France/Belgium:

Circumstance (2011) – A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession. (France/Iran/USA) – [imdb]

I’m Glad My Mother is Alive (2009) -  Given up for adoption as a toddler, troubled teenager Thomas becomes obsessed with tracking down his birth mother. After years of searching Thomas finds her single, with a small child, living in a nearby suburb and introduces himself. Traumatized by years of emptiness and longing for his mother, he starts an ambiguous relationship with her (part courtship, part obsession) which slowly drives him to an act of madness. (France) – [imdb]

Spain:

Julia’s Eyes (2010) – From producer Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Orphanage) comes a tale of dread and terror from the darkest corners of reality. Julia, a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease, finds her twin sister Sara hanged in the basement of her house. Everything points to suicide, but Julia is compelled to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case. (Spain) – [imdb]

Northern Europe:

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) - The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. (Sweden) – [imdb]

Eastern Europe:

Alive! (2009) – Twenty-two-year-old Koli is studying at Tirana university. When he hears of his father’s death, he returns to his native mountain village in the north to attend the funeral. During a walk through the countryside of his childhood, someone takes a shot at him. In a state of shock, the young man discovers that he is part of a blood feud sparked by his grandfather sixty years earlier. (Albania/Austria/France) – [imdb]

Tuesday, After Christmas (2010) – Paul Hanganu loves two women. Adriana his wife and the mother of their daughter, the woman with whom he’s shared the thrills of the past ten years, and Raluca the woman who has made him redefine himself. He has to leave one of them before Christmas. (Romania) – [imdb]

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008) - A search for both family and cultural identity takes place on a tandem bicycle in this emotional drama from Bulgarian filmmaker Stefan Komandarev. (Bulgaria/Germany/Slovenia/Hungary) – [imdb]

UK/Ireland:

Brighton Rock (2010) – Based on the iconic Graham Greene novel and set in 1964’s Mods- and Rockers-infused Britain, screenwriter Rowan Joffe’s debut feature Brighton Rock embraces the classic elements of film noir and the British gangster film to tell the story of Pinkie, a desperate youth who is hell bent on clawing his way up through the ranks of organized crime. Starring Sam Riley and Helen Mirren. (UK) – [imdb]

Burke & Hare (2010) -  A dark comedy/thriller staring Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry and Isla Fisher as the unfortunate denizens of 19th century Edinburgh, a setting rife with murder, theft, prostitution, corpse snatching, experimental medicine, and of course Shakespeare. (UK) – [imdb]

The Guard (2011) - An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is teamed up with an uptight FBI agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring. (Ireland) – [imdb]

Australia/New Zealand:

The Tunnel (2011) – An investigation into a government cover-up leads to a network of abandoned train tunnels deep beneath the heart of Sydney. As a journalist and her crew hunt for the story it quickly becomes clear the story is hunting them. (Australia) – [imdb]

Asia:

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) -An exiled detective is recruited to solve a series of mysterious deaths that threaten to delay the inauguration of Empress Wu. (China/Hong Kong) – [imdb]

The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010) - Packed with Kung Fu combat and thick with drama, The Legend is Born follows Ip Man as he grows from a promising young pupil into an unstoppable force. (Hong Kong) – [imdb]

(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and AllRovi for help with these synopses)

France/Belgium:

The Adventures of Tintin: Season 1 (1991) – One of the most popular European classic comic strips of all time tells stories of the heroic escapades of youthful reporter Tintin and his loyal canine companion Snowy. (France/Canada) – [imdb]

The Convoys of Shame (2010) -  During World War II, the French were forced to ask themselves that very question, when the Nazi war machine marched through their streets. Forced to collaborate with Hitler in exchange for their safety, the French were torn. The controversial armistice treaty between the occupier and occupied is laid bare in The Convoys of Shame, an unprecedented documentary that shows the true cost of compromise. (France) – [imdb]

The Devil’s Double (2011) - Summoned from the frontline to Saddam Hussein’s palace, Iraqi army lieutenant Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the “royal family” when he’s ordered to become the ‘fiday’ – or body double – to Saddam’s son, the notorious “Black Prince” Uday Hussein (also Dominic Cooper), a reckless, sadistic party-boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality. With his and his family’s lives at stake, Latif must surrender his former self forever as he learns to walk, talk and act like Uday. (Belgium/Netherlands) – [imdb] – click here to read our review

Histoire(s) du cinéma (1988-1997) – A decade in the making, this lyrical work from heavyweight director Jean-Luc Godard uses selections from hundreds of films to examine the history, scope and existential implications of 20th-century movies and moviemaking. (France) – [imdb]

Mammuth (2010) - After turning 60, working-class man Serge (Gérard Depardieu) decides to retire and is ready to reap his pensioners rewards. He runs into the implacable wall of bureaucracy after finding out that his former employers have neglected to declare his earnings. Encouraged by his wife, our hero climbs his old 1970s Mammoth motorcycle and sets off on a trip to recover lost wages and buried memories. (France) – [imdb]

