Fantasia 2011

Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival is in a class of its own. It is one of the best genre film festivals in the world and as such entertains, thrills, chills and jolts its audience with fascinating films from all corners of the globe. The festival has gone from strength to strength in its 15 years of existence under the magnificent direction of Mitch Davis. Fantasia runs for a staggering 3.5 weeks (24 days) and is a film festival truly for the fans. When it comes to film festivals, one hardly talks about the atmosphere generated by film fans but in the case of Fantasia, for years I had heard about the rocking atmosphere that took place in the Concordia Hall theater when 700 fans brought the cinema down. Attending Fantasia was on my wish list for a long time so this year, in the 15th anniversary of the Festival, I decided to finally take the plunge.

8 in 3 days

I attended 8 films during my first trip to the Vancouver Film Festival in 2006, the same number as I did at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The common number was just a coincidence but in both cases this total allowed me to enjoy a decent selection of films, spend time with family/friends, get some rest while taking in some of the best the cities had to offer. So this time around, I decided to go with the number 8 again, but the overall breakdown ended up being different. In Vancouver, I had a 3-4-1 tally with 3 films on a Friday, 4 on a Saturday and a single film on sunday while in Toronto I registered 4-3-0-1 with 4 films on a Thursday and a single one again on the sunday. For Montreal, the number ended being 2-5-1, starting with 2 on a friday. I could have packed in more films at Fantasia but I also wanted to spend some time visiting the city’s numerous brewpubs and third-wave cafes.

So the lucky 8 films in order of viewing:

Blackthorn (2011, Spain/USA/Bolivia/France, Mateo Gil)
Beyond the Black Rainbow (2011, Canada, Panos Cosmatos)
Gantz (2010, Japan, Shinsuke Sato)
Gantz: Perfect Answer (2011, Japan, Shinsuke Sato)
Article 12 (2010, UK/Argentina, Juan Manuel Biaiñ)
Dharma Guns (2010, France/Portugal, F.J. Ossang)
Morituris (2011, Italy, Raffaele Picchio)
Redline (2009, Japan, Takeshi Koike)

I had planned my trip long before the final film schedule was released so it turned out many of the films from my wish list were not playing during my visit but I still had plenty of hope from my picks. On paper, Blackthorn appeared enticing. It marked the English language directional debut of Mateo Gil, a writer I held in high regard because of his excellent writing for Thesis, Open Your Eyes, The Sea Inside and The Method. The cast of Sam Shepard, Eduardo Noriega, Stephen Rea and Magaly Solier (she stole the show in both Claudia Llosa features Madeinusa and The Milk of Sorrow) was equally tantalizing. Plus, the fictional account of Butch Cassidy’s apparent survival and secret life in South America (Bolivia) had all the making of a cult film. Unfortunately, the film is a disappointment. Even though Blackthorn contains many memorable sequences, good acting and some picturesque shoot-outs, the good individual parts never add up to a complete whole. The film does contain some memorable lines especially regarding how three different characters curse Bolivia because they were ultimately defeated there. Interestingly, Che Guevera was also defeated in Bolivia, so there is certainly a cinematic possibility in exploring the political games played out in Bolivia.

Beyond the Black Rainbow had plenty of buzz around it and Todd Brown’s excellent write-up was certainly inviting:

Born of the pre-teen fantasies of writer-director Panos Cosmatos as he browsed the selection of early 1980s Canadian science fiction and horror VHS tapes that he would never be allowed to rent, BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW is a psychedelic head trip of the highest order. Cosmatos captures the aesthetics of an era effortlessly while fusing those influences into something bold and visionary and entirely his own. The accomplished music video director — he’s done work for the Handsome Furs, among others — plunges the audience into a sort of sensory overload as he fuses elements of Reagan-era paranoia, social engineering run amok and a drug-fuelled step up the evolutionary ladder to create a hypnotic experience that plays out like a Tarkovsky-style science fiction picture as filtered through the visual style of LOGAN’S RUN. Michael Rogers delivers a mesmerizing performance as Barry Nyle, his cold and clinical exterior concealing a layer of obsession and... something else. But as gripping as Rogers is, it’s the world that Cosmatos creates that is the real star, the visuals providing a truly immersive experience matched by the original score, composed by Black Mountain’s Jeremy Schmidt entirely on vintage analog synthesizers. Just let it all wash over you.

Panos Cosmatos has indeed done an excellent job in recreating the 1980’s feel and I felt I was watching a horror/thriller from that era on a VHS tape. On top of that, the film’s bright neon tinged palette leads viewers on a tipsy hallucinatory psychedelic ride. Unfortunately, when the stylistic layers are peeled off, there is very little depth in the film. There are plenty of references to conspiracy theories/experiments but those references appear to be elements inserted in the film to allow audience to draw their own interpretations and add more meaning to the film than there really is. For majority of the film, the style dominates but once the bright lights are turned out, the film comfortably settles into B-grade mode.

Gantz came in second place for the Audience Awards at the New York Asian Film Festival and was one of the films I was most looking forward to. So were about 699 other people. Only in Fantasia can 700 people be packed in a theater at 11:25 am on Saturday morning and be in amazing spirits. Each frame of the film was cheered on until the opening credits and after that, the film’s key scenes elicited huge roars of approval. Gantz has an incredible opening sequence, perfectly outlined by Rupert Bottenberg in the Fantasia film guide:

Two young men wait among the crowd on a subway platform, a flicker of recognition passing between them. Before they can speak, a man falls, helpless, on the tracks. One youth jumps down to save him. The other reaches down to help, and falls himself. The train is coming, fast, and they don’t have time to climb back up out of its way. The train slams into them — and they find themselves, from one split second to the next, in a clean yet unfurnished apartment overlooking Tokyo. In the room with them are several other men — a gangster, a slacker, a pair of nervous salarymen — who seem just as confused and disoriented as they are. Also in the room is a sphere. A large, smooth, hard black sphere, which quickly reveals itself to have strange and amazing powers. Text scrolls across the sphere, explaining that the old lives of all in the room are now over. Their new lives belong to the sphere. That’s when the weapons come out, and the players’ first target for extermination revealed.

The mysterious black orb is naturally Gantz and it controls all the players lives and wants them to fight aliens that are living among humans on Earth. It scores the players based on their performances in exterminating the aliens. If a player reaches 100 points then they can either use the points to return to their lives or use the points to resurrect another player but be stuck in the game themselves. The first Gantz film spends time developing the characters and lays the foundation for how the players learn to use their new found powers. The second film Gantz: Perfect Answer promises to answer everything but instead it creates more subplots and weaves an even bigger web of mystery around Gantz. The film introduces a palm sized black orb which is instructing a former Gantz player to kill other people to introduce them in the game. On one hand, Gantz is getting people killed and introduced in the game while on the other hand, players are on the verge of returning to their former lives. Eventually, the mystery around the two black orbs are tied and the film offers many answers but still many things are left untied, presumably for a future sequel or even a prequel. Put together the two films are very entertaining but each film contains many disposable sequences that simply draw out the plot longer than needed. The first film is a better overall work than the second film which spends a generous amount of time on players vs alien fight sequences. Still, Gantz is worth watching and will certainly create a huge fan base.

Article 12 explores how modern technology is reducing people’s right to privacy without people’s awareness. The film features prominent speakers, including Noam Chomsky, and echoes George Orwell in exploring the eroding private/public boundaries in modern Western society. However, the 75 minute film basically contains 10-15 minutes of interesting ideas and spends the rest of the time repeating the same messages over and over. As a result, the film easily wears
out its welcome and ends up being quite tiresome.

F.J Ossang’s Dharma Guns is a film with great potential and incredible style. The first image in the film is in color but the rest of the film is in black and white and features a possible end of the world scenario where a mysterious drug is turning people into zombies. The key to save the world lies in an unfinished script that Stan Van Der Decken cannot complete because of his memory loss. On top of that, he cannot get a hold of his mysterious agent and is hounded by an underground group called Dharma Guns. No zombie is ever shown on screen and that gives the film an air of mystery and doubt. Plus, there are many engaging ideas presented in Dharma Guns but unfortunately, the end result is a lackluster film that cannot thread all the elements together.

One of the things I was most looking forward to in Fantasia was seeing a midnight feature in the Hall theater. The opportunity to witness a packed audience elevate the thrills of a horror feature was one I did not want to miss. So I was surprized when the midnight feature Morituris was not even half full. The feature prior to Morituris was jam-packed and had an after-party around midnight so maybe that drew some people away. Or people were more interested in the International Fireworks competition taking place in Montreal that night. Whatever the reasons, it turned out the audience was smart enough in staying away. However, the lack of crowd did not deter director Raffaele Picchio who was in great spirits because this screening marked the international premier of his film. He told the audience that they would witness a "nasty" film and he was right. Although before the nastiness started, Morituris starts off in a flashback mode with found camera footage showing a family’s picnic going horribly wrong when the family is killed by a mysterious evil force from within the forest. The film then cuts to the present when a speeding car packed with five people, three men and two women, is en route to the same forest for a rave party. The conversations flow naturally among the five in the film’s best segment. However, once the five enter the forest, things go wrong as expected. In keeping with the horror film template, the nasty things happen to the women first. The suffering of the men is not far away but when the evil finds the men, it is in the form of men in body paint and gladiator attire, looking more comical than scary. There are some torture segments in the finale but the film ends up being an awful viewing, mostly due to uninspired direction in the final third. As an aside, one would think that in this day and age needless abuse of female characters in horror films would stop but directors keep thinking of new ways to inflict pain to female characters, all for the sake of shock.

