THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2

Watchable. Fun, full of colour, with soft-shaped creatures. Very pleasant, though too crazy at times to be 100% engaging. A few 60s-90s songs, most being probably 80s. Some cross-cultural references, e.g. a bird reads "Crazy Rich Avians". And it's all just sweet.

ELCANO Y MAGALLANES. LA PRIMERA VUELTA AL MUNDO (ELCANO & MAGELLAN, THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD)

Watchable. While the palette consisting of all shades of brown sticks to the rules of painting I remember from my watercolours classes, it's broken only a couple of times when a deluge is grey or a tropical island sunlit - though even there it's just much lighter brown and those just aren't my preferred hues in movies. The plot is very adventurous, with good lines and twists of action. No specific finale. The ending took me by surprise. All in all, it's enjoyable but lacks an edge.


FIVE FLAVOURS FILM FESTIVAL

This year's festival (Warsaw, 13th-20th Nov.) is set to be the largest in its history. Such a multitude of interesting movies have appeared that more films will be shown and screened more than once. Those will be all Polish, European or world premieres (i.e. outside the country they were made in). About 40 full-length films are to be expected online or in the cinemas. Below is a rundown of who, what and how:
Midi Z from Burma used to work on construction to pay for his film school, he's grown over the years and has made a high-budget movie this year.
Marcin Krasnowolski talked about the recent protests in Hongkong. The country with a population of just a few million stands no chance against China. No outside assistance will be provided since no one will meddle in China's domestic affairs. Hongkong is rich, with probably the most expensive flats in the world. "Made in Hongkong" by Fruit Chan tells about those who can't afford even a small one. His 6 movies will be screened: 5 early and 1 new - each in a different mood and style. Meetings with the director will take place after the screenings and additionally there'll be an extended masterclass on Sunday 17th November. Fruit Chan currently is making movies in China which means huge budgets and 1 bn potential viewers. Most have been shot on 35 mm tapes - 90% of the festival budget has been spent on transporting them. Nowadays only 2 cinemas in Warsaw: Iluzjon and one room at Muranow enable watching 35 mm. The director is flying into Warsaw in business class, together with his wife.
Some movies are banned in China. Vietnam has this problem too: the producers of "Rom" were told by Vietnamese authorities to destroy all copies because, just like in "Xich Lo" ("Cyclo"), Saigon is depicted as a city ruled by gangs. So "Lê Văn Kiệt" ("Fury") - an Oscar candidate will be presented instead. Lots of Vietnamese audience come to those screenings at the festival in Warsaw.
Since little literature on the Asian cinema of the last years has been available, a few books are to be published by the organizers. 
The Asian Cinerama section is meant for beginner audience.
Viewers always ask for Japanese films. Japan produces 400-500 films per year. Most are family manga adaptations. But the festival has selected those from the fringe of the cinema. Public funds virtually are non-existent in Japan, most financing is private.
"Smak pho" ("The Taste of Pho"), " ལག་དམར་" ("Jinpa") and "메기" ("Maggie") will be on general release in Poland next year. 
After last year's viewers' survey some changes have been implemented: more screenings, from earlier hours, a retrospective again, all discussions and debates in screening rooms between films.
Asian ads before movies, like before, and on top of that a separate set with a discussion.
The organizers strive towards makers' and speakers' gender balance.
"Lê Văn Kiệt" ("Fury"), "Mr. Long",  "柔道龍虎榜" ("Throw Down") will contain martial arts. As for the genre, martial arts films are typically big budget productions. That also means they earn millions so 2K$ from a festival is of no interest to them. Other ones have no cinematic releases at all since Netflix has got worldwide rights.


UKRAINA! FILM FESTIVAL

АТЛАНТИДА (ATLANTIS)

Watchable. Slow-paced, with an interesting post-war setting: empty buildings, forensics of cadavers. What is missing is a plot. It describes a world instead of using it as a background for some action, intrigue or whatever. The post-war archeologist in the film says her job now is like digging up their own history instead of that of 1000 years ago - that's about as interesting as it gets.

The lead is not a professional actor but he played the part because he wanted to become part of history. As he says, the picture is in part Ukrainian reality and in part an anti-utopia.

AT ETERNITY'S GATE

Watchable. The movie's been made by painter Julian Schnabel (the 80 paintings in the film are his) which explains the love of art permeating the picture. It's an enaction of part of van Gogh's life faithful to what we know from the paintings. The landscapes presented in the film let me understand why his early paintings were grey-brown and subdued - that was the light he dealt with in the Netherlands. Visually, it's very painting-like but it drags and I'm not convinced by Julian Schnabel's music choice. There's a mid-credit with a quote from Paul Gauguin.

