Foreign Film Fest: A Hero & Bigbug

Last week I watched two foreign films that were fascinating in entirely different ways. One received the Grand Prix at Cannes and is a thoughtful and dire look at what it means to be a good person. The other is a futuristic sci-fi comedy that looks at what dystopia we might be headed for if we led the machines take over. Intrigued? Well then fire up your streaming services and give these movies a whirl.

A Hero: From acclaimed Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi, this is the story of Rahim Soltani (Amir Jadidi), a man who is in debtor’s prison and trying to find a way to collect enough money to pay off his creditor and return to his regular life. The movie centers on the events that spiral out of control when Rahim is on leave (apparently that’s how debtor’s prison works - it’s a terrible place to be, but you do get to leave every few months to visit family). His fiancée has found a purse full of gold coins on the street and wants to use it to pay off some of his debts. However, for various reasons, this doesn’t happen, and when Rahim decides to put up posters looking for the rightful owner of the coins, he sets off a chain of events that prove the maxim, no good deed goes unpunished.

This is such a clever and wonderful film about how humans are always this frustrating mix of good and bad. Depending on who you talk to, everyone has an opinion on Rahim's character and whether he deserves to be in prison and what was the nature of the circumstances that led him there. His creditor seems like a villain but maybe he had his reasons too? And yes, Rahim did a good thing, but he initially wanted to do a bad one, so does he deserve compassion?

This movie genuinely kept me on the edge of my seat for two hours - it’s not a thriller by any means, but the unfolding human drama is taut and high-stakes. There are a series of Sisyphean obstacles that will never allow our hero to win his freedom and it is startling and engaging stuff. I am shocked this didn’t get nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars because it is one of the most compelling movies I have seen all year. And while yes, it depicts people in a foreign land, the problems they are wrestling with, as well as the whole subplot involving social media, is so universal and relatable that after a while, you will forget that you’re relying on subtitles and connect with this story on a deep, human level. It’s magical.

Bigbug: This movie is, first and foremost, an aesthetic marvel. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who also co-wrote with Guillaume Laurent), the man responsible for Amelie, get ready for some incredible production design and eye-popping colors in every frame. But also, get ready for a very over-the-top French farce that is all about skewering our increasing dependence on artificial intelligence. This movie is what you would get if Years and Years was a comedy and it's simultaneously a bit too much and not enough.

Set in 2045, the entire film takes place in the home of a woman named Alice (Elsa Zylberstein) who was on a "date" of sorts with a man (who also brought his son?) but then unexpectedly receives a visit from her daughter, ex-husband and his fiancée, and her next-door neighbor. None of these people intended to stay for very long, but then Alice's household robots lock them all into the house to protect them from a crisis unfolding in the wider world as a sentient AI revolution takes place. Now the hapless humans must rage against the machines, and while they are initially annoyed with the outdated household robots, they realize maybe they need to ally themselves with these "dumber" robots to fight back against the more intelligent villains lurking outside. 

This is a very broad French comedy - don't expect sophistication and ennui, and instead prepare for a lot of silliness and satire. Every actor is dialing it up to eleven, and there are no subtle performances, except maybe from one of the robots. This is a fun movie to fire up on a lazy afternoon - you will be entertained and it will certainly dazzle your visual cortex, but the details will start to fade away almost as soon as you finish. But if you've been watching a lot of dull, glum movies lately, this will add a little pep to your step. And maybe convince you not to let a robot control as much of your household as it currently does.