Rapt (2009) - Lucas Belvaux’s Rapt is a Chabrolian crime thriller based on the actual 1978 kidnapping of a French-Belgian executive whose harrowing 9-week experience at the hands of a criminal band is, ultimately, less life-threatening to him than the details of his scandalous life which the tabloids uncover in the course of these events. (France/Belgium) – [imdb]

Rio Sex Comedy (2010) - Charts the misadventures of expatriates in Rio in their bungled search for both personal pleasures and social justice. Each character reveals a different aspect of the fabled city, from Rio high society to favelas. (France/Brazil) – [imdb]

Sarah’s Key (2010) - Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas), an American journalist married to a Frenchman, is commissioned to write an article about the notorious Vel d’Hiv round up, which took place in Paris, in 1942. She stumbles upon a family secret which will link her forever to the destiny of a young Jewish girl, Sarah. (France) – [imdb]

The Sleeping Beauty (2010) – A young princess is the subject of a tug-of-war among witches, as each struggles to find the suitable antidote to a death sentence inculcated by an evil sister. From director Catherine Breillat. (France) – [imdb] – click here to read our review

The Tree (2010) - Blindsided with anguish after her husband s sudden death, Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg) along with her four young children struggles to make sense of life without him. Eight-year-old Simone becomes convinced that her father is whispering to her through the leaves of the gargantuan fig tree that towers over their house. The family is initially comforted by its presence, but then the tree s enormous roots slowly begin to encroach on the abode and threaten their fragile existence. (France/Australia/Germany/Italy) – [imdb]

Germany:

Jester Till (2003) – One of Europe’s most beloved folk tale heroes, Jester Till is the ultimate prankster embodying the simple wisdom and earthy humor of medieval European peasant folk. In this brand new animated adventure tale, Till embarks on a quest to find his grandfather, a wizard who vanishes while brewing a special potion. (Germany/Belgium) – [imdb]

The Three Investigators & the Secret of Terror Castle (2009) - This family-oriented German language mystery continues the exploits of The Three Investigators. This time around, Justas’s parents have tragically died, but his mother and father left behind a trail of clues. The boys duly follow the path, which leads them to California and the heart of the formidable Terror Castle – a spooky old structure that conceals a secret beyond their wildest imaginations. (Germany) – [imdb]

The Wave (Die Welle) (2008) – A high school teacher’s unusual experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own. (Germany) – [imdb]

Spain:

Kidnapped (2010) – Three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into a home in a Madrid gated community, holding the family hostage in its own home, and forcing the father to empty his credit cards. (Spain/France) – [imdb]

Northern Europe:

Armadillo (2010) - A romantic drama that charts the lives of three women from different backgrounds, forever changed when they emigrate to New Zealand as war brides. (Denmark) – [imdb]

UK/Ireland:

The Drum (1938) – A spectacular military epic set on the Indian frontier, during the days of the British Raj. Captain Carruthers is summoned to remote Tokot, where the Khan suspects his brother, Prince Ghul is plotting to overthrow him and therefore wants a treaty with the British to safeguard the throne for his son, Prince Azim. (UK) – [imdb]

Elephant Boy (1937) - Robert Flaherty and Zoltán Korda shared best director honors at the Venice Film Festival for collaborating on this charming translation of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book story “Toomai of the Elephants.” (UK) – [imdb]

Jig (2011) - The remarkable story of the fortieth Irish Dancing World Championships, held in March 2010 in Glasgow. Three thousand dancers, their families and teachers from around the globe descend upon Glasgow for one drama filled week. – [imdb]

Page Eight (2011) – Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is a long-serving M15 officer. His boss and best friend Benedict Baron (Michael Gambon) dies suddenly, leaving behind him an inexplicable file, threatening the stability of the organization. Johnny is forced to walk out of his job, and then out of his identity to find out the truth. (UK) – [imdb]

Sleep Furiously (2008) - A poetic and profound journey into a world of endings and beginnings; a world of stuffed owls, sheep and fire. (UK) – [imdb]

Turtle: The Incredible Journey (2009) - Turtle: The Incredible Journey is a critically-praised, award-winning film that follows the life and migration of a loggerhead turtle from hatching to maturity and a return to its original Florida nesting grounds. (UK/Austria/Germany) – [imdb]

Australia/New Zealand:

The Family Tree (2011) – When a bizarre accident leaves desperate housewife Bunnie with a case of amnesia, her dysfunctional family gets an unexpected second chance at happiness. Starring Dermot Mulroney, Hope Davis, Christina Hendricks and more. (Australia/USA) – [imdb]

Griff the Invisible (2010) - Griff, office worker by day, superhero by night, has his world turned upside down when he meets Melody, a beautiful young scientist who shares his passion for the impossible. (Australia) – [imdb]

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009) – The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls tells the story of the world’s only yodeling country singing-and-comedy lesbian sibling duo – Jools and Lynda Topp – who have inspired a generation with their politics and celebration of joy. (New Zealand) – [imdb]

North & South America:

Nora’s Will (2008) - Nora had a plan. It would bring her ex-husband, Jose, and the rest of their family together for a magnificent Passover feast. But there is a flaw in her plan- a mysterious photograph from the past, hidden under the bed, which leads Jose to reexamine their relationship and rediscover their undying love for each other. (Mexico) – [imdb]

