Unforgivable (2011)

Directed by: André Téchiné
Country: France

Plot: A crime writer living in Venice while working on his new novel meets and soon marries his real-estate agent.
Review: “Unforgivable” is all about relationships. Told in a simple manner, the ideas flow, without really being engrossing. Veteran actor André Dussolier plays a writer who can’t write when in love. Besides, his head is too stuffed with concerns related to other people around him: a missing daughter; a wife who is much younger than him; a problematic son of a dying friend. With a structure organized in four parts, each one representing a different season (Eric Rohmer did the same approach with great success but in four different movies), “Unforgivable” shows baffled feelings within a futile imbroglio of relationships.
Relevant awards: -

Heleno (2011)

Directed by: José Henrique Fonseca
Country: Brazil

Plot: A biography of the tragic life of one of Brazil's greatest soccer players.
Review: Magnificently acted by Rodrigo Santoro, “Heleno” is a grey portrait of one of the most polemic soccer players from Brazil. Heleno de Freitas, idol of Rio’s team Botafogo in the 40’s, had a special talent for soccer, women and to upset everyone around him. Quarrelsome enough and lacking team spirit, Heleno’s career was stained by adulterous relationships, nightlife and drugs/alcohol addiction. Diagnosed with advanced syphilis, Heleno ended his days in a sanatorium, where he never stopped dreaming about the fame and glory of soccer. Absorbing and forceful enough to surprise us. In black and white.
Relevant awards: Best actor (Havana and Lima).

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2011)

Directed by: Matthew Akers
Country: USA

Plot: A documentary that follows the Serbian performance artist as she prepares for a retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Reviews: Controversial Serbian artist Marina Abramovic, in active since the 70's, has another good opportunity to promote herself through this documentary made by the hand of Matthew Akers. Basically about her work, yet focusing some important aspects of her private life, it shows with accuracy and objectivity the physical and psychological strength of this fantastic woman. Her dedication to work is undeniable and her new and original performance art was praised at MoMA and considered as a big success.
Relevant awards: Audience award (Berlin and Sarajevo).

Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai (2011)

Directed by: Takashi Miike
Country: Japan

Plot: A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai.
Review: Two years ago, Takashi Miike left the alternative approach to dedicate himself to samurai movies. After the stirring and ferocious "13 assassins" had been released in 2010, now arises "Hara-Kiri", an emotional and suffocating story which stands at the same level of the old time classics made popular by Akira Kurosawa or Masaki Kobayashi. The story, as many other times before, focuses on the tragic paths of the unemployed samurais in times of peace. Being heart-breaking and visually stunning, I can point it as one of the best Miike's works, carrying all the glory and honor of a samurai. 
Relevant awards: -

Take This Waltz (2011)

Directed by: Sarah Polley
Country: USA

Plot: A happily married woman falls for the artist who lives across the street.
Review: Sarah Polley is best known as an actress, having participated in 54 movies so far, including Hal Hartley's "Exotica", Cronenberg's "ExistenZ", Coixet's "My Life Without Me"and Van Dormael's "Mr.Nobody", just to mention a few.  As director she received public acclamation in 2006 with "Away From Her" and now returns with "Take This Waltz". Although the story looks conventional, it is very well told and definitely has something to say about love, relationships and decisions. I believe it could have shown some more nerve in certain details, but has the ability to expose the natural changes that occur in amorous relationships and specially in people who are unsatisfied by nature. Deserves a peek.

Sound Of My Voice (2011)

Directed by: Zal Batmanglij
Country: USA

Plot: A journalist and his girlfriend get pulled in while they investigate a cult whose leader claims to be from the future.
Review: “Sound of My Voice” had enough power to make me get in the mood. Everything related with cult groups and the power of persuasion is scary and this movie shows you why. Some flaws are undeniable and emerge right before your eyes, but this fact was balanced with a few good details, always mixed with the right amount of ambiguity to make you be tangled up in the plot. Even the absurdity of its lies worked fine!, because believe it or not, there are people who join these sects. Represented in a realistic way, “Sound of My voice” can be tricky at the end. Just don’t let yourself be persuaded by anything from the future…
Relevant awards: -

Lena (2011)

