I watched two movies last night
This:

and this:

Back when I took my first film class, our teacher distributed a handout with the AFI's top 100 films of all time and I made it a goal to see them all. I have seen a lot of fantastic films because of this list but there's also been some stuff that has just not been my cup of tea. Platoon is certainly in the latter category. Terrible voice over narration from Charlie Sheen (writing letters to his grandma!), characters that were pretty one dimensional, and a message that was didactic and completely unsubtle.


On the other hand, Forbidden Games was a wonderfully complex and beautiful movie. Definitely a bit macabre-two children in France spend their time collecting dead animals, saying prayers over their bodies, and making and stealing crosses for their cemetery. It's a great meditation on war, death, religion, and childhood. I think my favorite thing about French cinema is the way children are portrayed: not too cute, complex, and actual human beings rather than props (which so often is the case I feel in American films). I'm thinking about someday soon posting a list of my favorite films about children, and this will certainly be on it.