Friday, December 31, 2010

Crab Trap (2009)


Crab Trap / El vuelco del cangrejo (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Oscar Ruiz Navia
Starring: Arnobio Salazar Rivas, Rodrigo Velez
Duration: 95 min.
Rating: 6.9/10

Summary:
At La Barra, an isolated and humid village on the pacific Coast of Colombia, Cerebro, leader of the native Afro Colombian Community, is at odds with the White Man, a landowner who wants to build a resort on the beach. Meanwhile, Daniel a strange man with city looks and manners, arrives looking for a boat to flee the country.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Echoes of the Rainbow (2010)


Echoes of the Rainbow / Sui yuet san tau / 歲月神偷 (2010)


Genre: Drama
Director: Alex Law
Starring: Simon Yam, Sandra Ng
Duration: 117 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
The story follows a working class family in 1960s Hong Kong.  The father, a cobbler who makes new shoes everyday yet always wears a pair of worn out shoes, the optimistic and protective mother, the elder son - smart, athletic and promising, and the younger son who is curious, can recite his alphabet backwards, and has the ability to make his parents laugh.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The 68th Golden Globe Awards (2011) - Best Foreign Language Film

 Back on December 14th, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees for this year's Golden Globe Awards that will be held on Sunday, January 16, 2011 starting at 8 PM EST at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.     

The five official nominees for the 2011 Best Foreign Language Film award are:

In A Better World / Hævnen - Denmark (Winner)
Director: Susanne Bier
Zentropa Entertainment; Sony Pictures Classics

Biutiful - Mexico, Spain
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Menageatroz, Focus Features International; Roadside Attractions

The Concert - France
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
An Oï Oï Oï Productions, Les Productions Du Tresor, France 3 Cinema, Europacorp, Castel Films, Panache Productions, RTBF (Belgian Television), BIM Distrubuzione Co., Canal +, Cinecinema and France 3; The Weinstein Company

The Edge / Kpaй - Russia
Director: Aleksei Uchitel
Channel One Russia; Samuel Goldwyn (Russia)

I Am Love / Io Sono l’Amore - Italy
Director: Luca Guadagnino
First Sun; Magnolia Pictures 

The rest of the nominees for the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards can be found here.


Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Red Desert (1964)


Red Desert / Il deserto rosso (1964)

Genre: Drama
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris
Duration: 120 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
Giuliana, an unhappy wife, suffers from an unnamed form of depression and malaise. Her quicksilver emotional shifts disturb everyone around her, but they, like she, pretend that nothing is truly wrong. British engineer Corrado Zeller seems to understand what Giuliana is really after in life, and he acts upon it by entering into an affair with the troubled woman. Giuliana eventually comes to terms with her physical and mental pain, but this hardly means that she's "cured" in the conventional sense. 

Sunday, December 26, 2010

La Yuma (2009)


La Yuma (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Florence Jaugey
Starring: Alma Blanco, Gabriel Benavides, Rigoberto Mavorga
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 6.5/10

Summary:
This is the story of Yuma a strong-willed and rebellious girl from the poor neighborhoods of Managua who dreams of being a boxer.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

A Christmas Tale (2008)


A Christmas Tale / Un Conte de Noel (2008)

Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny
Duration: 150 min.
Rating: 7.1/10

Summary:
The Vuillard family is no stranger to physical/mental illness, loss, and banishment. But when the matriarch becomes in need of a transplant, the whole family is forced to come together, emotional baggage and all, just in time for Christmas.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Undertow (2009)


Undertow / Contracorriente (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Javier Fuentes-Leon
Starring: Tatiana Astengo, Manolo Cardona, Cristian Mercado
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside; a married fisherman about to become a father struggles to reconcile his devotion to his lover within his town's rigid traditions.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)


Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives / Loong Boonmee raleuk chat (2010)

Genre: Fantasy / Comedy / Drama
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Sakda Kaewbuadee, Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas
Duration:  114 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
Suffering from acute kidney failure, Uncle Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave, the birthplace of his first life...

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Around a Small Mountain (2009)


Around a Small Mountain / 36 vues du Pic Saint Loup (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Andre Marcon
Duration:  84 min.
Rating: 6.5/10

Summary:
On a winding mountain road, Vittorio gallantly helps Kate with her stalled car, and without a single word exchanged, speeds off.  Later in town, he learns that Kate has returned to join her family's traveling circus after leaving under mysterious conditions many years ago.  Intrigued by her story, Vittorio stays for the show, and the next one, and little by little, is ingratiated into the circus and the lives of its performers - all the while trying to discover the secret that led to Kate's sudden departure.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

White Material (2009)


White Material (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert, Isaach De Bankolé
Duration: 106 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
The regular army is preparing to reestablish order in the country.  To clean up.  To eliminate the rebel officer also known as The Boxer and rid the countryside of roving child soldiers.  All the expatriates have gone home, getting out before things turn nasty.  Of the Vials - coffee planters who have lived here for two generations - Maria stands firm. She’s not about to give in to rumors or abandon her harvest at the first sound of gunfire.
 

