Loto Sex

The story is about how a wife helped her husband cure his compulsion to gambling on lotto tickets through very unorthodox ways. She invented a domestic version of the game where the husband can only get intimate with her only when he won a prize!

Liked the interesting idea and the depiction of the couple's relationship! They grew from ignorant newly weds to become a more matured and understanding couple in the end! Realised that there is a whole series of similarly themed films by FullMotion label similar to what Balzac did in "La Comedie humaine". Would love to catch other films in the series if I have the chance!

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The Reader

The story is about how an encounter with a German woman, Hanna, affected a young man's life. He read to her story books and had an affair with her for one summer. They lost contact after that and the young man discovered Hanna's dark secret years later.

Great acting by Kate Winslet who acted as Hanna and I thought young Julia looked very cute in her two ponytails!

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Rachel Getting Married

The story is about how a woman called Rachel organized her own wedding day with the help of her family members. Her sister, Kym, took a few days off from the rehabilitation center to attend her wedding.

Liked the simple storyline and the dynamics of the family relationships! Loved the exciting dishwasher competition and the explosive face off between mother and daughter towards the end! Have only seen the lead actress, Anne Hathaway, in "Brokeback Mountain" as well as this film and I thought she is a pretty good actress!

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This Land Is Mine

This is a propaganda film made during World War II by a French director about life in a small town governed by German soldiers. One person started a small resistance movement and it had a great impact on a timid middle-aged school teacher.

Interesting story and I was quite impressed with the middle-aged school teacher's speech in court! The two female leads looked quite pretty too!

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Milk

This is a biography of Harvey Milk, a businessman-turned-politician who started the gay movement in the 70s.

Liked the old news clips that were informative! Thought it would be interesting if Milk had a one-to-one battle with his nemesis, Anita Bryant, instead of the other guy! Didn't really understand the politics portion of the show especially the character of Dan White.

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Women of the Night

This is about how women became prostitutes in post-war Japan told through the stories of a widow, her sister and her friend.

Interesting plot! Thought this might be a pre-cursor to "Life of Oharu" filmed four years later with the same lead actress, Tanaka Kinuyo, with a similar theme. Didn't really understand why she did not choose to stay in the women's home as it offered food and shelter with a lot of pros and very little cons.

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Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea

This is a kids adaptation of the mermaid fairytale about how a small fish with magical powers fell in love with a five year old boy and wanted to become human after he scooped her up from the sea.

Liked the nice storyline, the cute fish/girl and the catchy soundtrack at the end of the film!

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Osaka Elegy

The story is about Ayako's fall in society when she accepted her boss's indecent proposal in order to raise money to save her father.

This film is part of the Criterion Eclipse Series 13 boxset also named as Kenji Mizoguchi's "Fallen Women". The other titles are "Sisters of the Gion", "Women of the Night" and "Streets of Shame".

Liked the nice storyline that explained Ayako's actions due to her circumstances! Thought she celebrated a little bit too soon towards the end though.

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Hearts and Minds

This is a documentary about how the Americans got involved in the Vietnam War and its impact on both countries.

Liked the interviews with the people from the different sides and the newsreel clips! Gained a better understanding of this historic event after watching the film.

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The Elephant and the Sea

The film is about how a young man and middle aged man lived their lives after a mysterious disease struck their fishing village.

Liked the nice country side scenery and how the theme of emotional paralysis was elaborated through the performances of the two protagonists! Learnt a bit more about the film after the director revealed his influences by Hong Sang Soo during the Q&A. Realized that the prostitute scene with the middle aged man could have been adapted from a similar scene in "The Day a Pig Fell into the Well" while the young man's behavior could have been taken from "Turning Gate". The young man's friend's sister looked quite pretty in the pink dress!

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Story of a Prostitute

This is a love story between a prostitute serving the Japanese Army during the Second World War and a corporal.

Thought this film had a similar anti-war theme as the director's two other works: "Fighting Elegy" and "Gate of Flesh". Liked the manga visual style of the film, especially the surreal imagined scenes and the slow motion static shots! Nice story and great performance by the lead actress!

