The Trial ("Il Processo") (TV Series)

Director: Alessandro Fabbri

Starring: Vittoria Puccini, Francesco Scianna

Year: 2019

A group of characters is implicated in the brutal murder of Angelica, a 17 yo girl involved into something bigger than her: the prosecutor Elena Guerra, who discovers to be indissolubly close to the victim; Ruggero Barone rampant lawyer who considers this trial the chance of a lifetime; Linda Monaco, the only defendant, who insists claiming her innocence. The lines between the defendent, the jurors, the judges, defence, and prosecution all blur as they wait for a verdict, which will establish, in a way or another, a new course for their lives.

Comments: Shades of the "12 Angry Men", but more nuanced and complex. Intensely acted with really strong performances and great subtleties. 

Recommended.

The Fall (TV Series)

 Director: Alan Cubitt 

Starring: Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan, Emmett Scanlan 

Year: 2013 

The Fall is an Irish-British crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. Gillian Anderson plays a seemingly cold but very passionate policewoman who goes head to head with a serial killer in Belfast. 

Comments: Very well done with strong acting and writing. Psychological overtones of the story and characters keep the viewer engaged until the conclusion. We simply could not stop watching this. 

Recommended. 

The Maid ("La Nana")

Director: Sebastian Silva
Starring: Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedon, Mariana Loyola
Year: 2009

Live-in maid for a wealthy family in Chile struggles to come to terms with her world after 20 years of service when her employer hires a second maid to help.

Comments: Very insightful and poignant, the film contrasts class distinctions through a modern lense. Shot well with incredible acting performances that convey an almost documentary-style realness. Amazing performance by Saavedra as the Maid. Would not be surprised if this is Silva's autobiographical view of his childhood.

Recommended.

Exploring the Deserts of the Earth

Director: Michael Martin
Starring: Michael Martin, Elke Wallner
Year: 2007

In this documentary, a couple, Michael Martin, a photographer, and Elke Wallner, a filmmaker, take on the challenge of visiting all the deserts of the world, in one long trip over 900 days.

Comments: This incredible journey took Martin and Wallner across all the deserts through 5 continents over a 3 year period, connecting incredible landscapes with the people who inhabit them. With amazing fortitude and endurance, the couple completed the trip on a motorcycle with no escort vehicle or special supplies.

Recommended.

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

Director: Sergey Bodrov
Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Khulan Chuluun
Year: 2007

First of a planned trilogy recounting the life of Genghis Khan.

Comments: Set in Mongolia and beautifully shot. In the film, Genghis is a nice guy, who is picked on mercilessly.

Recommended.

Home

Director: Ursula Meier
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Adalaide Leroux
Year: 2008

Family who lives an isolated but happy existence beside an unfinished highway, falls apart when the road opens.

Comments: Somewhat stylized and surrealistic, but very riveting. Aptly described as a "road movie in reverse," reflects some existential questions about home and family. The highway which runs literally across the family's front door, serves as an effective metaphor.

Recommended.

Revanche

Director: Gotz Spielmann
Starring: Johannes Krisch, Irina Potopenko, Andreas Lust, Ursula Straus
Year: 2008

Ex-con Alex works as a odd-jobs guy at an Austrian brothel. He is compelled to put into action his dream of running away and liberating his prostitute girlfriend, only to find that his plan goes terribly awry. He is then obsessed with getting revenge.

Comments: Gritty and yet at times somewhat improbable, the film maintains a ominous and suspenseful pace. Excellent acting performances.

Recommended.

The Wind Journeys ("Los viajes del viento")

Director: Ciro Guerra
Starring: Marciano Martinez, Yull Núñez
Year: 2009

A musician travels a great distance to return an instrument to his elderly teacher. (source: IMDB)

Comments: The film is beautifully shot against the landscape of Columbia. But what makes this movie special is the music and the earthy performances of the Columbian troubadours, whose voices and lyrics are haunting. For only his second feature film, Guerra does a masterful job juxtaposing the beauty of the landscape with the harshness of the lives of his characters.

Recommended.

