US-based newcomers Mondo Vision enter the DVD market with a superbly produced release of cult Polish director Andrzej Zulawski's "La femme publique" (1984). A maddening yet intoxicating analysis of an aspiring actress struggling to make it in a world of excess and political demagogy pic is a terrific introduction into the controversial legacy of one of world cinema's most gifted, yet impossible to fully deconstruct, filmmakers.

A beautiful young actress (Valérie Kaprisky) is given the chance to shine in a film based on Dostoyevsky's "The Possessed". When the shooting begins she quickly loses touch with reality and becomes obsessed with her role. The director (Francis Huster) repeatedly abuses her. Eventually she ends up in a different film directed by a Czech immigrant who will find himself involved in a political game ruled by dangerous radicals.

Serving the usual dose of u...Read the entire review

The Films:

Marco Ferreri, arguably the greatest Italian satirist to ever step behind the camera, has received a lavish treatment through North American distribs Koch Lorber Films who have put together an elaborate 8DVD set containing some of the director's best works. A majority of these works are making their first ever appearance on DVD in an English-friendly form.

El Cochecito (1960) - Don Anselmo, an aging scoundrel with a razor-sharp mind, desires a brand new motorized wheelchair. He is the only kid on the block without one. Can he trick his son, an affluent lawyer, to buy him one? (Starring José Isbert, Pedro Porcel, and José Luis López Vázquez).

Il Seme dell'uomo a.k.a The Seed of Man (1969) - The end of World War III, the world is devastated. A young couple must determine whether or not having a child would be considered an...Read the entire review

The Film:

Arguably Lech Majewski's most intimate work to date The Garden of Earthly Delights (2004) arrives on DVD courtesy of KINO. Visually-inspiring, nuanced, and slightly less difficult to deconstruct pic chronicles the genesis of a doomed relationship in the city of love, Venice.

Chris (Chris Nightingale) is savoring the sweetest moments of his affair with Claudia (Claudine Spiteri). Over and over again he would play the video tapes where her voice would remind him about the love the couple shared. Slowly but surely Chris will succumb to a sea of polarized emotions where forgotten memories will resurface. Is this the beginning of the end?

Video tapes and memories are the key ingredients in Lech Majewski's The Garden of Earthly Delights, an adaption of the director's own Metaphysics. As past and present begin to overlap and we learn that Claudia's can...Read the entire review

The Film:

The third installment in the recently released collection of Lech Majewski films offers the director's most personal film - the autobiographical opera The Roe's Room (1997). Written, composed, and directed by Lech Majewski the work follows cycles of memories while also introducing beautiful, at times hypnotic, abstract imagery.

Similar to Lech Majewski's The Gospel According to Harry(1994) and Glass Lips (2007) his The Roe's Room is very much an experimental feature where minimalism and symbolism are key ingredients. This time around, however, a collage of personal recollections is apparently the instigator for the unusually beautifully scripted opera.

Relying on simple but effective harmonies to achieve a calming, near meditative, feel for his work Majewski accomplishes a sense of serenity that remains with the audience until the final cre...Read the entire review

The Film:

Polish-born, now living in America, director Lech Majewski's Blood of a Poet (2007), originally titled Glass Lips, focuses on the abstract and bizarre while telling a story about child abuse and the power of religion. Fractured into small, very confusing, bits and at times impossible to decipher references, pic is likely to attract only viewers with utmost tolerance for avant-garde cinema.

Probably the most challenging film I've seen this year Glass Lips is a collage of visuals lacking any form of dialog whatsoever. It follows the story of a mental patient (Patryk Czajka) whose childhood recollections about an abusive father (Grzegorz Przybyl) and an understanding but helpless mother (Joanna Litwin) are linked with a series of abstract scenes where puzzling symbolism is the focus of attention.

The majority of Glass Lips tiptoes between present and...Read the entire review

The Film:

On November 26, 2006 Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent and later on a senior operational officer at FSB (the Federal Security Service) died in a London hospital. The cause of his death - radiation poisoning by Polonium 210. Only days before his death "agent Sasha" would give a video tape containing reveling information about Russia's political elite to film director Andrei Nekrasov. On May 26, 2007 Poisoned by Polonium would be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Andrei Nekrasov's Poisoned by Polonium feels very much like Damiano Damiani's TV project La Piovra (1984). Only instead of being the product of a film director with an impressive imagination Poisoned by Polonium turned out to be the testament of a man who appar...Read the entire review

The Film:

Sex and friendship are the key ingredients in Gallic helmer Celine Sciamma's directorial debut Naissance des pieuvres a.k.a Water Lilies (2007). Stripped of political correctness, honest, and superbly-acted pic follows the deeds of three teenagers whose desire to overcome socially-restrictive clichés while experimenting with their bodies creates and breaks friendships with long-term consequences.