Van Gogh died at 37 but was so damaged by his life he's played by William Dafoe, 63.

RIDE LIKE A GIRL

Recommended. I know little about horses or Australian pastimes but it's such an amazing movie about winning I immediately got drawn in. Michelle Payne has got an incredible spirit. In 3200 races she fell 7 times and broke 16 bones. Yet it never put her off riding and she just kept on winning, including the Melbourne Race which is every joker's dream. Based on facts. Heart-wrenching - she struggled to make her name in a men's discipline - and funny, e.g. the scene of women placing bets or a race horse named Who Shot the Barman.  A family movie. Real Michelle and her brother Stevie appear in the finale.

READY OR NOT

Recommended. One example where the title's better in Polish than in the original: "Zabawa w pochowanego" ("Die or Seek" - my translation). '(Bail's) Gambit' mentioned in the opening indicates sacrificing a pawn to prevent a wider destruction. But even if you're not familiar with this chess term, the first scene says it all. Top-notch slasher entertainment. Perfectly acted - you never feel it's fake. Packed with action, a mystery in the background. All genre tropes play well. Psychology's pared down but plausible. The ending makes a sequel likely. 


AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

This year the festival is taking place 2 weeks later (5-11 November) than last year which enables the organizers to get the best films from the Venice and Toronto festivals. All Nowe Horyzonty cinema in Wrocław will be occupied for 6 whole days when more than 250 films will be screened. The Festival Director, Roman Gutek, considers the AFF to be very Wrocław-rooted hence it must differ from Nowe Horyzonty. About 35 movies are released yearly in Poland, about 1000 in the US so the festival is meant to present some of what we normally miss. Many productions won't be on the big screen again. More pictures will be presented at the festival this year than previously. Facebook users chose their 10 favourite directors whose 14 movies are to be shown. "Blade Runner" hasn't been on the big screen since 1995. This year it will return. Rutger Hauer passed away in the meantime so it will kind-of commemorate him too. "Blade Runner 2049" will appear as well. Opening "Irishman" will be available on Netflix later on - all Netflix pictures at the festival will be streamed on the platform one week after. The US in Progress section will include 6 American movies in need of post-production and 4 Polish ones looking for co-operation. More than 30 directors, actors and producers are coming as guests, including Ari Aster with "Midsomar - Director's Cut". "Amazing Grace: Aretha Franklin" will have a special screening at Muranow cinema in Warsaw. Long-standing co-operation with Watch Docs means they pick a few social documentaries from theirs, meaning a handful will be at both festivals. Festival tickets are on sale already. The online program allows you to prepare your own schedule. 


GEMINI MAN 3D

Watchable. Top-notch 3D and full-colour, very clear pictures and sound make the movie... just bearable. The problem is it looks as artificial as language course videos. Columbian Cartagena or Budapest Spas look too fake to truly work as locations in the picture. The plot is overly simplistic, with lines like: "She's good. She just doesn't know what she doesn't know".Clive Owen acts the same in every movie. I liked the very ending though: the two clones' talk on the college campus, e.g. "I made those mistakes so you don't have to." 

ABOMINABLE

Watchable. A pretty standard animation for older children. The plot where a kid helps a yeti get back home is typical. But the tale is warm, people characters nice and the yeti cuddlingly fluffy. Long end credits end in a picture of the family admiring the Leshan Buddha and the periscope snake popping up.

HUSTLERS

Watchable. It truly is a female response to "The Wolf of Wall Street": hustling, strippers, loads of money, drugs, first person storytelling, getting caught. But the novelty factor is gone. It is all engaging of course but not shocking or amazing, in spite of outstanding acting. What's curious is how varied the soundtrack is: Chopin, 50 Cent, Lorde, Flo Rida, Rihanna, Janet Jackson and a number of others.

