Thursday, March 31, 2011

Noroît (1976)

Noroît (1976)
Noroît (1976)

Genre: Adventure
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Bernadette Lafont, Geraldine Chaplin, Babette Lamy
Duration: 145 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
After her brother is killed by a notorious all-female pirate gang, Morag dedicates her life to bringing the murderers to justice. Soon, she has become an important member of the pirate gang and has begun acquiring the loyalty of key members. Eventually, she makes her move and challenges the leader, a demi-god , known as The Daughter of the Sun.


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)

Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)
Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)

Genre: Fantasy
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Juliet Berto, Bulle Ogier, Jean Babilee, Nicole Garcia
Duration: 121 min.
Rating: 7.7/10

Summary:
The strange battle among a pair of beings from the sphere of the sun or moon, who take the form of women and fight over a young man in bars, hotels, and mystical power-spots.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Incendies (2010)

Incendies (2010)
Incendies (2010)


Genre: Drama
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette
Duration: 130 min.
Rating: 8.3/10

Summary:
A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Lebanon in search of their tangled roots.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Protégé (2007)

Protégé / Moon to (2007)
Protégé / Moon to / 門徒 (2007)

Genre: Thriller
Director: Derek Yee
Starring: Andy Lau, Daniel Wu, Louis Koo, Anita Yuen, Zhang Jingchu
Duration: 111 min.
Rating: 7.0/10

Summary:
Special agent Nick is deep undercover in the heart of Asia's lucrative crime trade as he plays protégé to one of the key players in the game..

Sunday, March 27, 2011

35 Shots of Rum (2008)

35 Shots of Rum / 35 rhums (2008)
35 Shots of Rum / 35 rhums (2008)

Genre: Drama
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Gregoire Colin, Mati Diop, Alex Descas, Nicole Dogue
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
The story of a father and daughter living in a working class Parisian neighborhood. The daughter, Josephine, a university student; is on the verge of leaving the family nest and making her own way in the world. She feels obliged to stay and take care of her father, Lionel, filling the role her mother used to have. Lionel feels responsible for needing her so much, yet helpless to let her go.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Coco Mademoiselle (2011)


Coco Mademoiselle (2011)

Genre: Short / Advertisement
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Kiera Knightley
Duration: 3 min.

Summary:
COCO MADEMOISELLE is here again, beautiful, independant and mischievous.

Friday, March 25, 2011

A Soldier's Prayer (1961)

A Soldier's Prayer / Ningen no jôken (1961)
A Soldier's Prayer / Ningen no jôken / 人間の條件 (1961)

Genre: Drama
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
Duration: 190 min.
Rating: 8.7/10

Summary:
After the Japanese defeat to the Russians in the last episode, Kaji, the Japanese soldier and humanist protagonist, leads the last remaining men through Manchuria.  Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life, Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines.  Ultimately, he finds himself in the exact opposite position he held in the first episode: then a labor manager, Kaji is now a prisoner of war, forced to work for the Russians, whom do not seem to hold to the Communist ideals in which Kaji himself had put his faith.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Road to Eternity (1959)

The Road to Eternity / Ningen no jôken (1959)
The Road to Eternity / Ningen no jôken / 人間の條件 (1959)

Genre: Drama
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai
Duration: 181 min.
Rating: 8.3/10

Summary:
Conscientious objector Kaji, now forced to serve in the Japanese army, helps a friend defect to the Russians and nearly goes with him.  But despite his opposition to war, Kaji does his best to serve as help and guide to the men in his charge, most of whom are doomed to fall to the relentless attack of Russian armored divisions.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

No Greater Love (1959)

No Greater Love / Ningen no jôken (1959)
No Greater Love / Ningen no jôken / 人間の條件 (1959)

Genre: Drama
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
Duration: 208 min.
Rating: 8.1/10

Summary:
During the Second World War, a Japanese conscientious objector named Kaji works as a supervisor in a Manchurian prison camp.  He hopes to avoid duty as a soldier, but he also hopes to be helpful to the welfare of his prisoners.  An escape attempt by Chinese prisoners results in Kaji's arrest for collusion.  He faces the possibility of transferal to combat, or worse...

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cashback (2006)

Cashback (2006)
Cashback (2006)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Sean Ellis
Starring: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans, Michelle Ryan
Duration: 102 min.
Rating: 6.3/10

Summary:
After a painful breakup, Ben develops insomnia. To kill time, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket, where his artistic imagination runs wild.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The Life of Jesus (1997)

The Life of Jesus / La vie de Jésus (1997)

Genre: Drama
Director: Bruno Dumont
Starring: David Douche, Marjorie Cottreel, Kader Chaatouf>
Duration: 96 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
Freddy and his friends are all unemployed. They pass the time by cruising around on their motorcycles and by directing their aggressive feelings towards Arabic immigrants.  Freddy is in love with Marie, a cashier at a local supermarket.  When she is proposed by Kader, a young Arab man, Freddy and his friends punish Kader for what they call "a provocation."

