"I'll have to go to a church to think about it. Wait here."

Italian For Beginners
Lone Scherfig, 2000

First Dogme film I've seen. Though they show the Dogme 95 certificate at the beginning of the film, there's some elements that didn't appear to adhere to all the tenets. Oh well.

It took a little bit of time to get past the stripped down aesthetic of the film (one of the Dogme rules bans the use of artificial lighting). Also, it seemed like some elements were shot in 30fps while others were shot in 24 (think home videos on a handicam vs the looks of films in a theatre). However, I stopped caring about the aesthetics entirely at the onset of the second act of the film.

With that said, I enjoyed the film, but I don't entirely know why. Maybe it's because the dialogue's in Danish (which just sounds neat) and Italian (una lingua bellissima). Who knows? Who cares?

I liked it.

Image Courtesy of someone else.