Over the past few weeks, I have been catching up on several 2023 films I missed in their initial release. Many of them happen to be foreign-language titles from overseas, as those were difficult for me to watch before the calendar year was up. Enjoy my mini-reviews of The Promised Land (Denmark), Io Capitano (Italy), The Teachers’ Lounge (Germany), Fallen Leaves (Finland), and Monster (Japan)!
The Promised Land
This Danish movie from director Nikolaj Arcel debuted at the Venice Film Festival, and is based on the novel The Captain and Ann Barbara by Ida Jessen. It stars Mads Mikkelsen as Ludvig Kahlen, an impoverished war veteran whoo strikes out to settle and farm on the Jutland moorland, only to find himself in a feud with a wealthy local landowner who wants him gone. This film reminded me a lot of There Will Be Blood, except instead of following a ruthless capitalist driven by greed, we follow a man of deep conviction who wants only what’s right for his family and kingdom. Kahlen is extremely easy to root for, and it becomes even easier when we see all the shit this story throws at him, with the local landowner doing everything he can to fuck Kahlen over. We yearn for him to find success and happiness despite bleak darkness surrounding him at every step, and that hope helps to carry us through despite that bleakness threatening to suffocate us as well.
The film looks absolutely stunning, with some fantastic cinematography by Rasmus Videbæk, who shoots this like a Western (and in a sense, it kinda is). This is a lawless land, where conflicting authorities struggle to assert dominance over one another, and yet it is always the poor and vulnerable who are made to suffer from their machinations. Mads Mikkelsen gives a fantastic performance as Kahlen, but are we really surprised at this point? The man is simply one of the greatest working actors, and I selfishly wish he would appear in more American films so that I can appreciate his genius more often, but I’ll make the effort to see every film he’s in regardless. My only major gripe with the film is the score, which feels ripped directly from Hildur’s work on Joker with its repeated cello refrains. It fits fairly well with the film, but it felt wholly derivative of that far-superior work. I’m excited to see what this talented director decides to do next, because this was an unexpected gem!
VERDICT: B+
All image rights belong to Nordisk Film Distribution and Magnolia Pictures.
Io Capitano
This Italian drama from director Matteo Garrone wasn’t really on my radar until its surprise International Feature nomination at the Oscars, at which point I knew I would have to check it out for myself. Inspired by true events, it follows two Senegalese teenagers as they leave their hometown of Dakar in an attempt to reach Italy and escape poverty. This is an especially delicate topic in today’s day and age, both in the United States and in Europe, as impoverished refugees attempt to illegally cross into the more affluent neighboring countries in hopes of a better life. But like in Mexico, those seeking to cross into Europe face a far more perilous journey – we follow these boys through the dry deserts of northern Africa and across the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean in their travels. We are not spared a moment of this journey, with its deadly pitfalls and chance encounters that can either spell their doom or salvation, and it’s impossible not to root for these boys to make it to their destination.
The film reminded me of Life of Pi in a strange way, as the cinematography is absolutely stunning as these boys travel across vast wastelands in search of paradise. It’s almost framed as a fantasy story rather than a hyper-realistic depiction of true events, elevating their struggles into something more universal and widely-felt rather than specific to a single story. It also highlights the power of simple human kindness, as small gestures like offering a bit of rice to a starving man is seen as the greatest act a human can perform. The film’s harrowing climax ratchets up the stakes as our young hero is forced to commandeer a boat packed with hundreds of refugees across the sea, and he vows to not lose a single passenger en route to their destination. This looks increasingly unlikely as the film goes on, but it makes us that much more invested in the story. I do wish the script had done a bit more to endear us to these characters’ specific circumstances, as they are fashioned as sort of blank-slate everymen that we are meant to project ourselves onto. Still, I found this a compelling ride and (hopefully) a call to action for us to all treat the less-fortunate with a bit more compassion rather than wall ourselves off and leave them all to suffer in darkness.
VERDICT: B
All image rights belong to 01 Distribution.
The Teachers’ Lounge
I’ve had my eye on this İlker Çatak film for quite some time, ever since it swept the German Film Awards last May (beating Oscar favorite All Quiet on the Western Front in the process). It stars Leonie Benesch as a schoolteacher who is embroiled in a scandal after accusing a fellow staff member (and mother of one of her students) of stealing money from her. Fun fact about yours truly: I briefly considered a career in teaching (who knew the job market for English majors was so tight?), but thankfully decided against it, because hot damn does this movie make teaching look like a shit profession! This woman is a saint for putting up with shithead kids all day, and her reward (other than meager pay) is angry parents, a student body united against her, and a faculty that refuses to have her back in such a trying time. This movie attempts to anger you by putting this poor teacher in ridiculous situation after situation, and boy does it succeed – I was clenching my knuckles in rage by the end of the film, and I would have probably been arrested for punching twenty kids and adults if I was in her shoes.
