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.

Baraka

Directors: Ron Fricke
Year: 1992

BARAKA is a non-verbal cinematic meditation on the earth, an exploration of the natural beauty of places, of human spirituality, of birth, life and death, and man’s own capacity for destruction. Director Ron Fricke states, “BARAKA is a journey of rediscovery that plunges into nature, into history, into the human spirit, and finally into the realm of the infinite.”

Three years in the making, including a 14-month period of intensive location shooting, BARAKA takes the viewer on an unforgettable journey to 24 countries. The imagery is as varied as life itself. From the unspeakable horror of raging oil fires in Kuwait during the final days of the Gulf War to the contemplative beauty of a lone Tibetan Monk deep in meditative prayer. We see the inquisitive gaze of a Kayapo boy peering out of the Amazon jungle and the cold stares of armed Cambodian soldiers guarding a munitions storage area.

Comments: Simply amazing.

Highly Recommended.

51 Birch Street

Directors: Doug Block
Year: 2006

Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parents' 54-year marriage was a good one. But when his mother dies unexpectedly and his father swiftly marries his former secretary, he discovers two parents who are far more complex and troubled than he ever imagined. 51 Birch Street is a riveting personal documentary that explores a universal human question: how much about your parents do you really want to know?

Comments: Explores a number of universal human themes with sensitivity and without judgment.

Highly Recommended.

Autumn Moon ("Qiu Yue")

Directors: Clara Law
Starring: Matatoshi Nagase
Year: 1992

Twenty-something Japanese tourist (Tokio) vacations to Hong Kong looking for good restaurants. He meets 15-year-old Chinese girl (Li Pui Wai). Wai, whose family has gone ahead of her to move to Canada, invites Tokio for a meal prepared by her 80-year-old grandmother. Through the platonic relationship that develops, both Tokio and Wai find support and companionship to fill their respective voids. As Tokio regains his taste for life and food and Wai emerges from childhood into womanhood, both confront the sources of their respective alienation.

Comments: Exquisitely shot, the film poses a wonderful contrast between modern vs. old cultures, and Japanese and Hong Kong Chinese cultures. Good performances by Nagase and Wai (her first and only film?) who execute very effectively most of the dialogue in broken, halting English.

Recommended.

The Secret of the Grain (La Graine et le Mulet)

Directors: Abdel Kechiche
Starring: Habib Boufares, Hafsia Herzi
Year: 2007

At the port of Sète, Mr. Slimani, an Algerian immigrant, is forced to retire from a job in a shipyard after 30 years. A divorced father who forces himself to stay close to his family despite tensions and financial difficulties, he seeks to redeem himself by opening a restaurant. However it appears to be an unreachable dream. A family which gradually recompacts around this project which comes to symbolize the means to a better life.

Comments: You'll never look at couscous the same again. Stirring performance by Boufares, a relatively unknown actor.

Recommended.

Dersu

Directors: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Yuri Solomin, Maxim Munzik
Year: 1975

A Russian army explorer who is rescued in Siberia by a rugged Asiatic hunter renews his friendship with the woodsman years later when he returns at the head of a larger expedition. The hunter finds that all his nature lore is of no help when he accompanies the explorer back to civilization.

Comments: beautifully shot. Poetic, nostalgic view of nature and human nature. Very contemplative set in the circle of seasons in a remote place. Based on a memoir by eminent Russian explorer Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev.

Recommended.

The Great Match

Directors: Gerardo Olivares
Starring: Atibou Aboubacar
Year: 2006

Three interspersed stories of people in remote parts of Mongolia, Niger and Brazil struggling to get TV reception of the 2002 World Cup final between Germany and Brazil

Comments: Very amusing

Recommended.

Jellyfish (Meduzot)

Directors: Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret
Starring: Sara Adler, Gera Sandler, Noa Knoller, Asi Dayan
Year: 2007

Meduzot (the Hebrew word for Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg at her own wedding, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine woman who works as a private caretaker for the elderly, and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.

Comments: Skillfully and sensitively weaves through the complexity modern Tel Aviv life

Recommended.

Nanook of the North

Director: Robert Flaherty
Starring: Allakariallak (as Nanook)
Year: 1922

Documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit) and his family. Describes the trading, hunting, fishing and migrations of a group barely touched by industrial technology. Nanook of the North was widely shown and praised as the first full-length, anthropological documentary in cinematographic history.

