Barbara
East Germany in 1980 really must have been a dystopian hell on earth. In the film Barbara, a doctor is exiled from Berlin for a minor offense and forced to…
Rust and Bone (De rouille et d’os )
Rust and Bone opens with a man and a little boy hitchhiking, then on a train scavenging food from left-behind scraps. This is Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) and his young son…
The Black Tulip
I am sure you haven't seen a lot of films from Afghanistan. It is not exactly the Hollywood of central Asia. But I was intrigued when I heard about The…
Battle Royale
I am sure that most of you have heard of or read or watched The Hunger Games by now, but when it came out on the screen, I read a…
The Intouchables
The Intouchables is my new favorite French feel-good film! Based on a true story, I must admit, the premise sounded like a total downer. A rich Parisian quadriplegic hires an…
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Without doubt Ai Weiwei is the most famous Chinese artist on the planet. His art is thought provoking, but his life, even more so. The documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry…
The Forgiveness of Blood
Albania is no cinematic hotspot, though as The Forgiveness of Blood shows, they have some interesting stories to tell. It is fascinating to see these corners of the earth that…
A Separation
A Separation won the 2011 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, marking Iran’s first Academy Award ever. It was also nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category, unusual for any foreign…
The Skin I Live In
I have to admit two things up front. I am not usually a fan of Pedro Almodóvar, and the descriptions of The Skin I Live In did not lead me…
Melancholia
Danish director Lars von Trier is not known for happy movies (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark) and with Melancholia he keeps true to form. The title clues you…
The Artist
I have my favorite movie of the year now, and I expect that The Artist will be at the top of a lot of other reviewers’ lists, too. I’ve been…
Mozart’s Sister
Pity the forgotten ones living in the shadows of the famous, the siblings who are mere footnotes in history. Who knew Mozart had a sister? Her name was Maria Anna…
Incendies
Incendies is a French Canadian drama that was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Foreign language film and is totally deserving of the honor. Living in small town…
La doppia ora (The Double Hour)
La doppia ora means the double hour in Italian and refers to an instance when the hour and the minute are the same (like 11:11 or 05:05); and according to…
Potiche
Potiche is a delightful chique flique or peut-être une comédie romantique starring two of France’s biggest stars, Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu. Mostly it is Deneuve’s show, as the trophy…