2001-2010

An intimate glimpse into the experiences of a young Tibetan family struggling to reconcile their traditional way of life with a rapidly modernizing world.Read More »

Quote:
As anyone who’s watched “The Way of the Gun” knows, the furthest distance between two points is always between a kidnapper and his money. In “Sympathy for Mr Vengeance”, though, getting the money is easy. It’s staying alive long enough to spend it that’s the problem.

Taking its cue from the Pang brothers’ similarly excellent “Bangkok Dangerous”, “Sympathy for Mr Vengeance” stars Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu, a deaf and dumb steelworker who kidnaps his boss’ daughter in order to pay for a kidney operation for his beloved sister. Nothing goes according to plan, and what ought to have been easy money soon turns into blood money.Read More »

A tragic story of a teen prostitute as seen through the eyes of her neighbor, a Buddhist monk.Read More »

PLOT: This movie is about a day in life of the settlement for people with mental problems. Located in a peaceful countryside, it conveys an image of a pure, happy place, where people live and work together, in complete harmony. But there is a growing unexplainable feeling of anxiety and hopelessness.Read More »

Or shoulders a lot: she’s 17 or 18, a student, works evenings at a restaurant, recycles cans and bottles for cash, and tries to keep her mother Ruthie from returning to streetwalking in Tel Aviv. Ruthie calls Or “my treasure,” but Ruthie is a burden. She’s just out of hospital, weak, and Or has found her a job as a house cleaner. The call of the quick money on the street is tough for Ruthie to ignore. Or’s emotions roil further when the mother of the youth she’s in love with comes to the flat to warn her off. With love fading and Ruthie perhaps beyond help, Or’s choices narrow.Read More »

Plot / Synopsis
17-year-old soccer team manager roots hard for her high school crush Hiroya Takagi to score the winning goal in the prefectural conference semi-final, but he makes a crucial mistake during a penalty kick and loses the game. Mari feels bad for Hiroya, who’s quickly labeled a loser by the rest of the school, and decides to give her virginity away to him even though she knows he doesn’t love her back.

Hiroya leaves town before graduating, and Mari decides to search for him. Following his trail, she winds up taking a hostess job in the red light district of Shinjuki, which eventually leads her into prostitution. After giving up everything for love, will Mari ever be reunited with Hiroya?Read More »

In Jean Gentil, a man looks for a job in a cacophonous city that wouldn’t notice if he had never existed. He’s wearing a tie and the kind of sadness that removes from the face any immediately recognizable expression—the awkward and self-effacing sadness of the unwelcome immigrant. The man (Jean Gentil, playing a filmic version of himself) is an unemployed Haitian polyglot in Santo Domingo with a background in accounting and a tendency to question whether or not he’s even alive. While initially aiming for an office job in line with his experience and goals, he quickly has to settle for a construction job and a hard floor to sleep on after being evicted. He eventually makes his way to the countryside, where he retreats from the unforgiving madness of the big city and, ironically, away from “civilization” he can finally find a place to sleep, something to eat, and water to bathe.Read More »

A troubled mother’s spirit crumbles when her adult children strike out for independence. Feeling abandoned she contemplates taking drastic action.Read More »

Director Joe Swanberg (Nights and Weekends) goes beyond the mumblecore movement with this revealing drama about marriage. For Alexander the Last, Swanberg reigns over an experienced cast of actors — including Jane Adams, Jess Weixler, and Josh Hamilton — but still incorporates his usual improvisational techniques. Margot at the Wedding director Noah Baumbach serves as one of the film’s producers. —IFC FilmsRead More »