The Movie

As a film lover, when works such as Partition slip through the cracks, it breaks your heart just a little bit. I don't mean to oversell writer/director Vic Sarin's lush period piece as some kind of life-altering experience -- it's a bit too meandering for that -- but rather, to say that something so lovingly assembled and sweated over should achieve a bit more recognition than it has to date. As mainstream Hollywood becomes a colder, more digital place, it's nice to take a breath and see flesh-and-blood storytelling still a vital presence in epic stories.

The time in which Partition is set -- 1947, as the reign of the British Raj draws to a close -- is one of intense political and social turmoil, particularly for war-weary Gian Singh (Jimi Mistry), who finds himself responsible for the young Naseem (Kristin Kreuk), the survivor of a brutal Sikh raid ...Read the entire review

The Film:

A German read on Michel Houellebecq's nihilistic novel about social ineptitude. Story concerns two half-brothers whose lives slowly disintegrate under the weight of sex and love.

In France films such as Oskar Roehler's Elementarteilchen a.k.a The Elementary Particles (2006) are typically labeled as comédie dramatique. These are works that tend to explore an array of socially relevant issues, often providing a critical point of view, while finding humor where typically one is likely to uncover drama.

Roehler's adaptation of Houellebecq's novel is a cold, well-measured, and awkwardly hilarious film with an honest but demoralizing message lambasting most things modern. Sex, idealism, and liberation, both spiritual and physical, are the target of an unconventionally-scripted critique some may find trivial.

Bruno (M...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
A boy's life in hockey-mad 1960s Quebec

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Hockey
Likes: Quirky coming-of-age stories
Dislikes: Les Habs
Hates: Having sat through this movie

The Movie
I love hockey. Most of America doesn't. I am not Canadian. Most of Canada is. Therefore, most of Canada loves hockey. (Thus explains my bad math grades throughout school.) So, a coming of age story about a small-town kid in love with the Montreal Canadiens (or the New York Yankees of hockey), would seem like a perfect piece of entertainment for Canada, and by extension, me. Add in the fact that this is a quirky little tale about growing-up in a small town, a film sub-genre I greatly enjoy (with Simon Birch being o...Read the entire review

The Movie

A really terrible "social drama" masquerading as a nigh unwatchable occult thriller, Giles Daoust's The Room is all sorts of irritating. If you go only by the DVD cover and the back-case synopsis, you might think you're getting into a haunted house psycho-thriller of some sort. Ignore that fleeting impulse, put the DVD down, and go rent something less annoying. Like the complete works of Ernest P. Worrell.

Boasting the world's longest 82-minute running time, The Room is nothing more than one random episode of a Belgian soap opera, with only a few cursory references to things horrific, mysterious, or supernatural in nature. The players are two miserably awful parents, a pregnant daughter in her late 20s, and a mentally retarded brother who's used as a pawn between the other three.

And when I say that these are some of the most outrageously obnoxious movie characters ...Read the entire review

The Film:

Tired from the boring routine of his profession fifty-ish old bailiff Jean-Claude Delsart (Patrick Chesnais) decides to enroll in a tango class. Just like the one he watches every day from the back window of his office. There he meets the forty-ish and soon-to-be married beautiful Francoise (Anne Consigny). She approaches Jean-Claude and asks if he would like to dance with her.

As time goes by it becomes obvious that Francoise not only likes to dance with Jean-Claude she also fancies talking to him. The two go out a few times, attend a play, even arrange to meet at Jean-Claude's place (Francoise conveniently forgets her dancing shoes in his car and asks if she could pick them up). Soon the two tango enthusiasts find each other under the spell of what th...Read the entire review

"Films can illustrate our existence...they can distress, disturb and provoke people into thinking about themselves and certain problems but not give the answers." - Director Joseph Losey (The Boy with the Green Hair, The Trout, The Damned, Eva).

In order to grasp Takeshis' (2005), you really have to know some background info on star/writer/editor/director Takeshi "Beat" Kitano. He is a man with a curious career and a curiouser public persona. Consider this, in the US and Europe he is most well-known as a well-regarded arthouse writer/director/actor of poetic gangster films like Sonatine and Fireworks, but that stage of his career only consists of the past fifteen years. Many years prior to that in Japan he has been a comedian and tv show host, helming multiple shows at a time, from game shows, to chat shows, variety programs, and so forth. Despite his artistic success as a...Read the entire review

The Film:

Three women - an American, an Israeli, and a Palestinian – embark on a journey amidst the dusty roads of Jordan.

Rebecca (Nathalie Portman) has decided to part ways with her fiancée and leave Jerusalem as soon as possible. She packs her personal belongings and heads towards the closest taxi station.

