Sunday, July 31, 2011

Random Musings of the Month - July 2011

Random Notes of the Month 
July saw this blog's 300th post

Is it just me or did July seem to fly by?  It was a busy month but I still managed to watch quite a few films and keep up with my daily posts.  Speaking of which, I quietly passed my 300th post this month, and also noticed that Google kindly updated my toolbar Page Rank from zero to a PR3.  I know its mostly a meaningless indicator but it's still encouraging to see.

I also spent a bit of time tinkering with the blog design again, as you may have noticed a few new aesthetic tweaks to my template, and one not so obvious one as well.  I added a script that pops up the poster and screenshot images in a large floating box on top of the blog when they are clicked, instead of having them open up in a separate page.  The script also has a cool feature that lets you scroll through the screenshots with your mouse wheel.  Try it out in one of my recent posts and let me know what you think.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Beauty and the Beast / La belle et la bête (1946)
Beauty and the Beast / La belle et la bête (1946)

Genre: Fantasy Romance
Director: Jean Cocteau
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Marcel André
Duration: 93 min.
Rating: 8.4  

Summary:
When a merchant is told that he must die for picking a rose from the Beast's garden, his courageous daughter offers to go back to the Beast in her father's place. The Beast falls in love with her and proposes marriage on a nightly basis; she refuses, having pledged her troth to a handsome prince. Eventually, however, she is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Sinbad (1971)

Sinbad / Szindbád (1971)
Sinbad / Szindbád (1971)


Genre: Drama
Director: Zoltán Huszárik
Starring: Zoltán Latinovits, Éva Ruttkai, Eva Leelossy, Margit Dajka, Anna Nagy
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 7.7  

Summary:
The life and memories of traveler and womanizer Szindbád, who tries to recover his lost love before he dies.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Children (2011)

Children / A-i-deul (2011)
Children / A-i-deul / 아이들 (2011)

Genre: Crime Drama
Director: Lee Kyoo-man
Starring: Park Yong-woo, Ryoo Seung-yong, Song Dong-il
Duration: 132 min.
Rating: 6.6  

Summary:
On March 26, 1991, five boys went to Mount Waryong to catch frogs but never returned.  Eleven years later, police discover the bodies of the five children, and television producer Kang Ji-Seung tries to solve the mystery.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Touching the Void (2003)

Touching the Void (2003)
Touching the Void (2003)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Kevin MacDonald
Starring: Brendan Mackay, Nicholas Aaron, Ollie Ryall
Duration: 106 min.
Rating: 9.1  

Summary:
The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Nobody Knows (2004)

Nobody Knows / Dare mo shiranai (2004)
Nobody Knows / Dare mo shiranai / 誰も知らない (2004)

Genre: Drama
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Yuya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura, Momoko Shimizu, Hanae Kan, You
Duration: 141 min.
Rating: 8.7  

Summary:
In Tokyo, single mother Keiko moves to a small apartment with her twelve year old son Akira and his siblings Kyoko, Shigeru and Yuki. The children have different fathers and do not have schooling, but they have a happy life with their mother.  When Keiko finds a new boyfriend, she leaves the children alone, with a note and some money for Akira to take care of his siblings.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Love (1971)

Love / Szerelem (1971)
Love / Szerelem (1971)


Genre: Drama
Director: Károly Makk
Starring: Lili Darvas, Mari Törõcsik
Duration: 84 min.
Rating: 8.5

Summary:
A woman's husband has been arrested by the Hungarian secret police and imprisoned as a dissident. The young wife comforts her mother-in-law by concocting a series of letters from her husband, wherein he does incredible and wonderful things. The two of them share the older lady's memories of a gentler time.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)

A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)
A Little Trip to Heaven (2005)

Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, Peter Coyote
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 6.3  

Summary:
After a suspicious fatal car accident in Hastings where the identity of the victim was forged, the Quality Life insurance company sends their smart investigator Abe Holt to identify the body. The unique beneficiary of the one million dollars death benefit is the sister of the victim, Isold, who lives with her son Thor and her husband Fred in a poor cabin in the middle of nowhere. Along the investigation, Abe discloses the truth about the fraud, but feels sorry for Isold and Thor and tries to help them with tragic consequences.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Wildest Dream (2010)

