Umberto D

The story is about an old man and his dog. The old man owes the landlady money and is gradually being kicked out of his apartment.

Nice story and the maid looked quite pretty! Was quite impressed by the tricks that the dog could do too but I felt a little depressed for the old man towards the end!

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Sell Out!

The story is about the lives of the employees of "FONY", a fictitious Malaysian company whose focus is on making money at all costs. The main characters are an Arts show host intent on climbing the social ladder and an idealistic product manager.

Liked the songs and the black humor! I also liked the scenes where they showed the ordinary people in the streets!

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Milk

The story is about a milkman who stays with his mother and aspires to be a poet.

Very interesting opening sequence that showed how a snake crawled out of a woman's mouth who was hung upside down with a mysterious boiling pot of potion below! Don't quite understand what it all means though. Thought the scene where the son caught the fish and her mother plucking feathers off a bird was beautifully shot too!

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Sex is No Laughing Matter

The story is about the love between a teacher, Yuri, and her student, Mirume. Mirume had two close friends, En-Chan and Domoto. En-Chan liked Mirume secretly while Domoto liked En-Chan secretly.

Interesting exploration on how feelings between teacher and student could develop and their consequences! Both leading actresses looked quite pretty!

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Still Walking

The story is about a Japanese family reunion. The son and daughter of the family brought their spouses and children to pay their parents a visit and to mourn for their brother who died in an accident.

Liked the warm family spirit evoked through the interactions among the individual family members! The daughter-in-law looked quite pretty too!

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US$9.99

The story is about the lives of a group of people staying in a Sydney apartment. The title refers to the price of the "Meaning of Life" book that a young unemployed guy bought.

Liked the subplot about the small boy and his piggy bank as well as the old man and the angel the best! Thought the love between the re-possessor and the super model was quite scary. The telemarketer sounded quite sweet!

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Wendy and Lucy

The story is about how Wendy, a woman with very little money, spent a few days in a small town on the way to Alaska when she found that her dog, Lucy, was missing.

Great acting by the lead actress and I liked the well written script! Her encounters with the many ordinary people during her stay were interesting! These include a kind hearted security guard, an overzealous supermarket employee and a technically savvy car mechanic among others.

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Fish Eyes

The story is about life in a small town during the China Olympics period.

Liked the nice desert scenery and the simple life that the father led! Thought the three-way relationship of the father, the son and the mysterious girl was quite interesting!

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A Big Road

The story is about the lives of three women in Shanghai.

Liked the jumbled up fragmented shots that required the audience to piece the story together themselves! Thought the daughter who was treated like a servant by her step mother looked the prettiest!

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Dada's Dance

The story is about a girl's search for her biological mother together with her neighbor. The girl's name was Dada and her neighbor had peeked at her when she was performing a little dance at home one day.

Great acting by the two leads who also took part in the script writing process! Personally, I thought that Dada's friend Coco and the lady at the inn looked slightly prettier than her.

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Agrarian Utopia

The story is about two farmers working on their friend's land as they were heavily in debt.

Interesting look at a typical farmer's life! The children had fun playing in the field but worked hard as part of a team when it was harvest time! Liked how the seasonal and weather changes were depicted in the film!

Disengagement

The story is about how the death of a woman's father led her to embark on a journey to search for her daughter who was living in the Gaza strip. Israel was carrying out a disengagement plan to evict all Israelis living in the region then.

Had not heard of the Israeli disengagement plan before and I wanted to find out what it entailed! The police had to literally evacuate the place, carrying people away when they did not cooperate and destroying the vacated buildings!

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Promised Land

The story is about how a group of East European women were sold to Israel to become prostitutes.

Didn't quite like the style of the film that simply showed what happened to the women within the span of a few days. Would have preferred either the documentary approach that explained the background information on the history of human trafficking or the more personal approach adopted by feature films that described the stories of the women in more detail.

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The Beetle

This is a documentary about the history of a man's vintage Volkswagon and how he travelled to Jordan to restore it even though his wife was about to deliver.

Liked the interview clips with all the previous owners and the arguments between the protagonist and his wife on whether to dump the car! Was quite happy for them that everything turned out pretty well in the end!

Yuri's Day

The story is about an opera diva's journey back to her hometown. Her son who was traveling with her suddenly disappeared and she had to cope with the stress.

Interesting look at the small town life and very nice choral music! Thought the opera diva found her true calling by staying back and contributing back to her hometown!

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18 Grams of Love

The story is about what happened when the husbands of two couples became suspicious of their wives and started to write love letters to each other's wives to test them.

Thought the script was excellent! It was funny and yet meaningful at the same time! Liked how the director incorporated martial arts, literature and Chinese orchestra music into the film! I would have bought the DVD on the spot if Sinema had sold it in its shop!

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The Story of Mr Sorry

The story is about the life of a ear-wax cleaner who became world famous after being shrunk by his boss as he was able to get inside people's ear and do a more thorough job. He was also able to see his customer's subconscious mind and in the process, he found out what happened to his missing sister.

Liked the interesting storyline and the psychological build up towards the end! I thought the images inside the customer's subconscious were very nicely depicted! They may not have been as nicely drawn as the dreams in "Paprika" by Kon Satoshi but the raw emotions were conveyed more clearly! This is my number one animation of the year so far!

Birdsong

The story is about the journey of three wise men to find Jesus and to present gifts to him who was still a baby at that time.

Liked the use of natural light and the sense of time progression with the long takes! Thought the underwater scenes of the men pulling the boat along and their conversations were interesting! The angel looked quite pretty too!

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My Only Sunshine

The story is about a girl growing up into a woman and how it affects the people around her.

Liked the nice cinematography that showcased the sea and the countryside as well as the black humor! The pace was a little bit slow and I felt bored at times though. The painted faces that appeared towards the end reminded me of "Pierrot le Fou" by Godard.

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Sincerely Yours

The story is about the life of illegal foreign workers in Taiwan seen through the eyes of an Indonesian girl and a Thai guy who are a couple.

The leading actress looked quite pretty! Liked how the director focused on the small little things that the two protagonists did and how he introduced various Taiwanese customs to the audience!