has a catch, so I will try to give a little view of each without giving away the store. (If you don’t mind getting the store, click the spoiler buttons below.
A Sister
This concise French-language Belgian film takes place almost entirely inside of a car. We see a woman on a phone call, presumably with her sister, while a man drives down a dark road. She carries on her side of the conversation while we gradually get the sense of the real nature of the call. The woman on the other end does most of the visual acting, but both actresses contribute to a vivid sense of the singular drama involved. Dark, but concise, to the point, and thoughtfully conceived.
Brotherhood
Set in a coastal town in Tunisia, a father deals with two teenaged sons. One has just come back from a foreign location with a bride in a hijab. There is joy at the son’s return on the part of the mother and concern, principally by the father, for the trajectory of his son’s life. Older and younger brothers go to the beach and confidences are conveyed, and we gradually understand the complexity of the involvements and relationships.
NEFTA Football Club
Again, set in a middle Eastern country, a small dark comic thriller about drug dealing. Somehow a large shipment of heroin has gone off the expected track. Two young boys from the local town have retrieved it. The older of the boys knows essentially what’s involved and approached two local dealers to see what he can manage. The younger boy thinks, because the older one has told him so, that the bags contain laundry detergent. How it all works out in the end is truly hilarious.
Saria
Based on a true story, this is a tale of a group of girls in an orphanage in Guatemala in 2017. Treated badly, the girls naturally seek a way to escape and eventually head north to the United States. But the challenges are significant. Rebellions develop, but escape is not so easy. A poignant depiction of the relations between the young women, the content is heartbreaking and tragic.
The Neighbor’s Window
Beginning as a kind of offbeat comedy, the film shows a youngish couple in a city apartment who notice, through an uncurtained window across the street, a series of intimate goings-on in their neighbors’ apartment. As parents of three children, the couple is absorbed and challenged, but the scene across the street, depicted over a span of time, draws them in, leading to an unexpected series of transitions and connections.
All of these are very much worth watching. I found each of them compelling in its own way and had no clear sense of an Oscar winner, though, certainly, the factual foundation of Saria and its tragic narrative is uniquely significant. All are well done, but each is emotionally challenging. The lightest and most humorous is NEFTA Football Club, but it too has some pretty difficult content. So, go and enjoy, but be prepared for that intensity.
– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)
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