Redline, the eight film, was pure fun. Once again, it was incredible to see a packed hall at 11 am on sunday morning, this time cheering on a Japanese anime. The story of the film features incredible car-racing sequences in a futuristic Japan where races take place on various planets between aliens and humans alike. The cars of Speed Racer have nothing on Redline which feature nitro-powered cars flying at unimaginable speeds. The high speeds led to the racers eyes on the verge of popping out and eventually result in complete breakdown of the cars. One incredible sequence in the film features a disintegration of a car but the human drivers fly across the track to still finish the race.

Ratings & Overall comments

A rough ratings of the films out of 10:

Blackthorn: 5.5
Beyond the Black Rainbow: 6.5
Gantz: 8
Gantz: Perfect Answer: 7
Article 12: 5
Dharma Guns: 6
Morituris: 2
Redline: 8

Unfortunately, my picks may not have resulted in too many stellar films but overall, Fantasia was the best film festival experience of my life. As diverse as the films were, they still demonstrated purposeful programming and each film fit perfectly within the festival’s desire to hunt the world for genre films which push the envelope and are not afraid to take risks. Plus, the framework around the festival ensures a great experience. The two main theaters, Hall (capacity 700) and J.A. De Seve Theater (capacity 173), are not only across the road from each other but are connected by an underground tunnel. The tunnel also leads to the Metro, the most efficient metro system in Canada, which ensures one can get to most spots around Montreal in minutes. Also, there is an excellent selection of restaurants, cafes and brewpubs around the two theaters which means a person is always well nourished in between the films.

The timing of the film festival in summer also means that one can enjoy the great weather of Montreal which makes for relaxing walks in-between destinations even late at night (say 2 am after a midnight feature) when downtown is still bursting with life. Given that that film festival lasts 24 days means a minimum of a one week trip is required to properly assess the films and soak in the best that Montreal has to offer.

Note: some of the brewpubs and cafes I sampled during Fantasia are listed in a separate post.

Copa America 2011

Copa American 2011 Book & Film Spotlight results

On Sunday, July 24 2011 Uruguay won their 15th Copa America title with a 3-0 win over Paraguay. Also on sunday, I finally finished reading the last remaining book from my Copa America 2011 Book & Film Festival. All the individual country posts are up so now it is time to reveal the winning entries. But a quick listing of all the titles that were read and seen:

Country: Book, Film, [Bonus Film]

Argentina: Hopscotch, Crane World, Lion's Den
Bolivia: Aurora, Cocalero
Brazil: Zero, Black God White Devil
Chile: The Secret Holy War of Santiago De Chile, Tony Manero
Colombia: The Armies, Crab Trap, The Wind Journeys
Costa Rica: Cocori, Cold Water of the Sea
Ecuador: The Ecuador Reader, Cronicas, Ratas, ratones, rateros
Japan: Kafka on the Shore, Tokyo Sonata
Mexico: The Underdogs, Duck Season
Paraguay: I, The Supreme, Noche Adentro, I Hear Your Scream
Peru: Conversations in the Cathedral, Milk of Sorrow, Madeinusa
Uruguay: Body Snatcher, A Useful Life
Venezuela: Chronicles of a Nomad, El Don, Araya

Top three books

3) Chile: The Secret Holy War of Santiago De Chile by Marco Antonio de la Parra

Tito Livio has no idea how bad his day is going to get. He finds out that his father was a double agent for both God and the Devil, La Maga and Devil’s agents are after him and the fate of the World rests on his shoulders. A fun book that moves at a rapid pace and manages to pack in plenty of intelligent ideas, fascinating characters and even a political layer.

2) Peru: Conversations in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa

Past and Present beautifully flow together throughout the book, which jumps decades in a span of a few sentences. A few beers opens up a can of memories which still hurt and haunt the two main characters.

1) Brazil: Zero by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão

Incredibly creative and brilliantly paced account of life under a brutal military regime. The short segment chapters work like jump-cut scenes in a film by keeping the rhythm and tension moving along.

Top three films

3) Argentina: Crane World (1999, Pablo Trapero)

A touching portrayal of a man trying very hard to make ends meet. The grainy black and white along with the use of non-professional actors adds to the realism.

2) Uruguay: A Useful Life (2010, Federico Veiroj)

A beautiful tribute to cinephilia. A pure delight.

1) Chile: Tony Manero (2008, Pablo Larraín)

An incredible portrayal of a man’s transformation into a serial killer under the nose of a brutal dictatorial regime. Raúl Peralta (played wonderfully by Alfredo Castro) is certainly one of the most memorable characters to have been portrayed on screen in the last decade.

Books vs Films

Only Chile managed to overlap in both the top three book and film entries. Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay all managed single mentions.

Books vs Films vs Soccer

The top three teams in the Copa America soccer tournament were:

1) Uruguay
2) Paraguay
3) Peru

So stacking this with the top 3 books and film entries produces three countries with two mentions each:

Chile: 1st place film, 3rd place book
Uruguay: 1st place Soccer, 2nd place film
Peru: 2nd place book, 3rd place soccer

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay round off with a single nod each. The most incredible thing is that both Brazil and Argentina failed to make the top 3 in Copa America, something that was unimaginable a month ago when both were expected to make the final of the tournament.

Final comments

This was a much more time consuming and draining spotlight than I had originally expected. A dozen entries would have made a film only spotlight quite easy, like the Copa America 2007 spotlight. So I added books to add a bit more challenge but I did not select books based on length or style. In the end, a handful of books required a good deal of investment because of the complex and imaginative writing style. Overall, reading all the books was a great experience and it proved that even the most difficult cinema does not come close to providing as many hurdles as a complex book.

Around the world in 24 films

Just a brief mention of some worthy newer films from around the world. Some of these films will surely end up in my year end best list.

Note: films arranged as per country.

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El Camino du punto (2010, Argentina, Sebastián Díaz Morales)

The title's translation, The Way Between Two Points, perfectly sums the film which is about a character's journey from point A to point B. There are only a few minutes of dialog at the start and these dialogues are the weakest aspect of the film as the words needlessly try to give the story a higher worldly purpose. After the words are delivered, the film settles into a beautiful journey where we get both an overhead shot of the landscape that is to be covered and the ground level footage of the journey. The singular focus of the journey at all costs reminds a bit about The Limits of Control and Birdsong but El Camino du punto is free from any dramatic or religious baggage of those two other films.

Kill the Referee (2009, Belgium, Y.Hinant/E.Cardot/L.Delphine)

This Belgium soccer documentary does not have any narration or title cards to guide the audience but instead dives right into the action. Like the Zidane film, this documentary gives a completely different perspective to what one experiences when watching a soccer game. One gets to see the game from an on-field angle, but instead of a player's point of view, we see the game from a referee's angle.

This film is essential viewing for anyone who has ever seen a soccer game. And since the film is artistically shot and edited, it offers non-soccer fans plenty to chew on as well. The games shown in the film are from Euro 2008 and if a person is familiar with some of the players, then that enhances the experience. This film does an excellent job in showing us the human side of the refs and also some of the egos that operate in the game.

A Simple Rhythm (2010, Canada, Tess Girard)

A poetic and mesmerizing look at simple day to day rhythms that shape our lives. The film artfully layers images with sounds to create a calming and fascinating experiencing. In between the images are thoughtful interviews on a variety of subjects, ranging from music to mathematics.

Viva Riva! (2010, Congo co-production, Djo Munga)

In the TIFF write-up, Cameron Bailey noted:

Finally! An African feature film that merges the pleasures of Nollywood with sleek camerawork, satisfying genre thrills and a rare look inside the very heart of the continent. Viva Riva! is unprecedented: a story set in contemporary Democratic Republic of the Congo full of intrigue, music and a surprisingly frank approach to sex.

That is a perfect description as Viva Riva! molds elements of oil trafficking, corruption, violence and sex into an enjoyable film. In the fashion of Nollywood films, the villain is sinister and over the top while the hero, Riva, is a charming intelligent man who can have any woman he wants. Ofcourse, Riva falls for the one woman who will lead him into trouble but Nora is too seductive to resist. The camera ensures that Nora's beauty and Kinshasa's buzzing street life are captured nicely.

Valhalla Rising (2010, Denmark/UK, Nicolas Winding Refn)

The film starts off in an ancient time when men settled their disputes face to face in a bloody hand to hand combat. However, as the warrior crew enters a new land, the change in warfare tactics ensures that man will have to learn to adapt in order to survive. In the new land, arrows fired from unseen enemies lead to death meaning one could die at the hands of someone they do not even see.

A savage bloody film that is also one of the year's best.

Scheherazade Tell me a Story (2009, Egypt, Yousry Nasrallah)

The film uses a soap opera/talk show format to probe at deeper issues not only within Egyptian society but the rest of the Middle East especially regarding the treatment of women in households and at workplaces. It helps that the film is well acted and packed with more gorgeous women than one would find even in a Pedro Almodovar movie. Overall, a pleasurable film.

Steam of Life (2010, Finland, Joonas Berghäll/Mika Hotakainen)

A beautifully shot contemplative film that places the viewer in an awkward
position of a voyeur observing Finnish men pour their heart out while sitting in a variety of saunas. The film remarkably shows that any enclosed space can be transformed into a sauna, even a phone booth, and the calming effect of the steam is essential to allow men to tackle life's daily burdens.

Win/Win (2010, Holland, Jaap van Heusden)

This Dutch film about a stock exchange manages to find a calm balanced middle ground in between Ben Younger's Boiler Room and Aronofsky's Pi. In fact, the main character in Win/Win Ivan looks like a more laid back version of Max from Pi. Win/Win artfully shows that it is possible to find zen like moments even in a high octane stock market setting.