Gervaise

Director: René Clément
Starring: Maria Schell, François Périer, Jacques Harden
Year: 1956

Like a Greek tragedy, "Gervaise" is a tale of inevitable destruction. The heroine, Gervaise (Maria Schell), is a Parisian working-class woman during the Second Empire (1860s) who attempts to improve her social status. Her efforts are doomed, however, by a couple of selfish alcoholics-- her first lover Lantier (Armand Mestral), and her husband Coupeau (Francois Perier). The fascination of the character of Gervaise is her courage against all odds and the tragedy of her inevitable downfall and destruction, given the social dictates of the era. (source: IMDB)

Comments: Wonderful performances, especially from Maria Schell, whose eyes and innocently hopeful expression makes the tragic ending of the film even more pointed.

Recommended.

Woodpecker

Director: Alex Karpovsky
Starring: Jon Hyrns, Wesley Yang
Year: 2008

What starts as a documentary about the purported sighting in 2004 of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird previously determined to be extinct, the film is an exploration of the soul. This is the second film of young director, Karpovsky.

Comments: The search for an elusive bird that turns into a poetic interpretation of human nature. It is about hope and truth. The film is quirky, at times funny, and is a must-see for any bird watcher.

Highly Recommended.

I am Cuba ("Soy Cuba")

Director: Mihail Kalatozov
Starring: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, Raul Garcia
Year: 1963

An artistic view of the Cuban Revolution, the film traces the different stages of the revolt -- from the poverty and exploitation of pre-Castro Cuba to the student demonstrations to the revolutionaries' resistance in the Sierra Maestra mountains to ultimate victory.

The film was made Soviet filmmaker Mihail Kalotizov ostensibly as a propaganda film, but Kalotizov took advantage of the film's big budget and total cooperation of the nascent Cuban government to make instead an artistic expression filled with iconic images that pushed cinematography to new frontiers. Kalatosov took Eisenstein's montage technique to the other extreme, and built the film around long, almost improbable, continuous shots. One of the most amazing sequences of the film is a shot where the camera starts atop a high-rise, where a group of musicians and bikini-clad women perform, then descends down the side of the building to a crowded swimming pool and finally — without a cut — underwater, where it follows the movements of the swimmers.

Comments: The cinematography is astounding. This film must be seen.

Highly Recommended.

Luxury Car ("Jiang cheng xia ri")

Director: Chao Wang

Starring: Yuan Tian, He Huang, Yiqung Li, Youcai Wu
Year: 2006

A country schoolteacher reaching retirement comes to Wuhan in search of his only son, whom his dying wife has requested to see one last time. He is met by his daughter Yanhong who works as an escort in a karaoke bar. Yanhong introduces him to a policeman who sympathizes with his plight and agrees to help him to find his son. The two quickly become friends, as they search for the missing son. Yanhong also presents her father to her boyfriend, the owner of the karaoke, an older man, who drives a luxury car. However when the four of them meet for dinner one night the old policeman recognizes the boyfriend as a man he arrested over ten years ago...

Comments: The film offers a glimpse in the dark side of the new China. Very nice performance by Yuan Tian (Yanhong), who infuses her character with tenderness and vulnerability..

Recommended.

The Ascent ("Voskhozhdeniye")

Director: Larissa Shepitko

Starring: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Anatoli Solonitsyn
Year: 1977

A band of starving Soviet partisans are wandering through the woods in Nazi-occupied territory during WWII. Two of the group are sent to a nearby village to find food only to be captured by the Nazis along with a peasant woman who tried to save them. Their subsequent interrogation and their ultimate fates reveal much about their souls.

Comments: This was Shepitko's last film before her premature death in a car accident at the age of 42. The movie was banned during the Soviet era, probably because of its heavy religious overtones. It is a Soviet version of the Passion Play, with Sotnikov (played by Boris Plotnikov) as a Jesus figure who is condemned to death by his Nazi-sympathizer interrogator (played by Solonitsyn), and Rybak as his Judas who betrays his comrades by agreeing to become a Nazi policeman in order to save his life. Aside from the incredible acting performances, the moral dilemma it raises, Shepitko's cinematography is intense from beginning to end.

Recommended.

