/xml/top-banner.xml/xml/home-bottom-banner.xmltruemoviestext/html; charset=UTF-8en-usIvo Widjajadescriptionequeenoxequeenox(c) equeenoxmoviesIf a million people see my movie, I hope they see a million different movies.Quentin Tarantino, referring to his movie Pulp FictionA film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.Stanley KubrickEvery film should have a beginning, a middle, and an endnot necessarily in that order.Jean-Luc GoddardAlfredo : Living here day by day,
you think it's the center of the world.
You believe nothing will ever change.
Then you leave: a year, two years.
When you come back, everything's changed.
The thread's broken. What you came to find isn't there.
What was yours is gone.
You have to go away for a long time... many years
... before you can come back and find your people.
The land where you were born.
But now, no. It's not possible.
Right now you're blinder than I am.
Salvatore: Who said that?
Gary Cooper? James Stewart? Henry Fonda? Eh?
Alfredo: No, Toto. Nobody said it.
This time it's all me.
Life isn't like in the movies.
Life... is much harder.Cinema Paradiso
Simple love, simply beautiful, unfolds as the story returned to first day a girl and a school teacher met, and came back to a long walk of the grieving girl and her son walk their loved one's body home many years later.
A love of a Jewish man to his woman and his son that never succumbed to sadness, hopelessness and fear of the death in a Nazi camp. A refreshing look at human suffering under the holocaust.
My Life as A Dog
The story of little Ingemar as he traversed his rough times: lost his terminally ill mother, sent away to stay with his relative, met various strange characters, yet he though his life is not as bad as Laika - the Russian dog sent into space.
In 19th century Denmark, two adult sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the honored pastor of a small Protestant church that is almost a sect unto itself. Although they each are presented with a real opportunity to leave the village, the sisters choose to stay with their father, to serve to him and their church. After some years, a French woman refugee, Babette, arrives at their door, begs them to take her in, and commits herself to work for them as maid/housekeeper/cook. Sometime after their father dies, the sisters decide to hold a dinner to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Babette experiences unexpected good fortune and implores the sisters to allow her to take charge of the preparation of the meal. Although they are secretly concerned about what Babette, a Catholic and a foreigner, might do, the sisters allow her to go ahead. Babette then prepares the feast of a lifetime for the members of the tiny church and an important gentleman related to one of them.
Summary written by Ed Cannon {ecannon@mail.utexas.edu}
The guest, a General at the Swedish court, is not related to the sister, but, as a callow young man, was in love with her, but chose his military career over happiness with her. His aunt is a member of the religious community. He is the one who, unknowingly, identifies Babette as the famous chef from Paris' "Cafe Anglais," and provides the catalyst for the enjoyment of the feast.
Stephane Audran is the eponymous heroine of this beautifully measured study of a small Danish community towards the end of the last century. Two beautiful and musically talented sisters give-up their own prospects of happiness and marriage in order to look-after their ageing father. One day, a French woman, Babette, comes to work for them. After some years she wins the lottery and is determined to do something for the sisters who have taken her in. Her solution is to prepare an exquisite and sumptuous feast, which changes the lives of all those invited. This is a film about human and cultural interaction, reflected in the changing language of the dialogue from Danish to French, and especially between the dutiful sobriety of Protestant northern Europe and the sensuousness of the Catholic south. It is also about human needs, and how warmth and kindness can be expressed and stimulated through the cultivation of the senses. A profoundly uplifting film.
The perfect grouch has met his match. A five-year-old boy named Kolya.
Plot Summary: Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man... (more)
Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man. Having lost his place in the state orchestra, he must make ends meet by playing at funerals and painting tombstones. But he has run up a large debt, and when his friend, the grave-digger Mr. Broz, suggests a scheme for making a lot of money by marrying a Russian woman so that she can get her Czech papers, he reluctantly agrees. She takes advantage of the situation to emigrate to West Germany, to her lover; and leaves her five-year-old son with his grandmother; when the grandmother dies, Kolya must come and live with his stepfather - Louka.
This translates to MUST-SEE! It's a credulous incredible storytelling of a young brother and sister in Tehran, and the adventurous saga around one very important pair of sneakers.
