Drama

Lotte is impulsive, rough around the edges and leads a colourful life on the streets of Berlin, stumbling from man to man and flat to flat. One night in her local bar she bumps into Marcel, an almost forgotten acquaintance. Just after he recognises her Lotte takes flight, finding refuge in the flat of her friend Sabine. The following day, the events of the previous evening still grate on Lotte and she cannot seem to shake them off, even during her work at the hospital. A young girl, Greta, is brought in, Lotte takes care of her and a gentle affection develops between them. But this happiness is short-lived because, a little later, Lotte witnesses an encounter between Greta and Marcel. The three catch sight of each other and Lotte realises she will not be able to run away this time.Read More »

Tunis, summer 2010, a few months before the Revolution: Farah, 18 years-old, has just graduated and her family already sees her as a future doctor. But she doesn’t think the same way. She sings in a political rock band. She has a passion for life, gets drunk, discovers love and her city by night against the will of her mother Hayet, who knows Tunisia and its dangers too well. Read More »

Synopsis:
Set in 221 BC, The Emperor and the Assassin tells of Ying Zheng (Li Xuejian) and his obsession to unite seven Chinese kingdoms and become the first Emperor of China. The film mixes spectacular battle scenes with court intrigue, counterpointed by the King’s complex relationship with the only woman he has truly loved, the Lady Zhao (Gong Li). From protocol-ridden palaces to wide open grasslands, this is a visually striking film, both beautiful and at the same time burdened with the horrors of the period.Read More »

Quote:
It is the end of the Romanian war against the Soviet Union (but not the end of the WWII), as Germany and Romania are allies, but in a few weeks they will be enemies. Two German officers stop for a lunch with a group of Romanian officers and as the story develops, a pair of rare postage stamps are acquired in very different occasions, which underlines the differences between the group of officers. This deceptively simply short film has many complex ramifications about history, honor, about how material value translates in life and survival. Director Pintilie works beautifully with his actors, especially Victor Rebengiuc (a preferred actor of Pintilie) and his use of visual space in a small room is both inspired and effective.Read More »

A street teenager from a dysfunctional family from a banlieue (HLMs) in Paris comes across a young dancer who turns her life upside down.

Isabel Stevens (Sight & Sound) wrote:
From the opening credits – a grainy breakneck tour of the lives of two teenage girls who lark about, posing and dancing via vertical-aspect cameraphone footage, I had a suspicion we were onto something special. Then comes the unusual opener: a hazy, abstract shot. Gradually, the interior of a mosque comes into focus. The smaller of the two girls, who only seconds ago stared us down and asked “You looking at me?” with full Taxi Driver-esque bravado, is outside trying to get her praying friend’s attention through a grate in the wall.Read More »

The story is set between the two World wars. The Topalovic family consists of five generations of males, with the youngest one aged 25 and the oldest aged 120. Conflicts break out in the family because the youngest member refuses to carry on the morticians’ trade, which for decades, from generation to generation has been his family’s occupation. The manufacturing of coffins is more and more lucrative, new technologies are introduced, burials are faster and easier, the era of crematoriums is here. But the youngest member of the family, Mirko, is not interested. He believes in a “better, nicer and more honest occupation”. In this belief he is supported and encouraged by his girlfriend Kristina and his best friend Djenka, owner of a small cinema. Read More »

Synopsis:
Without Witness is an unflinchingly intimate and wickedly plotted two-actor tour de force pitting a divorced couple against each other and themselves.Read More »

IMDB says:
In this modern retelling of the Virgin birth, Mary is a student who plays basketball and works at her father’s petrol station; Joseph is an earnest dropout who drives a cab. The angel Gabriel must school Joseph to accept Mary’s pregnancy, while Mary comes to terms with God’s plan through meditations that are sometimes angry and usually punctuated by elemental images of the sun, moon, clouds, flowers, and water. Godard intercuts a brief parallel story of Eva and her nameless lover; their adulterous affair, rife with philosophical discussions, leads nowhere.
– Written by jhaileyRead More »

Quote:
A fugitive girl, a stuntman and a young man who lost his dog quite some time before, are joining together on a trip to reach each of their own destination. A youngster gets emotionally connected to the girl, and he’d try to help her to leave the bossy stuntman, to get false passport and escape to Paris.Read More »