Sacrifice (2010)

Directed by: Chen Kaige
Country: China

Plot: To save the only child of the Zhao Family, whose entire clan was massacred, a doctor sacrifices his own son.
Review: Ones who are familiar with previous works by Chen Kaige, must be aware of his capabilities. “Farewell, My Concubine”, “The Emperor and The Assassin” or “Life on a String” will be remembered as top quality movies in its genre. “Sacrifice” is a typical Kaiges’s film. As usual, the importance of costume designs, characterization and appropriate scenarios, are well weighted. The weakness here is the plot, which is not so rich or appealing as in some earlier works. Lovers of the genre will be pleased with the action's effects, while the others can just take a look to pass some time. I may say that its purposes were achieved with competence.
Relevant awards: -

Snow White And The Huntsman (2012)

Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Country: USA

Plot: In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.
Review: This was a difficult movie to rate. It showed positive things, despite of some evident fragilities. Regardless of the “Hollywoodesc” approach and its obvious commercial concerns to impress through fantastic imagery, it still putted some emotion in it. Charlize Theron was simply amazing in Queen Ravenna’s role and her mirror was a very original creation. This completely loose version of the German tale, made popular by the Grimm brothers, was not so bad after all and even without making wonders, was able to provide some amusement.
Relevant awards: -

Damsels In Distress (2011)

Directed by: Whit Stillman
Country: USA

Plot: A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus.
Review: With screenplay and direction by the New Yorker Whit Stillman ("Metropolitan"), "Damsels In Distress" is centered in a group of babbler girls, who work for a College Suicide Prevention Center.  By making long and considerable stupid conversations about men, depression and suicide, these student girls tried to use smart tones as well as a confident humoristic style, without practical results. Dance and music are present too but are unable to save the movie from superficiality and inconsequent jokes. And all ends with a dance music called “Sambola”….
Relevant awards: Best actress (Dublin).

Bonsai (2011)

Directed by: Cristian Jiménez
Country: Chile

Plot: A young writer recounts an earlier romance in hopes of attracting his new love interest.
Review: “Bonsai” is a simple story that tells us much about life, work, and love, everything wrapped with pertinent philosophical touches. Its objectivity, without any sentimentality or whimper, proved to be its main strength. The curious structure constantly shifts in time between the present and 8 years before and its sluggish pace may be compared with the reading of the seven volumes of Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” (novel referenced in the plot) - if you have the patience, you’ll find something worthwhile to absorb and reflect about. Just try it!
Relevant awards: Best film - FIPRESCI (Havana); grand Jury Prize (Miami).

Chinese Take-Away (2011)

Directed by: Sebástian Boresztein
Country: Argentina

Plot: In Buenos Aires, the obsessive and lonely Roberto will try to help a Chinese who is lost.
Review: This is a surreal story that works intermittently. Ricardo Darin is the true soul of this movie and without his performance I doubt if this story would succeed.  It’s that type of movie that doesn’t add anything special to our lives and will not be remembered often, but is extremely efficient for a relaxed and uncompromised viewing. Most of the jokes were based on the difficulty of communication between Argentineans and Chinese, but as said before, the character of Roberto (Darin) was the real deal. You’ll find that communication for him (spoken or not) can really be a problem!
Relevant awards: Special mention (Havana); best director (Fantasporto, Portugal).

Sleep Tight (2011)

Directed by: Jaume Balagueró
Country: Spain

Plot: You wake day after day to the comfort and security of your home. But how safe is it really?
Review: Spanish director Jaume Balagueró (“Rec” and “Rec 2”), continues his work in horror genre with this new feature film. “Sleep Tight” is not a perfect movie but as a thriller, it gathers the essential material to continue pleasing the fans. It tells the story of a man who only finds happiness when taking off the smile from other people’s faces. Sounds a bit odd but to tell the truth, even with some flaws, the plot deserves consideration. I may warn you that there’s nothing supernatural here. What shows is the evil itself represented through a human being. It’s nightmarish to think that people like these do exist.
Relevant awards: Best director, film and screenplay (Gaudí Awards, Spain).

