PG-13, 1 hr. 35 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Errol Morris In Theaters: Dec 19, 2003 Limited
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is the sole focus of documentarian Errol Morris' The Fog of War, a film that not only analyzes McNamara's controversial decisions during the first half of the Vietnam War, but also his childhood upbringing, his education at Berkeley and Harvard, his involvement in World War II, and his later years as president of the World Bank. Culling footage from almost 20 hours of interviews with the Secretary, Morris details key moments from McNamara's career, including the 1945 bombing of Tokyo, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and President Kennedy's suggestions to the Secretary that the U.S.
remove itself from Vietnam. Throughout the film, the 85-year-old McNamara expounds his philosophies on international conflict, and shows regret and pride in equal measure for, respectively, his mistakes and accomplishments. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
8.3
The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
G, 1 hr. 40 min. Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy Directed By: Andrew Stanton , Lee Unkrich Written By: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds In Theaters: May 30, 2003 Wide
Finding Nemo (2003)In this stunning underwater adventure, with memorable characters, humor and heartfelt emotion, Finding Nemo follows the comedic and momentous journey of an overly protective clownfish named Marlin (voice by Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (voice by Alexander Gould) -- who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from his ocean home and dumped into a fish tank in a dentist's office.
Buoyed by the companionship of Dory (voice by Ellen DeGeneres), a friendly-but-forgetful Pacific regal blue tang, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son -- who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home. -- (C) Official Site
R, 2 hr. 3 min. Drama, Romance, Comedy Directed By: Alexander Payne Written By: Jim Taylor, Alexander Payne In Theaters: Sep 13, 2004 Wide
Sideways (2004)Directed by Alexander Payne, Sideways follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), who is distressed about his lack of success as a novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor with a rapidly approaching wedding.
In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats, Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country the week prior to Jack's wedding. Both men have goals for the vacation -- Miles wants to turn Jack on to the art of wine tasting, while Jack is concerned with exploiting his last days as a bachelor -- but when the two men come across two fascinating women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), the duo is forced to examine their morality, and if maturity isn't such a depressing prospect -- at least, for one of them. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004)Directed by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train offers a retrospective on the life and times of Howard Zinn. Activist, best-selling author, and historian, Zinn is considered the catalyst for some of the most notable progressive movements of the past 60 years.
Noam Chomsky, who claims that Zinn "changed the consciousness of a generation," is featured in several interviews, along with Marian Wright Edelman, Alice Walker, Tom Hayden, Daniel Ellsberg, and Zinn himself. The documentary also features rare archival footage. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Deb Ellis , Denis Mueller In Theaters: Jul 23, 2004 Wide
7.4
Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (2004)
PG-13, 1 hr. 10 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Keith Beauchamp In Theaters: Oct 14, 2005 Limited
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2004)In 1955, Emmett Louis Till was a 14-year-old African-American from Chicago who traveled to Money, MS, to visit his relatives. Till came home several months later in a box; Till had supposedly whistled at a white woman, and 14 white men, angered by the young man's perceived arrogance, beat him senseless, shot him to death, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River, weighing it down with an engine from a cotton gin.
Emmett's mother, Mamie Till, was a fearless woman determined to see that justice was done (she had an open casket at Emmett's funeral and allowed Jet magazine to publish a photo of his badly mutilated body so others could see the full extent of the crime), but convicting white men on charges of lynching a black teenager in the Deep South in the 1950s was all but impossible, and the two charged with Emmett's death, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were found not guilty by a jury who deliberated for so short a period they stopped for a cold drink to stretch the wait to an hour. Only a few months later, Bryant and Milam admitted they had committed the crime to a reporter from Look magazine, knowing they were protected from further prosecution under double jeopardy statutes.
The other 12 men involved in the crime were not charged. Almost 50 years later, filmmaker Keith Beauchamp traveled to Mississippi to investigate the surviving characters in this heinous crime, and The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till combines newsreel footage shot during the investigation of the murder in 1955 with present-day interviews, including Till's cousins, who watched helplessly as he was dragged away by an angry mob; Till's uncle, who identified the guilty men in court; friends and co-workers of the men who committed the crimes (five of whom were still alive when the film was completed), and Mamie Till. In 2005, in part because of evidence uncovered by the filmmakers, the Emmett Till case was reopened in Mississippi. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
R, 1 hr. 50 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Alex Gibney Written By: Peter Elkind, Alex Gibney, Bethany McLean In Theaters: Apr 29, 2005 Limited
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2004)Alex Gibney, who wrote and produced Eugene Jarecki's The Trials of Henry Kissinger, examines the rise and fall of an infamous corporate juggernaut in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which he wrote and directed.
