Required viewing. You will be tested. Anytime. Anywhere.
THE BEST OF YOUTH
Regie: Marco Tullio Giordano
La Meglio Gioventù - From the mid-60's to the present, the story of two brothers on different paths through recent Italian history. The great flood of Florence, student unrest, mass industrial lay-offs, the Red Brigades, Sicilian mafia trials to present consumerism. Italian language with subtitles. It's a 6 hour human epic broken into two acts.
Colour. 2003
SOPHIE SCHOLL
The Final Days
Regie: Marc Rothemund
1943 - Munich. Dissident students are arrested for distributing anti-nazi leaflets. They are interrogated and put on trial. And yet stand up to the Gestapo. Based on actual events. Auf Deutsch.
2005. Colour
JOYEUX NOEL
Regie: Christian Carion
Based on true events. The great War - 1914. Scottish, French and German troops call an unauthorized cease fire to celebtate and fraternize for the christmas holiday. English, French and German languages with subtitles for the few out there who aren't trillingual.
2005. Colour.
V for Vendetta
Regie: James McTegie
A dystopian society, much like that of Little Lord Prissy Pants regime in the Evil Empire. Fear, fear, Terror, terror. A masked avenger starts taking out high figures. And a young woman gets caught in the middle.
2006.Colour.
LITTLE FISH
Regie: Rowan Woods
Tracy, a former druggie, is trying to get a loan to buy her own business. With her past, the banks have turned her down. Then an old beau appears, hatching a scheme with her ne'er-do-well brother. And then there's the local crime boss and his henchman. Aussie language, mate.
2005. Colour.
DER TUNNEL
Regie: Roland Suso Richter
Berlin. 1962. The Wall goes up. After the national swimming champ escapes from the east, he and others attempt to rescue kith and kin by tunneling from an abandoned factory to the other side. Meanwhile, an East Berlin security chief is sniffing around for them.
2001. Auf Deutsch.
DOWNFALL
Regie: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Berlin, again. 1945. As Russian troops advance, the Third Reich disintegrates with its leaders hiding and suiciding in bunkers, while others party. Hitler, detached from reality, issues orders to imaginary troops (a bubbleboy existence like today's der kleine furher).
Auf Deutsch.
2005. Colour
WALK ON WATER
Regie: Eytan Fox
An Israeli assassin poses as a tour guide to ingratiate himself with two German siblings. One lives on a kibbutz. Her brother visits from Deutschland. Their grandfather is a Nazi war criminal the Israelis want to assassinate. Hebrew, Deutsch & English spoken.
2003. Colour.
Monsieur N.
Regie: Antoine de Caunes
Napoleon has been exiled to the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, where he eventually dies. Twenty years later, when his remains are returned to France, a British officer who was garrisoned on the island has suspicions. Was Napoleon poisoned? Or did he escape? French & English spoken.
2002. Colour.
A Very Long Engagement
Regie: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
The Great War. Five French soldiers are exiled into no-man's land as punishment. One of whom is the fiancé of Mathidle, who refuses to believe he was killed. After the war, she investigates, while another woman hunts the men responsible for the death of her man. Superbly rendered cinematography. French language.
2004. Colour.
Tarzan and His Mate
Regie: Cedric Gibbons
A classic of Scottish cinema vérité. Jimmy MacTarzan rules the jungles of Glasgow. At his side is his bonny lass, Jane. A couple of Jane's lowland acquaintances come looking for the secret elephants' graveyard hidden within Kelvin Park. As well as to check out the latest Afro-Celt CD's. Along the way, they must pass through housing estates with unruly gangs. Lending gravitas to this masterpiece is Cheetah (who disavows any relation to a certain lower primate in the americas running rampant over the globe like a crazed gorilla).
1934. Umgawa black & white.
The Motorcycle Diaries
Regie: Walter Salles
Two young Argentinian medicos, Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado journey across South America. Eventually, they work in a leper coloney. Spanish language with subtitles for the imperialist yankee dogs.