Love And Bruises (2011)

Directed by: Lou Ye
Country: France / China

Plot: Two strangers fall into a relationship defined by need and instability in this emotional drama.
Review: From controversial Chinese director Lou Ye, "Love and Bruises" is a complex story that lives from the sexual games played by its characters. The plot follows a Chinese woman studying in Paris, who starts a sick relationship with the man who rapes her. The story is a multi-cultural mess that only sticks with you for the worst reasons and the camera work didn't catch the eye. “Summer Palace”(2006) and especially "Suzhou River"(2000), are much more attractive works from Lou Ye, who was born in Shanghai and was graduated from Beijing Film Academy. His 2012's feature film named "Mistery", opened the section "Un Certain Regard" at Cannes Film Festival.
Relevant awards: -

The Foster Boy (2011)

Directed by: Markus Imboden
Country: Switzerland

Plot: Until after WWII, approximately 100,000 children were placed as cheap labor to work on Swiss farms.
Review: Nicely photographed, “The Foster Boy” will make the Swiss movie industry proud. A family, living in a mountain farm, shelters kids from poor families in change of help and some monthly amount of money. The movie concentrates in very different types of abusing endured by these kids, who had lost everything in their lives. The exception is Max and his passion for playing accordion, which will give him strength to go on dreaming with a better life. This is the kind of movie that you can’t help being involved with and be indignant. Every single performance was crucial to attain a honorable result. Not to be missed.
Relevant awards: Best actor (Swiss film prize).

Love.Net (2011)

Directed by: Ilian Djevelekov
Country: Bulgaria

Plot: Follows the parallel stories of a number of characters who are trying to change their lives via the Internet or are simply having fun online.
Review: A movie with high aspirations, albeit being unable to deliver anything worthwhile. John Lawton, old vocalist of the rock band Uriah Heep, has a small role here but could not do better to avoid the "off-key" mood of this movie. A monotonous sequence of intercalated stories about love, involving people who are addicted to the Internet's dating chats. The acting wasn’t strong and the movie simply couldn’t be funny, or deep, or dramatic…A failure.
Relevant awards: -

Magic Mike (2012)

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Country: USA

Plot: A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women, and make easy money.
Review: Soderbergh, better than anyone else, knows how to join commercial and independent style. A story about male strippers was a bold step to take, but he managed to turn it into an uncommon film. Despite of the dispensable cheesy romance, “Magic Mike” is a natural, funny and entertaining movie. Filled with objectivity, it makes you aware of the dangers and risks behind the scenes in this kind of night job. The sturdy direction by Soderbergh and a thorough performance by Matthew McConaughey made this one a movie to consider. 
Relevant awards: -

Guilty (2011)

Directed by: Vincent Garenq
Country: France

Plot: A real story about a man who battles to prove his innocence.
Review: The intriguing and sordid story of Alain Márecaux and his wife, both accused of having sexually abused their own son and other children. Expectation is present until the end, when we anxiously try to find out if they are guilty or mere victims of the accusers. The despair and humiliation felt by the characters will make you uncomfortable in a movie that calls into question the competence of the judges and police investigators. The second feature film from Vincent Garenq is well worth, with solid acting and a juicy story.
Relevant awards: Label Europa cinema (Venice).

I Wish I Knew (2010)

Directed by: Jia Zhang Ke
Country: China

Plot: Focuses on the people, their stories and architecture spanning from the mid-1800s, when Shanghai was opened as a trading port, to the present day.
Review: Jia Zhang Ke continues his brilliant career with another elucidating documentary, which happens to be a tribute to Shanghai. We have an historical and political lesson about this city by listen to the testimonials of known personalities, most of them related to cinema. Sometimes it can become a bit confusing, especially if we are not familiarized with the Shanghai’s history, but Zhang Ke had the wit to fascinate us with superbly composed frames of desolated and abandoned landscapes, just as he already did in “Still Life”(2006) or “24 City”(2008).
Relevant awards: Best documentary (Dubai).

For Lovers Only (2010)

Directed by: Michael Polish
Country: USA

Plot: An American photographer runs into an old flame while on assignment in Paris.
Review: A romantic essay from the Polish brothers (as usual: Mark writes and performs, while Michael directs) with a total different approach so far. Filmed on black-and-white, “For Lovers Only” shows an extra-marital affair occurring in France between a man and a woman in love. The story takes time to evolve but was able to catch our attention, aided by a musical score that served well its purposes. The main drawback was the excessive fashionable images that overlaps all the rest, creating some kind of artificial aesthetic. Polish brothers best films still are the early ones: “Twin Falls Idaho” (1999) and “Northfork” (2003), the latter being a true masterpiece.
Relevant awards: -

Hemel (2011)

Directed by: Sacha Polak
Country: Netherlands

Plot: During her nightly escapades Hemel searches for the difference between sex and love.
Review: Some substance was found in this character’s study but with savorless results. A disturbed girl sleeps every night with a different man, always searching for something new but feeling nothing more than indifference. An exception to this, seems to be a married man. The movie also emphasizes the odd and dependent relationship with her father, with whom she lives. “Hemel” is all about sex, loneliness and family (or the lack of it), making use of a rambling structure and pale imagery. 
Relevant awards: FIPRESCI Prize (Berlin).

