Italy
Cinema Paradiso (1988) - A middle aged man who can't find what he's looking for in life recalls his childhood passion for movies and movie theaters. Effectively takes you to another time and another world. | review | soundtrack info |
France
City
of Lost Children (1995)
aka La cité des enfants perdus - A
fairy tale for our time. Rated R for disturbing and grotesque images of
violence and menace. | review |
Am I swimming in the sky or flying at the bottom of the sea? Gives me the shivers! Shivers! Shivers all over! And igloos, igloos, tell me about igloos that turn into mushrooms!
Germany
Every
Man for Himself and God Against All (1974)
aka Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle - What would someone
be like who'd never interacted with other humans before? What would he
believe?
I would ask him if he were a tree frog.
United Kingdom
The Full Monty (1997) - Down and out steelworkers make a desperate bid to regain their self-worth by putting on a strip show. With the usual results. | review |
South Africa
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) - A Coke bottle tossed from a passing plane changes the lives of a tribe of Kalahari bushmen | review |
Is the sound in my head bothering you?
United Kingdom
Gregory's Girl (1981) - Remember when you were in high school, and the new girl or guy was the most important thing on your mind? Now imagine it with a Scottish accent. | review |
"I'll tell you something, and not a lot of people know this ..." (170K)
United Kingdom
Local Hero (1983) - Life is full of the magical and unexpected. | review | soundtrack info
As summed up by the director: "I saw it along the lines of a Scottish Beverly Hillbillies ..." (more)
Australia
Love Serenade (1996) - Small town life does something to a person. Watch these two sisters compete for a DJ has-been who has a strange style of romance. You'd better enjoy listening to Barry White. | trailer | review |
Mostly Martha (2001) aka Bella Martha - Maybe I'm just in love with the character of Mario (Sergio Castellitto), but this movie confuses food and relationships in a much more believable way than Like Water for Chocolate. Worth seeing alone for the scenes in which the chef gives cooking tips to her therapist.
Australia
Strictly
Ballroom (1992) - This Australian "fairy tale" celebrates
individuality in a most unlikely place. Watch for the merging of fantasy
into reality in unlikely places.
| review |
A life lived in fear is a life half-lived.
Tie
Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)
aka ¡Átame! - Kidnapping as a metaphor for love:
A recent mental hospital patient kidnaps a movie actress. He is quite
polite, and promises to untie her soon -- as soon as she realizes that
they are meant for each other.
ATime
for Drunken Horses (2000)
aka Zamani barayé masti asbha - Some children never
get a chance to be children ... after years of scrambling just to have
enough food to eat, 12 year old Ayoub is his little brother's only hope
to come up with enough money for the surgery that will save his life.
Toto
the hero (1991)
aka Toto le héros - Summed up by the director:
We become what we never thought we would become, and we end in a way we never thought we would end. | review |
France
The
Wages of Fear (1953)
aka Le Salaire de la peur - Intense.
Intense. Intense. Not for the faint of heart. | review |