Gallants (2009, Hong Kong, Clement Sze-Kit Cheng/Chi-kin Kwok)

A homage to the 1970’s Shaw Brothers films, complete with amazing fight sequences, memorable characters and over the top hilarious situations. Even if one is not familiar with older kung-fu movies, this film stands on its own. Knowing about the Shaw Brothers films will just enhance the experience. There are some moments when the action stalls but the film has many high energy moments. The homage would have been perfect if the film title was something which captured the story’s spirit such as “Gates of Law” or if the title used a variation of the words “Dragon”, “Tiger” or “kick”.

Ocean of an Old Man (2008, India, Rajesh Shera)

Simple. Beautiful. Meditative. Haunting. Tragic.

The old man in the title is played by Tom Alter, easily recognizable to Bollywood fans because he always played an evil villain in Indian films, and was almost always an evil British general in period films. In Rajesh Shera's film, Alter's character plays a school teacher who is devastated by the loss of his wife and daughter in 2004's tsunami. Unfortunately, he can never forget his loss as he has to cross the same ocean everyday to teach his students. To make matters worse, he has to listen to the ocean waves crashing onto the shore and rocks every night while in the day, his students paintings and stories revolve only around the ocean.

There isn’t much dialogue in the film but that does not matter because the beautiful images and fascinating sounds convey the tragedy and gravity of the situation. Also, the sound track is smartly turned off when the sounds of the ocean fill the screen. The minimalist style might frustrate some viewers but patient viewers will be rewarded with an absolute gem of a film.

Peepli Live (2010, India, Anusha Rizvi)

A smart satire that uses the real life story about farmer suicides to poke fun at the mercenary Indian satellite tv channels preoccupied with ratings. However, Peepli Live does feel like two films in one. The film starts off in the village but then lets the media circus take things over. At times, the two stories (farmer suicide, tv ratings circus) compete with each other and eventually the farmer story is brushed aside. Also, there are some moments where the film un-necessarily goes over the top (such as the mention of Saif Ali Khan's grade 8 kiss) when a more subtle approach would have sufficed.

Overall, it does feel like a lost opportunity to make a truly great film. That being said, the ending is perfect when the camera shows us images without any words.

Gorbaciòf (2010, Italy, Stefano Incerti)

The sound of Gorbaciòf's proud walk on the streets and the sound of money stay long in the memory after the film ends. Many films show bundles of money but not many films actually let the sound of crisp notes being counted filter through to the audience. Gorbaciòf counts money everyday both in his day job and at night with his bribe money. The dangerous combination of taking bribes and gambling is never a safe bet for a trouble free life but Gorbaciòf's problems multiply when he falls for a Chinese woman who does not speak any Italian. Gorbaciòf wants to be the woman's knight in shining armour and in order to ensure a better life for her, he needs more money. That need leads him down a slippery yet predictable slope. The love angle is the film's weakest aspect and if it were not for the love story, Incerti's film would be one of the year's best films.

On another note: the male leads in The American, Gorbaciòf and The Robber are all related with their dangerous ways of life. It is not surprizing that the ending of all three films finds these three very different men (an American, Austrian and an Italian) in the exact same situation looking through the glass towards a better future.

The Tiger Factory (2010, Malaysia/Japan, Woo Ming Jin)

The film follows a young girl, Ping, in her attempt to gather money to illegally leave Malaysia for Japan. Ping's life is controlled by her aunt who witholds her passport and pays for men to get Ping pregnant so that the aunt can sell the baby. The story sounds bleak but thanks to the cinematography and lighting, the film does not feel gloomy and instead makes for a fascinating viewing. The style evokes the Dardennes, albeit with a bit of lightness.

Woman on Fire Looks for Water (2009, Malaysia/South Korea, Woo Ming Jin)

This is one of the most visually beautiful films of the year!! The film is about two love tales on opposite ends of the age spectrum. One story shows how a young boy is forced to take his family's fortune into account before deciding upon marriage while the other story shows if love is not truly acknowledged, then even at old age, it continues to torment and bite. In between these two stories, there are many remakarable shots which show the fishing business and every day life, plus there is plenty of humor shown in a subtle manner.

Kinatay (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

The first 20-30 min of Kinatay perfectly capture the sights and sounds of the street life. After that, the camera moves inside a van and this is where the negative publicity regarding the film starts. Although it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about because there is nothing graphic or gory that is shown but instead we mostly listen to sounds of the horrible butchering and only see a tiny glimpse of the murder weapon. The briefly lit scenes allows viewers to fill in the horror themselves using the audio cues. Maybe in a theater, these audio cues are magnified thereby causing a claustorphobic effect.

Still, the film is powerful in how it goes about showing what it does and it is hard to be not shook up by the ending. I can see why Mendoza was awarded the best director for this film in Cannes 2009.

Lola (2009, Philippines, Brillante Mendoza)

Lola is a touching film regarding two grandmothers and how they go about dealing with their lives while finding themselves as opponents in a criminal case. One woman is seeking justice for her grandson’s murder, while the other is trying to save her grandson from going to jail for murdering the other woman’s grandson. The film switches perspective from one grandmother to the other and this method highlights many relevant points such as the true price of justice for people who are trying to make ends meet.

Manilla Skies (2009, Philippines/USA, Raymond Red)

The start gives a false impression of being another film depicting the frustration of being jobless in a major Asian city but the story then takes a dramatic turn towards a heist and an even more unexpected turn towards a plane hijacking. The cyclic nature of the ending, when one of the final scenes is neatly tied with the opening shot, depicts a beautiful pattern to the story. The lead performance is amazing and the film grows in strength as it moves along. Also, the dark/grayish visuals perfectly echo the gloomy mood of the character's situation. Amazingly, the film is inspired by a true story.

Essential Killing (2010, Poland co-production, Jerzy Skolimowski)

Like in Valhalla Rising, the male lead in Essential Killing never speaks a single word. Yet, Vincent Gallo's character does not need to talk as his expressions of pain and anguish perfectly convey his inner feelings. Gallo plays a taliban fighter who is captured in Afghanistan but finds himself on the run in a frozen European country side after a series of events lead to his escape. From then on, the film alternates between chase scenarios as the dogs/soldiers close down on Gallo's character and survival scenes where his character does anything just to survive in the brutal cold. It is understandable to see why Gallo won best actor in Venice for this film as his raw performance shows how much can be conveyed without needless dramatic dialogues.

Between Two Worlds (2009, Sri Lanka, Vimukthi Jayasundara)

This Sri Lankan film is a good example of what Bresson mentioned in his book, Notes on the Cinematographer, in the Sight and Hearing section:

”What is for the eye must not duplicate what is for the ear."

”If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. (And vice versa, if the ear is entirely won, give nothing to the eye.) One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.

”If a sound is the obligatory complement of an image, give preponderance either to the sound, or to the image. If equal, they damage or kill each other, as we say of colours.

Between Two Worlds has a beautiful visual and aural language while the story has a nice fable and mythical element to it. There are some scenes which fluidly mesh the imagined and real with a smooth easy manner. The only minor complaint is that some scenes appear staged, drawing attention to themselves and thereby weakening the dramatic effect of the situation. Two such examples are the youthful mob at the film's start and the dance by the river near the end.

Guest (2010, Spain, José Luis Guerín)

Guest is José Luis Guerín's travelogue of his year long film festival circuit tour from September 2007 till September 2008 with his film In the City of Sylvia. Even though Guest starts and ends at the Venice Film Festival, Guest is not a documentary about film festivals. Instead, it is a truly global film that gives a glimpse into everyday life in open public squares in various places such as Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba and Hong Kong. Places that do not have open squares are not covered by his film which naturally means that Canada and the US are not shown on the screen. For example, Guerín was in Vancouver in 2007 to premier In the City of Sylvia but Vancouver does not get a single shot in the film. Basically, any place that did not have adequate public space would not have allowed Guerín to interact with the locals and get their views. Guerín freely filmed everything around him and was not shy to keep his camera rolling. As a result, we get to witness some fascinating parallels regarding religion in diverse places such as Brazil and Hong Kong. Guest takes about 20 minutes to spring to life but once it awakens, it has plenty of interesting stories to share.

Woman without a Piano (2009, Spain, Javier Rebollo)

A sublime film that uses a low key treatment in depicting a single night's events. The camera quietly follows Carmen around and the events that unfold around her are hilarious and sad at the same time. The film is set in Madrid and in some alleys we see situations which Pedro Almovodar uses in his films but Woman without a Piano is an art film through and through, with a pinch of comedy.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Thailand co-production, Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Joe's film is a visual treat like his previous works but instead of the two part structure found in Tropical Malady and Syndromes and a Century, Uncle Boonmee is a single flowing work that manages to blend the two worlds of humans and spirits. This is his most accessible work and also his most openly political. In Blissfully Yours one could faintly hear the tank fire going on in the distance but the soldiers were not shown. However, in Uncle Boonmee we get to see futuristic pictures (really the present) of army actions. As enchanting as the film is, it pales slightly to the hypnotic beauty of Tropical Malady and Syndromes... Still even a Joe lite work is better than most current world cinema.

Four Lions (2010, UK, Christopher Morris)

A well made and acted film from the two writers of the witty In the Loop. Four Lions tries to use the same humour style of In the Loop with mixed results. The humour style of In the Loop made sense because it dealt with the circus like world of politics where a single sentence can be endlessly interpreted and rehashed. However, that style is more difficult to pull off with a topic of terrorism and suicide bombers. In that regard, one can watch Four Lions in a state of shocked horror and find it entirely offensive. The film is also brave in its treatment of the subject, especially since neither of the writers or director is Muslim.

Spoiler note:*****

Credit must go to the film-makers for remarkably maintaining the same consistent tone throughout even after the characters start dying whereas it would have been easier for the film to have taken on a more serious tone after the first accidental death.

