Sunday, August 02, 2020

Spelling the Dream

This is a documentary about how Indians in America came to dominate the spelling bee contests.

Liked how hardworking the kids were in preparing for the contest and how the parents supported them! The interviews gave me a better idea of how the Indian community felt about their achievements.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Little Women

The story is about the lives of the daughters in the March family around the American Civil War period.

Liked the nice sisterly bond among the little women! Was pleasantly surprised that Emma Watson has grown into a pretty young lady since I watched her as Hermione in the first few Harry Potter movies! The switching to and fro from the present to the past worked really well and less confusing as I thought it would be!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, July 07, 2020

Kramer vs Kramer

The story is about how the husband and wife of the Kramer family drifted apart and fought for the custody of their son.

Great acting by the son who was only about 7 years old at that time! Almost thought that the husband would fall in love with his neighbour downstairs but I guessed wrongly. The couple could have saved much legal fees if they had realised earlier that the best arrangement was to remain status quo!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, July 02, 2020

Parasite

The story is about how the members of a poor family managed to all work under a rich family through their street smartness and what happened after that.

Liked the ingenious plans crafted by the poor family! Thought I knew what would happen when the son took out the stone from the bag but I was really surprised by the twist towards the end! Great social commentary about the differences between the rich and the poor too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Friday, June 12, 2020

Leon in Wintertime

The story is about the adventures of Leon the bear during winter time. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked how the film tackled serious issues like discrimination based on one's looks! Also liked the budding friendship among the elephant, the bear and the hedgehog!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Poppety in the Fall

The story is about the adventures of Poppety during autumn time. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked the part where the whale asked everyone to tell him their secrets! The secret came as a surprise for me as I hadn't watched "Leon in Wintertime" yet which was supposed to be the first in the series.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Bonnifacio in Summertime

The story is about the adventures of Bonnifacio during summer time. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked how proactive the bad guy was to figure out a way to climb up the mountain! The princess and her friends saved the day again!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Molly in Springtime

The story is about the adventures of princess Molly during spring time. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked the resourceful Molly and the friendship among the bear, the elephant and the hedgehog! The bad guy was really evil too! Great use of language to refer to the wild bear as bare naked!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, June 07, 2020

Anna

The story is about how women in Ukraine dated men from United States. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked the translator scene and the twist towards the end! The translator did a good job in saying what needs to be heard!

Internet Movie Database Link

Route-3

The story is about what happened when a young man saw a pretty girl on the bus. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked how the bus was packed with people and how the young man was able to fix his gaze at the pretty girl despite the distractions! Thought the eating orange scene was a little bit too suggestive though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, June 06, 2020

Cerulia

The story is about a woman re-visiting her childhood home. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

This film caught my eye as it was from an unknown film festival: the guadalajara film festival. Liked the eerie stop motion animation! Reminded me a bit of the movie Coraline. Ending was a little bit too scary for me though.

Internet Movie Database Link

see factory sarajevo mon amour

This is a collection of five short stories about motherhood: In Your Hands, The Package, The Right One, Spit and The Sign. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked the plot in "Spit" and the black and white cinematography in "The Sign"! I was amazed by how the different issues faced by a mother could be described in a such a short time!

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Sisterhood

The story is about a middle aged woman who moved to Taiwan fifteeen years ago going back to her hometown in Macau to visit her friends. They used to work together in a massage parlour. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked the flashbacks to Macau in the past and the strong sisterly friendship! The film reminded me a little of "Only Yesterday", especially towards the end where the protagonist saw her old self.

Internet Movie Database Link

Toto

The story is about a grandmother's relationship with her grandchildren and her personal digital assistant. Watched this at the "We Are One film festival.

Liked how the grandmother treated the robot just like a human being! Bad idea to upgrade as it erases everything it has learned!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, June 02, 2020

15 Shorts

This is a series of 15 short stories by local film directors.

My favorite films were "Plague", "The Listener" and "Shanti". I liked the drama within the small flat in "Plague", the nice soothing voice in "The Listener" and the ordinary unassuming hero in "Shanti"! Learned a bit about history in "Still Standing" and "Majid the Legend". Thought "The Brown Dog" and "The T(h)ree Lives" were well shot too!

15 Shorts YouTube Channel

Monday, June 01, 2020

Black Barbie

The story is about how a young black girl grew up hating how she looked but finally accepted who she was. Watched this at the "We Are One" film festival.

A very nice animation with smooth flowing transitions, words flashing across the screen and voice over narration that sounded like a poem!

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Travelling While Black

The story is about how black Americans faced discrimination when they were travelling long distance across America many years ago.

Watched this at the "We Are One" film festival. First time watching a movie with virtual reality controls! Not sure how to best make use of it though. Quite sad to hear that black Americans still facing discrimination even until today.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Made In Japan

The story is about what happened when a group of friends started to make up stories to the media on what they know about a murderer on the loose.

Liked the interesting relationship between media and the interviewee! The media hopes for scandalous details to bring in more sales so this indirectly tempts the interviewee to make something up.

Japanese Film Festival Link

Thursday, May 21, 2020

The Breakfast Club

The story is about five American high school students learning more about each other during a weekend class detention.

Liked how the students sat down and had in-depth conversations with each other! Not as much action as "Back to the Future" that came out in the same year, but I learned a bit more about young people in the '80s from this film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

From Up On Poppy Hill

The story is about the lives of a few school children in Japan just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Liked the old style kitchen and the friendship between the two protagonists! Looked quite fun riding the bicycle downhill!

Internet Movie Database Link