synopsis
Relationship between father and son against the background of the Maoist regime in China, starting at the end of the Cultural Revolution in the year that Mao died (1976), and into the following two decades. The father, a painter, had been interned in a labour camp for “re-education”, and lost his ability to paint. Upon being released he teaches his son to draw, but is obsessive about it and doesn’t allow his son any freedom or independence. Their convoluted relationship throughout the son’s childhood and into adulthood is shown in an absorbing way. The film is also a snapshot of the political and social changes that China was undergoing.Read More »
2001-2010
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Yang Zhang – Xiang Ri Kui AKA Sunflower [+ Extra] (2005)
2001-2010AsianChinaDramaYang Zhang -
Shimako Sato – K-20: Kaijin niju menso den AKA K-20: Legend of the Mask (2008)
2001-2010AdventureFantasyJapanShimako SatoImdb:
Holy Steampunk, Sherlock Holmes! Screen idol Takeshi Kaneshiro is back and this time hes showing his respect for Lupin, Raffles and all the great thieves and masked penny dreadful heroes of the turn-of-the-century in this massive steampunk blow-out directed by Shimako Sato, one of the few female directors in the big budget end of the Japanese film industry.Read More » -
Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani – Santos Palace (2006)
2001-2010ArthouseBelgiumBruno ForzaniHélène CattetShort Film

Synopsis:
Sultry courtship display between a waitress and customer in a café.At nine o’clock in the morning, the Santos Palace coffee bar opens its doors. The waitress pours her first cup of coffee for an unknown elderly man. They circle each other a little, in a kind of sultry courtship display. When the other, younger waitress arrives, jealousy ensues.Read More »
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Claude Chabrol – Bellamy AKA Inspector Bellamy (2009)
2001-2010Claude ChabrolCrimeDramaFrance

Synopsis:
As every year, chief inspector Paul Bellamy spends a few days with his wife Françoise in the family house in Nîmes. Jacques, Paul’s stepbrother, turns up unawares, which is bad news since the fellow is an alcoholic good for nothing. Also annoying is this stranger at bay who asks Bellamy for protection. Farewell peaceful holiday!Read More » -
Go Shibata – Osoi Hito aka Late Bloomer [+Extras] (2004)
2001-2010AsianGô ShibataJapanThriller

In this weird, wicked and wonderfully perverse shocker from Japan, we meet Sumida, a disabled young man marked by his wheelchair, his electronic voice box, his rampant alcoholism, and his appetite for porn. When a female student temporarily becomes his carer during her college studies, he mistakes her harmless flirtation for true love. Her eventual rejection sends Sumida on a downward spiral in which his repressed rage erupts in random violence. Black-and-white cinematography by Masaaki Takakura.Read More »
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Henner Winckler – Lucy (2006)
2001-2010DramaGermanyHenner WincklerEighteen-year-old Maggy has a baby, Lucy, eight months old. She has dropped out of school and broken up with Lucy’s father. Maggy still lives with her mother, who often takes care of the baby so that Maggy can occasionally meet with her girlfriends or go out for an evening. At a disco she meets Gordon and soon falls in love with him. He’s not much older than she is, but she is impressed by the fact that he earns his own living and even has his own flat.Read More »
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Jim Fields & Michael Gramaglia – End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003)
2001-2010CultDocumentaryJim FieldsMichael GramagliaUSA

Quote:
In 1974, the New York City music scene was shocked into consciousness by the violently new sound of a band from Queens: The Ramones. Playing in a seedy Bowery bar to a small group of fellow struggling musicians, the band struck a chord of disharmony that rocked the foundation of the placid mid-1970s music scene. Tracing the history of the band over three decades, END OF THE CENTURY is a vibrant, candid document of one of the most influential groups in the history of rock.Read More » -
Andrew Douglas – Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus [+commentary] (2003)
2001-2010Andrew DouglasDocumentaryPerformanceUSA

Quote:
Searching for The Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a captivating and compelling road trip through the creative spirit of the the Southern U.S. Director Andrew Douglas’s film follows “Alt Country” singer Jim White through a gritty terrain of churches, prisons, truck stops, biker bars and coal mines. This is a journey through a very real contemporary Southern U.S., a world of marginalised white people and their unique and home-made society. Along the way are road-side encounters with modern musical mavericks including The Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and David Johansen; old time banjo player Lee sexton; rockabilly and mountain Gospel churches – and novelist Harry Crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track.Read More » -
Krisztina Goda – Kaméleon AKA Chameleon (2008)
2001-2010DramaHungaryKrisztina GodaThrillerWhile cleaning offices at night, George learns a lot about the employees by examining what they leave behind, carefully choosing his targets, always disillusioned women whom he seduces, methodically taking their money. An artist of manipulation, with a generous dose of humor and the ability to assume different personalities, George begins to work in a psychologist’s practice, where he learns of Hanna, a 30 year-old dancer who was hurt in a car accident and the daughter of a millionaire. The ideal victim if love doesn’t get in the way.Read More »



