2004 - Cinema
List activity
163 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
41 titles
- DirectorJean-Pierre SinapiStarsSami BouajilaJalil LespertSylvie TestudBased on Jack-Alain Léger's novel, this drama focuses on Paul and Daniel, two different brothers of North African origin, and their efforts to succeed in life. Paul has an university degree, but doesn't find a job worthy its name. While he is madly in love with Myriam, his beloved brother Daniel struggles with his identity as a, secretly gay, Muslim born in France and wants to be a famous bodybuilder, but finally becomes the "star" of a Hamburg sex club. When Daniel falls critically ill, Paul realizes what he is waiting for in life...
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsSean PennBenicio Del ToroNaomi WattsA freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con.Compared with the director's earlier work, Amores Perros (2001), 21 Grams is less graphical, and perhaps less flamboyant in terms of describing the tragedy that happened to the main characters. Nonetheless, through the fine performances for each of the 3 main characters, the same intensity is still there. Besides, it is a much "darker" film about the beauty of life, the tragic of death, the moment of love, the weight of guilt and the sour-taste of betrayal.
The story, although it is a bit "old-fashioned", it does keep a chance for the director to explore the state of mind of each of the characters after the accident, as Christina (Watt) said in one of the dialogues "..life goes on but it is not the same..". The three characters had reacted in their own way to deal such tragedy and tried hard to reduce the level of suffering, but only to fine out they are falling into another web of pain and guilt. Life for the characters is fragmented as much as the editing/story telling style of the film. On the other hand, the director also asked moral questions (in a subtle way) such as organ transplant and the effectiveness of religion belief when one facing sudden tragedy.
If there is room for improvement, I would think that for the first 15 to 20 min., the editing can be less fragmented and perhaps follows that of Amores Perros. It would be more effective for audience to understand the characters and their relationships.
DATE: 2004-01-17 - DirectorTom McCarthyStarsPeter DinklagePatricia ClarksonBobby CannavaleWhen his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsValérie LemercierVincent LindonHélène de Saint-PèreIt's Friday night--she's moving in with her boyfriend tomorrow--so she goes out, but gets stuck in traffic--where she meets a handsome stranger."Friday night" follows the tradition of Claire Denis's film in which intimacy between the characters are being examined in a very detailed way. The best of Denis's work since Beau travail (1999), the story cannot go more simpler. 2 characters, not particularly attractive and strangers to each other, met up by chance during a strike in the city of Paris, and decided that they should take the chance to spend the night together.
The whole film goes without much of a dialogue, and indeed there is no need for them. The camera work of veteran cinematographer Agnes Godard (as well as the occasion use of special effect and the lush music by Tickerstick’s Dickon Hinchcliffe) had captured, as well as create that intimacy in a very sensual and quite often, "sexy" way by using lots of extreme close-up on the body part of each of the characters (most noticeably, shoulders, hands and legs). It seems that the 2 souls are longing for each other, not because they obsess each other so much, but simply because of the burden on their lives had taken its tolls, and it was a chance for them to release themselves (and escape the reality at least for once). The film goes without mention much about the morality of the issue, but purely try to portrait that sense of comfort which was given (and felt) by a stranger. - DirectorChantal AkermanStarsStanislas MerharSylvie TestudOlivia BonamyAn adaptation of Proust's "La Prisoniere" (book five of "Remembrance of Things Past"). Set in Paris, France, it is a serious tale of a tragic and dysfunctional love.
- DirectorWisit SasanatiengStarsChartchai NgamsanStella MalucchiSupakorn KitsuwonWith its loud acting style, exuberant sets and stunning shots in pastel colours, this Thai cult film is as much a parody as an homage to the Western and the romantic tearjerker.
- DirectorPaul MiddleditchStarsTeo GebertOlivia PigeotSusan PriorThe chance meeting of two stressed-out, romantically vulnerable twenty somethings initiates this raw examination of life in the emotional outer limits.
- DirectorAdam ElliotStarsGeoffrey RushKamahlJohn FlausThe odd biography of a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsRémy GirardDorothée BerrymanStéphane RousseauDuring his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
- DirectorSiegfriedStarsRoschdy ZemIvry GitlisEmma SuárezSansa is a young man. The camera pursues him, takes a peep at him, tries to catch his face, his look, his cap. The camera gets out of breath running after the man, becoming an observer, a friend into his endless trip between the stations of Paris, the streets of Spain and Portugal, Italy and Hungary, Burkina Faso and Egypt, India, the illuminated roads and boards and lounges of Japan. Sansa is a free-minded and impulsive. He is a man who will accost people on the street - women - to be courted, next minute - to be forgotten. He will get into trouble, but behind the next corner he will run away. May be the next train will take him to the end of his adventure ...