Floriane (Adele Haenel), a beautiful swimmer, is liked by boys and men. She flirts with them and occasionally goes out with those who are brave enough to approach her. Floriane likes the attention but not the risks that come with it.

Marie (Pauline Acquart) is not a swimmer and she never gets approached by the boys. But she likes watching Floriane's swimming team practice. Marie asks Floriane if she could come along and swim with the team.

Anne (Louise BlachÃ...Read the entire review

The Film:

And edgy and at times impossible to decipher take on a notorious Biblical text is the first out of four discs to introduce the work of Polish director Lech Majewski to North American audiences. Courtesy of KINO International "The Gospel According to Harry" (1994) rivals the surrealistic visions of David Lynch as well as the stripped of political correctness sarcasm of Marco Ferreri.

I had to see Lech Majewski's The Gospel According to Harry twice to get a better grasp of what the director was attempting to convey. Minimalistic, contemporary, and rich on nuanced subtexts this film is more or less a beautiful enigma I am still unsure I fully understood.

In a beautiful desert somewhere in California a black man stares at the sun. He looks nervous and slightly jaded. The man reaches out, throws a few colorful stones in the sand, and walks away.

Later ...Read the entire review

The Film:

A coming-of-age story about three boys living in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid Barrio (1998) arrives to US shores courtesy of LionsGate Films. Beautifully photographed, well acted, and mixing humor with drama to perfection pic goes a long way in capturing childhood life without paying attention to political correctness.

Barrio is a film about poverty, desire, success, and failure seen through the eyes of three 15-year old boys as they struggle to find their place in a world where anything is possible...as long as you pay for it.

Rai (Crispulo Cabezas) has started working with a local drug-dealer, Manu (Eloi Yebra) has secured a pizza delivery gig even though he does not own a scooter, while Javi (Timy Benito) has given up on his collapsing family. When they spend time together the three friends talk about the ladies - what the...Read the entire review

The Film:

Winner of the Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing awards granted by the Argentinean Film Critics Association Cronica de una fuga a.k.a Chronicle of an Escape (2006) arrives to US shores courtesy of Weinstein/IFC Films. Based on a real-life story pic provides a glimpse at Argentina's "National Reorganization Process" and the methods its supporters utilized to squash outspoken leftists.

A soccer player (Rodrigo De La Serna) is kidnapped by the Argentinean secret police and thrown into an unknown villa used as an interrogation facility. There, together with a group of leftists, he is tortured and asked to leak information about his "comrades". Unable to provide his captors with the needed info the man is routinely exposed to mental and physical abuse rivaling what the Nazis resorted to during WW2. His misery is ended when together with three other detainees the...Read the entire review

The Film:

Winner of the Best Director and Best Cinematography Awards at the San Sebastian International Film Festival Zhang Yang's Sunflower (2006) arrives to US shores courtesy of New Yorker Video. Beautifully lensed, charged with subtle political overtones, and exceptionally well-played pic should capture the hearts of those interested in intelligent cinema.

Nine-year-old Xiangyang (Zhang Fan) has never seen his father. His mother (Joan Chen) would rarely talk about him telling her son only what he needs to know. And now after many years spent in a reform camp Xianngyan's father is finally back. But calling a stranger father and learning how to live with him under the same roof isn't easy. Not for Xiangyang. He is often frustrated, enraged, and confused by his father's words. And so is Xiandyang's father - he dreams of the day when his son will finally call him fa...Read the entire review

The Film:

A made-for-TV Spanish drama A Love to Keep (original title is Electroshock) is the latest addition to PictureThis Entertainment and their diverse catalog of coming-of-age and gay-lesbian films. Written, produced, and directed by Juan Carlos Clavier pic attempts to shed light on the wide spread discrimination gay and lesbian couples were exposed to during the Franco regime.

Pilar (Carmen Elías) is madly in love with Elvira (Susi Sánchez). The two like to spend time together, listen to music, dance, and laugh. But they have to pay close attention to what their neighbors think of them. They must share their passion for each other only behind closed doors.