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Man Next Door (2009)


The Man Next Door / El hombre de al lado (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat
Starring: Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Araoz, Eugenia Alonso
Duration: 110 min.
Rating: 7.3/10

Summary:
A small incident between two neighbours' over a common wall.  One neighbour wants to have a window so he can enjoy a little sunlight, the other wants to maintain his family's privacy.  This battle of wills sparks a conflict which threatens to disrupt everyday life for everyone. 

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The American (2010)


The American (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Anton Corbijn
Starring: George Clooney, Irina Bjoklund, Violante Placido
Duration: 105 min.
Rating: 7.8/10

Summary:
Alone among assassins, Jack is a master craftsman.  When a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, he vows to his contact Pavel that his next assignment will be his last.  Jack reports to the Italian countryside, where he holes up in a small town and relishes being away from death for a spell.  The assignment, as specified by a Belgian woman, Mathilde, is in the offing as a weapon is constructed.  Surprising himself, Jack seeks out the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto and pursues romance with local woman Clara.  But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate. 

Saturday, December 18, 2010

I Am Love (2009)


I Am Love / Io sono l'amore (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini
Duration: 120 min.
Rating: 7.1/10

Summary:
Over two decades ago, Emma left Russia to follow Tancredi Recchi, the man who had proposed to her.  Now a member of a powerful industrial Milanese family, she is the respected mother of three.  But Emma, although not unhappy, feels confusedly unfulfilled. One day Antonio, a talented chef and her son's friend and partner, makes her senses kindle.  It does not take long before she embarks on a passionate affair with the sensuous young man.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Electroma (2006)


Electroma (2006)

Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi
Director: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo
Starring: Peter Hurteau, Michael Reich
Duration: 74 min.
Rating: 6.7/10

Summary:
An odyssey of two robots who journey across a mythic American landscape of haunting, surreal beauty on a quest to become human. Their symbolic quest, which takes them from endless two lane highways to small idyllic towns to the arid desert, finds them once again resisting conformity and developing new ways to highlight their inventive vision. 

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Concert (2009)


The Concert / Le Concert (2009)

Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Starring: Aleksey Guskov, Dmitri Nazarov, Melanie Laurent
Duration: 119 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
Thirty years ago, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov, the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, was fired for hiring Jewish musicians.  Now a mere cleaning man at the Bolshoi, he learns by accident that the Châtelet Theater in Paris invites the Bolshoi orchestra to play there.  He decides to gather together his former musicians and to perform in Paris in the place of the current Bolshoi orchestra.  As a solo violin player to accompany his old Jewish or Gypsy musicians he wants Anne-Marie Jacquet, a young virtuoso.  If they all overcome the hardships ahead this very special concert will be a triumph

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Bibliothèque Pascal (2010)


Bibliothèque Pascal (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Szabolcs Hajdu
Starring: Orsolya Török-Illyés, Andi Vasluianu, Shamgar Amram, Razvan Vasilescu
Duration: 111 min.
Rating: 7.3/10

Summary:
A mother's struggle to support her child leads her into a surreal netherworld of sex and danger.  Mona Paparu is a single mother who has been left to raise her daughter Viorica on her own, only to have her fitness as a parent called into question by her aunt Rodica. Forced to answer Rodica's charges in a meeting with Child Protective Service authorities, Mona tells the long, convoluted tale of how she fell in with Viorel, a charming but sinister underworld figure, in order to provide for her daughter.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Ghost Writer (2010)


The Ghost Writer (2010)

Genre: Drama / Mystery
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Catrall, Olivia Williams
Duration:  128 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
An unremarkable ghost-writer has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture UK's "special relationship" with the USA.

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Holy Mountain (1973)


The Holy Mountain (1973)

Genre: Cult / Fantasy
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Horacio Salinas, Zamira Saunders
Duration: 114 min.
Rating: 7.8/10

Summary:
A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a mystical guide who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful individuals, each representing a planet in the solar system. These seven, along with the protagonist, the guide and the guide's assistant, divest themselves of their worldly goods and form a group of nine who will seek out the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Lake (2008)


A Lake / Un Lac (2008)

Genre: Drama
Director: Philippe Grandrieux
Starring: Dmitry Kubasov, Natalie Rehorova, Alexei Solonchev
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 6.6/10

Summary:
The story takes place in a country which we know nothing about: a country of snow and dense forests somewhere in the North.  A family lives in an isolated house near a lake. Alexei, the brother, is a young man with pure heart. A woodcutter. An ecstatic, prey to epileptic fits, he is open to the nature that surrounds him.
 

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Angel (2009)


Angel / Engelen (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Margreth Olin
Starring: Maria Bonnevie, Lena Endre, Benjamin Helstad
Duration: 97 min.
Rating: 7.0/10

Summary:
When Lea’s father dies, her troubled and vulnerable mother goes back to her former lover Ole, a heavy drinking brutal man who casts a dark shadow over their life. Lea turns to drugs, and when she has a baby she desperately wants to protect her child, even if it means making an impossible decision.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)


Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Banksy
Starring: Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta, Rhys Ifans
Duration: 87 min.
Rating: 8.2/10

Summary:
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results.  Billed as 'the world's first street art disaster movie' the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work. 

