Whose is this song? (2003)

Whose is this song? (2003)

Director: Adela Peeva
Country: Belgium | Bulgaria
Runtime:     1h 10mn

In a small nice restaurant in Istanbul I was having dinner with friends from various Balkan countries - a Greek, a Macedonian, a Turk, a Serb, and me, the Bulgarian. There I heard The Song.
As soon as it sounded we all started singing it, everyone in his own language. Everyone claimed that the song came from his own country. Then we found ourselves caught in a fierce fight - Whose is this Song?
The event in the Istanbul restaurant did not leave my mind at rest. I knew from my childhood that the song was Bulgarian. I wanted to find out why the others also claimed the song was theirs. This is how the film started.
The film action takes place in the countries of the Balkan region. The situation is in itself rather comic - the fight to prove that no one other than us can create such a beautiful song. At times this fight becomes tragicomic and dramatic, takes twists and springs, surprises with the metamorphoses of the song and the emotions of the participants in the film.
“Whose is this song?” is a film which treats with a sense of humor some typical Balkan traits including our constant strife to usurp somebody else's possession and at the same time keep what is ours to ourselves.
In addition to this, “Whose is this song” is a film about a song and the transformations it underwent on its travels along the roads of the Balkans: in the different countries it has different faces and exists as a love song, a military march meant to scare the enemy off, a Muslim religious song, a revolutionary song, an anthem of the right nationalists, etc.
Could a song change people's destinies? Could a song bring lovers together and then arouse blind jealousy? Could a song haunt a man for his whole life and even beyond? Could a song give rise to ethnic hatred or to revenge by hanging?
-- Adela Peeva

Borgman (2013)

Borgman (2013)

Director: Alex van Warmerdam
Country: Netherlands
Runtime: 113 min

'Borgman' tells the story of a drifter (Jan Bijvoet) that slowly but suddenly takes control of the lives of a young, wealthy family living in a beautiful mansion somewhere in the Netherlands. The movie begins with a scene in a forest, where Borgman, i.e. the drifter, and some of his associates are chased from their underground hiding places by a group of holy workers (lead by the-always-inspiring Pierre Bokma). Soon after their escape, Borgman alone seemingly randomly knocks on the doors of the houses of very wealthy people, asking if he can use bathing facilities in their house. In attempt to do good after a brutal beating by her husband (Jeroen Perceval), Marina (Hadewijch Minis) helps Borgman by giving him temporary shelter in the garden shed. That was all that the intimidating but darkly intriguing character of Borgman needed to unfold his diabolical plans...

Although Borgman is a layered surrealistic film, and probably therefore sometimes slow and hard to understand, its message is clear and the story is continuously compelling. Especially intriguing are the biblical aspects, which are always subtly present in the background, and which give the film a dark, tense character. Not being a religious person, the movie does trigger an interest in the spiritual, or better, meta-ethics, which won't leave you alone for several days afyer having watched it. The excellent performances of Jan Bijvoet and Hadewijch Minis are crucial in delivering the very strong script.

Goltzius and the Pelican Company (2012)

Goltzius and the Pelican Company (2012)

Director: Peter Greenaway
Country: UK | Netherlands
Runtime: 128 min

Peter Greenaway offers up another thickly layered, and this time heavily licentious, crash course in revisionist art history with his latest neo-Baroque creation, Goltzius and the Pelican Company.

Composed of several vibrantly assembled tableaux vivants, this multiform study of the great 16th century Dutch printmaker, painter and (as some may believe after seeing this movie) pornographer, is very much in line with the English auteur’s recent wave of installations and video works, which means it should play best to ardent followers and other such culture vultures. Despite an inspired lead performance by F. Murray Abraham, there is also way too much on-screen hanky-panky to give Goltzius broad Stateside exposure, at least of the theatrical kind.

