A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.
The Belgian film The
Broken Circle Breakdown is precisely the kind of film that foreign
countries typically enter as their candidates for the Foreign Language Film
Oscar. They’ve learned to play the game. If it takes on subject matter that
tends to be appealing to Hollywood, then they get noticed. And sure enough, it
was nominated last week for the Oscar. A marriage in crisis and a
cancer-stricken child are the two major plot points and it doesn’t get much
more emotionally heart-wrenching than that. And really I’m not saying it’s a
bad movie, but I’ve come to anticipate that foreign films will me something new.
When they mimic some of the worst aspects of studio filmmaking, I’m disappointed.