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Red Shoes (1948)


The Red Shoes (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)

Genre: Drama
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Starring: Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring
Duration: 133 min.
Rating: 8.6/10

Summary:
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

WebSiteStory (2010)


WebSiteStory (2010)
WebSiteStory (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Dan Chisu
Starring: Crina Semciuc, Diana Gursca, Oreste Scarlat Teodorescu
Duration: 82 min.
Rating: 4.5/10

Summary:
In a world where any teenager can film with their own mobile phone and post all kinds of things on the Internet, Laura, an 18-year-old girl, spends a night in a club with her friend Mira.  She gets drunk and smokes her first joint.  In the morning she does not remember anything and discovers that her friend Mira has died.  She wants to find out the truth and so she finds all of Mira's posts on YouTube.  The adventure of her life starts here.

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Wave (2008)


The Wave / Die Welle (2008)

Genre: Drama
Director: Dennis Gansel
Starring: Jurgen Vogel, Max Riemelt, Jennifer Ulrich, Jacob Matschenz, Frederick Lau
Duration: 107 min.
Rating: 7.3/10

Summary:
A high school teacher's unusual experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Mother of Tears (2007)


Mother of Tears / La terza madre (2007)
Mother of Tears / La terza madre (2007)

Genre: Horror
Director: Dario Argento
Starring: Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Moran Atias, Udo Kier, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni
Duration: 102 min.
Rating: 6.0/10

Summary:
An ancient urn chained to a coffin is unearthed by chance along the road bordering the Viterbo's cemetery.  The urn contains an age-old tunic and some objects belonging to Mater Lacrimarum, the Third Mother.  The only survivor of the Three Mothers; three powerful witches who had been shedding blood and terror for aeons - Mater Lacrimarum (the Mother of Tears) has been hiding in Rome for centuries and her awakening triggers a chain of mysterious and terrible events: the Evil is back to cast its dark shadow over the city.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Inferno (1980)

Inferno (1980)
Inferno (1980)

Genre: Horror • Giallo
Director: Dario Argento
Starring: Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonara Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, Alida Valli, Ania Pieroni
Language: Italian
Duration: 107 min.
Rating: 8.7  

Summary:
Young poetess Rose Elliot buys a book from a local antique dealer, a diary in Latin of an architect, E. Varelli.  She learns of the Three Mothers, and believes her apartment building is one of their houses.  Fearful, she pleads to her brother Mark who is studying musicology in Rome, to come to her aid.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Our Day Will Come (2010)


Our Day Will Come / Notre jour viendra (2010)
Our Day Will Come / Notre jour viendra (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Romain Gavras
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Olivier Barthelemy
Duration: 83 min.
Rating: 6.4/10

Summary:
Patrick and Remy have no people, no country, no army, they are Gingers.  Together the two outcasts fight the world and its morality, in a hallucinatory quest to Ireland and freedom...

Monday, March 14, 2011

Love and Honor (2006)


Love and Honor / Bushi no ichibun (2006)
Love and Honor / Bushi no ichibun / 武士の一分 (2006)

Genre: Drama
Director: Yoji Yamada
Starring: Kiura Takuya, Dan Rei, Takashi Sasano
Duration: 118 min.
Rating: 7.9/10

Summary:
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai (Kimura) and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Hidden Blade (2004)

The Hidden Blade / Kakushi ken oni no tsume / 隠し剣 鬼の爪 (2004)

Genre: Drama
Director: Yôji Yamada
Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu, Yukiyoshi Ozawa
Duration: 132 min.
Rating: 8.2/10

Summary:
Katagiri, an honest and low ranking samurai is trapped in a state of personal and professional imbalance. Secretly in love with his family's maid, Kie, Munezo begins an uneasy courtship with her, knowing that a relationship is impossible.
 

Raised to respect traditions from the past and the demanding moral code of the samurai, circumstances have now forced Munezo to look to the future. Required to master western military strategies, particularly the art of artillery, Munezo is ordered to find and kill Yaichiro, a former friend, samurai, and brilliant swordsman.

Munezo knows that he cannot beat Yaichiro with fire power alone, so he enlists the help of his old teacher, Kansai Toda, a master swordsman who entrusts Munezo with the secret and power of The Hidden Blade.  

