I have two sides to this movie. First, it’s a tragic and tender story of two people who want to be together but know they can’t because of the rules around them. The soundtrack amplifies the tenderness. It uses silences to project the emptiness and then fills you with happiness with songs of joy. The shots were crafted and intentional. It makes me want to spend a summer living in an Italian villa. The other side of me questions why Elio is 17. He is so close to being an adult, but Oliver, the grad student, should know better. Maybe it’s because the movie takes place in a different time, but still, gives a little ick. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and I would recommend it. I’m still deciding if I like it enough to keep it in the collection, so for now, I will keep it at a 3/5. The next movie in the series is Alien!

This is another movie that is going to need a spoiler-free and spoiler section for discussions. The spoiler section will be after the movie list.

Spoiler Free

I loved this movie. As someone who was highly pressured to go into STEM and is slowly growing his appreciation for art and literature, I resonated with a lot of the messaging of the movie. The movie follows a group of students at an all-boys prep school as the new year begins. They are taught by a new English teacher, Mr. Keating, who is an alumni of the school. Mr. Keating opens their eyes to what it means to create and appreciate art. The movie depicts themes of conformity vs freedom, expressing oneself, following your passions and appreciating the arts. Though there’s a lot I like about the movie, in the lens for modern day, some aspects don’t hold up as well. Women’s only roles were to be characters of beauty and to be obtained, which led to a scene that, at the time, was probably meant to be romantic but comes off more sexual assualt-y. Trigger warning, the movie also contains suicide, if that is something you can’t watch.

La Haine’s translated name, “Hate”, is very fitting. The movie centers around 3 friends, Vinz, Hubert and Sayid, after some Paris riots in 1995. Following the protests, their friend Abdel was taken and beaten by the police. The friends hear about it on the news, and the rest of the movie is kinda of just a snapshot of their day. My friend described it as a realistic glimpse into what life would have been like for a young Parisian in the projects during the riots. I think aesthetically the movie is done very well, the shots are intentional, the score is minimal but suspenseful, and the entire movie is in black and white. I remember reading somewhere that the civil rights photos were shown in black and white to make them feel older. I don’t know how true that is, but I find that the film grain, along with the grayscale, makes La Haine feel much older than 1995.