Wenecja (Venice)

Wenecja (Venice) 2010
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Country:Poland
Runtime:110min


Eleven-year-old Marek has an obsessive desire to go to with his
family to Venice, the city on water. He has learned all of its streets
and squares by heart. Will his dream come true? Well, it is 1939,
Hitler is getting set to invade Poland and his father has joined the
army. Instead, Marek and his mother go to Aunt Veronica’s villa in
Zaleszczykach on the San. He builds a replica of Venice (if he
can’t go to Venice then have it come to him) when the basement
floods.
Venice tells a story of a journey never taken. A story in which the
power of dreams makes it possible to turn a flooded cellar into the
most romantic city on Earth. As the WW2 rages on outside the
window, the “Venetian” cellar awakens great expectations and
passions.
At first, these are the dreams of children, full of pure belief in
making the things possible by a force of will and mind, but later
the further generations of a big family join the specific play that
changes into a ritual of an attempt of overcoming the hostile
world by the human spirit.
The special, old, family nest-house seems to be a final asylum and
brings a promise of safety. This feeling flows gradually over to the
next and next circles of the family’s friends, neighbors and – finally
– total strangers that one day come inside. How will it stand the
confrontation with the cruelty of war?

Jasminum

Jasminum(2006)
Dir:Jan Jakub Kolski
Country: Poland
Runtime: 115 min

Director Jan Jakub Kolski explores the idea of science versus faith in this beautifully shot Film where a woman art restorator Natasha arrives at a Monastery to restore and preserve aging paintings, particularly the Virgin Mary painting. She has a cute daughter named Eugenia who insists on others not using a petname on her. The Film is told through the voice over of and many times from the point of view of this five year old.

Father Kleofas believes that the paintings will save themselves and says they should. Natasha says it is chemistry which should save the paintings. Slowly and steadily Father sees that Natasha's work is doing wonders to the painting, we all can see it, 'what is the point? the painting looks clearer now. But does it make our prayers any stronger?" he asks. A very interesting question. A painting saved by a miracle would have had stronger impact on the way of life, the father observes.

The monastery has 3 brothers living in closed rooms, only coming out in the nights mostly to do the gardening work, supposedly on their way to sainthood. The three are named Brother sweetberry, brother birdberry and brother Plum. Apparently, the three brothers exude smells of sweetberry, birdberry(smell of ducklings) and of fruit plum. The three are on their way to sainthood, the men smelling of fruits and birds is supposed to be a miracle of sorts. We all know that Church requires miracles before it could bestow sainthood on the priests. The three brothers are apparently in the reckoning for the sainthood and Father Kleofas is sure that one of the miracles would be the restoration of the paintings in the monastery by these monks. But are the brothers for real?

There is an interesting babe character Patricia, a hairdresser who says that the smell of brother Birdberry makes her feel sexy. Natasha being a chemist tries to compose chemically the very smell that Patricia senses from this monk. Director explores the idea of 'what are people looking for in their lives?' in implied and surrealistic methods. Could the perfumes and scents that Natasha is preparing induce feelings of love in people who experience these smells? The answer is in love, in the heart, he seems to say by the end of the Film...........by Hari Yelleti

Rózyczka aka Little Rose

Rózyczka (2010) aka Little Rose
Director: Jan Kidawa-Blonski
Runtime: 113
Country: Poland

Little Rose takes an unflinching look at an explosive period in Polish post-war history. The year is 1967 and Israel has just dispatched Egypt and Syria - key Soviet allies - in the Six-Day-War. Cheers of approval erupt from Polish ittle Rose takes an unflinching look at an explosive period in Polish post-war history. Thedissidents. A vehement backlash follows. Thousands of "Zionists" are pushed to leave the country - they must ultimately depart on one-way passports, forced to renounce their citizenship once and for all. The old spectre of the Jewish bogeyman has reared its head once again, but this time, the Communists are pulling the propaganda strings.
In Little Rose, these heady events provide the backdrop for an intimate study of the dissidents' plight. Slithering though their midst is the poisonous figure of the informant. "Little Rose" is the pseudonym of Kamila, a young graduate who is cajoled into spying by her lover Roman, a security services functionary. The plot is loosely based (there are many crucial differences) on the story of Paweł Jasienica, a celebrated historian who was informed upon by his girlfriend (later wife) for many years. The case caused a furore when it was revealed in the 90s, sparking a bitter court battle about who should inherit the rights to the late author's books (Jasienica died oblivious to the betrayal).
From the off, director Jan Kidawa-Błonski has struck gold with his cast. Robert Więckiewicz is electrifying as the brutish, haunted Security Services stooge Roman, who is desperate to deliver the goods to his superiors. His target, the fictional historian Adam Warczewski, is played by seasoned veteran Andrzej Seweryn, who gives a glowing performance as a gentlemanly academic conspiring for a return to democracy. Between the two lies - in both senses - Magdalena Boczarska, as the comely yet somewhat naive young blonde who does the dirty work.