 

Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Twilight Samurai (2002)


The Twilight Samurai / Tasogare Seibei (2002)
The Twilight Samurai / Tasogare Seibei / たそがれ清兵衛 (2002)

Genre: Drama
Director: Yôji Yamada
Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa
Duration: 129 min.
Rating: 8.7/10

Summary:
Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters (whom he adores) and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honour of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedences.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Swimming Pool (2003)


Swimming Pool (2003)
Swimming Pool (2003)

Genre: Thriller
Director: François Ozon
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier
Duration: 102 min.
Rating: 7.6/10

Summary:
British mystery author Sarah Morton, visits her publisher's upscale summer home in the South of France, where her interaction with his unusual daughter Julie, sets off some touchy dynamics.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Import/Export (2007)


Import/Export (2007)

Genre: Drama
Director: Ulrich Seidl
Starring: Ekateryna Rak, Paul Hofmann, Michael Thomas, Natalja Baranova
Duration: 135 min.
Rating: 6.4/10

Summary:
A nurse from the Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A Crime (2006)


A Crime (2006)

Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Manuel Pradal
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Emmanuelle Béart, Norman Reedus
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 6.4/10

Summary:
Vincent's life is on hold until he finds his wife's killer. Alice, his neighbor, is convinced she can make him happy.  She decides to invent a culprit, so that Vincent can find revenge and leave the past behind.  But there is no ideal culprit and no perfect crime... 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Inside Job (2010)


Inside Job (2010)
Inside Job (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Charles Ferguson
Narrator: Matt Damon
Duration: 120 min.
Rating: 7.2/10

Summary:
'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Au Pair Girls (1972)


Au Pair Girls (1972)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Val Guest
Starring: Astrid Frank, Johnny Briggs, Gabrielle Drake, Me Me Lai, Nancie Wait
Duration: 86 min.
Rating: 5.4/10

Summary:
Four sexy young foreign girls come to England as au pairs and quickly become quite intimate with their employers, host families, and just about everyone else they encounter.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

La Belle Noiseuse (1991)


La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
La Belle Noiseuse (1991)

Genre: Drama
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart
Duration: 237 min.
Rating: 9.3  

Summary:
The former famous painter Frenhofer lives quietly with his wife on his countryside residence in the French Provence.  When the young artist Nicolas visits him with his girlfriend Marianne, Frenhofer decides to resume working on a painting he long ago stopped: 'La Belle Noiseuse', with Marianne as a model.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

In a Better World (2010)


In a Better World / Hævnen (2010)
In a Better World / Hævnen (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Susanne Bier
Starring: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, William Jøhnk Nielsen, Markus Rygaard
Duration: 119 min.
Rating: 7.4/10

Summary:
The story traces elements from a drab refugee camp in Sudan to the gray humdrum of everyday life in a Danish provincial town. The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait. Soon, friendship transforms into a dangerous alliance and a breathtaking pursuit in which life is at stake.

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Vanishing (1988)


The Vanishing / Spoorloos (1988)

Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: George Sluizer
Starring: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege
Duration: 107 min.
Rating: 7.7/10

Summary:
Rex and Saskia are on holiday, a young couple in love. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia disappears. Rex dedicates the next three years trying to find her. Then he receives some postcards from her abductor, who promises to reveal what has happened to Saskia. The abductor, Raymond Lemorne, is a chilling character to whom Rex is drawn by his intense desire to learn the truth behind his lovers disappearance.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Hereafter (2010)


Hereafter (2010)
Hereafter (2010)

Genre: Drama/ Fantasy
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Frankie McLaren, George McLaren
Duration: 129 min.
Rating: 8.0/10

Summary:
A drama centered on three people who are haunted by mortality in different ways. George  is a blue-collar American who has a special connection to the afterlife. On the other side of the world, Marie, a French journalist, has a near-death experience that shakes her reality. And when Marcus, a London schoolboy, loses the person closest to him, he desperately needs answers. Each on a path in search of the truth, their lives will intersect, forever changed by what they believe might-or must-exist in the hereafter.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Still Walking (2008)


Still Walking​ / Aruitemo aruitemo / 歩いても 歩いても (2008)
 
Genre: Drama
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Yui Natsukawa, You
Duration: 114 min.
Rating: 8.1/10

Summary:
Still Walking is a family drama about grown children visiting their elderly parents, which unfolds over one summer day. The aging parents have lived in the family home for decades. Their son and daughter return for a rare family reunion, bringing their own families with them. They have gathered to commemorate the tragic death of the eldest son, who drowned in an accident fifteen years ago. Although the roomy house is as comforting and unchanging as the mother's homemade feast, everyone in the family has subtly changed.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Cracks (2009)


Cracks (2009)

Genre: Drama
Director: Jordan Scott
Starring: Eva Green, Juno Temple, Maria Valverde
Duration: 104 min.
Rating: 6.3/10

Summary:
Within the confines of a strict, all-girls English boarding school, a clique of students participate on the diving team not only to pass the time, but to be close to their swimming instructor, the enigmatic, yet charismatic, Miss G.