It’s Thursday Movie Picks #8 hosted by Wandering through the Shelves Blog again.
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This week’s Thursday Movie Picks is Oscar Winning Movies (from pool of Winners of Best Picture/Best Animated Film/Best Foreign Film). So, here’s my pick:
01. The Departed (2006)
One of the best modern Martin Scorsese’s film ever made won the 2006 Best Picture along with achievement for best director, best adapted screenplay, and best editing. The Departed is a complex adaptation/remake of Asian most thrilling cop-mob trilogy Infernal Affairs (Mou Gaan Dou) as it adds more layers to the story and crafts a more natural American background. When I watched it for the first time, all I can think of is: it has the best male ensemble of casts with Leonardo Di Caprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Jack Nicholson as the front-liners. With superb narratives and prudent editing, The Departed never makes it easy for the audiences not to feel thrilled.
02. No Country for Old Men (2007)
In the year of the cult Oscar contenders, where The Coen Brothers and PTA led the race, Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men won the best picture. This is a typical drug deal went wrong movie but with all thrills and mayhem we never expect. The narrative is left ambiguous and open for multi-interpretation, but that’s not the deal. The main deal is nothing and noone but Anton Chigurh (portrayed by Javier Bardem) with his ridiculous hair-do and awkward manner. For me, this is the best Oscar winning movie won by the best villain ever.
03. A Separation a.k.a Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011)
This is the masterpiece from Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian gem, that won Best Foreign Film in the 2012 Oscar. A Separation is a picture of Iranian social culture also the face of Iranian law; it’s a poignant criticism to the national bureaucracy painted through a strong narration. The narration is the main key of this feature—how a simple thing can trigger a series of unfortunate events, that’s the point. I never thought that an Asian movie could go that far in crafting the narration, which is complicated and provocative. It’s a lifetime achievement, for sure.
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That’s my pick! Any comment?
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