Expanding on a format developed in such literary minded works as the Shakespeare adaptation Prospero’s Books and the Rembrandt portrait, Nightwatching, the movie is much less of a narrative than an assembly of dense visual compositions, with actors performing inside elaborate set-pieces that are amped up by lots of post-production effects, including written words that appear over the images themselves. This can make for a viewing experience that’s often exhausting and sometimes enervating, although the action is laced with enough energy and humor to compensate for the excess imagery and rather excessive 2-hour-plus running time.

Set in the year 1590, the story follows Hendrick Goltzius (Ramsey Nasr) and his crew of writers, workers and performers as they arrive in Colmar at the palace of a rich and powerful margrave (Abraham), who the engraver hopes will finance a printing press he can use to publish illustrated versions of the Old Testament and the works of Ovid. In order to seal the deal, Goltzius needs to titillate the nobleman and his court with live renditions of what he refers to as the “Six Sexual Taboos,” beginning with Adam and Eve’s original sin and covering such transgressions as incest (via the Genesis passages on Lot and his daughters), prostitution (through the tale of Samson and Delilah) and necrophilia (in the story of St. John the Baptiste and Salome).

Bible scholars and art historians will likely take issue with some of the film’s more outlandish interpretations, but the ample displays of lewd behavior are often both entertaining and thought-provoking, lending a whole new decadent flavor to the works of Baroque masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Cornelis van Haarlem.
Indeed, one can come away from Goltzius thinking that Northern Europe in the late 1500’s was very much like Ibiza during the month of August, with the printmaker’s troupe — including playwright Thomas Boethius (Giulio Berruti) and his mistress, Adaela (dancer Kate Moran) — engaging in plenty of foul behavior and showcasing their private parts to no apparent end. This winds up simultaneously arousing and frustrating the margrave, who makes things increasingly dangerous, sometimes tortuously so, for the visiting band of artists. Luckily, when things get really bad, Abraham's character can always bury his head in the breasts of his former milkmaid (Lisette Malidor).

Despite all the outré antics, erections and bouts of simulated intercourse, Greenaway’s ornamented imagery is very far from dirty, and regular cinematographer Reinier van Brummelen creates some lovely visual arrangements as the camera glides back and forth throughout the immense Croatian warehouse where the project was shot. Also helping move things along is the constant tongue-in-cheek narration of Goltzius himself, which Nasr recites with a Dutch accent worthy of the first Die Hard movie — though this seems hardly out of place in such a rowdy cultural collage.

Burning Bush (2013)

Burning Bush (2013)

Director:Agnieszka Holland
Country: Czech Republic
Runtime:234min




Burning Bush is a three-part mini-series created for HBO by world-renowned Polish director Agnieszka Holland. Based on real characters and events, this haunting drama focuses on the personal sacrifice of a Prague history student, Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969. Dagmar Buresová, a young female lawyer, became part of his legacy by defending Jan's family in a trial against the communist government, a regime which tried to dishonour Palach's sacrifice, a heroic action for the freedom of Czechoslovakia.

Richness of Internal Space (2012)

Richness of Internal Space (2012)

Director: Kai Parlange Tessmann
Country: Mexico
Runtime: 89 min


Lázaro is kidnapped, held in a room, completely isolated from the outside world. Forced to reveal private information about his relatives, and in fear of having betrayed them, Lázaro falls into a drastic abandon of himself. Near death/ Close to death, Lázaro finds a glimmer of hope, which shows him that his heart, will, and mind are not kidnapped nor held, and never will be. By standing the possibility of never being freed, an immense faith, unconditional dignity, and a profound desire for liberty, shows Lázaro the true nature of an unbreakable human spirit.

Two Lives (2012)

Two Lives (2012)

Directors: Georg Maas, Judith Kaufmann
Country: Germany
Runtime: 97 min

Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, now living in Norway since 20 years, is a war child: the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. Katrine enjoys a happy family life, with her mother, her husband, daughter and grand-daughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealment and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?

