My Neighbors the Yamadas, Broken English, Appaloosa, & Europa

My Neighbors the Yamadas is an animated film from Studio Ghibli's Isao Takahata, who did Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, and Pom Poko. This is an extremely episodic film, with no overarching narrative at all, just bits and pieces in the life of a family in Japan, based on a comic strip. Which makes sense, since the usually no more than a minute or two segments feel like setting, setup, punchline. That said, most are very true to life, and enjoyable, although the ending sing along to Que Sera Sera is not really needed. I understand that you kind of have to have an ending to let people know that the movie is over, but I felt it should be more like life, and just kind of end, rather than some big production number.

Broken English is a film that really didn't make much of a mark on me. I guess I kinda liked it, but the story of a hotel fixer who is unlucky in love until she meets a Frenchman and then goes to Paris to meet him just felt ok. It wasn't bad, and Parker Posey was good in the role, but it felt like someone wandering through life not knowing what to do until a random coincidence gives everything a happy ending.

Appaloosa is a pretty good western, anchored by strong performances from Ed Harris and, especially, Viggo Mortensen as lawmen who come into town to take down Jeremy Irons. He's protected because he was friends with Chester A. Arthur, so it's much harder than they'd expect. Definitely an enjoyable film, and felt like a great twist on the western genre.

Europa is Lars von Trier messing with you. But instead of following Dogme 95 rules (in spirit if not exactly), he messes with switching between black and white and color film, characters moving from foreground to being in scenes in rear projection, and it's all set in a story of post-war Germany and the Werewolves. You know, if I had seen this film before I started to hate von Trier so much, I probably wouldn't hate him. It's a balls-out film announcing himself as bored with film and saying that you have to pick a side, either with the status quo or trying to make the world a better place. And the lead in the film makes the wrong choice, and ends up in a pretty amazing drowning scene in a river. But von Trier really is just messing with you.