The two young actors are amazing -- they play their guileless naïve sensitivity with such earnestness! Central character, Ali, the 9 year old brother, is Mir Farrokh Hashemian, who really carried the film with his legwork, and the younger sister Zahra is Bahareh Seddiqui, who contributed her restrained share of screen presence. The pair is so natural: those furrowed faces, anxious knitted brows -- the range of sad faces the two came up with! The bond between the brother and sister is so warm and joyful - in spite of misfortunes.
The storyline is seemingly simple. Such story-weaving knack writer-director Majid Majidi has -- he can make chasing along a streaming gutter into an intense dramatic episode! The story has the texture likened to a Thomas Hardy novel (poverty setting, episode after episode, turn of events), yet such a relishingly simple delivery. He doesn't have to tell it all on the screen -- little nuances and observations suffice.
It's heartening to see young children who are polite and respectful to their elders, responsible and caring in dealing with their everyday problems, and not give up -- such quiet fortitude in spite of disappointments, such tolerance of their circumstance yet still able to find joy in little things. We catch a smile here and there, e.g., when they enjoy the impromptu soap bubbles, or when he encouraged his sister by giving her small tokens.
This is an absolute gem of a family (value) film. Children's emotions untapped, yet adults are not left out -- touches of grown-up connections: the parents, the elderly couple next door, the shop-owners, all made this world very real.
The camerawork, and the well-designed use of sound mixed with accompanying music (different tonal quality instruments were applied) complemented this cinematic experience. A poetic ending -- there's a serenity about it all.
I hope "Children of Heaven" will win this year's 71st Academy Award Best Foreign Film Oscar -- it will receive its due exposure and more people will experience this gem.
Along the lines of poverty and shoes, I thought of the Italian 1978's "The Tree of the Wooden Clogs" by writer-director Ermanno Olmi. And, on a story with substance and good acting by an Iranian young boy, there's 1989's "Bashu, The Little Stranger", by writer-director Bahram Beizai. Both are movies to be appreciated.
"I Not Stupid" brilliantly portrays what Singaporeans are like. Jack Neo has done it! He finally made a brilliant movie!
Through this movie, you'll be able to know how typical Singaporeans talk and behave. That everything your parents do is "for your own good". So much so that one of the kids becomes so spoiled until he can't even prepare his own breakfast!
You'll also understand why Singaporeans don't question much. It's all because of the way the parents treat the kids, making them a bunch of "obedient" citizens.
Jack Neo even went on to criticize the government in a very subtle way, and that scene actually made me laugh the loudest!
So if you want to know how Singaporeans are like, see this wonderful piece!
"Jan Dara" is another beautifully shot picture from Thailand's Nonzee Nimibutr. I liked his 1999 film "Nang nak" but "Jan Dara" is definitely an improvement. The classically beautiful camera work mixed with highly erotic scenes remind one of Annaud's "L'amant" - but "Jan Dara" has a more nostalgic look with lots of sepia colors in it. What strikes me is that there's not a single (important) character in this movie that is ugly. This is a movie full of gorgeous people. In "Nang Nak", the main actor was amazingly well built but had rotten teeth - here, everyone seems to be a model. I found myself especially enchanted by the the one who plays 17-year old Jan. This beauty of the actors and actresses perfectly fits the slightly artificial mood of the movie.
In a futuristic Britain, a gang of teenagers go on the rampage every night, beating and raping helpless victims. After one of the boys quells an uprising in the gang, they knock him out and leave him for the police to find. He agrees to try "aversion therapy" to shorten his jail sentence. When he is eventually let out, he hates violence, but the rest of his gang members are still after him.
Summary written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}
Alex, a teenage hooligan in a near-future Britain, gets jailed by the police. There he volunteers as guinea pig for a new aversion therapy proposed by the government to make room in prisons for political prisoners. "Cured" of his hooliganism and released, he is rejected by his friends and relatives. Eventually nearly dying, he becomes a major embarrassment for the government, who arrange to cure him of his cure. A pivotal moment is when he and his gang break into an author's home: the book he is writing (called "A Clockwork Orange") is a plea against the use of aversion therapy, on the grounds that it turns people into Clockwork Oranges (Ourang is Malay for "Man"): they are not being good from choice (sentiments later echoed by the prison chaplain). The film reflects this: many bad scenes in a Clockwork Orange are accompanied by jolly music; if we are to experience them as we should, we have to do it consciously, by realising they are bad, and not because the director tells us so through the use of music and images.
