This past fall, I took my first quarter of French. And after adjusting to how insanely quick the course moves, I've come to really like the language. Which is good, considering I've got five quarters to go. That's right; for the school of Humanities, you need two years of a language and French is my hesitant pick! After ten weeks, my pronunciation is almost half-way decent and I know a fucking hell of a lot of vocabulary words. However, most of the language and culture is still a mystery to me; I am Faintly French. Har-har. But, like a dumbass, I forgot all of my notes from French 1A in my dorm and thus, I haven't given myself an easy avenue of study over the break. I don't really know how to practice a language in unconventional ways; I've never been gifted with languages... In any capacity. However, I've heard a lot of foreigners mention they learned English by watching movies and reading books in that language. And Tim Ferriss touches upon his process of learning languages in this video, starting at around 2:16. The fact that this works doesn't make sense to me at all; how can it?! But I'm going to try it out anyway, and attempt to keep myself up on French through film.
So I gave myself a goal: at a minimum, two French films a week for the duration of winter break.
I hope to also read some articles in French, plus my sister (who is a goddess at speaking in tongues; she's currently studying abroad in Germany for the year) sent me some language sites at the beginning of the school term... She says the site she uses most is IELanguages.com. I haven't checked it out yet, but it seems to have a lot of good info! In addition, my sister gave me link for LingQ, which helps those trying to learn a language on their own. She said, however to check out the tutorial, because it's a difficult website to explain haha. I've also changed my Facebook to French this morning, so we'll see how that goes.
Anyway, without further ado, here is Film #1: A 2010 romantic comedy called Les Émotifs Anonymes, or as it's called on Netflix Instant Play, Romantics Anonymous.
After such a long introduction, I actually don't have a ton to say about this movie other than I really, really, really like it! I think it's an incredibly well-done romantic comedy, coming from someone who isn't the biggest fan of the genre. It's awkward, very awkward, but in a way that I found incredibly endearing while watching. From the internet I've seen a great deal of people who felt too uncomfortable to watch the entire thing. But honestly the discomfort of it all really made the film for me. I found it extremely relatable. Because human contact is stressful! Pursuing your dream is one of the most anxiety-inducing processes of all-time! Being confronted by superiors who judge your craft makes me want to faint! And trying to be in a relationship, and putting yourself on the line is extremely difficult. I'm in one, my first one, and I find it extremely difficult. I don't think I put myself and my heart on the line enough within my relationship, honestly. Letting down that guard is an awkward thing, for me at least. I'm an anxious person by nature. And that is why this movie makes sense to me.
More than that, I got very emotionally invested in these characters by the end of it. When they united with all of their friends watching, and Jean-René motions for everyone to turn around while they kiss, my heart swelled to fifty times its normal size. I love the ensemble at the chocolate factory and the anonymous meetings as well; they were all very cute and likeable. The plot line itself is a very romantic one, in my opinion... the making of chocolate. And having them run away from their wedding together, because the anxiety was too much to handle... The absolute perfect ending.
After such a long introduction, I actually don't have a ton to say about this movie other than I really, really, really like it! I think it's an incredibly well-done romantic comedy, coming from someone who isn't the biggest fan of the genre. It's awkward, very awkward, but in a way that I found incredibly endearing while watching. From the internet I've seen a great deal of people who felt too uncomfortable to watch the entire thing. But honestly the discomfort of it all really made the film for me. I found it extremely relatable. Because human contact is stressful! Pursuing your dream is one of the most anxiety-inducing processes of all-time! Being confronted by superiors who judge your craft makes me want to faint! And trying to be in a relationship, and putting yourself on the line is extremely difficult. I'm in one, my first one, and I find it extremely difficult. I don't think I put myself and my heart on the line enough within my relationship, honestly. Letting down that guard is an awkward thing, for me at least. I'm an anxious person by nature. And that is why this movie makes sense to me.
More than that, I got very emotionally invested in these characters by the end of it. When they united with all of their friends watching, and Jean-René motions for everyone to turn around while they kiss, my heart swelled to fifty times its normal size. I love the ensemble at the chocolate factory and the anonymous meetings as well; they were all very cute and likeable. The plot line itself is a very romantic one, in my opinion... the making of chocolate. And having them run away from their wedding together, because the anxiety was too much to handle... The absolute perfect ending.
Très bien!!
Also, today I am going to see The Hobbit with my best friend, who I haven't seen in almost three months. I have a feeling the movie is not going to be very good, even though I'm rooting for it to be so. I love Peter Jackson and Martin Freeman and the entire original cast, but you know. It's tough to do sequels and prequels, and to do them properly. And the settings look far too computer-generated for me, from what I've seen in the trailers. At least I've got low expectations on my side! I'll let you know how it is!
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