Africa:

Life, Above All (2010) - Just after the death of her newly born sister, twelve-year-old Chanda learns of a rumour spreading through her small village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother – and the truth. (South Africa/Germany) – [imdb]

Asia:

Loups=Garous (2010) - In the future, a deadly virus that has spread worldwide, has drastically reduced the world’s population. Only community centers (once called schools) exist and people can only communicate online. However a group of girls have pursued real contact outside of the society. When a series of brutal murders occur, it is up to them to see the dark secrets hidden in the closed off world they live in. (Japan) – [imdb]

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2011) – Centuries ago, two “sworn sisters” are isolated by their families, but stay connected through a secret language written in the folds of a white silk fan. Now in modern-day Shanghai, their descendents must draw inspiration from the past as they struggle to maintain their own eternal bond in the face of life’s complications. (China/USA) – [imdb]

Triple Tap (2010) – When champion sharpshooter Ken Yao happens upon an armored van robbery, he kills four of the five thugs and saves a cop. But it turns out the robbery wasn’t what it seemed, and soon Ken finds himself at odds with the cop handling the case. (Hong Kong) – [imdb]

What Women Want (2011) – After an accident, a chauvinistic executive gains the ability to hear what women are really thinking. (China) – [imdb]

(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and AllRovi for help with these synopses)

The first part of this line is an underlying message, if not the outright moral from any classic fairy tale… given those stories were designed to keep children in line.

Er… that is to say… to help them process their fears and understand ethical boundaries. Children learn that any limits placed on them by authority figures are done so for their own safety and that help is a kindly woodcutter’s axe away.

But this dialogue, lifted from the second of director Catherine Breillat’s gender re-positioned film adaptations of those stories, has been her left-handed and sarcastic mission statement for all her work and ultimately why this film wears itself down and is an unsatisfying experience.

In Breillat’s new version of Sleeping Beauty, an old crone casts a spell that will kill a princess on her sixteenth birthday. To protect the child, three good witches weave a counter enchantment so she sleeps safely for a hundred years (we’re told childhood goes on too long). An adventurous girl, fascinated by clocks and dictionaries, she proclaims herself a knight but falls under the spell when she’s six years old. Her slumber is filled with gypsy bandits, antique trains, snow queens and Breillat’s underpinning of innocence experiencing its sexual awakening. Roused from her sleep, a prince does await, but also the petulant moodiness and constraints of modern romance.

Another interesting post-modern, feminist “fractured fairy tale” experiment from Breillat, but even taking into consideration how her source material could conveniently drop characters, internal logic and even whole swathes of story in the interest of being magical and getting to the “good triumphs over evil” part, you don’t take much away from this film. There’s wit and some striking imagery, but with her now standard theme of repressive sexual politics and control and given Breillat’s implied eye-rolling in the quoted line of dialogue, it all becomes extremely strained.

Visually there was a grubby 17th Century elegance and symmetry to Breillat’s Bluebeard (2009), but in Sleeping Beauty half the action takes place in the princess’s dreams and the spillage of both characters and anachronisms (does the Joy Division graffiti on a concrete pillar mean this was supposed to be Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette?) between whichever of the realities is less “anything can happen in a fairytale” and more… well… just very distracting. The era portrayed certainly isn’t specified, but you wonder what the budget was for location scouting.

Is this Breillat’s point? Not that money is tight, of course, but since a child’s unfiltered imaginings are relative to life experience then they’re not the fanciful and ultimately safe Disneyscapes we as adults think they are, or should be, or perhaps long to get back to. Factor in society’s constraints on being female and you’re back to square one with Breillat’s philosophy of filmmaking. Unfortunately Sleeping Beauty never really leaves that first square. – [DVD]

France/Belgium:

Dirty Like an Angel (Sale comme un ange) (1991) – From provocateur extraordinaire Catherine Breillat comes this unflinching portrayal of a middle-aged detective who finds an escape from his boredom with life by having an affair with his philandering partner’s neglected young wife. (France) – [imdb]

Gigola (2010) -  Based on the long censored novel of the same name, Gigola captures a little known chapter in Parisian history in which eroticism defied conventional morals. (France) – [imdb]

The Names of Love (2010) - A young, extroverted left-wing activist who sleeps with her political opponents to convert them to her cause is successful until she meets her match. (France) – [imdb]

The Princess of Monpensier (2010) – In this vivid film, Melanie Thierry is the object of desire of four powerful men: the young prince who married her but is driven more by jealousy than lust, the battle-scarred beauty Henri De Guise, who must have her no matter the risk, the powerful Duc d Anjou, and her personal tutor, who is the only man that loves her truly. In the tradition of Dr. Zhivago, this film by director Bertrand Tavernier (Round Midnight) proves that indeed passion destroys everything. (France/Germany) – [imdb]

Italy:

Identification of a Woman (1982) – After his wife leaves him, a film director finds himself drawn into affairs with two enigmatic women, while at the same time searching for the right subject (and actress) for his next film. This spellbinding anti-romance was a late-career coup for the legendary Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni. (Italy/France) – [imdb]

