The Girl Who Sold the Sun

The story is about how a handicapped girl decided to work in the city by selling newspapers whose title is "The Sun".

Learnt a bit more about the lives of street children in Africa! Was impressed by the little girl's optimism and resourcefulness!

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Nine Days of One Year

The story is about the struggles of a group of nuclear scientists in Russia during the sixties.

Liked the speech on the role of war in advancing science and vice versa! The inner monologue of the workaholic scientist's wife was interesting too!

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The Bakery Girl of Monceau

This is the first part of the "Six Moral Tales" series by Eric Rohmer. The rest of the films in the series are "Suzanne's Career", "My Night at Maud's", "La Collectionneuse", "Claire's Knee" and "Love in the Afternoon".

The story is about how a young man befriended a beautiful girl whom he always bump into in the street. The beautiful girl disappeared mysteriously without leaving her contact number. The young man roamed the streets in search for her and he became a regular customer of a bakery in the process as he wanted to save time on his meals. Will not reveal too much of the rest of the story but he eventually faced a moral choice in the end.

Liked the narration that described the thoughts of the protagonist! The pastry in the bakery looked really delicious!

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The House is Black

This is a documentary about lepers living in Iran. Their condition is described alternately between a man narrating facts and a woman reciting poetry.

Liked the sound of poetry and how it matched the images shown! The ending was pretty good as it showed how the children of the lepers felt about their parents!

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Astro Boy

The story is about a robot made in the image of a scientist's son who died in an accident. This is an adaptation of a Japanese manga and TV series.

The protagonist looked quite cute with his big eyes and spiky hair! Was inspired to check out the TV series online after watching the film and I found the TV series to be even more interesting! The soundtrack and the storyline are both even nicer!

Internet Movie Database Link

Crimson Gold

The story is about the life of a pizza delivery man in Iran. The title referred to the jewelery that he wanted to buy from a shop but was humiliated by the owner who felt that he could not afford it.

Liked "The Mirror" better as it was more unpredictable. Felt a little bit bored with the protagonist who had a monotonous job. The pizza looked delicious though! Maybe that was part of the reason why he became so fat!

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The Ritual

The story is about how a single woman hides her pregnancy by staying in the temple but eventually had to be evicted when people in the village found out about it.

Liked the anthropological approach to explain the unreasonableness of the caste system in India! The protagonist violated social norms but was kind towards the untouchables. The senior Brahmin students knew the rituals by heart but physically tormented their junior. Great performance by the lead actress!

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The Green Ray

The story is about a woman who went on a vacation by herself. She has just broken up with her fiance and hoped to start a new relationship.

Was quite puzzled as to what the green ray represented until towards the end of the film and everything pieced together quite nicely! This film reminded me of films by Hong Sang Soo with its theme of a lonely person, episodic structure and seemingly random dialogue!

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The Song of Sparrows

The story is about how a middle aged man working in an ostrich farm was fired and accidentally found work in the city as a motorcycle driver. His family life suffered in the process.

Liked "Children of Heaven" better as the protagonist was a really unlikable guy, shouting at his kids for no reason at all most of the time! Hope no animal was hurt making this film!

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Hunger

The story is about a talented writer struggling to survive in the city. He is poor but still tries to live with dignity.

Liked the interesting dream sequences especially the one with the dog!

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The Human Condition

This is a trilogy about the life of a young man who tries to follow his principle of treating people with kindness despite the harsh wartime conditions. He was first a coal-mine supervisor at Manchuria towards the end of World War II, became a soldier and finally ended up as a prisoner of war in Russia.

Liked how the movie traced the protagonist's life against the bigger historical background! As he was thrown into different situations, he tried his best to stick to his principles despite the circumstances. Was pleasantly surprised to see Chishu Ryu and Hideko Takamine guest starring towards the end!

I: No Greater Love IMDB Link
II: The Road to Eternity IMDB Link
III: A Soldier's Prayer IMDB Link

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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A Moment of Innocence

The story is about a film director recreating a scene twenty years ago when he injured a policeman who was distracted by his cousin.

Liked how the whole film making process was shown together with the actual story and the philosophical dialogue! The director's daughter looked quite cute and the cousin looked quite pretty! Wasn't really sure what to expect for the ending but I thought it was very appropriate despite being a bit abrupt!

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Strange Circus

The story is about how the dark secrets of a Japanese family came back to haunt each of their members many years later.

Liked the flowery lines spoken in the narration and was deeply affected by the psychological impact on both mother and daughter as a result of the father's tyranny over them! A good mix of dreams and reality also provided several interesting twists to the film!

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Mary and Max

The story is about the friendship of two pen pals: one was a little girl from Melbourne named Mary, the other was a middle aged Jewish man from New York named Max who suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome.

Liked the interesting storyline and the narration! Nice soundtrack too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Waltz with Bashir

This is an animated war documentary about how Israeli forces played a part in the Sabra-Shatila massacre following the assassination of the Lebanon President, Bashir Gameyel, in 1982.

Liked the dream sequences and the soundtrack! Learnt a little bit about the Lebanon war from this film!

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Usavitch Seasons 1-3

Each season of "Usavitch" consists of 13 episodes and they are shown on MTV Asia. The story is about the adventures of two rabbits trapped in a Russian prison.

Liked the fast paced action that fits the exciting MTV style image! The plot is innovative and funny! Learnt from the Q&A that the director liked "Tom and Jerry" when he was young. Think he might have got some of his inspiration from there!

Official Site

Ornamental Hairpin

This film is part of the "Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu" Eclipse boxset that consisted of "Japanese Girls at the Harbor", "Mr. Thank You", "The Masseurs and a Woman" and "Ornamental Hairpin".

The story is similar to "The Masseurs and a Woman" but with a slight twist. A soldier is injured by a hairpin dropped by a mysterious woman from Tokyo who traveled back to apologize and spent many days at the small inn in the mountains where she made many new friends.

Liked the interesting characters like the professor and the two enthusiastic grandsons! A little doubtful that the recovery of the soldier's foot was due to his daily self-designed physiotherapy routine though. The final scene reminded me of "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" by Mikio Naruse!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Masseurs and a Woman

This film is part of the "Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu" Eclipse boxset that consisted of "Japanese Girls at the Harbor", "Mr. Thank You", "The Masseurs and a Woman" and "Ornamental Hairpin".

The story is about a blind masseur's encounter with a mysterious woman from Tokyo at a small inn in the mountains.

Liked the beautiful mountain scenery and the interesting relationship among the masseur, the woman and another young man! The dialogues were very nicely scripted and revealed what each character was thinking about!

Internet Movie Database Link

Mr. Thank You

This film is part of the "Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu" Eclipse boxset that consisted of "Japanese Girls at the Harbor", "Mr. Thank You", "The Masseurs and a Woman" and "Ornamental Hairpin".

The story is about a bus driver who travels from the rural village to Tokyo. He is nicknamed Mr. Thank You as he is very polite and says "Thank You" to people or cars who block his way so that he can overtake them.

Liked the nice countryside scenery and the different kinds of people who sat on the bus! Quite amazed that he knew some of the passengers by name and even helped them with small errands like passing messages or buying the latest music records in town! I would give him full marks for his service attitude! He was not so conscientious about safety though as there were a few scenes where he used the rear-view mirror to check on his passengers rather than on incoming traffic.

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