Tag Archives: 2000s

It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee (newcomer Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend (James Ransone, STARLET, “Generation Kill”) hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra (newcomer Mya Taylor), embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity. Director Sean Baker’s prior films (STARLET, PRINCE OF BROADWAY) brought rich texture and intimate detail to worlds seldom seen on film. TANGERINE follows suit, bursting off the screen with energy and style. A decidedly modern Christmas tale told on the streets of L.A., TANGERINE defies expectation at every turn.
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The pediatrician Alexandre Beck misses his beloved wife Margot Beck, who was brutally murdered eight years ago when he was the prime suspect. When two bodies are found near where the corpse of Margot was dumped, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes suspect again. The mystery increases when Alex receives an e-mail showing Margot older and alive.
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Lucía is a young waitress in a restaurant in the centre of Madrid. After the loss of her long-time boyfriend, a writer, she seeks refuge on a quiet, secluded Mediterranean island. There, bathed in an atmosphere of fresh air and dazzling sun, Lucía begins to discover the dark corners of her past relationship, as if they were forbidden passages of a novel which the author now, from afar, allows her to read.
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A well-educated, urban family inherits an old country house located in a small village deep in Portugal’s countryside. Upon their arrival they try to adapt themselves to the new lifestyle, but they soon learn that the village is overshadowed by superstition, religion and mysterious folklore. Strange events soon begin happening and as they learn more about the history of their family, they slowly begin to believe the rumors heard throughout the village: by inheriting the house, they also inherited a curse.
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A woman tries to mend the broken pieces of her last life, as she is now involved with a new sexual relationship with a man.
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Silvie Dymáková’s raw documentary uncovers the manipulation, humiliation and pressure that exist behind the closed doors of “product demonstration excursions for seniors” in the Czech Republic. The sad heroes of her film show us the non-functional saucepans, unused vacuum cleaners, “wool” blankets and bio-lamps they bought during such excursions for tens or even hundreds of thousands of crowns… and that is the best-case scenario. In exchange for their ID cards, confiscated by sellers, many have signed loan contracts. Despite their shocking experiences, the elderly repeatedly take part in these events in a bid to escape their loneliness or because they can’t say no to the offers. Dymáková succeeded in smuggling a hidden camera into product presentations and, with a psychologist and a lawyer, analyzed the high-pressure methods employed. Even while being completed, her documentary sparked a deserved uproar when it became clear that dozens of Czech firms were abusing seniors’ …
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Aged 13, Maria Noronha is an estremely pale and fragil girl, sick with tubercolosis. In order to alleviate her suffering, she gathers poppies from her garden, and at night puts them on the pillows on her bed. But the poppies have a devastating effect. Her deep sleep is disturbed by terrible ghosts and hallucinations: about the decadence of the Portuguese XVII century, the Jesuits’s power and the terrible Inquisition.
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Eleven separate vignettes are presented. In each, celebrities, playing semi-fictionalized versions of themselves (with the exception of the characters of various wait staff, and one actor playing a lookalike cousin of herself), meet in a food service establishment with coffee/tea and cigarettes involved. Beyond the topic of discussion that brought them together, they often talk directly about coffee and cigarettes, more often that coffee and cigarettes, and by association caffeine and nicotine, are not healthy, especially if they are the only things constituting lunch. Other recurring themes include the Lee family, cousinhood, celebrity worship, the connection between the medical and musical careers, and Nikola Tesla’s belief that the Earth is a conductor of acoustic resonance. In all cases, the coming together for coffee/tea and smokes acts as a bridge to overcome disagreements, and/or makes uncomfortable situations less uncomfortable.
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Oldboy is the revenge drama from Director Park Chan-wook. Based on a Manga comic it depicts the suffering path of a man who must deal with the never ending torment of having unknowingly made someone his enemy.
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Eighteen-year-old Kristel survived a car accident in which her father dies. Tormented by nocturnal visions she begins to care for her father’s investigation of serial killers – especially Andries Martíns, a killer of children.
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The last wish of the dying “Monk” is for his foster child, Harald, to find his real son, Ludvig. But the latter is currently in a Swedish prison cell. Peter and Martin – the two chefs – want to get him out and soon father and son meet for the first time in their lives. They get on from the word go, but now dad needs a liver transplant and Ludvig and Harald set about raising the wherewithal. Everything goes wrong when they try to rob a bank, though they meet Mille, who puts them onto a new trail, and Peter and Martin also make a contribution. However, soon they have the cops and the anti-terror corps on their tails.
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Steve + Sky is a story about two struggling teenagers who are trying to find their own place in the world. He is a small-time crook recently released from prison and she is a prostitute craving some love and affection. They find each other in an obscure part of Gent. Jean-Claude is responsible for their meeting ; he is also an ex-inmate who has just traded the low-life crime scene for life as a pimp. Will their love survive?
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Prejudice, perfidy, love, and bravery in Québec. In 1779, a priest on his deathbed receives a young woman. Flash back 20 years: Marie-Loup, an herb-dispensing peasant, falls for François, a man of property. The priest’s perfidy and the treachery of a soldier separate the lovers and set in motion a chain of events leading to a death, a trial, and an execution. The action unfolds against a backdrop of England’s take-over of French-Canada, the Church’s manipulations to maintain spiritual hegemony, and the limited rights of woman and indigenous peoples. Watching it all is Marie-Loup’s daughter, named France, who, when grown, is the dying priest’s visitor in prelude and coda.
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Letter to the King portrays five people on a day trip from a refugee camp to Oslo, a welcome change in an otherwise monotonous life. But we soon realize that each and every one of them has an agenda for their trip. All five will make decisive choices on this day, as they discover happiness, humiliation, love or fulfill a long-awaited revenge. The five stories are tied together by a letter, written by eighty-three year old Mirza. Mirza wants to hand over the letter to the King personally.
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En 1924, Simone de Beauvoir, jeune fille à l’apparence policée, prépare son agrégation de philosophie et fait la connaissance de Jean-Paul Sartre. Ce dernier semble être le seul à connaître la vraie personnalité de Simone et la considère comme la seule femme digne d’être son interlocuteur. Leur amour chaotique sert de prémisse à l’oeuvre majeure de Simone de Beauvoir: Le Deuxième Sexe.
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