Germany/Austria:

The Robber (2010) – Tells the true story of Johann Rettenberger, a marathon athlete who developed robbing banks as a hobby. (Germany/Austria) – [imdb]

Northern Europe:

Armadillo (2010) – Documentarian Janus Metz Pedersen hunkers down with a platoon of Danish soldiers on a six-month Afghan tour of duty, and his exceptional access yields a field-level view of the boredom, adrenaline and confusion that comprise their daily routine. (Denmark) – [imdb]

My Queen Karo (2009) – A young girl witnesses the moral dilemmas of free love when her parents join a squatter community in 1970s Amsterdam. – (Netherlands/Belgium) – [imdb]

R (2010) - The prisoner R arrives to Denmark’s toughest prison, where he is to serve a sentence for violent assault. R is reduced to a number, a letter, just another inmate. Here he must find his place in the system, learn to navigate, and fight for survival. navigate, and fight for survival. (Denmark) – [imdb]

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) - In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus. (Finland/Norway/France/Sweden) – [imdb]

Eastern Europe:

A Serbian Film (2009) – Filmmaker Srdjan Spasojevic pushes the boundaries of what can (or should) be shown onscreen in this violent and malignly erotic thriller. (Serbia) – [allrovi] – click here to read our review

UK/Ireland:

Attack the Block (2011) - From the producers of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Attack the Block follows a gang of tough inner-city kids who try to defend their turf against an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning a South London apartment complex into an extraterrestrial warzone. (UK) – [imdb] – click here to read our review

Mr. Nice (2010) - Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans) was a young Welshman studying at Oxford when he discovered there was something unusual about his dorm room — it had a secret passageway that led to a storage space used by one of the school’s top marijuana dealers.(UK) – [imdb]

The Shock Doctrine (2009) - An investigation of “disaster capitalism”, based on Naomi Klein’s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance. (UK) – [imdb]

The Trip (2010) – Playing loose versions of themselves, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their hilariously fictionalized roles from Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and reunite with acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom for an acerbically witty, largely improvised ride through the English countryside. (UK) – [imdb] – click here to read our review

Zombie Diaries 2 (2011) - Three months have passed since a viral outbreak wiped out 99.9% of the world’s population, turning its victims into flesh-eating living dead. In the UK, a surviving band of soldiers and civilians have taken refuge at a rural military barracks. Life is tough, but hope appears when a high level communication is received from a military base on the coast, telling of sanctuary elsewhere in Europe. (UK) – [imdb]

Australia/New Zealand:

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010) – Overweight Australian filmmaker Joe Cross attempts to wrestle back control of his failing health during a cross-country trek in which he engages everyday Americans in discussions about food and obesity in this lighthearted documentary addressing a deadly serious subject. (Australia) – [imdb]

North & South America:

Leap Year (Año bisiesto) (2010) - Laura’s personal life consists of one affair after another. She meets Arturo, and the pair enter into an intense sexual relationship. As days go by, Laura crosses out the days on a calendar, revealing her secret past to her lover. (Mexico) – [imdb]

Russia:

Attack on Leningrad (2009) – Winter, 1941. World War II rages on as Nazi troops invade the Soviet Union and besiege the devastated city of Leningrad. Foreign journalists are quickly evacuated, but in the chaos that ensues, Kate Davies (Mira Sorvino) is left behind. Isolated and alone, Kate joins up with a small band of resistance fighters, and together they battle to survive. (Russia/UK) – [imdb]

Middle East:

Strangers (2007) – Six days in the lives of an Israeli living in a kibbutz and a Palestinian living in Paris, which starts with an accidental meeting in the Berlin Subway during the World cup finals, will change them completely. (Israel/France) – [imdb]

Africa:

Master Harold & the Boys (2010) - The story of Hally, an adolescent white South African stuck between his intolerant father’s outlook of him and those of his caretaker, Sam. (South Africa) – [imdb]

Asia:

The Child’s Eye (2010) - A group of friends find themselves stranded in an old hotel. As they uncover the history beneath the walls they’re slowly drawn into its sinister past making it harder to get out alive. (Hong Kong) – [imdb]

City of Life and Death (2009) – On December 9, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army laid siege to the Chinese capital of Nanking, beginning a reign of terror that killed as many as 300,000 civilians – an infamous tragedy now referred to as the Rape of Nanking. The first big-budget fiction film by the Chinese to deal with this seminal event in their modern history, this is a visceral, heartbreaking portrait of life during wartime, and an unforgettable masterpiece of contemporary world cinema. (China/Hong Kong) – [imdb] – click here to read our review

I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK (2006) – A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people’s souls. (South Korea) – [imdb]

Kuroneko (1968) – In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle with his own personal demons as well. (Japan) – [imdb]

Shaolin (2011) - In a young Republic of China, where greedy warlords fuel a period of war and strife, Hou Jie (Andy Lau) arrogantly shows no mercy to his enemies seeking refuge with the benign and compassionate Shaolin monks. After unscrupulously killing a wounded enemy, Hou Jie pays a terrible price for his actions and is forced to seek refuge in the same Shaolin Monastery he blatantly disrespected. (Hong Kong/China) – [imdb]