White Night Wedding ("Brúðguminn")

Director: Baltazar Kormakur

Starring: Hilmer Guonason, Margret Vithjalmdotter
Year: 2008

On a remote island off the coast of Iceland, it is the day before his wedding as Jon (Guonason), a middle-aged professor prepares to marry one of his ex-students half his age. Jon is reticent bridegroom, having to contend with his cantankerous future mother-in-law who is obsessed over money she is owed by Jon from a failed business venture to build a golf course. Jon also must deal with his drunken best man who has lost his shoes and the memories of his failed marriage with his first wife from the same island. When the guests start arriving to the island, Jon starts getting cold feet. After a very long night of drinking and reflection, will Jon be able to make it to the church on time?

Comments: Based on Chekov's Ivanov. At times funny, bittersweet, and eccentric. The film;s setting is beautiful.

Recommended.

End of Summer ("Kohayagawa-ke no aki")

Director: Yasujiro Ozu

Starring: Ganjiro Nakamura, Setsuko Hara, Michiyo Aratma
Year: 1962

This is a very different film from Ozu's Tokyo Story. More playful, slightly less melodramatic yet just as peotic as the accepted masterpiece by Ozu. Set in Kyoto, Ganjiro Nakamura, a well known kabuki actor seen also in Floating Weeds, plays Manbei, the father of a family. Just as in many of Ozu's films, his main concern is the arrangement of his daughter's marriage. However, she is torn between appeasing her father and pursuing another man. Meanwhile, Setsuko Hara, his widowed daughter-in-law, is also encouraged to remarry a respectable gentleman but she finds that she has nothing in common with him. Through this simple premise, Ozu explores the conflict between the pressure of conformity and desire for modernisation in Japanese society. The humour of the film comes from Manbei's secret excursions to his lover's house. Nakamura's acting in these little episodes are a gem.

Comments: This is Ozu's second to last movie. Zhanna really liked it, while Steve thought is was somewhat disjointed and meandering compared to Ozu's other films. A small point in the film, the daughter of the central characters lover is a party girl who goes out with foreigners. This provide some interesting insight into the attitudes of post-war Japanese and Americans.

Recommended.

Lust, Caution ("Se, Jie")

Director: Ang Lee

Starring: Joan Chen, Wei Tang
Year: 2007

In China, during the Japanese occupation World War II, a young student named Wong Chia Chi (Chen) is recruited by her school's acting troupe who have joined the resistance against the Japanese. Wong agrees to be the central figure in the assassination of a brutal Japanese collaborator, Yee. The troupe creates an elaborate ruse in which Wong takes on the alias of a wife of a bourgeoisie to befriend Mr. Yee's wife, Yee Tai Tai. Wong eventually seduces Yee in order to kill him but becomes emotionally entangled.

Comments: Lushly shot, very sensual, and intense. Chen and Tang have amazing on-screen chemistry. You may not like all his films, but Ang Lee knows how to make a compelling film.

Recommended.

A Serious Man

Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamedm Sari Lennick
Year: 2009

"A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1970, and Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Lennick) that she is leaving him for one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy Ableman (Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job."

Comments: Modern story of Job set in the 1970 jewish suburbia. "Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality, and Judaism -- and intersections thereof"

Recommended.

Runaway Train

Director: Andrew Konchalovsky

Starring: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts Rebecca De Mornay
Year: 1985

Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a train with no brakes and nobody driving.

Comments:

Recommended.

The Window ("La Ventana")

Director: Carlos Sorin

Starring: Antonio Laretta, Roberto Rovira
Year: 2008

80-year-old, bedridden Antonio awaits the visit of his estranged son. Looking out his window at the Patagonian landscape, he decides to secretly leave the house, unseen by his faithful caretakers, to take what might be a last walk in his fields. What could otherwise seem like insignificant memories or moments in one’s life, take a special, beautiful meaning and weight in this poetic, humanistic film.

Director Sorin casts the great Uruguayan writer and scriptwriter Antonio Larreta in the lead role, establishing a link between fiction and reality that makes the protagonist’s fears, hopes and wishes even more palpable.

Comments: Zhanna really liked this film.

Recommended.

Man From Aran

Director: Robert Flaherty

Starring: Colman "Tiger" King, Maggie Durraine, Michael Durraine
Year: 1931

A fictional "documentary" depicting life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters who live in premodern conditions and their hardships, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and hunting for huge basking sharks to win their liver oil for lamps.

