Fa yeung nin wa [In The Mood For Love] (2000)

Storyline:
A story set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves with his wife to a new building. In the meanwhile, Su Li-zhen, an elegant secretary and her executive husband also move in to the same crowded building.
With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends, discovering how much they have in common.
Soon, they are shocked as they discover that their spouses are having an affair with each other.
Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful spouses.

Director: Kar Wai Wong
Writers: Kar Wai Wong
Stars: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ping Lam
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/

Year: 2000
Genre: Romance, Drama
Country: China

Trailer:


Review:
This movie is a feast for the eyes and succor for the soul. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever felt the fear and lure of falling in love.
Kai War Wong made a fantastic job on creating the perfect intimate scenario to tell such story. Credits to the main actors aswell, who made the movie deserve so many positive ratings with terrific interpretations and acting.
Unlike most movies, there is a lot of unspoken poetry in this one, full of well-disguised tension and lovelorn anguish.
This film is centered on the feeling, keeping it simple: pure, painful romantic longing.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Read more »

Ne le dis à personne [Tell No One] (2006)

Storyline:
A pediatrician Alexandre Beck has his wife Margot Beck brutally murdered, as he is considered the prime suspect.
Eight years have passed and two bodies are found near where Margot's body was dumped, the police reopens the case and Alexandre becomes the prime suspect again.
The mystery increases when Alex receives an e-mail with a stream showing his wife older and alive. Alex struggles to find the truth about his wife while being chased by the police.

Director: Guillaume Canet
Writers: Guillaume Canet, Harlan Coben, Philippe Lefebvre
Stars: François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362225/

Year: 2006
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France

Trailer:


Review:
Engaging movie, extremely well acted, moving and thrilling. Everything a thriller should be.
A movie with lots of twists, that will never let you predict what's going to happen next and how's it going to end. That's what keeps it edge-of-your-seat exciting.
If you're familiar with french actors, take a look at the cast and you'll realise how great this movie is right before you even watch it. Excellent performance for both the main actors, such as secondary actors.
Tell No One is not one of those mysteries which can never be unravelled or that defies logic. But the pieces of the puzzle are so cleverly put together that one's immediate desire on reaching the end is to watch the whole movie again.

Personal Rating: 9/10

Read more »

Hunger (2008)

Storyline:
Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northerns Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands.
The final months of Bobby, the Irish Republican Army activist who protested his treatment at the hands of British prison guards with a hunger strike, are chronicled in this historical drama.
Like most of the IRA volunteers behind bars, Gillen and Campbell are subjected to frequent violence by the guards, who in turn live with the constant threat of assassination at the hands of Republicans during the off-hours.
Gillen and Campbell are taking part in a protest in which they and their fellow IRA inmates are refusing to wear standard prison-issue uniforms as a protest against Britain's refusal to recognize them as political prisoners.
As the protest fails to get results, Bobby decides to take a different tack and begins a hunger strike.

Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: Enda Walsh, Steve McQueen
Stars: Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw, Brian Milligan
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986233/

Year: 2008
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: united kingdom, Ireland

Trailer:


Review:
Hunger is a daunting and powerful work. Sensorial in ways that become viscerally disturbing, this is a movie of shocking silences that tracks Bobby and his fellow IRA prisoners through the soul-crushing regimens of prison life.
Hunger is not about the rights and wrongs of the British in Northern Ireland, but about the inhumane prison conditions, the steeled determination of IRA members like Bobby Sands. The extended sequence of dialogue punctuates the heart of the film, as Bobby discusses his stance with a sympathetic priest Father Dominic Moran. Both men sit at a table with their respective political and religious beliefs, and the verbal duel is utterly compelling.
An engaging and active movie, with an amazing work by the director and the main character, Hunger will leave you feeling emotionally battered and bruised.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Read more »

Wild Bill (2011)

Storyline:
Bill Hayward returns home on parole after being in prison for 8 years, to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending themselves.
Unhwilling to play Dad, uncaring Bill is determined to move on. Although Dean, the older boy, has found a job and is doing his best to be a father to his younger brother Jimmy, the arrival of Bill has brought them to the attention of social services.
With the danger of being put into care looming, Dean forces his father to stay by threatening to grass him for dealing. Bill agrees to stay for a week to fool social services that the boys are being taken care of.
After helping them, Bill starts to bound with his children and realizes what he's been missing.

Director: Dexter Fletcher
Writers: Dexter Fletcher, Danny King
Stars: Charlie Creed-Miles, Will Poulter, Liz White
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1795702/

Year: 2011
Genre: Drama
Country: United Kingdom

Trailer:


Review:
The unoriginal story of an uncaring father sudenly bounding with his children is compensated by the actors' superb performances amidst a growing unnerving atmosphere.
Do not get fooled by the movie's title, the story does not evolve around a badass Bill. Instead, the director puts most of his efforts into creating a believable dynamic between the father and both sons, and it's in this tangled skein of shyness, suspicion, loyalty and love that the movies' heart lies.
One particular thing that i also liked was the fact that there was sometimes a subtle comedy on the movie, perfectly fitting between the drama scenes.
Definitely a must watch movie, makes you wish that all British dramas were so well writen and well acted as this one.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Read more »

Udaan (2010)

Storyline:
After being abandoned by his father for eight straight years in boarding school, Rohan returns home in this smal industrial town of Jamshedpur, finding himself closeted with his authoritarian father and a younger half brother who he didn't even know existed.
Forced to work in his father's steel factory and study against his wishes, he strives to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writter.

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Writers: Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap
Stars: Sanjay Gandhi, Manjot Singh, Rajat Barmecha
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1639426

Year: 2010
Genre: Drama
Country: India

Trailer:


Review:
Udaan is a heart-warming tale with a great storytelling.
The movie has its own moment, particularly the evolution of the relantionship between the two brothers. All the main actors made a superb job on acting their own characters.
The director has an ability to present melodramatic material without the Bollywood-style melodrama. He shrewdly has his actors underplay, especially Aayan Boradia, the adorable little boy who portrays Arjun.
Udaan looks authentic and is easy to relate to and yet it has an impressive larger-than-life quality to it that makes wonders.
In some scenes, you too will have the need of "flying out of the cage" and pursue your dreams. It's filled with those moments that will be with you for some time to come.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Read more »