The Sylvian Experiments (Kyôfu) (2010) – Hiro Takahashi’s The Sylvian Experiments centers on a scientist who finds an unusual film reel in the basement of an abandoned hospital. When she watches the movie, she discovers it documents a series of brain experiments designed to locate a third reality that is a state of neither life nor death. She becomes obsessed with continuing the work done in the movie, and considers experimenting on her own daughters. (Japan) – [imdb]

(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and AllRovi for help with these synopses)

But it’s a pretty good time. The movie follows the residents and attendant hoodlums of a London high-rise apartment block as they confront nasty alien creatures that literally come falling out of the sky. No punches are pulled when it comes to the nastiness of the film’s “heroes,” though–we meet them as they mug one of their neighbors (Jodie Whittaker) at knifepoint. They are interrupted by what appears to be a meteor smashing a nearby car, which turns out in fact to be a small monster which is quickly dispatched by the gang’s leader, Moses (John Boyega). Soon, hundreds more meteors come plummeting down, carrying much larger, hairier versions.

Attack the Block won’t appeal to everyone. It never really loses its dark edge, and its heroes are not entirely sympathetic, even when they’re being funny. It’s certainly not an alien invasion epic on a scale like Independence Day or Battle: Los Angeles–whatever is going down, we see it on a very local level. Much of the dialogue is laced with heavy British slang, which I personally found easy enough to follow once I fell into its rhythm. I particularly admired the grim atmosphere and ominous lighting throughout. This isn’t a rah-rah go-get-em action flick. This is a reminder that no matter how nasty alien beasties falling from the sky might be, the creatures they meet here can be pretty nasty–and smart–themselves. Which might be a comforting thought–or it might not. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 10/25/11

The film is breathtaking throughout, shot in color and desaturated to black and white, rendering it stark and grim, while also bestowing a certain gleam to the straightforward images. The first 45 minutes have an unrelenting and terrible beauty, if you can imagine an extended version of the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, as we witness the raw street-to-street fighting, with snipers and tanks, in what was the Japanese army’s inexorable decimation of what was then China’s capital city, Nanking. The rest of the film deals with the inexhaustible supply of malevolence doled out by the Japanese, with no one spared, especially the women of Nanking, who were used for the “comfort” of the Japanese soldiers.

Director Lu Chuan, who also directed Mountain Patrol (2004), which we have and is highly recommended, has technique to spare, but also a very humanistic approach to this story. His sympathies, quite naturally, are with the oppressed; but he doesn’t fall into the trap of completely dehumanizing the Japanese, or lumping them into an insidious ball of evil. Several of the Japanese soldiers are sympathetic, and many of them seem to be
uncomprehending of the repercussions and human cost of the orders they must follow. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Drama/History/War

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 10/25/11

Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), a semiretired Serbian porn star, finds it hard to provide for his family on the savings left from his career. A father with a gentle, hangdog demeanor (except onscreen as a “Balkan sex god”), his wife Marija (Jelena Gavrilovic) remains understanding and supportive about his past and they both dote on their son, yet Milos finds he reaches for a whiskey bottle more and more often.

A former colleague approaches him with an offer from an unknown director to create a new kind of pornographic film which would set up a big payday for Milos and be his swan song from the industry. He agrees to perform in Vukmir’s (Sergej Trifunovic) megalomaniacal vision of creating not just a pornographic masterpiece but something truly Serbian, a social critique of past oppressions and present day corruption all encapsulated in the immediate, visceral moment of the sexual act and showing the power and transcendence of the “victim”. Disquieted but thinking of his family, Milos signs the contract. Multiple circles of hell open and he’s engulfed.

Shall we have the conversation now? The one that always comes up about expression and censorship? That negates any reason for not putting something on the screen because it’s art? No, we don’t need that conversation, because we deep down know there’s no carte blanche for artists or Philistines either to three-card-monte our sensibilities.

That having been said… this can be said:

A Serbian Film is vile, rank and ultimately pointless. End of conversation.

If you’ve heard about A Serbian Film you’ll know whether or not you want to view it, and specific scenes don’t need to be described here. What can be described? That the premise of using a horror film to “truly” convey the damage visited upon a country and its people is slipshod and pandering. This piece of celluloid? A mirror of a nation’s identity as a sort of guilt-ridden paranoid/schizophrenic Nietzschean materialism?

Things aren’t what they seem and a wronged man who’s a victim-as-aggressor, his memory wiped by drugs, tries frantically to piece together three lost days until all horrors perpetrated are clarified. It’s steeped in hackneyed Hitchcock/DePalma contrivance and it’s obvious director Srdjan Spasojevic came up with a half dozen brutal ideas for scenes and from there cobbled together a film. The outcome is telegraphed in the film’s first fifteen minutes, but you’ve heard of the atrocities that await, so the “oh I saw/didn’t see that coming” moment blinders itself. That this exercise is slick and stylish counts for nothing.

The unfortunate topper to this sham? The last ten minutes are truly heartbreaking. Then a final callous and cynical afterthought of a joke tacked on for a typical splatter movie rim shot.