Monogamy (2010, USA, Dana Adam Shapiro)

A fascinating modern day treatment of Antonioni’s Blow Up. Blow Up was made during the free love decade where the main character had no problem getting any woman he wanted so solving the murder mystery became a more important challenge for him. But in modern times, free love isn’t that readily available. And the presence of email and text messaging has changed the nature of relationships by limiting face to face hook ups. As a result, Theo’s (Chris Messina) “free love” is reduced to a voyeuristic kick. Things are complicated by the fact that Theo is on the verge of getting married and already he feels the walls closing in on him.

The acting is stellar, especially in the scene where Theo’s fiancée catches him looking at pics of another girl. The ending is not as dramatic as we are led to believe. The true identity of Theo's subject is quite clear but maybe the ending was supposed to emphasize that Theo was so blinded by the little details in the photos he took that he missed the obvious bigger picture.

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Top 5 in order of preference:

1) Kill the Referee
2) Ocean of an Old Man
3) Woman on Fire Looks for Water
4) Valhalla Rising
5) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

I cannot praise Kill the Referee enough. The fact that the film is about soccer is also its biggest handicap because that would mean limited release and certainly no press coverage in North America. I have read rumours that UEFA might have had the final say on what could make the final cut but regardless of the truth, what is presented on screen is fascinating enough. The footage allows the audience to identify some of the egos, heroes and villains that operate in the game.

The Ways of Wine & Revolucion

The wonderful Argentine film The Ways of Wine is playing for free on mubi.com, until tomorrow Nov 21.



The film is a self-discovery journey with a touch of humor. In the manner of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, the film shows that sometimes one may travel the world to search for meaning but the real answer that they are seeking lies closer to home. Ofcourse, the real learning comes from the journey itself.

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Also, the Mexican film Revolución is showing for free on mubi only on Saturday (Nov 20) and Sunday (Nov 21).

2011 Copa America Film & Book Festival

An updated summary of the books and films selected for the 2011 Copa America Spotlight in lieu of the recently made draw for the South American soccer tournament:

Group A: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bolivia
Group B: Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela
Group C: Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru

** Note: Costa Rica have officially replaced Japan at the Copa. However, I will still have a book and film representing Japan.

Books

Argentina: Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar
Brazil: Zero by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
Bolivia: Aurora by Giancarla de Quiroga
Chile: The Secret Holy War of Santiago De Chile by Marco Antonio de la Parra
Colombia: The Armies by Evelio Rosero
Costa Rica: Cocori by Joaquin Guteierrez
Ecuador: The Ecuador Reader, edited by Carlos De La Torre, ***
Japan: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Mexico: The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
Paraguay: I, The Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru: Conversations in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa
Uruguay: Body Snatcher by Juan Carlos Onetti, ***
Venezuela: Chronicles of a Nomad by A.A. Alvarez

*** Note (May 9, 2011): these two were new replacement entries after English translated copies of the following two original choices were not readily available.
Ecuador: Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza
Uruguay: The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti

Films

Argentina: Crane World (1999, Pablo Trapero)
Bolivia: Cocalero (2007, Alejandro Landes)
Brazil: Black God White Devil (1964, Glauber Rocha)
Chile: Tony Manero (2008, Pablo Larraín)
Colombia: Crab Trap (2009, Oscar Ruiz Navia)
Costa Rica: Cold Water of the Sea (2010, Paz Fabrega)
Ecuador: Cronicas (2004, Sebastián Cordero)
Japan: Tokyo Sonata (2008, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Mexico: Duck Season (2004, Fernando Eimbcke)
Paraguay: Noche Adentro (2009, Pablo Lamar, 17 min)
Peru: Milk of Sorrow (2009, Claudia Llosa)
Uruguay: A Useful Life (2010, Federico Veiroj)
Venezuela: El Don (2006, José Ramón Novoa)

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[Update May 9, 2011]

Substitute / Bonus Films

I will be watching an additional number of South American films to compliment some of the above titles. This will mean at most one title from each country.

Argentina: Lion's Den (2008, Pablo Trapero)
Colombia: The Wind Journeys (2009, Ciro Guerra)
Ecuador: Ratas, ratones, rateros (1999, Sebastián Cordero)
Paraguay: I Hear Your Scream (2008, Pablo Lamar, 11 min)
Peru: Madeinusa (2006, Claudia Llosa)
Venezuela: Araya (1959, Margot Benacerraf)

Two films for Ecuador have been added courtesy of Michael C. and Pacze Moj.

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The three countries missing films are Ecuador, Paraguay and Japan. There are no shortage of Japanese titles but it is the Paraguayan entry that will most likely be the last title to be picked. The one readily available Paraguayan film is Paraguayan Hammock but I already used that for the 2010 World Cup Movie Festival so I want to pick a new Paraguayan film but currently nothing appears to be on the horizon. If I am still stuck for a title come June 2011, then I will go with Paraguayan Hammock.

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All entries should be judged prior to the soccer tournament's kick-off on July 1, 2011. So that means all books have to be read and all films have to be seen by June 30, 2011.

Calgary International Film Festival 2010, preview 1

The 2010 Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) kicks off in less than 2 weeks time. The film selections continue to grow in technical and artistic strength each year and this year the festival has some amazing films on display, with the Mavericks competition category showcasing some of the best films of the year. Last year, Mavericks contained some worthy films such as Karaoke (2009 Maverick winner), Be Calm and Count to Seven, Everyone Else and Fish Eyes but this year's selection is much stronger than the 2009 list.

Manuel di Ribera

This visually stunning film is a fascinating mix of Lisandro Alonso and Bela Tarr yet is completely original. The lonely journeys of Manuel, conducted with the aid of boats, has touches of Alonso (from both Los Muertos & Liverpool) while the mostly grayish/dark environment and the drunken locals' distrust of Manuel feels similar to Tarr's The Outsider and Satantango. Also, the film brilliantly plays with the concept of reality by having two almost similar scenes of an event incorporated into the film -- one real and one imagined. The audience is left to figure out what the reality is.

Note: The isolated Chilean island seems to echo the island in the third short of Andrés Wood's Historias de fútbol.

The Intern

Clara Picasso's sublime film cleverly uses a Buenos Aires hotel setting as a springboard to examine wider issues, such as male-female power games and the thin boundary that exists between private and public life. Not a single minute is wasted in the film's brisk 64 minutes. Almost at each 20 minute segment, the viewer has to track back to the previous segment to get a clue as to mystery or relationship tussle taking place on screen. The end result is an engaging film.

R

Stand by for the one of the most brutal and dark films of the year!! The tag 'dark film' is easily thrown around but in the case of R, the tag is entirely justified. The film makes last year's wonderful Un prophète look like a feel good happy film. Besides being completely savage, R is intelligent and that is demonstrated by a clever perspective shift two-thirds into the film which shows the similar hierarchies of two rival gangs.

The Robber

A highly entertaining yet intelligent film. This film is an example that an accessible film can be made without clichés or spoon feeding the audience. The two highs of running and robbing give Johann’s life meaning and it is clear these habits will eventually take a toll on his life. The entire film is defined by fast movement, shown by Johann's marathon runs or his perfectly timed car getaways. Remarkably, the story is not fiction and based on a real life character.

Hunting & Zn

This powerful Dutch film shows how a complicated relationship can be strained when lies and a pregnancy enters the equation. Like last year's brilliant Everyone Else, this film is bold enough to look at the nasty side that exists in all relationships and thereby causes the audience to get deeply involved with the film. As a warning, pregnant women or couples expecting a child might want to brace themselves for an emotionally challenging film.

You All Are Captains

This fascinating award winning black and white film demonstrates that even an improvised film needs a structure to make the work engaging. The film's first 20 minutes feature a filmmaker teaching school kids how to use a camera. The filmmaker has no script or goal in mind and a result, frustrates his students who are puzzled by the filmmaker's motives. After the kids complain, the filmmaker is replaced with another director who gives a structure thereby letting the film's brilliance shine through. The ending of the film in color puts the whole work into perspective including the first 20 minutes. A film and filmmaker to watch out for.

Lucky Life

Lee Isaac Chung deserves a lot of credit for making a poetic film that deals with cancer in such a tender manner that one never gets the sense of impending death that will take over one of the characters. The film is more concerned with mood than specific details as most of the conversations appear to be improvised and not scripted cinema, which adds to the film's fluid flow. The film has a very cool mood around it and when the characters meet each other, there are smiles and tender moments throughout reflecting the strong friendship that exists.

Cold Water of the Sea

This Tiger Award winning film (Rotterdam) adds an artistic layer on top of an accessible coming of age tale. The parallels between a young girl and woman is interestingly shown as the two characters form reflections of each other. The beautiful landscape of Costa Rica contrasts the internal struggles of the characters.

Putty Hill

A unique and interactive film that blurs the line between documentary and fiction. The interactive aspect is executed by having the actors in the frame stop what they are doing and look towards the camera to answer questions by an unseen interviewer. And once they are done answering the questions, the camera steps back and films the action.

And finally, this year there is a Canadian entry in competition -- Snow and Ashes. It is a film that I am looking forward and is the only one that I have not previewed from the 10.

2010 Movie World Cup, Group B

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Films: Liverpool, Without Shame, Like you Know it All, The Lost Monument



Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)

Simple. Poetic. Liberating. Lisandro Alonso’s film is as beautiful and fluid as watching a perfect Messi goal.

Liverpool starts with a lonely man, Farrel, leaving a ship’s confined space and heading off into a vast open land. The purpose of Farrel’s journey is to seek closure by seeking out his past. The audience also makes this journey along with Farrel because Alonso’s flexible camera film allows one to breathe in the environment and take in all the sights and sounds.