The Wildest Dream (2010)
The Wildest Dream (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Anthony Geffen
Starring: Conrad Anker, Leo Houlding, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 6.4  

Summary:
Accompany present-day adventurer Conrad Anker as he recreates the 1924 ascent of George Mallory to the top of Mount Everest to solve a 75-year old mystery.  The story of the last days of adventurer and Mount Everest climber George Mallory.  The man who may or may not have been the first to scale the worlds most challenging peak.  After disappearing 800 feet from the summit in 1924, Mallorys body was never found until present-day climber Conrad Anker discovered it, frozen and intact, 75 years later.

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Red and The White (1968)

The Red and The White / Csillagosok, katonák (1968)
The Red and The White / Csillagosok, katonák (1968)


Genre: Drama
Director: Miklós Jancsó
Starring: József Madaras, Tibor Molnár, András Kozák, András Kozák, Anatoli Yabbarov
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 8.6  

Summary:
After the Revolution, during the civil war, the Soviet Red forces defended the new regime from foreign intervention and foreign-backed White counter-revolutionary forces at times on 21 fronts.  This is the story of the opposing forces on one of these fronts, where Hungarian volunteers had joined the defense.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Marwencol (2010)

Marwencol (2010)
Marwencol (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Jeff Malmberg
Starring: Mark Hogancamp
Duration: 83 min.
Rating: 8.0

Summary:
After a vicious assault leaves Mark Hogancamp brain damaged and unable to afford therapy, he builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard.  Mark populates the town he dubs "Marwencol" with dolls representing his friends and family and creates life-like photographs detailing the town's many relationships and dramas. Playing in the town and photographing the action helps Mark to recover his hand-eye coordination and deal with the psychological wounds of the attack.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Silence and Cry (1967)

Silence and Cry / Csend és kiáltás (1967)
Silence and Cry / Csend és kiáltás (1967)


Genre: Drama
Director: Miklós Jancsó
Starring: Mari Töröcsik, József Madaras, Zoltán Latinovits, Andrea Drahota, András Kozák
Duration: 73 min.
Rating: 7.4

Summary:
In 1919, after just a few months of communist rule, the Hungarian Republic of Councils falls victim to a nationalist counter-revolution. Admiral Horthy, leader of the nationalist far right movement, becomes the self-proclaimed regent of Hungary, and assumes power as the legal Head of State. Soldiers of the short-lived Hungarian Red Army are now on the run from relentless secret policemen and patrol units of the nationalist Royal Gendarme.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Submarine (2010)

Submarine (2010)
Submarine (2010)

Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Richard Ayoade
Starring: Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins
Duration: 97 min.
Rating: 6.6

Summary:
Meet Oliver Tate, a precocious 15-year-old whose worldview is exceedingly clever and largely delusional (he imagines the outpouring of grief that would spread through Wales if he died). Oliver carries a briefcase, doesn't agree with everything Nietzsche said but concedes that he had some interesting points, peruses the dictionary for new words (flagitious, adj, wickedly shameful), and suspects his mother of having an affair with their New Age neighbor. But foremost on Oliver's mind is finding a girlfriend. Enter Jordana Bevan.

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Round-Up (1966)

The Round-Up / Szegénylegények (1966) (1966)
The Round-Up / Szegénylegények (1966)


Genre: Drama
Director: Miklós Jancsó
Starring: János Görbe, Zoltán Latinovits, Tibor Molnár, Gábor Agárdi, András Kozák
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 8.4

Summary:
In Hungary, the national movement led by Kossuth has been crushed and the Austrian hegemony re-established, but partisans carry on with violent actions. In order to root out the guerillas, the army rounds up suspects and jails them in an isolated fort. The authorities do not have the identity of the guerilla leaders, who are supposed to be present among the prisoners. However, they know enough about some of the suspects to apply perfidious forms of coercion effectively.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Father (1966)

Father / Apa (1966) 
Father / Apa (1966)


Genre: Drama
Director: István Szabó
Starring: András Bálint, Miklós Gábor, Kati Sólyom, Klári Tolnay
Duration: 89 min.
Rating: 7.2

Summary:
After his father is killed in World War II, a young Hungarian boy named Tako concocts a fantasy image of the parent he never really knew.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Third Man (1949)

The Third Man (1949)
The Third Man (1949)

Genre: Film-Noir
Director: Carol Reed
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard
Duration: 104 min.
Rating: 9.0

Summary:
An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with his Czech girlfriend.

