The Enemy (2011)

Directed by: Dejan Zecevic
Country: Serbia

Plot: A couple of days after the Balkan war has ended, a group of soldiers in charge of clearing the fields from mines, make an odd discovery.
Review: A team of soldiers, while trying to dismantle their own mines, start to freak out after discover a man sealed between the four walls of a factory’s basement. A combination of war and supernatural, results in a very dark ambiance. The acting, directing and beautiful photography are very positive. On the other hand I found the plot a bit messy and unstable, frequently making us miss its intentions with some deliberate ambiguity. Anyway, this was a good effort from Dejan Zecevic, lately dedicated to TV-series.
Relevant awards: Audience award (Thessaloniki).

Wetlands (2011)

Directed by: Guy Edoin
Country: Canada

Plot: On a dairy farm in the Eastern Townships, in the middle of a drought and while the land is parching, a drama will disrupt the life of the Santerre family.
Review: “Wetlands” is the promising first feature film from French-canadian Guy Edoin. The plot unfolds the bitter story of a family of farmers in Quebec, who are trying to do their best to avoid bankruptcy. All gets worse when an accident kills the man of the house, who leaves behind a pregnant wife and a disoriented son. The arrival of a stranger offering help will then bring even more trouble. The content is rich and we can glimpse anger, anguish, loss, opportunism, forgiveness and search for sexual identity in a quiet but incisive film.
Relevant awards: -

A Simple Life (2011)

Directed by: Ann Hui
Country: China

Plot: After suffering a stroke, an altruistic maid announces that she wants to quit her job and move into an old people's home.
Review: “A simple life” is a beautiful story. Beyond the concept of family, this is a movie about real life in a very tender way. After watching this movie, I felt uncomfortable by thinking about getting old. It’s scary to imagine how will be our last days. In a movie without many tension or dynamic moments, director Ann Hui did a great job, getting the right balance to avoid viewer’s distraction. A powerful human story with a huge meaningful message is something to praise.
Relevant awards: Honorable mention and best actress (Venice); grand prize (Tallin); best director (Golden Film Fest., Taiwan).

The Dictator (2012)

Directed by: Larry Charles
Country: USA

Plot: The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
Review: Sasha Baron Cohen should consider change his performance style. He becomes tiresome after a while and only sporadically hits the target. After the complete failure of “Bruno”, “The Dictator” follows the same path and didn’t convince. As usually in Larry Charles’s films there’s some criticism involved but it always handles the jokes and funny situations in a quite dull way to be able to captivate. You can waste your time with “The Dictator” if you’re a big fan of this type of comedies but I would not recommend it.
Relevant awards: -

Bernie (2011)

Directed by: Richard Linklater
Country: USA

Plot: In small-town Texas, the local mortician strikes up a friendship with a wealthy widow.
Review: The true story of Bernie Tiede, a charismatic Texan and devoted Christian who decided to take advantage of a millionaire widow. It’s intriguing to see how a person that commits a terrible crime can be so loved and cherished by an entire community. Self-taught director Richard Linklater, has a strong return with a movie that doesn’t discard a smart and morbid humor merged with the seriousness of a brutal crime. It also makes us to have a good thought about how impartiality in a crime judgment is so fundamental. Good story!
Relevant awards: -

The Day He Arrives (2011)

Directed by: Sang-Soo Hong
Country: South Korea

Plot: Sang-Joon is a professor in the film department at a provincial university. He goes to Seoul and stays for 3 days.
Review: Korean cinema is very well represented with Sang Soo Hong’s movies. “The Day He Arrives” was shot in black-and-white and with its nostalgic mood, makes us look deep into friendship and relationships. Very concise in its approach, is a movie about encounters, promises, loneliness, and many drinks and cigarettes as possible. If you like intelligent movies with elaborated speech, a philosophy behind it and very close to reality, this is one not to miss. A gem of modern cinema with slight touches of classic.
Relevant awards: -

Punch (2011)

Directed by: Han Lee
Country: South Korea

Plot: 17-year-old Wan-Deuk comes from a poor family and his grades in school are equally poor.
Review: “Punch” is a funny and enjoyable movie - the fourth from director Han Lee.  The first half was very interesting to follow with the surprise factor coming up front, while the second was not able to hold the levels of enjoyment. Some jokes started to repeat a while and everything reminding us “Karate Kid” was pure coincidence… Despite this, the movie introduces some fresh ideas wrapped in funny moments. Good for having some good laughs in a relaxed environment.
Relevant awards: -