Hanna (Hanna Laszlo) is a taxi driver who often commutes between Israel and Jordan. She is on her way to the Free Zone to collect a sizeable amount of money when Rebecca gets into her cab.

In the Free Zone Hanna meets Leila (Hiam Abbass) a Palestinian who will offer to guide her taxi to "The Oasis"- a place where Hanna must collect her money. Upon arrival something unusual happens.

Immediately after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year Free Zone (2005), Israeli director Amos Gitai's latest film, became a heated topic for discus...Read the entire review

The Film:

In La Petite Jerusalem, a large suburban area of Paris known for its low-income housing, thousands of first-generation Jewish immigrants are struggling to make ends meet. Many are facing disappointments much stronger than the desire that inspired them to leave relatives and homes behind.

Laura (Fanny Valette), lives with her Sephardic Orthodox family, but doesn't share her relatives' devotion to the Torah. She spends more and more time walking alone on the dark streets of La Petite Jerusalem. Laura is also fascinated by philosophy and the nearby school she attends seems like the only place where she finds solace.

Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein), Laura's older sister, is having suspicions that the strict rules of ...Read the entire review

The Film:

Looking at the cast for Un Fil a la Patte a.k.a The Art of Breaking Up (2005), a film based on the well-known play by popular French playwright Georges Feydeau, one would certainly have every reason to expect something special. Emmanuelle Beart (L'Enfer), Domiunique Blanc (Le Pornographe), Stanislas Merhar (Adoplhe), and Charles Berling (Demonlover), these are only a few of the names associated with this ambitious project. Unfortunately despite of the talented cast, Michel Deville, the director of Un Fil a la Patte, does not seem to have had a clear idea how precisely to use the potential (and acting skills) of those who agreed to contribute.

The story of Un Fil a la Patte evolves around the flamboyant Lucette (Emmanuelle Beart), her savvy admirer Edouard de Bois ...Read the entire review

It's possible, but not likely, that a film like Joseph Castelo's The War Within (2005) would have been conceived before 2001---and though it's not as if terrorist activity began in that year, a profound sense of reflection for the tragedy runs deep in the film's veins. It's certainly not the first drama to do so, but the main difference lies in the story's perspective: as seen from the eyes of a man who aims to destroy Manhattan's Grand Central Station, it's obvious that The War Within needs to choose its words carefully. Luckily, it does. This isn't the only line it treads carefully, especially once the difference between understanding actions and supporting them becomes clear.

Our protagonist is Hassan (Ayad Akhtar, also credited as co-writer), a young Pakistani man arrested and tortured ...Read the entire review

Note: A noticeably better version of this film has been released. For further details please see the HK R3 review also found at DVDTALK. (update: October 5, 2006).

The Film:

Paris, Place Pigalle…

An average looking man (Bernard Campan) sees a beautiful Italian prostitute (Monica Bellucci) in a rundown locale. He walks in, orders a drink, and offers the girl 100 000 Euros...for each month she spends with him. The man has just won the lottery.

Without knowing much about her client and how precisely she is expected to earn his money the girl agrees and moves in with the man. For the next couple of months she will love the man and wave him goodbye each morning when he leaves for work. Then, when the man runs out of money, the Italian beauty will pack, leave, and begin a new life.

Part romantic story with a twist, part tragi-comic farce Ber...Read the entire review

Paris, the beginning of the century…

After a lush but uneventful party Jean (Pascal Greggory) discovers a small letter placed on the top of his desk. In it his beautiful and utterly sophisticated wife Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert) has confessed that her heart now belongs to a different man. Overtaken by uncontrollable emotions Jean collapses - his heart racing, his hands visibly shaking. Later on he saunters to Gabrielle's room only to find out what the letter has already revealed. She is gone!

But a few hours later Gabrielle is back. She walks in the room where Jean has been trying to recollect his thoughts and slowly looks at him. Her big eyes are begging for forgiveness. The lover she has left behind is not the man Gabrielle wants to spend the rest of her days ...Read the entire review

The Film:
Fear has engulfed the city of Paris. In a series of deadly strikes a group of highly-sophisticated and utterly brutal criminals has brought the French police to a near state of collapse. No one has any idea where or how to begin an investigation that will put an end to a rather humiliating situation. There are no leads, there are no suspects, yet reports keep pilling up the desk of the local police commissioner. For Leo Vrinks (Daniel Auteuil) and Denis Klein (Gerard Depardieu) however this could be the perfect case.

While Denis Klein desperately wants to succeed the current police commissioner of 36 Quai des Orfevres (the French equivalent of Scotland Yard) Leo Vrinks is increasingly growing tired of the swill Paris has to offer. The daily interaction with informers, undercover cops, and reformed criminals is slowly but surely taking its toll. However, when the commis...Read the entire review

Movie:
5x2: Five times Two is a divorce movie that plays out in reverse. Directed by François Ozon from an original story the film starts the day a couple divorces and then goes back through five vignettes that reveal what led to that fateful day.