So see it, don’t see it. End of conversation… again… until the next time. – [DVD]

In both Shandy and here, Coogan is seconded most ably by fellow BBC Radio comic Rob Brydon, his affable foil who seems much more comfortable both with his career and in his own skin. Brydon, a gifted mimic, and Coogan present their real-life friendship as one of constant competition. Coogan, befitting his much greater fame in England, portrays the alpha male in the pairing while also never shying from the idea that his ambition for stardom in Hollywood has left him somewhat bereft and his ego genuinely bruised. True to form, Brydon never shies from reminding him that his narcissism is, in the best way, a bit laughable.

The bare bones idea of The Trip is that the ‘real’ Steve Coogan has been hired to do a series of articles documenting various restaurants and scenic vistas of northern England. As his girlfriend, Misha, is unable to accompany him, he calls upon Brydon for the trek. In the course of their adventure, they eat gourmet food indifferently, stay in fancy hotels, and bicker endlessly, if good-naturedly, in trying to out-do the other via comic impressions, the random observation, and, in Coogan’s case, sleeping with women they encounter on the way. All the while, Coogan deals with his own Partridge-related insecurities (will he never escape his own creation’s shadow?), faulty cell phone reception, an offer for a television show in the US, and his increasingly faltering romantic relationship with Misha.

Director Michael Winterbottom, who worked with Coogan on both 24 Hour Party People and Tristram Shandy, again shows his skill at comic cinema verité, filming the adventure episodically as though a genuine documentary. The comedy itself, while often very funny, is not always altogether obvious. While there are occasions when the two comics competitively ‘riff’ on each other via dueling Michael Caine impressions, much of what works are the offhand moments, when Coogan reminds Brydon how tiring his always being ‘on’ can be, or when Brydon sticks the odd knife in his friend’s ribs, trying to deflate Coogan’s inflated sense of self-importance. There are no comic set pieces or lazy attempts at slapstick; the film is entirely about two middle-aged men and how they have accepted, or cannot accept, their lives and careers.

Now, how much of this is ‘true’ is impossible to say, but, particularly for Coogan, we have to believe that he is drawing from his own well of exasperation and well-earned reputation in the UK for his past drug abuse and sexual escapades. He has tried to make it in America, and has failed. He’s gotten some roles thanks to his friendship with Ben Stiller but nothing of any note. His talents are enormous, and he has a devoted fanbase. But that is from television, and, no matter what people try to tell him, clearly it’s just not enough. – [DVD]

Comedy

Unrated

DVD Release Date: 10/11/11

France/Belgium:

Amer (2009) – The power and danger of eros plays a key role for three women of different ages who may or may not be the same person in this enigmatic picture. (France) – [imdb]

L’Amour Fou (2010) -  The public life of Yves Saint Laurent was as extravagant as it was decadent, as a design prodigy and then the grand couturier of a fashion empire, he influenced fifty years of style – but few are familiar with the private life of the legend. In Pierre Thoretton’s L’Amour Fou, Pierre Berge, the man with which YSL shared four decades of his life and love, reflects on the equally extravagant history of their personal relationship. (France) – [imdb]

Le Beau Serge (1958) - Director Claude Chabrol’s stark and absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. (France) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection

Carlos (2010-TV Miniseries) – The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting. (France/Germany) – [imdb]

Les Cousins (1959) - In Les Cousins, Claude Chabrol crafts a sly moral fable about a provincial boy who comes to live with his sophisticated bohemian cousin in Paris. (France) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection!

Italy:

Le Quattro Volte (2010) – Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times) is an ineffably beautiful meditation on the mysterious cycles of life. Set in Italy’s mountainous region of Calabria, it traces the path of one goat-herder’s soul, as it passes from human to animal to vegetable to mineral. (Italy/Germany/Switzerland) – [imdb]

Germany/Austria:

Lourdes (2009) – In order to escape her isolation, wheelchair-bound Christine makes a life changing journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains.(Austria/France/Germany) – [imdb]

Northern Europe:

Bride Flight (2008) - A romantic drama that charts the lives of three women from different backgrounds, forever changed when they emigrate to New Zealand as war brides. (Netherlands/Luxembourg) – [imdb]

The Phantom Carriage (1958) - The last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Death’s chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year. So says the legend that drives The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen), directed by the father of Swedish cinema, Victor Sjöström, about an alcoholic, abusive ne’er-do-well who is shown the error of his ways and the pure-of-heart Salvation Army sister who believes in his redemption. – (Sweden) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection

The Red Chapel (2009) - Two Danish comics, one of them a spastic and both born in Korea, join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act. (Denmark) – [imdb]

UK/Ireland:

The Hide (2008) – A loner (Alex MacQueen) used to spending his days seaside, documenting the various species of birds that frequent the area, forms an unlikely bond with a mysterious fugitive. As the police begin to close in, however, the two men find themselves falling victim to their own inner demons. (UK) – [imdb]