OBYWATEL JONES (MR. JONES)

Recommended. About truth sacrificed for international politics. Gripping from early minutes till the very end, even if you know part of the story. American in style and structure. The Polish title, meaning "Citizen Jones" evokes "Citizen Kane", yet wrongly. Mr. Jones is the honest one dealing with press magnates one of who, like Kane, manipulates the public opinion. "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe mentioned to  Mr. Jones by a British engineer tells about a party of the rich in a palace outside of which a disease is killing the poor. Ultimately the death reaches the palace. Another reference in the plot is "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, written in 1945 - so now you know why the book talks about Mr Jones's farm. Some quotes are so harsh they have made me want to read it, never thought the story might be based on Holodomor in Ukraine, especially Kharkov, visited by Gareth Jones.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY

Recommended. It's absolutely exquisite. Jokes abound, e.g. on seeing a red balloon: "normally a murderous clown is attached to it". And the whole family is as delightfully morbid as usual: skull-shaped coat buttons, the home kitten is an adult lion and Wednesday goes to school "to torment people her age". The action's fast and the Addams clan world filled with detail. I might go and see it again.

WATCHMEN EP. 1

Recommended. I love alternative histories so the premise of mostly-black run US extending to Vietnam provided the wow factor in its own right. The social role reversal is best exemplified in the car stopped by a black cop. Then the plot provides a good number of twists and character introductions within an hour. And an obligatory cliffhanger in the final scene. Outstanding music - I'd watch it for the score alone.

Available on HBO.

ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP

Recommended. It's hilarious. Starts at the very opening credits where the Statue of Liberty fends off zombies. Iconic for the US places feature heavily, including the White House and Graceland. So do pop culture references, including "Thor" and the "Terminator" series. And Bill Murray asserts: "I ain't afraid of no ghost". Columbus' two girlfriends provide serial laughs too. The action's even faster than in part one. While it's all consistent withing the film, the plot is so rich, the twists come as surprises anyway. The hook-hanger got my palms sweaty. Then you get an early long mid-credit. Kenny Loggins' "I'm Alright" runs and Woody Harrelson sings "Burning Love"- both over the end credits. And finally comes a short, less important post-credit. 

BOZE CIALO (CORPUS CHRISTI)

Watchable. Poor cinematography by Piotr Sobociński, annoyingly dark, common for Polish cinematography. At least the great number of close-ups results in intimacy bringing you closer to the morally controversial protagonist. The movie's in turns deeply moving and funny, e.g. the "dla ksiendza" ("for the preest" as I would translate it) card. It's predominantly about the small-mindedness of Polish village folk. The false priest is impressively down to earth and close to the people. Not clear why and how it ends. But mostly, the story's so typically Catholic, Polish and Polish-Catholic, I don't expect worldwide popularity. In my opinion much more versatile "Ikar. Legenda Mietka Kosza" ("Icarus. The Legend of Mietek Kosz") would stand a better Oscar chance. 

The film is based on several stories and many more still happen in real life. The idea of the mass accident came from the Smoleńsk case (the plane catastrophy which killed a huge number of Polish dignitaries) but the scriptwriter decided not to show the wreck in order not to provoke political associations. It's the director, Jan Komasa, who insisted on the last scene to be brutal. In the script, there was an epilogue in the town after the confrontation in the correctional facility.
27 years old Mateusz Pacewicz, who scripted it, is a non-believer. He didn't attend religion classes at school. He was thinking about the movie for 8 years, then spent 2 years writing it and 3 years later it's at the cinema. When he first sent the script to director Jan Komasa (38), he, imagining Mateusz Pacewicz was 50, responded the writer: "nie rozumie młodzieży" ("doesn't understand youngsters"). The writer travelled places of cult worldwide. Apparently there's an annual parade of San Judas Tadeo, the patron of murderers, in Mexico. Mateusz doesn't know why the PISF (Polish Film Institute) committee selected this film for the Oscar race, he hasn't checked the justification available online, yet he admits the producer was in the committee. Since he's been to several religious ceremonies round the world, he's aware the movie's very Polish.
His 10 years senior editor, Przemek Chruścielewski, is said to be responsible for the humour since it results mostly from cutting and its timing. He had initially had 70 hours of material. The challenge he found was making the suspense grow like a balloon but not burst. The editor is a cultural expert by education. 
All in all, it looks like the director and the director of photography ruined the writer and editor's brilliant ideas. 

ADWOKAT W ROLI GLOWNEJ (ADVOCATE IN THE LEADING ROLE)

ADVOCATE (2019)

Watchable. Less than 100% comprehensible. I guess some notions are salient among Israelis but not outsiders. The documentary's informative: each Palestinian family has had at least one person imprisoned by the Israelis and, at the pretext of protection, inmates are subjected to traceless torture, like sleep deprivation and blasting music. It's disheartening such human rights violations go unpunished. As a civil rights organization member says, he doesn't believe in justice. Hard to disagree.

