Nothing else to say
Of all the 25 films I have on my list, none has me more at a loss for words than 2011’s The Tree of Life.
I recently tried watching it (my Blu-ray got busted up halfway through, so it looks as though I will need to get the Criterion Collection version after all), but it was enough to remember two things: This is one of the most visually stunning films in my lifetime, and I am still not entirely sure what to make of it.
In my mind, a foreign language film can go one or two ways.
Either the film can be so ingrained into a country’s culture that it would not work anywhere else, or the film can be so universal that it could be told virtually in any language or country. I personally try for the middle ground, where a movie shows characters that are relatable to any nationality or race, and no other live action foreign language film has impacted me in that way this century more so than 2011’s Iranian film, A Separation.
Around the age of 11, I was sitting at a cluster of desks in my fifth grade class when two of my classmates (Mary and Kelly) were talking about something. They both were holding a colored bottle of liquid. I asked what it was. It was some form of scented hand sanitizer.
Since I was such a victim of peer pressure, I went home and told my mom about this new “fad”. We eventually had a lemon scented bottle in our down stairs bathroom that seemed to last until some point when I was in High School.
Nothing else to say