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