Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}
Waltz with Bashir (Israel/Germany/France/USA/Finland/Switzerland/Belgium/Australia, 2008)
Seen: Monday, 13th April 2009 (cinema)
Runtime: 90′
Director: Ari Folman
Production House: Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Films d'Ici, Razor Film Produktion GmbH
Plot: An animated documentary that tries to piece together a memory from the Israeli-Lebanese war in 1982. Where was Ari Folman during the Sabra and Shatila massacre and what was [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Blindness (Canada/Brazil/Japan, 2008)
Seen: Sunday, 12th April 2009 (cinema)
Runtime: 121′
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Yusuke Iseya, Yoshino Kimura, Don McKellar, Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal
Production House: Rhombus Media, O2 Filmes, Bee Vine Pictures, Alliance Films, Ancine, Asmik Ace Entertainment, BNDES, Corus Entertainment, Fox Filmes do Brasil, GAGA Communications
Plot: A mysterious and [...]

You may remember I wrote about how Indian film producers were going to start striking against multiplex chains on April 4th. The strike is still going on and Indian audiences are feeling it.

Just when you think the controversy on Slumdog has finished, it starts over :] It is now reported that the father of Rubina Ali (the little girl who played young Latika) has tried to sell his daughter for 200 000 pounds.

{FILM DIARY}
The Reader (USA/Germany, 2008)
Seen: Sunday, 12th April 2009 (cinema)
Runtime: 124′
Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Kate Winslet
Production House: Mirage Enterprises, Neunte Babelsberg Film, Weinstein Company, The
Plot: (from imdb)
Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Naked (UK, 1993)
Seen: Saturday, 11th April 2009 (VHS, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 131′
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell, Claire Skinner, Peter Wight, Ewen Bremner, Susan Vidler, Gina McKee
Production House: Thin Man Films, British Screen Productions, Channel Four Films
Plot: Johnny flees Manchester for London to avoid a beating. Once in London, he [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Osama (Afghanistan/Netherlands/Japan/Ireland/Iran, 2003)
Seen: Saturday, 11th April 2009 (DVD)
Runtime: 83′
Director: Siddiq Barmak
Cast: Marina Golbahari, Arif Herati, Zubaida Sahar
Production House: Barmak Film, Makhmalbaf Productions, Hubert Bals Fund, LeBrocquy Fraser Productions, NHK
Plot: During the Taleban regime in Afghanistan, a widow decides to dress her daughter up as a boy, so that at least one family member can [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Fire (India/Canada, 1996)
Seen: Saturday, 11th April 2009 (DVD)
Runtime: 108′
Director: Deepa Mehta
Cast: Javed Jaffrey, Nandita Das, Kushal Rekhi, Shabana Azmi, Ranjit Chowdhry, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Alice Poon
Production House: Kaleidoscope Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., Trial by Fire Films Inc.
Plot: Sita marries into a traditional Jain Indian family. She becomes disillusioned with her new life - it is not [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Ang pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (Philippines, 2005)
Seen: Saturday, 11th April 2009 (DVD, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 100′
Director: Auraeus Solito
Cast: Nathan Lopez, J.R. Valentin, Soliman Cruz, Neil Ryan Sese, Ping Medina, Bodjie Pascua
Production House: Cinemalaya Foundation, UFO Pictures
Plot: (from imdb)
A 12-year-old gay who comes from a criminal family falls in love with a handsome policeman.
Trailer

Impressions In Short
This [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Man on Wire (UK/USA, 2008)
Seen: Wednesday, 8th April 2009 (cinema)
Runtime: 94′
Director: James Marsh
Production House: Discovery Films, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Red Box Films, UK Film Council, Wall to Wall
Plot: This is a documentary about Philippe Petit and the team behind him. Petit is a French tight rope walker, who has performed in some very [...]