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Language: Japanese
Cast: Ken Ogata, Hana Sugiura, Shota Matsuda
Direction: Eiji Okuda
Music: Sufficient
Reasons to watch: Heart-rendering storyline. Very pragmatic characters. One of the few movies with a socially relevant theme which doesn’t make you critical of the society, nor weary of living in it. But makes you want to understand it and belong to it, and ensure that the horrors of it do not come near you and your people.
Reasons not to: Subtitles 
Storyline: The story starts with the self-imposed exile of a retired high-school headmaster, Matsutaro Yasuda. After the death of his wife, facing the scorn of his daughter, he runs away from his past. He has been ensuring that she is disciplined, whether that comes harmoniously or by force. The neighbors of his new apartment, though, are a scarlet woman and her little daughter, Sachi. She is shown to be wearing cardboard wings that she has from the time she went to kindergarten. Sachi has to not only face violence at home, but has to live between her mother and her savage boyfriend. The child is abused. Yasuda sees this, and tries to help. But Sachi cannot respond to his goodwill. She refuses to trust him at once. After she slowly warms up to him, he takes her away and gives her all the care he denied his own daughter. They go on for a long, long walk. On this journey, they also meet Wataru, a young boy who is himself running away to somewhere. He kills himself free. Faced with the charges of kidnapping little Sachi, Yasuda knows that the police are after him. Will they understand that this is what is good for the old man as well as the little child? Will they protect her from the fate she was born with? Will Yasuda’s daughter forgive him?
Climax Handling: It is all done very carefully. The real point of the movie, and the duality of the situation, and the difficulty you will find in calling Yasuda a hypocrite are all the things that are never forgotten. The angel with the cardboard wings stays safe.
Points: Officer: Everybody could do with a bit of Yasuda. Even Yasuda himself.
Rating: 8.5/10
Comment: It will make you feel grateful. Watch alone when you’re in a medium-deep mood.
Language: French
Cast: Audrey Tautou
Direction: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Music: GOD! the French Accordions. Yann Tiersen IS GOD.
Reasons to watch: Watch for its screenplay. Watch it for its simplicity. Watch it for its shocking smoothening of cultural boundaries. Watch it to find a little bit of Amelie for yourself. This is a rare case where the movie is not an action flick, but goes very fast.
Reasons not to: Subtitles
Storyline: Amelie is the story of a girl who has an overly flamboyant imagination. She is a waitress at a cafe, and while tackling her own loneliness, her own fears, her own neuroses, tries to smoothen the creases in the world around her. She notices the smallest things. She targets the most mundane obvious details of life. She enables us reach for a cross-section of out own life. She meets lonely painters, curious collectors, ‘normal’ men, extremely taciturn men, and so many other marvelously painted and perfectly sculpted characters. She is a hypocrite at that; although she knows what and who it is, that will finally help her say, “This time, I will be free of my limitations. This time, I will free myself.”
Climax Handling: There are a million threads to the story. And they fall into one place and twirl together and make a huge rope out of themselves. Never better.
Points: Amélie: [to blind man] Let me help you. Step down. Here we go! The drum major’s widow! She’s worn his coat since the day he died. The horse’s head has lost an ear! That’s the florist laughing. He has crinkly eyes. In the bakery window, lollipops. Smell that! They’re giving out melon slices! Sugarplum, ice cream! We’re passing the park butcher. Ham, 79 francs. Spareribs, 45! Now the cheese shop. Picadors are 12.90. Cabecaus 23.50. A baby’s watching a dog that’s watching the chickens. Now we’re at the kiosk by the metro. I’ll leave you here. Bye!
Rating: 9.5/10
Comment: Please Watch!
Language: Korean
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Cast: Jung-Jae Lee, Gianna Jun
Direction: Lee Hyun-seung
Music: The plot is a little too intriguing to notice. Although the background score is sufficiently beautiful.
Reasons to watch: BEAUTIFUL locations, Unthinkable situations, and the most breathtaking House-by-the-beach you have ever seen.