Nothing Personal (2009) - In this moody drama from Polish director Urszula Antoniak, Anne (Lotte Verbeek) is a loner and a drifter, hitching rides through the Irish countryside, until she comes across an isolated cabin and strikes up an uneasy relationship with its owner (Stephen Rea). Each one has something to offer the other — the solace of his cabin, her welcome companionship — and in time, they begin to trust and even care for one another. (Ireland/Netherlands) – [imdb]

Australia/New Zealand:

Bran Nue Day (2009) – In the Summer of 1969 a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome – fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. However his mother returns him to the religious mission for further schooling. After being punished for an act of youthful rebellion, he runs away from the mission on a journey that ultimately leads him back home. (Australia) – [imdb]

Lou (2010) - Lou is a tender story about the relationship between 11-year-old Lou and her grandfather. Not long after Lou’s father walks out of her life, her irascible and befuddled grandfather crashes in. But when Doyle comes to stay, Lou discovers against all her expectations the healing power of love. (Australia) – [imdb]

North & South America:

Circo (2010) - Gorgeously filmed along the back roads of rural Mexico and set to the music of Calexico, Circo follows the Ponce family’s hardscrabble circus as it struggles to stay together. (Mexico) – [imdb]

Incendies (2010) – Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother’s last wishes. (Canada/France) – [imdb]

Middle East:

Yumurta (Egg) (2007) - When the elderly mother of a poet passes away and the man returns home to say his last goodbyes, his attempt to fulfill her last wish hits an unexpected snag in director Semih Kaplanoglu’s quiet drama. (Turkey) – [imdb]

Africa:

Viva Riva! (2010) - A small time hustler thinks he’s got a big score ahead of him if he can stay out of the way of some underworld rivals in this stylish action drama from the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Congo/France/Belgium) – [imdb]

Asia:

Blades of Blood (2010) - During a turbulent time when political upheaval, rebellion, and invasion are coming to a head with a clash between two swordsmen caught up in a violent and bloody struggle to seize control of the country they love. (South Korea) – [imdb]

Higanjima: Escape From Vampire Island (2009) – Higanjima is an eerie island occupied by vampires, from where none has ever come back alive. When teenager Akira hears that his missing brother has been seen in the island, he decides to investigate with several friends. (South Korea/Japan) – [imdb]

Pokemon: Zoroark Master of Illusions (2010) – In this anime film, Ash and Pikachu visit Crown City for the Pokémon Baccer World Cup and make friends with Zorua, a curious new Pokémon. But soon the entire city is threatened with destruction by the mysterious and powerful Pokémon Zoroark . (Japan) – [imdb]

The Sword With No Name (2009) - A Joseon dynasty bounty hunter becomes the body guard of the queen he secretly loves. (South Korea) – [imdb]

(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and AllRovi for help with these synopses)

France/Belgium:

The Complete Jean Vigo (A propos de Nice/Taris/Zero de conduite/L’atalante) (1930-1934) – The son of a notorious anarchist, Vigo had a brief but brilliant career making poetic, lightly surrealist films before his life was cut tragically short by tuberculosis at age twenty-nine. This set includes all of Vigo’s titles: the endlessly witty, visually adventurous works of a pivotal film artist. (France) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection!

Queen to Play (Joueuse) (2009) – Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) and the luminous Sandrine Bonnaire (La Cérémonie) square off in this stylish and sophisticated dramedy of newfound passions and mid-life triumphs, set on the postcard-perfect isle of Corsica. (France) – [imdb] – click here to read our review!

Spain:

Me Too (Yo, También) (2009) - Proving everyone is equal in their need for — and ability to feel — love, Daniel (Pablo Pinedo), a thirty-something office worker with Down’s syndrome, embarks on a romance with Laura (Lola Dueñas), a neurotic but “normal” co-worker. Despite their apparent differences, Laura is attracted to Daniel, who is the first European with Down’s to graduate from a university. (Spain) – [imdb]

Germany:

Phantom Pain (2009) – Marc (Til Schweiger) is a passionate cyclist and urban slacker whose life changes in an instant when he loses his left leg in a hit-and-run accident. Barely out of the hospital, Marc numbs his pain by rushing back into his old selfish life. But when he falls in love with Nika (Jana Pallaske), he finds the strength to turn his life around. (Germany) – [imdb]

Northern Europe:

Face to Face (1976) – Director Ingmar Bergman’s wrenching drama stars Liv Ullmann as Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a successful psychiatrist who, despite her professional prowess, suffers from profound depression and finds herself teetering on the brink of a mental breakdown. (Sweden) – [imdb]

In a Better World (2010) – A provocative film that explores the difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness, In a Better World follows two Danish families and the unusual and dangerous friendship that develops between them. 2010 Academy Award and Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Film. – (Denmark/Sweden) – [imdb]

TrollHunter (2010) - Shot in a vérité style, TrollHunter is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. (Norway) – [imdb] – click here to read our review!

Eastern Europe/Russia:

The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924) – A comedy satirizing Soviet life and filmmaking in the 1920’s. The story follows the exploits of a young woman who is tossed from street vending into the world of movies when she is cast as the lead in a romantic melodrama. (Soviet Union) – [imdb]

Police, Adjective (2010) - A cop finds himself growing uncomfortable with his latest assignment in this study in the nature of power and authority from Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu. (Romania) – [imdb] – click here to read our review!