Determined to put an end to her medical condition Pilar's family agrees to send ...Read the entire review

The DVD:

For nearly half a century Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra enticed music lovers around the world with splendid performances. In a recently released by Euro Arts DVD the famous maestro is captured conducing works by Glinka (Ruslan and Lyudmila: Overture); Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade, Op. 35), Handel (Concerto in D major, HWV 335a), Wolf-Ferrari (Il segreto di Susanna: Overture), and Straus (Der Rosenkavalier: Suite).

I hold in my hands a disc with five different performances that were recorded at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on June 24 - 26, 1977 and June 30 - July 1, 1978. The DVD is produced by a German team via Media Medici Arts.

The five pieces recorded for this disc provide a glimpse at the work of one of the most distinguished musical directors from the 20th century - Eugene Ormandy. Incredibly gifted, perfectionist, and impossible n...Read the entire review

The Films:

Lions Gate Films in collaboration with French juggernaut Studio Canal continue to deliver outstanding product to the North American market. This time around I have in my hands a 3DVD set with films by French contemporary director Andre Techine. The four films in it are: Hotel des Ameriques, J'embrasse pas, Ma Saison preferree, and Les Roseaux Sauvages.

Hotel des Ameriques (1981)

An emotionally battered man (Dewaere) encounters a disillusioned woman (Deneuve) in a rundown café, they become lovers. But the more they try to forget their unfortunate past affairs and look toward to the future the more they begin to realize that such may not be possible.

J'embrasse pas (1991)

A young provincial man (Blanc) arrives in Paris determined to make it big. He befriends an old gay man (Noiret) who attempts to warn him about the trea...Read the entire review

The Films:

An ongoing collaboration between Lions Gate Films and French juggernaut Studio Canal has brought a number of interesting, priced to own, multi-disc collections highlighting the work of famous European actors. The latest addition to LGF's catalog celebrates the work of one of the most beautiful actresses to ever step in front of the camera - Catherine Deneuve.

Housed in an elegant black case The Catherine Deneuve Collection offers five classic films by five different directors:

Manon 70 (1968)

A stunningly beautiful woman (Deneuve) conquers the hearts of different men willing to pay for her affection. They provide her with expensive gifts, exotic trips, and everything else she desires. But when a handsome reporter (Frey) steals her heart she is faced with a difficult decision - to run away and live her dreams or continue to enjoy th...Read the entire review

Note:

I would like to publicly thank a wonderful friend I met through DVDTALK without whose persistent efforts this DVD release would have not been possible. Your assistance and above all passion were invaluable.

Thank you Prentice!

The Film:

Arguably the most important Macedonian film ever made as well as the most highly decorated one Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain (1994) is now part of the prestigious Criterion collection. Boasting a director-approved transfer this new release is the first commercial DVD presentation of the film worldwide.

A young Christian monk (Grégoire Colin) willing to confront his faith in order to save a helpless Muslim girl, a Macedonian reporter (Rade Serbedzija) who has immigrated to London, and a British photo agent (Katrin Cartlidge) are in the middle of a complex tale attemptin...Read the entire review

The Film:

The latest addition to First Run Features and their excellent collection of DEFA-licensed Eastern German films is Konrad Wolf's last project Solo Sunny (1980). Bleak and moody pic transports its audience back to the now defunct GDR, a state slowly disintegrating under the weight of a massive totalitarian monster.

Sunny (Renate Kroessner) is an ambitious but disillusioned singer with an on-the-move East German band called "The Tornados". She sleeps with the band members, sings, and lives by the day, desperately trying to avoid being normal. And most of the time Sunny succeeds. But when an amateur sax player (Alexander Lang) with a degree in philosophy joins the band Sunny's world turns upside down. She begins to desire everything a woman in love needs: attention, trust, and plenty of time with her lover.

Graced by an enormously beautiful soundtrack S...Read the entire review

The Film:

Transcriptions, a film by Andy Sommer, offers a collage of musical performances by French choir Accentus conducted by Laurence Equilbey. Here original works by Barber, Chopin, Debussy, Mahler, Prokofiev, Ravel, Schubert, Vivaldi, and Wagner have received new arrangements and filmed with interesting but ultimately discomforting imagery meant to enhance the listening experience.

