So I saw Dheepan at Vancouver Film Festival and it was awesome. This film is directed by Jacques Audiard who also directed Rust and Bone. And not only that, but Dheepan took home the Palme d'Or from Cannes Film Festival. So with it winning the top prize from one of the world's most prestigious film festivals, this film was obviously already in my sights. Somehow, despite having zero expectations for what the movie might be, it still really caught me off guard. Without really spoiling anything, the movie's kind of like several movies at once. The film advertises itself as a crime drama, but there was a lot of light-hearted comedy in there too, and all of it was done exceptionally well.The writing, the characters, the performances, the cinematography — you name it — there is not a single weak point in this film. There are also some aspects to its delivery that were refreshingly clever. The main characters are Sri Lankan refugees adapting to French language and culture, and in a very smart and subtle way we can infer how much time has passed in the film by how well the characters are adapting. Certain characters would be unable to understand any French whatsoever, so when you see them later in the film being able to pick up on basic sentences, you can infer that this film didn't just take place over a week. Being able to pick up on basic sentences, you can infer that this film didn't just take place over a week. The film is smart and challenging as it avoids painting anything in black and white, and it overall just seems so aware. When there have been so many films already depicting foreign characters adjusting to new societies, watching this film is like realizing what every other film left out: the difficulties that the characters have with the language barrier is done in a very realistic and thoughtful way. Anyway, I don't want to give away too much but I love this movie and I would recommend you check it out as soon as you can. As far as I can tell, it's something that I'll likely even enjoy more on my second watch, but for now I'm giving this one an 8 out of 10.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2015-12-14T15:42:12Z
So I saw Dheepan at Vancouver Film Festival and it was awesome. This film is directed by Jacques Audiard who also directed Rust and Bone. And not only that, but Dheepan took home the Palme d'Or from Cannes Film Festival. So with it winning the top prize from one of the world's most prestigious film festivals, this film was obviously already in my sights. Somehow, despite having zero expectations for what the movie might be, it still really caught me off guard. Without really spoiling anything, the movie's kind of like several movies at once. The film advertises itself as a crime drama, but there was a lot of light-hearted comedy in there too, and all of it was done exceptionally well.The writing, the characters, the performances, the cinematography — you name it — there is not a single weak point in this film. There are also some aspects to its delivery that were refreshingly clever. The main characters are Sri Lankan refugees adapting to French language and culture, and in a very smart and subtle way we can infer how much time has passed in the film by how well the characters are adapting. Certain characters would be unable to understand any French whatsoever, so when you see them later in the film being able to pick up on basic sentences, you can infer that this film didn't just take place over a week. Being able to pick up on basic sentences, you can infer that this film didn't just take place over a week. The film is smart and challenging as it avoids painting anything in black and white, and it overall just seems so aware. When there have been so many films already depicting foreign characters adjusting to new societies, watching this film is like realizing what every other film left out: the difficulties that the characters have with the language barrier is done in a very realistic and thoughtful way. Anyway, I don't want to give away too much but I love this movie and I would recommend you check it out as soon as you can. As far as I can tell, it's something that I'll likely even enjoy more on my second watch, but for now I'm giving this one an 8 out of 10.