2004. Colour.
Želary
Regie: Ondřej Trojan
Prague, 1943. A nurse/medical student working with the resistance must flee the Gestapo. She travels to a remote mountain village with a patient, reluctantly marrying him to blend in. Abhoring him at first, she begins to love him and is accepted by the village folk. Then the war finally catches up. Beautiful cinematography. Czech language with subtitles if you want them.
2003.Colour.
Riding Giants
Regie: Stacy Peralta
A documentary, dude. The history of surfing. A quick glimpse of the first thousand years, then slowing down at the post-war years. The drop out culture. Explosion of popularity. Pioneers pushing the envelope, taking on the bigger and bigger waves. Sonic pulse subtitles for cetaceans.
2004. Kowabunga colour.
Intimate Strangers
Regie: Patrice Leconte
A woman walks into the wrong office assuming it was a therapist. A tax lawyer instead. She opens up about her troubled marriage. After a couple visits, he confesses the mix up. Angry at first, she decides to continue. French language with subtitles for the hard of seeing.
2004. Colour.
Man on the Train
Regie: Patrice Leconte
A bank robber arrives in a small town to set up a heist he's feeling relectant over. With the local hotel closed for the season, a retired school master invites him to stay at his house. Over the days, a friendship develops. Then the big day arrives. For both of them. French with subtitles for those who want them.
2002. Colour.
The Grapes of Wrath
Regie:John Ford
John Steinbeck's story of the Great Slump. With the loss of their farm to the bank, the Joad's join the migration west to the dream of jobs and a better life. Only upon arrival discover exploitation and brutality. English with subtitles provided to confuse the brownshirts in the Evil Empire.
1940. A peoples' black & white.
LucÍa y el sexo
Regie: Julio Medem
A non-linear film with beautiful imagery. After hearing of her lover's suicide, Lucia retreats to an island. Earlier, her lover had a seaside fling, which unbeknownst to him produced a child. He finds out about the child and becomes involved with her sitter, whose mother is a porn star. And there are even more twists to the story. Spanish with subtitles provided for gringos.
2001. Colour.
Once Were Warriors
Regie: Lee Tamahori
A dysfunctional family - Maori-style. Jake and Beth are fine until Jake hits the grog. Then violence errupts. The eldest sons joins a gang. The youngest is taken away by child welfare. A tragic fate awaits the daughter. So intense, it's like getting hit with a freight train, then dragged down the tracks.
1994. Colour.
City of God
Regie: Fernando Meirelles
Based on a true story in a slum of Rio de Janeiro in the 60's and 70's. Following a lad named Rocket, his family, and friends. Ever perpetuating child gangs wreaking violence. Rocket takes an interest in photography that eventually offers a an escape. Brasilian Portugese with subtitles for the rest of us.
2002. Colour.
Rififi
Regie: Jules Dassin
A classic heist flick. Tony le Stephanois, recently released from prison, returns to Paris. With an old mate and accomplices, they plan a jewel theft. At first, a smash and grab, then Tony decides to go for the jackpot. And crikey, watch it in the original French language (with subtitles, if need be), rather than the awful English dubbing.
1955. Glorious black & white.
The Experiment
Regie: Oliver Hirschbiegel
A journalist goes undercover, infiltrating a psychological experiment. A computer arbitrarily selects which paid volunteers are "guards", and which are "prisoners". Gradually, the guards become inebriated with power, resorting to humilation and abuse of the prisoners (sound familiar?). Of course, events spin out of control. Ignore the cheap horror flick packaging, bleached alien green. German language with subtitles.
2000. Colour
The Cuckoo
Regie: Alexander Rogozhkin
Northern Finland during the latter part of World War Two. A Finnish soldier chained to a rock, left with food, water and a sniper rifle. A Russian officer arrested for being politically incorrect. A Lapp woman living alone on a farm. And they all speak different languages. Subtitled for those few dummies out there who aren't fluent in Russian, Lapp and Finnish. 2002. Colour
home
Veloroo Blog