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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Paradise Now (2005)

Storyline:
The story is about two Palestinian close friends, Said and Khaled, who were recruited by an extremist group to perpetrate a terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv, blowing up themselves with bombs attached to their bodies.
However, things do no go as expected and both friends must separate from each other in the border.
One of them maintains his purpose of carrying the attack to the end, and the other will have his doubts about it.

Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Writers: Hany Abu-Assad
Stars: Ali Sulman, Hamza Abu-Aiaash, Lotuf Neusser
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445620

Year: 2005
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Palestine

Trailer:


Review:
A powerful and remarkable movie among a tragedy story.
As this movie is about Palestinian terrorists, it is expected for it to be hated by palestinians. But as the director explained, he doesn't justify the bombers' actions but does take a hard look at their motivations. Though many view their actions as mindless and repugnant, the characters in Paradise Now have their doubts.
It's a risky proposition for any artist to humanize a terrorist in an era when the word "terrorist" has become synonymous with "evil". The director did a great job at keeping us away from the stereotypes and explains why two seemingly ordinary men would be willing to sacrifice themselves in such actions of terrorism.
The movie offers food for thought and reminds us that, in any, war, one who understands the mindset of his opponent gains an important tactical advantage.
Terrific movie, a ticking clock thriller with moral exercise. Also, it says more about Middle Eastern politics from the Palestinian side than any other movie.

Personal Rating: 8/10

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Daisy (2006)

Storyline:
Daisy is about a professional killer and an Interpol agent who fall in love with the same young woman.
The girl, Jeon, plays a street artist who dreams about opening her own exhibition someday, while Jeong portrays a killer who loves her but can not confess his love to her because of his profession. There is also Park Yi who meets Jeon while investigating a case.
The movie then proceeds to tell the story about this dramatic romance.

Director: Wai-keung Lau
Writers: Gordon Chan, Felix Chong, Jae-young Kwak
Stars:Gianna Jun, Woo-sung Jung, Sung-jae Lee
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468704

Year: 2006
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea

Trailer:


Review:
This is a very good dramatic movie, about a love triangle. What i liked the most, is how the movie doesn't focus on only one of the sides of the triangle, but it came to the points of view of all leads, keeping you in suspense, and end up in a split screen showing all the three main characters' emotions in a single event.
The movie has a very good photography, with beautiful images of landscapes and busy city squares of Amsterdam, with plenty of classical music.
The story starts as a typical South Korean romance, but the following scenes of tragedy and drama are what make this movie so unique and explendid.

Personal Rating: 7/10

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Batoru Rowaiaru [Battle Royale] (2000)

Storyline:
A group of ninth-grade students from a Japanese high school have been forced by legislation to compete in a Battle Royale.
The students are each given a bag with radomly selected weapon and a few rations of food and water, and then sent to a desert island where they have to kill each other untill only one has survived, for a time limit of three days.
The movie focus on a few of the students and how they help or kill each other.

Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Writers: Koushun Takami, Kenta Fukasaku
Stars: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarô Yamamoto
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266308

Year: 2000
Genre: Action, Thriller
Country: Japan

Trailer:


Review:
Battle Royale is a disturbing and shocking movie with great scenes of violence.
It's interesting to watch how a group of teenagers, who belong to a supposedly civilized world, find themselves in a position where they have to kill or be killed. The violent killing between them start rapidly as they arrive to the desert island, with desperation and fear on most of their faces.
The whole grotesque and violent scenes are basically what makes the movie that great, because on the other hand, i hated the interpretation of almost all teenagers. Seems like there was no casting at all to choose the actors, they just randomly selected a bunch of teenagers and hope that they would fit. But no. Apart a couple of actors, the rest of the cast seem completely amateurs. This is a shame, because the movie has so much potential that it could be a real masterpiece.
Don't be discouraged to watch it, because it is still a beatifull and great action movie to watch. There are great scenes that compensate the actors' bad performance.

