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.