Directed by: Christophe Van Rompaey
Country: Netherlands / Belgium

Plot: Lena is a lonely, adolescent girl, who starts a relationship with the popular but unreliable Daan.
Review: "Lena" is totally awkwardness. We can hardly find anyone or anything sane in it. Although the plot gathers conditions to make "Lena" enticing, I really couldn't feel any empathy with any of its characters. We may say this is a movie where the sun never shines. So, all you can find here are odd behaviors by miserable characters, sick relationships and much sorrow. The direction didn’t stand out but Emma Levie’s performance was pretty solid, making our attention directed to her upcoming work, “Snowpiercer”, directed by the Korean Joon Ho Bong. This is the second feature film from Cristophe Van Rompaey, after the fresher “Moscow, Belgium”(2008).
Relevant awards: Best actress (Fantasporto, Portugal).

Where Do We Go Now? (2011)

Directed by: Nadine Labaki
Country: Lebanon / others

Plot: A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village.
Review: Battle of religions is the main subject in Nadine Labaki’s new movie. Fights between Christians and Muslims are eminent in a small Lebanese village, just when a group of girls arrive from East Europe. A movie made of laughs, tears and music/dance, which sometimes breaks the mood and somehow discredits the message to pass. We can complain about the abrupt tragic-comic changes of the plot but the biggest sin of Labaki was not to be able of balancing the heavy and light stuff in the right way. Nadine and her sister Caroline (costume design), also participate as actresses.
Relevant awards: Special mention (Cannes); audience award (Oslo and Toronto).

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011)

Directed by: Tsui Hark
Country: China

Plot: Set three years after Dragon Inn, innkeeper Jade has disappeared and a new inn has risen from the ashes.
Review: Tsui Hark is a respected chinese director, who usually combines entertaining storytelling, fantastic imagery and frantic action mostly based on martial arts. His last movie, however doesn't show much consistency in the plot. The huge number of characters make the viewer's job harder and only increase the mess of the story. I am convinced that Hark's only concern was to provide us with frantic action and computer manipulated imagery. Completely dispensable, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" is a step back when compared with 2010's "Detective Dee".
Relevant awards: -

You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011)

Directed by: Giddens Ko
Country: Taiwan

Plot: Ko-Teng has several close friends who had a crush on Shen Chia-Yi.
Review: This Taiwanese movie about coming-of-age is making a lot of success on its own country, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, but actually didn’t work for me. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel from director Giddens Ko, this comedy/romance begins in 1994 and ends ten years later. One or two good jokes or funny situations, couldn't hide several issues. The direction didn't catch me, while the soundtrack was terribly cheesy. With respect to the story itself, I found it flabby with a lot of insipid characters. Moreover, the symbols constantly popping up on the screen, trying to look like a video game, were annoying and vulgar. Not recommendable.
Relevant awards: Best film (Hong Kong)

Sing Your Song (2011)

Directed by: Susanne Rostock
Country: USA

Plot: Most people know the lasting legacy of Harry Belafonte, the entertainer.
Review: A movie that covers Harry Belafonte’s life since his birth in 1927, NY, until the current days. Narrated by Harry himself, we are elucidated about how he made his success in the show business, some details of his private life, but mainly about his political activism in US and throughout the world, playing an important role against race discrimination, war and poverty. Archive footage were intercalated with the narration of the story and several people were interviewed. I can’t say I am a fan of Harry’s music, but I surely identify myself with all he has been fighting for, throughout all these years.
Relevant awards: -

Avé (2011)

Directed by: Konstantin Bojanov
Country: Bulgaria

Plot: Kamen is hitchhiking by the side of the road when he meets Avé.
Review: The idea for this movie was interesting but the outcome was not so unique or enthusiastic. It’s a road-movie, where a couple of lone teen-agers find their lives changing after met each other through hitchhiking. The young actors had confident performances, but somehow I started to lose some focus in the middle of the movie. Maybe due to its pace or the frequent little games and lies played by its characters, but something made me step back a little. Reinforcing my point of view: a plot with dashing ideas, yet without a glamorous execution. Watchable, though. 
Relevant awards: Best film (Fantasporto); best director (Sofia); FIPRESCI prize (Warsaw).

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: -

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).