After living two-and-a-half years on the Arans, Flaherty (the director) was able to convince local residents to act in his film through equal parts cajolery, a priest's assurance that the boy wouldn't be made into a Protestant, the promise of payment, and a hard-hitting local brew known as potheen.

Third in the corpus of Flaherty's four major films, Man of Aran is preceded by Nanook of the North (1922), Moana (1926), and is followed by Louisiana Story (1948).

Comments: A beautiful film like a visual poem.

Recommended.

Adrift on the Nile ("Thartharah fawq al-Nil")

Director: Hussein Kamal
Starring: Ahmed Ramzy, Imad Hamdi, Magda El-Khatib
Year: 1971

A simple Egyptian worker, Anis (Hamdi)y, who cannot tolerate the hypocrisy of the Egyptian government (for whom he works at the Ministry of Health) and the illiteracy of the Egyptian public and decides to hide from all the problems in the country by taking up smoking hashish in a shisha, a popular smoking habit in Egypt, to escape from reality.

Comments: A decidedly moralistic, anti-drug movie set in the days before the six-day war in Egypt.

Recommended.

Billy Budd

Director: Peter Ustinov
Starring: Robert Ryan, Melvyn Douglas, Terance Stamp, David McCallum
Year: 1962

Based on a unfinished novella by Herman Mellville, the film follows Billy Budd, a seaman impressed into service aboard the HMS Bellipotent in the year 1797, when the Royal navy was dealing with two major mutinies while fighting the French. Billy, an orphaned illegitimate child who epitomizes innocence, openness and natural charisma, is adored by the crew, but arouses the antagonism of the ship's Master-at-Arms John Claggart, who falsely accuses Billy of conspiracy to mutiny. Despised by the crew, Claggart brings his charges to the ship's Captain (played by Peter Ustinov). Billy, unable to find the words to respond, strikes and accidentally kills Claggart.

Comments: Ustinov and the entire cast are exceptional. They manage to bring this film to life in a way that articulates the story's moral conflicts and dilemmas: between justice and law, responsibility to duty verses adherence to a personal moral code, and the struggle between good and evil. The film is a real gem.

Recommended.

Koktebel

Director: Boris Khlebnikov, Alexsei Popogrebsky
Starring: Igor Scernyevics, Gleb Puskepalis
Year: 2003

A windowed aeronautics engineer, an alcoholic who has lost his job, travels with his son hopping freight trains from Moscow to Koktebel, a town by the Black Sea, to start a new life with the father's sister.

Comments: Beautifully filmed. Every scene captures the exquisite landscape like a timeless photograph. The film is about search and discovery. It uses the metaphor of the "the road" to reflect on the relationship between a father who is seeking a way back from a personal abyss and his son who is on a path of preadolescent awakening.

Recommended.

Dharm

Director: Bhavna Talwar
Starring: Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak,
Year: 2007

The story is based in Banaras and is about Pandit Chaturvedi (Pankaj Kapoor), a highly revered and learned priest. A child is abandoned by a woman and brought to his house by his daughter. He agrees to adopt the child due to requests from his wife (Supriya Pathak) .Life takes a turn when he finds out that the child is a Muslim after he has become attached to the child. The family gives back the child to his mother. Chaturvedi engulfs himself in the purification process to cleanse his body, mind and soul due to contact with a Muslim soul. By the time, Chaturvedi thinks he is fully purified – the child reappears – seeking refuge, due to Hindu- Muslim riots. This is the time Chaturvedi finally realizes that the true religion is humanity.

Comments: A truly captivating performance by Kapur. A film that will appeal to all those that believe in universality of humanity.

The word Dharm originates from Sanskrit, and is the term used in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and other religions to mean the philosophy of right thoughts and actions.

Recommended.

In The Realm of the Senses ("Ai No Corrida")

Director: Nagisa Oshima
Starring: Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda
Year: 1976

Based on a true story set in pre-war Japan, a man and one of his servants begin a torrid affair. Their desire becomes a sexual obsession so strong that to intensify their ardor, they forsake all, even life itself.

