Drama

Ziming, a University undergraduate, is entangled between his amorous feelings for a self-exiled mother Mrs Yu from Taiwan and her beautiful daughter Meiling, in the era coincides with Hong Kong’s turbulent times of 1967.Read More »

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Yekaterina Artemovna (Natalia Negoda), forty-five, has a hard life. She lives in a small mining town where she works as a librarian and, like her only friend and colleague, rents a little room in a project. She has difficulties making ends meet on her meagre salary, which is often paid late, and sells off some of the library’s books illegally in a nearby station. One day, a man with a strong sense of civic duty, wearing a naval uniform, returns one of these books to the library, apparently without recognising it was Yekaterina who had actually sold him the book.Read More »

The life of little St. Therese of Lisieux, depicted in minimalist vignettes. Therese and her sisters are all nuns in a Carmelite convent. Her devotion to Jesus and her concept of “the little way” to God are shown clearly, using plain modern language. A sense of angelic simplicity comes across without fancy lights, choirs, or showy miracles.Read More »

A group of men from the city of Tehran traverse the rural Iranian countryside on a jeep, guided by a set of descriptive, yet unavoidably imprecise directions, seemingly lost. The driver (Behzad Dourani), respectfully called “Engineer” by the villagers, eventually encounters his appointed contact along the side of the road: a gentle, courteous boy named Farzad (Farzed Sohrabi), whom the Engineer proceeds to instruct with disseminating false information about their search for treasure in order to conceal the true and undisclosed nature of their visit to the Kurdish province. On an introductory tour through town, the Engineer shows interest in the declining health of Farzad’s grandmother, Malek, an invalid centenarian whose family has been keeping a vigil at the house as she approaches death.Read More »

From an authentic Viking saga, Outlaw tells the story of a family blood feud, set in 10th century Iceland.

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After decades of phony Hollywood Vikings, you can finally see the real thing if this film ever makes it to video or DVD. It is made in Iceland, with Icelandic dialog, and captures the authentic speech and flavor of the sagas: the understatement, occasional grim humor, and slow nursing of grudges over the long winters until they flower into blood feuds. The film also shows the strong bonds of loyalty and affection that held families and clans together, and the painfully developed methods of negotiating settlements that prevented the medieval Icelanders from wiping each other out completely. Indispensable for those who love the Icelandic sagas.Read More »

Because he can pass as a Russian, A.J. Fothergill is recruited to spy on the revolutionary movement in Russia in 1913. He becomes imprisoned in Siberia, as a revolutionary, until the 1917 uprisings. Amid the turmoil of the civil war between the red and white armies, he tries to flee Russia along with the beautiful Countess Alexandra.Read More »

Leonor, a widow in a small South American town, gives birth to Charlotte, a dwarf. The mother not only provides a rich childhood for her daughter, she erases any clues her daughter might see that would lead her to think she is different (mother burns books such as “Snow White” and destroys lawn statues of gnomes). In short, she doesn’t want to talk about it. The mother succeeds in creating a modern-day Rapunzel: Charlotte becomes an accomplished young woman who captures the heart of Ludovico. But then, the circus comes to town.Read More »

In Asakusa, Tokyo, a couple of a violinist Yamano and a revue dancer Hanae lives in poverty. One day Hanae’s little sister rolls into their apartment and begins to stir things up with her riotousness.Read More »

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Dog Days is an incredible film, though what it has to offer will certainly not be appreciated by every viewer. This is not to be meant as condescending – I simply mean not everyone will enjoy Ulrich Seidl’s aesthetics which have more than a little in common with Von Trier’s Domga 95 movement. Though Seidl doesn’t explicitly articulate his aesthetics the way Von Trier does, it features the same sense of realism. The characters are mostly non-actors wearing their own clothes and without makeup (except where diegetically necessary). The acting is very raw with many scenes calling for displays of intense emotional pain. There is no non-diegetic music. The film is shot entirely with hand-held DV. The film is, however, very aesthetically appealing. There are many beautiful, sun-drenched compositions, even if all the characters are sweating!Read More »