The film, based on the book by Fortune Magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, opens with a reenactment of the suicide of Enron executive Cliff Baxter, then travels back in time, describing Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's humble beginnings as the son of a preacher, his ascent in the corporate world as an "apostle of deregulation," his fortuitous friendship with the Bush family, and the development of his business strategies in natural gas futures. The film points out that the culture of financial malfeasance at Enron was evident as far back as 1987, when Lay apparently encouraged the outrageous risk taking and profit skimming of two oil traders in Enron's Valhalla office because they were bringing a lot of money into the company. But it wasn't until eventual CEO Jeff Skilling arrived at Enron that the company's "aggressive accounting" philosophy truly took hold.
The Smartest Guys in the Room explores the lengths to which the company went in order to appear incredibly profitable. Their win-at-all-costs strategy included suborning financial analysts with huge contracts for their firms, hiding debts by essentially having the company loan money to itself, and using California's deregulation of the electricity market to manipulate the state's energy supply. Gibney's film reveals how Lay, Skilling, and other execs managed to keep their riches, while thousands of lower-level employees saw their loyalty repaid with the loss of their jobs and their retirement funds. The filmmaker posits the Enron scandal not as an anomaly, but as a natural outgrowth of free-market capitalism. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
PG, 1 hr. 55 min. Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy Directed By: Brad Bird Written By: Brad Bird In Theaters: Nov 5, 2004 Wide
The Incredibles (2004)Directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles revolves around former high-profile superhero Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible), who has not-so-successfully settled into suburban life along with his wife and kids under the watchful eye of the Superhero Protection Program. A far cry from the "glory days" during which "supers" were a welcome addition to society, the Parrs' living situation was brought on after a series of superhero-related lawsuits forced them into hiding. When not trying to fight small-time crime undercover with fellow former superhero Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), Parr (voice by Craig T. Nelson) is muddling through the corporate world as a paunchy, emotionally unsatisfied insurance claims adjuster.
His family is like any other with some notable exceptions -- his daughter has the uncanny ability to become invisible and create impenetrable force fields at will; his son, Dash, can run at incredible speeds; his wife, Helen (Holly Hunter), is known in super circles as Elastigirl, one of the most respected (and pliable) superwomen of her time. Just when it looks as if things can't get any worse for Bob, he gets a summons to show up at a remote island to receive instructions for a highly classified assignment, which he promptly accepts. Thrust back into the world of fighting crime, the Incredible family is back in familiar territory -- saving the world from Syndrome, a jilted former fan of Mr. Incredible. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
G, 1 hr. 35 min. Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Art House & International Directed By: Jacques Demy Written By: Jacques Demy In Theaters: Feb 13, 2004 Limited
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (2004)Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love.
She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
7.7
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (2004)
Moolaadé (2004)Pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene directed this controversial drama which deals in part with the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation (generally involving removal of the clitoris and temporary closure of the vagina), which is still practiced in a number of African nations in the name of "purification." Six girls who are scheduled to undergo the traditional purification ceremony escape, and four make their way to the home of Colle Ardo Gallo Sy (Fatoumata Coulibaly), a wife and mother who is sympathetic to their dilemma. Colle casts a "moolaade" spell, which will bring harm to anyone who attempts to hurt those under Colle's care. Colle finds few supporters in a village where tradition is sacred and change is regarded with great suspicion; the men who rule the tribe and the women who conduct the purification rituals both make their displeasure clear, but none can persuade Colle to vanquish the spell, which the others are obligated to respect. Meanwhile, Colle's daughter Amsatou (Salimata Traore) is facing a dilemma of her own. Amsatou has fallen in love with a young man who will one day inherit leadership of the tribe; a man who straddles traditional and modern life, he shuttles between an office job in Paris and the village of his birth.