Lola rennt or Run Lola Run as we say it, is a German thriller written and directed by Tom Tykwer. This Film will contrast your emotions as it shows you how one little event in somebody's life can change there's, and other peoples lives forever. This rollercoaster ride of emotions will keep you gripped all the way through as it jumps from soft, dimly lit emotional scenes, to the completely contrasting scenes of running and constant action.
The music used in this film complements the scenes very well, when it's a slow scene our ears are graced with soft classical music like when Lola is falling to the ground in a slow motion shot. The complete opposite of this is used in the fast paced running scenes, as we get pounded by constant techno beats. I believe that the director has used techno to try and get us inside Lola's head as she is running and stressing about Manni and all the other events that happen throughout this amazing film.
Lola's Determination to save her boyfriend Manni is very well projected as she enters the bank that her father runs, and throughout the three different versions of the story uses different techniques to try and save him. This involvement with the characters and the three different storylines is very unique to this style of film. I think that the actors have delivered a very memorable and exciting performance which will leave viewers wanting to watch the film over and over again.
I think that this director has used this style of film very well, he is one of this first to successfully use this style and create a very interesting and exciting film. This film is almost the only one of its kind, other than the film 'Sliding Doors' but even in that the character is living two parallel lives but in this film it is replayed over again.
This film used interesting techniques that I had never seen in a film before. I think that the snapshots into the peoples lives gave you a good view of how one little event can change your life forever. By replaying through the same sort of events three times the director lets you really get a sense of feeling for the characters, especially Lola and as the film progresses you actually start to care about the characters and I think this was a really good quality in the film.
Brash, loudmouthed and opportunistic, Kikujiro hardly seems the ideal companion for little Masao who is determined to travel long distances to see the mother he has never met. Their excursion to the cycle races is the first of a series of adventures for the unlikely pair which soon turns out to be a whimsical journey of laughter and tears with a wide array of surprises and odd ball characters to meet along the way.
Vignettes of childhood memories - possibly Kitano's own childhood experiences and impressions, "Kikujiro" is not like the deep or layered deliveries Kitano has in "Fireworks" (Hana-bi) 1997, or "Sonatine" 1994. There are no cops or graphic depictions of violence. There are still some gangster-type characters, but the encounters are simple, requiring no synthesis. Kitano's familiar elements and locales are present: drawings, vignettes, seaside, temple, and angels.
It's really a loving portrayal of one little boy, Masao's, summer, spent with this seemingly eccentric retired gangster "Mister" played by Kitano. We have a pair of comic bikers, a lone van traveler, an arguing truck driver, a fun juggling couple, prankish hitchhiking gags, and a rather extensive betting session at the (bicycle) races. There are occasions for sentimental tears, for instance, when "Mister" took a side trip to visit his own mother; but play is the key operative here. Even though the child appears to be a sulky non-smiling little boy most of the time, a boy will be a boy when it comes to play and open up to lightness of the heart.
If you're the hurrying kind, this film may not be for you. The film is at its own flow and pace. It's Masao's summer vacation adventures, and he's not in a hurry to go home. Joe Hisaishi's theme music for "Kikujiro" certainly is catchy and the score gave Kitano's film its rhythm and accents along this unlikely pair's journey - a grown man, who's become childlike once more while escorting Masao on his quest to fulfill the dream of seeing his mother. Does it matter whether Masao sees his mother or not? He gains a friend, Kikujiro.
There are billions of couples and billions of marital relationships, but I cannot think of anyone more dedicated to one's partner than Jong-Yeon is. Though they always seem to have a quarrel (East-Asian often do opposite of their feelings because of shyness), we know that they love and trust each other deeply. They make us wonder how far we can trust our partner.
Also, It is interesting that this film harmonizes the antithetical contents:comedy and death. Frankly, it would be too sad if whole of the story was about love and death. The comical subplot is progressing parallel to the main plot, and it gradually untangles their past. Every subplots and flashbacks work very well and remind us that they are indispensable for each other.
Leading actors and music are splendid. I'm sure that this film lets us realize that the idea 'pure love stories are outdated' is completely wrong.
