Category: Rating 3

Copycat Killer

Type: Thriller, Japan 2002

Director: Yoshimitsu Morita

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Masahiro Nakai .... Koichi Amikawa
Kanji Tsuda .... Hiromi Kurihashi
Takashi Fujii .... Kazuaki Takai
Tsutomu Yamazaki .... Yoshio Arima
Yoshino Kimura .... Shigeko Maehata

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A seriel killer is on the loose, the victims are all young woman, tortured then killed. The police has no clue, the killer even calls the TV station during live shows to challenge the policy. The killer contacted an old man who's daughter was one of the victims, the old man is determined to find out who he is...

My review:
I won't spoil it by telling you the plot, the seriel killing is not so straight forward. Interesting way of telling a story, certainly non-linear and the director slowly connecting the dots for you, the movies didn't grasp my attention at all time, at points, it can be confusing to some as the story was told twice from different perspectives.

Nathalie

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Nathalie (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, France 2003

Director: Anne Fontaine

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Fanny Ardant .... Catherine
Emmanuelle B?art .... Nathalie/Marl?ne
G?rard Depardieu .... Bernard

Posted by Dominic
Story:
A woman is suspious of her husband being the type of men that cheat on their wifes. She went as far as hiring a show-girl to seduce her husband and to report back to her everything that they did. Would the husband fall for it?

My review:
Is my partner faithful? Do people often ask themselves such question? How will one know for sure? Do we need to test our partner to find out? What if we don't like the outcome?

Resurrection

Type: Drama SciFi, Japan 200x

Director:TBD

My rating: 3
Buy it now:
Key actors/actresses:

Posted by Dominic
Story:
In a small Japanese village, some dead people begin to return to life, some were dead for years and some died only very recently. Why is this happening? And what does that mean? What is the impact of their living friends and relatives? A young man who was from this village was being sent to investigate, something most unexpected awaits...

My review:
Interesting film, I particularly like the message. Knowing and understanding death allows us to comprehend and appreciate the meaning of living.

La Boum

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La Boum / La Boum 2 (3 DVD Box Set) [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import] (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, France 1980

Director:Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Claude Brasseur .... Fran?ois Beretton
Brigitte Fossey .... Fran?oise Beretton
Sophie Marceau .... Vic Beretton
Denise Grey .... Poupette
Jean-Michel Dupuis .... ?tienne

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Vic is a 13 years old girl who becomes curious about boys. While her parents are so busy with their professional lives, they hardly have time to give Vic advice on romance. Also her parents are going through their own relationship crisis. Fortunately, she has a very liberal grandma on her side who is telling her all about boys!!!

My review:
This is Sophie Marceau's first movie and what a wonderful actress she has become and still going strong. La Boum is such a well known movie in France that everyone of this generation knows the sound of this movie by heart! The word La Boum refers to the type of drinks party teenages held in their house or flat and when soft music is played during the movie, you are expected to kiss someone! Thus very appropriate name for this movie which is trying to look at romance from a young teenager's view.

La Boum 2

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La Boum 2 (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, France 1982

Director:Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Claude Brasseur .... Fran?ois Beretton
Brigitte Fossey .... Fran?oise Beretton
Sophie Marceau .... Vic Beretton
Lambert Wilson .... F?lix Mar?chal
Pierre Cosso .... Philippe Berthier
Alexandre Sterling .... Mathieu

Story:
Vic is now 16 years old, though she has a boyfriend, she is still very clueless about boys but even more curious. Grandma comes to the rescue again for giving her advice. Being older, she also pushes her parents' tolerence to the limit. In the meantime, her parents have also new set of relationship problem of their own...

My review:
This is the sequel to La Boum and as Vic grows older, a new set of teenagers' problem occur. La Boum 2 is also well known to the French generation of the 1970s, 1980s. It is a fun and entertaining movie with a simple story, just like the first movie. Watch out for the next one L'etudiante where Sophie Marceau plays a graduate student, love relationship problem continues...
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l'Etudiante

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L' ?tudiante (buy from Amazon)
Type: Drama, France 1988

Director: Claude Pinoteau

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Valentine
Vincent Lindon .... Edward
?lisabeth Vitali .... Celine
Jean-Claude Leguay .... Charly
Elena Pompei .... Patricia

Story:
Valentine is a studying to be a teacher, and she is about to focus on her final exams that is going to take place in 3 months time. She encounters a musician during skiing and just when she thinks after a one-night encounter, she can put him behind at least for 3 months, until after exmas. She is wrong, they couldn't stop seeing each other, but the relationship isn't always pleasent, they argue and cause pain to each other just like any relationship...

