Israeli film Ajami (Tuesday 18th December, 8.30pm) is at the top of my highlights list this week. Playing as part of our World Cinema programme Around the World in 80 Days, Ajami is a film for anyone curious about life in the Middle East.
Israeli film Ajami (Tuesday 18th December, 8.30pm) is at the top of my highlights list this week. Playing as part of our World Cinema event Around the World in 80 Days, Ajami is a film for anyone curious about life in the Middle East.
A collection of interlocking stories that show the gritty day-to-day cultural conflicts faced by people living in Israel, this crime drama is set in Ajami, where Palestinians, Jews, Arab Christians and Muslims try, and largely fail, to live alongside each other.
The plotting gets a little confusing and contrived, but this film captures the messy complexities of life in the region. It’s co-directed by Palestinian Scandar Copti and Israeli Yaron Shani, and they go out of their way in this gripping drama to make the point that there are no real heroes or villains.
Stylistically, Ajami is shot using a hand held camera, which adds to the film’s tension but is never too shaky or difficult to watch. Probably the most interesting thing to keep in mind is that everyone in it is a non-professional actor…you certainly can’t pick it.
Ajami was an Academy Award nominee in 2010 for Best Foreign Film, and was also well received at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. It’s followed the following night by another Israeli film, The Human Resources Manager (Wednesday 19th December, 8.30pm).
I’m also thrilled this week to see the beautiful and moving Arrietty playing on Rialto Channel (Saturday 22nd December, 8.30pm). Arrietty is an exquisite animation film from the studio that gave us Spirited Away and Ponyo; Japan's Studio Ghibli.
Based on Mary Norton's classic British children’s novel The Borrowers, it’s about a family of tiny people who live beneath the floorboards of a mansion occupied by two old ladies. The story is based in a suburb of Tokyo where Arrietty and her family support themselves by borrowing “only what they need” from the house’s inhabitants. They live by one rule – don’t let the big people see them, but when 14-year-old-Arrietty is discovered by Sho, a sickly 12-year-old boy who comes to live with his aunt, they begin a tender and trusting friendship.
The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, making his debut feature film, under the watchful eye of the company’s esteemed leader and great animator Hayao Miyazaki. The film features the typical characteristics of Miyazaki’s films; a reverence for nature and an extraordinary eye for detail.
There are two versions of the film, a Japanese version and a version dubbed into English. Rialto Channel is playing the dubbed version, which your kids will appreciate, with the remarkable Siaorse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) in the role of Arrietty. If you’re tired of Hollywood family animations then this is a film you should MySky for the whole family. I’ve even dug out my childhood copy of The Borrowers to read to my son before we watch it together.
From one extreme to the other, my final recommendation for the week is to catch up with those (sometimes) loveable skin heads in the latest series of Shane Meadows semi-autobiographical This is England ’88, which starts on Monday 17th December at 8.30pm.
Enjoy.