But, while he cares for Amsatou, her mother spared her from the purification ritual, and now she's uncertain if he will be willing to violate centuries of tribal tradition and wed a woman who is unclean in the eyes of his family. Moolaadé was awarded the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Unrated, 2 hr. Art House & International, Drama Directed By: Ousmane Sembene Written By: Ousmane Sembene In Theaters: Oct 15, 2004 Limited
Unrated, 1 hr. 27 min. Documentary, Faith & Spirituality, Special Interest Directed By: Kirby Dick In Theaters: Aug 20, 2004 Wide
Twist of Faith (2004)A man must reconcile his religion with a need for justice and closure in this documentary. Tony Comes was a firefighter living in Toledo, OH, with his wife and children. While Comes was a solid family man and had the respect of his fellow firemen, he was hiding a secret that had been haunting him for almost 20 years -- when he was 14 years old, Comes was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, an event that left him with emotional scars that were slow to heal. In 2002, as stories of child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy were appearing in newspapers across the country, Comes decided it was time to take action.
Comes met with the bishop in his parish and told him of the incident, but he soon discovered that he was not being told the truth about what was being done to prevent the priest from molesting other children. Seeing little alternative and concerned about the safety of others, Comes filed a lawsuit against the parish.
Twist of Faith is a documentary that follows Comes as he deals with his inner turmoil and the often uncharitable reactions of others as he attempts to bring his abuser to justice, while maintaining his sincere faith in God and his loyalty to the Catholic Church. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Twist of Faith was nominated for Best Documentary Feature honors at the 2005 Academy Awards. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min. Art House & International, Drama Directed By: Sean Baker , Shih-Ching Tsou In Theaters: Jan 18, 2004 Wide
Take Out (2004)Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou make their feature debut as writer/directors with the documentary-style DV drama Take Out. Korean-American actor Charles Jang stars as Ming Ding, a Chinese illegal immigrant struggling to make ends meet working as a deliveryman at a take-out restaurant. His day begins when he is rousted, beaten, and threatened with more violence by two men over an 800-dollar debt, which he incurred because he felt obligated to send some money back to his wife and child in China. Ming scrapes together what he can.
His co-worker, Young (Jeng-Hua Yu), lends him some money, and offers to forgo his deliveries for the day so Ming can make more cash. The film follows the stoic Ming, who speaks little English, over the course of the day as he interacts with the cooks and restaurant manager (Wang-Thye Lee, an actual employee of the restaurant where Take Out was filmed), and races in the rain on a multitude of deliveries on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, interacting with a broad spectrum of New Yorkers.
The filmmakers made Take Out on an extremely low budget, even by indie standards, using the Internet to find their cast, and shooting at the restaurant during business hours with a skeleton crew. Take Out was shown at the 2004 New York Asian American Film Festival and at the 2004 Nashville Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min. Drama, Art House & International, Comedy Directed By: Jorge Gaggero Written By: Jorge Gaggero In Theaters: Jul 18, 2007 Limited
Live-in Maid (Cama adentro) (2004)A once-wealthy Buenos Aires socialite who has fallen on hard times finds the roles between herself and her longtime live-in maid suddenly reversed in director Jorge Gaggero's class-conscious drama. Mrs. Beba is a 58-year-old woman whose days as a well-to-do socialite have long since passed, and Dora is the 51-year-old housekeeper who has been Mrs. Beba's live-in housekeeper for 35 years. As a successive cycle of personal and financial crises force Mrs.
Beba to sell door-to-door beauty products as a way of making ends meet, she finds it increasingly difficult to pay her employee in a timely manner. Since Dora has been using her money to construct a house in a shantytown on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, this naturally poses something of a problem. It's been six months since Dora has received her last paycheck, and her patience has finally run out. Yet, despite the fact that class differences continually come into play between the pair, there is no denying the bond that has formed between them over the course of their three decades together.
When Mrs. Beba finally produces enough money to pay Dora's debt and offer a six-month salary advancement, Dora decides to finally strike out on her own despite her employer's objections. Later, after Dora moves into her new home with her weekend boyfriend, Miguel, Mrs. Beba's energy and telephone services are turned off for lack of payment. By the time summer arrives, Mrs. Beba must sell off her apartment just to stay out of debt. Remembering that her old employee has a new home, the now-homeless Mrs. Beba kindly offers to give her furniture to Dora. But Dora can't turn away an old friend in need, and before they know it, Dora and Mrs. Beba are living together once again. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
G, 1 hr. 8 min. Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest Directed By: Bryant Wang , null In Theaters: Dec 14, 2005 Wide
The Grace Lee Project Grace Lee is a filmmaker who, when she left her hometown of Columbia, MO, for New York City, and later for California, began to notice that her name was unusually common among Asian-American women -- someone described as the Asian-American equivalent of "Jane Smith." What troubled Lee most wasn't just that so many Asian women shared her name, but that it seemed to conjure up a very particular sort of person in the eyes of many -- a quiet, studious over-achiever who was cheerful, Christian, and never got into trouble. Lee didn't much care to be associated with a classic stereotype of an "ethnic American" desperate to assimilate with the larger culture, and she began to wonder -- is every Grace Lee like this? Lee set up a website to search out other Grace Lee's around the country, and followed up her research with a series of interviews that she fashioned into her film The Grace Lee Project.