Reasons not to: Subtitles
Storyline: Il Mare is a beautiful house by the sea. When Eun-joo moves out of this house, she writes a card and a letter for the next occupant of the house. But the mailbox delivers the letter 2 years before time. To Sung-hyun, who is the first one to move into Il Mare. Their correspondence across time continues. She warns him about the flu that came 2 years ago. He takes her to a restaurant where she drinks a bottle of wine that he left for her two years ago. They want to meet, but they cannot. Because Eun-joo has already lived those two years without meeting Sung-hyun. Sung-hyun wants to build a house for Eun-joo. He is an architect. But in Sung-hyun’s time, Eun-joo is to get married to somebody else. And in Eun-joo’s time…
Climax Handling: The climax is unimaginable. After all these other things that are unimaginable. You might disagree with the ending or sorts, but it is far too real and on the ground.
Points: Watch out for a scene at the station when Sung-hyun is about to return a music player to Eun-joo across two years. Nothing better. The subtleity of this film beats every other thing you have ever heard about time travel.
Rating: 9/10
Comment: You have to. You just can’t not watch it.
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Crime/Thriller
Cast: Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Monica Bellucci, Thomas Jane.
Direction: Stephen Hopkins
Music: Nadine Renee, Enrique Iglesias, Michael Stuart
Reasons to watch: Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, beautiful locales, a very gorgeous Monica Bellucci and an engaging storyline
Reasons not to: Shoddy acting by some supporting actors, the camera gets too artistic at times.
Storyline: Henry Hearst (Gene Hackman) is a successful attorney in San Juan, Puerto Rico who lives an luxurious life. He has it all - money, respect, a house on the coast, and, most of all, a stunningly beautiful young wife Chantal (Monica Bellucci). He is all set to deliver an address on the eve of the feast of St. Sebastian when he is called to the police department by his longtime acquaintance Captain Victor Benezet (Morgan Freeman) for questioning surrounding the death of a young girl whose body was discovered by Hearst while jogging. Soon the witness becomes the suspect and as secrets and circumstances unfold, Hearst loses it all – his dignity, his persona and the love and confidence of his wife.
Can the will of a broken man survive the test of truth, or does it cave in to the circumstances?
Climax Handling: The climax runs high on emotions with a twist in the tale, though that twist can be confusing for some.
Points: Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman essay their roles perfectly; this movie is one of the most grossly misunderstood movies of all times.
Rating: 8.5/10
Comment: If you are looking for thrill, this is a good movie. But put your children to sleep first!
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Horror/Fantasy
Cast: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
Direction: Neil Jordan
Music: Elliot Goldenthal’s score is dark and beautiful, with a special ‘Sympathy for the devil’ performed by Guns’n’Roses
Reasons to watch: A super ensemble of some of the finest actors in Hollywood, an excellent book-adaptation and top-notch performances, superb art direction.
Reasons not to: Too much blood and gore at times.
Storyline: A young journalist (Christian Slater) follows a man through the streets of San Francisco one night and ends up interviewing a 200-year old Vampire. His name is Louis De Pointe Du Lac (Brad Pitt), owner of a plantation, born in 18th century New Orleans, who has lost his will to live to the many misfortunes that shroud his life. His life changes when Lestat De Lioncourt (Tom Cruise), a vampire, offers him companionship and a chance to live a new life. As Louis discovers the perils and disgust of his new life, and craves for another companion, someone more human, he finds solace in Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a child-vampire with an innocent and savage lust for blood.
What follows is Louis’s struggle to live a cursed life amidst his love for Claudia and his growing enmity with Lestat, interspersed with encounters with more of their kind, especially Armand (Antonio Banderas). Based on Anne Rice’s book – ‘Interview with the vampire – the vampire chronicles’; this is an engrossing tale on ways and life of the vampires, their human and cursed side alike.
Climax Handling: The climax is dramatic and shocking as the rest of the movie.
Points: A very realistic and human take on vampires, cinematic excellence in technical aspects of a movie, compelling performances by all actors
Rating: 8.5/10
Comment: Don’t miss this if you are a vampire movies lover! (Beware of brief nudity though)