This breath-taking film is easily a front runner for winning the movie world cup!

Nigeria: Without Shame (2005, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen)

It was only appropriate to dig up a Nollywood title to represent Nigeria. In order to narrow down the search, I started off with the insightful Canadian documentary Nollywood Babylon. The documentary focuses on the films and methods of Lancelot, a film-maker with over 150 films to his name. I decided to pick a film at random from his collection and ended up with Without Shame.

Steve rebels against his father's (Ben) second wife Jenny and refuses to accept her as a mother. Steve's flirting activities bring him in conflict with Jenny leading her to leave the house. After Jenny’s departure, her sister, Nina, comes for a visit but wants to leave when she finds out that Jenny is no longer at the house. However, Ben calmly and causally asks Nina to stay because he does not have anyone to cook and clean the house. And to make things worse for Nina, both father and son rape her every night. When Jenny returns, Nina is too ashamed to admit anything and continues living in the household. The film ends with both father and son escaping from getting caught with their pants down. However, Ben and Steve learn about each other's sexual relationship with Nina. Without Shame 2 offers another complicated twist in the form of a second affair for Ben leading to three pregnancies before everything is resolved albeit in deadly fashion.

Without Shame is a soap opera packaged in two parts and serves as an example of the appeal that some Nollywood films have in their portrayal of familial issues and relationships.

South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)

Film Festival, movie directors, programmers, festival jury, alcohol, artists, food, love, lust, jealousy and rape. Sounds like an average film festival? or Hong sang-soo’s version of a film festival?

A film director's trip to a festival to be part of the jury leads into an unexpected diversion towards a long lost love surrounded by pit falls of affairs and alcohol fueled talk of art, inspiration and fame. Similar to Hong sang-soo’s Woman is the Future of Man, the conversations in Like you know it all are fluid and the words flow almost effortlessly. Ofcourse, it is alcohol and food that serves as a lubricant for ensuring that the characters loosen up and speak their mind and express their feelings, thereby moving the film through a series of sexual conquests obtained either by mutual consent or force.

A true delight of a film.

Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos)

The only short film in the movie world cup but the film's beauty and simplicity makes every second count of the 27 minute running time.

A discovered statue of Harry Truman makes an extraordinary journey across Greece and Turkey, via land and water. Each person who discovers the statue has their own take on the identity of statue and its meaning. And through each leg of its journey, the lifeless construction presents a political angle no matter where it goes.

The most beautiful sequence takes place after the statue is pulled out from the ocean and the tired men gaze at it.

Additional Info: Film description and director’s notes.

Group Standings with a maximum of 9 points at stake

Liverpool (Argentina): 9
The Lost Monument (Greece): 8
Like you Know it All (Korea): 8
Without Shame (Nigeria): 4

Liverpool is a clear winner with the Greek short film edging out the Korean film by a narrow head-to-head count.

Note: Point Rules and criteria.

Soccer Group predictions

It will be interesting to see how Group B in the World Cup will compare with the movie world cup standings. Argentina should be a clear group winner despite any mistaken decisions that Maradona will make. After Argentina, it is a toss up to see which one of the other three will advance to the second round. The Greek team will be organized defensively but they may find goals hard to come by while Korea and Nigeria are not as strong as past tournaments. If I have to go for a 2nd place team, I will go with Greece.

Alonso vs Martel, 2nd Leg

The 1st leg between these two film-makers was summarized back in summer 2009 where Alonso's Los Muertos was the clear winner over Martel's La ciénaga.

The second leg was to feature Alonso's Liverpool vs Martel's The Headless Woman. The Martel feature was first out of the gate and found it much better than La ciénaga. Still, I felt that if Alonso's Liverpool was as good as Los Muertos, then he would easily be the winner.

It turns out that Alonso's Liverpool is much better than Los Muertos and as a result, his film easily wins the second leg over the Martel feature.

Space, Environment and Freedom

While both Martel and Alonso are very good directors, liking one over the other depends on personal choice. The reason I prefer Alonso is because his films allow one to breathe in the environment because his camera is very flexible in capturing space around his characters whereas Martel restricts space because she wants to get in close with not so nice rich characters, people who are not meant to be liked in the first place. Alonso’s characters are probably not nice either. The character, Vargas, in Los Muertos is released from Jail for murder while Farrel in Liverpool ran away from home committing a possible rape but since Alonso places a distance between audience and his characters, we can observe freely and objectively. Plus Alonso takes the audience on a ride through an Argentine country side we hardly see on screen whereas Martel's features are rooted in cities -- all three of Martel's features are filmed in Salta.

Parallels -- Land & Water

Both Los Muertos and Liverpool start with two lonely men leaving a confined space and heading off into a vast open land. Their modes of transportation vary a little as Los Muertos starts on land and then moves onto water (via a boat) while Liverpool starts on a ship and then moves onto land. Both films contain men trying to search for their past in order to find a closure. The ending of Liverpool signifies liberation as one can see all the weight from Farrel's shoulders drop off and he walks away lighter into the snowy landscape.

The lonely nature of Farrel's journey in Liverpool also reminds of the main character in Carlos Reygadas’ Japon. The two characters are almost mirrors of each other but with a different past and journey purpose. In Japon, the character wants to end his life whereas in Liverpool Farrel seeks closure so as to live the rest of his life in peace.

Essential Alonso Reading

Michael Guillen's excellent interview with Alonso at the Evening Class.

James Quandt's brilliant essay in Art Forum which overlooks all of Alonso’s works.

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The 2010 Movie World Cup

Argentina, in the form of Lisandro Alonso's Liverpool, is so far a leading contender for winning my movie world cup. Although there should be strong competition from Portugal (via Pedro Costa), Brazil, Germany, Spain and France. Interestingly, all these teams will be among the favourites in the summer soccer tournament as well.

Martel vs Alonso

The first leg: Los Muertos vs La ciénaga

I first read about a comparison between the two Argentine film-makers Lisandro Alonso and Lucrecia Martel in 2008 when their new works were doing the rounds in the film festival circuit. It seemed that some people preferred the style of one over the other. My only familiarity with either director was restricted to just one film, Alonso’s Los Muertos and Martel’s La ciénaga (The Swamp). One film is not enough to draw a conclusion. But if I had to give a view based on a solitary work, I would easily give the nod to Alonso. Los Muertos was poetry in motion. A beautiful film where the camera had full freedom to roam about and as a result, the audience could breathe and soak in the environment. Whereas, Martel’s The Swamp was cramped up in familial settings and only started to come to life near the end.

Second Leg: The Headless Woman vs Liverpool

So how would the second round fare? The first 10 minutes of Martel’s The Headless Woman are beautiful but that changes shortly because the main character Veronica is not meant to be adored. This is emphasized by Martel's decision to only focus the camera on Veronica’s face most of the time, even when other people are talking. At other times, the camera is focusing on her side profile or is just behind her shoulder giving us her line of sight. This is done on purpose to show that from Veronica's perspective the people around her not worthy of attention

This is a brilliant stroke from Martel as she wants the audience to experience the sense of dizziness and detachment that Veronica undergoes as a result of an accident early on the film. In addition, her film highlights the class difference in Argentine society as Veronica is well off and treats the constant supply of servants and caregivers around her without much thought. On occasions, the camera blurs out the view of these other characters trying to emphasize that these people are invisible to Veronica.

Overall, The Headless Woman is a much more dynamic and large scale work than The Swamp.

Unfortunately, I can't reach a final decision in the Martel vs Alonso match-up because I am still waiting to see Alonso’s Liverpool. Although if his film is as good as Los Muertos, then for me, Alonso would easily be the winner.

Spotlight on South America

Machuca: Chile, 1973

Early on in the film, two friends, one rich (Gonzalo) and the other poor (Pedro Machuca), cross a soccer field packed with local kids playing the beautiful game.

Near the film's end, Gonzalo is seen cycling through the same soccer field but it is empty. We know from the political events outlined earlier in the film that there is a reason there are no kids playing in the field.

In the scene immediately after Gonzalo hurriedly cycles past the empty soccer field, we see poor people rounded up at gunpoint and taken away. A solider mistakenly tries to take away Gonzalo but he shouts that he is not one of ‘them’ and points towards his imported German sneakers. The solider looks at Gonzalo’s white shoes and backs off. Meanwhile, the two friends eyes meet. Machuca knows the fate that awaits him and so does Gonzalo.

Final Scene: Gonzalo is standing in front of an empty soccer field, looking at the sun setting over the mountains in the background. We know that this soccer field will never have kids or even adults play on it. Not for a while at least.

In a way the four scenes highlight how people disappeared in Chile. Did the rest of the world know? Even if they did, would they have cared?

1973. A dictator comes into power. Who helped him? Look closely. You will see men lurking in the shadows. And among these men are some economists who offered advice in 'helping' the Chilean economy.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation: Brazil, 1970

A boy standing with a soccer ball in his hands. The image is taken from the backseat of a car driving away. The car contains his parents who are apparently going on "vacation". But his parents are not going on "vacation". Unfortunately, 1970’s in South America saw a different form of vacation. People normally plan their vacations, inform their loved ones where they are going and when they will come back. But in 1970's South America, certain people believed that they were privileged enough to offer free vacations to their nation’s citizens. The citizens went on vacation, never to return back.

The world did not know of this vacation policy until much later. In the meantime, Brazil danced to the 1970 World Cup victory in some style, playing possibly the best football the world has seen. In 1978, Argentina won their first ever World Cup title, although the rumours about their 6-0 victory over Peru will never go away. Were the Peruvians bribed? Or did the Peruvian players have one look at the government in charge of Argentina and decide that losing 6-0 was better than getting a free unlimited vacation?

