2010s

Save Shakespeare, Chekhov is the literary giant whose work is most frequently adapted for the screen. Based on his eponymous 1891 novella, THE DUEL gives life to a classic Chekhovian tale: the young ne’er-do-well aristocrat vs. the arrogant man of science; the attraction of a manipulative, narcissistic mistress vs. the life of the mind and of principled action. Gambling, alcohol and flirtations consummated in an impossibly beautiful countryside hold obvious attractions for Laevsky. But he’s brought up short when financial ruin and his mistress’s sexual dalliances lead to a violent denouement. Dover Kosashvili, director of LATE MARRIAGE, assembles a brilliant ensemble cast of British actors who strike just the right balance between intrigue and that particularly Russian brand of ennui we associate with Chekhov — but which today might elicit a prescription for Celexa.Read More »

Wanting to quit sex work in Manila and start a new life elsewhere, Sofia, a transgender woman (played by the director himself, Vincent Sandoval), gets her chance when an old friend asks Sofia to look after her 12-year-old son Tomas while she works overseas for a year. Sofia packs her bags and moves to Talisay, a small town, where she reinvents herself as Donna, guardian of young Tomas. As she’s about to settle into this quiet, idyllic life, the past creeps up on Donna– she discovers that town mayor Tiongson who is seeking re-election is a crony of her regular client back in Manila, Verano. Determined to erase any trace of her past from her new life with Tomas, Donna discreetly hatches a plan to remove Tiongson from power and rid the town of Verano’s influence. As election season begins, Donna offers to help the campaign of Tiongon’s opponent, who is unaware of Donna’s true motives. To finance his campaign, Donna decides to return to Manila once a week for sex work – under the guise of joining gay beauty pageants. As the stakes get higher, Donna realizes that there is no easy way out of the double life she is leading.Read More »

The story is about a young single mother who is compelled to make her way at risk of her life to Ckhinvali, where her son is, whom she had sent there on the eve of the conflict. The film can be divided into two parts that alternate one with the other: one shows how in the eyes of a young boy the South Ossetian conflict transforms into a fantastic war story with super-robots, and the second shows the reality of the war situation and the journey of the main heroine.Read More »

Suzanne Daveau sketches a portrait of an adventurous woman who traverses the 20th century right up to the modern day guided by her passion for geographical research.Read More »

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The incomparable Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) gives a mesmerizing, take-no-prisoners performance in Saturday Fiction, a slow-burn spy thriller set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai on the cusp of World War II. She plays acclaimed actress Jean Yu, who has returned to Shanghai from China after a long absence. Jean Yu is in rehearsals for a play to be directed by a former lover (Mark Chao), but she seems to have ulterior motives, functioning as a double agent and gathering intelligence for the Allies, including the fateful realization of Japan’s imminent attack on Pearl Harbor. Shooting in evocative black-and-white, director Lou Ye (Spring Fever) has created here a gripping thriller that builds to a nerve-wracking climax, and which never loses sight of the human beings caught up in the gears of history.Read More »

Ebbo and Vera Velten have been living in Africa for a long time. Ebbo is managing a sleeping sickness program. His work is fulfilling. In contrast, Vera feels increasingly uncomfortable with her life in the expat community of Yaoundé and the separation from her daughter Helen, 14, who is attending boarding school in Germany.
Ebbo has to give up his life in Africa or he loses the women he loves. But he has become a stranger to Europe. His fear of returning increases from day to day.
Years later. Alex Nzila, a young French doctor of Congolese origin, travels to Cameroon to evaluate a development project. He hasn’t been to Africa for a long time. But instead of finding new prospects, he encounters a destructive, lost man: like a phantom, Ebbo slips away from his evaluator. (Synopsis courtesy of the Berlinale)Read More »

“I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians.” These words, spoken in the Council of Ministers of the summer of 1941, started the ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. The film attempts to comment on this statement.Read More »

Filipino director Vincent Sandoval follows his transgender drama Senorita with a story about nuns living in a remote convent during the Marcos yearsRead More »

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Psychological thriller about a couple, an impostor and the revolution. People are revolting and Juan and Mercedes celebrate with a handful of friends ignoring the curfew. As the friends leave, Juan discovers an stranger prowling the house who is disturbing his wife. He decides to confront the Stranger, who claims to know both and to have come complete the Plan. As the night progresses certainties become uncertain and the revolution comes to their house.Read More »