Thursday, December 31, 2015

Wrestling

This is a documentary about wrestling in Canada during the early sixties.

Liked the exciting sporting action and narration! The reactions from the audience were interesting too!


Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

My Neighbors and Their Japanese Ghosts

This is a documentary about old people in China discussing about the Japanese during the Second World War.

Liked the interesting personal accounts told by the interviewees! They contrasted with the modern peaceful setting in Beijing.

Friday, December 18, 2015

The Green Wave

This is a documentary about the events that happened in Iran around the period of the 2009 Iran elections. Animation is used to recreate personal witness accounts from social media such as blogs and twitter.

Liked how the director covered different perspectives of the events! Learnt more about modern Iran history from the interviews and the nice animation!

Internet Movie Database Link

Three Sisters

This is a documentary about three sisters living in a mountainous village of Yunnan.

Liked the nice mountainous scenery and the peaceful village life! Quite amazed by how the kids were able to do complex household chores like maintaining the fire by themselves!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Devil's Town

The film consists of many inter-related short stories that happened in Belgrade.

Liked how the director slowly introduced the characters and brought them all together towards the end! Some parts were a bit too weird for my taste though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Hopscotch

The story is about an ex-CIA employee trying to write a memoir while staying one step ahead of the people who wants to stop him.

Liked how the protagonist managed to outsmart his ex-colleagues! Great action and comedy without too much violence!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

This is a documentary about a Japanese war veteran's search for the truth behind the execution of two soldiers in New Guinea shortly after the second World War.

Liked the protagonist's determination to uncover the truth to console the dead! At the beginning of the film, I thought he was just an obnoxious old man but I slowly began to understand his actions as the film progressed.

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Von Trier's 100 Eyes

This is a short documentary about the making of "Dancer in the Dark" by the Danish director, Lars Von Trier.

Liked the in-depth interviews with the director and the simple children's story of "Golden Heart"!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Railroad of Hope

This is a documentary about peasants taking the train from Sichuan to Xinjiang to earn more money by harvesting cotton.

Liked the interviews with the train passengers where they talked about their hopes and dreams! Quite amazed at how the train can pack so many people and luggages!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, November 06, 2015

Teddy Bear

The story is about a shy bodybuilder who lived with his oppressive mother looking for love in Thailand.

Liked how the director managed to paint a convincing image of a shy bodybuilder as I have always imagined them to be fierce and tough! Great acting by the bodybuilder and his mother!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

A Dedicated Life

This is a documentary about a famous Japanese novelist.

Liked the interesting reconstructed flashbacks to the novelist's childhood days!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Makes

This is a pseudo documentary about an interview with a French critic about an Italian film director's work in Japan.

Liked how the director used photographs and speech to tell a story! I could then use my imagination to visualize how wonderful these films were!

Friday, October 23, 2015

Dream Work

The film tries to capture how the dream of a girl might look like.

Liked the special visual effects that created the dreamlike atmosphere!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Sic

The story is about a girl working in a Japanese bookshop as a censor of photo-books by scratching bits of images away.

Liked how the protagonist brushed the book with a giant feather in the end as it looked elegant!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Following Diana

The story is about an Indonesian couple slowly drifting apart after the husband announced his intention to marry a second wife.

Liked the quiet moments that featured the interaction between mother and son! Took me quite a while to realize what the husband was showing to his wife on his computer screen as I thought they were just a bunch of mind maps.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Immoral Tales

The film consists of five short stories set in reverse chronological order: "The Tide", "Therese Philosophe", "The Beast", "Erzsebet Bathory" and "Lucrezia Borgia".

Quite surprised that the last two films were based on actual historical figures! The beast looked scary in "The Beast"!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

It Happened Tomorrow

The story is about the adventures of a reporter when he realized that he had information on the next day's news.

Liked the interesting plot and how everything fell into place in the end! Wonder if "Back to the Future II" was inspired by this film?

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Junun

This is a documentary about a group of musicians from different countries collaborating to make music in an Indian palace.

