Small Change

The story is about the lives of children in France during the mid seventies.

Liked how natural the children were in front of the camera! The episode with the police inspector's daughter was pretty funny! The long speech by Mr Richet towards the end gave me an insight into the thoughts of the director.

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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

This is a gothic fairy tale about a young girl similar to "Alice in Wonderland" but with more adult themes that touched on sexuality and religion.

Valerie looked very pretty and many scenes were beautifully shot! I enjoyed this much more than the recent Tim Burton film on "Alice in Wonderland"!

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Invasion

The story is about how a small group of resistance fighters plotted against a totalitarian state.

Liked the interesting sound effects that incorporated tango music and the grand invasion sequence with many lorries, planes and ships!

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Picture Me

This is a documentary about the fashion industry seen through the eyes of the models, fashion designers and the agencies.

Felt a bit dizzy at the start as it looked like a home video filmed using a hand held camera but got used to it after a while. Liked the scrap book animation and the in-depth interviews with the models! It would be interesting if they included interviews with middle aged photographers to show the other side of the story!

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Shoah

This is a documentary about the Holocaust told through interviews with the eye witnesses. The film title is the Hebrew word for this historical event.

Liked the scenes of the strange looking stones scattered in the camp as they looked beautiful! The analysis by the historian was insightful and I was particularly struck by Filip Muller's moving account of how helpless he felt when he had to help the Germans to send his fellow countrymen to their death!

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The Class

The story is about school life in France focusing on the interactions between a French teacher and his students who come from a diverse background.

Liked the realistic depiction of the camaraderie among the teachers and the lively discussions in class!

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Up the Yangtze

This is a documentary about people living along the Yangtze river who had to move as the construction of the Three Gorge dam neared completion.

Liked how the director focused his story on one family and contrasted their life with their daughter's life who quit school to work on board of the cruise ship! Nice scenery of the Yangtze river and the dam looks huge, perhaps even bigger than the Marina Barrage!

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The Mad Fox

The story is about how an astrologer became mad and his encounters with a fox.

Liked the interesting plot, nice music and amazing special effects! Really impressed by their set design!

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The Adjuster

The story is about the life of an adjuster, a person who investigates insurance claims and recommends an effective settlement. His wife has a job at the Board of Censors and they live in a show-flat together with his sister-in-law and son.

Don't really like the director's films as he tends to break a story apart into many fragments like a jig-saw puzzle and challenges the audience to piece them up together. I was puzzled until after the Q&A session. I thought it was technically pretty clever but didn't feel connected to any of the characters.

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Buy A Suit

This film is specially screened before the upcoming Japanese Film Festival to commemorate the death of the director, Jun Ichikawa. The story is about a girl looking for her long lost brother who has chosen not to work. He survives by staying in a make shift shelter near a bridge and getting food from the garbage.

Liked the scenes that showed the ordinary people walking about in Tokyo! Didn't really like the lighting for the classmate reunion scene though as it was either too dark or too bright. The theme of the movie reminded me of the works by Wim Wenders such as "Alice in the Cities" and "Tokyo Ga".

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Burma VJ

The story is about the undercover video journalists working for the "Democratic Voice for Burma" in Burma focusing on the events that led to the uprising in 2007.

Liked the re-enactments, the nice bell-like sound effect that reminded me of the gadget used by monks in the temple and the voice over narration by the protagonist that served to explain the overall situation in Burma!

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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

The story is about how a girl, Otilia, helped her room mate, Gabita, to get an abortion illegally in 1987 Romania. This film won the Palme D'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Interesting look at life in Romania during the Communist era under dictator Ceausescu's rule where there is little trust among people! Liked the negotiation scene with the abortionist and the dinner scene with Otilia's boyfriend's family as they explained the situation in Romania pretty well!

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Long Live the Wife

The story is about how a wife manages her relationship with her family. Her husband borrowed money from her dad to start a business and had an affair. Her brother fell in love with her sister-in-law and her mother-in-law likes to nag at the servant.

There were several funny moments and I was impressed by how capable the wife was! Didn't realize that the writer, Eileen Chang, got divorced the same year that she wrote the script for the film until much later. I think it helped to explain how she chose to end the film.

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Alice in the Cities

The story is about how a German journalist who is writing an article about American life traveled back from United States to Germany with a little girl to search for her grandmother.

Great performance by the little girl! I also liked the scenery and the interesting dialog during their road trip!

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Star Trek

The story is about how a group of cadets worked together on a space ship and saved Earth from being destroyed by aliens. It is based on the popular TV series of the same name.

Liked the chemistry among the characters and the catchy dialog! The dynamics between James and Spock is especially interesting!

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Le Bonheur

The story is about the consequences after a married man had an affair with a girl who worked at the post office. The title means happiness and the film examines what this means.

Liked the nice classical music by Mozart and the simple but well told story! The lines were witty and I liked how the social issues were brought out in a satiric way! Thought it would be even more appropriate if this was shown during International Women's Day instead.

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Departures

The story is about how a young married cellist returned to his hometown with his family when he became unemployed and trained to be a funeral professional.

Nice interesting story that is both funny and sad at the same time! Liked the beautiful cello music and the pretty Ryoko Hirosue! Great performance by Masahiro Motoki who looked convincing as both a cellist and a funeral professional!

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What On Earth Have I Done Wrong?

The story is about the process of making a mockumentary about the Taiwanese current affairs and how the director manages his personal life at the same time.

Liked the family drama on the relationship between the director and his partner as well as between him and his mother! The interviews on the topic of happiness were interesting and the ending was well crafted!

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The Elephant and the Sea

The film is about how a young man and middle aged man lived their lives after a mysterious disease struck their fishing village.

Liked the nice country side scenery and how the theme of emotional paralysis was elaborated through the performances of the two protagonists! Learnt a bit more about the film after the director revealed his influences by Hong Sang Soo during the Q&A. Realized that the prostitute scene with the middle aged man could have been adapted from a similar scene in "The Day a Pig Fell into the Well" while the young man's behavior could have been taken from "Turning Gate". The young man's friend's sister looked quite pretty in the pink dress!

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Days and Nights in the Forest

The story is about four young men from the city spending their holiday in a chalet in the forest and how they met two beautiful ladies staying nearby.

Liked the funny moments, the nice tribal music in the background and the psychological tension towards the end!

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