So, I'll start.

       Persona (rewatch)

Persona is currently my favorite movie. I feel that Bergman was able to tell a deep and memorable story about how we can lose ourselves in other people. I especially loved how simple the settings were. This meant that Bergman was allowed to focus more on the dialogue (monologue?) and relationship between the two characters. Every moment in this film is beautifully shot. Bergman's use of a perfectly steady frame gives the audience the idea that they are also a silent observer to Alma's stories. This makes the climactic scene of the movie all the more impactful, because now it feels as if it is your face being superimposed against Alma's, as opposed to Elisabet's. This movie is also incredibly well acted. Bibi Andersson nails her delivery; making many scenes even more emotional and impactful. The prime example of this is when Alma recounts her sexual encounter. Everything about that scene is incredibly erotic, to the point that one can almost envision precisely what Alma went through, but the only things shown on the screen are Alma's face and Elisabet's reactions. While Andersson did a fantastic job on the spoken aspect of the film, Liv Ullmann's performance was also impeccable. Her actions gave her character, well, character! This is something I see very rarely with modern actors. Most of them rely on dialogue in order to tell the audience how their character feels as opposed to showing them. Ullmann takes the latter to an extreme. Elisabet hardly speaks throughout the entire film, so Ullmann is required to demonstrate emotion using only physical tells. This meant that Ullmann had to utilize a Kurosawa-esque acting style; meaning that she took certain larger actions and repeated them throughout the film. While this technique may seem primitive at first, it was Ullmann's ability to use these identical reactions to deliver different meanings to the audience. This also restricts the amount of emotion Ullmann can show therefore, when this threshold is passed, she speaks. It demonstrates a limitation inherent within Elisabet's philosophy. Finally we arrive at the beginning. I really wanted to type that, so that's why I saved the strange introduction for last. With the haunting music and slow moving beginning, Bergman establishes that this film is not going to be about what's on the surface. Aside from that, I really can't tell you what the intro means, so I'd love to hear what you think!

      Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (rewatch)

Uncle Boonmee is such an interesting film. It deals with a dying culture in the Isan region of Thailand (I had to look that up on Wikipedia). Boonmee also deals, very obviously, with the concept of reincarnation. As the title suggests, the main character is able to recall his past lives, but the film is about much more than that. Apichatpong Weerasethakul (also had to use Wikipedia to figure out how to spell that) used the story of Boonmee as a way to tell the much larger story of permanence and impermanence. Boonmee literally represents the impermanence and fleetingness of our lives as humans, but emphasizes the permanence our actions, philosophies, and loves have on the living world. Boonmee is much more than a film: it is a metaphor. There is so much that goes on in it that it would be impossible for me to cover everything. According to Apichatpong Weerasethakul, it includes styles ranging from "old cinema with stiff acting and classical staging" to "costume drama." Weerasethakul's film has so much going on that I couldn't take it all in in one viewing. This film reminds me of the Holy Mountain; where one must separate the metaphorical from the real, but Weerasethakul's metaphors strike a much more personal chord with me than did the metaphors of Jodorowsky. No review will ever fully encompass the profoundness of this film, so go out and watch it for yourself!