While Lee found plenty of women who lived up to the "Grace Lee" image, she also found many who didn't, including an elderly activist in Detroit's African-American community, a teenage goth kid who makes voodoo dolls for fun and profit, a fortysomething single parent who helped her best friend leave behind an abusive husband, a Hawaiian broadcast journalist, and a young troublemaker who attempted to burn down her high school. Incidentally, the Grace Lee who made The Grace Lee Project learned she wasn't the only Grace Lee who directs movies -- a Grace Lee living in Portland, OR, is also a filmmaker. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
R, 5 hr. 58 min. Drama, Romance, Art House & International Directed By: Marco Tullio Giordana Written By: Stefano Rulli, Sandro Petraglia In Theaters: Jun 22, 2003 Wide
The Best of Youth (La meglio gioventù)Directed by Marco Tullio Giordana and La Meglio Gioventu, this film chronicles the youth, emotional development, and milestone events in the lives of brothers Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio and Matteo Carti (Alessio Boni) between 1966 and the early 2000s.
Despite being polar opposites -- Nicola is a free spirited, romantic psychiatrist; Matteo is an angst-ridden idealist and member of the Italian police force -- the brothers stay connected through the nature of life, family, and time, even during their long periods of separation from one another. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Unrated, 2 hr. 15 min. Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest Directed By: Michael Apted In Theaters: Oct 6, 2006 Limited
49 Up (2005)Filmmaker Michael Apted returns to the director's chair to catch up with the subjects he has been following since the 1963 telefilm 7 Up with this sequel to 1999's 42 Up. In the seventh installment of the long-running documentary series, Apted continues to follow the lives of everyone from aspiring jockey and part-time actor Tony to teacher Bruce and barrister John -- who returns to the series following a self-imposed exile that preceded 42 Up.
While many of Apted's subjects seem to have settled into a comfortable existence, sharp-tongued Jackie and once-troubled Neil inject a bit of liveliness into the mix by recalling their colorful pasts and questioning the director's motivations with the Up series. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
PG, 1 hr. 34 min. Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest Directed By: Patrick Creadon Written By: Christine O'Malley In Theaters: Jun 16, 2006 Limited
Wordplay Cinematographer-turned-documentary filmmaker Patrick Creadon takes a compelling look at the brainy world of crossword puzzles, the masterminds that conceive them, and the folks who struggle to solve them in a film that offers a close look at one of America's most popular pastimes. For 12 years, the name Will Shortz has been indelibly linked to the wildly popular New York Times crossword puzzle.
As filmmakers speak with Shortz and the puzzle constructors with whom he collaborates, viewers are treated to a rare look into the minds of the people whose intellect entertains a nation of puzzle-solvers on a weekly basis. Interviews with a variety of celebrity crossword-puzzle enthusiasts including Bob Dole, Ken Burns, and Jon Stewart are also included, and a trip to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament -- an annual event founded by Shortz himself -- offers an entertaining look at a world where the brain power and colorful personalities of contestants combine to create a lively atmosphere of friendly competition. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
G, 1 hr. 22 min. Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy Directed By: Steve Box , Nick Park Written By: Nick Park, Steve Box, Bob Baker In Theaters: Oct 7, 2005 Wide
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)Eccentric inventor Wallace (voice of Peter Sallis) and his faithful if often perplexed dog Gromit are back in their first feature-length adventure from animator Nick Park. Wallace and Gromit have launched a new business venture just in time for a major gardening competition in their neighborhood of West Wallaby. "Anti-Pesto" is a humane pest-relocation service in which Wallace and Gromit capture rabbits and other critters who have been eating the produce from local gardens and give them new homes somewhere else.
Business has been going well, and when the woman hosting the garden show, Lady Tottington (voice of Helena Bonham Carter), discovers a massive tribe of rabbits has been making a mess of her garden, she calls in Wallace and Gromit to move the bunnies elsewhere. Wallace is quite taken with Lady Tottington, but he's not the only one -- Victor Quartermaine (voice of Ralph Fiennes) is a slick but arrogant upper-class type who wants to win Lady Tottington's hand (and fortune) and is convinced he can do a better job capturing the rabbits than Wallace.