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947)

Watchable. An engaging old, black and white, film from the times when vulgar language or obscenity had no place on the screen. The story's clear-cut, with very little aggression, even verbal. It's fairy-tale-like naive even with no magic. The child and adult female protagonists are head-strong. Apart from the tear-jerking background of people disillusioned by life, the tale is humorous, e.g. the judge and the witnesses imagining the consequences of their statements or the scene of the droves of mail workers bringing in sacks of letters.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER (1993)

Recommended. Shocking and devastating. Ruins your image of the Brits being gentle people. Evokes strong emotions and nails you down to your seat when you see how a group of accidental Irish folk serves 15 years for a terror bomb attack they did not commit. And the police never got sentenced for scapegoating them.

This year's event was impeccably organized, to the minute and with quality and varied pictures.


IKAR. LEGENDA MIETKA KOSZA (ICARUS. THE LEGEND OF MIETEK KOSZ)

Recommended. Music comes first, then his incomprehensible behaviour, last you find out he's blind. Phenomenal. Pulls all the right strings. The score is light jazz/classical with the jazz perfectly bearable even to me. The story has quite a lot of humour, e.g. "There's a brunette." "I want a blonde." "What does it matter brunette or blonde if you're blind?!" but also frightening or touching at times. As common in Polish films, the action goes to and fro in time but captions explain what takes place when. The story's so versatile, it should have become an Oscar candidate instead of "Boże ciało" ("Corpus Christi").


WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL

I only went to the meeting with Lidia Duda who talked a little about the differences between a reportage and a documentary but mostly about what is true and what is false in the documentary genre. The recap of the rules was interesting but didn't really bring in any novelty. As for the truth v. forgery, when people are provoked or substituted by actors without a commentary that this is happening, I personally consider it a forgery. The director does not. 

INDIAN WEEK IN URSYNOW

SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU (2013)

Watchable. Fashion and grainy texture indicate the 80s but some people have mobiles and a Google office plays a part. I did not understand the convoluted family story at all and just tried to enjoy the colours and music. It was too silly though. This Telugu production is no match for Bollywood.

ENTRE DOS AGUAS (BETWEEN TWO WATERS)

Walked out. I experienced the boredom of a family with many children and had enough.

CZARNY MERCEDES (BLACK MERCEDES)

Recommended. A superb historical thriller. Perfect script, intricately twisted but clear-cut. The initial murder is re-played later in the context of the plot the viewer has grasped. Clever and unpredictable. Wagner's "Die Walküre" and Beethoven are used as soundtrack, aptly so since the music pieces blend in seamlessly. The pre-war and war years are recreated in a way pleasing to the eye. You feel you could walk into the movie and live there. Producer Włodzimierz Niederhaus makes a cameo in the Jewish ghetto restaurant.


INDIAN WEEK IN URSYNOW

BAJIRAO MASTANI (2015)

Recommended. A full-blown blockbuster. The scale is just epic. Stunning cinematography with shots like paintings from old manuscripts. Enchanting music, costumes, jewellery, palace. The story, inspired by historic events, gripping but also moving at times. Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh all excel as those involved in the romantic triangle. The film's pure perfection.


PILSUDSKI

Watchable. The beginning captures your attention and doesn't let go till Piłsudski gets home. From then on it's so wooden only obligatory school trips might be interested. Emphasis was put on the historic realism and listing all events instead of on maintaining the viewers' engagement in the plot. Skippable on the whole. A terribly contemporary Organek's song over the end credits is "To nie miało prawa się stać" ("It had no right to happen") which sums up the film pretty well.

MOWA PTAKOW (BIRD TALK)

Watchable. 2 hours 15 minutes - it's long and you feel it. What is it about? It's a drug-fuelled vision/artsy videoclip/experiment. Sebastian Fabijański put it best: you need to feel the movie, not understand, "I'd go out but I'm not sure, I kind of like it." - I totally agree with the actor. The movie's certainly weird. Very well directed (by an obscure Polish director) though, based on a script the director didn't understand. He plays with colours a lot, e.g. in the fantastic view of central Warsaw. I loved the fact he depicted Catholics and nationalists as bullies. I also enjoyed the scriptwriter's playing with the language. The beginning's chaotic. But the film rewards you with superb cinematography by Andrzej Jaroszewicz - especially a camera with a mirror is impressive, also visual effects in post production by Studio Orka, good music and excellent actors: Sebastian Fabijański, Jaśmina Polak, Żaneta Palica, Marta Żmuda Trzebiatowska, Katarzyna Chojnacka. Sebastian Fabijański speaks English perfectly well in the film but his Russian has too strong Polish accent. The film's divided into chapters. When you finally see "Koniec" ("The End"), "Początek" ("The beginning") appears... afterwards.