Play (2011)

Direcetd by: Ruben Ostlund
Country: Sweden

Plot: An astute observation based on real cases of bullying, occurred in central Gothenburg, Sweden.
Review: “Play” has a lot to say. Bullying is a very debated problem nowadays but certainly is very far away from being solved. After “Involuntary”, Ruben Ostlund returns to juvenile problem’s theme, being very objective in its message. This film is far more comprehensive than just bullying in Sweden. Different classes, inattentive parents, immigration problems, how the society faces this issue and trauma are some of the topics. Smart and sharp movie, with wonderful performances by all actors and a confident direction, “Play” happens to be a notable critical look to a specific problem and to society itself.
Relevant awards: Jury prize (Dublin); best director (Tokyo and Gijón); audience award (Tromso).

Burning Man (2011)

Directed by: Jonathan Teplitzky
Country: Australia / UK

Plot: An English chef with a chic restaurant on Bondi Beach trying to put his life back on track.
Review: Jonathan Teplitzky returns with “Burning Man”, eight years after his two first releases (“Better Than Sex” and “Gettin’ Square”) haven’t been very well accepted in general. There are significant improvements in this irreverent movie, showing how hard the life can be for a couple, when one of them is struggling with cancer. It showed something fresh and bold but perhaps its structure needed a different approach. The hero is Mathew Goode, who has an effervescent performance. Sufficient solidness.
Relevant awards: -

Girl Model (2011)

Directed by: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Country: USA

Plot: Follows a complex supply chain between Siberia, Japan, and the U.S. within the modeling industry.
Review: A kind of "indie" documentary, “Girl Model” makes its point regarding the business of model agencies throughout the world. The movie is centered in Nadya, a 13 year-old girl from Siberia, who after passing a first casting, is sent to Japan to do some jobs. Once there, nothing went as promised and her dreams, also shared by her family, fell apart. Other protagonist is Ashley Arbaugh, who tells us how she became a scout for modeling industry and how she isn’t proud for working in this field. Very honest woman, although being unable to quit a pretty profitable job. 
Relevant awards: -

Our Grand Despair (2011)

Directed by: Seyfi Teoman
Country: Turkey

Plot: The peaceful cohabitation of two 30-something bachelors is disrupted when they both fall in love with the charming young woman who moves in with them.
Review: Nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear, “Our Grand Despair” turned out to be a disillusion. The plot seemed promising at the beginning but never went further than that. Lacking passion, little by little becomes tedious until we feel completely indifferent to what might happen to its characters. By trying to play with so confusing emotions, the movie loses orientation and objectivity. Skip this one.
Relevant awards: Jury and people's choice award (Instanbul); Best film (Nuremberg).

The Eye Of The Storm (2011)

Directed by: Fred Schepisi
Country: Australia

Plot: Elizabeth Hunter controls all in her life-society, her staff, her children; but the once great beauty will now determine her most defiant act as she chooses her time to die.
Review: Veteran Fred Schepisi is a director with a vast different styles covered along his career, having made his best achievements with “The Devil’s Playground”, “The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith” and “A Cry in the Dark”. “The Eye of the Storm” is a pungent story that could have been harder to watch if it wasn’t so magnificently acted by Charlotte Rampling, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. It gives an insight look at an Australian bourgeois’ family extending its criticism to the society itself. Mature cinema.
Relevant awards: Special award (Melbourne); jury award (Rome).

Punk's Not Dead (2011)

Directed by: Vladimir Blazevski
Country: Macedonia

Plot: A group of crotchety codgers attempt to revive the punk-rock band they all played in 17 years earlier.
Review: Very entertaining, “Punk’s Not Dead” celebrates a way of life and reawakens an out-of-date music genre. Beyond giving an exact idea of how theses punks live in Macedonia, it makes funny of the long disputes between Macedonians and Albanians. The accelerated rhythm will make you unrest, in the same way the punk music does. There are so many things going on here, in this funny and anarchic musical comedy.
Relevant awards: East of West award (Karlovy Vary).

