Tag Archives: Belgium

Beyond the Walls / Hors les murs (2012) David Lambert, Matila Malliarakis, Guillaume Gouix, David Salles, Drama, Romance

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Paulo, a young pianist, meets Ilir, a bartender and bass guitar player originally from Albania. They become lovers. Confronted by his girlfriend Anka, Paulo finds himself out on the street. Despite Ilir’s misgivings, Paulo moves in with him. One day, when Paulo promises that he will love Ilir for the rest of his life, Ilir leaves the city and doesn’t return. A few days later, Paulo finds out that Ilir is in jail, and their relationship faces unexpected challenges.
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) Ken Loach, Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Drama, History, War

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
In 1920, rural Ireland is the vicious battlefield of republican rebels against the British security forces and Irish Unionist population who oppose them, a recipe for mutual cruelty. Medical graduate Damien O’Donovan always gave priority to his socialist ideals and simply helping people in need. Just when he’s leaving Ireland to work in a highly reputed London hospital, witnessing gross abuse of commoners changes his mind. He returns and joins the local IRA brigade, commanded by his brother Teddy, and adopts the merciless logic of civil war, while Teddy mellows by experiencing first-hand endless suffering. When IRA leaders negotiate an autonomous Free State under the British crown, Teddy defends the pragmatic best possible deal at this stage. Damien however joins the large seceding faction which holds nothing less than a socialist republic will do. The result is another civil war, bloodily opposing former Irish comrades in arms, even the brothers.
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Welp / Cub (2014) Jonas Govaerts, Maurice Luijten, Evelien Bosmans, Titus De Voogdt, Adventure, Horror

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Sam, 12, is in trouble: his entire “Pathfinder” scout troop picks on him – and worse. The leader, Peter, is the worst of all. He seems to find a sadistic pleasure in humiliating Sam. This year’s trip is to a woods near the French border where a curious legend named Kai is said, around the campfire, to make mischief. But when Sam finds that Kai is no legend and that he makes more than mischief, no one believes him.
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Nuit noire / Black Night (2005) Olivier Smolders, Fabrice Rodriguez, Yves-Marie Gnahoua, Philippe Corbisier, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

nuit-noire-aka-black-night-2005
The nightmarish world of Oscar the entomologist, involving his various fears of, and relationships with, women, intertwined with his love for insects, especially the metamorphosing and predatory kind. In this dark dream-world which is constantly drowned in darkness of a solar eclipse punctuated by brief flashes of blinding sunlight, everything is spliced together and nothing makes sense.
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Innocence (2004) Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Zoé Auclair, Lea Bridarolli, Bérangère Haubruge, Drama, Mystery

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Prepare yourself to be either infuriated or fascinated by this French film. There’s no in-between reaction available here.When people talk about seeing a really weird film where nothing happened and the end didn’t make any sense, this is the film they’re probably talking about. I’d call it fascinating, but I’m well aware that I’m probably in the minority.
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Préparez vos mouchoirs / Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) Bertrand Blier, Gérard Depardieu, Carole Laure, Patrick Dewaere, Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Solange is depressed: she’s stopped smiling, she eats little, she says less. She has fainting fits. Her husband Raoul seeks to save her by enlisting Stephane, a stranger, to be her lover. Although he listens to Mozart and has every Pocket Book arranged in alphabetical order, Stephane fails to cheer Solange. She knits. She does housework. Everyone, including their neighbor a vegetable vendor, agrees that she needs a child, yet she fails to get pregnant by either lover. The three take a job running a kids’ summer camp where they meet Christian, the precocious 13-year-old son of the local factory manager. It is Christian who restores Solange to laughter.
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Terre battue / 40-Love (2014) Stéphane Demoustier, Olivier Gourmet, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Charles Mérienne, Drama

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Determined to no longer work for anyone else, Jérôme tries to set up his own company, no matter the cost and despite his wife’s reluctance. Ugo, their 11-year-old son, plays tennis and wants to become a champion. To do so, he must get into the French national tennis training school at Roland Garros.
Like his father, Ugo is ready to do anything to achieve his aims. Together, Ugo and Jérôme come to learn that you can’t bend the rules in order to succeed.
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Tarzoon La Honte de la Jungle (1975) Picha, Boris Szulzinger, Bernard Dhéran, Georges Aminel, Arlette Thomas, Adventure, Animation, Comedy

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Dans sa caravane perchée dans les arbres, Tarzoon (Shame) coule des jours heureux en compagnie de June sa femme, et Flicka, son singe. Un brave garçon dont il n’y a rien à dire. Mais, non loin de là, vit la reine Bazonga, protégée dans son royaume souterrain par une armée de créatures phalliques, les Zombits. Prête à conquérir le monde, elle n’a qu’un souci : sa calvitie. Seule une greffe pourrait la sauver et, justement June a les cheveux qu’il lui faudrait…
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Angel (2007) François Ozon, Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Lucy Russell, Drama, Romance

Angel (2007)
Angel Deverell comes of age in Edwardian Cheshire knowing she will be a great writer. Rising above her class (her widowed mother has a grocery shop), Angel finds a publisher and a wide audience for her frothy romances. With royalties, she buys an estate, then she’s smitten by Esme, a rake from local aristocracy and an artist of dark temperament. She hires Esme’s sister Nora, who dotes on her, as a personal assistant, and pursues Esme. Angel is grandly self-centered, coloring her world as if it were one of her novels. When the Great War breaks out and reality begins to trump her will, can Angel hold on to her man and her public?
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Un été à la Goulette (1996) Férid Boughedir, Sonia Mankaï, Ava Cohen-Jonathan, Sarah Pariente, Comedy, Drama

Un ete a la Goulette (1996)
In La Goulette, a small harbour town in the Tunis suburbs, Youssef, the Muslim, Jojo, the Tunisian Jew, and Giuseppe, the Sicilian Catholic, are as inseparable as their three 16-year-old daughters, Meriem, Gigi and Tina. In a fit of provocation the three girls all swear that they’ll lose their virginity on the day of the feast of the Madonna, each with a boy from a religion different to hers !…
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Steve + Sky (2004) Felix van Groeningen, Titus De Voogdt, Delfine Bafort, Johan Heldenbergh, Romance, Drama, Comedy

Steve + Sky (2004)
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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