The film deals with the slippery nature of “truth”, and how misconceptions and prior assumptions about people can temper our understanding of how events unfold. We see a young boy accused of theft for no apparent reason other than his race, as the parents speculate on what his home life must be like based on prejudiced ideas about his “people”. Our heroine is guilty of this herself; she jumps to conclusions and makes assumptions about people as well, and it lands her in hot water when it all blows up in her face. The film is careful not to demonize her, of course, and the audience fully understands why she comes to the conclusions she does, but also highlights the dangers of drawing such conclusions without sufficient evidence. I found this a compelling watch as it ratchets up the intensity bit by bit until it threatens to explode, and unfortunately it all kinda peters out without a satisfying conclusion. The film ends quite abruptly without properly wrapping up the tension, instead leaving us with a cutesy moment between the teacher and student in question that wants us to leave hopeful about the future. It just wasn’t quite earned in my opinion. Still, I enjoyed the journey up to that point and would still recommend it, though be warned that you may be frustrated by how it wraps up!
VERDICT: B+
All image rights belong to Alamode Film.
Fallen Leaves
This Finnish drama debuted at the Cannes Film Festival way back in May 2023, where it won the Jury Prize. Written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, it stars Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen as Ansa and Holappa, two lower-class workers struggling to make ends meet who have several chance encounters and wind up in a tentative courtship. Few films have captured the essence of working-class life as well as this film does – the bleakness, the monotony of day after day of work with little reward, the feeling of being swallowed whole by the heartless capitalist system. And yet, this film is infused with warmth, color and humor, which feels paradoxical but elevates the film to something magical and hopeful despite its bleak conditions. I found myself laughing out loud at the absurdist humor and dry, deadpan deliveries, and the complete lack of emotion being shown by anybody no matter the situation. It definitely does not feel like real life, which adds to the charm and somehow made it more relatable, which sounds completely backwards but absolutely worked for me.
The chemistry between Ansa and Holappa is infectious, and even though the characters never exchange so much as a pleasant word with one another, we can tell how much they are drawn to one another and how much this chance encounter means in their otherwise-droll existence. When everything else is stripped from them – money, emotion, pride, dignity – a simple chance to love and be loved feels like a monumental accomplishment, and we yearn for them to find happiness in one another. The simplest act of buying a coffee for another person, when moments before we saw how little money they had in their pocket, makes every moment spent together feel special and earned. It’s hard for me to describe just why this film worked so well for me, and it’s the kind of film you’re either going to love or hate depending on your mood. Luckily for me, I was perfectly on this film’s wavelength and loved every minute of it, and would earnestly recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh and/or cry!
VERDICT: A
All image rights belong to B-Plan Distribution.
Monster
I am a HUGE fan of Hirokazu Kore-eda, as two of his most recent films (Shoplifters, 2018 and Broker, 2021) both counted among my top 10 favorite films of their respective years. His latest tells the story of a fifth-grade boy, Minato, who gets into trouble at his school and creates problems for his mother, his teacher, his classmates, and himself. The film is told in three chapters, each from a different character’s point of view: Minato’s mother, his teacher, and Minato himself, each providing a different perspective on what’s really going on. The film is cut from the same cloth as Rashomon in the way it toys with audience expectation and emotion by simply switching perspectives, and Kore-eda masterfully manipulates us with each new layer of information he adds to the story. We are first made to feel angry at the school as Minato’s mother rages against the cruel machine harming her boy; then we are made to feel sorry for the poor teacher dealing with Minato’s bad behavior and his superiors’ scheming; then Minato’s true story is revealed and we come to realize that everyone has their own story to tell and we shouldn’t be so quick to judge any of them for their actions.
I also loved what the story had to say about identity and living up to the expectations of one’s peers. Throughout the film we see how poor Yori is picked on by his ruthless classmates, and what kind of stigma is attached to associating oneself with someone who is set apart from one’s peers like that. The only true “villain” in Kore-eda’s story is society itself, as the collective expectation of maintaining the status quo winds up harming everyone involved when anyone dares to stick their head up and act differently than what’s expected of them. It’s a beautiful story of acceptance and daring to be oneself regardless of what anyone else thinks of you. I thought the final act was perhaps the weakest element of the story, as it loses a bit of steam right when it felt like the action was picking up, but those problems might go away on a rewatch. It may not be my favorite Kore-eda film, and it treads similar ground as his past works, but I’ll never complain about that because he remains one of my favorite filmmakers and I’ll always be first in line to watch anything he puts out into the world.
VERDICT: A-
All image rights belong to Gaga and Toho.
Conclusion
What a great year for international cinema! What is your favorite foreign-language film of 2023? Who are you rooting for in the Best International Feature Film category at the 96th Academy Awards? Let me know below!
All image rights belong to the films’ respective distributors.
-Austin Daniel
Scriptophile 