Dawson Isla 10

Dawson Isla 10(2009)
Dir:Miguel Littin
Country:Chile
Runtime:117min


After the 1973 coup that deposed Allende and brought Pinochet to power in Chile, the former members of his cabinet are imprisoned on Dawson Island, the world's southernmost concentration camp. Veteran filmmaker Miguel Littin follows the ordeal of these men who are determined to survive and provide history with their testimony. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival

Taipei Exchanges

Taipei Exchanges(2010)Dir:Hsiao Ya-Chuan
Country:Taiwan
runtime:86min

This is a story about interchange. Doris and Josie are sisters with completely different characters. Doris was offended by her younger sister's disregarded deed of initiating an event of trading goods in their coffee shop. After a series of trading and the stories along them, the event eventually changed the sisters' values and intuitions and they started to look for their own stories...credited to http://movies.insing.com/movie/taipei-exchanges/id-b3010000

Leap Year

Leap Year(2010)
Dir;Michael Rowe
Country;Mexico

Runtime:94 min

Laura is a single, 25-year-old journalist who lives in a small apartment in Mexico City. After a long series of flings, Laura meets Arturo. The first time they make love, Arturo touches here in ways that overwhelm her. Thus begins an intense, passionate and sexual romance, which mixes pleasure, pain and love. In the course of days, which she carefully crosses out on her calendar, Laura’s secret past resurfaces, driving Arturo to extremes.

My Joy

My Joy(2010)
Dir:Sergei Loznitsa
Country: Germany | Ukraine

Runtime:127 min

The story about a few days in the life of truck driver Georgi seems to be a never-ending nightmare, a spiral of violence and abuses of power. A man goes to work and on his way he is sucked into the everyday madness of his country, losing his health and memory in the process and ends up as a murderer, who calmly lies down to sleep after committing the crime. A dark parable about the situation in deep Russia today.

Bal(Honey)

Bal(2010)
Dir;Semih Kaplanoglu
Country:Turkey
Runtime:103min

The young boy Yusuf's best friend is his father, who supports his family's modest life with the honey he collects from tall trees in the forests of the remote Turkish countryside. Yusuf is a quiet boy, and his mother is concerned for his future. Perhaps he will follow in his father's footsteps, or perhaps school will offer him other opportunities. But the honey crop is failing, and Yusuf has trouble learning how to read. The greatest fear strikes when Yusuf's father doesn't return home from the forest.

Soul Deep

Soul Deep(2009)
Dir;Pantelis Voulgaris
Country:Greece

The Greek civil war (1946-1949) is a taboo for Greek cinema, and Voulgaris in this film treats the subject attempting some form of reconciliation. His heart "beats on the left" (whence the title, "Soul Deep", which was a greeting amongst rebels during the civil war), but the film does not deal with the deeper reasons behind the events. He blames the Americans and the Soviets who fueled the conflict and then abandoned the Greeks to a political chaos and a tragic civil war ("this is not a war, this is a disgrace", says Thanassis Vegos who comes to seek the body of his dead grandchild, so that he can bury him) that led people form the same village killing each other and former friends, even brothers (like Anestis and Vlassis who fight on different camps), becoming enemies.

Pantelis Voulgaris surprises us by filming with great lyricism, stunning cinematography, and at the same time a with a decent sense of rythm (and that's surprising) in the action scenes. Sometimes, though, things get too melodramatic and this may bother some (it did bother me).

What really amazes, though, is the incredible soundtrack by Giorgos Aggelakas. Modern, yet blending perfectly with the subject matter and the cinematography. If for no other reason (and there are plenty of other reasons), it's worth to see the movie for its soundtrack alone.

Corpo

Corpo(2007)

Dir:Rossana Foglia, Rubens Rewald
Country;Brazil


Arthur is a coroner obsessed with human bodies, dead or alive. Even while working in a
public mortuary full of corruption and decadence, he goes beyond the bureaucratic
diagnoses and makes a thorough reading of the bodies. The routine of his work is broken
by the arrival of bones found in a common grave. The body of a young woman causes a
clash in the department: his supervisor, Dr Lara, maintains that the body is new, without
any relation with the bones, taken as victims of the military regime. Arthur, after
examining the body, insists that it has been around more than 30 years, and belongs to the
group of bones and that, for some strange reason, remained preserved. A deadline is
imposed: if the body is not identified within 24 hours, it will be buried as unclaimed.
Arthur decides to investigate on his own the identity of that body. In police files, there is
a case of a guerrilla extremely similar to the situation: Teresa Prado Nothe. Teresa's
daughter Fernanda is traced, but to the surprise of the coroner, she says her mother is
alive and proposes that Arthur meet her. Arthur accepts the invitation.