The idea of mixing sounds with visuals in order to enhance a musical performance isn't groundbreaking. During the early 80s French industrial guru Jean-Michelle Jarre began experimenting with a number of live sets where fascinating visuals often proved to be much more enticing than his eclectic mix of ambient tunes. Jarre also chose some particularly stunning locations for his most successful performances and audiences adored his flashy style. Other artists followed up (Yanni, Enya, Enigma, Era...Read the entire review

The Film:

Disturbing and incredibly revealing Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid's Making Of attempts to understand suicide terrorism, those who choose to become martyrs using religion as an excuse for their criminal actions. Pic's stripped of political correctness narrative goes as far as possible without becoming a nihilistic exercise of propagandizing religious fundamentalism.

Twenty-five-year-old Bahta (Lotti Abdelli) is fascinated with break dance. He spends most of his time dancing on the streets where his friends admire his talent. But the local police authorities aren't happy with Bahta's performances. They often harass the young man even though he never breaks the law. Fed up Bahta decides to leave his country. He steals his grandfather's savings hoping to purchase proper documents for his trip. Unfortunately he is cheated and forced to run away from his family. A gr...Read the entire review

The Film:

A sixteen-year old girl is the focus of attention in Finnish director Kirsi Liimatainen's Sonja (2006). Honest, devoid of moralistic preaching, and above all superbly acted pic tells a story about one's girl's desire to remain true to her feelings.

Sonja (Sabrina Kruschwitz) loves to spend time with her best friend Julia (Julia Kaufmann). They talk about relationships, vogue, and poetry. Julia also likes to talk about boys. But Sonja doesn't. Sonja likes Julia and the more she spends time with her the more she begins to miss her when her friend isn't around. Is this what love is supposed to feel like?

After a weekend in the countryside and a disappointing sexual encounter with an older man Sonja returns home determined to reveal her feelings to Julia. But Julia has moved on and found a new boyfriend.

If you've seen Lukas Moodysson's Fucking ÅmålRead the entire review

The Film:

Five Lebanese women living in Beirut are caught between traditionalism and modernity in Nadine Labacki's critically acclaimed Sukkar banat a.k.a Caramel (2007). Bold, elegant, and irresistibly sensual, pic provides a fascinating yet sobering analysis of life in modern-day Lebanon where identity crisis is given a whole new meaning.

Why do people watch soap operas? Because they are easy to absorb entertainment, devoid of uncomfortable subjects, and meant to relax your nerves rather than present you with challenging themes demanding utmost concentration. At least this has been my experience with the few I have seen. Well, throw the above description out the window as it does not apply to Nadine Labacki's Cannes-screened charmer Caramel. From the moment I saw Layale (Labaki) and her colorful friends I knew that I was in for something special.

The story beh...Read the entire review

The Film:

British conductor Charles Hazelwood examines the life and work of Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in a BBC Video production aired in 2007. Mixing documentary footage with acting pic offers a wealth of information casual viewers unfamiliar with the Russian genius and his music will find fascinating. Professional musicians and those with good knowledge of Russian history however will likely conclude that factual analysis isn't Hazelwood's forte.

Attempting to be both entertaining and informative at the same time Tchaikovsky is a film that created mixed emotions in me. Tiptoeing between explaining the major highs and lows in the life of arguably the greatest Russian composer ever while seeking to understand why Tchaikovsky's music is perceived differently in Russia and the West the film really is quite difficult to categorize, it is not a documentary ye...Read the entire review

The Film:

Winner of the Best Film and FIPRESCI awards at the Istanbul International Film Festival Reha Erdem's deeply moving Times and Winds (2006) introduces to American audiences a director with an enormous potential. Impeccably-crafted, beautifully lensed, and irresistibly poetic pic solidifies Turkey as a hotbed for contemporary world cinema.

Set in a remote Turkish village Times and Winds follows the deeds of three teens and their families as they struggle to overcome personal tragedies while enduring the harsh lessons nature has to offer. Omer (Ozkan Ozen) whose father is a highly respected imam dreams for the day when he will no longer be treated as a kid. Young Yakup (Ali Bey Kayali) has fallen in love with the village's beautiful school teacher and is hugely disappointed when he sees his father peeking through her window. Yildiz (Elit Iscan) is doing her best ...Read the entire review

The Film:

Miriam (Martina Gedeck, Mostly Martha), Andre (Peter Davor), their son Niels (Lucas Kotaranin) and his girlfriend Livia (Svea Lohde) head to the Baltic Sea for a relaxing vacation. There the family encounters Bill (Robert Seeliger), an attractive but lonely man, who has recently returned to Germany after many years of living abroad. They quickly become friends and even sail together when the weather allows it.