Personal Rating: 7/10

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Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (2006)

Storyline:
In the early 1980s, Georg Dreyman (a successful dramatist) and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland (a popular actress), were huge intellectual stars in (former) East Germany, although they secretly don't always toe the party line.
One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Writers: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt

Year: 2006
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: Germany

Trailer:


Review:
Das Leben der Anderen is a powerful but quiet movie, constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires. A political thriller that's consistently as inventive as it is creepy.
The scope is especially impressive given that the movie is about a society obsessively focused on the tiniest of details.
Wiesler is a fascinating character. His face is a mask, trained by his life to reflect no emotion. Sometimes not even his eyes move. As played in Muehe's performance of infinite subtlety, he watches Dreyman as a cat awaits a mouse. And he begins to internalize their lives -- easy, because he has no life of his own, no lover, no hobby, no distraction from his single-minded job.
Racing toward its cataclysmic conclusion, “The Lives of Others” provided a troubling depiction of a political clamp on expression and emotion.

Personal Rating: 8/10

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Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Storyline:
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore, the Imperial Japanese Army desperatly tries to prevent it from falling into americans' hands and providing a launching point for an invasion.
In the lower echelons, a young soldier named Saigo, a poor baker whose wife is pregnant, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms.
When the American invasion begins, the japanese army finds strenght, honor, courage and horrors beyond imagination.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido
Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt

Year: 2006
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan

Trailer:


Review:
You won't even notice the almost two and a half hours passing by. The movie surely keeps you focused on it the whole time.
Make no mistake, this is not an action war movie with lots of blood baths. Letters from Iwo Jima will pull the humanity out of the monster that is war.
Unlike typical war movies, you'll get the chance to watch the story told by the Japanese side. You'll get to know how brave and patriotic they were. Such patriotism was several times shown as excessive sometimes reaching the absurd, but you'll never get the idea that they were stupid men who just ran into the american army like kamikazes.
In the meanwhile, touching scenes showing the japanese army's strenght and courage are also the reason of why this is such a great movie.

Personal Rating: 8/10

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Jin líng shí san chai [The Flowers of War] (2011)

Storyline:
During the second Sino-Japanese war, in 1937 China, a mortician named John arrives at a catholic church in Nanjing to prepare the priest for burial.
Upon arrival, he finds himself as the only adult among a group of convent young girls and prostitutes from a nearby brothel.
When he finally realizes that he's the only one who can protect both groups from the horrors of the invading Japanese army, he discovers the meaning of sacrifice and honor.

Director: Yimou Zhang
Writers: Heng Liu, Geling Yan
Stars: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Xinyi Zhang
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1410063

Year: 2011
Genre: Drama, History
Country: China

Trailer:


Review:
This is a beautiful and compelling story set inside very horrific events. Emotionally powerful story about people in a situation where seems to be no way of surviving.
Although the graphic violence is not so intense, it is still very brutal.
Christian Bale is an actor who everyone already knows, and as always his character is very good. He's an heartless man that day by day gains compassion with both groups and decides to help them even if his own life depends on it. On the other hand, we have the case of Ni NI who had her first major role in this movie, and we can say she made a brilliant work.

Personal Rating: 9/10

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Madeo [Mother] (2009)

Storyline:
A mother lives quietly with her mentally retarded son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acunpucture to neighbours. One day, a young girl is brutally murdered and Do-joon is charged with the killing.
The mother proceeds to fight bravely to defend the son's inocence, while the detectives are more interested in quickly closing the case than researching other possible leads. At first, the mother suspects the true murderer is Jin-tae, a friend of Do-joon who has a criminal life, but she finds out the truth is much more complicated as she digs deeper.

Director: Joon-ho Bong
Writers: Joon-ho Bong, Eun-kyo Park
Stars: Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Ku Jin
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1216496

Year: 2009
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: South Korea

Trailer:


Review:
Madeo is a strong and powerful drama that portrays the love of a mother to protect and defend her son. The movie has a surprising plot and many twists that will capture all you attention.
It's an intense thriller with enigmatic characters that do not just populate the screen but are vitally alive.
The cinematography is quite astonishing. Scenes like the opening image of the Mother in a field doing an unlikely dance to the diegetic music are strangely beautiful to watch.
Madeo is very "emotionally unstable". One minute you have the most dramatic scenes that will will give you the chills, the other you have the most intense and powerful scenes that will surely make you remember this movie for years.

