Devil's Town

The film consists of many inter-related short stories that happened in Belgrade.

Liked how the director slowly introduced the characters and brought them all together towards the end! Some parts were a bit too weird for my taste though.

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Hopscotch

The story is about an ex-CIA employee trying to write a memoir while staying one step ahead of the people who wants to stop him.

Liked how the protagonist managed to outsmart his ex-colleagues! Great action and comedy without too much violence!

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The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

This is a documentary about a Japanese war veteran's search for the truth behind the execution of two soldiers in New Guinea shortly after the second World War.

Liked the protagonist's determination to uncover the truth to console the dead! At the beginning of the film, I thought he was just an obnoxious old man but I slowly began to understand his actions as the film progressed.

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Von Trier's 100 Eyes

This is a short documentary about the making of "Dancer in the Dark" by the Danish director, Lars Von Trier.

Liked the in-depth interviews with the director and the simple children's story of "Golden Heart"!

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Railroad of Hope

This is a documentary about peasants taking the train from Sichuan to Xinjiang to earn more money by harvesting cotton.

Liked the interviews with the train passengers where they talked about their hopes and dreams! Quite amazed at how the train can pack so many people and luggages!

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Teddy Bear

The story is about a shy bodybuilder who lived with his oppressive mother looking for love in Thailand.

Liked how the director managed to paint a convincing image of a shy bodybuilder as I have always imagined them to be fierce and tough! Great acting by the bodybuilder and his mother!

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A Dedicated Life

This is a documentary about a famous Japanese novelist.

Liked the interesting reconstructed flashbacks to the novelist's childhood days!

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The Makes

This is a pseudo documentary about an interview with a French critic about an Italian film director's work in Japan.

Liked how the director used photographs and speech to tell a story! I could then use my imagination to visualize how wonderful these films were!

Dream Work

The film tries to capture how the dream of a girl might look like.

Liked the special visual effects that created the dreamlike atmosphere!

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Sic

The story is about a girl working in a Japanese bookshop as a censor of photo-books by scratching bits of images away.

Liked how the protagonist brushed the book with a giant feather in the end as it looked elegant!

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Following Diana

The story is about an Indonesian couple slowly drifting apart after the husband announced his intention to marry a second wife.

Liked the quiet moments that featured the interaction between mother and son! Took me quite a while to realize what the husband was showing to his wife on his computer screen as I thought they were just a bunch of mind maps.

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Immoral Tales

The film consists of five short stories set in reverse chronological order: "The Tide", "Therese Philosophe", "The Beast", "Erzsebet Bathory" and "Lucrezia Borgia".

Quite surprised that the last two films were based on actual historical figures! The beast looked scary in "The Beast"!

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It Happened Tomorrow

The story is about the adventures of a reporter when he realized that he had information on the next day's news.

Liked the interesting plot and how everything fell into place in the end! Wonder if "Back to the Future II" was inspired by this film?

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Junun

This is a documentary about a group of musicians from different countries collaborating to make music in an Indian palace.

Liked the nice music played from exotic looking musical instruments! The aerial view of the palace and the street views looked interesting too!

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Parade

The story is about how the performers prepared for a circus performance and the audience's reaction to it.

Liked the amazing juggling performance, the nice songs and how engaged the audience was to the show!

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Minions

The story is about how a group of small yellow cylindrical shaped creatures called Minions searched for an evil master.

Liked the cheerful attitude of the Minions! They could always find something positive out of the worst situations!

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Trafic

The story is about how a camping car company tried unsuccessfully to travel from France to a big car show exhibition in Amsterdam.

Liked the interesting encounters during their journey! The car was an amazing invention, full of gadgets! I also liked the scene where they simulated the movements of the astronauts!

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Execution in Autumn

The story is about the transformation of a man who became a murderer because his grandmother spoilt him from young.

Liked the interesting plot and characters in the film! I learnt that discipline is a key parenting skill!

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Where The Seagull Flies

The story is about the love hate relationship of a couple.

Liked the scenes of Singapore in the 70s and the pretty actress in the film! Great plot with lots of twists and turns!

