Pixar Story

This is a documentary about Pixar that is an animation production house that gave us "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life", "Monsters Inc", "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles" and other blockbuster animation films.

Liked the interviews and the clips that showed us how far the animation media has gone! Learnt the early impact of computers on how animators did their work and the fun working environment in Pixar!

Internet Movie Database Link

5cm per second

This is a collection of three short stories about how people drift further apart as time goes by.

Liked the nice piano soundtrack in the background and the MTV towards the end! The melody of the song in the MTV was a little bit repetitive though. Also liked the storyline and how realistic everything looked!

Internet Movie Database Link

International Shorts Programme 3

This is one of the many international shorts programme featured at the Animation Nation 2007.

Liked the funny "The First day father let his daughter drive", the black humour in "Lapsus", the philosophical "An Artistic Presentation of Metaphysical Butterfly Effect" and the imaginative "Premium Reincarnation"!

Didn't really like these:
-White
-Backyard Shadow
-Complex
-The Chamber
-The White Wolf
-My Life at 40
-Dream Tapir
-White Snake

Animation Nation Link

International Shorts Programme 2

This is one of the many international shorts programme featured at the Animation Nation 2007.

Liked the imaginative "Walking in the rainy Day", the innovative "White Line Syndrome" and the interesting love story in "The Danish Poet"! "Shipwrecked", "Puppet" and "Shut Eye Hotel" were not bad! "Ark", "Eels", "Flutter" and "Madame Tutli-Putli" were pretty abstract and didn't really know what was going on.

Animation Nation Link

Freedom Project

The story is about how people lived underground on the moon after climate changes made Earth inhospitable. One group of racers decided to break the rules and tried to travel back to Earth secretly.

Liked the fast pace action and the exciting storyline! As the movie is sponsored by Nissin, the protagonists are always eating Nissin cup noodles! Had a good laugh whenever I saw those product placements!

Internet Movie Database Link

Khan Kluay

The story is about the adventures of an elephant named Khan Kluay when he travelled across the country in search for his father.

Nice storyline that is based on historical facts! Liked the songs and how the director infused the film with Thai culture!

Internet Movie Database Link

Anna and Anna

The story is about what happens when two identical looking women both named Anna but living in different parts of the world finally meet.

First part of the film reminds me a bit of "Double Life Of Veronique". Rest of the film is pretty slow paced and nothing exciting really happens. Won't really recommend unless you like to watch emotionally unstable men breakdown on the big screen.

Internet Movie Database Link

Turning Gate

The story describes what happens when a self centered actor meets two women separately on a trip. His behaviour echos that of an ancient story that revolves around a particular turning gate in Korea.

The self centered actor is one of the most unlikable characters that I have seen! Felt exasperated that he simply does not care about the people around him and thinks only about himself! Liked the two female leads who are pretty in their own ways and the quieter scenes that had minimal dialogue but explained a lot about the two relationships!

Internet Movie Database Link

Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur

The story is based on a popular Japanese comic that features an earless robotic cat called Doraemon who lives with a boy called Nobita. Nobita and his friends went back in time to bring a small dinosaur home with the help of Doraemon's gadgets and they had a bit of adventure while doing that.

Liked the strong bond between Nobita and the dinosaur as well as the exciting adventure!

Internet Movie Database Link

A Touch of Zen

The story is about how a poor scholar's life changed after he discovered that a beautiful woman has become his new neighbor. She is a mysterious figure who is skilled in martial arts and has a complicated relationship with a powerful eunuch and a group of monks.

Enjoyed the movie pretty much! Some parts were really funny and the martial arts sequence superbly choreographed!

Internet Movie Database Link

Lust, Caution

The story is about the life of a group of resistance fighters in China during World War II focusing on the relationship between a female resistance fighter, Ms Wang Jiazhi and a traitor, Mr Yi, who is working for the Japanese.

Great acting by the main actress and felt that the title is really appropriate! "Lust" describes the attraction between Ms Wang and Mr Yi while "Caution" comes from how Ms Wang has to keep herself on her toes when she infiltrated into the enemy's camp. The sex scenes were nicely choreographed and pretty effective to show how Mr Yi's attitude towards Ms Wang evolves over time! Learnt a bit of history from the film.