Comments: Widely banned when it was first released, even today the film still generates controversy: is it pornography, or is it an artistic allegory of Japanese politics in the 1960 and 1970s. Either way, the film is extremely expressive and intense.

Recommended.

Cherry Blossoms: Hanami ("Kirschbluten")

Director: Doris Dörrie
Starring: Elmar Wepper, Hannalore Elsner, Aya Irizuki
Year: 2008

The film follows a grieving widower’s journey to Japan and a new understanding of both his late wife and himself.

Comments: Inspired by Ozu's "A Tokyo Story", the film focuses on a father's disaffected relationship with his three grown children (ala King Lear). The first half of the film which is set in Germany is listless and somewhat predictable. But the second half, set among the cherry blossoms in Japan, is captivating.

Recommended.

Happiness ("Le Bonheur")

Director: Agnes Varda
Starring: Jean-Claude Drouot, Claire Drouot, marie-France Boyer
Year: 1965

Francois is a young carpenter married with Therese. They have two little children. All goes well, life is beautiful, the sun shines and the birds sing. One day, Francois meets Emilie, they fall in love and become lovers. He still loves his wife and wants to share his new greater happiness with her.

Comments: When the film first was screened in the 1960s, it was very controversial due its frank portrayal of infidelity and open sexuality, and the insensitivity of a widower and his lover following his wife's death. Seen through the lens of current cinematography and social norms, after more than 40 years that controversy seems very dated. But the film, with its bright, optimistic colors, and its naively idyllic view of the world, is still intriguing and the questions raised still relevant. At the time Varda made the film, she had mostly wanted an excuse to spend time experiencing the quintessential French country picnic -- hence the film was shot mostly set in the country. Claire Drouot, who plays the wife, is the real-life of Jean-Claude. In spite of (or because of) the film's theme and their roles in the film, they have been married for nearly 50 years.

Recommended.

Pitfall ("Otoshiana")

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Starring: Hisashi Igawa, Sumie Sasaki, Kunie Tanaka
Year: 1962

A miner and his young son go to a village in Kyushu where the miner has been told he'll find work, but it's a ghost town, save for one woman. The miner is murdered by by a man in a white suit and white gloves. What follows is a story of bribery and intrigue, investigations, a frame-up, and a ghost who wants to know why, all of which meet in a story of realism and the surreal. Throughout all of this, the miner's child is a silent witness.

Comments: This film is hard to describe, but it features Teshigahara's intense, complex visuals, and somewhat surreal story telling. It predates Teshigahara's "Woman in the Dunes", which Steve and Zhanna watched again and found even more impressive than ever before. Also watched "The Face of Another" ("Tanin no Kao"), a later Teshigahara film about a man who gets a new face after suffering horrible disfigurement from an industrial accident. That film, and all its themes of identity and role of individuals in society, is particularly poignant given the recent advances in facial transplants. Still, if you have to see one film of Teshigahara's, or even one film at all, see 'Woman in the Dunes."

Highly Recommended.

My Father, My Lord ("Hofshat kaits")

Director: David Volach
Starring: Assi Dayan, Ilan Griff
Year: 2007

A respected rabbi is forced to come to terms with the demands of his faith and the welfare of his own family.

Comments: The film is incredibly powerful. The film has been likened to an allegory of the biblical story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, except in this story the ending is not as happy. Amazing performance by Griff, the rabbi's son, whose sweetness, innocence, and doleful eyes captivate the film. Hebrew title of the film literally means "Summer Holiday."

The filmmaker, David Volach, was one of 19 children (can this be true?) having grown up in a Hasidic community, but abandoned it when he was 25 to study film.

Highly Recommended.

Urga

Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Starring: Vladimir Gostyukhin, Badema, Bayertu
Year: 1992

The Mongolian shepherd Gombo lives in a yurt in Inner Mongolia with his wife, three children, and mother. They are content with their uncomplicated rural lives but Gombo wants his city born wife to bear a fourth child. A Russian truck driver named Sergei is stranded nearby, and finds his way to their house, where he and Gombo become friends despite their language and cultural differences.