Friday, July 15, 2011

The Yellow Sea (2010)

The Yellow Sea / Hwanghae (2010)
The Yellow Sea / Hwanghae / 황해 (2010)

Genre: Action Thriller
Director: Na Hong-Jin
Starring: Kim Yun-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Seong-Ha, Lee Chul-Min
Duration: 140 min.
Rating: 7.0

Summary:
Gu-nam is a cab driver in Yanji City who leads a pitiful life. His wife went to Korea to earn some money 6 months ago, but he hasn’t heard from her since. He plays mah-jong to make some extra cash, but his life only becomes more complicated and pathetic.  One day he meets a gangster named Myun-ga who offers him a proposal to turn his life around by repaying his debt, and reuniting with his wife.  All for the price of one hit...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Beginners (2010)

Beginners (2010)
Beginners (2010)

Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Višnjić, Mary Page Keller
Duration: 105 min.
Rating: 7.3

Summary:
Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna only months after his father Hal has passed away.  This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who following 44 years of marriage came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life.  The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be.  Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Trust (2010)

Trust (2010)
Trust (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: David Schwimmer
Starring: Clive Owen, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, Noah Emmerich, Liana Liberato
Duration: 104 min.
Rating: 5.8

Summary:
A suburban family is torn apart when fourteen-year-old Annie meets her first boyfriend online. After months of communicating via online chat and phone, Annie discovers her friend is not who he originally claimed to be. Shocked into disbelief, her parents are shattered by their daughter's actions and struggle to support her as she comes to terms with what has happened to her once innocent life.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Merry-Go-Round (1956)

Merry-Go-Round / Körhinta (1956)
Merry-Go-Round / Körhinta (1956)


Genre: Drama
Director: Zoltán Fábri
Starring: Mari Töröcsik, Imre Soós, Ádám Szirtes, Béla Barsi
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 7.9

Summary:
In a rural scenery in the throes of difficult changes lives a humble but promising young farmer girl called Mari Pataki. Her father forbids her from seeing the man she loves. The father, above all preoccupied by work on the fields and prospective wealth, decides to give his daughter in marriage to an old but rich man with whom he does business. “Land marries land”, he says. This seems to be the unyielding rule of the Hungarian peasantry. But the young lover is ready to stand up to any challenge to keep Mari’s love.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Children of Invention (2009)

Children of Invention (2009)
Children of Invention (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Tze Chun
Starring: Cindy Cheung, Michael Chen, Crystal Chiu
Duration: 86 min.
Rating: 6.1

Summary:
Two young children living illegally in a model apartment outside Boston are left to fend for themselves when their hardworking mother disappears.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Professor Hannibal (1956)

Professor Hannibal / Hannibál tanár úr (1956)


Genre: Drama
Director: Zoltán Fábri
Starring: Erno Szabo, Noemi Apor, Emmi Buttykay, Ferenc Bessenyei, Zoltan Greguss
Duration: 88 min.
Rating: 6.3

Summary:
This is the highly symbolic story of an insignificant school teacher who becomes a momentary hero after rescuing a stuffed peacock from a fire.  

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Way (2010)

The Way (2010)
The Way (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Emilio Estevez
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Yorick van Wageningen
Duration: 128 min.
Rating: 8.0

Summary:
An American father travels to France to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the "El Camino de Santiago" an 800 km trek from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Nokas (2010)

Nokas (2010)
Nokas (2010)

Genre: Crime Biography
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg
Starring: Marit Synnøve Berg, Frode Winther Gunnes, Morten Larsen, Tov Sletta, Hege Kristin Kjærvoll Sunde
Duration: 87 min.
Rating: 6.6

Summary:
A reenactment of the largest bank robbery in Norwegian history.  The April 5, 2004 raid on NOKAS the central cash service office in Stavanger. 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Lost Bladesman (2011)

