All articles by Dan Fainaru – Page 43
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Reviews
Nathalie
Dir. Anne Fontaine. France 2003. 105 mins.Following on from Dry Cleaning and How I Killed My Father, the two films which established her as one of the most interesting French filmmakers of the current generation, Anne Fontaine again goes out to explore the troubled subconscious of the prim, apparently self-satisfied ...
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News
Israeli satellite channel launched for local films
Israeli satellite broadcaster Yes has launched a new channel dedicated to locally produced feature films. Israeli filmmakers have long been aware that while their films are often shunned theatrically, they score high ratings when they are broadcast.They will also benefit from one more, much needed, source of income, though ...
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Reviews
A Touch Of Spice (Politiki Konzina)
Dir. Tassos Boulmetis. Greece. 2003. 108 mins.A natural crowd pleaser and by far the most successful Greek picture of the year (where it has outgunned the likes of Pirates Of The Carribean with 1m admissions since it opened in late October), this ode to traditional Balkan cuisine and its Ottoman ...
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Reviews
When The Right One Comes Along (Wenn Der Richtige Kommt)
Dirs. Stefan Hillebrand and Oliver Paulus. Switzerland/Germany, 2003. 78mins.If this largely improvised, shoestring budget production finds its place on the festival and art house circuit, as it rightly should, it will not be because of its glamour or production values, of which it has none, but its immediate spontaneity and ...
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Reviews
Loving Glances
Dir. Srdan Karanovic. UK/Serbia, 2003. 97mins.Film-maker Srdan Karanovic, a star of the golden age in Yugoslav cinema, makes a well-deserved comeback with this gentle, surreal romance. Absent from the screen for too long, he has left so much unsaid in the 12 years he has been absent that it almost ...
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Reviews
In The City (En La Ciudad)
Dir. Cesc Gay. Spain, 2003. 110mins.Pleasant, handsome, urbane but quite vacuous, Cesc Gay's second feature film resembles, to a certain extent, the choral dramas of French director Claude Sautet, minus the dynamics and the depth. Revising the thirtysomething formula of American television into an European version shot entirely in Barcelona, ...
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Reviews
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Dir. Parchya Pinkaew. Thailand, 2003. 105 min.Hollywood producers would do well to note the names on the credits before they embark on their next multi-million dollar action franchise. Just as Hong Kong's Yuen Wo Ping brought a different kind of kinetic energy to The Matrix series (as well as ...
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Reviews
The Last Train (Poslednyi Poezd)
Dir. Alexei German Jr. Russia, 2003. 82 mins.Alexei German Jr.'s debut rounds up an impressive year of achievements for young Russian cinema. Winner of both Best Picture and International Film Critics' Awards at Thessaloniki, this fearsome, uncompromising humanistic anti-war statement is a choice item that shows German to be a ...
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Reviews
The Floating Landscape
Dir. Carol Lai Miu-suet. Hong Kong/France, 2003. 100mins.Not much happens in this quietly introspective tale of a young Hong Kong woman haunted by the untimely death of her lover. Unable to pick up the thread of her own life, she goes back to his home town to try and unravel ...
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News
Israeli Film Authority announces 2003's fund allocations
The Israeli Film Authority, which allocates state funds for the cinema industry, has finally announced its long-awaited allocations for 2003. As expected, 85% of the $13.5m (NIS 61m) distributed by the government will go to production (two thirds of it for features, the rest divided between documentaries, shorts and experimental ...
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Reviews
Sin Ton Ni Sonia
Dir. Carlos Sama. Mexico, 2003. 112 min.A real script and a tough editor would have done a world of good for this messy little comedy rushing all over Mexico City in its despondent attempts to cover three plots, a host of characters and several film genres at the same time. ...
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Reviews
Alila
Dir. Amos Gitai. Israel-France. 2003.A collage of several plots (alila in Hebrew means plot) combine to deliver a composite picture of the country, as it is today in Gitai's new film. Originally headed for Cannes but finally emerging in Venice, Alila is one of his least overtly militant and one ...
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Reviews
The Story Of Marie And Julien
Dir. Jacques Rivette. France 2003. 150 min.For dyed-in-the-wool cinephiles it is not up for debate every new Rivette film has to be seen, at least once, preferably more - and The Story Of Marie And Julien is no exception. But less committed audiences will find the French master's latest offering, ...
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Reviews
The Missing
Dir. Lee Kang-Sheng. Taiwan. 2003. 84 min.Sharing the top award in Pusan's New Currents competition, the debut of actor Lee Kang-Sheng as writer and director indicates beyond doubt that he shares the visual and spiritual world of his mentor and friend, Tsai Ming-Liang, in whose films he has regularly appeared ...
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Reviews
Rosenstrasse
Dir. Margarethe von Trotta. Germany, 2003. 136mins.A classical, straightforward, honest and deeply felt reconstruction of a little known Second World War incident, which provided a little ray of light in a sea of darkness, Margarethe von Trotta's first feature in nine years is a worthy addition to a mass of ...
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Reviews
Untold Scandal
Dir. E J-Yong. Korea 2003. 120 mins.E j-Yong's new film is the best proof that a good story will strike roots wherever it is planted and, once lit from the right angle, will bear fruit. Last weekend Untold Scandal enjoyed the biggest opening ever in Korean history (over $5m in ...
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Reviews
Doppelganger
Dir. Kyoshi Kurosawa. Japan 2003. 107 mins.After the disappointing Cannes performance of his last film Bright Future, Japan's current cult master of bizarre mystery is back on more comfortable grounds with this exploration of a classical gothic theme, transferred into the world of modern research of prosthetic machines. Kurosawa uses ...
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Reviews
Pornography
Dir: Jan Jakub Kolski. Poland/France. 2003. 113mins.One of the most frequent Polish guests at international film competition, Jan Jakub Kolski's Venice contender once again goes back to the Second World War, in order to expose old wounds that have never quite healed. But as ambitious as it looks on paper, ...
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Reviews
Monsieur Ibrahim And The Flowers Of The Koran (Monsieur Ibrahim Et Les Fleurs Du Koran)
Dir. Francois Dupeyron. France, 2003. 94mins.Screened out of competition at Venice to celebrate Omar Sharif's Golden Lion, Francois Dupeyron's new film isn't the kind of stuff festivals dream of, and looks much better suited for commercial than art house distribution. Based on a short best-selling, auto-biographical novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, ...
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Reviews
La Pelota Vasca
Dir. Julio Medem. Spain. 2003. 115 mins.Put this down as another well intentioned, dedicated but not terribly effective attempt to open up a dialogue within the Basque discord, one of the more stubborn ongoing conflicts smouldering in the world today. With the name of Julio Medem (Sex And Lucia, winner ...