Brief Encounter and Certified Copy

 I've been on an Abbas Kiarostami binge, and watched "Certified Copy," a 2010 film of his I had never seen. It's a departure for Kiarostami - takes place in Italy, and has modernist, almost a surreal quality as a couple (the always excellent Juliette Binoche and opera baritone William Shimell) meets for the first time, or maybe has been married for 15 years.

It was odd and fascinating, and beautifully shot. It had obvious, intentional (given the title) references to other movies like "Journey to Italy," the Rossellini film about a couple also wandering around Italy and arguing/trying to rekindle something.

There's an odd refrain about the man in the Certified Copy couple having to catch his train. This morning, Criterion 24/7 (my favorite!) was playing "Brief Encounter," a gorgeous black-and-white David Lean film from 1945, made during the tail end of WWII, dramatic and emotive score from Rachmaninoff. It's about a couple of married people having a very chaste affair - I think we'd call it an emotional affair nowadays. 

I can't even place why it's so good - it is a combination of things: an intimate, honest-feeling story, impeccable cinematography, lead actors who are exceptional but have a sort of Everyman quality - and of course, a script by Noel Coward. The couple is constantly breakaway from each other because he has to catch a train. Had I not seen the movies so close to each other, I might not have caught it, but I am sure that Brief Encounter's recurring trains are echoed intentionally in Certified Copy. There's also a significant touch on the shoulder in each of the movies. 

I loved them both.

I also watched a little bit of EO, a 2022 Polish movie about the life of a donkey, which was impossible not to clock as an update to Au Hasard Balthasar. Gorgeous looking, but about 20 minutes in, I wiki-ed the plot and bailed - I honestly couldn't take that much animal suffering. Sometimes harrowing scenarios are important, but I didn't think I could manage it.