003: Watch/finish 20 foreign language films/shows - Part 1

Yesterday I continued number 3 on my 101/1001 list: Watch/finish 20 foreign language films/shows. I had initially intended to watch films in the languages I'm learning (Thai, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, German), but they may not all be. 3 down, 17 to go!

Name: Inhuman Kiss (แสงกระสือ)

Language: Thai

Year: 2019

Genre: Horror, Romance

Rating: 15

Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri

Starring: Phantira Pipityakorn, Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang, Sapol Assawamunkong 

Synopsis: In 1940s Thailand, a young girl becomes a krasue (type of demon in Thai mythology) lives a normal life by day, but at night her detached head seeks out flesh and blood.

Thoughts: First of all, I have to confess that I chose to watch this film because the actor who plays Jerd ("Great" Sapol Assawamunkong) is also in a show I really like - and I'm glad I did! I really enjoyed it. I love films where the "monster" is to be sympathised with instead of feared. If you want a happy feel-good ending, then this is probably not for you, but if you like mythology mixed with some romance and  horror, then you'll probably love it, like I did.

Name: Sputnik (спутник)

Language: Russian

Year: 2020

Rating: 15

Genre: Horror, sci-fi

Director: Egor Abramenko

Starring:  Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov

Synopsis: The lone survivor of an enigmatic spaceship incident hasn't returned back home alone - hiding inside his body is a dangerous creature.

Thoughts: Although the film has a similar feel and theme to the Alien film series (which I love), it takes a different angle on it. The main theme, to me, seems to be how the way people behave and view each other creates the responses they get back. I really enjoyed this film♥

Name: Under the Shadow

Language: Persian

Year: 2016

Rating: 15

Genre: Psychological Horror

Director:  Babak Anvari

Starring:  Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi

Synopsis: A mother and daughter are haunted by a mysterious evil in 1980s Tehran, during the War of the Cities.

Thoughts: This is a film about djinn, set against the background of a family trying to survive during the War of Cities in 1980's Tehran. It's an understated horror and works well. I did find the little girl a tad annoying in places, but not enough to ruin the film. I enjoyed Under the Shadow, but of these three it was probably my least favourite.

101 in 1001 - Russian Duolingo

Screenshot of my Duolingo homepage with the little "completed" golden owl, featuring a Russian flag scarf

Yesterday, I finished a goal on my 101 in 1001 list!

• 009. Complete the Russian language course on Duolingo.

Я закончил, но я ещё плохо говорю по-русски!
Любимое предложение:

Кто будет защищать наш город от драконов?

Who indeed!

When I started, I only knew a few words from songs, games, and films, but now I'm able to read  and write cyrillic (both printed and cursive - though reading cursive is still hard!), form sentences about various topics, understand what's being said in some of the aforementioned media (without looking at translations), and have even had a few basic conversations with people in Russian too (oh, I sound awful, but I was understood so oh well! Haha). 

So, even if I'm still terrible at Russian, I've made progress, which is what I wanted, more than just to get the shiny golden owl. Obviously, some of the things I learned, I didn't learn on Duolingo, but having somewhere to practise everyday has helped a lot! (And no, I'm not a premium member, I just use the basic free stuff).

Though this goal is finished now, I'm going to continue practising Russian both on Duolingo and elsewhere, because it's a language I've very much fallen in love with. 

Of course, it wasn't the first language I completed on Duolingo though...

日本語コースも終わった❣

でも、昔は、日本語の勉強したので、
ロシア語に比べて難しくなかったですね。

Hopefully, the next little golden bird you see here will be the German Duo owl. I'm learning Korean for 101 in 1001 as well (and other languages just because I want to), but I've learnt German before and have people to practise with, so that seems more likely. Plus, I'm pretty terrible at Korean right now. I mean, really terrible! But I'll persevere. :)

Спокойной ночи!