It begins with a peculiar scene in which the couple - Marion [Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi] and Gilles [Stéphane Freiss] - sign the divorce papers and then go to a hotel room together to have sex. From this start you know that their relationship is not typical. Scene two involves a dinner party where a conversation reveals that Gilles has not been faithful to Marion. Scene three shows the birth of their son and the peculiar reaction by Gilles. Scene four is their wedding night, which doesn't go exactly according to plan and scene five is how they meet.

As far as film narratives are concerned Memento started the trend of having a film s...Read the entire review

The Film:

The Iraqi-Turkish border…

Written and superbly directed by Bahman Ghobadi Turtles Can Fly follows the story of a group of children nestled in a village somewhere on the outskirts of unrecognized Kurdistan. Living a life that would be more suitable for a nomad tribe, literally forgotten by time, Soran (Soran Ebrahim) and his posse of underage boys are awaiting the arrival of the Americans. Rumor is…the Americans have overthrown Saddam's regime and are now on their way to the village where Soran, or Satellite as the locals refer to him, is trying to make ends meet by selling deactivated mines. In an attempt to meet the growing demand for updates on the war Soran will help the village obtain a brand new satellite dish which as it appears allows ...Read the entire review

The Movie

Hoping to charm those in search of an idyllic cinematic sojourn to the scenic French countryside, director Philippe de Broca's swan song (the auteur passed away in November 2004), "Vipere au poing" or Viper In The Fist traffics in the sort of children-overcoming-adversity-in-picturesque-surroundings tale that often plucks heartstrings and strikes that soft spot generally reserved for soft-focus long distance phone commercials. Viper In The Fist also apparently wants to pounce upon the ever-ravenous "Harry Potter" market as the back of the DVD case trumpets the film as "a delicious alternative to 'Harry Potter'!" That I don't know about, but what I do know is that Viper In The Fist is a diverting enough excursion down a well-traveled narrative road.

Adapted from Herve Bazin's novel of the same name by de Broca and Olga Vincent, the film opens in the Twent...Read the entire review

The Movie

Sergio Castellito's Don't move has achieved a certain degree of international notoriety thanks to a pair of graphic rape scenes involving Penelope Cruz, scenes that have not surprisingly given many cause to question the sexual morals of a film that uses rape as the starting point of a 'loving' relationship.

To focus on whether the film's treatment of its thorny subject encourages or justifies violence against women, though understandable and even laudable on a certain level, is to entirely miss what Castellito has done here, however. Don't Move is a beautifully lyrical piece of work that is not at all concerned with addressing the moral issues at all, having started from the assumption - delivered by Castellito's lead character - that "We're all cruel. Some more, some less." That cruelty is a given and in this context Castellito's question is not 'Is this a good thing?' b...Read the entire review

Mensonges et Traihison [aka The Story of my Life] is a French romantic comedy about the life of a frustrated biography writer. Raphael (Edouard Baer) ghost writes biographies for famous people. He is bored doing this but he doesn't seem to have enough inspiration to write something for himself. He lives with his girlfriend Muriel (Marie-Josee Croze) whom he enjoys but doesn't really love.

He gets an assignment to write a biography of a famous soccer player. He doesn't much like the guy until he finds out that the he is dating a beautiful blonde woman named Claire (Alice Taglioni) who he once had a crush on in college.

Raphael pursues Claire but, inevitably, runs into trouble with both his girlfriend and the soccer player. In time he hits his nader but then begins to slowly find himself again.

The acting is quite good even if it none of the actors are made to stretch their abilities. Edoua...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Fear and loathing in Laval, Quebec

The Movie
Made by Canadians, about Canadians, for Canadians, The Chiefs is a snapshot of small-town hockey. The Laval Chiefs, of Quebec's semi-pro LHSPQ hockey league, are modeled after the Chiefs of the legendary hockey film, Slapshot. That means they fight...often. Chiefs hockey is violent and vicious, and the fans, including "Belt Guy," a middle-class super-fan who makes his own Chiefs Championship belts, while praising his team in his heavily-accented English, wouldn't have it any other way.

This documentary follows the team through one of their seasons, focusing on the main fighters. Mike Henderson, the team's star, and a father of a l...Read the entire review

Movie: I admit to liking obscure movies and documentaries that most people don't get a chance to see. It's a desire to check out releases that are off the beaten track rather than rush to the flavor-of-the-moment that the masses seem to prefer. I got a chance to view a French documentary, To Be And To Have (AKA: Etre Et Avoir), and left scratching my head, even though it was wildly acclaimed by the press overseas.

