Hiroshima Mon Amour

incredible!! everything about this movie was excellent. I’m not the biggest fan of black and white films, especially those from this era, but this one was very good. many of these older films are respectable but they don’t connect with me on the same level as modern films. this movie surprised me more than I had expected. although being old, it felt more modern than modern day films in a way I don’t really know how to explain. Those opening minutes really got me hooked immediately. The documentary footage showing the aftermath of Hiroshima is crushing and one of the most powerful opening scenes I’ve seen in a film. Having visited Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial last summer, these scenes hit even harder. Seeing these locations that I stood infront of made the reality behind everything feel more immediate in a way. Performances were one of the best parts of the film. Emmanuelle Riva and Eji Okada were both incredible and really gave the film heavy emotional weight. I don’t really enjoy dialogue heavy movies but this one was great. a big chunk of this movie is just straight dialogue with little plot development but I never found myself losing interest since they both were very engaging. This felt very real and genuine which made me enjoy this film more. Another thing I liked about it was how the film centered around the idea of memory. it’s a pretty unique idea so it was cool to see. The film shifts a lot between the past and the present, but it never felt confusing and it benefitted the movie. It gave a lot more personality and weight to the characters, building on more emotion to their already emotion heavy characters. It helped me understand them more and made their conversations feel more meaningful. Cinematography was great as well. There are so many scenes that are memorable in this movie. Even scenes where the both of them are just talking to each other, the framing and camera work makes it feel important. The black and white used in this film is a huge bonus as well. Most black and white films don’t really work for me as much as I would like but this one did. I think the b&w on this brought out more of the feel of the scenes and made it more emotionally heavy which is what I am drawn to when I watch films like this. definitely a movie I’ll be rewatching sometime in the future, maybe even within the next 48h before my renting of the film from Apple TV runs out. Definitely a lot of tinier details I missed that I’ll pick up on a second watch. Amazing film would recommend