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Beautiful Duckling

The story is about the father daughter relationship of a family who raised ducks for a living.

Liked the cute little ducklings and the kampong spirit shown by the people in the film! The ending was very well done too as I was surprised by what happened!

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Jour de Fete

The story is about how a French postman became inspired to shorten his delivery time after watching a documentary about American postmen at a village fair.

Liked the interesting stunts in the film! The bicycle seemed to have a life of its own at one point in time!

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Morning for the Osone Family

This is the last film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about what happened to the Osone family towards the end of World War II.

Liked how the director helped us understand the hardships that the ordinary Japanese people faced through one family! I could tell he was very unhappy with the Army from his portrayal of the uncle!

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Army

This is the fourth film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a Japanese family with military background raised their eldest child to join the Army and fight in the front line during the second World War.

Liked how the director encouraged patriotism through his characters! Great acting by Tanaka Kinuyo, the actress who acted as the son's mother! I was surprised by how stern she could be when her son accidentally stepped on his textbook!

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No Woman, No Cry

This is a documentary on the healthcare services for pregnant women in four different countries: Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the United States.

Liked how the director weaved the statistics with the personal stories of these women and her commentary at the end of the film!

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Jubilation Street

This is the third film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a group of people living in Tokyo gradually moved out from the city to live in the countryside in preparation for American airstrike during the second world war.

Liked the interesting people who lived in the neighborhood! A pity we didn't get to see more of the pretty mail lady!

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The Living Magoroku

This is the second film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about how a group of villagers decided to break old traditions to plow a piece of sacred land passed down from their ancestors.

Liked the two pretty actresses in the film!

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Port of Flowers

This is the first film of the Kinoshita and World War II collection. The story is about two con artists trying to cheat a group of people staying in an island of their money by getting them to build a ship but gave themselves up in the end.

Liked the interesting plot and how the film portrayed that con artists could also be patriotic!

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Little People Big Dreams

This is a documentary about dwarves in China who are either current or past employees of a theme park called Dwarves Empire.

Liked how the director helped us to peek into the lives of these little people! I was quite impressed by one of them who even knew how to drive despite being so small!

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Shaun the Sheep Movie

The story is about how a dog and a group of sheep saved the day when their shepherd ended up in a big city with memory loss.

Liked the nice animation and the funny moments! Reminded me a bit of the Wallace and Gromit films!

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I love Hong Kong 2013

The story is about a restaurant owner who is being forced to sell his restaurant when his ex-employee ran away without paying his debt.

Liked the inspiring story about a hardworking man who was willing to help his friends at his own expense!

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The Iron Lady

The story is about the life of Margaret Thatcher who is a former Prime Minister of Britain.

Liked how the film showed the ordinary citizen side of Margaret Thacher through her interactions with her dead husband and the hardworking career woman side of her through a series of flashbacks! Great acting by Meryl Streep!

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Midnight in Paris

The story is about a writer travelling back in time to meet famous writers in Paris during midnight on his vacation trip with his rich fiancee.

Liked the interesting idea but I wished that the director could give some brief introduction to the famous writers as I was not familiar with most of them.

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Life Is Beautiful

The story is about how a Jew fell in love with a pretty Italian woman during World War II and how the whole family was sent to a concentration camp till the end of the war.

Liked how the father was able to look at the bright side of things in difficult situations and the nice soundtrack!

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Big Hero 6

The story is about a group of nerds and a big huggable robot became superheros by accident when they were trying to solve a mystery.

Liked the nice friendship between Hiro and the big huggable robot! The gadgets were pretty cool too!

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Revivre

The story is about how a middle aged executive coped with the stresses at work and taking care of his wife at the hospital at the same time.

Liked how the protagonist quietly went about his work but was quite puzzled why he would want to avoid meeting his pretty ex-employee in the end!

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Leave it for tomorrow for night has fallen

The film consists of four short stories in Philippines when Marcos was a dictator there.

The stories were pretty abstract and hard to understand but I liked the antique sound effects of firing guns!

