Movie of the Week – No Man’s Land

This week’s movie: No Man’s Land (2001).

Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1993, two soldiers from opposing sides, Nino and Ciki, are trapped in no man’s land. Neither side, nor the U.N., seems willing to intervene to rescue the two men. And, to make matters worse, a third soldier steps on a mine becoming a booby trap raising the stakes.

No Man’s Land is the debut film from writer-director Danis Tanovic, who also composed its score. It is also, to date, his only great film. He worked with cinematographer Walther van den Ende and production designer Dusan Milavec.

The film stars Branko Djuric and Rene Bitorajac, who are both wonderful in it, and features Simon Callow and Katrin Cartlidge in support.

Today, No Man’s Land is maybe best known as the film that won the Best Foreign Film Oscar over Amelie in 2002 – but that is unfortunate, as it is a special film that deserves all the praise it gets (though, I will concede that Amelie is better – it is personally my favorite film of the 2000s). It also won AFI’s Audience Award for Best Feature Film in addition to a Special Mention Grand Jury Prize and Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. It is one of the greatest war dramas of the modern era and a must-see for fans of world cinema.

Trailer: Here

Available on: DVD and Streaming

Movie of the Week – Farewell

This week’s movie: Farewell (2009).

During the Cold War, high ranking Soviet official Sergei Gregoriev became frustrated with the corrupted bureaucracy within his government so he decided to divulge secrets to the West. To do this, he chose a non-professional spy in the form of French national Pierre Froment. His co-name was Farewell.

Farewell is the third film from French writer-director Christian Carion, who also made the very good WWI film Joyeux Noel. On this film, Carion worked with composer Clint Mansell (who often collaborates with Darren Aronofsky), Belgian cinematographer Walther van den Ende (who also shot the Oscar winner No Man’s Land), and production designer Jean-Michel Simonet (who has designed all three of Carion’s films).

The cast is very good with strong leading performances from Guillaume Canet (one of my favorite current French actors, and directors – he directed Tell No One) and Emir Kusturica. The supporting cast features Willem Dafoe, Fred Ward, Alexandra Maria Lara (from Downfall), Niels Arestrup, and Gary Lewis. Diane Kruger also has a cameo (probably due to her connection to Canet).

Farewell is a great spy thriller in the more classical sense. It does not have action sequences. Rather, it is built much more around characters and suspense, similarly to the recent version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This is another film that falls in the category of underrated and under seen. Fans of spy thrillers should very much enjoy it.

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray and Streaming