My friend Kathy is doing some 2020 pop culture resolutions this year to address some pop culture blind spots. I thought this sounded like a really good idea, and wanted to participate!
I’ve decided to watch 12 international films and read 12 translated works in 2020 – one movie and one book per month (although January is almost over, so I’d better get a move on!).
I loved Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite when I saw it last year, so I’m taking this as an opportunity to watch some more of his movies.
The 12 movies I’ve decided on (although I haven’t decided on the order yet), and which seem to be available in Canada on my various streaming services, are:
Mother, dir. Bong Joon-ho (South Korea);
The Host, dir. Bong Joon-ho (South Korea);
Shoplifters, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan);
Burning, dir. Lee Chang-dong (South Korea);
Let’s Dance, dir. Ladislas Chollat (France);
The Bar, dir. Alex de la Iglesia (Spain);
Article 15, dir. Anubhav Sinha (India);
The Villainess, dir. Jung Byung-gil (South Korea);
I Remember You, dir. Óskar Thór Axelsson (Iceland);
Aruna & Her Palate, dir. Edwin (Indonesia);
The Raid 2, dir. Gareth Evans (Indonesia); and
Offside, dir. Jafar Panahi (Iran).
(I will also be rewatching Parasite as soon as it’s available to stream or buy on any of the platforms I have, but since I’ve already seen it, I didn’t want to include it as part of this challenge)
I haven’t decided on the order for the books either, but the ones I’m going to read this year are:
Last Rituals, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (Icelandic);
In Other Words, Jhumpa Lahiri (Italian);
My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (Italian);
The Hole, Hye-Young Pyun (Korean);
A Perfect Crime, A Yi (Chinese);
Brooklyn Heights, Miral al-Tahawy (Arabic);
The Tenant, Katrine Engberg (Danish);
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami (Japanese);
Ripper, Isabel Allende (Spanish);
Confessions, Kanae Minato (Japanese);
The Museum of Abandoned Secrets, Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukrainian); and
My Name Is Red, Orhan Pamuk (Turkish).
Let me know if you’ve seen any of these movies, or watched any of these books! And thanks Kathy for the great idea!