Personal Rating: 9/10

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Dalkomhan insaeng [A Bittersweet Life] (2005)

Storyline:
Kim Sun-Woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a crime boss, Kang, to whom he is unquestionable loyal. Both share concerns over business tensions with Baek Jr., a son from a rival family, which is when Kang assigns Sun-Woo what is perceived at first to be a simple task while he is away on a business trip.
The task consisted on watching his young mistress, Heesoo, for fear that she could be cheating him with a younger man, with the mandate to kill them both if he discovers their affair.
Kim Sun-Woo becomes quietly enthralled by the girl's beauty and innocence, so when he finds about their affair, he fiercely beats the young man, but isn't able to kill them. He gives them the chance to never see each other again and so he wouldn't kill them.
The boss after discovers about the betrayal and orders his employees to kill Kim Sun-Woo. These events lead to the powerful families having the need to revenge, mainly Kim Sun-Woo, and the action/killing scenes are followed.

Director: Jee-woon Kim
Writers: Jee-woon Kim
Stars: Jeong-min Hwang, Yu-mi Jeong, Ku Jin
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456912

Year: 2005
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: South Korea

Trailer:


Review:
The story revolves all around Kim Sun-Woo, a sleek elegant mobster. The violence scenes are all gloriously coreographed and we get deeply involved on Kim's bravery and surprisingly profound perfomance.
Kim suffers brutal physical violence like you don't see often. The movie has a great photography with a bloody background. A touching fight to preserve one single moment of sweetness.

Personal Rating: 7/10

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J'ai tué ma mère (2009)

Storyline:
The teenager Hubert regards his mother with contempt, seeing only her tacky sweaters and kitsch decorations. Below the surface of these irritating traits, lie the ingrained mechanisms that his mother has always cultivated so dearly - manipulation and guilt.
The teenager finds himself confused and torn by a love-hate relationship that keeps him more obsessed as days pass, wandering in and out of an adolescence that is both marginal and typical, combining artistic discover, openness to friendship, ostracism and sex.
The turbulent relationship between mother and son unfolds with a compelling combination of savage fury and melting affection.

Director: Xavier Dolan
Writers: Xavier Dolan´
Stars: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424797

Year: 2009
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: Canada, France

Trailer:


Review:
The movie "J'ai tué ma mère" details the intensely volatile relationship between a 16-years-old gay teenager (Rubert) and his mother (Chantale). The movie goes through a series of hysterical scenes that show how these characters can't live with or without each other.
This is a brutal love story that portays a compassionate relationship of both sides of this complex human interaction.
As the main star of the movie being also the director and writer himself, and making this movie with only 19 years old, we have to congratulate Xavier Dolan for having the maturity to recognize the underlying causes of teenage arrogance.

Personal Rating: 8/10

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Die Welle (2008)

Storyline:
Rainer Wegner, a popular high school teacher among the students, is forced to teach autocracy for the schoo'ls project week.
At first, he is not very happy about it, but the student's reaction is surprising. Rainer forces the students to become more invested in the prospect of self rule, demonstrating what life is like under a dictatorship.
This experiment spins horribly out of control, while the class project gains its own power and starts to resemble Germany's past.

Director: Dennis Gansel
Writers: Dennis Gansel, Todd Strasser, Peter Thorwarth´
Stars: Jurgen Vogel, Todd Strasser, Max Riemelt
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669

Year: 2008
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Germany

Trailer:


Review:
This movie is a fascinating tale with a cleverly developed plot as the teacher unintentionally guides his students into a sense of fascism.
The project starts calm and harmless, as Rainer instructes the class to wear an uniform and create a name for themselves. With time, the project's group slowly turns into a fascism regime.
The irony on this movie is that when Rainer talked about Hitler's reign at the beginning of the project, the students quickly replied saying that such thing would never happen again in Germany, knowing what thay know nowadays. Those words are eaten by themselves when the group starts to behave like in a fascism regime.

Personal Rating: 8/10

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