Pepe Le Moko

The story is about a notorious French gangster who stayed in the Casbah of Algeria to escape the police but began to miss home after befriending a beautiful French lady.

Liked the unique urban landscape of the Casbah and the battle of wits between Pepe Le Moko and Inspector Slimane!

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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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Claire's Knee

The story is about a middle aged man's obsession over a young girl's knee after he met his old lover at a mountain resort who was staying at a single mother's family with two teenage daughters.

Liked the nice scenery and the interesting conversations between the middle aged man and the women at the resort!

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Death of a Cyclist

The story is about what happened after a professor and his lover killed a cyclist in an automobile accident.

Liked the psychological study of the protagonists and how the director made use of the sly art critic and the idealistic female student to shed more light on their characters! Learnt a bit on Spanish history in the process too!

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The Girlfriends

The story is about how a fashion designer from Rome became friends with a group of rich women in Turin during her business trip.

Liked how the director illustrated the different approaches that these women took to balance both love and career! Great acting by all the actresses!

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The Last Letter

The story is about a Jewish mother who lived in Russia during World War II writing the last letter to her son before her execution by the Germans.

Great acting by the actress who played the Jewish mother! The shadow and lighting effect was interesting too!

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Trees WIthout Leaves

The story is about how a family fell apart seen through the eyes of a little boy. He became a writer when he grew up and came back to his hometown to reminisce about the past.

Liked the close relationship between the boy and his mother! The director also described the little incidents in his childhood really well!

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Sandcastle

The story is about a young man enquiring about his father's past after his grandfather died and just when he was about to enter National Service. His father was involved in the Chinese Student protest in 1956 and was exiled to Johor Bahru before he died of cancer.

Liked the nice National songs but still preferred Kit Chan's version of "Home"! Thought the film would provide some kind of documentary insight into the Chinese Student protest, so I was a little bit disappointed when it did not.

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Eros Plus Massacre

The story is about a famous anarchist who was murdered by the military police along with his second lover and nephew shortly after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. The film focused on his relationship with his wife and two lovers and provides a contrast with modern life in 1969 through a reporter and her two lovers.

Liked the interesting study into human psychology and how the characters from the past made their journey into the present! Noe Ito looked quite cute in her pretty kimono and gigantic ribbon on her head!

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Mime-mime

The story is about a young girl finding her purpose in life with the help of a childhood friend.

Liked the small little things that the young girl and her childhood friend did together! She looked quite cute with rosy cheeks and interesting hair clips!

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Good Bye, George Adamski

This is one of the five films in New Directions in Japanese Cinema (NDJC) 2007 that consisted of "The Bus to Heaven", "Good Bye, George Admaski". "Seismic Girl", "Babin" and "Restaurant UFO".

The story is about how a guy bumped into his best friend who had been obsessed with aliens and UFOs since young and how they went on a journey to unravel the mystery behind them.

Liked the flashback sequences about the two guy's childhood!

The Bus to Heaven

This is one of the five films in New Directions in Japanese Cinema (NDJC) 2007 that consisted of "The Bus to Heaven", "Good Bye, George Admaski". "Seismic Girl", "Babin" and "Restaurant UFO".

The story is about how a guy went on a bus trip that was arranged by his friend to celebrate his birthday and how he made up with his girlfriend in the process.

Liked the interesting discussion about the definition of good acting using Kinji Fukasaku's "The Fall Guy" and Michael Bay's "Armageddon" as examples! Made me want to check out "The Fall Guy" given the chance!

Lala Pipo: A Lot of People

This is a sex comedy about a few people staying in Tokyo who are somehow related to each other. These include a nerdy freelance writer, a charming pimp, a karaoke bar assistant who imagines that he is a superhero and three porn actresses: a beautiful young lady, a middle aged woman and a chubby lady.

Thought the theme was very similar to that in "Air Doll" with a more in-depth study of the characters! The comedy is a little bit crude but the fantasy sequences were very well done!

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Red Angel

The story is about the encounters of a nurse during World War II when Japan fought in China. She took care of the soldiers and fell in love with the doctor.

Liked the voice over narration and the contrast between the nurse's loving care towards her patients and the graphic depiction of the horrors of war!

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Diary of a Shinjuku Thief

The story is about how a couple met at the Kinokuniya book shop in Shinjuku and fell in love. Birdtop was stealing books but he was caught by Umeko who posed as an employee of the book shop.

Liked the part where Umeko piled all the different books on the Kinokuniya shop floor with simultaneous voice over commentary describing the contents! The director's use of text and color on the screen as well as the political focus reminded me of Godard.

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Air Doll

The story is based on a manga series about how an inflatable doll came to life one day and explored the world around her.

Special effects was great and the performance by Bae Doo-Na was excellent but his "Maborosi" and "Still Walking" had a bigger emotional impact on me! I have also seen his "After Life" and "Nobody Knows" and I thought this was one of his weakest works so far. "Still Walking" is available to watch for free at the Japan Creative Center.

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Bloody Thirsty

The story is about a man who shot to fame after a failed suicide attempt to save his colleagues from being laid off. He became an insurance company's spokesman through a brilliant public relations campaign.

Liked the incisive look into the media and public relations industry! Quite amazed to see how an ordinary person could shoot to fame over night and how he reacts to such a situation!

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Sing a Song of Sex

The story is about the adventures of a group of students after their exams during the sixties in Japan. The teacher taught them that the poor had been oppressed by the people in power and they had created songs about sex to express their discontent and escape into fantasy.

Liked the catchy folk songs, the imaginative dream sequences and the informative lecture on Korea and Japan history! The apathy among Japanese youth and how the voice of the minority could be drowned by the majority were also well illustrated!

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Black River

The story revolves around a poor neighborhood slum. The local gangster made a deal with the landlady to evict them and used under-handed means to get a young waitress who was interested in a student living in the slum to be his girl.

Liked the realistic depiction of the life in the slums and the ending climax!

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Bullfighter and the Lady

The story is about an American who trained to be a bullfighter so that he can impress a Mexican lady.

Liked the informative introduction to the art of bullfighting that showed off its elegance! Thought their training method was really interesting!

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