Little Otik

This movie was explained to me and a comedy... Not at all was that true. This movie is very scary and weird. I would have never thought of something like this for a movie plot. And the characters made me so angry when i watched this movie. They were all dumb like they didn't understand what could happen if they did something. They couldn't think ahead of what the consequences could be.

There was some Czech culture in this movie but not a ton. The majority of the the culture showed up in the food they made. Such as soup, potatoes, porrage, more of the bland foods in my mind. Not many fruits or anything colorful like our culture. They stuck to greyish foods.This movie didn't do the Czech culture much justice. It just made me think that they are crazy, and the neighbors are clueless and dumb. I cant express enough how much the characters got on my nerves. But there are similarities between American and Czech culture, we wear the same types of clothes, we eat some of the same foods (but not the majority), they have building complexes like ours, and the streets have stores and grocery stores like ours do.

Of Love and Eggs

Of Love and Eggs is based in Indonesa. Although the plot line was very hard to follow you could still get at taste of the Indonesian culture. The little kid named Bimo was just like anyother kid. He had a crush on an older woman and tried to go after her but failed. He is mischevious and a troublemaker just like most kids his age, from any part in the world.
But there were also differences with Bimo. He was a child but yet he still worked. Im not sure if it was a family run place or if he actually held a job. But his job was to stamp all the eggs they sold. And to me it looked like they worked in a farmers market type of place.

There wasnt much else that really happened in the movie. Overall i was lost in the plot which made me all sorts of confused so i couldnt really relate Indonesian culture to ours.

Hoop Dreams, Where are they now?

Hoop Dreams is an American film from the 1990's in Westchester, Illinois. It is a documentary about these two highschool boys, William Gates and Arthur Agee who are recruted to St. Joesph High school to play on the basketball team. We follow them through their highschool lives and watch them struggle to become professional basketball players.
The question i am asked to answer is: Where are they now? After doing lots of research i found that neither Gates nor Agee are playing basketball professionally. Their job paths and priorities might have changed, but their personalities have not. Gates is still that tall fit boy who is quiet, smart, and when you get to know him a truely outgoing man. He is now a pastor at Living Faith Community Church in Chicago. Gates married the woman he had a child with in the film, and now they have a son that plays at St. Joesph High school. And is doing his best at being a better father to his childern then his father was to him.
Agee is still that outgoing, loving, mischievious, and funny young man how had an infectious laugh. Agee now travels the nation being a part of a program called Hoop Dreams: Control Your Destiny Curriculum. Which helps youth focus more on academics making themselves more valuable. Agee is going to Tucson to shoot a film called Hoop Reality which is a follow up to Hoop Dreams. But this time Agee is going to mentor a kid from his old high school, but throughout the film is going to show youth that have big dreams of becoming professional basketball players that you still need a back up plan.
Even though William Gates and Arthur Agee didnt become professional basketball players, they are still touching the lives of many people, the majority of them being youth, and teaching them valuable life long lessons.

Persepolis

Persepolis wasnt what i expected to see in my Global Film Study class. It was in all black and white and it was a weird type of animation. I wasnt too fond of it. The only part i liked about it was that it was in english. The main character was a little weird. She did a lot of different things, like she stepped outside of her culture to be her own person and do what she wanted instead of what others wanted.

The film was based in Iran, and how and what this girl had to go through growing up there. Which with what i learned from the movie is VERY difficult. At least compared to what im used to, growing up in the United States with freedom of expression and speech. There they had to follow very strict rules. She was caught wearing make up out in the street in the middle of the day and was about to be questioned by the police about it. Whereas here you can wear what you want, look how you want, and its just overall a lot less strict in that sence here in the Unitied States.

She branched away from the traditions of the Islamic womens culture. She got into drugs and sex and rock and roll. All which were very against Islamic rules. Sex before marriage?! That was severly frowned apon. And especially with multipul people/partners.

Overall this was a film about the life of an Islamic woman and how she rebelled.

Run lola run

Run Lola Run is a German film that was very unique. I dont think ive seen a movie like it before. Its all about this one situation, but this girl Lola can go back in time and restart it incase something happens or goes wrong. She has the ability to restart the situation.

Some similarities i found between the German culture presented and American culture was the clothing choices. We dress very similarly, just a t-shirt and jeans, no traditional clothing. And then for work they wear suits and get more dressy then they would if they had the day off. So basically same as us!

Another thing i noticed is that Manni Lola's boyfriend is a drug dealer of some sort. I just feel like that is a common thing cultures share around the world. In every country someone is dealing drugs.

I dont know that i really enjoyed this movie though. Because it was the same siuation just played over and over again, the only reason it was replayed was because the characters made stupid and dumb decisions. Something that when i was watching the movie even knew was wrong and wasnt going to end well. I just wanted to yell at the characters and tell them to stop, because they obviously just couldnt get it right until the very end. Which was about the third or forth time through that situation.

Tsotsi review

    Tsotsi is a weird movie. The logic this movie betrayed didnt make much sense to me. This guy stole a car and then crashed it, then realized that there was a baby in the backseat. And instead of leaving it there for the cops to find so they could return the baby to the parents, he takes the baby with him which seems really stupid because thats going to be a huge hassle for him because his focus has to go to the baby and so does his money. Its just an overall big inconvenience for him. 
    But something i noticed was that they have mostly bad neighborhoods, but then they have some nice houses that are gated in. I thought that was a little weird because here where we live we have bad neighborhoods but then we have good neighborhoods but they arent within each other like it is in the movie. Ours are by each other but yet separated.
     Another thing i noticed was the type of living. The house Tsotsi lived in was what looked like a one room place build from metal scraps and possible clay? i know that some of the other houses were built from clay. And they were all close together and had small allies everywhere in between each house. And if you wanted water you had to go to the pump that was kind of in the middle of all the houses, and you had to pump your own water. And it was also really easy to rob each other although rarely was there something theyd want to steel in the neighborhood because they were all poor and didnt have much at all. But there werent strong doors or big locks to keep people out, so if someone wanted to get in the house it would be fairly easy.

Chak De India review!

This was a good movie. It was confusing because the languages switched back and forth between three or four different ones. So it was a little hard to follow. But it was nice that they used English because i actually understood that language.
   I thought that this was a kind of unique but yet cool concept for a movie. A womens field hockey team, and how they struggle making themselves known to India. And it teaches a good lesson to never give up and to keep trying even if the people you care for dont believe in you and dont want you to do something you love, that you should still do it because no one can stop you but yourself.
   It was unique because the United States isnt really known for field hockey. I dont think ive even known anyone whose played on a field hockey team before. But in India it seems to be pretty popular. But in both countries sports are a big part of culture which is something we share. The only difference is that our popular sports are different.
   There wasnt much you could compare between India and the United States because the movie was more about the field hockey players bonding and learning how to put aside their differences and work for the same goal. And it showed that no matter where you come from or what you believe in but that sometimes you just have to put that aside and stop thinking about yourself. Because if you want to win its going to take more then just you, it takes a team.