10. Beanpole (2019, Kantamir Balagov, Russia)

Beanpole by the young Russian director Kantemir Balagov (born 1991) is both beautiful and brutal. The film grants us a deep look into the wounds and traumas which war and violence cause in people. Beanpole is the account of the friendship binding two women, Iya and Masha. They were actively involved at the frontline in the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. Now in 1945 they meet again in a hospital for war victims. In this ravaged city they are trying hard to pick up the pieces and to re-adapt to civilian life. Their struggle for meaning and hope after their traumatic experiences is brought to life in visually stunning ways. It forces us to think about what is needed to bring back hope and regeneration.

Balagov uses colour artfully throughout the whole film. It is a vital part of his visual language. Green stands for hope and re-birth. There is a scene in which Masha tries on a new green dress and starts to dance. The way it is filmed gives the impression that she has forgotten her misery for a moment. When Masha has a desperate plan to create a future, she starts to paint the room in green. The colour red stands for trauma and pain, seeping through in every situation like the recurring nose bleedings of the women. Beanpole is a cinematic experience!

9. Two Days, One Night (2014, Jean-Paul & Luc Dardenne, Belgium)

I love the films of the Belgian Dardenne brothers and among their films I regard Two Days, One Night as one of their very best. Their socially engaged, humane story-telling about people at the fringes of society like the unemployed, refugees and immigrants always walk a fine line between human misery and heart-warming acts of kindness. Their films make us aware both of human suffering and of the possibility of redemptive reconnection with oneself and the world.

In Two Days, One Night Marion Cotillard gives an amazing performance as Sandra, the depressed mother who faces dismissal from her minimum-wage job. She gets a last chance to persuade her colleagues to abstain from their bonus so that that money can be used for her to stay employed. She gets two days and one night over the weekend to get their support before the final vote on Monday morning. That weekend during her visits to her colleagues she is confronted with the best and the worst of humanity. We learn what can happen when a vulnerable person meets other vulnerable people. We walk with her through the impacts each visit makes and we see her grow in stature by taking these humiliating initiatives.

8. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey)

Once Upon a time in Anatolia is a masterpiece of one of the most gifted masters of contemporary cinema. This slow-moving, epic drama drew me deeply into its story and reminded me why I have come to love cinema so much! It is a privilege to be allowed to be at the inside of a developing story in which nothing is plain, but has a complexity that asks me to take an active role with my ability to observe, to reflect and to conclude.

The film is long (150 min), but you don’t feel it. It is like sitting with a big, good book, that you can’t put aside. Its cinematography is stunning. Half of the film plays in the dark, driving through the empty steppes of Anatolia, but the lighting and composition draws you into the mystery and the inner burdens and feelings of each one on that journey. The film is about a murder investigation, bringing a small group of people consisting of police officers, the prosecutor, the accused, some grave diggers, a doctor together to search for the dead body and to solve the crime. If you get the chance to join them through this nightly enterprise, you may find that it hypnotizes you as it did me and that you have gained precious, new insight into people, into their everyday moral choices and into how power structures work and complicate things.

7. Leviathan (2014, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia)

Leviathan, Zvyagentsev’s fourth feature film, is an artistic masterpiece in which Zvyagintsev ruthlessly confronts his home country with its moral bankruptcy. It is a somber watch, but incredibly captivating through its heart-wrenching drama, superb acting and aesthetic camera work. Leviathan is the biblical metaphor of the invincible monster that keeps the little one in its brutal, ruthless grip. Zvyagintsev paints the fate of the little man Kolya in a fisherman village in Northern Russia in these terms. The state, represented by the town’s mayor and a corrupt police corps, is the Leviathan who devours all rights and dignity of its citizens. Its dirty schemes are planned in an office with a picture of Putin on the wall. Kolya tries to hold on to his home and business which the mayor has got his eyes on for his own profit. Kolya refuses to give in and in that battle he and his family gets threatened, beaten and ultimately crushed. Zvyagintsev’s message is clear: as long as godless morals prevail in his country, there is no hope, nor dignity for the little man.

6. Certain Women (2016, Kelly Reichardt)

The strength of Certain Women is its big ideas and emotions played out in quite minimalistic stories. Probably the last thing you can say about her 2016 film is that it over stimulates! On the contrary, it has an unusually slow pace, giving us lots of time to pay notice to facial expressions, to body postures and to silences between people. The camera takes long sweeps over the wintery Montana landscape, taking in the white-peaked mountains and the desolation of the place. Reichardt has the eye of a painter. At other times it rests in extended close-ups.

Certain Women is a triptych; it tells three stories of women who are trying to acquire something in life, but are faced with a reality that is less grand than they might have hoped for. True fulfilment is just beyond reach. In everyday life they are caught within their personal limitations that govern their grey realities. None of the stories leads to a conclusion. They leave us with observations about the realities of life, with thoughts about what might have happened if…, with questions about choices made in life. Their lives are defined and constrained by others who have invaded their personal space. And it asks all the right questions about how we healthily can find our place in the world!