Monday, June 7, 2010

El baño del Papa

"In Melo, a poor Uruguyan country village near the Brazilian border, several men earn their living from contraband, mostly transported on bicycles. One of them, Beto, is getting too old for heavy freights but hopes to a earn a motorbike. The idea is to build and charge money for the use of a proper lavatory at the occasion of the first-ever papal visit to Urugay, as is holiness is expected to pass trough Melo where he may be cheered by hordes of Catholic Brazilians."
-KGF Vissers (www.imdb.com)

"It is 1988, and Melo, a Uruguayan town on the Brazilian border, awaits the visit of Pope John Paul II. Numbers begin circulating: hundreds of people will come, no thousands say the media. To the poor citizens of Melo this means one thing: pilgrims in need of food and drink, paper flags, souvenirs, commemorative medals. Brimming with enthusiasm, the locals not only hope for divine blessing, but above all for a small share of material happiness. Petty smuggler Beto is certain that he’s found the best business idea of all: “The Pope’s Toilet”, where the thousands of pilgrims can find relief."
-Wikipedia

Waking Ned

"Jackie O'Shea, a resident of the tiny Irish coastal village of Tully More, discovers that one of his neighbors has won the lottery - the question is, who? It takes some doing, but Jackie figures out that the lucky person is none other than his new best friend, Ned Devine. Unfortunately, it turns out Ned is in no position to collect the jackpot, which totals almost 6.9 million Irish pounds. So Jackie and his real best friend, Michael O'Sullivan, try to figure out a way to share in Ned's good fortune - after all, Ned would want it that way. But things get a lot more complicated than either Jackie or Michael could have anticipated."
-Eugene Kim (www.imdb.com)

"
Waking Ned (titled Waking Ned Devine in North America) is a 1998 comedy film by English writer and director Kirk Jones. It stars Ian Bannen, David Kelly and Fionnula Flanagan. Kelly was nominated for a Screen Actors' Guild award for his role as Michael O'Sullivan. The film is set in Ireland but was filmed on location in the Isle of Man. It was produced by the British studio Tomboy Films and distributed by the American company Fox Searchlight Pictures."
-Wikipedia

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tsotsi

"In Johannesburg, the small time criminal Tsotsi is a teenager without feelings, hardened by his tough life. After killing a man with his gang in a robbery; hitting the gangster Boston of his gang; humiliating a crippled beggar along one night, Tsotsi hijacks a car and under the despair of a woman, he shoots her in the stomach. While driving the car, Tsotsi finds that there is a baby on the back seat and the woman was a desperate mother. He brings the baby to his house in the slum and becomes attached to him. For six days, the baby changes his behavior, arousing and developing the sense of empathy and humanity in the cold blood killer."
-Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (www.imdb.com)

"Tsotsi is a 2005 film written and directed by Gavin Hood. The film is an adaptation of the novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard. The soundtrack features Kwaito music performed by popular South African artist Zola as well as a score by Mark Kilian and Paul Hepker featuring the voice of South African protest singer/poet Vusi Mahlasela. Set in a Soweto slum, near Johannesburg, South Africa, the film tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug who steals a car only to discover a baby in the back seat. The film won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. Tsotsi was the inspiration behind the Tamil language film called "Yogi" starring director Ameer Sultan."
-Wikipedia

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Cinema Paradiso

"A man receives news from his aging mother in a little town that someone he once knew has passed away. A beautiful story unfolds about the man's childhood friendship with an old man who was the projectionist at the local theater. Their bond was one that contained many highlights and tragedies, and shaped the way for a young boy to grow and move out of his rundown village to pursue a dream."
-Tam Bui (www.imdb.com)

"Nuovo cinema Paradiso (Italian pronunciation: [ˈnwɔvo ˈtʃinema paraˈdizo]) (translates as New Paradise Cinema) is a 1988 Italian film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. It was internationally released as Cinema Paradiso in France, Spain, the UK and the U.S."
-Wikipedia

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Gwoemul

"The film revolves around Park Hee-bong, a man in his late 60s. Park runs a small snack bar on the banks of the Han River and lives with his two sons, one daughter, and one granddaughter. The Parks seem to lead a quite ordinary and peaceful life, but maybe a bit poorer than the average Seoulite. Hee-bong's elder son Gang-du is an immature and incompetent man in his 40s, whose wife left home long ago. Nam-il is the youngest son, an unemployed grumbler, and daughter Nam-joo is an archery medalist and member of the national team. One day, an unidentified monster suddenly appears from the depths of the Han River and spreads panic and death, and Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo is carried off by the monster and disappears. All the family members are in a great agony because they lost someone very dear to them. But when they find out she is still alive, they resolve to save her."
-"Plot Summary" (www.imdb.com)

"The Host is a 2006 South Korean film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-Ho, who co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun."
-Wikipedia

Les triplettes de Belleville

"
Madame Souza, an elderly French woman, instills in her grandson Champion (for who she acts as his guardian) a love of cycling. As a young man, he does become a dedicated road racer with his grandmother as his trainer. During a mountainous leg of the Tour de France in which Champion is racing, he goes missing. Evidence points to him being kidnapped. Indeed, he and two of his competitors were kidnapped, the kidnappers who want to use the threesome's unique skills for nefarious purposes. With Champion's overweight and faithful pet dog Bruno at her side, Madame Souza goes looking for Champion. Their trek takes them overseas to the town of Belleville. Without any money, Madame Souza and Bruno are befriended and taken in by three eccentric elderly women, who were once the renowned jazz singing group The Triplets of Belleville. The triplets help Madame Souza and Bruno try to locate and rescue Champion."
-Huggo (www.imdb.com)

"
The Triplets of Belleville (French: Les Triplettes de Belleville) is a Belgium-Quebec-France coproduced 2003 animated surreal adventure film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom. The film is Chomet's first feature film and was an international co-production between companies in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Canada."
-Wikipedia

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Fargo

"Jerry hires two men to kidnap his wife so he can get his rich father in law to pay the ransom of $1 million. Once the ransom is paid the kidnappers will get $40,000 and Jerry gets the rest. That's the plan, but what happens is something totally different. Blood is shed when a cop and two innocent people are killed. Marge Gunderson is the Chief who investigates the murders. While Marge investigates, Jerry gets involved in deeper problems, ranging from financial troubles, to threats from the kidnappers.
-Lisa Walker (www.imdb.com)

"Fargo is a 1996American dark comedy crime film produced, directed and written by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Frances McDormand as a pregnant police chief who investigates a series of homicides, William H. Macy as a car salesman who hires two criminals to kidnap his wife, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare as the criminals, and Harve Presnell as the salesman's father-in-law."
-Wikipedia