My review:
This film is often viewed as the sequel to La Boum 1 and 2 where Sophie Marceau played a 13 and 16 year-old girl and her encounters with boys! Now her role has matureed and is now a grown lady. These 3 movies are must-watches for many French people of this generation and the music used in the movies are all very familiar to them.

The relationship described in the movie is fairly realistic, I think Valentine is a very high maintanence character, not very fun to be with!

All about my mother

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All About My Mother (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, Spain 1999

Director:Pedro Almod髒ar

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Cecilia Roth .... Manuela
Marisa Paredes .... Huma Rojo
Candela Pe馻 .... Nina

Story:
Also known as Todo sobre mi madre.
A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance, becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With echoes of Lorca, "All About Eve," and "Streetcar Named Desire," the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.

My review:
The director is known for making bizare movies and this one is supposed to be a milder piece of his works. It features unusual characters that we don't normally encounter, in this case a transvestite Lola who doesn't know he has a son. Lola also seduces a nun. Are this events so extraordinary that we shout "shocking!"? Or are we too ignorant or even turn a blind eye on things that actually happen everyday on earth? Just imagine in a place where famine is a daily phenomena, than having food is extraordinary then. What about clean drinking water? What about political freedom? Bizare or not, normal or unusual, it's all a matter of prospective.

Inochi

Type: Drama, Japan 2002

Director:Tetsuo Shinohara

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Makiko Esumi .... Miri Yu
Etsushi Toyokawa .... Yutaka Higashi
Toshio Kakei .... Kamata

Story:
Based on a best-selling autobiography.
Miri was unexpectedly pregnant through an affair with a married man with whom she had just broken up. Having made the difficult decision to keep the baby, she reunited with an old friend (her ex-boyfriend), Yutaka who was suffering from terminal cancer and was struggling to stay alive. Miri gave birth to a health boy, and Yutaka has developed a deep fatherly relationship with the baby boy. Through facing life and death everyday, Miri and Yutaka learn the deeper meaning of life.

My review:
A rather heavy movie that attempt to offer some views on life and death. Life is a miracle and should be treasured.

La Fid?lit?

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Fidelity (Fidelite) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ] (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, France 2000

Director:Andrzej Zulawski

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Sophie Marceau .... Cl?lia
Pascal Greggory .... Cl?ve
Guillaume Canet .... N?mo
Michel Subor .... Rupert MacRoi
Magali No?l .... La m?re de cl?lia

Story:
Clelia is a young photographer with her own style. Her photos are all blur, it reflects how she perceives the world. She met Cleve, son of a book publishing business, they got married but she is attracted to another guy, she isn't unfaithful but she cannot resist either. Life around her is complicated and so are the people...

My review:
Not my type of movie, many characters that inter-connected with Clelia very unsure about how she feels and her boyfriend messes up with some gangsters which bring a very strange angle to the entire stories.

Needing You

Posted by Ryoko

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Needing You (buy from Amazon)

Type: Comedy Romantic, Hong Kong 2000

Director:Johnny To

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Andy Lau: Wah
Sammi Cheng: Kinki

Story:
Wah is a computer programmer and Kinki is a secretary in the same company. They didn?t get along well at the beginning, but gradually they got to care about each other.

My review:
I watched this film when I went toward France from Japan via Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific. I cannot understand Chinese, but its subtitle was simple English, so luckily I could enjoy the whole story. I laughed a lot and was never bored on the way to Hong Kong from Narita.
Kinki is a young, moody, cheerful, cute girl and its play by Sammi Cheng is nice. I do not like romantic comedies, but this movie is one of my favorites! My rating is 3 stars but it is nearly 4 stars in fact.

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