Film Follies, Subtitle Subversive

Subtitle Subversive- Okuribito

One my goals with this Subtitles Subversives series is to examine films that are not only excellent but give insight into a culture that you and I might not otherwise have. Something powerful that takes us far away from Hollywood and its studios. Okuribito is just such a film. Titled “Departures” for western audiences Okuribito is a film about life disguising itself as a film about death. The movie follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) as he gives up his dream of being cellist and returns to his hometown with his wife. Needing to find work Daigo answers an ad for…

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Film Follies, Subtitle Subversive

Subtitle Subversive- Ida

For the first installment of Subtitle Subversive I take a look at the 2013 Polish film Ida, which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Not particularly subversive I know but hey if you want to pick the movies get your own blog. The film is set in Poland in 1962 and follows the young woman Anna preparing to take her vows to become a nun. Before she does this her abbess insists that she visit her last remaining relative a hard drinking, chain-smoking Aunt Wanda notorious for her ties to Poland’s communist government. Wanda reals to…

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