Weekly Cinemeh

Hello, and welcome back to Weekly Cinemeh. This week we go in a different direction from our month of horror and do some foreign comedies. I enjoy comedies so this week was a good week for me. To the list!

1: Closer to The Moon
This movie is based on the true story of the Rosenthal gang's heist in soviet controlled Romania after WWII. Basically a bunch of Romanian's who were part of the Jewish resistance movement against the Nazis get fired from their jobs and replaced by people who are more willing to support the Soviet Union, and in response they decide to rob a bank. Its a dark story that is shown through a series of funny moments. The writer/director is a Romanian man named Nae Caranfil who lived through this time period and I think his ability to find humor in a dark time is great. The cast is good, Mark Stong is good at playing good guys who are slightly sinister and Vera Farmiga does a great job in a pretty complex role. The movie deals well with a subject that gets lost over in the US. People who grow up during a war are a much different group than people born during peacetime, especially when the war is fought in your country. This movie portrays the communists behind the iron curtain as incompetent, self serving, violent, and bovine. One of my favorite jokes in the movie is the extras in the "documentary" being filmed are all communist soldiers, and none of them know how to do anything other than be soldiers so it's funny watching them try to act. Its a good movie, watch it.

Eshi: Closer to The Moon is kind of a weird thing. It's a comedy, it certainly has a humorous bent but the comedy is kind of perpendicular to the plot. Its not a dark comedy, where disturbing or upsetting material is handled in a funny way, its more like a fucked up drama wearing a silly hat. That said, the funny bits are pretty funny and the drama is compelling. I would have liked to see more Romanian actors featured prominently but really only because I'm not super familiar with any and I enjoy learning about international pop culture.
 
2: In The Loop
This is a movie based around a very funny Brittish TV show called The Thick Of It, which I love. Its about a group of politicians around 2001-2002 dealing with the possibility of going to war in Iraq. This movie is full of British and American comedians and some amazing insults. Its a lot like the TV show. You get to see some politicians being evil and/or incompetent who get yelled at by Peter Capaldi (whom you may know as the 12th Dr. Who) who is employed by the British government to keep politicians in line. It is a fun film with some very funny bits. Peter Capaldi is amazing at playing rage incarnate, and I would say that the movie is worth watching just to see him insult the poor people under his command. The subject matter can be a little dry, but the characters are fun to watch and its a good political satire. Watch it.

Eshi: I really wish that politicians were so easily dominated by loud noises and colorful profanity, I feel like someday they could be domesticated, maybe even housebroken. Peter Capaldi is both super charismatic and wonderfully descriptive with his outbursts. In The Loop is well cast and superbly written, even if I'm not super on-board with some of the visual choices, (the whole thing is shot in soft focus). Give it a shot sometime.

3: The Trip To Italy
The Trip to Italy is a movie that was originally a TV miniseries about two British comedians, Rob Bryden and Steve Coogan, traveling around the Italian countryside eating at some amazing restaurants and enjoying a beautiful country. I enjoyed the first The Trip movie, it was fun watching two comedians who do a lot of voices compete with each other while driving around and eating good food. It was a fun ride. The sequel is just more of that but in Italy. I don't think this movie was as good as the first, but it was still fun to watch dueling impressionists out Michael Cain one another. There are some amazingly funny bits and some great scenery. Its a deeper movie than just all of that though. These two comedians deal with mid-life crises, getting closer to death, and the various amounts of success and failure each have experienced. Watch it if you liked the first movie, you will probably like the second because it is just more of the same.

Eshi: The Trip was a fun, low-intensity comedy about a couple of friends/rivals going through their mid-life crises via road trip and restaurant tour. The Trip To Italy is that but in Italy. Don't get me wrong, it is exactly what its expected to be, and it was very enjoyable, but it was probably unnecessary. Steve Coogan is the same ego-maniacal douche Steve Coogan so often portrays and Rob Bryden is as delightful as he usually is, save that I noticed that he looks like a Welsh Mitt Romney. I watched this mostly for the fucking beautiful shots of the Italian coast and delicious Italian food. The steady background of two talented comedians bantering was just a very welcome bonus.