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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

 
1:33 PM: countdown [#] [0]

i've now seen three "during the fall of eastern european communism" movies in a month. i've always been attracted to dystopian movies, which now seems to include post-communist movies. they've all been pretty good, but one was especially exquisite and another was so emotionally wrenching i'm still recovering from it.

i already wrote about how much i enjoyed the lives of others; last week i also saw "goodbye, lenin," which was its polar opposite: a slightly charming comedy about the way germany should have re-united, but didn't. then yesterday i saw "4 days, 3 weeks and 2 days," which is one of the most powerful movies i've ever seen. though the central plot of the movie is about an abortion, it is in actuality an absolutely gripping movie about the day-to-day choices of living in a totalitarian state. the tension and hopelessness and sacrifice are palpable.

i saw "4 days, 3 weeks and 2 days" at the living room theatre, which is a fantastic place to see almost any movie, especially if you can go in the daytime. one other person came in just as it was starting but sat on the aisle, so it was like i had the whole theatre to myself (which is a good thing, because i've never cried so much at a movie before). combined with their theatre menu service, it's amazing (if a little weird juxtaposed against such a severe movie).