*** out of ****
The Broken Circle Breakdown is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and is
about the tragic journey of a beautiful loving family, which is bound for
horrible grief.
It
is a strange multicultural experience of a film. Made in Belgium, and unlike
movies I’ve seen from that particular country, it is spoken in Flemish (one of
the three major languages of the nation). It is also about a subculture of
Bluegrass musicians, with affection for the old-timey American mountain
culture.
A husband and wife in the band have a daughter who becomes
terminally ill with cancer. The story of the injured family is told out of
sequence, like many great movies about tough subjects that need to find a
balancing act between beauty and despair. This film is based on a play and
I imagine a setup similar to Hedwig and the Angry Inch, where its characters
convey their struggles in a music venue with songs in between. The songs are
gorgeous and the film is worth seeing, if just to hear them.
I found myself on a search for subtext when seeing a movie
about people from a far away land associating so strongly with American
culture. I think that the country music theme seems to set the most joyful tone
possible for people struggling with loss.
The movie’s aesthetic style is beautifully polished -if not
always realistic. The lighting and choice of weather, during certain scenes, is
similar to Hollywood melodramas. This may collide with some viewers but I think
it is what the film is going for. The production is gorgeous and the two
talented leads are bravely naked (sometimes literally) before the camera lens. It’s
a classic tragedy and its element of glamor is really up for debate.
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