The show details a small classroom in a little French town where a single man, Georges Lopez, playing himself, teaches a group of students from kindergarten to junior high in the small school. The idea is that such a setting allows the children to learn more than just a compartmentalized lesson plan, they also learn the social skills needed throughout their lives. As a guy who has lived in a city setting all his life, where schools typically are crammed with huge numbe...Read the entire review

Movie: Comedies made in another country are sometimes hard to understand. The reason for this is that often enough, comedy is based on a specific set of cultural circumstances that are unique to the culture in which it was made. After all, what's funny in one area is not necessarily funny elsewhere. If you were to make a movie poking fun at the French, it'd be far more likely to be a hit in England and the USA than in France (for example) based as much on recent events as anything else. The same holds true for movies made overseas. Movies that rely on universal themes have the most chance of working for a broad base of consumers. One such movie was a French comedy, See How They Run (AKA Embrassez Qui Vous Voudrez).

The movie centers on an ensemble cast of characters that are going on vacation. One couple is financially well off and going to a typical resort spot. Their neighbors...Read the entire review

I am Dina, hear me roar.

As a child, Dina (Maria Bonnevie) is traumatized after accidentally causing the death of her mother, who was burned to death by a vat of boiling lye. Her father is resentful, giving her little love, and Dina grows into a fierce, strange woman who is haunted by her mothers ghost. The only person who shows her any compassion is her music teacher, who gives her outlet to express her feelings through playing the cello. As she reaches adulthood, her father marries her off to a business partner, Jacob (Gérard Depardieu), and eventually the older man cannot control her passion for sex and impetuous nature to do as she pleases. Following his death, she has an affair with a stable boy and life long friend, wrestles for control of Jacob's business with his children, and falls for Leo (Christopher Eccleston), a dedicated Russian anarchist. But, she is a woman haunted by the ghosts of ...Read the entire review

The Canadian thriller Posers begins with the introduction of four club-hopping roommates. Vonny (Sarain Boylan) is a coke-snorting substitute teacher. Ruth (Emily Hampshire), who hawks flowers in the back of a van and seizes every possible opportunity to sneak onto on the 6 o'clock news, is part of the group just so they'll have someone close by to look down on. The latest addition is the utterly indifferent Adria (Jessica Paré; Stardom and...hey, Big Wolf on Campus). The three of them are led by Love (Stefanie von Pfetten), who's so incensed that her boyfriend ditched her for another girl that she catches up with ...Read the entire review

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, Dog Days is the feature-film debut of Austrian documentarian Ulrich Seidl. This is a painful film, a difficult-to-watch film. Think of it as a sad, cruel fat man sweating like a split sausage as he forces a sagging old woman to perform a striptease under a broiling sun. Come to think of it, that's awfully close to one of this ugly film's final scenes.

Set in Vienna on a hot-as-hell summer weekend, Dog Days interweaves several stories, all of which involve bitter, hideous, or mean-spirited human beings. There's the incredibly irritating, mentally challenged hitchhiker who berates and annoys the commuters who reluctantly pick her up. There's the repugnant widower who forces his cleaning lady to wear his dead wife's clothes and strip for him. There's the bitter divorced couple sharing the...Read the entire review

Based on an infamous novel, this 2001 Thai melodrama follows the life of Jan Dara. He is the unwanted son in a chaotic household. His father, Khun Luang, is devastated by the death of Jan Dara's mother, who died giving birth to Jan Dara. Khun Luang blames the child and calls him a bastard, so as Jan Dara grows up he becomes Khun Luang's whipping boy, a subject of scorn, quietly observing his father and his various sexual dalliances with the help. Some relief comes in the form of a compassionate aunt and a boy (hired help) who move into the compound. Jan Dara's aunt gives birth to a daughter, Kaew, who Khun Luang fathered. Khun Luang remarries a cultured beauty named Khun B, who, despite his love for a virginal local girl, Jan Dara begins to have a steamy affair with. Eventually Kaew, the favored, spoiled, daughter who was taught to hate Jan Dara, has him kicked out of the family and left on his own a...Read the entire review

The Movie
Julien Temple, director of "The Filth and the Fury" and "Absolute Beginners" takes you behind treason, beyond madness and into the depths of the human mind in this esoteric production from Universal M&V starring John Hannah (The Mummy Returns), Linus Roach and supported by Emily Woof and 2000 Academy Award Nominee Samantha Morton.

The movie takes you visually into the poems created by the two celebrities of their time, putting to film aspects of love and creativity. The core of the story is the relationship between William Wordsworth (John Hannah), a fledgling poet concerned with society and the life of England's estuary fishermen and his mentor Samuel Coleridge (Linus Roach), poet, magical thinker and political activist who strives in his writing to go the the ou...Read the entire review