2001-2010

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Filmed over five years from 1997 to 2002, Yang’s first black and white movie tells the story of Zhuzi, a young intellectual, who has consulted countless doctors over his “illness”. Without any physical symptoms pointing to a definitive diagnosis, one is led to assume that the character’s illness is far more deep-seated and psychologically driven. A central theme of Yang’s work is the urban intellectual’s psyche, the generation who is old enough to remember life before the re-opening of China’s economy, while spending their formative years in a modernizing China.Read More »

From Kinoglaz.fr
In this film, the artistic transformation of the objects of reality reaches the pinnacle of the author’s alteration of this reality. The author’s thoughts and words anticipate the appearance of visual images crystallised from flickering impressions of reality, composed in a manner that is eloquent yet austere, fantastic yet truthful.
In this voyage the names of people and places are alienated: this unfettered dream, a dream about the infinitude of space and time, needs no frontiers or passports.Read More »

Plot:
Julia (Cyndi Williams) works in a bingo-hall near her home, in a suburb of Houston, Texas. A haggard-looking mother of two daughters, Julia is perhaps in her mid-30s but could pass for a decade older. Her husband Bobby (Kenneth Wayne Bradley) is sympathetic and attentive, but Julia is rapidly reaching the end of her tether. Christmas is looming; she’s underpaid and overworked; is underappreciated at home; conscious that she’s getting no younger, no thinner, no happier. Read More »

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Lunch Break features 42 workers as they take their midday break in a corridor stretching nearly the entire shipyard. Contrary to her previous films, the camera is untethered and, as it slowly moves down the corridor, we experience what was a brief interval in the workday schedule expanded into a sustained gaze. Lined with lockers, the hallway seems not only an industrial nexus but also a social one, its surfaces containing a history of self-expression and customization.Read More »

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Two brothers who have lost all contact are suddenly brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who’s recently joined a neonazi group participates in the violence, Itso witnesses and rescues the Turkish family. Georgi, now being asked to participate in larger events, starts to question his implication in the movement and Itso wonders if the beautiful Turkish girl he saved could be his ticket out from his sad life in Sofia. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.Read More »

Plot Synopsis from beyondhollywood.com
Although many Hong Kong thrillers like to style themselves as being gritty and nihilistic, “Dog Bite Dog” is one of the few with the guts to actually follow through on such claims, being one of the darkest and brutal films of the last few years. As such, it marks a change for director Soi Cheang, previously known for light horror outings such as “Home Sweet Home” and “The Death Curse”, though he certainly takes the subject matter between his teeth and succeeds in producing a film which cuts like a knife through the glossy, choreographed violence usually seen in the genre.Read More »

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This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.Read More »

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During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He’s a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman’s mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. By 2004, Hoffman has seen success: there are farmer’s collectives selling tea, ways to export “boutique tea” from China, and a growing Chinese appreciation for organic farming’s best friend, the earthworm.Read More »

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Phil (Timothy Spall) is an overweight taxi driver who gets up late in the day and works intermittently, barely communicating with his family except for a few grunts. His philosophy of life is expressed as “We’re all born alone. We die alone. There’s nothing we can do about it”. Mike Leigh has given us powerful portrayals of the underclass in his previous films Naked, Secrets and Lies, and Life is Sweet but none more powerful and moving than his latest, All or Nothing.Read More »