skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"Although the movie depicts rural life in Colombia, it was actually filmed in Ecuador. The title is a double-entendre alluded to on the poster—a simultaneous reference to the Hail Mary and to what Maria carries in her into the United States."-Wikipedia"In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen years old Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned."-Stephen Bowen (www.imdb.com)
"Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story ends with Marjane as a 22-year-old expatriate. The title is a reference to the historic city of Persepolis."-Wikipedia"In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own."-Kenneth Chisholm (www.imdb.com)
The Japanese culture portrayed in the film, Shall We Dansu, was a lot different from that of the culture in the life of an American. The people in the film were a lot more conserved and caring. People in America will give themselves up for basically anything. They seemed shy and content whereas in America, people will yell and scream at each other over nothing. It seems that Japanese culture and American culture differs greatly when it comes to every day life. It would be interesting to go to Japan and see it first hand."Shall We Dance? is a 1996 Japanese film. Its original Japanese title is Shall We Dansu? (Shall We ダンス??) which refers to the song, "Shall We Dance", played many times in the film. It may also refer to the earlier 1937 movie "Shall We Dance" starring Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire[citation needed]. It was directed by Masayuki Suo."-Wikipedia"Shohei Sugiyama has attained all that he has wanted in life. But he is still depressed and unhappy. One day, he gathers up the courage to sign up for dancing lessons. He hopes they will rid his depression and help him get his life back together."-Robert Krzanowski (www.imdb.com)
Please Vote For Me was a documentary style movie about 3 Chinese children who are chosen to run in the first democratic running for Class Monitor. Living in a communist country, none of the kids understand this. Since parents may only have 1 child, these kids are very spoiled with attention and the parents do everything possible to help the students win the race for Class Monitor. A few times the children decide to play dirty and make fun of the fellow students in order to make them drop out. Lots of hard ships for the children and they always over came them. Luo Lei's parents were both police officers so he grew up in an environment of strictness and some sort of dictatorship. That's how he treated his fellow students that were running. In the end, Luo Lei won after he bribed all the voters with gifts after his speech. The other two competitors congratulated him and cried. They had all grown up in a sort of dictatorship environment and at the very end, during the credits, Luo Lei was bossing everyone around.
"Please Vote for Me is a 2007 documentary film following the elections for class monitor in a 3rd grade class of eight year old children in the Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China. This was reported to be the first election of its type for a class monitor held in a school in China, as well as an interesting use of classic democratic voting principles and interpersonal dymanics."-Wikipedia"Wahun is a city in China the size of London where an experiment in democracy is conducted. At Evergreen Primary School, a grade 3 class learns what democracy is when an election for class monitor is being held. Three children are chosen by the teacher as candidates and they have a few days to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them. The little candidates are seen at school and at home, where their parents do their best to make sure their child will win the election."-Marco van Hoof (www.imdb.com)
"The Betrayal — Nerakhoon is a 2008 documentary film directed by Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath. It is about an immigrant from Laos living in New York."-Wikipedia"The epic story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Kuras has spent the last 23 years chronicling the family's extraordinary journey in this deeply personal, poetic, and emotional film."-www.imdb.com
Gran Torino was about a man named Walt Kowalski, who was a Veteran from the Korean War. He slowly became closer with his neighbors Thao and Sue after saving them from their cousins in a gang. The gang would not leave them alone and did anything to bring them pain and suffering so Walt decided that he needed to take action. Gran Torino showed cultural differences between Walt's neighbors and the Hmong Gangs of the neighborhood. His neighbors Thao, Sue and their family were in touch with their culture and they celebrated like their ancestors. The gangs had fallen out of right and wrong and thought nothing about anything but crime and havoc. Walt realized that the world of Thao and Sue would be filled with awful things until the gang was put away so he sacrificed himself for a lifetime of safety for the kids."Walt Kowalski, a retired Polish American Ford factory worker and Korean War veteran, has recently been widowed, which is made further difficult by the generational clash between him and his sons' families. His neighborhood in Highland Park, Michigan, formerly populated by working-class white families, is now dominated by poor Asian immigrants; gang violence is commonplace."-Wikipedia"Walt Kowalski is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighborhood and the world around him. Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbors, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbor Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood."-alfiehitchie (www.imdb.com)
"Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi is an eight-year old boy who hates school. Every subject is difficult for him and he perpetually fails his exams. He also lacks motor coordination skills and finds it difficult to throw a ball in a straight line. Rather than helping him, his teachers and classmates subject him to constant acts of public humiliation. At the same time, Ishaan's internal world is rich with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate: magical lands filled with color and animated animals. His forte is art, although no one realises this at first."
-Wikipedia
"The Mumbai-based Awasthi family consists of Nandkishore, his wife, Maya, and two sons, Yohan and Ishaan. Both sons attend St. Anthony's High School where Yohan excels in his studies, but Ishaan does the opposite, having failed in his 3rd standard twice already. His parents continue to be disappointed with his performance, and as a result he hides his report cards from them, often misses school, and keeps to himself all the time. Things get worse when he gets into disagreements and fisticuffs with other children, prompting his father to have him admitted in the New Era Boarding School in distant Panchgani. Even this re-location does not improve Ishaan performance, and the Principal decides to rusticate him. Then a temporary teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh is recruited. Ram meets with Ishaan and believes he has a solution that will improve the child's life - little realizing that Ishaan does not have much of a future as neither his teachers, his friends, and even his parents believe that there is any hope for him."
-rAjOo (www.imdb.com)
"Although the movie depicts rural life in Colombia, it was actually filmed in Ecuador. The title is a double-entendre alluded to on the poster—a simultaneous reference to the Hail Mary and to what Maria carries in her into the United States."