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Of Gods and Men (2010)


Of Gods and Men / Des hommes et des dieux (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Xavier Beauvois
Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach
Duration: 122 min.
Rating: 7.7/10

Summary:
In the 1990s, eight Trappist monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers at a monastery set high in the mountains of North Africa.  When a team of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamist group, the region is seized by terror.  The army offers protection to the monks, but they refuse.  Despite the growing threats around them, the monks decide that they must stay, whatever the cost...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Weekend with my Mother (2009)


Weekend with my Mother / Weekend cu mama (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Stere Gulea
Starring: Medeea Marinescu, Adela Popescu, Tudor Istodor, Ion Sapdaru
Duration: 87 min.
Rating: 7.0/10

Summary:
15 years ago, Luiza decided to make a fresh start in Spain. She left her 3-year-old daughter Cristina in the care of her relatives and took off. When she returns to Romania, the woman learns some shocking truths that were kept hidden from her: Cristina ran away from home, is a drug addict and has a 2-year-old girl who lives in an orphanage. Overwhelmed by guilt, Luiza attempts to save her daughter and thus redeem the mistakes of her youth. To do that, she's got a tight time frame: one weekend...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Peepli [Live] (2010)


Peepli [Live] (2010)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Anusha Rizvi
Starring: Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa
Duration: 110 min.
Rating: 7.9/10

Summary:
On the eve of national elections in the Indian village of Peepli, two poor farmers, Natha and Budhia, face losing their land over an unpaid government loan.  Desperate, they seek help from an apathetic local politician, who suggests they commit suicide to benefit from a government program that aids the families of indebted deceased farmers.  When a journalist overhears Budhia urge Natha to "do what needs to be done" for the sake of their families, a media frenzy ignites around whether or not Natha will commit suicide.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Aftershock (2010)


Aftershock / Tangshan dadizhen (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Xiaogang Feng
Starring: Jingchu Zhang, Daoming Chen, Yi Lu, Chen Li
Duration: 135 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
In 1976, a devastating earthquake occurred in Tangshan, China.  It is believed that over 240,000 people perished in the disaster.  Aftershock is the story of a family separated by the Great Tangshan Earthquake.
   

Sunday, December 5, 2010

2011 Sundance Film Festival - World Cinema Dramatic Competition

This past Wednesday, the Sundance institute announced the films that will be competing at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

13 films were chosen from 1,073 entrants for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and will be screened at the festival that runs January 20-30 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.

Some of these sound really interesting, especially All Your Dead Ones and Mad Bastards.  Unfortunately I won't be attending the festival.  Maybe next year I'll make the trip.

Here is the list of international dramatic films in competition:


Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Edge (2010)


Kray / The Edge (2010)

Genre: Adventure / Drama
Director:Aleksei Uchitel
Starring: Vladimir Mashkov, Yulia Peresild, Anjorka Strechel
Duration: 124 min.

Summary:
After the end of WWII, a decorated war hero Ignat, is posted to a remote labor camp in Siberia as a train engineer.  Shortly after his arrival, he sets out to find a ghost engine on a nearby island.       


Friday, December 3, 2010

The First Beautiful Thing (2010)


The First Beautiful Thing / La Prima Cosa Bella (2010)

Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Paolo Virzi
Starring: Valerio Mastrandrea, Micaela Ramazzotti, Claudia Pandolfi, Stefania Sandrelli
Duration: 122 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
In 1971, at a popular beach establishment near the Tuscan port of Livorno, yummy-mummy Anna is roped into a beauty contest which she easily wins.  Her jealous husband, Mario, is enraged by the attention from assorted wolf-whistlers, while 8-year-old son Bruno, is horrified by the spectacle of it all.  His younger sister, Valeria, is the only one enjoying the scene.  Jump to the present, when Bruno gets an urgent visit from Valeria telling him their mother is dying.  Bruno tries to wriggle out of going back to Livorno but finally agrees, the trip triggering bittersweet memories.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Winter's Bone (2010)


Winter's Bone

Genre: Drama
Director: Debra Granik
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 7.5/10

Summary:
When Ree Dolly's father skips bail, the 17-year-old knows if he doesn't show up to answer the drug charges against him, her family will lose their home.  Her goal had been to leave her messy life of poverty and join the army, but first she must find her father, teach her young siblings to fend for themselves, and escape a downward spiral of misery.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

When We Leave (2010)


When We Leave / Die Fremde (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Feo Aladag
Starring: Sibel Kekilli, Nizam Schiller
Duration: 119 min.
Rating: 7.7/10

Summary:
German-born Umay flees her oppressive marriage in Istanbul, taking her young son Cem with her.  She hopes to find a better life with her family in Berlin, but her unexpected arrival creates intense conflict.  Her family is trapped in their conventions, torn between their love for her and the traditional values of their community.