Albert Nobbs (2011)

Directed by: Rodrigo Garcia
Country: USA/UK

Plot: Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent.
Review: Albert Nobbs wasn’t much a sympathetic character. The good performance by Glenn Close, who also wrote the screenplay, didn’t put this movie on top of my preferences. The story isn’t bad. Actually, it has something to say about women’s independence in 19th century’s Ireland, but the way it does isn’t so absorbing or emotional enough to avoid some indifference. The characterization of Mr.Nobbs (Glenn Colse) was good, while the one from the painter Hubert Page (Janet McTeer) didn't convince me. Not powerful enough.
Relevant awards: Best actress (Tokyo); sebastain prize (San Sebastian).

Last Ride (2009)

Directed by: Glendyn Ivin
Country: Australia

Plot: A young boy travels across Australia with his father, who's wanted by the law.
Review: An interesting trip through the amazing Australian landscapes, where a man is on the run after committing a brutal crime. As a single parent he is forced to take his son with him. Sleeping in the streets, their only concern is to get food and water. The father-son relationship was very well conceived and Hugo Weaving’s performance, alternating between tenderness and bursts of anger, deserved more than a few nominations for best leading role. Although the end has been a bit strained, Mr.Ivin used his skills to make this story touch our feelings and subsist in our minds.
Relevant awards: -

The Squad (2011)

Directed by: Jaime Osorio Marquez
Country: Colombia

Plot: A team of Colombian soldiers are sent to an isolated outpost after losing contact with their comrades in arms.
Review: The similarities of this story with the Serbian “The Enemy”, reviewed five days ago in this blog, are too much evident. The screenwriters from both movies were not the same and the movies are from the same year. I just wanted to share this curious fact. Anyway, the Colombian “The squad” was much more efficient and scary than its twin Serbian competitor. Maintaining a certain ambiguity and the tension levels at top from start to end, it also revealed to have a great direction and musical score behind the story. Aberrant and creepy!
Relevant awards: -

The Minister (2011)

Directed by: Pierre Scholler
Country: France

Plot: Political drama following Minister for Transport, Bertrand Saint-Jean, as he struggles to cope with personal problems and the darker side of being in a position of power.
Review: A detailed look at life of Bertrand Saint-Jean, French minister for transport and a man from the people, who only lives for his profession. Here, we can witness the constant stress and schemes as part of political games, the loneliness felt when things don't go right, the back and forth in crucial decisions, and many more. With a lot of dialog over almost 2 hours, “The Minister” is what it is, and doesn’t really want to show anything more than a man’s obsessed dedication to his image and career. It just has a peculiar and engaging way to show it.
Relevant awards: FIPRESCI prize (Cannes).

Himizu (2011)

Directed by: Shion Sono
Country: Japan

Plot: Two teenagers living in post-tsunami Japan embark on a campaign of violence against evil wrong doers.
Review: “Himizu”, unsurprisingly, is another crazy and chaotic movie directed by Shion Sono. Being a master in the art of shocking, Sono dares to mix so distinguished subjects such as Fukushima’s tsunami, parental abuse, Japanese mafia and miserable suicidal characters. Although provocative enough, it suffers from the usual use and abuse of repetitive beatings and violence that leaves you out of breath. Nevertheless, the open and hopeful finale was able to raise our expectations, showing how important is not to give up quest for self-identity.
Relevant awards: Best acting (Venice); critic's prize (Deauville).

The Snows Of Kilimanjaro (2011)

Directed by: Robert Guédiguian
Country: France

Plot: A union pensioner and his wife are robbed, but find that merely getting the assailants brought to justice is not enough for their consciences.
Review: There are no doubts about the good intentions of this film. Humanism is evident and every single actor worked hard to show exactly that (specially Ariane Ascaride). However, the beauty of the story didn’t spare us from a sensation of discontentment due to various reasons. The film drags too much in familiar barbecues’ and tepid conversations, never reaching our true feelings. Furthermore, the musical score didn’t fit well, becoming often annoying. I wonder, if Aki Kaurismaki had directed this plot, perhaps he would turn it in something more effective. 
Relevant awards: Best film (Valladolid).