However, Wallace's attempts to brainwash the rabbits away from veggies using his latest invention has disastrous results, and soon Wallace has to deal with a beastly bunny as well as a heavily-armed Quartermaine. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit followed Park's previous film with the duo, A Close Shave, by ten years, and was produced after Park broke through to mainstream success with the feature Chicken Run. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
7.6
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min. Art House & International, Drama Directed By: Mohammad Rasoulof Written By: Mohammad Rasoulof In Theaters: Mar 31, 2006 Limited
Iron Island (Jazire Ahani) An abandoned ship anchored in the Persian Gulf offers refuge to a number of homeless Iranian squatters seeking sturdy shelter in this whimsical drama from Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof.
Presiding over the makeshift hostel is the stern but fair Captain Nemat (Ali Nasirian). A tireless authoritarian with genuine affection for his charges, the patriarchal captain assumes a wide variety of responsibilities that span the spectrum from matchmaker to supervisor as the residents scour their makeshift home for scrap metal that will bring in some much-needed cash. It seems that the only inhabitant of this makeshift town not to bend to Captain Nemat's every whim is Ahmad (Hossein Farzi-Zadeh), a rebellious youngster with eyes for an attractive young lass (Neda Pakdaman) whose overprotective father keeps her on a decidedly short leash. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Doug Block Written By: Doug Block, Amy Seplin In Theaters: Oct 18, 2006 Limited
51 Birch Street When documentary filmmaker Doug Block's mother dies unexpectedly and his 83-year-old father reveals plans to move to Florida with his onetime secretary shortly thereafter, the confused son travels to his childhood time to seek out the secrets of his parent's presumably happy 55-year marriage in a film that explores just what happens when everything you think you knew about your family is suddenly thrown into question. As a child Block always assumed that his parents were content in their relationship, but as close as he was to his mother growing up, his father remained a constant mystery. Now the home he grew up in is suddenly on the market, and in order to seek out the secrets of his family history Block will travel to Long Island, camera in hand, to peel away decades of secrecy.
As 60 years and three generations of carefully guarded secrets finally come into focus with the discovery of his mother's detailed diary, Block's fundamental assumptions about the lives of his parents gradually give way to a poignant meditation on the themes of fidelity, love, and marriage while revealing that the relationship shared between his mother and father was much more complicated than he ever imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min. Art House & International, Drama Directed By: Jasmila Zbanic In Theaters: Feb 16, 2007 Wide
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (Esma's Secret - Grbavica) (2005)A woman sees her own traumatic past reflected in the actions of her teenage daughter in this drama from first-time writer and director Jasmila Zbanic. Esma (Mirjana Karanovic) is a single mother trying to raise her teenage daughter, Sara (Luna Mijovic), in Sarajevo in the wake of war. While Esma works as a barmaid at a nightclub run by Saran (Bogdan Diklic), a man on the wrong side of the law, she has trouble making ends meet, and receives occasional benefits payments from a support group for women who have been affected by the war. Esma has little interest in talking about the loss of her husband, whom she claims was a hero fighting for Bosnia, and can become hyper-emotional with little provocation.
As Pelda (Leon Lucev), one of Esma's co-workers at the club, attempts to interest her in romance, Esma notices that Sara has caught the eye of Samir (Kenan Catic), a rebellious young man who is one of her classmates. As Esma tries to discourage Sara from becoming involved with Samir, she finds fate has forced her to tell her daughter the truth about her father. Grbavica received its world premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
7.2
Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (Esma's Secret - Grbavica) (2005)
R, 1 hr. 25 min. Documentary, Sports & Fitness, Special Interest Directed By: Henry-Alex Rubin , Dana Adam Shapiro Written By: Dana Adam Shapiro In Theaters: Jul 22, 2005 Limited
MurderballBetter known as Wheelchair Rugby, Murderball is a game created by quadriplegic athletes that is every bit as aggressive as the name would lead one to expect; played with bone-breaking intensity, a typical game of Wheelchair Rugby involves plenty of trash-talking, a few head-on collisions, and the occasional player being thrown from his modified wheelchair. The game has become an official event at the Paralympics, a worldwide competition for handicapped athletes, and the United States and Canada have become fierce rivals in the event. When Joe Soares was dropped from the top-seated American team, he angrily retaliated by signing on as coach for the Canadian team, which he led to an upset victory for Team Canada in the games.