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Leviathan

The story is about the consequence of one man trying to battle against the authorities for his rights to stay in his own home.

Liked the nice cinematography of the small Russian town and the depiction of human psychology!

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Stage Sisters

The story is about how two stage actresses remained good friends despite some misunderstandings over the years.

Liked the interesting plot and the pretty stage costumes! I thought the political propaganda message was quite well conveyed through this film!

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The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga

This is a documentary about how people lived near a forest in Russia that inspired a children's story with a witch called Baba Yaga.

Liked the interesting animated children's story! I was quite surprised to see such gigantic mushrooms in the forest!

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The Two Escobars

This is a documentary about two famous people named Escobars in Columbia during the 1990s: Pablo Escobar who was a powerful drug dealer and Andre Escobar who was the captain of the Columbian National team.

Learnt quite a bit of Columbian history from this film! Didn't realize how soccer can literally change the fate of a nation!

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The story is about a young wizard, Harry Potter's battle against a powerful evil wizard called Voldermort who killed his parents.

Liked the interesting plot about the dark magic used by Voldermort and how Harry Potter tried to fight against it together with his teacher Dumbledore! Think Ginny and Hermione have both grown much prettier since the first Harry Potter movie!

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A Necklace for My Beloved

The story is about how a young man searched for a present for his prospective bride. She has several suitors and the elders in the village would help to select the groom by checking who had the best present.

Liked the interesting adventures of the young man, especially the one with the goddesses!

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Dispersed Clouds

The story is about how a young girl from Tokyo fell in love with a doctor in the countryside when she fainted there while travelling with her classmates.

Liked the nice scenery in the countryside! Could not really understand why the young girl was moody at times though.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The story is about a young wizard called Harry Potter training his classmates to fight against an evil wizard.

Liked the training sessions conducted by Harry Potter! I could see how his friends gained more confidence after mastering new skills!

Internet Movie Database Link

Magdana's Donkey

The story is about how a donkey temporarily gave hope to a poor young mother called Magdana when her son helped to nurse it back to life.

Liked the cute fat donkey! The children acted very well too!

Internet Movie Database Link

An Inn At Osaka

The story is about the encounters of a business executive after he transferred to Osaka and stayed at an inn.

Liked the interesting lives of the different characters!

Internet Movie Database Link

Trances

This is part of the Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project DVD box set which included five other films: The Housemaid, Dry Summer, Redes, Touki Bouki and A River Called Titas. Bought the DVD box set as I saw the first two films online at mubi.com and was impressed by them!

The story is about a famous band in Morocco named Nass El Ghiwane.

Liked the nice songs and music in the film! The lyrics of the songs seemed quite meaningful too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Scrabble Nationals (Day Two)

Game 9: vs Valli
Day two starts off in the same round robin sequence as day one but the person who starts first will now reply. Close game as we each had a bingo each. I had AERIEST(71) while she had STAINED(73).

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: AEREIEST(71) Opp Bingos: STAINED(73)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: KIP(32), UNDIES(30), LOX(40) Opp High Moves: JEERS(40), NOISY(32), FAE(30), TOZE(39)
L 372-402, -30. 3W 6L (Accum spread -18).

Game 10: vs Nicholas
I think this was my worst game in the tournament. I had one bingo with DELEGATE(78) but lost as I played several silly phonies such as AHAH* and PSSTS*.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: DELEGATE(78) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: AHAH*, PSSTS* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: OXO(32) Opp High Moves: UH(30), SIZE(51), PSST(37)
L 350-387, -37. 3W 7L (Accum spread -55).

Game 11: vs Shantikumar
Shantikumar was leading initially after he bingoed with LOUVRED(81) but I caught up with TASTIEST(68) and my SEZ(49) back hooking to an existing SO on the board gave me a win despite leaving the X and V unplayed in the end. Could have played ZEX for more points but I forgot if SOX was good, so did not want to risk a loss.

New words learnt: LOUVRED
My Bingos: TASTIEST(68) Opp Bingos: LOUVRED(81)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: BARK(46), SEZ(49) Opp High Moves: QIS(38)
W 376-352, +24. 4W 7L (Accum spread -31).