Strike (Stachka) (1925) – Sergei Eistenstein’s first film deals with a widespread labor strike in a rural factory and is, without doubt, one of the most astonishing debuts in film history. Commissioned by the government to commemorate the first, failed Bolshevik revolution, the film covers a 1912 strike at a metalworks factory whose workers have been bullied and humiliated by the plant management. (Soviet Union) – [imdb]

UK/Ireland:

Breaking Glass (1980) - A rock singer is determined to rise to the top of the profession, letting nothing stand in the way of that goal. (UK) – [imdb]

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) - Jack Cardiff’s career spanned an incredible nine of moving picture’s first ten decades and his work behind the camera altered the look of films forever through his use of Technicolor photography. Craig McCall’s passionate film about the legendary cinematographer reveals a unique figure in British and international cinema. (UK) – [imdb]

Cul-de-Sac (1966) - Roman Polanski (Repulsion) orchestrates a mental ménage à trois in this slyly absurd tale of paranoia from the director’s golden 1960’s period. Donald Pleasance and Françoise Dorléac star as a withdrawn couple whose isolated house is infiltrated by a rude, burly American gangster on the run. (UK) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection!

The Gruffalo (2009-TV) - Helena Bonham Carter narrates this delightful animated adaptation of the popular children’s book from author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Alex Scheffler. (UK/Germany) – [imdb]

If… (1968) – In director Lindsay Anderson’s allegorical story, a revolution lead by pupil Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) takes place at an old established private school in England. (UK) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection!

NEDS (2010) – Directed by the acclaimed actor and director Peter Mullan, NEDS, or so-called Non-Educated Delinquents, takes place in the gritty, savage and often violent world of 1970s Glasgow. On the brink of adolescence, young John McGill is a bright and sensitive boy, eager to learn and full of promise. But the cards are stacked against him. (UK/France/Germany) – [imdb] – click here to read our review!

Australia/New Zealand:

Tracker (2010) – An ex-war soldier has just returned to his beloved country and is quickly sent back out to track a man accused of killing a fellow soldier. While hunting through the country land he captures his fugitive only to learn that he’s innocent of his accused crime. (New Zealand/UK) – [imdb]

North & South America:

The Chameleon (2010) – An FBI Agent is hot on the tracks of Frédéric Fortin who has taken up the identity of a woman’s long lost son completely convincing the police and the boy’s family of his identity. (Canada/France/USA) – [imdb]

Middle East:

Carmel (2009) – Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai offers an impressionistic look at his nation’s long history of armed conflict in this experimental feature. (Israel/France/Italy) – [imdb]

Africa:

The Bang Bang Club (2010) - As apartheid comes to a violent end, four fearless photographers, bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, risk their lives to capture the bloody struggle and expose the truth. (South Africa/Canada) – [imdb]

Little Senegal (2001) – After many years as a tourist guide in the Slave museum in Senegal, Alloune, 65, a widower living alone, decides to go to America, in search of his ancestors taken away from his village two hundred years ago and sold as slaves in the New World. (Algeria/France/Germany) – [imdb]

Asia:

BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010) - A group of ‘fight club’ pals whose styles vary from Muay Thai and Capoeira to Kung Fu and Tai Chi must fight for their lives when one of their friends is kidnapped. (Thailand) – [imdb]

Breath (Soom) (2007) -A prisoner on death row and a woman who’s drawn to his plight go through their own spring, summer, fall and winter of love in Breath, a typically quirky chamber drama by helmer Kim Ki-duk. Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes. (South Korea) – [imdb]

Gantz (2010) – After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth. (Japan) – [imdb]

The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara (Intimidation, The Warped Ones, I Hate But Love, Black Sun, Thirst for Love) (1960-1967) - Over the course of his varied career, Koreyoshi Kurahara made exacting noirs, jazzy juvenile delinquency pictures, and even nature films. His free-form approach to moviemaking was perfectly suited to the spirit of the 1960s; he was one of the biggest hit makers working at the razzle-dazzle, youth-oriented Nikkatsu studio during the radical Japanese New Wave. (Japan) – [imdb] – Eclipse Series #28

Little Big Soldier (2010) – Set during China’s war period, Little Big Soldier is the story of a soldier (Jackie Chan) and a general (Wang Leehom) who come from opposing states and also have very much opposing views on the war and the world. (China/Hong Kong) – [imdb]

Magic (2010) – A piano composition takes on an unexpectedly profound meaning for two students contending with the loss of a dear friend. (South Korea) – [allrovi]

Poetry (2010) - A sixty-something woman, faced with a crippling medical diagnosis and the discovery of a heinous family crime, finds strength and purpose when she enrolls in a poetry class. (South Korea) – [imdb]

Secret Sunshine (2007) - An effortless mix of light and uncompromising darkness, Secret Sunshine (Miryang) stars Cannes best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid) as a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to her late husband’s provincial hometown for a fresh start. (South Korea) – [imdb] – Criterion Collection – click here to read our review!

(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and AllRovi for help with these synopses)