Internet Movie Database Link

Madonnas

The story is about how a young woman tries to take over the caring of her children from her mother after a stint in jail.

Interesting family drama that shows how the young woman struggles with her relationship with her mother, her new found father, her boyfriend and her children! Pretty good acting by the main actress!

Internet Movie Database Link

Emma's Bliss

The story is about how a guy who is terminally ill, stole company's fund and accidentally crashed into a girl's pig farm. The girl looked after the guy and they fell in love after a while.

Liked the nice little pig farm and the interesting stories told by the girl to the guy! It is funny and sad at the same time!

Internet Movie Database Link

Still Life

The story is about two pair of couples looking for each other in China's Sanxia region where plans for building a gigantic dam is underway.

Nice scenery and I liked how the camera panned around to show the expressions of the people sitting in the boat! Thought it is interesting that the director divided the film into chapters titled "Cigarette", "Wine", "Tea" and "Candy" that are basic ingredients in people's lives.

Internet Movie Database Link

Pleasure Factory

The story is about life in Geylang focusing more on the red-light district part of it. It consists of three segments: a young man's first sexual encounter, a middle aged working lady initiating her daughter into the trade and a young working lady finding diversion with a tatooed singer.

Thought one of the actor looked like Gurmit Singh and one of the actresses looked quite cute with her bunny teeth! There was not much of a plot though and halfway through the movie, I realised that the audience is supposed to soak in the atmosphere that the film is trying to create. Liked the face-to-face interviews of the actual residents that were conducted and I wished that there were more of those!

Internet Movie Database Link

Love is a Crazy Thing

The story is about how a mother of two struggles to make a living with many debts to clear. She becomes a call girl by chance and slowly gets adjusted to her new way of life.

The film reminds me of "Streets of Shame" by Mizoguchi and "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" by Naruse. The former is about the life of prostitutes while the latter focuses on the life of a head bar hostess. These two films are made around fifty years ago but the problems highlighted are still relevant today. Great acting by the lead actress! Liked the use of the entirely black screen to prepare the audience on what to expect next towards the end of the film!

Internet Movie Database Link
koreanfilm.org review

The Battle of Algiers

The story is about how Algeria achieved independence through terrorist attacks against the French government in the city of Casbah. The police made life difficult for the inhabitants and destroyed every member of the FLN that was behind the attacks in 1957 but the fall of the FLN has made such an impression on the people of Algeria that they took action a few years later to gain independence in 1962.

Got interested in this film as it is in the top 10 list here. Liked the documentary style and how the Algerians fought for their freedom! Read that the US counter intelligence group studied the film in detail to understand how not to make the same mistake as the French in their fight against terrorists and to lose the overall battle in the end.

Internet Movie Database Link

Resident Evil: Extinction

The story is about how the whole world is affected by a strange virus that turned people into man eating zombies and how Alice, who is a powerful zombie hunter hiding from an evil scientist for many years, decide to join a group of volunteers to fight against him in the end.

Nice zombie killing moves by Milla Jovovich! She looked pretty cool with guns strapped around her legs too! Think the director assumed that the audience would have watched the previous two episodes and did not explain the relationship between Alice and the scientist as well as between Alice and the volunteer group very clearly. Guess I'll have to find out more about the background history from the internet.

Internet Movie Database Link

The Sun Also Rises

The film is about the life of several characters during the last year of the Cultural Revolution. It is broken up into four segments. Each segment gives the point of view of one character and the audience has to figure out how they are interconnected. The last segment is a flashback to explain how everything began.

Just saw "The Day a Pig Fell into the Well" two days ago, so thought the style was pretty similar! Liked the nice countryside scenery, the interesting crazy antics of a particular person, the second segment's opening sequence with the female cooks lined up neatly and the flashback in the last segment!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Day a Pig Fell into the Well

The film is about the complicated love relationship among several characters. It is broken up into four segments. Each segment gives the point of view of one character and the audience has to figure out how they are interconnected.

Nice debut from the Korean director Hong Sang Soo! Liked his jigsaw puzzle type of film editing that tests the audience's ability to spot minute details and connect seemingly unrelated things together! Also liked the subject matter on how lonely individuals are coping in society! Was shocked and surprised at first but was really impressed by how everything gelled together towards the end!

Internet Movie Database Link