Men sitting in offices. Talking with dictators, discussing economic reforms. Privatize everything, open the country up. All will be well. Oh and while you are at it, hand out some free vacations. Things will eventually work out.

Have things worked out yet? The playgrounds are not empty anymore. But if one stands on those grounds, one can hear voices in the distance. Voices that cry out, wanting the world to listen. But the world cannot listen. It has moved on. Yet those voices continue to haunt soccer fields, not only across South America, but Asia and Africa as well.

Bolivia: Argentina, present day

At the start of the film Bolivia, we see a televised match between Argentina and Bolivia. After Argentina jump to an early lead, the Argentinean commentator remarks that Argentina were more alert. After the third goal goes in, he mentions that the Bolivian defense is terrible, just terrible. A few harmless words mask the hidden superiority of Argentine football.

If one had any doubts to the intention of those words, then the rest of the film just confirms the idea of a supposed superior Argentinean identity, an identity that exists even when the soccer game is over. An illegal Bolivian works in a local cafe/pub. Some of the local patrons include taxi drivers, including one who dislikes the Bolivian. Everything the Bolivian does is wrong. For example, when he brings a bottle of beer from the freezer, he is scolded for not bringing a cold bottle, even though he returns and brings a second bottle from the exact same freezer. When someone dislikes another person, no matter what the other person does is wrong. Simple fact of life. It is equally true in any part of the world.

It appears to be only a matter of time when emotions will boil over and they eventually do. Beautifully shot in black and white, Bolivia gives a glimpse of the frictions that exist in daily life. While the Clashes are started by government decisions regarding employment and immigration, the prices are always paid by ordinary citizens. If a poor nation shares a border with a richer nation, then illegal border crossing will occur. But if the apparently rich nation does not have enough jobs for its own citizens, then anger is directed at the newly arrived persons. The newcomer is always blamed for the misfortunes of a nation. Amazingly, one can walk the streets of Canada or USA and hear similar sentiments.

Bolivia is shot in Argentina but it may take place in any part of the world.

Adios Momo: Uruguay, 40 day Carnival

Obdulio just wants to play soccer but he does not have time as he has a daytime job delivering papers. One night he encounters a man who promises to educate him. Inspired by the man’s writing, Obdulio spends his nights witnessing the magic of a carnival where artists entertain the audience. As a result, he is often tired in his daytime job.

The charm of the carnival is flushed out in detail but the story also maintains a dream like nature of the events shown. And near the film’s end, clues are provided which indicate that the carnival is a happier mask over the sinister events of disappearance of children from the city, a la Pied Piper.

A Titan in the Ring: Ecuador, 2001

The film takes place in a small town where religion and wrestling are the equal source of people's interests. Both events are not compatible and some locals are caught between both. A local priest comes up with an interesting solution in the hopes of reaching out to the people. But his choice is at odds with what he preaches.

A man quietly sits listening to his radio on a bench while around him the complicated lives of the characters revolves. As it turns out, the man is mostly listening to soccer games. And just before the screen fades to black, the radio commentator is busy celebrating Ecuador’s first ever qualification to the Soccer World Cup (2002). The joyous message is meant to soothe over the not so happy events that the town has had to face depicted in the film.

Making ends meet

In A Titan in the Ring, we are given a glimpse into how unemployment can lead to certain youth heading down the criminal path.

In Pizza, Beer and Smokes, a few young kids go from one criminal activity to another just to gather some cash. The problem with such activities is that a person can be roped into believing that all they need is just one big job to ensure financial freedom. After that one big job, people believe they can easily walk away from crime. But as one knows, it is never that easy. So the tragedy that eventually takes place in Pizza, Beer and Smokes can be seen from the first few frames.

A few friends enjoy hanging out and pulling off pranks on their neighbours in Montevideo in 25 Watts. Shot in Black and white, the film evokes shades of Clerks in certain segments but unfortunately lacks the energy that made Clerks such a joy to watch.

The favelas of Rio once again form the background in the well shot City of Men which explores the tale of two friends who dodge bullets as the gang turf war wages on around them. Juggling between their jobs and women, the two find their friendships stretched as they unravel past events which pits them on opposite sides of the warring gangs.

Sao Paulo is the venue for the Brazilian pic Antonia which features four women hoping to make it big with their hip-hop routines in order to etch out a better life.

A job interview

Even when one has a job, the need arises to find a better job. But switching jobs is not often an easy task. An interview is a key part of the job hunting process and sometimes when people spend a long time working in one company, they may be out of touch with the challenges required out in the industry.

The Method shows a cut-throat interview process designed to weed out any unwanted candidates. After a series of 2-3 interviews, the short listed candidates are all put together in one room. They are all surprized to learn that their final interview will require them to face off against each other in the board-room while the hiring manager is hidden among one of the candidates. Each person has to guess who the hiring manager is and one by one, a candidate will be eliminated based on a series of ethical and technical exercises. As the interview progresses, the real personality traits of the candidates are exposed. Based on a play, the film is a fascinating watch.

Colombia -- A myth retold in a modern setting

Oedipus Mayor cleverly resets the ancient Greek tale of Oedipus Rex into a modern day Colombian town setting. Not having read the short story (by Gabriel Garcia Marquez) that the film is adapted from, I cannot comment on how faithful the adaptation is but overall the film does a very good job at unfolding the mythical tale of murder and incest one layer at a time.

Passing the time away by watching tv or just staring at the clock

The hilarious Peruvian film El destino no tiene favoritos shows the obsession that day time tv commands while poking fun at the cliched story-lines of most soaps.

El Nomindo takes the concept of reality tv shows such as Survivor and Big Brother to extremes. Contests are locked up in a bunker underneath the snow-capped Andes mountains, completely cut-off from civilization. Cameras record all their movements with the contestants voted out by viewers. But things go horribly wrong when a contestant is murdered. Instead of stopping the show, the cameras continues rolling as the game is tailored to guess who will be killed next. A decent idea is wasted as the film ends up being yet another slasher film.

In La Espera, Sonja looks after her elder bed-ridden mother. But she is frustrated by her mother’s constants demands which eliminates any chance of a social life that Sonja may have. So all she can do is wait, patiently wait for her mother to pass away.

The River as a means to escape and explore

Los Muertos

Forests, empty landscape, rivers. Observing nature up close, far from the chaotic Buenos Aries city life. This is not the Argentina often seen in films.

I thought about Carlos Reygadas while watching Lisandro Alonso’s Los Muertos. A beautiful film which features haunting shots of the surroundings. A man on a boat, drifting effortlessly through the backwaters. The man has just been released from prison after serving his murder conviction. He heads to the river to track his past and even to escape.

1888 el extraordinario viaje de Jules Verne

A journey to track down a hidden treasure with a fictional Jules Verne. Along the way, a love triangle is explored while an adventure unfolds by the banks of the Amazon.

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Ratings out of 10

Bolivia (2001, Argentina, Adrián Caetano): 9

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006, Brazil, Cao Hamburger): 9

Machuca (2004, Chile, Andrés Wood): 9

The Method (2005, Argentina co-production, Marcelo Piñeyro): 8.5

Los Muertos (2004, Argentina, Lisandro Alonso): 8.5

City of Men (2007, Brazil, Paulo Morelli): 8

Oedipus Mayor (1996, Colombia, Jorge Alí Triana): 8

El destino no tiene favoritos (2003, Peru, Alvaro Velarde): 8

Antonia (2006, Brazil, Tata Amaral): 7

Don't Tell Anyone (1998, Peru, Francisco J. Lombardi): 7

La Espera (2002, Uruguay, Aldo Garay): 7

Pizza, birra, faso (1998, Argentina, Adrián Caetano/Bruno Stagnaro): 6.5

Adios Momo (2006, Uruguay, Leonardo Ricagni): 6

Un titán en el rincón (2002, Ecuador, Viviana Cordero): 5

25 Watts (2001, Uruguay, Juan Pablo Rebella/Pablo Stoll): 5

1888 el extraordinario viaje de Jules Verne (2005, Venezuela, Alfredo Anzola): 3

El Nominado (2003, Peru, Nacho Argiro/Gabriel Lopez): 3

Black Friday, Pickpocket and the Swamp

Black Friday (2005, Director Anurag Kashyap):

Well Anurag Kashyap's film is finally officially released after spending more than a year banned by the Indian censors. The film's crime: depicting the inside story about the terrorists behind the multiple Bombings in 1993. The Indian courts felt that the movie might sway the jurors in passing judgement so the film was banned until the courts passed their sentence to the men implicated. Now that the court proceedings are done, the film can be finally be watched. And the verdict? This is film-making of the highest order!

However, can this movie be watched in isolation to the real life crime committed? That is the same question that comes up while watching United 93. While these films deal with events regarding terrorist strikes, the two films are set in different time contexts -- Black Friday starts when Bombay is rocked by the multiple bombs and examines events after that bombing, and only goes into the past via flashbacks. On the other hand, United 93 takes place mostly on the morning of the terror attacks and ends when the crime is finished. Both films are gripping in their own right but at the end of day Black Friday feels like an absorbing crime film, especially one that has graduated from a Ram Gopal Varma academy. That is not a surprize as Kashyap has written dialogues for previous RGV films, especially the intense Satya. If one took Black Friday to be an underworld crime film, then it would be considered a sheer genius work of art. The film breathes realism in every scene, more than that of regular RGV films. However, this is a movie based on real incidents and that puts it under a different spotlight -- One can't shake the feeling that Anurag Kashyup is treading a fine line between showing events objectively and trying to let subjective feelings about the criminals filter from behind the lens. Can a writer ever accurately portray the actual dialogues criminals talked during their criminal planning? No. This is where a screenplay has to be careful in that it does not go overboard with feelings of jingoism. I do believe that Kashyup achieves a fine balance here in that the dialogues are both angry yet restrained and never feel too melodramatic.

