Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}
Slumdog Millionaire (UK/France, 2008)
Seen: Saturday, 21st February 2009 (cinema, special screening)
Runtime: 120′
Polish Distributor: Monolith Plus (27th February 2009)
Release Date (worldwide): 30th August 2008
Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan (co-director)
Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto, Irrfan Khan
Production House: Celador Films, Film4, Pathé Pictures International
Plot: (from imdb)
A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes [...]

I’m getting more and more excited about the film - can’t wait until it finally makes it into cinemas here!
I’ve been trying to follow the response in India and it’s quite peculiar. On the one hand there’s a lot of praise for Danny Boyle and a lot of excitement about A. R. Rahman’s Golden Globe [...]

{FILM SPOTTING}
Doubt (USA, 2008)
Polish Distributor: Forum Film Poland (20th February 2009)
Release Date (worldwide): 12th December 2008
Runtime: 104′
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Production House: Scott Rudin Productions
Plot: (from imdb)
Set in 1964, Doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him abusing a black student. He denies [...]

Quite a strange story I would say (nobody was hurt if you’re wondering).

{FILM DIARY}
The Duchess (UK/Italy/France/USA, 2008)
Seen: Monday, 29th December 2008 (cinema, pre-release screening)
Runtime: 110′
Polish Distributor: Best Film (9th January 2008)
Director: Saul Dibb
Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper
Production House: Paramount Vantage, Pathé, BBC Films, BIM Distribuzione, Qwerty Films
Plot: The true (or, er… sort of true - it’s been meddled with a bit [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (Israel/France/USA, 2007)
Seen: Wednesday, 11th December 2008 (cinema)
Runtime: 87′
Polish Distributor: Kino Świat (21st November 2008)
Director: Eran Kolirin
Cast: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour
Production House: July August Productions, Sophie Dulac Productions, Bleiberg Entertainment
Plot: An Egyptian police orchestra gets lost in Israel.
Trailer

Impressions In Short
I was a little worried this would be one of [...]

{FILM DIARY}
Entre les murs (France, 2008)
Seen: Monday, 10th November (cinema)
Runtime: 128′
Release Date: 24th October in Poland, September in France and October in most of Europe (USA as usual does not like French films and will only have a limited release in January ;-P)
Polish Distributor: SPInka
Director: Laurent Cantet
Cast: François Bégaudeau
Production House: Haut et Court
Plot: (from imdb)
Teacher [...]

I just hope that when they say they had to saw it off they mean the toilet and not the hand…

{FILM SPOTTING}
The Warsaw Film Festival starts on Friday, so it’s high time I looked into what they’re showing and choose something - a task which is not as easy as it sounds (on top of which I’m feeling a little guilty right now - I should be correcting the documentation of my degree project rather [...]

By the 16th century there had been as many as 11 dancing epidemics in Europe. People would feel an irresistible urge to dance that eventually led them to dance themselves to death. The causes of this remain unknown. The best documented of these was the last one, in mid-July, 1518.