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For Every Minute I Live, I'll Enjoy Sixty Seconds

This is a documentary about how a retrenched middle aged man living in a small county town in Hunan spends his time.

Initially it was interesting to follow the protagonist around but got boring after a while as we realised how monotonous his life was! Reminds me of "Lim Poh Huat", a Singapore short film that describes how a Singaporean security guard working as a part time extra went about his day.

The Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge

This is a sequel to "The Nibelungen: Siegfried's Death". Following her husband's death, Kriemhild wanted to seek revenge on her husband's murder and plotted to do so after King Attila proposed to her.

King Attila had a very cool image and Kriemhild looked very scary with her vengeful eyes! Quite sad how the thought of revenge could destroy families and wreck havoc on entire nations. Liked how the contrast between the loyalty among the Nibelungens and the cold blooded actions of Kriemhild slowly built towards a grand finale in the end!

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Cape No. 7

The story is about how the people living in a small town near the seaside formed their own band to perform at a beach party. Cape No. 7 is the address of an undelivered package that fell into the hands of one band member who is a postman.

Interesting to see the lives of the ordinary people in the small town! Liked the quirky old ex-postman and the enthusiastic drummer! The music was nice too! Didn't like the two main leads and the subplot about the story of the undelivered package.

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The Nibelungen: Siegfried's Death

The story is about how the dragon slayer, Siegfried, helped his future brother-in-law win his bride through unfair means and suffered in the end because of this.

Liked the plot where it explained how Siegfried got his super powers, the special effects for the cute lethargic dragon and the great looking outdoor sets! Quite scary to think what could happen when two women quarrel!

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Port of Call

The story is about how a girl from a broken family and with a secret past fell in love with a sailor.

Thought the girl looked a little bit like Reese Witherspoon! Interesting storyline and I liked how the relationship of the couple evolved with time!

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Quantum of Solace

The story is about how a British spy called James Bond tracked down a mysterious organisation and helped a beautiful lady in the process.

Liked the big touch screen monitor at the headquarters as well as the cool Sony Ericsson phone! It was hard to follow the plot as it was a little bit convoluted but enjoyed the action sequences! Disappointed that there was little interaction between James Bond and Camille.

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Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

The story is about how a lion, a giraffe, a zebra and a hippopotamus originally from the New York Zoo escaped from Madagascar where they were trapped in the first episode to land in Africa when their plane crashed.

Liked the slick moves performed by the lion, the funny dialogue and the interesting storyline!

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Days and Nights in the Forest

The story is about four young men from the city spending their holiday in a chalet in the forest and how they met two beautiful ladies staying nearby.

Liked the funny moments, the nice tribal music in the background and the psychological tension towards the end!

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Singapore Shorts Vol 2

This is a collection of 9 Singapore Shorts. Each of them has a family related theme.

Among the shorts in the DVD collection, I had seen "Match Made" at last year's Singapore International Film Festival, "Absence" at a Singapore shorts screening at National Museum, a large part of "Gourmet Baby" on television and "Yesterday’s Play" at Kinokuniya's DVD launch prior to this. I had also heard of "Imelda Goes to Singapore" at Biennale 2006. The other films are: "Labour of Love - The Housewife", "A Family Portrait", "Autopsy" and "Wet Season".

Liked the well crafted documentary in "Match Made", the music in "Imelda Goes to Singapore", the story of "Gourmet Baby" and "A Family Portrait" as well as the interesting use of animation in "Wet Season"! The two nieces in "Gourmet Baby" looked quite cute and the food looked delicious!

It was interesting to see how both "Yesterday’s Play" and "Autopsy" explore the mother and son relationship in their own ways! The former is shot as a single scene with monologues from both son and mother while the latter is shot as a series of flashback scenes coupled with a Q&A session between mother and son in the background.

Didn't really like the strange story in "Absence". I also felt that "Labour of Love - The Housewife" was stretched too long and tried too hard to drum its message to the audience.

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