Comments: We watched a version without subtitles (Zhanna translating for Steve in realtime)in which Mikhalkov does his own voiceover translating the dialog from Manchurian to Russian. This is kind of a weird way to watch a film, but it worked. The film explores the relationship between Russia and Manchuria over the ages from the political level to human level. Beautiful images of pristine Manchuria, which according to a recent article, is rapidly changing due to global warming and the increased grazing of goats to supply the global market for cheap cashmere (goats pull the delicate grass from the roots, as opposed to sheep which leave the roots undisturbed).

Somewhat Recommended.

Siddhartha

Director: Conrad Rooks
Starring: Shashi Kapoor, Simi Garawel, Romesh Sharma
Year: 1972

The story of a young Indian, Siddhartha who embarks upon a journey to find the meaning of existence. Based on the novel by Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha, played by Shashi Kapoor), is born in the rich family, begins a serahc for the meaning of life that takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, then self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony with himself that he had been seeking. Siddhartha learns that the secret of life cannot be passed on from one person to another, but must be achieved through inner experience.

Comments: Shot on location in Northern India, the film features work by noted cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Simi Garewal's appearance in the film as the courtesan Kamala caused controversy in India, in particular because she appeared nude in one scene; the Indian Censor Board, at that time, did not even permit on-screen kissing in Indian films. The locations used for the film were the holy city of Rishikesh and the private estates and palaces of the Maharajah of Bharatpur.

Recommended.

You don't Mess With the Zohan

Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro
Year: 2008

Zohan Dvir works as an Israeli Special Agent and lives with his parents in Israel. He wants to give up this life full of dangerous encounters with Palestinians. While in the process of apprehending a Palestinian activist known simply as the Phantom, he fakes his death, hides in a dog-kennel on a plane bound for New York, and decides to try his hand as a hair-stylist. He finally gets his shot working at a Palestinian-owned hair salon in New York, but his past catches up with him.

Comments: Steve wanted to hate this movie, but he couldn't help laughing. The stereotypes of Israelis in NY are sharp and in exquisitely bad taste.

Recommended.

Travellers and Magicians

Director: Khyentse Norbu
Starring: Tsewang Dandup, Sonam Lhamo, Sonam Kinga
Year: 2003

Dondup, a government officer sent to a small, remote village, yearns to go to America. Forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal, he shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi -- a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder, that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup, and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam.

Comments: The movie is charming, funny, philosophical. Steve really liked it. In case your are interested, Bhutan is a tiny country nestled next to Nepal. This is the first feature film from Bhutan, and the second film by Norbu, who was born and raised in Bhutan. His first was The Cup, which was made in 1999.

Recommended.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

Directors: Peter Yates
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Steven Keats, Alex Rocco
Year: 1973

Based on the novel by George V Higgins, revolves around the dilemma of Eddie 'Fingers' Coyle (Mitchum), a weary small-time mobster who faces pressure to become a police informant in the wake of a couple of murderous bank heists.

Comments: Set in Boston in the early 1970's, the film is a precursor to Scorsese' The Departed. Mitchum does a good job playing a character with obvious vulnerabilities, which is very different than the tough guy roles of many of his films.

Somewhat Recommended.

Ashes and Diamonds ("Popiól i diament")

Directors: Andrzej Wadja
Starring: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska
Year: 1958

Maciek, a young Resistance fighter, is ordered to kill Szczuka, a Communist district leader, on the last day of World War II. Though killing has been easy for him in the past, Szczuka was a fellow soldier, and Maciek must decide whether to follow his orders. The film is the third in Wajda’s anti-war trilogy, preceded by A Generation (1955) and Kanal (1956), which also starred Cybulski

Comments: The film, which depicts the collapse of Poland’s resistance movement after WW2, is rich in symbolism and allusions to Polish history. Cybulski's performance is amazing as is his chemistry with Krzyzewska. The drama of the film is bit over the top at times, but this is more than compensated by the incredible visual imagery.

Highly Recommended.

Wonderful Town

Directors: Additya Assarat
Starring: Anchalee Saisoontom, Supphasit Kansen
Year: 2007

After the tsunami struck the coast town of Takua Pa in Thailand, young architect Ton (Kansen) moves in town to develop a construction project and settles in a small hotel run by Na (Saisoontom), a young sensitive local girl. They begin a secret love affair, but soon rumors spread and they meet with strong opposition from Na's brother and the town's residents.

