Chekist

Chekist(1992)
Dir:Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Country:Russia

A small Russian town in the early 1900′s is the backdrop for this deeply disturbing film about a group of communist revolutionaries called the cheka-men who spend their days rounding up their political rivals for execution. The majority of the film takes place inside the basement of a charnel house. We are witnesses to execution after execution as people are killed with rapid expediency and professionalism. Men, women and children are forced to strip, stand against a wall, and then are shot. When the dead are removed, five more are brought in and the atrocity is committed again.
There is not a moments reprieve from the brutality as director Rogozhkin plants the camera and the story inside that basement. I found his examination of the assassin’s mindset most interesting. Early on, the cheka-men seem indifferent to their jobs, but as the film winds down, we see that all the killing has slowly begun to erode their very souls. Igor Sergeyev is amazing as the ambitious chekist who finds himself caught up in a machine of death that he helped to create and slowly losing his mind. The film is like passing a car accident on a highway, it’s horrible and you might not like what you see but you can’t take your eyes off of it. A disturbing film that is hard to forget.

Under the Hawthorn Tree

Under the Hawthorn Tree(2010)
Dir:Zhang Yimou
Country:China


Zhang Yimou's highly anticipated film, which is adapted from a popular novel of the same name from Ai Mi, harkens back to the innocence of the 1970's in presenting this pure and moving tear jerking love story, set in 1975 in a small village in Yichang City, Hubei Province. The story is of an unfulfilled romance between Jingqiu and a young man named Laosan during their “zhiqing” days towards the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Zhiqing refers to young urbanites who were sent to the countryside during that turbulent decade. Jingqiu, who had had a difficult life after her father was labeled a right-winger, met the handsome Laosan, who had a promising future because of his high-ranking military officer father. The couple fall in love, despite the gulf between their backgrounds. The only question remains is if their romance ever become fulfilled.

Homero Manzi, a poet in the storm

Homero Manzi, a poet in the storm(2009)

Dir:Eduardo Spagnuolo
Country:Argentina

Bio-pic which chronicles the life and work of one of its greatest poets, Argentine, author of famous tangos such as "Malena", "South" and "Barrio de tango".

The story unfolds in a narrative plot where the historical time and social conditions and becomes in stock and fictional scenes, real-life recreation of Homero Manzi Añatuya from his childhood, his adolescence in the neighborhood of Pompeii as well as maturity facing the glare of the Buenos Aires upper class by the foreign culture, especially the French. As an important radical political approach does not hesitate to President Perón, who recognized as representative of the people of the underclass and the poor of the country.



Homero Manzi is part of national and popular art movement of the early century and rescues in his poems the suburb where they mixed poor European immigrants and newly arrived countrymen to the city.

With a memorable performance of actor Carlos Portaluppi, like Homero Manzi, the film recreates in his band, 28 of his tangos like "Old Blind", "Romance de barrio", "Che bandoneon. Choreographed tango shows, theatrical scenes, film images that Manzi filmed as "The Gaucho War," "My poor dear mother," "The Last Payador", "Pampa Barbara."

His life, his passions and his true love. His tangos back to the screen not only as a document of his work, but as lines of opinion that are combined with fictional scenes, showing that the work of Homero Manzi is a reflection of what was his life, his feelings and convictions .

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Popular Music

Popular Music(2004)
Director: Reza Bagher
Country:Sweden/Finland

Growing up in Pajala isn't much fun for Matti and Niila. Between the puritanical community, abusive parents, a kiddy-fiddling peddler and a janitor who uses his shoes to sedate children who muck around, it's awful. In fact, it looks pretty bleak for them until Grandma's funeral where Niila's American cousins introduce them to The Beatles. From that day on they decide upon their destiny: to become rock'n'roll stars!

The Feast of the Goat

The Feast of the Goat(2005)
Dir;Luis Llosa
Writer:Maro Vargas Llosa
Country:Spain

Based on the best-selling novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, this is the story of Urania Cabral, a beautiful, kind, intelligent and independent Manhattan lawyer whom, after 30 years returns to República Dominicana to face her ghosts... and the horrifying circumstances that altered her life forever when she was a teenager and Rafael Leónidas Trujillo a.k.a El Chivo (The Goat) was the iron-handed ruler of this island paradise... after Urania faces her past, nothing in her present or future will ever be the same again.