A Better Life (2011)

Directed by: Chris Weitz
Country: USA

Plot: A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while trying to give his son the opportunities he never had.
Review: Another recurrent theme and familiar story: the difficulties felt by illegal immigrants in the US. This picture shows the day-to-day struggle of a Mexican gardner living in L.A., having in mind a better life for his student son. The predictable plot has been seen for too many times before. Weitz still tried to pull out some adventure of it but everything was so obvious and completely expected. So, nothing much here to dig out, except a great performance by Demián Bichir, who was nominated for best actor by the Academy.
Relevant awards: Best actor (Santa Barbara Film Fest)

The Woman In The Fifth (2011)

Directed by: Pawel Pawlikowski
Country: France/UK/Poland

Plot: A college lecturer flees to Paris after a scandal costs him his job. In the City of Light, he meets a widow who might be involved in a series of murders.
Review: Inactive since 2004, polish director Pawel Pawlikowski ("Last Resort", "My Summer of Love") returns with “The Woman in the Fifth”, a french/british/polish co-production. A story where almost everything is left to explain, hardly will achieve success. Just David Lynch and a couple more directors are able to do that with consistency, playing with the images and sound to awake different kinds of emotion throughout the movie. In this pretentious and baffled plot, Pawlikowsi wasn’t able to grab my emotions. This is nothing more than a forgettable pseudo-thriller.
Relevant awards: -

Rose (2011)

Directed by: Wojciech Smarzowski
Country: Poland

Plot: A harrowing tale of survival centers on Rose, a Masurian woman, whose husband, a German soldier, was killed in the war.
Review: I have a great admiration for Wojciech Smarzowski's work. “Rose”, his new feature film, is even murkier than “Dark House”(2009). Not so dynamic or appealing as this last one, though very compelling. With a brutal story inspired from historical facts, we can understand how the Masurian people started disappearing along the time until become completely extinct. Bleak, with strong content, this is another movie to take into account in the very solid career of a remarkable director.
Relevant awards: Best film - audience and critics (Polish Film Fest.); best actor (Fantasporto).

Here (2011)

Directed by: Braden King
Country: USA

Plot: Cartographer Will Shepard hits the road for his latest job in Armenia. During his assignment, he forms a bond with an Armenian expatriate and art photographer.
Review: A very natural way was chosen to present the evolving relationship between an American man working temporarily in Armenia and a local woman who has recently returned from abroad. Both decide to cross the country, sharing experiences. With a simplistic story, a very slow pace and no startles to make you come out of the chair, this is a road-movie that should not be seen when tired or sleepy. Definitely not for everyone, the contemplative way of filming and acting may please the fans of the realistic genre but it will be labeled as boring by the ones looking for excitement. Give it a shot.
Relevant awards: CICAE award (Berlin).

The Road (2011)

Directed by: Yam Laranas
Country: Philippines

Plot: A 12 year old cold case is reopened when three teens are missing in an old abandoned road where a gruesome murder is left undiscovered for three decades.
Review: “The road”, a low-budget horror movie from Philippines, despite far from perfection, has left its mark. Yam Laranas is the brain behind it, showing up as writer, director, editor and director of photography. The scary scenes, instead of being stand-alone imagery trying to impress teen-agers, are supported with a good story. The narrative is quite absorbing and its spooky atmosphere result in one of the most satisfying horror movies recently released. When everybody speaks about a possible American remake, we can only congratulate Laranas for his best achievement so far.
Relevant awards: -

Wild Bill (2011)

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher
Country: UK

Plot: Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves.
Review: Certainly this is not the most original movie but encloses every ingredient to be successful - the drama isn’t cheesy; the humor is subtle but efficient; and the action is wild and exciting. Furthermore, all the acting performances were noticeable and the direction was convincing. 46 year-old experienced actor Dexter Fletcher, inspired by Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, makes his debut in direction/writing, showing substantial capabilities to become a serious promise for the forthcoming works.
Relevant awards: -

Declaration of War (2011)

Directed by: Valérie Donzelli
Country: France

Plot: When their young son is diagnosed with a brain tumor, young parents Roméo and Juliette unite in the fight for his survival.
Review: Following “The Queen of Hearts”, “Declaration of War” is the second feature-film from Valérie Donzelli. Racing against time, a Parisian couple tries the best way to accept their baby’s brain malignant tumor. The movie depicts the importance of family and friends, as well as the parent’s concerns in having the best assistance for their son. The problem was maintaining the narrative levels throughout the story. An honest movie denoting some rhythm oscillations.
Relevant awards: Best film, actor and actress (Gijón); jury and audience award (Paris Cinema); best screenplay (Etoiles d'Or).