Attracted by Livia and her wit Bill invites the young girl to spend more time with him. Miriam, who has assumed responsibility for Livia while she is away from her parents, becomes concerned that a friendship between a 12-year old girl and a man in his upper 30s can only produce trouble. Especially given Livia's sexually immature behavior!

In the meantime Niels who has been hoping to solidify his relationship with Livia becomes increasingly hostile to hi...Read the entire review

The Film:

A low budget Brazilian production about a poor country boy struggling to collect enough money to buy medicine for his ill grandmother The Eight Color of the Rainbow (1997) is director Amauri Tangara's one and only foray into the world of cinema. Unevenly paced and at times looking awkwardly amateurish pic walks a familiar route, it stumbles upon a string of clichés. Appealingly lensed vistas from Brazil's countryside make pic's rough spots less noticeable but aren't enough to secure a solid recommendation.

11-year-old Joãozinho (Diego Borges) decides to sell his closest friend, a pet goat named Mocinha, so he could buy his sick grandmother the medicine she needs. Unfortunately, there aren't any buyers in his poverty stricken village. Determined to help Joãozinho heads to the big city.

Mimicking the improvisational tone and aesthetic direction favored by th...Read the entire review

The Film:

A motley crew of characters struggling to overcome personal tragedies is used as a pretext for a broad and stripped of glamour portrait of Cuba in Humberto Solas' Barrio Cuba (2005). While the script occasionally suffers from banal inconsistencies pic's fine lensed vistas from the backstreets of La Havana more than make up for it. Winner of the Audience Award at the Huevla Latin American Film Festival.

Magalis (Luisa Maria Jimenez), a beautiful nurse with a tumultuous love life, has become Ignacio's (Mario Limonta), a lonely and often inebriated aging worker, obsession. He is convinced that sooner or later Magalis will respond to his invitations even though she has made her preference for younger men clear.

El Chino (Jorge Perugorria) is an overworked truck driver who barely spends time at home. His wife (Isabel Santos) has just found out that she is pregnant ...Read the entire review

The Film:

Balkan temperaments, noir, and plenty of black humor get mixed to perfection in Dalibor Matanic's Fine Dead Girls (2002). Challenging traditional status quos while delivering a good dose of entertainment pic is sure to captivate the hearts of those wishing for the return of now-cult Serbian director Emir Kusturica. Named one of the best Croatian films from the last decade.

Iva (Olga Pakalovic) and Marija (Nina Violic), a lesbian couple looking for some peace, move into an attractive building in the Croatian capital Zagreb. The place looks quiet, the neighbors seem nice, and the rent isn't bad at all. But a few days later all hell breaks loose - Iva is raped, Marija must fight for her life, and the neighbors are up in arms confronting the lesbian disease.

For Western viewers unfamiliar with living conditions in the former Yugoslavian republics, now indepe...Read the entire review

The Film:

Criterion adds a strong title to its limited selection of Spanish-language films - Juan Antonio Bardem's Death of a Cyclist (1955). Employing typical for the noir genre elements pic delivers a well-punctuated critique at Spanish bourgeois, the value system it shares. Winner of the FIPRESCI Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

An upper class geometry professor (Alberto Closas) and his mistress (Lucia Bose) kill an innocent cyclist while driving back from a late-night rendezvous. They decide to run away and leave their victim on the road. Back home the couple slowly begins to realize the consequences of their decision - the professor's job is now on the line because of his inability to deal with pressure while the woman faces the scrutinizing looks of her wealthy husband.

Strongly influenced by Hollywood and openly supportive of the Spanish Communist Party Bardem i...Read the entire review

The Film:

Executive produced and narrated by George Clooney Sand and Sorrow (2007) chronicles the Darfur tragedy as seen through the eyes of victims, politicians, and criminals. The meticulous analysis of key events involving the United States and the UN highlights facts which until recently were kept away from the public.

After gaining its independence in 1956 Sudan became a country where Arabs and Africans suddenly did not trust each other anymore. The pro-Arab government took the initiative in solving the issue by isolating the state from the outside world and giving power to the formidable janjaweed a.k.a "black riders" (a military group armed by the Sudanese government whose task was to cleanse the predominantly African Darfur from its non-Arab population). In an attempt to protect the region from the janjaweed in 2001 local tribal leaders formed the Sudanese Liber...Read the entire review

The Film:

A pre-occupied CEO falls for a highly independent artist in a Paris-set, colorful but ultimately too predictable, light comedy by Gallic helmer Pierre Jolivet. Occasional bits of fresh humor ease pic's too-sweet-bordering-bitter narrative but it all ends with the mandatory love-conquers-all lesson many will undoubtedly find annoying.