Liked the nice music played from exotic looking musical instruments! The aerial view of the palace and the street views looked interesting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Parade

The story is about how the performers prepared for a circus performance and the audience's reaction to it.

Liked the amazing juggling performance, the nice songs and how engaged the audience was to the show!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Minions

The story is about how a group of small yellow cylindrical shaped creatures called Minions searched for an evil master.

Liked the cheerful attitude of the Minions! They could always find something positive out of the worst situations!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Trafic

The story is about how a camping car company tried unsuccessfully to travel from France to a big car show exhibition in Amsterdam.

Liked the interesting encounters during their journey! The car was an amazing invention, full of gadgets! I also liked the scene where they simulated the movements of the astronauts!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, May 02, 2015

Execution in Autumn

The story is about the transformation of a man who became a murderer because his grandmother spoilt him from young.

Liked the interesting plot and characters in the film! I learnt that discipline is a key parenting skill!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Where The Seagull Flies

The story is about the love hate relationship of a couple.

Liked the scenes of Singapore in the 70s and the pretty actress in the film! Great plot with lots of twists and turns!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Beautiful Duckling

The story is about the father daughter relationship of a family who raised ducks for a living.

Liked the cute little ducklings and the kampong spirit shown by the people in the film! The ending was very well done too as I was surprised by what happened!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Jour de Fete

The story is about how a French postman became inspired to shorten his delivery time after watching a documentary about American postmen at a village fair.

Liked the interesting stunts in the film! The bicycle seemed to have a life of its own at one point in time!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, April 05, 2015

Morning for the Osone Family

This is the last film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about what happened to the Osone family towards the end of World War II.

Liked how the director helped us understand the hardships that the ordinary Japanese people faced through one family! I could tell he was very unhappy with the Army from his portrayal of the uncle!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Army

This is the fourth film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a Japanese family with military background raised their eldest child to join the Army and fight in the front line during the second World War.

Liked how the director encouraged patriotism through his characters! Great acting by Tanaka Kinuyo, the actress who acted as the son's mother! I was surprised by how stern she could be when her son accidentally stepped on his textbook!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, March 21, 2015

No Woman, No Cry

This is a documentary on the healthcare services for pregnant women in four different countries: Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the United States.

Liked how the director weaved the statistics with the personal stories of these women and her commentary at the end of the film!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Jubilation Street

This is the third film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a group of people living in Tokyo gradually moved out from the city to live in the countryside in preparation for American airstrike during the second world war.

Liked the interesting people who lived in the neighborhood! A pity we didn't get to see more of the pretty mail lady!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, March 15, 2015

The Living Magoroku

This is the second film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a group of villagers decided to break old traditions to plow a piece of sacred land passed down from their ancestors.

Liked the two pretty actresses in the film!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Port of Flowers

This is the first film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about two con artists trying to cheat a group of people staying in an island of their money by getting them to build a ship but gave themselves up in the end.

Liked the interesting plot and how the film portrayed that con artists could also be patriotic!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Little People Big Dreams

This is a documentary about dwarves in China who are either current or past employees of a theme park called Dwarves Empire.

Liked how the director helped us to peek into the lives of these little people! I was quite impressed by one of them who even knew how to drive despite being so small!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Shaun the Sheep Movie

The story is about how a dog and a group of sheep saved the day when their shepherd ended up in a big city with memory loss.

Liked the nice animation and the funny moments! Reminded me a bit of the Wallace and Gromit films!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, February 20, 2015

I love Hong Kong 2013

The story is about a restaurant owner who is being forced to sell his restaurant when his ex-employee ran away without paying his debt.

Liked the inspiring story about a hardworking man who was willing to help his friends at his own expense!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Iron Lady

The story is about the life of Margaret Thatcher who is a former Prime Minister of Britain.

Liked how the film showed the ordinary citizen side of Margaret Thacher through her interactions with her dead husband and the hardworking career woman side of her through a series of flashbacks! Great acting by Meryl Streep!

Internet Movie Database Link