Comments: Contemplative film that weaves the lush, overgrown, ruins of Southern Thailand with a Romeo and Juliet plot. Assarat's use of long takes recounts displays influences of director, Michaelangelo Antonin.

Recommended.

Woman on the Beach ("Haebyeonui yoin")

Directors: Sangsoo Hong
Starring: Seung-woo Kim, Hyun-Jung Go
Year: 2006

A film director with writer's block leaves the city of Seoul to finish his script at a Korean seaside resort. An entanglement with two women, however, reveals his inner confusion and forces him to confront his self-destructive behavior.

Comments: The film's tempo is plodding, but the acting of Kim and Go make this a captivating and revealing film.

Recommended.

An Autumn Afternoon ("Sanma no aji")

Directors: Yasijuro Ozu
Starring: Chishu Ryo, Shima Iwashita
Year: 1962

Shuhei Hirayama (Ryo) is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter (Iwashita). Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

Comments: Ozu's last movie after a career that spanned more than 50 feature films and 40 years. The film highlights Ozu's low camera angles, detailed arrangements of objects in each scene, and plot lines that deal with family relationships -- many about the conflict of daughters leaving their homes to get married. Ozu's films, which were not seen outside of Japan until 15 years after his death in 1963, provide a a fascinating glimpse into post-war Japan. We have also seen Ozu's "Tokyo Story", which we liked very much.

Recommended.

Beaufort

Directors: Joseph Cedar
Starring: Oshri Cohen, Itai Tiran, Alon Abutbol
Year: 2007

BEAUFORT tells the story of LIRAZ LIBERTI, the 22 year-old outpost commander, and his troops in the months before Israel pulled out of Lebanon. This is not a story of war, but of retreat. This is a story with no enemy, only an amorphous entity that drops bombs from the skies while terrified young soldiers must find a way to carry out their mission until their very last minutes on that mountaintop. As LIRAZ lays the explosives which would destroy that very same structure that his friends had died defending, he witnesses the collapse of all he's been taught as an officer, and his soldier's mental and physical disintegration.

Comments: The best part of this movie is that is aptly captures, in a timeless and universal way, the sense of isolation and despair of a group of young men on a doomed mission. While the film has a political point of view, it doesn't beat the viewer over the head, and provides a glimpse into a particularly tumultuous time in Israeli history.

Recommended.

Empire of the Sun

Directors: Steven Spielberg
Starring: John Malkovich, Christan Bale, Ben Stiller
Year: 1987

A boy's privileged life is upturned by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, December 8, 1941. Separated from his parents, he is eventually captured, and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield. Amidst the sickness and food shortages in the camp, Jim attempts to reconstruct his former life, all the while bringing spirit and dignity to those around him. Based on a true story.

Comments: Spielberg does a remarkable job at telling the story through a boy's perspective and showing how his character grows and changes. Lushly visual with memorable performances by Malkovich and Bale. Many scenes are simply haunting.

Recommended.

Avanim (Stones)

Directors: Raphael Nadjari
Starring: Assi Levy, Uri Gavriel
Year: 2004

Thirty-year-old Michale (Assi Levy) works with her father (Uri Gavriel) in his Tel Aviv accounting office that is involved in a scheme to pad the number of students to attract money from the government for the construction of a new Yeshiva. She divides her time between her young child, her husband, her work and the man with whom she is having an affair. When Michale learns of the tragic death of her lover, her life is shattered

Comments: How can you not like a movie that has jachnun (a yemenite dish that is traditionally served on Sabbath) in it. Good performance by Assi Levy as a restless, dissatisfied housewife.

Somewhat Recommended.

Western

Directors: Manuel Poirier
Starring: Sergi Lopez, Sacha Bourdo
Year: 1997

On a trip through the French countryside, Spanish shoe salesman Paco picks up the unassuming Russian hitchhiker Nino. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start, as Nino begins a chain of events that causes Paco to lose his car and his job. But when the pair, penniless and directionless, take off for a three-week hitchhiking journey together, they discover their common struggles in life, love and what it feels like to be an outsider in this heartwarming, romantic road comedy.

Comments: sentimental, but amusing. Nice story about how we all come from different places and origins.

Recommended.