- DirectorClaude MillerStarsNicole GarciaBernard GiraudeauJean-Pierre MarielleA group of cinematic spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the opportunity to work her way into the cinematic world, and for which she swaps her young friend for his mother's lover. This settled filmmaker takes Lili on a trip to Paris. A few years later the young man has become a filmmaker himself. His first film is inspired by the mentioned holiday. Lili, by now an actress, learns about it and works herself in a refined way into its cast. Ending up as the star of this production. No more than that, for the young filmmaker remains faithful to his wife and young daughter.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRobert McNamaraJohn F. KennedyFidel CastroThe story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara.
- DirectorVeit HelmerStarsValeriy NikolaevMasumeh MakhijaPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicWith help from airport technician Dak, Alexej breaks out of the holding area for refugees, Dak puts up the Russian, who yearns to become a pilot, in an underground labyrinth of pipes and vents. Meanwhile, young Indian woman named Nisha is an aircraft cleaner who dreams of being a flight attendant.
- DirectorHenk HandloegtenStarsFabian BuschSusanne BormannFritzi HaberlandtHelmut, living in West Germany in the early 1980s, has a big crush on a fellow student, Britta. He does everything to get to know her, but, when she suddenly moves away to San Francisco, he's devastated.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineMichael MadsenThe Bride continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill, the reclusive bouncer Budd, and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsElias McConnellAlex FrostEric DeulenSeveral ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSimon YatesJoe SimpsonBrendan MackeyThe true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsNeve CampbellJames FrancoMalcolm McDowellA young ballet dancer is poised to become the principal performer in a group of ballet dancers.
- DirectorAndrew AdamsonKelly AsburyConrad VernonStarsMike MyersEddie MurphyCameron DiazShrek and Fiona travel to the Kingdom of Far Far Away, where Fiona's parents are King and Queen, to celebrate their marriage. When they arrive, they find they are not as welcome as they thought they would be.
- DirectorStephen HopkinsStarsGeoffrey RushCharlize TheronEmily WatsonThe feature adaptation of Roger Lewis' book about the actor best remembered as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.
- DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpyVernon DobtcheffNine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.
- DirectorGabriele SalvatoresStarsAitana Sánchez-GijónDino AbbresciaGiorgio CarecciaA young boy accidentally discovers a deep hole in the ground, where another boy is kept prisoner.
- DirectorAndrey ZvyagintsevStarsVladimir GarinIvan DobronravovKonstantin LavronenkoIn the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsAbbie CornishSam WorthingtonLynette CurranA young girl flees her hometown and arrives in the Australian Alps, where new experiences help her learn the differences between sex and love.
- DirectorNathaniel KahnStarsEdmund BaconEdwina Pattison DanielsBalkrishna DoshiDirector Nathaniel Kahn searches to understand his father, noted architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974.
- DirectorJay RoachStarsBen StillerRobert De NiroBlythe DannerAll hell breaks loose when the Byrnes family meets the Focker family for the first time.
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsGael García BernalRodrigo de la SernaMía MaestroErnesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. His experiences on the journey transform him.
- DirectorBrad BirdStarsCraig T. NelsonSamuel L. JacksonHolly HunterWhile trying to lead a quiet suburban life, a family of undercover superheroes are forced into action to save the world.
- DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsJason SchwartzmanJude LawNaomi WattsA husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
- DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouGaspard UllielJodie FosterTells the story of a young woman's relentless search for her fiancé, who has disappeared from the trenches of the Somme during World War One.
- DirectorAleksandr SokurovStarsAndrei ShchetininAleksei NeymyshevAleksandr RazbashA father and his son live together in a roof-top apartment. They have lived alone for years in their own private world, full of memories and daily rites. Sometimes they seem like brothers. Sometimes even like lovers. Following in his father's path, Aleksei attends military school. He likes sports, tends to be irresponsible and has problems with his girlfriend. She is jealous of Aleksei's close relationship with his father. Despite knowing that all sons must one day live their own lives, Aleksei is conflicted; his father knows he should accept a better job in another city, perhaps search for a new wife, but who will ease the pain of Aleksei's nightmares?
- DirectorMichael MannStarsTom CruiseJamie FoxxJada Pinkett SmithA cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsTobey MaguireKirsten DunstAlfred MolinaPeter Parker is beset with troubles in his failing personal life as he battles a former brilliant scientist named Otto Octavius.
- DirectorAntoine FuquaStarsClive OwenStephen DillaneKeira KnightleyA demystified take on the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
- DirectorMarc CaroJean-Pierre JeunetStarsMarie-Laure DougnacDominique PinonPascal BenezechPost-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
- DirectorByambasuren DavaaLuigi FalorniStarsJanchiv AyurzanaChimed OhinAmgaabazar GonsonWhen a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsSumi ShimamotoMahito TsujimuraHisako KyôdaWarrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsJim CaviezelMonica BellucciMaia MorgensternDepicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem.
- DirectorClara LawStarsMalcolm FraserA documentary of one Australian family's attempt at gaining custody of an immigrant refugee held in a detainee center.