പേജുകള്‍‌

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

This is Not a Film / In film nist (2011)

This is Not a Film / In film nist (2011)
Director: Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Country: Iran
Runtime:75 min




 The annals of filmmaking are filled with stories of people who managed to make films against all odds, without money, without shooting permits, without proper professional equipment. This Is Not a Film, or In Film Nist, the 75-minute film directed by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, may be the ultimate achievement in stealth filmmaking. Panahi is currently serving a six-year jail sentence and has been banned by the Iranian government from making films for 20 years. And yet somehow he has made a movie that has found its way to one of the world's major film festivals. This is Not a Film is a small but significant message in a bottle.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011)

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011)
Director: Robert Guédiguian
Country: France
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes





 The Snows of Kilimanjaro, the latest offering from French art house standby Robert Guédiguian (The Army of Crime), is about when bad things happen to good people. Specifically a pair of couples and long-time friends, Michel and Marie-Claire (Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Ariane Ascaride) and Raoul and Denise (Gérard Meylan and Marilyne Canto), whose evening bridge game is interrupted by home invasion and robbery.

Friday, May 04, 2012

Atmen(2011)

Atmen
Director: Karl Markovics
Country: Austria
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes


 An 19-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center on the drab outskirts of Vienna, Roman has lived in confinement since he caused the death of another boy four years earlier. With no family or connections, he has been nixed for release at numerous parole hearings. He holds scant hope that an upcoming one will be different. His counselor reminds Roman that his chances would be improved if he could hold down a job in the work-release program. He signs on for a trial period as a mortuary service provider, transporting corpses. This seems an unlikely road to stability, especially given his unfriendly treatment from co-workers. But as he assists in the solemn rite of bathing and dressing the body of an old woman, something approaching mutual respect is born between Roman and the the most antagonistic of his colleagues. When one of the body bags that passes through his hands is labeled with his same surname, Roman briefly suspects the dead woman may be the mother who placed him in an orphanage as an infant. That proves not to be true, but it prompts him for the first time to investigate his origins. ~ Cannes