Saturday, February 18, 2012

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

This animation is based on a short story of the same title by Dostoevsky. A man's attempted suicide was interrupted by a young girl in the street and he had a dream about utopia when he went home to sleep.

Liked the beautiful painting style and the interesting plot that painted a vision for the future of mankind!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Happy Thank You More Please

The story is about how six young adults living in New York juggle love, friendship and the responsibilities of adulthood.

Liked the nice folk music soundtrack!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Happy End

The story is about how a man was given the death sentence for killing his wife and lover told in reverse chronological order.

Liked the interesting concept but the special effects of eating, talking and walking in reverse got tiresome after a while.

Internet Movie Database Link

Ways of the Sea

The story is about people who illegally travelled from the Phillipines to Sabah by boat to look for work.

Liked the docu-drama approach and the nice song in the film! Great acting by the little girl!

Internet Movie Database Link

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

In Two Minds

The story is based on a folk tale about how a new bride spent a few years with a ghost that took the form of her husband while he was away on business and what happened after he returned.

Liked the colorful cinematography, the innovative use of static shots and the beautiful music! The plot was interesting too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Sunflower

The story is about the relationship between a father and his son over a period of thirty years from the late sixties to the late nineties in China.

Nice paintings at the art exhibition and liked how the father and son reconciled towards the end! Thought the director could have condensed the plot a little bit more though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Sunday, January 29, 2012

City Lights

The story is about a tramp's relationships with a blind girl and a rich man.

Liked the interesting plot and the nice ending!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Sita Sings the Blues

The story is based on an Indian epic, the Ramayana, that described the ups and downs in the relationship between prince Rama and his wife Sita after they were banished to the forest.

Liked how the director weaved her own story into the film and used different ways to tell the same story! It was refreshing to learn the plot through the discussion among the three narrators! The songs were appropriate and nice too!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, January 16, 2012

My Magic

The story is about the relationship between an alcoholic father who used to be a magician and his son who was cared for mainly by his grandmother.

Liked the quiet scenes such as the one where the train passed by in the background. Didn't really like the magic shows which were too extreme in my opinion.

Internet Movie Database Link

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Thirst for Love

The story is about how a young widow became her father-in-law's lover but secretly had a desire for the apathetic gardener.

Liked the interesting psychological study into the different characters! Great acting by the lead actress!

Internet Movie Database Link

Margin Call

The story is about how a group of traders discovered the real risk of mortgage based securities in 2008 and the boss of the company decided to sell everything off the next day.

Great acting by Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons! Hoped they could explain a little bit more on some of the financial terms though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Black Sun

The story is about how a jazz loving Japanese encountered an injured black American soldier who was wanted for murder and carried a machine gun.

Liked how the friendship grew between the Japanese and the American despite their difficulty to communicate with each other!

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, January 02, 2012

I Hate But Love

The story is about the love-hate relationship between a well known DJ and his manager cum lover.

Liked the nice little journey across Japan on the old jeep! Both the DJ's girlfriend and the jeep owner looked quite pretty!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Warped Ones

The story is about how a jazz loving delinquent took revenge on a young reporter who had tipped him off to get him in jail by raping his girlfriend. She became pregnant and had to take drastic steps to make things "normal" again.

Liked the fast pace action and the interesting twists to the plot!

Internet Movie Database Link

The Artist

The story is about how a popular silent film actor coped when silent films gradually became obsolete with the invention of talkies.

Liked the performance of the dog very much! Didn't quite understand Valentin's reluctance to move into talkies though and felt the later part of the film dragged a little.

Internet Movie Database Link

Beam

The story is about a small boy who made friends with an unknown neighbour by shining a beam of light at each other for several nights.

Liked the intimate portrayal of the family! Great acting by the little boy!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Mee Pok Man

The story is about a mee pok stall owner's obsession with a prostitute who frequented his stall.

Liked how different people used different language to communicate in the film and the voice over narration from the diary! A little bit too creepy for my taste towards the end though.

Internet Movie Database Link

Monday, December 26, 2011

Intimidation

The story is about how a man's senior position in a bank was threatened when someone who knew about his illegal loans confronted him.

Liked the interesting human psychology games played in the film and the detailed examination on how the bank worked internally!

Internet Movie Database Link

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Passing Fancy

The story is about how a blue-collared worker helped a young retrenched woman to find a job and how his infatuation with her affected his relationship with his colleague and his son.

Great acting by the father and the son!

Internet Movie Database Link

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Carmen

The story is about how the director of a Spanish dance company searched for a lead dancer for his new dance production "Carmen" and how his life slowly began to resemble its plot.

Liked the beautiful dance sequences! The actress who played Carmen looked quite pretty too!

Internet Movie Database Link