2010s

  • Hyeong-Joon Kim – Yongseoneun Eupda aka No Mercy (2010)

    2001-2010Hyeong-Joon KimSouth KoreaThriller

    Synopsis:
    Hidden in the bushes along the river bank, a woman’s body is found severed into six parts. Homicide forensics expert KANG is called into investigation, eventually arresting environmentalist fanatic LEE as the main suspect. Meanwhile, KANG heads to the airport to pick up his daughter who hasn’t been back in Korea for 10 years. A stranger, supposedly ordered by LEE, gives KANG an envelope filled with pictures of his petrified daughter held captive. KANG goes to meet LEE believing the river bank murder case is involved with his daughter’s kidnapping. In order to save his daughter, LEE tells KANG to release him within 3 days, pushing KANG into an impossible fork in the road.Read More »

  • Reis Çelik – Lal gece AKA Night of Silence (2012)

    2011-2020DramaReis ÇelikTurkey


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    Quote:
    Night of Silence is a striking film that focuses on child brides, a most common problem which should never fall off the radar. The story starts with an opulent village wedding in Anatolia. Folk dances, firing guns? and the audience faces the 55-60 year-old groom who couldn?t get married as he spent years in prison, and a child bride, alone in a room. The mood in the room is not what the groom anticipates. The bride struggles to put the groom off and overcome her fears using her wit? The audience stays up all night until the morning with these two people in the nuptial chamber.
    Read More »

  • Massoud Bakhshi – Yek Khanévadéh-e Mohtaram AKA A Respectable Family (2012)

    Drama2011-2020ArthouseIranMassoud Bakhshi

    Synopsis
    Upon returning home to Iran after more than two decades abroad, visiting professor Arash is quickly thrust into a past he’s spent his whole life trying to escape. With an estranged father on his deathbed and a mother who wants nothing to do with her husband’s shady past, Arash finds himself at the mercy of the rest of the family who have their own ideas about what should happen to his father’s assets. Meanwhile, Arash is also grappling with the legacy of his brother’s mysterious, long-ago death. A stranger in his native country, he struggles to navigate the labyrinthine state bureaucracy, as well as the darker twists and turns of a corrupt and violent netherworld.
    Seattle Film FestivalRead More »

  • Mikael Marcimain – Call Girl (2012)

    2011-2020CrimeMikael MarcimainSweden

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    Call Girl is set in the late 1970s – a time time of women’s liberation, sexual revolution, Swedish neutrality, nuclear power and social security. The film takes us on a trip from the very bottom of society, along dark back streets, through glitz and glamour, to the corridors of power which are a labyrinth of secrets. The story is inspired by a Swedish political scandal known as Bordellhärvan which linked underage prostitution with powerful customers believed to come from the highest levels of society.Read More »

  • Brian De Palma – Passion (2012)

    2011-2020Brian De PalmaDramaGermany

    Christine, an American advertising executive working in Germany, is working with her protégé Isabelle on an ad campaign for a new smartphone. Isabelle, who is secretly having an affair with Christine’s boyfriend Dirk, comes up with a well-received marketing idea. When Christine claims it as her own, Isabelle is disappointed but reconciles with her boss when Christine shares the story of how her twin sister died. At the urging of her loyal assistant Dani, Isabelle uploads a self-made version of her ad to the web, where it goes viral. Angered at the attention Isabelle has received, Christine vows revenge, taunting her with a sex tape which Isabelle had made with Dirk. After an angry Isabelle crashes her car in the company’s parking garage, Christine shares the security footage with the rest of the company, humiliating Isabelle who spirals into a depression and begins abusing pills. Christine tries to get Dani fired and then threatens Isabelle with a letter she typed on Isabelle’s computer vowing revenge.Read More »

  • Jean-Claude Brisseau – La fille de nulle part AKA The Girl from Nowhere (2012)

    2011-2020DramaFantasyFranceJean-Claude Brisseau

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    Quote:
    Lost in a maze of his philosophizing while trying to write a book, a retired math teacher is forced to deal with the real world when he must rescue a young woman from the clutches of a thug outside his Paris apartment. What the teacher doesn’t know is that this woman may be his muse, a mystical agent or an angel of death. Stars director Brisseau and Virginie Legeay. Winner of the Golden Leopard, Locarno film festival 2012.Read More »

  • Sang-soo Hong – Nugu-ui ttal-do anin Haewon AKA Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaSang-soo HongSouth Korea

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    Quote:
    Is she tired of life or love? Why else is Haewon falling asleep in a restaurant? Haewon, a student, feels abandoned. Her mother is about to emigrate to Canada and Haewon has decided to end her affair with one of her professors because he is so unsupportive. Not only do Haewon’s fellow students get wind of the affair, but her married paramour refuses to accept that their relationship is over. Confused, Haewon withdraws into her shell. Other men cross her path which eventually leads her to an old fortress in the mountains above Seoul. There she finds not only rice wine and a familiar melody, but also a bold escape route.

    In his previous films, Hong Sangsoo explored love’s unfathomable paths and the impossibility of relationships from the point of view of his male heroes. Now he changes perspective. However, the emotional world of his protagonists is no less puzzling and fickle – just like Haewon herself, a young woman who likes to dream. And perhaps this film is simply one of these dreams, from which she will awake to find herself in the strangest of places. For who can say how unreal our waking life is, or how real our dreams?
    Read More »

  • Michael House – Revealing Mr. Maugham (2012)

    2011-2020DocumentaryMichael HouseUnited Kingdom

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    Documentary film on the life and work of author W. Somerset Maugham. His life and work discussed by writers such as Armistead Maupin and Alexander McCall-Smith and experts such as Selina Hastings.

    Quote:
    For the first time the full story is told of one of literature’s most misunderstood and influential Gay writers – W. Somerset Maugham, author of Of Human Bondage, The Razor’s Edge, The Painted Veil, Rain & numerous other classic stories, plays and novels. Somerset Maugham broke all the rules of literature yet became the most successful writer of his age and the world’s first ‘millionaire author’. Today his books continue to be read by millions and Somerset Maugham is admired by countless best-selling authors. Includes interviews with Armistead Maupin, Alexander McCall Smith, Pico Iyer, Alan Furst, Selina Hastings, Ronald Harwood, Nicky Haslam, Camilla Chandon (Somerset Maugham’s Granddaughter), Nicolas Paravicini (Somerset Maugham’s Grandson) and many moreRead More »

  • Velcrow Ripper – Occupy Love (2012)

    2011-2020CanadaDocumentaryDramaVelcrow Ripper

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    OCCUPY LOVE captures the heart of the movement of movements that is sweeping the planet in response to today’s economic and environmental crises. ‘Philosopher-filmmaker’ Velcrow Ripper travels to history-making hot spots, asking the question, ‘How can crisis create a love story?’ Scenes include the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square, Spain’s Indignado movement, Occupy Wall Street NYC, The Maple Spring in Quebec, and indigenous activists at the Alberta Tar Sands. The film explores the aspects of this arising that take the form of what Martin Luther King Jr. called ‘Love in action.’ Woven throughout is a deep exploration on the meaning and importance of ‘public love’ – the love of humanity, the love of the planet.Read More »

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