The Baron of Arizona

The story is about a legendary swindler, James Reavis, who spent many years plotting a scheme to take control of the whole of Arizona. He took in a little girl who was an orphan and painstakingly invented a baron ancestry for her by forging documents in various parts of the world.

I was amazed by the effort put in by James to achieve his objectives! I also liked the strong loving relationship between him and his wife!

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The White Sheik

The story is about one day of a couple's honeymoon when everything went wrong. The wife secretly sneaked out to see her idol, an actor who acted as "The White Sheik", but was sent to the acting set very far away by mistake. The husband had to investigate what happened to her and pretend that everything is alright to his relatives.

Thought the script was excellently written by Antonioni! Liked the nice little comedy that was witty and did not rely too much on slap stick!

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My Flesh My Blood

This is a love story between a boxer who is about to die and a Vietnamese illegal immigrant.

Great acting by the boxer! The Vietnamese song sounded quite nice too! Didn't quite agree with the last bit of the boxer's arrangements before his death though.

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I Shot Jesse James

The film is a psychological study of a man called Bob Ford who killed his wanted friend Jesse James in the hope of settling down with his sweet-heart.

Liked the nice song that summarized the whole story and the quick pacing!

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Love Conquers All

The story is about what happened when a girl fell in love with a bad boy while staying with her relatives in the city.

The bespectacled little girl looked quite cute! Thought her story was more interesting than the main storyline! Understood the Malaysian way of life slightly better after watching the film!

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A Single Man

The story is about a day in the life of an English professor when he plans to commit suicide after work as his lover died eight months ago.

Liked the soundtrack and the flashbacks that gradually revealed the professor's past! The slow motion sequences were pretty interesting too! The film also made me want to check out Huxley's "After Many a Summer Dies the Swan", Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" one day.

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The Sun's Burial

The story is about life in the slums of postwar Osaka. People have to rely on their street smart skills to survive as they do not have proper jobs.

Liked the nice song by Takeshi but was quite confused about the complex schemes thought up by Hanoko and the rest of the gang members to make money! Among the few films about postwar Japan that I have seen, I think I enjoyed "Pigs and Battleships" by Imamura and "Gate of Flesh" by Seijun Suzuki better.

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Treeless Mountain

The story is about two sisters who had to cope with their mother's absence when she left home in search of their father. They were first sent to their aunt's place then to their grandparent's place.

Great acting by the two young actresses! Liked the simple story and how the director fleshed out the film with little details! I wonder how tasty the fried grasshoppers were!

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Walkabout

The story is about the adventures of a teenage girl and her younger brother in the Australian Outback when they got lost and met a local aboriginal boy.

I liked the nice scenery of the Australian Outback and the psychological tension among the three people! I found quite a lot of similarities with "Alice in Wonderland". The teenage girl was like Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" walking around in a land filled with strange creatures, the aboriginal boy was like the Mad Hatter who guided her across the land and performed a special dance towards the end. I also liked the poem recitation in both films!

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Alice in Wonderland

The story is adapted from Lewis Carrol's novel "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass".

Liked how elegant the Cheshire Cat floated and flipped around in the air! The plot was not particularly exciting and the ending was a bit awkward in my opinion but there is an interesting analysis that explains the mathematical background of the story!

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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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Color of Pomegranates

The story is about the life of an Armenian poet called Sayat Nova.

Liked the visual aesthetics in the form of colorful costumes and nice props! The plot is near to non-existent but the inter-titles helped me understand what was going on.

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Syndromes and a Century

The film compares the working conditions of doctors working in a rural hospital and those working in a city hospital. The rural hospital is closer to nature and the doctors had a closer relationship with their patients.

A little bit abstract for me as there is not much of a plot. Thought the interview questions were pretty interesting and the songs were nice!

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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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72 Tenants of Prosperity

The story is about how the tenants on a street in Hong Kong helped each other in times of crisis.

A little bit messy as the director tried to fit as many big name actors and actresses into the film as possible into the plot but I liked the marketing strategies of the two mobile phone shops! They were pretty innovative!

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Through the Olive Trees

The story is about the process of making a film and describes the actual story of the actor and actress who were victims of an earthquake.

Loved the off-screen speeches by the lead actor, the beautiful Z-shaped path that was carved into the mountain and the final scenes! Don’t really understand why there was a need for so many NG scenes though.

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Memories of Murder

The story is about how the police tried to track down a serial rapist in a small town.

I liked this better than "Mother" as the plot was more focused on making sense of the clues rather than on other miscellaneous sub-plot! Great acting by Song Kang-Ho who was also the lead actor in "The Host"! The final scene expressed what he felt over the whole incident very well!

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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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Germany, Pale Mother

The story is about the life of a German family before, during and after the second World War, narrated by the daughter who was born during an air raid.

Liked the mix of documentary footage and the film as well as the exploration on the effects of war on the human psychology! I thought the hairstyle of the mother looked quite similar to that of Princess Leia from "Star Wars". Wonder if it was a coincidence or a direct influence.

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Burying Old Alive

The story is about life in Korea many years ago when famine was common and there was a custom that required old people to be carried to the top of the mountain to die once they reached seventy years old. People were also more superstitious then and relied heavily on the advice of the shaman.

Liked the interesting storyline and the anti-shaman message! There were several scenes that were completely black except for the subtitles. The audio output was not disrupted though, so it was like watching a radio play. Thought it was a very unique experience!

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