There is a sequence in the movie which goes into long extended details about a terrorist's ordeals in trying to escape India. This character hardly has a presence in the movie so it makes no sense to spend so much footage on him. With the exception of these long un-necessary scenes, the rest of the movie stays focussed to the task at hand which is about depicting the interrogation of the criminals and the odd background info about their motives. Since so many movies have been made in the last decade about Mumbai's underworld & outside terrorist support, some parts of the movie feel like recycled material. That being said, I loved the entire film from the opening shots to the closing credits -- dark, grim and harsh. Real? Not completely but seems to contain some truth to it. But a worthy film? No doubt about it!!!

Pickpocket (1959, Director Robert Bresson)

The best films are the simplest ones. And such is this case with this old classic. True to the title, the movie is about a pickpocket. The films starts with Michel's confession in how he got into stealing upto how he refined his slight of hand tricks. The precise camera-work lets us focus on only the essential details; not a single shot in the film is wasted. Martin LaSalle's cold emotionless expressions are perfect for depicting Michel and Marika Green demonstrates plenty of charm with only a few expressions as Michel's love interest. A quick and breazy film under 80 minutes.

La Cienaga (2001, Director Lucrecia Martel)

There are some films that require a person to be in the right mood. Safe to say, I was not in the mood to watch this depiction of upper middle class life in a small Argentine town. The film is well shot and is leisurely paced. In fact, the few sudden tragedies in the movie occur in such a matter of fact manner that if one blinks, they might miss the accident. Sure, few images stayed with me long after the film was over but overall, I was not drawn into this family saga. Lucrecia Martel got a Sundance award for this film's script which is not a surprizing fact. It seems such movies are tailor made to win awards at Sundance -- take a family movie, and just focus a camera here or there, show some off-beat characters and then sit back and watch the critics go crazy.

Babel and a Spanish Double

Babel: Rating 8/10
Director -- Alejandro González Iñárritu. Writer -- Guillermo Arriaga

Back in the summer of 2006, I really looked forward to this film. Having loved Amores Perros and 21 Grams, I had huge hopes for this movie. But after seeing the trailers, I had my doubts and stayed away from this film until this week. Now, only one theatre in the city is showing this movie and attendance has increased again thanks to the best picture award it got this week. But a lot of the people attending Thu night’s show (Jan 18) had no idea what to expect and safe to say, they were disappointed. There were even a few walk-outs.

This is a film that does not deserve to be seen in a multiplex because it demands complete silence. In a regular loud multiplex film, slight noises from the audience are dwarfed by the loud on screen volume. But Babel is not a loud film – it contains long periods of silence and very little dialogue. The visuals tell more of a story with subtitles conveying the rest of the story. With such periods of silences, every slight noise in the theatre can be heard – the chewing of the popcorn, an audience member dropping his pop on the floor, water running down the pipes in the adjoining bathroom, shuffling of feet. But even if I saw this film in complete silence, I still would have been disappointed. Here are some mental notes that flew threw my mind during this film:

-- Only the American couple in the film gets a happy American ending (something mentioned by the Japanese newscaster in the movie). The rest of the world is miserable and continues to suffer. In fact, other people have to suffer so that the Americans can prosper. Ofcourse, one could argue that the ending for the Japanese father-daughter finally has hope, but that is debatable.
-- The usage of multiple languages (Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and English) in this film works great because actors talking in their native language lend more authenticity.
-- My understanding was that the movie was supposed to show how the language barriers in the world led to confusion and caused problems (tower of babel). However, despite the multiple languages spoken in the movie, there are no language barriers in the characters way and I don’t think the film’s title is appropriate to the story.
-- The three stories are forcibly linked or appear to be. Amores Perros and 21 Grams felt more authentic. Can we now expect more of these Crash formula films in the future?
-- Great camera shots, especially the last shot of the Japanese girl and father. As they are hugging on their balcony, the camera moves away backwards and we slowly see the other buildings come into focus. Normally in other movies, the camera narrows into a single point as opposed to pulling away and displaying the wider background.
-- Guns kill people and guns in the hands of kids is a horrible formula. No matter what pro-gun people say. We only need to look at Central Africa for more examples.
-- As the world is more connected with cell phones and internet, fear and lies are easily propagated. In fact, media control in the hands of wrong people leads to incorrect news reports and conclusions. A single shooting in Morocco could have led to an American attack and eventual war. This is the present western attitude of shoot first, ask questions later.
-- One thing was interesting – in the end credits, we see the following:
“based on an original idea by Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga “
What is that supposed to mean? Are the two trying to ensure no one tries to accuse them of stealing this story idea from a real incident?

Overall, I was hugely disappointed with this movie. Half-way through the 140 min movie, I told myself if I saw a shot of the clouded blue sky, I would know the director is trying too hard and sure enough, there is such a shot near the end of the movie. But I can’t understand why people call this film complex. Seriously, it is pretty straight forward. Yes, long periods of silence in movies allow us to contemplate each scene and think things through. But none of the stories in Babelare rich enough to require much thought. In addition, if the media reports are true then this is the last collaboration between Alejandro and Guillermo. That would be a real shame because they have had a good run together. Babel is the weakest of their three joint feature film efforts but still their powerful first two films were enough to warrant them attention.

Jealousy (1999, Spain, Director Vicente Aranda): Rating 7.5/10

It turns out that I had seen this film a few years ago, but I forgot when I rented this. It is a good watch nonetheless. A month before his marriage, Antonio discovers a picture of his bikini clad fiancée (Carmen) with a stud among a group of her friends. His jealous nature takes over him and he needs to find out who the stud is. And Antonio’s curiosity is only increased when all the people around him lie about the stud in the picture, After a brief break up with Carmen, the two make up and eventually marry. But Antonio is still not satisfied and his relentless pursuit of the truth drives Carmen mad. She is forced to reveal all to Antonio and after that, both of them need to get the stud, José, out of their system.

The film contains two very good expressive performances from Aitana Sánchez-Gijón (Carmen) & Daniel Giménez Cacho (Antonio). In fact, Daniel’s stern face and glaring eyes steal the show. There is an interesting camera angle when Carmen decides to tell Antonio the truth. We see her in the background but in the foreground, we only see Antonio’s left eye. Even with such an angled look at his face, we can clearly understand what is going on through his mind. But the story does start to wear down near the end and I had lost all interest by the final frame.

Lisbon (1999, Spain/Argentina, Director Antonio Hernández): Rating 6/10

Despite the presence of Sergi López and Carmen Maura, I could not be interested in this film. López plays a video cassette salesman who travels between Spain and Portugal. One day he finds a mysterious woman (played by Maura) who insists on being taken to Lisbon at whatever cost. In trying to help her, he finds himself in between her crazy family and her pursuit of her lover. An ok film with average acting but a short story stretched too long.

Global Cinematic Duels, Part II

The idea of pitting different movies from a country/region against each other was quite enjoyable so here’s a second and final installment for this year atleast. If a country had 2 or more movies, then I decided the country could compete separately. If a country only had one movie, then I paired that country with the nearest region, with the pairing based more on culturally and cinematic grouping as opposed to geographically. For example, I combined the sole Mexican film in the list with South America under a ‘Latin America’ category as opposed to having the Mexican movie under North America.

China + Hong Kong: Butterfly (Yan Yan Mak, 2004), Blind Shaft (Yang Li, 2003, also co-production with China and Germany), Fear of Intimacy (Hong Kong, Vincent Chui, 2004)

Butterfly is a refreshing love story, although not a conventional one. A young girl develops a crush on her teacher. Even though the teacher is a married woman with a child, she reflects on her youth when she had a fling with another girl. That relationship ended unhappily and her repressed feelings from that fling finds another outlet via the present situation with the young student. The movie is shot partly in Macao and just like a lot of movies shot in that exotic Island, Butterfly contains some sensual elements which just enhance this film. Well worth the watch! Rating 8.5/10

Blind Shaft came out of nowhere and blind-sided me. I had never heard of this movie when I discovered this tucked away in the video store. But oh what a movie! The opening shot shows men working in a darkened coal-mine. While three men take a break, they pass the time with meaningless conversations. And without any warning, one of the men is killed by the other two. As it turns out, the purpose of the killing was money. The two men go around scamming mine owners by pretending that one of their relatives or brother is killed in the mine and as result, the mine owner is forced to pay some money to keep them quiet, lest they make it public. When the two men find another prey, this time a young16 year old kid, one of the men starts having second thoughts (ethics and morality). How the movie ends is a surprise but not totally unexpected. This is a very watchable movie that is well paced and takes time to lay the characters out. Rating 9.5/10

Fear of Intimacy starts off interestingly but then gradually loses steam. A busy photographer does not have time for his girlfriend and is constantly leaving her. One day, when he rushes for an assignment, she leaves him for good. The story then picks up 5 years later when the photographer now works as paparazzi stalking and taking pictures of celebrities and rich people. A young woman becomes his partner and a quiet relationship begins to take shape. Things take a twist when he discovers his girlfriend from 5 years ago, but she seems to be involved with a shady character who might be involvement in a rich woman’s murder. Nothing great, but not a bad film either!
Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 24.5/30 = 8.17

France: Sex is Comedy (Catherine Breillat, 2002), Unleashed (aka Danny the Day, co-production with UK and USA, Directed by Louis Leterrier)

The two movies can be summarized as Sex and Violence! Sex is Comedy is unlike Catherine Breillat’s other shocking sex filled films but the idea behind this movie came from her film Fat Girl . She uses the same young actress from that movie and tries to show how much works goes in filming sex scenes for a movie. While the final product might seem passionate and erotic, in reality the scenes could not be more boring and dull to shoot. A light hearted movie that does get dull very soon because after the first 30 minutes the viewer gets the point that the complains/fuss of actors can be a real hindrance to the final product. Rating 7.5/10

Luc Besson has really developed his own system of action thrillers which form a middle road in between the big budget Hollywood productions and the lavish Asian martial films. Most of Besson’s films atleast have a well defined story which revolves around a plot of revenge and clear cut good/bad guys. Every now and then, Besson scripts unique scenes to spice up the tried out action/thriller genre. This time around, the main character, Danny (Jet Li) is a trained fighter who is merely a slave to his master (Bob Hoskins). When his master removes Danny’s collar, he is ready to kill at will. But one day, Danny finds reprieve in the form of music via a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman). The soothing music triggers long buried memories in Danny which lead him on a different path. The story of revenge from this point on feels like earlier Besson films but it is not that bad, although it feels dull in parts.
Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 14/20 = 7.0

India: Lage Raho Munna Bhai (sweetly directed by Rajkumar Hirani), Fanaa (mis-directed by Kunal Kohli)

Two hyped up Bollywood movies but two completely different outcomes!

