This is an intense story about two sons who have grown up without a father. One day their father suddenly appears, and he wants to take them with him on a short holiday to go fishing. While they are on their way, the orginal plan changes. Father has to do some kind of job somewhere, of which the details don’t become very clear. In the meantime, father teaches the boys some tough lessons of life, like always keep an eye on your belongings and stick to agreements.

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This Polish director (who can be compared to the Dutch Alex van Warmerdam) has made an unusually intriguing comedy about, well about nothing actually. The story deals with an ‘unemployed man’, who lives on a big farm, where he is surrounded by other jobless people and more or less lunatics. He lives a peaceful life, filled with a drinking a lot and being lazy. Now and then he does an effort to get a job again, but bureaucracy is dominating Poland, which leads to absurd situations.
One day the ten year-old daughter of his sister comes around, asking for shelter because of conflicts at home. Her family tries everything to get her back, but without success.
A black, absurd comedy in bureaucratic Poland. The acting is very enjoyable and the film contains enough original ideas.

Aaron Woodley’s film is a bizarre fairytale about a boy named Chep. He works in a storage depot for movie attributes. One day a beautiful lady comes round to ask for some props. In the blink of an eye Chep falls in love and he begins to mix reality and fantasy. He is prepared to do anything the lady asks for, no matter how peculiar her demands may be….
This highly original story is situated somewhere between a horror tale, a comedy and a love-story. It balances on Hollywood-cliches, it contains some very good jokes and at times it is even scary, and the filming is always sharp. This movie is a recommendation for people who appreciate Donnie Darko and the work of David Cronenberg. A fresh debut of a young Canadian filmmaker.

When a dvd has various words like ‘explicit’, ’shocking’ or ‘uncensored’ on the cover, I can’t take it too serious. But I remember that it aroused some media attention too when it was showing in smaller film theatres a few years back. It’s indeed a rough film, made by two female directors. Two girls are living in a violent neighbourhood, where drugs, rape and beating up are common practices. They don’t seem to have much perspective to escape from that, nor do they try so. Bad fate brings them together and they start a wild trip. What follows is in form a classic roadmovie of two girls on the run. Perhaps this makes you think of ‘Thelma & Louise’, but ‘Natural Born Killers’ is closer to the truth.

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‘Good Bye, Lenin!’ attracted millions of Germans to the cinema. They were of course appealed by the themes taken from recent German history: the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the demise of the German Democratic Republic, the unification of the two Germany’s. These developments went very fast, and in no time complete households were westernized. Eastern German products, institutions and values were gone in the blink of an eye. In recent years feelings of nostalgia are growing. Was really everything that bad in those days? Was it a good thing to throw away all our eastern belongings and souvenirs? This movie reflects the growing ‘Ostalgia’. People from both eastern and western Germany can relate to ‘Good bye, Lenin!’, though there was also some criticism. Some people found that the sometimes bitter historical truth is covered under a blanket of sweet nostalgia.

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Today was the yearly Kristallnacht commemoration in Amsterdam. This year more people than usual came to this memorial for the 1938 nightmarish events. This may be caused by the recent Dutch media attention for increased anti-semitism, especially under Islamic school children. I did not realize that it was a memorial day when I visited ‘Rosenstrasse’ It is the third movie I visited this year with the prosecution of Jews as a theme, after ‘The Pianist’ and ‘De Tweeling’. Perhaps I found these movies more impressive, but ‘Rosenstrasse’ is also a moving film.

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Animation is growing up and is becoming more interesting day by day. Especially in Japan, where the highly aggressive and rather rude manga is developing into a mature form of art, with attractive animation both for adults and children.

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A confronting portrait of present-day Brazil, told from inside a slum neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro (the City of God). The main character describes in a kind of voice-over how his friends turned from small thiefs, who were relatively symphathetic, into unscrupulous drug bosses who slaughter their competitors without mercy. The director sketches the story almost casual, but the aggression and the sorrow are real. The sledgehammer blow of this different, ultraviolent world leaves you behind beaten…