Therefore, “Italian for Beginners” was a really interesting experience to me. What could be perceived as an “amaetur” way to make a film, really translates into a very entertaining movie which is presented in a very different way. Experiencing a story as one would actually live through it, with no overlapping music or elaborate visual effects, makes it easier for the viewer to sort of empathize and connect with it, even when it presents unknown scenarios to the viewer, such as Minister Andreas or Jorgen, although you might not have been in remotely similar positions, their story becomes very “real” to the viewer. 

 

Furthermore, considering such a tight framework within Dogme 95, I wasn’t expecting the movie to be as entertaining as it was for me. I found it even kind of comedic, a sort of joyful way to tell a story which maintained the engagement with interesting characters within a small town near Copenhagen. 

Another thing which I find deeply interesting, and forgot to highlight as much in my delivery on Canvas, is the fact that the Director is not the focus on the film, regardless of the incredible effort it implies, from my understanding, to make this type of films. I do not understand completely this part of the movement but is definitely something I'll look into.

An intricate film in which I had trouble identifying sometimes the narrator as there were sudden shifts which made it difficult to say. Following throughout most of the story of a filmmaker who fell in love with a character named MeiMei, it was interesting to me that the movie was filmed through his perspective, the camera acting as his eyes and allowing us to portray everything from his point of view. Furthermore, we hear from other perspectives, MeiMei’s and Mardar’s, when suddenly the original narrator seems to handover the control over the story to Mardar. Once this changes begin to happen, it is really difficult to settle a narrator’s identity, shifting constantly and probably being the origin of my confusion and difficulty to follow up at certain points. 

As hard as it might be to follow up on certain moments, it was an interesting story as it created one more emotion for me as a viewer, which was a certain lack of trust in the story as I felt there was no reliable point of view to what was happening, which is a different feeling from many other stories and creates deep reflection for those watching, providing a sort of thriller-like feeling. At the same time, the way the movie is filmed, with the camera being unsteady as it is your point of view at many moments, and particularly the scene when the boatman looks straight into the camera, breaks with the illusion of a typical movie, where we are used to being separated from the story as actors and actresses never speak directly to us. 

I really appreciated the portrayal of the female characters, which seemed to transform to different phases of some very typical stereotypes of what a woman should be or is desired to be. Overall, with all of the shifts in the narration, the way the camera is used and the story itself, the movie plays with the viewers opinion, whifting in as these elements shift themselves throughout the film. Even when the story seems to be very tragic, the atmosphere created allows the viewer to sympathize with the characters and their wasted surroundings.