Director Xawery Żuławski says that "you don't have to like it." It's an expression of freedom. It's based on his father Andrzej's script. The director finally understood it himself only after seeing it several times. Apparently, famous Polish critic Tomasz Raczek tried to summarise the film and failed. We don't understand birds' talk. 
According to the composer, Andrzej Korzyński, the film contains reminiscences of music themes from Andrzej Żuławski's movies. Basically, the music is contemporary but the director and the composer based it on themes from those films. 
Sebastian Fabijański's father used to run a video rental shop. From what I could hear he had the same movie interests as me at the time though his family background was totally different. He would watch Kurt Russell, e.g. "Escape from New York". His father only went to a vocational school and his mother went to university when she was past 40. He's single, childless, walks round his home in shoes since he's always on the road.
Another actor from the film, Sebastian Pawlak loves "hardcores and pathologies."
Only male creators and actors were at the Q&A. Żaneta Palica has a boyfriend in France so has gone there already. Do only men promote themselves?
Most scenes weren't in the script, only dialogues were so the director added contemporary scenes. In the scene at Wiatraczna Roundabout in Warsaw (those who live here, will know the place in a rundown district of Grochów), the woman is an authentic passer-by who walks into the frame, slaps the actor in the face and tells him not to fool around: "Weź ty nie pajacuj!"
I learnt more about cultural codes from the director - some bits refer to the Polish culture. Even I hadn't understood some. 
Sebastian Fabijański explained why leprosy had appeared in the film: "Każdy w tym filmie jest chory. Muzyk musi cierpieć." ("Everyone in the movie is sick. A musician has to suffer.") The director treated the characters archetypically: they are penniless, ill, wear coats. The leprosy which leads to the man's penis falling off symbolises "ball-less Polish art".
Olbrychski apparently said: "Andrzej, ty mi tego nie tłumacz, bo ja ci to jeszcze zrozumiem i to zagram." ("Andrzej, don't explain it to me, or I may understand and I'll play it".)
Someone from the audience asked if a director's cut was in plans. But Xawery Żuławski asserted: "Nie, to już wersja bardzo reżyserska." ("No, it's a very director's cut already.")
The director worked on Tyrmand's "Zły" for 5 years  till he got kicked out by Tyrmand's son. The movie still hasn't been made. He's made several serials and commercials and is working on two films now. 
He droned on and on like the film did. He just can't cut things short.

Z WNETRZA (FROM WITHIN)

Watchable. Beksiński, who's become a posthumous celebrity in Poland, left behind 1500 fantastical paintings. But the film is a usual Polish documentary without a commentary. It shows communist times well. It's implied that the five-year contract he was bound by limited him, it constrained the artist within him. But apart from such legal issues, you don't learn much about the person. Also, the reasons of the other 2 deaths in his family are explained but not the painter's murder. 

It was co-produced by FINA (National Audiovisual Institute). After the screening I asked the director about the murder. It turns out the household helper's son attempted to rob him, after he failed, his mates ridiculed him and then he went back upstairs and killed the artist.

WAR 

Recommended. Absolutely awesome, top-notch Bollywood. Spectacular, with two hotties in the lead roles: legendary Hrithik Roshan and taekwondo fifth-degree black belt Tiger Shroff. While I had to google the details about his sports prowess, you can recognize genuine taekwondo in all his combat scenes. Both are proficient dancers too. As for the action in "War", it starts in about the second minute - right before the opening credits. And the events in this spy story, gripping from minute one, take you round the world. Literally, since the movie was shot in a staggering number of locations, including Portugal, Italy (Matera and Positano), Norway, Finland, Georgia, Australia (Bondi Beach) and some other I can't remember. It's one great wow!

Why is it I get to see more taekwondo in Bollywood than in Korean movies?

A DOG'S JOURNEY

Watchable. So terribly sad: about personal and professional failures, diseases and death, that it leaves you depressed and reminds you of all your life's failings and ailments. But with a few funny bits, e.g. when the dog comments on people's actions. Trent is great - you'd love to have a friend like him. Marg Helbengerger (of "CSI" fame) as middle-aged and elderly Hannah. Good dubbing in Polish, especially by Marcin Dorociński as the dog. 