Game 12: vs Kumraj
I played Kumraj again just before lunch. He bingoed first with DUETING(78) and I replied with DETAINED(64). Had another opportunity to bingo with a ELORSST rack but did not know the correct anagram and phonied with RESLOTS* in the end. Lost badly to him again.

I went to lunch with Valli at the Orchard Cineleisure food court. This time I ordered more dishes than the previous day in the hope of playing better after lunch.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: DETAINED(64) Opp Bingos: DUETING(78)
My Phoneys: RESLOTS* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: GAY(34), KAT(35) Opp High Moves: JOLLY(39), HORSE(34), ZIN(30), QIN(31)
L 340-423, -83. 4W 8L (Accum spread -114).

Game 13: vs Shahrul
I was leading by about 60 points until Shahrul played two bingos consecutively: EMAILER(70) and OUTPUTS(70). Might have won if I had blocked his bingo lines.

New words learnt: ETEN
My Bingos: Opp Bingos: EMAILER(70), OUTPUTS(70)
My Phoneys: Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: YEA(30), LEZ(36) Opp High Moves: FIST(39)
L 368-400, -32. 4W 9L (Accum spread -146).

Game 14: vs Ameen
This is my third time playing against Ameen. Had very good tiles and bingoed twice with ROOTING(62), ENLISTS(73) and SOARING(62) to win despite my opponent having a nine-timer with LITERATE(113).

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: ROOTING(62), ENLISTS(73), SOARING(62) Opp Bingos: LITERATE(113)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: DJINI*
My High Moves: XI(36), JOT(36), CREPT(30) Opp High Moves: COZ(34), QI(44), EF(30)
W 505-394, +111. 5W 9L (Accum spread -35).

Game 15: vs Shukra
Shukra was playing against Valli before our game. She complained about a level in Candy Crush that she was unable to pass and asked him to help out. He ended up playing Candy Crush on her phone while playing with me at the same time. Think I would not be able to multi-task if I were in his place. Lost narrowly as I did not block his SEIZE(47) down the triple word score line.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: DARLINGS(71) Opp Bingos:
My Phoneys: NEXIS* Opp Phoneys: OUTLIST*
My High Moves: INSECT(33), VAINER(39) Opp High Moves: WEIGH(33), DAILY(30), RITZ(46), SEIZE(47)
L 348-362, -14. 5W 10L (Accum spread -49).

Game 16: vs Valli
My last game was with Valli again. I had one bingo with MEATIES(70) but she had a lot more high scoring moves to win in the end.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: MEATIES(70) Opp Bingos: -
My Phoneys: QUIRER* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: HUI(34), BIDS(31), NEF(30) Opp High Moves: YIP(31), COZIER(39), QUIRE(47), JEWED(40), GAS(32)
L 385-430, -45. 5W 11L (Accum spread -94).

Finished the tournament with 5 wins and 7th position. A little bit disappointed by my poor performance but thought it was great fun nevertheless. Hope to do better next year!

Scrabble Nationals (Day One)

This year's Nationals is held at SCAPE. I was early and helped to arrange the tables with Shahrul, Leon and Li Wei before the actual registration. There were 16 players in division A and 8 players in division B. I saw a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces in division B.

Game 1: vs Valli
My previous encounter with Valli was at the 2011 Nationals which I lost. This time round, my bingos of HUNTERS(83) and NASTIER(73) against her LUSTIEST(75) plus a couple of high scoring moves helped me to beat her by close to 200 points.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: HUNTERS(83), NASTIER(73) Opp Bingos: LUSTIEST(75)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: WAW(38), AY(39), QUIN(33) Opp High Moves: -
W 493-318, +175. 1W 0L (Accum spread +175).

Game 2: vs Nicholas
My next opponent was a young boy from Maris Stella. We had one bingo each, I had STAINER(75) and he had TENAILS(62). Defeated him by about 100 points with my other high scoring moves.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: STAINER(75) Opp Bingos: TENAILS(62)
My Phoneys: Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JINGO(42), QUEST(45), DOTED(44), ZO(35), FIRE(31) Opp High Moves: KAE(31), COURS(30)
W 427-324, +103. 2W 0L (Accum spread +278).

