Tag Archives: 2000s

Oscar Niemeyer – A Vida É Um Sopro (2010) Fabiano Maciel, Chico Buarque, Carlos Heitor Cony, Le Corbusier, Documentary

oscar-niemeyer-a-vida-e-um-sopro-2010
The film is based on face-to-face conversations with the Brazilian architect, with an in medias res beginning and a ’spontaneous’ ending: “The interview is over, isn’t it?” asks Niemeyer, when they begin to talk about women as everyday pleasures for the 100 year-old architect. Besides a wide range of the architect’s mostly public buildings in the biggest Brazilian cities, and also in France, Italy and Algeria, director Fabiano Maciel tries to show us the post-war intellectual and political atmosphere in Brazil, and Niemeyer’s relation to it. We also get to know him as a fighter for social justice and about his role in the construction of Brasilia as a symbol of the workers’ movement in the fifties.
Read More »

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.
Read More »

Il richiamo / The Call (2009) Stefano Pasetto, Sandra Ceccarelli, Francesca Inaudi, César Bordón, Drama, Romance

il-richiamo-aka-the-call-2009
Stefano Pasetto’s finely balanced tale of two women from different generations and very different sensibilities provides a surprising answer. Frustrated in each of their relationships, the two women get together and leave town, boldly striking out on their own and forming an indelible bond despite their many differences. This is only the beginning of a wonderfully liberating experience that defies narrative expectations.
Read More »

Afterimages (2014) Tony Kern, Sheena Chan, Pamelyn Chee, Daniel Jenkins, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

afterimages-2014
A group of film students burn paper effigy cameras for the wandering spirits during the ghost month in Singapore and receive a collection of horror movies in return. The first film received, GHOST POOL LEG, revolves around Chinese superstition in which ghosts are believed to pull swimmers legs to drown them. The second movie, XIAO BAO BAO, focuses on a young woman’s haunting experience after taking a postmortem photograph of a suicide jumper. The third movie, SKIN DEEP, finds a group of shoppers stuck in a mall elevator with a mysterious and beautiful woman who holds a terrible secret. The fourth film, REKINDLING, features a heartbroken hawker, a missing China bride, and the mysterious ring she left behind. The final film comes with a price.
Read More »

Jug jugoistok / South by Southeast (2005) Milutin Petrovic, Radivoje Andric, Nedeljko Despotovic, Balsa Djogo, Thriller

jug-jugoistok-aka-south-by-southeast-2005
Sonja, once a popular Serbian actress settled in Slovenia is on a short visit to Belgrade. She panics claiming that her daughter Sofia has been kidnapped, then disappears. Inspector Despotovic is assigned to the case and when he finds Sonja, she admits that she made everything up, that she never had a child, and therefore there was no kidnapping. But a Secret Service veteran approaches Despotovic and tells him that the story about kidnapping is true. It is highly classified information. The father of the child is Foreign Affairs Minister. On the other hand, Minister claims that the Secret Service has made everything up trying to compromise him. Despotovic is puzzled… Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? Who is insane? Who is about to die?
Read More »