Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Carancho (2010)


Carancho (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Pablo Trapero
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Martina Gusman
Duration: 107 min.
Rating: 7.0/10

Summary:
In Argentina over 8,000 people die in traffic accidents every year.  Behind each of these tragedies is a flourishing industry founded on insurance payouts and legal loopholes.  Sosa is an ambulance chasing lawyer who hangs out in hospitals and funeral parlors in search of potential clients.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Honey (2010)


Honey / Bal (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Starring: Bora Altas, Erdal Besikcioglu, Tulin Ozen
Duration: 103 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
The quiet life of a boy and his family is endangered when his father does not return home from his work collecting honey in the forest.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Enter The Void (2009)


Enter The Void (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Gaspar Noé
Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy
Duration: 161 min.
Rating: 7.8/10

Summary:
Oscar and his sister Linda, are recent arrivals in Tokyo. Oscar sells drugs for a living, and Linda works as a nightclub stripper. One night, Oscar goes to a bar to make a deal. But the cops are waiting, and in the panic that ensues he is accidentally shot. 

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Hermano (2010)


Hermano (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Marcel Rasquin
Starring: Eliu Armas, Fernando Moreno
Duration: 97 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
Daniel's an exceptional footballer, a striker. Julio's the team's captain, a born leader. They were raised as brothers and play football in their slum, La Ceniza. Daniel dreams to play professional football while Julio feeds the family with dirty money; he has no time to dream. The opportunity of their lives arrives when a football scout invites them to tryout with the city's best team: Caracas Football Club. But tragedy strikes them. They must choose, on a dirty football pitch, what is more important: family, revenge or the dream of their lives. On this pitch, life is on the line 
 

Friday, November 26, 2010

Hadewijch (2009)


Hadewijch (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Bruno Dumont
Starring: Julie Sokolowski, Yassine Salime, Karl Sarafidis
Duration: 120 min.
Rating: 7.9/10

Summary:
Shocked by the blind ecstatic faith of Hadewijch, a young aspiring nun.  The mother superior expels her from the convent.  Hadewijch once again becomes Céline, the privileged daughter of a French government minister.  Her passionate love of God, her rage, and her encounter with Yassine and Nassir, leads her down a dangerous path...

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Dogtooth (2009)


Dogtooth / Kynodontas (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 7.4/10

Summary:
A married couple and their three adult children, a son and two daughters, live on the outskirts of a city in a large compound with a garden and a swimming pool.  There is a tall fence that surrounds the property and the children have never been on the other side of it.  For their entire lives, they have been cut off from the outside world. 

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009)


My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Michael Shannon, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier
Duration: 91 min.
Rating: 6.4/10

Summary:
Inspired by a true crime, a man begins to experience mystifying events that lead him to slay his mother with a sword.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Monga (2010)


Monga / Báng-kah (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director:Doze Niu
Starring: Ching-Tien Juan, Mark Chao, Ju-Lung Ma
Duration: 140 min.
Rating: 7.1/10

Summary:
Monga refers to the present day Wanhua district, the oldest district in Taipei.  The film depicts the struggles between the brotherhood of gangs in the district during the 1980s.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Carlos (2010)

Carlos (2010)

Genre: Drama, Biography
Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Edgar Ramirez, Alexander Scheer, Alejandro Arroyo
Duration: 330 min.
Rating: 7.8/10

Summary:
Carlos tells the story of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez who, for two decades, was one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.  Between 1974 and 1994, he lived several lives under various pseudonyms, weaving his way through the complexities of international politics of the period. 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

The 83rd Academy Awards (2011) - Foreign Language Film Submission List


Last month, the official selections were announced for the Foreign Language Film category at the 83rd Academy Awards.

On January 25, 2011, this list will be whittled down to five finalists when the official nominees are announced.

This year there were sixty-five films submitted including two countries making their first ever entries - Ethiopia and Greenland.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (2010)

If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle / Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Florin Serban
Starring: George Pistereanu, Ada Condeescu, Mihai Constantin, Clara Voda
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 8.2/10

Summary:
Silviu has just two weeks remaining before his release from a juvenile penitentiary. His mother, who abandoned him long ago, returns to take his younger brother with her - a brother Silviu raised like a son. Faced with the stress of losing his brother to her, and increasingly hostile treatment from fellow inmates, Silviu's frustration evolves into full-throttled aggression, that just might not be contained.

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Happiest Girl in the World (2009)

The Happiest Girl in the World / Cea mai fericita fata din lume (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Radu Jude
Starring: Andreea Bosneag, Doru Catanescu, Alexandru Georgescu, Diana Gheorghian
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 7.3/10

Summary:
Delia, drives to Bucharest with her parents to collect a prize she won in a contest organized by a soft-drink company.  The prize is a brand new car.  All she has to do is appear in a TV commercial.  In the big city, in the middle of a heat wave, and just starting to have her period; Delia has to deal with her overbearing parents, the strictly business film director, meddling clients, and endless takes of ridiculous lines while pretending to the The Happiest Girl in the World.


IMDB
Amazon

The Happiest Girl in the World from Radu Jude captures the dynamics of a teenage girl struggling with parents and the big bright world.  A convincing performance from Andreea Bosneag as Delia, and impressive direction by Radu Jude throughout some very long takes.  Although some may find it repetitive in certain places.









Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tales from the Golden Age (2009)

Tales from the Golden Age / Amintiri din epoca de aur (2009)


Genre: Comedy
Director: Hanno Höfer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru
Starring: Diana Cavallioti, Radu Iacoban, Vlad Ivanov, Tania Popa
Duration: 147 min.
Rating: 7.9/10

Summary:
An anthology of six short films, retelling urban legends from the late communist era in Romania.  A period that the communist propaganda at the time referred to as the Golden Age.

IMDB
Amazon

Tales from the Golden Age is a group effort assembled by Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days).  While much of the detail will be missed by those of us who did not live behind the Iron Curtain, they paint a picture of what that life may have been like.  Subjects and stories that may be funny today but were serious and common situations during that time.   












  

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Police, Adjective (2009)

Police, Adjective / Politist, adjectiv (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Starring: Dragos Bucur, Vlad Ivanov, Irina Saulescu, Ion Stoica
Duration: 115 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
Cristi is a detective who finds himself in a moral dilemma over his latest investigation.  For weeks, he has been trailing Victor, a high school student who often smokes marijuana with his friends.  His superiors want an arrest, but Cristi is reluctant to ruin a kid's life for a petty law that may be changing soon anyways.

IMDB
Amazon

The most recent Romanian film to be honored at Cannes, Corneliu Porumboiu's (12:08 East of Bucharest) crime drama "Police, Adjective" was awarded the Un Certain Regard - Jury Prize in 2009. Dragos Bucur (Boogie), once again delivers a solid and memorable performance as a young policeman morally conflicted with the rigid legal system.  The film features the trademark minimalistic direction and cinematography of the Romanian New Wave, portraying a gritty and realistic atmosphere that immerses the viewer.      









Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Megatron (2008)

Megatron (2008)

Genre: Short
Director: Marian Crisan
Starring: Maxim Adrian Strinu, Gabriela Crisu
Duration: 14 min.

Summary:
Today is Maxim's 8th birthday.  His parents are divorced and he lives with his mother in a village far from the city.  For his birthday, his mother agrees to take him to the big city for a McDonald's happy meal.

IMDB

Megatron by Marian Crisan, was the winner of the 2008 Palme d'Or for best short film.  An endearing short about a young boy, and the lengths he will go to get his father to come to his birthday.