Le Havre (2011)

Directed by: Aki Kaurismaki
Country: Finland / France

Plot: When an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner welcomes him into his home.
Quick comment: Talented finnish director Kaurismaki is back with this wonderful story about illegal immigration in France. Through a poignant humor and an uncanny style that gives particular attention to the image composition, he continues to fill the screens denouncing society issues and telling us that if you do the good you’ll be rewarded. I also recommend from this director:"a man without a past", "the match factory girl", "ariel" and "lights in the dusk".
Relevant awards: Best film, director, script and cinematography (Jussi awards); Fipresci prize (Cannes).

Weekend (2011)

Directed by: Andrew Haigh
Country: UK

Plot: After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what's expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
Quick comment: A fearless movie  putting on the screen a story of a gay relationship between two men who just have a weekend to figure out what they really feel for each other. It touches on certain crucial issues concerning the clash between assumed gays and society. We are before an outspoken movie...simple but effective.
Relevant Awards: moviezone award (Rotterdam); jury award   (Ghent); special mention (Dinard).

Detachment (2011)

Directed by: Tony Kaye
Country: USA

Plot: A substitute teacher who drifts from classroom to classroom finds a connection to the students and teachers during his latest assignment.
Quick comment: 12 years after the acclaimed “american history X”, Tony Kaye’s “detachment” focuses on another eminent social problem. The issues and concerns faced by school teachers are presented. Their own personal problems are also a key factor and Kaye plays with it to manipulate our feelings. Demonstrating to be pretentious in many ways it has simultaneously the ability of grabbing some of our attention.
Relevant Awards: Audience award (São Paulo) and best artistic contribution (Tokyo).

The Iron Lady (2011)

Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Country: UK

Plot: An elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene.
Quick comment: Despite all the information that passes through, it reveals to be a shallow movie. It would need more enthusiasm and rhythm to avoid to fall in banality. A decided and firm approach were most needed to depict such a strict character as Thatcher. Just the oscar-winner Meryl Streep was able to save herself from this doomed drifting boat.
Relevant Awards: best leading actress at Academy Awards (USA) and BAFTA Awards (UK).

The Colors of the Mountain (2010)

Directed by: Carlos César Arbeláez
Country: Colombia

Plot: Manuel, age: 9, has an old ball and dreams of becoming a great goalkeeper. His wishes seem set to come true when his father gives him a new ball. But an unexpected accident sends the ball flying into a minefield.
Quick comment: A colombian childhood drama where the horrors of war are shared with the pleasures of playing soccer. In a standard way and without great prominence it was a good effort to depict friendship, discard of life dreams and swift growing up in a war environment where the behaviour and mind of a child can radically change.
Relevant Awards: Best colombian film at Bogotá Film Fest. (Colombia).

Tomboy (2011)

Directed by: Celine Sciamma
Country: France

Plot: A 10-year-old girl, settling into her new neighborhood outside Paris, is mistaken for a boy and has to live up to this new identity since it's too late for the mistake to be clarified.
Quick comment: Sexuality theme is depicted with strong personality by Sciamma. It was like this with “water lilies”(2007) and it is now with “tomboy”. Although the strong performances and eminent tension involved, there were a few staged situations (including the end) which did not enhance the final result. Curious enough to worth a look regardless the final impression that could have been better explored.
Relevant Awards: Jury award at Berlin Film Fest.(Germany).

The Silence (2010)

Directed by: Baran Bo Odar
Country: Germany

Plot: 13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.
Quick comment: An investigation of two similar murders with a gap of 20 years that will keep you with the eyes wide opened. I have no remarks concerning the story’s integrity. This plot could be true and it is from here that comes its main strength. As for the rest I shall warn you that this is a bitter film where everything and everyone involved are gloomy. Even the police men.
Relevant Awards: -

Kinyarwanda (2011)

Directed by: Alrick Brown
Country: USA

Plot: Rwanda civil war... A young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love amidst chaos; a soldier struggles to foster a greater good while absent from her family; and a priest grapples with his faith in the face of unspeakable horror.
Quick comment: It was good to watch a lot of good things done among the chaos of such ferocious genocide. Alrick Brown chooses not to emphasize the atrocities but the effort of some in doing good actions. However this is less challenging than “hotel rwanda” or “munyurangabo” and as a consequence it stays a few steps below them.
Relevant Awards: Audience award at Sundance Film Fest. (USA).

Café De Flore (2011)

Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Country: Canada

Plot: A love story between a man and woman. And between a mother and her son. A mystical and fantastical odyssey on love.
Quick comment: The return of J.M Vallée to his peculiar mood which gave him so much success with "c.r.a.z.y"(2005). “Café de flore” was magnificently directed aided by a very well chosen soundtrack. As a remark I shall tell that in the last quarter the story slips a bit when everything got too evident and accepted in a blink of an eye. Nevertheless it still remains a haunting film.
Relevant Awards: best canadian film at Vancouver; best art direction at Jutra Awards (Canada).

