2011-2020

Quote:
Most films—especially taut, lower-budgeted indies—choose one theme or dramatic premise and run with it. Others cross-wire two potent and ostensibly unrelated ideas and bask in the sparks they generate.

The terrifically assured and engrossing Brazilian film “Don’t Call Me Son” is a great example of the latter breed. On the one hand, writer/director Anna Muylaert invites us to contemplate the fluidity of adolescent gender identity via the story of teenage boy who’s testing boundaries by drifting provocatively between male and female appearances. (If this sounds like a topic for a Gender Studies class, fear not: the film is a drama, not a lecture.) On the other hand, Muylaert also probes how much of who we are comes from family, since, additionally, her tale concerns kids who were removed from their biological parents at birth.Read More »

Synopsis:
A coast guard captain on a small Greek island is suddenly charged with saving thousands of refugees from drowning at sea.

Review:
4.1 miles – the distance between Turkey and Greece. It might not sound like much – in fact, many people might consider it swimmable – but these are dangerous waters. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers have made the desperate journey over the past few years. Concern about how to cope with this influx has extended right across the continent. What has it done to those on the coastlines directly affected?Read More »

Synopsis:
A touching story between a lonely woman and a TGV train driver.

Review:
The spirit of warming one’s heart and melting one’s shell brings the fifth Oscar nominee to life. La femme et le TGV (dir. Timo von Gunten; Switzerland, 30 min.) stars Jane Birkin (Blow Up, Twice Born) in a quirky and amusing love story about a frumpy baker who finds one daily bit of solace in her small Swiss town. Every day when the TGV train goes whizzing by, she rushes to the window and waves her flag. For such a grumpy sourpuss, the baker completely melts with joy each time the train passes. She’s as happy as a kid in a candy store—doubly so when a pen pal from the train starts pitching gifts and notes out the window. Birkin is lots of fun and gives La femme et le TGV its sprightly bounce and offbeat charm. Of all the shorts nominated here, La femme et le TGV is the most complete picture. With its economy of storytelling, upbeat tone, and underdog spirit, this fun comedy is a refreshing reminder that lightening up and being good to one’s neighbours is the richest truffle of all.Read More »

Quote:
Tomasz Wasilewski’s United States of Love may take place just after 1989’s felling of the Berlin Wall but little of the era’s euphoric optimism transfers to the Polish writer-director’s dispassionate yet engrossing third feature. Broken down into loosely formed chapters whose pages overlap and intersect with purposeful randomness, Wasilewski’s film sees his nation on the point of transition from its barren communist past to a new era of potential enlightenment: clothes, electronic goods and Whitney Houston posters no less. However, it is the day to day lives and struggles of four women who are our focus.Read More »

Synopsis:
Based on three different places, the film portrays the infractions to which people living in modern day China are subjected due to rapid developments: in the deceptively idyllic Jiuxiancun in the rainy south; in the apocalyptic coal mining site of Minqin and Wusutu in the parched north; and in Chongqing, the mega city on the Yangtze River. The protagonists give their moving accounts of an unresolved past, an uncertain present and their tentative steps into the future. The film thus paints a complex image of the mental state of the people in this complicated country. “Watermarks” is a subjective snapshot in time that takes a poetic look at the changing everyday life in China.Read More »

Synopsis
The director brings the viewer on a journey to a place that is haunted, in present day, by the myth of a mysterious inscription. The viewer can see the film maker depict fractional images of a divinely inspired Nature, interweave mythological and historical accounts, as well as glean fragments to record the identity of a place that confronts and is confronted with the great philosophical questions of life. Koutsaftis not only is the director but is also the writer and the photography director of the film.Read More »

Synopsis:
A round chamber in a park, where five women perform a ritual they know well. The queen gives her nectar. Yet a new cycle is already under way. Read More »

Quote:
There’s very little in common between Asha Jaoar Majhe and In The Mood For Love, but somehow Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s debut feature reminded me a lot of Wong Kar Wai’s classic romance. Perhaps it’s to do with the abiding images of the two protagonists walking/cycling along narrow city alleys with little spoken yet a lot communicated through music; just the plaintive shehnai music in the background here, and the aching melancholy of Yumeji’s theme there. Like In The Mood For Love, Asha Jaoar Majhe is a quiet, almost silent film, yet each of its frames is resonant with unspoken feelings. Can you tell a story with just everyday images and situational sounds? Sengupta does it seamlessly.Read More »

Agust 1715. Coming back from his promenade, Louis XIV feels a pain in his leg. The following days, the king his keeping his obligations but he has agitated nights, and the fever is getting him. He eats little and gets weaker day after day. The agony has just begun for the great king of France, surrounded by his doctors and servants.Read More »