In 2004, filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin and journalist Dana Adam Shapiro followed both teams as they traveled to Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Paralympics, documenting the fierce competition between the two teams (especially the Americans, bitterly stung by what they saw as Soares' betrayal). Murderball offers an up-close look at the 2004 Wheelchair Rugby tournament, as well as the personal stories of the athletes who are passionate, driven, and determined to win -- as one of them says, "I'm not here for a hug, I'm here for a medal." Murderball earned an enthusiastic reception in its premier screenings at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min. Documentary, Special Interest Directed By: Marshall Curry In Theaters: Jan 1, 2005 Limited
Street FightA hotly contested political race generates a wealth of drama in this documentary from filmmaker Marshall Curry. Sharpe James is a veteran politician who has been mayor of Newark, NJ, since 1986; by the admission of his own spokespeople, James is a "machine" politician who uses muscle and influence to get things done, and while he's enjoyed the fruits of his success, his administration has been accused of having a long history of corruption.
In 2002, Cory Booker, a lawyer who was a member of the Newark City Council, announced he was running for mayor, and it didn't take long for the contest to get ugly. Booker was a graduate of Yale Law School, a Rhodes Scholar, and an advocate of more open and honest government, and James and his staff wasted no time in attacking his qualifications and personality in public.
While both candidates were African-American, James chose to play the race card, questioning if Booker was "black" enough and suggesting the church-going Baptist was actually a Jew. James' campaign staff didn't stop at verbal attacks, and as Marshall Curry began covering the James and Booker campaigns, he found himself frequently attacked by James' supporters (with his camera running and in full view of other reporters), and a number of local businessmen stated for the record that they were supporting James for fear of reprisals later on. The film that resulted from Curry's efforts, Street Fight, received a 2005 Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min. Drama, Art House & International, Comedy Directed By: Corneliu Porumboiu Written By: Corneliu Porumboiu In Theaters: Jun 6, 2007 Wide
A fost sau n-a fost?, (12:08 East of Bucharest) Gil-Scott Heron once wrote "the revolution will not be televised," but one Romanian newsman attempts to put his nation's revolution on the air after the fact in this satiric comedy from writer and director Corneliu Porumboiu. It's the sixteenth anniversary of the revolt that removed Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power in Romania, and Jderescu (Ion Sapdaru) is the host of a televised public affairs show who wants to do a special program on the revolution.
Jderescu's idea is to bring on a handful of ordinary citizens to discuss their role in Ceausescu's overthrow and how their lives have changed since Communist rule was swept from Romania. However, Jderescu can only round up two guests for his broadcast -- elderly Piscoci (Mircea Andreescu), who's more interested in playing Santa Claus for the neighborhood kids than talking politics, and Manescu (Teo Corban), a schoolteacher nursing a brutal hangover.
As Jderescu tries to lead a serious discussion of how Romania has changed since Ceausescu was driven from power, the conversation wanders off on a tangent about where the revolution actually took place, and the waters become even more muddied when Jderescu opens up the phone lines for questions from viewers, most of whom have their own distinct (and strongly conflicting) memories of the Revolution . . . and one of which has a bone to pick with Manescu over some drunken insults he hurled the night before. A Fost Sau n-a Fost? (aka 12:08 East of Bucharest) received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
7.1
A fost sau n-a fost?, (12:08 East of Bucharest) (2006)
Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min. Drama, Action & Adventure, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense Directed By: Johnnie To Written By: Nai-Hoi Yau, Tin-shing Yip, Yau Nai-Hoi In Theaters: Apr 25, 2007 Limited
Triad Election (Hak se wui yi wo wai kwai) Superstar action director Johnny To's Hong Kong gangster picture Triad Election (aka Election 2) revolves around Jimmy (Louis Koo), a second-tiered triad member vying aggressively for the position of godfather in the current election. He is restrained in his pursuits by the current mob boss, Lok (Simon Yam), who wants to hold on to his seat, despite the fact that his two years are up and he isn't officially eligible for reelection.
This leads to a bloody, cutthroat, do-or-die battle of wills between the two men, carried out in some of the most astonishing set pieces ever constructed for an action opus, including a psychotic interrogation with knives and rabid dogs, a hide-and-seek battle at an outdoor café, and a shocking, ultraviolent denouement. To ads an additional level to the film by turning it into a scathing critique of the voraciousness encouraged by a laissez-faire economic system. Wong Tin-lam, Yao Yung, Lam Suet, Nick Cheung, Lam Ka-tung, and Mok Sing-lun co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