Tadas Blinda. The Beginning (2011)

Directed by: Donatas Ulvydas
Country: Lithuania

Plot: A romance blooms between a noblewoman and a common man amid a peasant revolt against the brutal Russian army.
Quick comment: With an impolite style (amateur kind) the movie features Tadas Blinda, a lithuanian rebel hero (reminding Robin Hood) who has to free his country from enemy hands and at the same time falls in love with the wrong girl. Sometimes ridicule, sometimes bold, the expressed skills weren’t enough to get on my mind.
Relevant Awards: - 


Footnote (2011)

Directed by: Joseph Cedar
Country: Israel

Plot: Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are father and son as well as rival professors in Talmudic Studies. When both men learn that Eliezer will be lauded for his work, their complicated relationship reaches a new peak.
Quick comment: The fifth feature from the israeli Joseph Cedar is a well made satire about ambition and obsession in a literate jewish family. With a confident direction and great moments of nervous tension we are before an odd, subtle and precise caricature of a father and son searching for recognition.
Relevant Awards: Best screenplay at Cannes (France) and Dublin (UK) Film Fests.





Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Country: USA

Plot: A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Quick comment: A boring and pretentious movie inspired by the 9/11 events. British director Stephen Daldry, known for much better works such as “the hours" (2002), “billy elliot" (2000) and “the reader" (2011), creates a family drama plus detective story which never gets the right way. Let’s wait for him to return to good ones.
Relevant Awards: -

Coriolanus (2011)

Directed by: Ralph Fiennes
Country: UK

Plot: A banished hero of Rome allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city.
Quick comment: Fiennes debut in direction is a contemporary adaptation from a Shakespeare’s tragedy. The uncontrollable and proud Caius Martius after being banished by the people of Rome, decide to join his enemies to take revenge. However he couldn’t cope with the idea of his family on the other side and is persuaded by his mother to spare the city. A well cooked up dark tale though not so enthusiastic as expected.
Relevant Awards: -

Intouchables (2011)

Direced by: Olivier Nakache / Eric Toledano
Country: France

Plot: Affluent paraplegic Philippe develops an unexpectedly close bond with his gruff aide, Driss, in this affecting comedy drama inspired by a true story.
Quick comment: An improbable friendship is depicted by giving more emphasis on laughs rather than sentimentality. Despite some manipulations to please the masses it delivers some joy through funny situations. Great soundtrack (especially by Kool and the Gang) also helps. Without being great it guarantees a good dose of entertainment.
Relevant Awards: Grand Prix at Tokyo Film Festival, Japan; Cesar Award for best actor (Omar Sy), France.

The Grey (2011)

Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Country: USA

Plot: After their plane crashes in Alaska, seven oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
Quick comment: Liam Neeson plays a grieved hunter who takes the lead in a survival journey through desolate landscapes full of hungry wolves. The scariest part was the plane crash. All the rest was just cliché stuff decorated with very bad dialogs. Not recommended.
Relevant Awards: -

Blood Of My Blood (2011)

Directed by: João Canijo
Country: Portugal

Plot: A regular family living in the outskirts of Lisbon sees the serenity of their lives shaken beyond any remedy within a week.
Quick comment: Internationally acclaimed this movie has motives to be the proud of modern portuguese cinema. João Canijo does a wonderful job in direction, the acting is sensational and the compelling script evolves to an unexpected and shocking final. Aside from Pedro Costa's trilogy about the Fontainhas neighbourhood, never before a typical low-class portuguese family had been so masterfully portrayed.
Relevant Awards: grand jury prize and special mention at Miami Film Festival, USA; etc.

Oranges And Sunshine (2010)

Directed by: Jim Loach
Country: Australia/UK

Plot: Set in 1980s Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys holds the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunite the children involved (now adults living mostly in Australia with their parents in Britain).
Quick comment: The movie tends to be scattered in the first 40 minutes. When it tries to get right back on track it is too late. The story is consistent and it’s visible the concern of being truthful to the facts. The problem is in the way it was done. Using the same old conventional approach it wasn’t able to be catchy.
Relevant Awards: -

The Last Rites of Joe May (2011)

Directed by: Joe Maggio
Country: USA

Plot: This movie chronicles the last days in the life of Joe May, an aging, short money hustler who always believed that a glorious destiny awaited him around every corner...
Quick comment: The character played by Dennis Farina as an old-fashioned gangster trying desperately to survive is very good. On the other hand the big-hearted crook story's development isn't novelty, making you guess what will happen next. Nevertheless the conflicts shown are realistic and little by little we become getting fond of Joe May.
Relevant Awards: -

Putty Hill (2010)

Directed by: Matthew Porterfield
Country: USA

Plot: A young man's untimely death unites a fractured family and their community through shared memory and loss.
Quick comment: The death of a young drug-addict from Baltimore was the inspiration for Porterfield to blend fiction and documentary in this "indie" production. Without making judgements, he directs the camera on family and friends of the deceased around his funeral date. The tough environment these people live are evident - they all seemed detached and somehow lost, having trouble in exteriorize their affections. Without a main character it has the ability of never losing interest.
Relevant Awards: -

Young Adult (2011)

Directed by: Jason Reitman
Country: USA

Plot: Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.
Quick comment: Reitman has accustomed us with the excellence of his scripts (“thank you for smoking”, “juno”, “up in the air”) and “young adult” is no different. A very smart movie that features loneliness, immaturity and frustration (all quite common these days!) disguised with light touches of dark humor. Charlize Theron has a terrific performance as a disturbingly depressive woman.
Relevant Awards: -