Comments: Conveys as sense of wonder with the Arctic north. After 87 years, this holds up surprisingly well from a cinematography and story-telling standpoint

Recommended.

La Commare secca ("Grim Reaper")

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Carlotta Barrili, Allen Midgette
Year: 1962

Bertolucci's directorial debut at age 21 based on a story by Pasolini. The story follows the investigation of a brutal murder of a prostitute. We then see a series of interrogations of suspects by the police, all of whom are known to have been in a nearby park at the time of the murder. Each suspect recounts his activities during the day and evening, and each narrative serves as a slice of life story. A young man tells the police that he was meeting with priests in order to get a job recommendation, though we see that he and his friends spent the time trying to rob lovers in the park. A gigolo treats both his girlfriends badly. A soldier fails in his attempts at picking up a number of women and falls asleep on a park bench. Two teenage boys share a pleasant afternoon in the company of two teenage girls but end up stealing from a homosexual man in the park. The final flashback depicts the prostitute's murder by a man in clogs who had been interrogated previously and who is finally apprehended at a dance. Each narrative is interrupted by a sudden thunderstorm, which in each case leads to an interlude at the prostitute's apartment as she prepares for her evening.

Comments: The movie grabs you and the time sequences and flashbacks are effective.

Recommended.

Zurek ("White Borsht")

Director: Ryszard Brylski
Starring: Katarzyna Figura, Natalia Ribyka
Year: 2003

Summary: A Christmas story. Shame, promises, and secrets in a border town in Poland. Iwonka, who's 15 and blood simple, has a baby, and her mother Halina has promised her recently-dead husband that she'll learn who the child's father is and have a christening by Christmas. Halina badgers Iwonka who identifies various putative fathers, each of whom proves not to be the one. As we come closer to Iwonka's secret, two men who liked Halina when she was young come to her aid: Wladek, who is her husband's brother, and Matuszek, a somewhat comic former cyclist whose career ended when he ran into a bus. Soldiers are everywhere, as is the cold.

Comments: The film is well done. Zhanna liked it and thought it depicted in a realistic way life in a small Polish town.



Recommendation: Recommended

The Savages

Director: Tamara Jenkins
Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Year: 2007

Summary: A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

Comments: The film deals with a difficult subject without being over the top. The emotions seem real, and the humor unforced, to the credit of excellent acting and chemistry of Linney and Hoffman.

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

A Simple Curve

Director: Aubrey Nealon
Starring:
Year: 2005

Summary: Caleb is 27, and was raised in the majestic Kootenays by his bush hippie parents. He loves his father Jim and understands his reverence for wood working, coriander and Soya products, but he just doesn't get Jim's determined effort to achieve economic disaster at every turn. His father is a relentlessly unsuccessful business man, and as the junior partner in their carpentry shop, Caleb is powerless to stop the fiscal self sabotage. When Matthew, an old friend of Jim's, arrives in the valley to develop a high-end fishing lodge, Caleb sees fortune looming, provided he can keep his father distracted long enough. But a small deception leads to colossal betrayal, and soon Caleb must face the fact that he's reached that treasured day when a boy becomes man enough to tell his father get lost.

Comments: Canadian film set in the Canadian Rockies. The theme is reminicent of Turgenev's Father and Sons. Beautiful setting, well shot. A bit naive, though.

Recommendation: Recommended

L'intouchable (The Untouchable)

Director: Benoît Jacquot

Starring: Isild Le Besco

Year: 2006

Summary: On the day she celebrates her birthday, Jeanne, a young actress, is told by her mother her father is an Indian she once met on the banks on the river Ganges. From then on, Jeanne acts with singleness of purpose: she leaves the rehearsal of the the play "Sainte Jeanne des Abattoirs" she had wanted so much to be in, accepts a shameful role in a poor movie just for the money, buys an air ticket and flies to India, where she both hopes and fears to meet her biological father...

Comments: Le Besco is very expressive in a quiet way. The film's street scenes in India are very compelling and draw you in and show a slice of India without making any heavy judgements. The film does end abruptly, and in typical French film style, without many conclusions.

Recommendation: Highly recommend