Submarino

Submarino(2010)
Dir:Thomas Vinterberg
Country;Denmark
As children, Nick and his little brother take care of their baby brother while their mother drinks herself senseless. But the baby dies, and both brothers blame themselves. Many years later, Nick is out of prison after serving time for an assault. He drinks, lives in a shelter and tries to help an old friend. When their mother dies, Nick meets his brother at the funeral. The brother, who remains nameless, is a single father to a young boy, but also supports a drug habit that is spiraling out of control. When an opportunity presents itself, he becomes a drug dealer to secure his son's future. Eventually, the two brothers meet again. (imdb)

A story about two estranged brothers, marked by a childhood of gloom. They were separated from each other at a young age by a tragedy that split their entire family. Today, Nick's life is drenched in alcohol and plagued by violence, while his kid brother, a solo-parent, struggles as a junkie to give his son a better life. Their paths cross, making a confrontation inevitable, but is redemption possible? (det danske institut)

I have not read the novel, and barely knew that this was based upon one. This film is like a splinter in your heart, from the first frame to the last. It is pushed to the limit of what we can handle of authentic misery. The social realism, so unrelenting, such rich detail to it, and none of it strains credulity. I was interested in this from when I first heard of it, and when I found out it was by Thomas Vinterberg, the man behind Festen and Dear Wendy, I knew I would watch this. He does wonders with the editing and the cinematography, creating a bleak and mundane(not to be confused with ugly or boring) feel to the visuals, matching the lives of the people we are witnessing and their environment. The camera stays "in the background", letting what we see speak for itself. This has impeccable writing, the events, the dialog(and its delivery), the crowning little touches, it's all excellent. In the end, what truly makes this work beyond belief is the amazing acting from everyone(who are all perfectly cast, as well), and that definitely also goes for the children(who, might I add, are charming and sweet kids, too, including the baby; seriously, can't you count on one hand the infants in movies that are *genuinely* cute?

This is one of the only ones, in over a century of the medium), who deliver some of the most astonishing performances seen from ones around that age. Honestly, there is perhaps one single(and entirely understandable) moment that isn't completely convincing, but everything that comes before or since is. In spite of all that we see them do, we sympathize with the credible and well-developed characters. There is a lot of disturbing content, a bit of violence, some sexuality and infrequent strong language in this. I recommend this to anyone mature enough for the subject matter, at least if you can handle it. 10/10

Three Step Dancing

Three Step Dancing(2003)

Director:Salvatore Mereu

Country:Italy
4 wins & 4 nominations See more »

Four separate-but-interconnected stories - one for each season - about life in Sardinia.

Developing through four episodes marked by the four seasons, the film tells the story of many characters of different ages, strictly linked to Sardinia's world and whose fates seem to become accidentally intertwined.

Ballo a tre passi is a fine example of the encouraging renaissance of independent Italian cinema, in which young directors are turning afresh to regional subjects and locations. Like L'isola and Il dono, Ballo a tre passi skillfully conjures up a sense of its locale, avoids overdramatic narrative and is more concerned with the evocation of mood and atmosphere and a truth that can be found in simplicity and incident.

Raging Sun, Raging Sky

Raging Sun, Raging Sky(2009)
Dir;Julián Hernández
Country;Mexico

The power of desire has rarely been so ravishingly lensed as in "Raging Sun, Raging Sky," cult helmer Julian Hernandez's stunning ode to love and sex, which literally elevates both to mythological heights.

A passionate exploration of love, sex and destiny from acclaimed director Julián Hernández (Broken Sky), Raging Sun, Raging Sky, is a rich, transcendent film experience worthy of its great critical acclaim. Kieri and Ryo, two young, handsome Mexican men have an unquestioning love for each other; a love expressed through an intense sexual bond that gives meaning to both their lives. When Ryo is abducted, Kieri embarks a journey to reunite with his soul mate under the watchful eye of a female spirit. But the voyage is not an easy one and when Ryo escapes, a chain of events will test the lovers true devotion to each other. Raging Sun, Raging Sky is a visually stunning ode to the nude male form and power of desire.

I'm gonna explode

Voy a explotar (2008) aka I'm gonna explode
Dir:Gerardo Naranjo
Country: Mexico
4 wins & 2 nominations See more »

Voy a Explotar (I’m Gonna Explode) is the contemporary Mexican teenage Pierrot le Fou. It knows this, and it wants you to know it, and it doesn’t care if this makes you hate it on principle. The third feature by Gerardo Naranjo (director of Drama/Mex, co-writer and star of Azazel Jacobs‘ The GoodTimeskid), it’s the rare love letter to influence that’s infused with enough personal style and sentiment to transform the stolen into something thrilling and moving.