The Lost Bladesman / Guan yun chang (2011)
The Lost Bladesman / Guan yun chang / 關雲長 (2011)

Genre: Historical Drama
Director: Felix Chong, Alan Mak
Starring: Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Betty Sun
Duration: 109 min.
Rating: 6.8

Summary:
The story of legendary Guan Yu crossing five passes and slaying six generals. He played a major role in the civil war that led to the collapse of Han Dynasty & the establishment of Shu Han of the 3 Kingdoms, making Liu Bei its first emperor.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Somewhere in Europe (1948)

Somewhere in Europe / Valahol Európában (1948)
Somewhere in Europe / Valahol Európában (1948)


Genre: Drama
Director: Géza von Radványi
Starring: Artur Somlay, Miklos Gabor, Zsuzsa Banki, Abraham Ronai
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 7.7

Summary:
A band of runaways and orphans of the war scour the countryside in search of food and shelter.  They invade and subsequently get taken in by a musician and former concert conductor who's hiding out in a ruined castle.  After their initial altercation, the gang accepts his guidance and he wins their respect by protecting them from the elements.  However, disgruntled townsfolk want to chase away the gang who has been, in their struggle for survival, laying waste to their crops.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Cold Fish (2010)

Cold Fish / Tsumetai nettaigyo (2010)
Cold Fish / Tsumetai nettaigyo / 冷たい熱帯魚 (2010)

Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Megumi Kagurazaka, Hikari Kajiwara, Asuka Kurosawa, Denden
Duration: 144 min.
Rating: 8.0

Summary:
Shamoto runs a small tropical fish shop. Murata also runs a tropical fish shop, Shamoto establishes a bond of friendship with him rather quickly. His daughter Mitsuko even begins working for Murata and living at his house. What Shamoto is unaware of is that Murata's friendly face disguises his many deep dark secrets. By the time Shamoto realizes that Murata is not what he seems, he finds himself powerless to do anything about it.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Men on the Mountain (1942)

Men on the Mountain / Emberek a havason (1942)


Genre: Drama
Director: István Szöts
Starring: Peterke Ferency, Alice Szellay, Janos Gorbe, Nandor Bihary
Duration: 88 min.
Rating: 7.3

Summary:
A Hungarian woodcutter moves his family to a remote home in the Transylvanian mountains, believing they will live a more prosperous life.  Soon thereafter, the family is beset with multiple hardships and tragedies, leading the man to tortured regret over his decision.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Let the Bullets Fly (2010)

Let the Bullets Fly (2010)
Let the Bullets Fly / 讓子彈飛 (2010)

Genre: Comedy / Western
Director: Jiang Wen
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Jiang Wen, Ge You, Carina Lau
Duration: 132 min.
Rating: 6.8

Summary:
Set in China during the warring 1920s, notorious bandit chief Zhang descends upon a remote provincial town posing as its new mayor, an identity that he had hijacked from Old Tang, himself a small-time imposter. Hell-bent on making a fast buck, Zhang soon meets his match in the tyrannical local gentry Huang as a deadly battle of wit and brutality ensues.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Hyppolit, The Butler (1931)

Hyppolit, The Butler / Hyppolit a lakáj (1931)
Hyppolit, The Butler / Hyppolit a lakáj (1931)


Genre: Comedy
Director: István Sekely
Starring: Gyula Kabos, Gyula Kabos, Mici Haraszti, Eva Fenyvessy, Gyula Gozon
Duration: 72 min.
Rating: 7.1

Summary:
Mátyás Schneider, owner of a shipping firm, leads a calm, civil life.  When his snobbish wife hires a new butler, Schneider's life is turned upside down.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Spotlight on Hungarian Cinema


Those of you who are regular readers of my blog will probably be aware of my infatuation with Romanian cinema.  Part of that stems from the fact that they have received a lot of awards, critical acclaim, and festival exposure recently.  But I think the real reason I have this fascination comes from my lack of exposure to Eastern European culture while growing up.  Because at that time they were still behind the Iron Curtain, and well our textbooks and teachers barely glossed over that region.  To this day when I think of the word foreign, it conjures up images in my mind of the countries of the former Eastern Bloc.