OSTATNIA GORA (THE LAST MOUNTAIN)

Watchable, Another Polish documentary without a commentary. You learn a lot about what's it like to climb the Himalayas. You see the crew watch Kamil Stoch ski jumping, listen to Indian music, compare food in different bases but also suffer traumas like cuts or fractures as well as equipment damage. Still, no clear plot. 


PRZEMIANY FESTIVAL 2019 - APPETITE AND APATHY

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD

Watchable. Nothing new. Processed foods are bad. The rest is fine. With examples from round the world and varied presentation methods so it's engaging enough.

UNFOLD

Recommended. A vlog-based Polish documentary which removes the fear of GMO instantly. It turns out all farmed plants have been modified. There are no wild strawberries for example. Bananas used to be hard and have seeds. Yet with traditional interbreeding you don't know what you're going to obtain. If you add just 1 gene to a plant, you know the effect, e.g. the plant can become glyphosate- or pest-resistant. Another example of modifications are dogs - interbred from wolves. Curiously, epigenetics, i.e. changing the expression of genes and mutagenesis, e.g. radiating seeds are legal. 

MORE THAN HONEY

Recommended. Bees turn out to be cruel. Not only does the first queen to hatch (all those fed with pollen milk become queens instead of workers) kill all other, in the US, African killer bees kill both people and ordinary, mild bee queens. But it's the deadly ones that don't fall ill hence don't need antibiotics. While bees produce toxin-free honey to give their babies the best, we rob it from them, giving them sugary water instead. In China, Mao Zedong once ordered killing all sparrows as they ate crops. That caused an insect plague so insecticides were used but those killed bees. Nowadays people pollinate plants manually themselves though they're no match for bees, of course. American driving beehives round the states over the year is more effective. But the world's best honey? Wild - in Australia - the continent where domesticated bees are interbred with wild ones to become a more resilient species in the future. These and plenty of technicalities of rearing bees in this all-round documentary. 

KINO DZIECI (KIDS KINO)

DAS DOPPELTE LOTTCHEN (2018)

Recommended. A much better adaptation than the American ones from 1961 and 1998 - both titled "The Parent Trap". The basic plot with dad's new love interest and the trope with pancakes that everyone seems to remember the best are there but the setting is quite contemporary Austria - with fantastic views of the country too. Very well acted, particularly by the two girls: Mia and Delphine Lohmann. It's engaging and funny. With some African music but also one obligatory, taken the Salzburg location, piece by Mozart. Only the Polish translation has some field for improvement.

I didn't have time to see more than five movies/sets of films and I wish I had. The choice was huge, varied, the staff very nice. And it was a great chance to see some productions in their original language versions. 

KHANEH-EI DAR KHIABAN (A HOUSE ON 41ST STREET)

Watchable. The beginning's uninspiring. You only hear about the murder that has taken place. But later on, it becomes an engaging psychologic drama mixed with Islamic law. And with some non-legal cultural curiosities, especially culinary ones, e.g. the boy is grating an egg.

The cultural meeting after the screening clarified some stuff from the movie. The food you see the protagonists munch on in the market are beetroots and broad beans. They are seen as a treat in Iran, so are baked potatoes. The mourning women prepare halva. It's Persian food for grieving occasions, e.g. it's given to visitors who pay condolences on your close one's death. The "blood money" is possible when someone gets killed by accident, the family's paid off and the culprit can go free. Iran has four seasons at the same time, just in different parts of the country, e.g. Kurdistan in the West can be cold, with snow, while the Arab Gulf can be 30 degrees hot. 

WATAHA SEASON 3 EP. 1 & 2 

I've seen two episodes already and have taken down notes. But, due to a publication ban, I can't post the review as yet. HBO is planning to release it on 6th December so I expect to be able to write about it before the date.

DOWNTON ABBEY

Recommended. Delightful. Posh accent, stunning interiors, glamorous cocktail dresses. British sarcasm and humour, e.g. when a servant has let the cat out of the bag. Some English-Irish politics. Social issues in 1927 when homosexuality was punishable. Making commitment to the one you love. Family property and heritage, responsibility to the community. Everything's there and while engaging, and emotional to a point, it's all in a light tone. OK, I haven't seen the serial so can't compare. I only know it takes place a few years after the TV serial events. But it's excellent as a stand-alone film and only makes me interested in starting to watch it on telly. The movie will be also perfect for teachers of English as a foreign language due to the prolific use of idioms.