Claw marks in the frozen peas

Paris, Je T’aime - Faubourg Saint-Denis
by: Tom Tykwer

I added, removed and re-added Paris, Je T’aime (official trailer) from my Netflix queue about 4 times before I finally decided to rent it. This movie is an omnibus of 18 short films that represent eighteen of the twenty arrondissements of Paris. Some of my favorite shorts include: 14e arrondissement, Bastille, Père-Lachaise, Parc Monceau, and Place des fêtes - which is an absolute heartbreaker. This movie makes me want to travel to France to find a classy lady like Juliette Binoche.

Has anyone else seen this film?

The Twilight Samurai
dir. by Yoji Yamada

Set a few years before the Meiji Restoration in mid-19th century Japan, the story follows a low-ranking samurai named Seibei Iguchi, who lives a content life with his two young daughters and senile mother. Instead of concentrating on a more action-oriented theme as with other samurai films, the Twilight Samurai focuses on Iguchi’s everyday struggles and the conflict between his desires and the duties of being a samurai. There are only 2 fight scenes in the film.

The Twilight Samurai was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and it won an unprecedented 12 Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.

My favorite quote:

I am ashamed to say that over many years of hardship with two daughters, a sick wife and an aged mother, I have lost the desire to wield a sword. A serious fight, the killing of a man, requires animal ferocity and calm disregard for one’s own life. I have neither of those within me now. Perhaps in a month… alone with the beasts in the hills I could get them back. But tomorrow, I am afraid, is completely impossible.

Cashback [NSFW]
writen & directed by Sean Ellis

Synopsis: Ben is an art college student in London, whose imagination runs wild as he works the late-night shift at the local supermarket. What do he and his colleagues do to pass the long, endless hours of the night?

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The short film was fleshed out into a feature-length film of the same title. I accidently stumbled upon Cashback last year, which quickly became one of my favorite Netflix-finds. Sean Ellis is a photographer by trade and I think you can really tell by some of his shots.