Lucas (Vincent Lindon) is struck by Elsa's (Sandrine Bonnaire) beauty when he sees her working on a giant ceramic floor in the foyer of his building. He approaches her and asks if she would be willing to have lunch with him. After a stereotypical exchange of misleading lines she agrees. Something more than a friendship is in the making.

Lucas likes Elsa and Elsa likes Lucas. Both of them however have second thoughts about why the other is interested. Elsa believes that Lucas is a man who can have any woman he desires - he is rich,...Read the entire review

The Film:

Reaching deep at the heart of a conflict Russia has been unable to resolve diplomatically Alexander Sokurov's Aleksandra (2007) is a powerful film about war and those who suffer by it. Graced by an indescribably moving performance by opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya (the wife of late cello-virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich) this is easily the Russian director's most accomplished work yet.

An old woman (Vishnevskaya) heads to an "unknown" location on the outskirts of the Russian state to visit her son (Shevtsov) He is an officer who has been away from home for years, battling the enemy. The babushka arrives at a large military camp where soldiers are dispatched daily on secretive missions. Her son welcomes her.

After a few days of wandering around the babushka decides to attend a nearby market. Before moving through the camp's gate the soldiers beg her to bring back...Read the entire review

The Film:

UK-born Australian helmer Alex Frayne calls for attention with his strange, necessitating a meticulous read, visually stunning Modern Love (2006). Following the steps of a man incapable of controlling a drastic personality change spurred by the death of a close relative pic offers a fascinating examination of human psychology. Distributed by Accent Film-Australia.

John (Mark Constable), his wife Emily (Victoria Hill), and their son Edward (William Traeger) arrive in a small Southern town to take care of his deceased uncle's (Don Barker) property. While Emily and Edward check into a local hotel John begins to question the locals about Uncle Tom's death - some say that he committed suicide, some are unwilling to talk. Puzzled John comes up with a theory of his own - Uncle Tom is alive and well, hiding in the nearby bushes.

If not for the occasional lines of dial...Read the entire review

The Film:

More than likely only a few years ago The World According to Shorts, a collection of six short films by independent filmmakers practically unknown in the US, would have had a next to zero chance of being released on DVD. In fact, to this day plenty of the shorts that enter competition at such prestigious festivals as Cannes and the Berlinale, are impossible to see once their short lived trips to stardom end. Unless, of course, you are keen on exploring the not so legal "sharing" networks. Fortunately enough, New Yorker Video have picked six shorts whose originality gives me plenty of hope that film directors are indeed looking to create rather than imitate. Something each summer I have a difficult time believing.

In La Perra up-and-coming Chilean director Hugo Maza reveals the strange fetish games of a wealthy, sexually frustrated, couple obsessed with thei...Read the entire review

The Film:

An unconventional love affair between two women, a web-cam performer and a tattoo-artist, is the focus of attention in Taiwanese lesbian director Zero Chou's critically acclaimed Spider Lilies (2007). Blending folklore with ultra-chic tunes pic effectively addresses a myriad of dilemmas modern societies are plagued with.

Jade (Rainie Yang) is a frivolous web-cam girl who decoys men willing to pay for a bit of nudity. Takeko (Isabella Leong), a tattoo-artist with a motley crew of clients, has an enormous yellow spider lily tattooed on her arm.

When Jade enters Takeko's studio she is immediately captivated by her spider lily. She is ready to pay and have the same tattoo on her body. But Takeko isn't willing to have Jade as a customer. She points to a large yellow lily, placed in an elegant holder, and explains that it is a source of bad luck. Misinterpreti...Read the entire review

The Film:

The third Tavianis film to be released this month by Koch Lorber Films is Fiorile (1993), a tale about love and revenge set amidst the green hills of Tuscany. Arriving to US shores for the first time ever pic reconfirms the Tavianis reputation as one of Italy's most gifted directors.

A young family drives through the Italian countryside. The father tells his children a story about a tragedy that has been haunting their family for years. The Benedettis, who once greeted the Napoleon army, are apparently responsible for the death of a French soldier who lost a precious cargo while helping a beautiful girl. 200 years later the Benedettis are still looking for peace.

Told as a collage of flashbacks Fiorile tackles familiar themes - true love, forgiveness, the subversive power of money, etc - closely intertwined in what some regard as one of the Tavianis most...Read the entire review