Lage Raho Munna Bhai is refreshing flick that is very rare in commercial cinema while Fanaa is just another run of the mill patriotic trash that has plagued Bollywood for more than a decade or so. Fanaa may be technically good (with some stunning Kashmiri visuals) and even has some touching performances from Kajol and Rishi Kapoor but overall, it has too many loop holes and an awful miscast role for Tabu (why on earth do directors/producers keep picking her even though it is obvious she can not deliver dialogues?). Lage Raho… is not a sequel to the original Munna Bhai film but simply a different story with the same loving lead characters. I have to say that the character of Circuit (played amazingly well by Arshad Warsi) is one of the best characters to ever grace the Indian celluloid screen – the loyal street savvy tapori has been played countless times over the decades but never this well and this good!

Lago Raho…Rating 9/10; Fanaa….Rating 5.5/10

Overall Rating: 14.5/20 = 7.25

Japan: The Great Yokai War (Takashi Miike), All about Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai)

There was a time that I tried to watch every new Takashi Miike movie. But I quickly found out that was a difficult and frustrating task -- difficult because Miike directed and acted in several films each year; frustrating because his films are very inconsistent, with a brilliant film followed by a complete dud. Needless to say, I was still looking forward to The Great Yokai War which was hyped up quite a bit. It is not disappointing but it is nothing great either. It mixes fantasy, myth, sci-fi and action elements with robots, gremlins, humans, furry creatures, power sword wielding characters occupying equal screen time. A little boy uncovers a magical world where the battle of good vs evil is taking place and finds himself center stage in the fight for the planet’s fate.
Rating 6.5/10

All about Lily Chou-Chou has an interesting story but nothing not seen before – alienated youth finds solace in a fan chat room about the popular pop singer Chou-Chou. However, a series of incidents lead to a fan getting killed and the alienated youth finds himself lonely and more confused about what to do. After a while, the online web poetry gets tedious and the movie drags on longer than it should. Rating 6.5/10

Overall Rating: 13/20 = 6.50

Latin America: Caballos salvajes (1995, directed by Marcelo Piñeyro, Argentina), Ciudad de M (2000, Directed by Felipe Degregori, Peru), Sin destino (2002, Leopoldo Laborde, Mexico)

Caballos salvajes is a charming bank heist/outlaw/road trip movie. And like most Argentine movies, it has its own peaceful rhythm. Rating 9/10

City of M is a well crafted low budget with shades of Waiting of Godot . M can’t find a job but then again, he has no college education. Desperate to get work, M and his friends hatch plots to become rich fast. Eventually, three of them agree to smuggle drugs to America. All they have to do is wait for the ‘Bolivian’ who will give them the goods and help their dreams come true. The waiting part feels like the Godot play and at this point, I felt the movie might end. But the ‘Bolivian’ does show up and even though we don’t see his face, he gives them the goods. Since it is a low budget movie, I never expected the three to leave Peru so the events that follow after the three get the goods are not unexpected. Rating 8/10

Shot mostly in stark black and white, Sin destino is a film about street life. Fran is a 15 year-old boy who gets by prostituting himself for money. Via flashbacks, we are shows how a 9 year old Fran was introduced into this life by an elder man, Sebastian. Just when Fran is finally starting to fall for women, Sebastian enters his life again. Conflicted between his real desires and need for money, Fran ends up on a destructive path which leads him to destroy everything in sight. And when he is done, Fran reverts back to being a child again, attempting to regain the innocence that was taken away from him. The movie is influenced by Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados and even has a common thread via the role of Sebastian, who acted in Buñuel's 1950 film. Interestingly, the only time there is color in the movie is when Fran’s fantasies & nightmares are shown which indicate the hellish state of Fran’s fragile mind (no matter how pleasant the start of the fantasy is, it eventually turns ugly). Rating 7.5/10

Overall Rating: 24.5/30 = 8.17

Russia & former Soviet-republics: I am Cuba (1964, Mikheil Kalatozishvili, Former soviet-Union/Cuba co-production), Night Watch (2004, Timur Bekmambetov)

I am Cuba is vintage cinema and ranks alongside Battle of Algiers and Z as one of the best examples of great cinema that once existed! The film gives us a ring-side seat to a changing Cuban landscape and shows different stories about the rich, the poor and the revolutionaries. We see how the rich dance their life away in a haze of music and alcohol, how the poor farmers have to struggle at every step, how a revolution starts, how a revolution can be crushed and the creation of a legend! Amazing stuff. Rating 9.5/10

Night Watch is a completely unique and original film but does contain traces of Blade , Matrix, Ghostbusters and other sci-fi/fantasy adventure films. As per the well crafted story, there has been an endless battle between good and evil but so far the balance has been maintained. However, the ‘one’ will come one day and the balance will never be the same. The manner in how the story unfolds is very interesting (curses, spells, vampires + flashy special effects). The film is a slap-in the face for all the North American distributors who complain that foreign cinema is not entertaining enough! The second movie in this trilogy was released in Russia this year, with the third film will be out next year but will be in English. Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 18.5/20 = 9.25

Thailand: Ong-bak (Prachya Pinkaew, 2003), 69 (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 1999)

I finally got around to seeing Ong-bak and it is nothing special, although the fights are amazing. Safe to say the story is paper-thin and the film is a mere excuse to see Tony Jaa in action with his Muay Thai moves. Rating 6.5/10

69 is a well crafted dark comedy/thriller. A boss can’t decide which of his employees to lay off, so he makes the women pick numbers. One of the three laid off employees has the number 9. As it turns out, she lives in apartment 6, but the number 6 is not properly attached to her door and constantly swings around to become a 9. One day, she hears three knocks on her door and when she goes out in the hallway, she finds a box. Upon opening the box, she finds bundles of money notes. What to do? She decides to keep the money. And when the gangsters come to get their box, a struggle ensues and she manages to kill both the men. From then on, no matter what she does, the body count just seems to keep increasing. Dark yet tinged with some unexpected humour throughout!
Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 15.5/20 = 7.75

USA: Walk the Line (James Mangold, 2005), Fun with Dick and Jane (Dean Parisot, 2005), The Squid and the Whale(Noah Baumbach, 2005), Miami Vice (Michael Mann), The Illusionist (Neil Burger)

Yes the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are very good in Walk the Line but so what? The movie story is something rehashed in Hollywood countless times – a nobody becomes famous, struggles with fame and dives into drug/alcohol, messes his life until he gets a second chance to turn it around. Yawn! And if the main character is based on a real-life character, well then you have an award winning movie! Rating 7.5/10

Fun with Dick and Jane is a comic look at present day corporate fraud, although the movie is set decades before Enron and the other greedy companies were caught red-handed. Jim Carrey is good in a role that requires him to go from slapstick to the dead-pan Truman character. Alec Baldwin is the usual cool & sly person who cheats others and gets away with it (almost...). In a funny tribute, the end credits give thanks to all the corporations caught in money-fraud schemes. Rating 6.5/10

I can finally see what the hype around The Squid and the Whale is about. It is indeed a very good movie and well worth all the praise it has received. A fighting writer couple’s marriage is shown and how it affects their two sons with each son siding with one parent. Amazing performances all around especially the two kids. Also, an interesting case-study on how easily kids can be influenced especially by parents they worship. Rating 9.5/10

Miami Vice was an unexpected surprise for two reasons – one it is actually a good movie and second (more importantly) is the seductive role of Gong Li. I had no idea she was in this movie and in the end if it were not for character’s affair with Sonny (Colin Farrell), this movie would not have been this good. There is no real story per se, (two undercover cops have to bust a drug ring) and most of the dialogues make no sense or are kept to single sentences. So it is up to the visuals to set the mood and with most Michael Mann films, the atmosphere gives a sense of cool with blue being the prominent colour in the background. In the end, the movie is about the characters and their lives. The fact that they happen to be undercover cops is just a technicality. Overall, the movie feels like a sibling of Mann’s Heat. Rating 8.5/10

Magic or simply an Illusion? A mere trick of the hands or genuine dark powers? The Illusionist is an intriguing thriller which has an innocent love story as its focal point. The production visuals are very good with Paul Giamatti stealing the show with an amazing and precise performance. Rating 9/10

Overall Rating: 41/50 = 8.20

Yet another surprise winner: A film from the former Soviet Union + a modern Russian flick take top prize with 2 solid entries!!!!!