Underrated Showcase Sundays: The Round Up

Around nine months ago, I had to do some research into the Holocaust, which in turn led to filing through a whole lot of movies on the matter. There was one that particularly interested me: Sarah's Key. What interested me about this one was that it showed an event known as the Vel' d'Hiv Round Up, which occurred in Paris in 1942. This wasn't Germany's doing - it was the French who executed this. What happened was the French decided to take action against the Jews, so they set out to arrest over 20,000 of them one morning. They managed to get just over 13,000, since many Jews were hidden by families in Paris. For the 13,000 that did get arrested, though, they were sent to the Vélodrome d'Hiver - a bicycle veledrome, where there was no bathroom facilities and only one running tap. They were sent there with strict instructions on what they could take (very little), and had to stay in there for three days. After that, they were sent to another camp, before they were deported to Auschwitz. Why am I giving you this history lesson? Because this is the story that is told in the French film The Round Up, which is little seen outside of it's home country.

49 Things I Love About Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino's birthday is drawing to a close as we speak, and I imagine he's partying hard (and also working hard on my #2 most anticipated film for this year, Django Unchained). I have a lot to thank Quentin Tarantino for: he was the first director who I ever got obsessed with, he opened up a world of movies for me, he made me want to become a director. I love all of his work (that I've seen, anyway - I'm only missing Jackie Brown), but none more so than Inglourious Basterds. So how about I pick the 49 things I love about the film, one for each year that Tarantino has been spreading awesomeness around the world. **SPOILERS IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE, SOMEHOW**

1. How it is divided into chapters - and they're all like five short films stringed together into one big film.


2. Christoph frickin' Waltz.

3. Michael Fassbender's sexiness while speaking German.

4. Or Michael Fassbender's sexiness in general.

5. "Wait for the crème!"

6. The first chapter. All that talking (and beautiful talking, too), and then BAM. Such a finish.

7. The way the languages keep changing. Keeps it interesting...and beautiful to listen to.

8. That Quentin Tarantino decided to rewrite history.

9. The way the German soldier's scar is revealed to Hitler.

10. "Oooooh, that's a bingo!"

"I don't want to be just theoretically gay. I want to do something about it."

Film: Beginners
Year: 2010
Writer/Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos, China Shavers, Melissa Tang. 
Running time: 105 min.

One thing I've always wondered about is how 'real' movies can be. Some aim to be as realistic as possible, and then end up being depressive bores. I've always thought that movies are meant to be more exciting than real life, but I do enjoy one of those 'realistic' movies every now and again. Beginners is a perfectly 'real' movie, which shows both the happy things in life and the sad things in life. The story is told through the eyes of Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor), an artist who receives two big announcements from his father Hal (Christopher Plummer): he has terminal cancer, and he is also gay. The film zips back and forth between when Oliver was trying to deal with his father's illness, and after Hal has died, when Oliver meets French actress Anna (Mélanie Laurent). Peppered in between are moments from Oliver's childhood with his mother (played brilliantly by Mary Page Keller) which have seemingly shaped him as a man, and also some superbly edited scenes showing what life is like. While one may suspect that this is a film focusing on the relationship between Oliver and his dying father, it's not. Rather, it's a film examining all of the relationships that Oliver has with everyone.

16 Days of Birthday, Day 12: Quentin Tarantino's Awesomeness

We all know that there are too many war movies being made. Yes, that World War II was a very interesting period of time. And seven times out of ten the movies are actually really good. But you know what's better than having history happen before your eyes???

Having that guy, Quentin Tarantino, change history before your eyes.

Having history changed is a pretty risky move. But when it is done by Quentin Tarantino, the king of all things cool, it is pretty amazing. People may have doubted Inglourious Basterds because there was an e where there was supposed to be an a and there was an extra u creeping it's way into the title. But who cares? I am one of those firm believers that Inglourious Basterds is a masterpiece. Seriously, I could watch Aldo Raine and his basterds scalping Nazis, Hans Landa laughing at Bridget von Hammersmark's 'misfortunes' and The Bear Jew smacking the shit out of a guy every day. If only there were more hours in the day...

Quentin's reimagining of what happened to Adolf Hitler and his Jew-hating followers is one which isn't believable, in the slightest. But does that really matter? No. I had a lot of fun watching this. I must admit, when I first watched this film, I was a bit dubious of the first chapter. But this was because, back in the day, I was a bit ADD and had to have things jumping out of the screen to grab my attention. Thankfully, that's changed. Any time I watch this film now, I am still completely engrossed in what is happening on the screen.

50% of the time I am waiting around for Hans Landa to grace the screen again. I'm sure I'm not the first person who has said it, but Christoph Waltz is simply genius in this movie. Every time the guy falls silent, I am scared shitless. Every time he smiles, I am scared shitless. But most of the time I just feel like laughing at him...he's a bit lost in his little world, which I find quite funny.

That's not to say that I forget about the other stars, though. Everyone looks like they are having a lot of fun. My other favourite performances in the film are the ones from Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent. These two blonde and beautiful actresses have their parts down to a tee - Kruger playing the glamazon actress who uses her charm and fame to become a spy; Laurent playing a Jewish girl in disguise who has a cinema and a plan (a plan which is awesome, by the way).

I particularly like Kruger in the chapter "A German Night in Paris". This chapter is probably my favourite out of all of them (followed closely by the final chapter, of course). Every thing is perfect in this chapter. From Kruger's introduction, being both smart and still living up to her actress reputation, to Michael Fassbender being ultra-sexy through speaking German. Things seem to skate pretty level in this scene until Fassy accidentally blows his cover by holding the wrong three fingers up. Then what happens? Just a casual shoot-up, leaving the actress and the new father to be the only ones alive. The Tarantino-favourite Mexican stand-off and a new master plan follows. How is this chapter not genius? Better question: how is Quentin Tarantino not a genius?

The one thing I really like about QT is the fact that he basically writes and directs his movies with himself in mind. His scripts always drip with pop-culture references and homages to his favourite films (that is the main reason as to why I love Inglourious Basterds so much). You see, if I were to ever become a film-maker like I want to be, I'd probably be writing scripts similar to his. Mainly because 99% of what I say is usually from a movie, and usually the people I know haven't seen any of the movies which I quote, so they think I'm a bloody genius every time I say something. I'm like a walking homage...

Anyway, what I'm meaning to say is that whether it be Inglourious Basterds (probably my favourite film of his) or Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino has always been - and will always be - a favourite of mine. His films always lift me up if I'm in a bad mood, even with all their violence and blood. He's a guy who doesn't make films for money or status. He make movies because he can, and he can do it really well. And through all of that, he seems to be teaching his audience something. Which he doesn't do through pounds of metaphors or hidden messages.

He just is awesomeness, all the way through to his core.

What's your favourite Quentin Tarantino movie?