15 year-old Maru (Maria Deschamps) is a prep school bad girl with a mangy mane of hair and, apparently, a drinking problem. When spoiled little rich boy son of a right-wing politician Roman (Juan Pablo de Santiago) gets kicked out of his school and transfers to Maru’s, he introduces himself via faking his own hanging at a talent show. The girl is instantly besotted. “He exists, but I also made him up,” she writes in a letter to a friend which doubles as internal monologue. “The best part is that he’s angry.” Roman is equally smitten, and soon the pair are scheming to run away together.

Or so they want their parents to think; really, they’re camped out in a tent on the roof of Roman’s father’s mansion. Maru’s hysterical mother and sister come over to the house to become part of the rescue effort––which, under the oversight of Roman’s distant dad, consists mainly of drinking tequila and waiting for clues to come to him. With a stolen cell phone, Roman calls daddy’s security detail with false leads to get the grown ups out of the house so that he and Maru can crawl downstairs and collect provisions. It’s only when the pair decide to finally leave home for real that their saga starts to hew to the traditional tropes of love-on-the-run.

Explotar is so blatantly indebted to Pierrot le Fou that it’s tempting to play Count the References –– here Maru clomps around singing “I don’t know what to do!” There the screen fills with her notebook-scrawled ephemera about romantic destiny! But Naranjo has made Maru more than the beautiful mystery that embodies the typical Godard woman. This girl is a loud-mouthed firecracker who vacillates between unguarded passion for Roman and brittle rejection of his advances. In cutting off her hair to become Roman’s “twin”, Maru reveals that her attraction to Roman is actually a kind of jealousy. Deluded as she is about most elements of the real world and grown-up life, she knows her power over Roman ends the moment she becomes a “put outer.” even if she puts out in the name of love, and there’s a resentment there. She’s the kind of realistically conflicted girl almost never seen on screen.

The sex scenes between the two teenagers are surprisingly sexy, not because of what you see but because there isn’t much to see at all. Though the nudity is borderline frank in that Euro, “teenage breasts=freedom” sort of way, it’s not overtly titillating so much as it’s recognizably real, from the nervous twitching leading up to it to the lack of assuredness that runs throughout. Maru and Roman’s romance is brittle and tentative at first, but then the floodgates open, at which point, with an almost fin de siecle spirit, it gushes.

The peak of Maru and Roman’s relationship coincides with the puncture of their invincibility. Once they cement that they are one another’s “perfect accomplice,” as Maru puts it, the time comes to pay the bill for their rebellion. This is the essence of teenage romance ––the first love will be the last love–– and thus, it’s something we’ve seen on screen before. What feels unique, and genuinely tragic, about Explode’s denouement is not that shit gets violent and people get hurt, but that Maru and Roman, like most kids, clearly never really wanted to get in trouble at all. Mouthy and lazy but ultimately uninterested in any kind of criminal nihilism that would take them too far away from the womb of parental-funded modern comforts, Maru and Roman went looking for a Ferris Bueller-style charmed but temporary time-out from mundane responsibility, and end up bumbling into Bonnie and Clyde. In these climes of quirky indie romantic lessons learned, the punishment of starry-eyed delusion feels not only refreshing, but almost like a corrective with political implications.

Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open(2009)

Director:Haim Tabakman

Country:Israel
Homosexuality in the Orthodox community is the subject of a very dark and disturbing Israeli film, Eyes Wide Open (Einaym Pkuhot) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Aaron Fleishman (Zohar Shtrauss) is a father of 4 who takes over the family kosher butcher shop following the death of his father. Aarons observant world is turned upside down with the arrival of a young Yeshiva student Ezri (Ran Danker). When Aaron and Ezri begin spending time together, Aaron is quickly ostracized within the Orthodox community. Confronted by Rabbi Vaisben (Tzahi Grad), Aaron declares he was dead before meeting Ezri. We see how quickly social control turns violent and ugly in the Orthodox community when Ezri is forced to leave. Eyes Wide Open is set during a dark and wet winter in Jerusalem. Rain and the darkness of night are used as metaphors for the ritual of cleansing and the omnipresent pressure to conform in the Orthodox community. It has a strong cast and delivers a powerful message in a country divided by debates about the growing influence of the Orthodox Jewish community.