Posts with the tag 'Foreign'
WARM WATER UNDER A RED BRIDGE- Premise by Netflix. “Inspired by a homeless man’s story, Yosuke (Koji Yakusho), an unemployed businessman, travels to a remote seaside village where a golden Buddha stolen from a Kyoto temple is supposedly hidden. Instead, Yosuke finds Saeko (Misa Shimizu), a woman with an odd affliction: She fills up with water, and when she’s full, she leaks … and the only way to express the fluid is to make love.”
3/10- A little different to say the least but I enjoyed it. TRDB. Netflix.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 25th, 2010
SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS- Premise by Netflix. “Monika (Tatiana Vilhelmova), Tonik (Pavel Liska) and Dasha (Anna Geislerova) are three friends from a small working-class Czech town. Living in a depressed cloud of industrialization spewed from one of the country’s largest chemical factories, the trio dreams of a brighter life, each of the three finding solace through love, fantasy or escape. Ultimately, comfort and happiness surface as they learn to accept the things they cannot change.”
4/10- After a slow start the movie grew on me and I enjoyed it. Yet another view of post Communist living. TRDB. Netflix Streaming.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 24th, 2010
TWO WOMEN- Premise by Netflix. “Fereshteh (Niki Karimi) is promised to a traditional man from her village, and her newlywed life is fraught with abuse. This contrasts sharply with the life of Roya (Marila Zare’i), a friend of Fereshteh’s who retains her independence by living in the city. Writer-director Tahmineh Milani who would later be imprisoned for the images she put in films such as this one, a revealing work about women’s roles and lives in contemporary Iran.”
3/10- A very realistic movie about the plight of many women in Iranian society. I liked the movie very much. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 15th, 2010
MOTHER- Premise by Netflix. “A murder rocks a South Korean town and suspicion quickly falls on a reclusive, mentally challenged — and alibi-free — young man (Bin Won). When an inept public defender botches the boy’s case, his mother (Hye-ja Kim) sets out to prove her son’s innocence. Acclaimed director Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder) explores the lengths a mother will go to protect her child in this atmospheric crime thriller.” OK review in NY Times.
3/10- While a bit slow, the wonderful acting and the story itself made this a very good movie. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 15th, 2010
THE STONING OF SORAYA M- Premise by Netflix. “Set in 1986 Iran at the start of Khomeini’s reign, director Cyrus Nowrasteh’s drama tells the true story of Soraya (Mozhan Marnò), whose husband plots to have her falsely accused of adultery so he can divorce her and marry a young girl. French journalist Freidoune (Jim Caviezel) is pulled into Soraya’s tragic story when he meets a desperate woman named Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo).”
3/10- The movie feels more like a lecture than true drama and I didn’t want to stick around for the 20 minute stoning scene. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 15th, 2010
SERVICE- 2008. Premise by Netflix. “While the Pineda family matriarch, Nanay Flor (Gina Pareño), brings suit against her bigamist husband, the rest of her brood struggle with their own demons as they operate a run-down porno theater in the Philippines in director Brillante Mendoza’s drama. The goings-on include one son (Coco Martin) dealing with a boil on his butt as another pair of siblings contemplates incest, all amid the seedy sexual shenanigans of the theater’s clientele.”
3/10- The movie was very, very slow but did show a slice of life in this poor, sex trade community. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 15th, 2010
SOMERS TOWN- Premise by Netflix. ” After leaving his Nottingham hometown for the big city of London, brash young Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) befriends introverted Polish immigrant Marek (Piotr Jagiello). The mismatched teens bond as they each develop a crush on Maria (Elisa Lasowski), a French waitress. Director Shane Meadows‘s black-and-white coming-of-age film follows the teens as they experience their first summer in London. Ireneusz Czop co-stars as Marek’s hard-drinking father.
3/10- I could NOT understand the dialogue which is unusual for me. There should have been sub-titles. At the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 14th, 2010
SHELTER ME- Premise by Netflix. “Lovers Anna (Maria de Medeiros) and Mara (Antonia Liskova) find their carefree lives turned upside down when, upon returning home from vacation, they discover a young Moroccan named Anis (Mounir Ouadi) has stowed away in the trunk of their car to cross the border into Italy. Forming a makeshift family, the trio soon finds the pressures of the outside world threatening to ruin the delicate relationships they’ve forged with one another.”
3/10- I really enjoyed this movie. Great acting by the women especially. TRDB. Netflix.
Tags: drama, Foreign
March 11th, 2010
THE POOL- Premise by Netflix. “In this seriocomic study of class differences in India, a young hotel worker becomes obsessed with a swimming pool at an opulent mansion in Panjom, Goa. His life takes a wild turn when he meets the mysterious family that arrives at the house. The film, a World Cinema Dramatic Competition entry at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, is the narrative feature debut of director and co-writer Chris Smith, who helmed the famed documentary American Movie.”
1/27/10- I found this movie very interesting and very well done. I’d definitely recommend it when it comes to Netflix. I saw it on the Sundance Channel. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
January 28th, 2010
VAGABOND- 1985. Premise by Netflix. “In the south of France one winter, a young woman, Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire), is found frozen to death in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, writer-director Agnes Varda paints a fractured portrait of Mona’s final weeks as she camps alone and falls in with various men and women, many of whom try to give her life direction. Others do not have her best interests at heart, as they project their own needs and problems onto her.”
1/20/10- I liked this movie, especially the interesting technique of doing the movie via flashbacks with people whose path she crossed during her last month of life. TRDB.
Tags: drama, Foreign
January 20th, 2010
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