The Congress (2013)

The Congress (2013)

Director:Ari Folman
Country: Israel
Runtime: 122 min

Robin Wright, a Hollywood actress who once held great promise (“The Princess Bride”, “Forest Gump”), receives an unexpected offer in mid-life: Mirramount Studios want to scan her entire being into their computers and purchase ownership of her image for an astronomical fee. After she is scanned, the studio will be allowed to make whatever films it wishes with the 3-D Robin, including all the blockbusters she chose not to make during her career. As if that were not inducement enough, the studio promises to keep the new 3D Robin forever young in the movies. She will always be thirty-something, a stunning beauty who never grows old. In return, Robin will receive tons of money but shell be forbidden to appear on any kind of stage for all eternity. Despite her deep internal resistance, Robin eventually signs the contract, since she understand that in the economy of scanned actors, its her only way to stay in the business, but even more crucial, Robin can give her son Aaron, who suffers from a rare disorder, the best treatment money can buy. The contract is valid for 20 years.

Tasher Desh (2012)

Tasher Desh (2012)

Directors: Qaushiq Mukherjee, Q
Country: India
Runtime:112 min








     The story of a prince who escapes his destiny, the prison of his mind. He lands on a fascist island and incites women to revolt. A psychedelic fantasy about destiny and humanity, social control and Utopian revolution.                                                      

                                                                                    

Vivan las Antipodas! (2011)

Vivan las Antipodas! (2011)

Director:Victor Kossakovsky
Country: Germany | Argentina
Runtime: 108 min

What would be the shortest route between Entre Rios in Argentina and the Chinese metropolis Shanghai? Simply a straight line through the center of the earth, since the two places are antipodes: they are located diametrically opposite to each other on the earth's surface. During his visits to four such antipodal pairs, the award-winning documentary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky captured images that turn our view of the world upside down. A beautiful, peaceful sunset in Entre Rios is contrasted with the bustling streets in rainy Shanghai. People who live in a wasteland are connected to people dwelling next to a volcano. Landscapes whose splendor touches the soul are juxtaposed with the clamor of a vast city. These antipodes seem mythically connected, somehow united by their oppositeness. Kossakovsky's movie is a feast for the senses, a fascinating kaleidoscope of our planet. VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS! - Long Live The Antipodes! What is happening on the point of the earth diametrically opposite to where we are now, what awaits us there? Fascinated by this question, Victor Kossakovsky conducted an experiment, and in the course of his unique project visited four coupled antipodes - in Argentina and China, Spain and New Zealand, Chile and Russia, Botswana and Hawaii. Thanks to a keen sense of the magic of his eight locations, Kossakovsky captures unforgettable images. He follows the menacing glow of a volcano's lava, contemplates the majestic flight of a condor, documents human attempts to rescue a stranded whale. A sunset in Argentina's Entre Rios is juxtaposed with rush hour in Shanghai. Tranquil silence and amber light contrast with noisy industriousness and metallic hues. The movie approaches its subject playfully, and Kossakovsky's deployment of the camera is innovative: the earth's surface bends right in front of our eyes, images upside down.

Horses of God (2012)

Horses of God (2012)

Director: Nabil Ayouch
Country: Morocco
Runtime: 115 min

Yachine is 10 years old, he lives with his family in the slum of Sidi Moumen in Casablanca. His mother, Yemma, leads the family as best as she can. His father suffers from depression, one of his brothers is in the army, another is almost autistic and the third, Hamid, 13, is the boss of the local neighbourhood and Yachine’s protector.
When Hamid is sent to jail, Yachine takes up jobs after jobs, though empty, to get free from the doldrums of violence, misery and drugs.
Released from prison, Hamid, now an Islamic fundamentalist, persuades Yachine and his pals to join their "brothers".
The Imam, Abou Zoubeir, their spiritual leader, starts to direct their long-standing physical and mental preparation.
One day, he tells them they have been chosen to become martyrs.