Latest – Page 640
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Reviews
Stranger (Ono)
Dir:Malgosia Szumowska. Ger-Pol. 2005. 98mins.Thesecond full-length feature by Polish film-maker Malgosia Szumowska, Strangeris infused with the spirit of Kieslowski. But this slow, measured film about anunmarried girl who decides to go ahead with an unplanned pregnancy does notfeel derivative.Unsentimental,emotionally intelligent, it gets under the skin, adding up to more than ...
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Reviews
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Kekexili)
Dir: LuChuan. Chi-HK. 2004. 90mins.Chinesefilm-maker Lu Chuan, who made a lively debut with The Missing Gun in2001, confirms his promise and extends his range with Kekexili: MountainPatrol, which screened in Forum at Berlin after successful outings at Tokyoand Sundance (it also beat Wong Kar-wai's's 2046 to the best film prizeat ...
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Reviews
The Works ties up Berlin deals
The Works licensed PawelPawlikowski's My Summer Of Love to Brazil's Europa. Tara Road was soldto Svensk for Scandinavia, Cinearts bought festival title Tickets forBenelux, while Dongsong bought it for Korea. Israel's Orlando Films boughtcompetition film The Sun for Israel. Off market title The AlzheimerCase was sold to Media Soso for ...
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Reviews
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha
Dir. Mark Domford-May. SAfr. 2004. 120mins.Bizet's Carmen,arguably the most popular grand opera written and certainly the one mostfrequently adapted to the big screen, enjoys another outing, this time to SouthAfrica, for U-Carmen eKhayelitshaMark Domford-May's updatedversion is set in the present day, performed by local talents, sung in Xhosaand shot in ...
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Reviews
The Wayward Cloud (Tian Bian Yi Duo Hun)
Dir/scr: Tsai Ming-Liang.Fr-Tai. 2005. 111mins.Taiwan auteur TsaiMing-Liang revisits all his favourite themes in The Wayward Cloud, hiseighth feature. There's his water obsession - here figured in a nationwidewater shortage, which leads to a run on mineral water and watermelons. There'shis exploration of lonely characters lost in a big but strangely ...
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Reviews
Peacock (Kong Que)
Dir: Gu Changwei China.2005. 161mins.If further proof wereneeded of the technical and emotional maturity of the New Chinese cinema, then Peacocksupplies it. The story of three siblings in a provincial Chinese town at thetail end of the Cultural Revolution, this sensitive, deceptively simple filmtakes a while to establish its authority, ...
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Reviews
Dumplings
Dir: Fruit Chan. HK.2005. 91mins.Described by the directoras a "post-feminist horror film", Dumplings is the full-length versionof a 30-minute short presented in Venice last year as part of Three Extremes,an omnibus film which also showcased twisted tales by Asian directors TakeshiMiike and Park Chan-Wook.Dumplings was easily the best thing about ...
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Reviews
Sophie Scholl ' The Final Days
Dir. Marc Rothemund. Ger.2005. 120mins.Previously the basis for two previous German features, thestory of wartime freedom fighter Sophie Scholl again reaches the screen - thistime in competition at Berlin - with the added draw of new and as yet unpublishedevidence which purports to throw additional light on her case.Scholl, played ...
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ReviewsThe Beat That My Heart Skipped (De Battre Mon Coeur S'Est Arrete)
Dir:Jacques Audiard. Fr. 2005. 107mins.
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Reviews
The Sun (Solntse)
Dir. Alexander Sokurov.Russ-It-Fr-UK. 110mins.After Hitler and Lenin,it is now the turn of Japan's Emperor Hirohito to be the centrepiece ofAlexander Sokurov's third chapter in his projected tetralogy on politicalleaders of the 20th century.Far more relaxed, positiveand even cheerful - if such a term can be applied to a Sokurov work ...
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Reviews
Wolf Creek
Dir: GregMclean. Australia. 2005. 98mins.Worldpremiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month but picked up byDimension/Miramax late last year, Wolf Creek is an extremelywell-crafted horror movie supposedly based on "real events". Although those"real events" are largely fabricated, the film has a ring of truth toit which renders it genuinely disturbing. ...
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Reviews
Paradise Now
Dir. HanyAbu-Assad. Pal-Neth-Ger-Fr. 2005. 90mins.Putting a humanface on suicide bombers without lionising them is a tough assignment, and HanyAbu-Assad almost pulls it off with his feature Paradise Now, despite theminefield of unresolved issues he has to negotiate.His story about twoPalestinian childhood friends who pledge their lives to the cause, and ...
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Reviews
Rabbit On the Moon (Conejo En La Luna)
Dir/scr: JorgeRamirez-Suarez. Mex-UK. 2005. 114mins.A tightly-paced politicalthriller, Rabbit On The Moon opened to peppy reviews and buoyant boxoffice takings on its home release in Mexico last October. A rare Mexico-UKco-production, it proves to be a hardworking film with some rough edges but asurefire genre instinct. Its overseas prospects will not ...
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Reviews
The Last Mitterand (Le Promeneur Du Champ De Mars)
Dir. RobertGuediguian. Fr. 2005. 116mins.A finely etched portrait of Francois Mitterand,one of Europe's last political giants, Robert Guediguian's new film finds theProvencal director in top form, dealing with the kind of material he favours:politics and its application in individual terms.Proceeding at aleisurely pace and advancing with great care, The Last ...
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Reviews
Tickets
Dirs:Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach. It-UK. 2005. 118mins.Three famous directors joining forces to direct one film is not new, but Ticketsdiffers from other recent "celebrity trio" showcases (Eros, ThreeExtremes) in that its film-makers share the same setting, some of the samecharacters and the same screenplay (or, in the case ...
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Reviews
Tickets
Dirs:Ermanno Olmi, Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach. It-UK. 2005. 118mins.Three famous directors joining forces to direct one film is not new, but Ticketsdiffers from other recent "celebrity trio" showcases (Eros, ThreeExtremes) in that its film-makers share the same setting, some of the samecharacters and the same screenplay (or, in the case ...
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Reviews
Asylum
Dir:David Mackenzie. UK-Ire. 2005. 93mins.A dark, assured period piece about passion and madness, and the way societyrestrains them, Asylum is a much slicker product than Scottish directorDavid Mackenzie's previous outing, Young Adam.It has not had an easygestation: US distributor Paramount has been involved since Patrick McGrath'snovel was published in 1997; ...
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Reviews
Hayat
Dir:Gholamreza Ramezani. Iran. 2004. 78mins.Want to make a heartwarming Iranian kids' movie' Take an endearing kid froma poor background, give her a goal, and then provide an obstacle. It worked forThe White Balloon (goal: buy goldfish; obstacle: money goes down thedrain, literally), and it works for Hayat, which opened the ...
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Reviews
Fateless (Sorstalansag)
Dir. Lajos Koltai.Hung-Ger-UK. 2005. 136mins.Initially offered a lessprestigious slot at Berlin, the producers of Fateless have been provedjustified in holding out for the competition slot which it was awarded hoursbefore the festival began.Oscar-nominatedcinematographer Lajos Koltai's (Malena, Being Julia) grim andsober debut initially seems like any other neatly calibrated, if hardlyexceptional ...
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Reviews
Hayat
Dir:Gholamreza Ramezani. Iran. 2004. 78mins.Want to make a heartwarming Iranian kids' movie' Take an endearing kid froma poor background, give her a goal, and then provide an obstacle. It worked forThe White Balloon (goal: buy goldfish; obstacle: money goes down thedrain, literally), and it works for Hayat, which opened the ...