Game 3: vs Shantikumar
My previous encounter with Shantikumar was at the Dec 2013 WYSC Benefits tournament which I won. Had a shaky start as I phonied twice with PoDIEST* and PaSTIED* but finally got a bingo down with PoSITED(74). I had two other bingos later with LITTERS(69) and AUNTIES(62) against his MANDATES(74) and beat him easily.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: POSITED(74), LITTERS(69), AUNTIES(62) Opp Bingos: MANDATES(74)
My Phoneys: PODIEST*, PASTIED* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JA(52), FELONS(35), BRIG(38), KEY(34) Opp High Moves: SHUNT(48), LUX(36), QAT(37)
W 504-379, +125. 3W 0L (Accum spread +403).

Game 4: vs Kumraj
Kumraj is a young man from Nepal who works in MHA. Was defeated soundly by him as he had three bingos: INDORSE(84), GLANDERS(88) and UNITING(77) against my WRESTING(63).

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: WRESTING(63) Opp Bingos: INDORSE(84), GLANDERS(88), UNITING(77)
My Phoneys: - Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: CHIEF(34), QIS(37), VIVE(30) Opp High Moves: FEZ(44), AHEAD(31), WE(30)
L 357-475, -118. 3W 1L (Accum spread +285).

I went to lunch with Kumraj and his friend Shukra at the Orchard Cineleisure food court. Saw a few division A players eating there too.

Game 5: vs Shahrul
My previous encounter with Shahrul was at the 2012 Oktobertile fest where we won one game each. This was a close game where we had one bingo each. I had SARDINES(70) and he had BROMATES(74). Lost narrowly despite getting away with a phoney TRINK*.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: SARDINES(70) Opp Bingos: BROMATES(74)
My Phoneys: TRINK* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JARL(34), TRINK*(58) Opp High Moves: REZ(43), OXO(41)
L 362-390, -28. 3W 2L (Accum spread +257).

Game 6: vs Ameen
My next opponent was a humorous Indian guy. Lost as I phonied twice with FINERIE* and TRIT* while he bingoed twice with ADVICES(83) and STUNNED(76).

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: Opp Bingos: ADVICES(83), STUNNED(76)
My Phoneys: FINERIE*, TRIT* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: JIVED(48), CRAWL(33), LARKS(34), YETI(34) Opp High Moves: EX(36), SOZ(30)
L 353-436, -83. 3W 3L (Accum spread +174).

Game 7: vs Shukra
My last opponent in our first round robin was Kumraj's friend. Lost as I phonied with BERIEST* while he bingoed with SETTING(79).

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: - Opp Bingos: SETTING(79)
My Phoneys: BERIEST* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: NOX(44), LOY(30), QUAI(31) Opp High Moves: JOBE(40) GAZE(37)
L 319-410, -91. 3W 4L (Accum spread +83).

Game 8: vs Ameen
I played with Ameen again for our first king of the hill game. I bingoed with APPLIED(73) while he had SHAKIER(76) and SMUTTIER(83). Could have another bingo for a win with a ADEERRS rack that needed the S to be in the 4th to 6th position but just could not think of the anagram. Phonied with REARSED* in the end and lost.

New words learnt: -
My Bingos: APPLIED(73) Opp Bingos: SHAKIER(76), SMUTTIER(83)
My Phoneys: REARSED* Opp Phoneys: -
My High Moves: WOE(32), HEW(32), VIA(33), READS(30) Opp High Moves: XI(30)
L 360-431, -71. 3W 5L (Accum spread +12).

Finished day 1 with 3 wins and 5 losses.

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

This is a documentary about Miyazaki Hayao, a famous Japanese animation director in the process of making his final film.

This film reminded me of "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". Both films are about old men who are disciplined and very good at their work and who expects high standards from others. Nice way to end the Japanese film festival!

Internet Movie Database Link