Foreign Movies (Page #6)

Nominated for two Cesar awards in 2002, including Best First Feature Film, "The Girl From Paris" tells the story of Sandrine, a young Parisienne who decides to leave the city and pursue her dream of becoming a farmer. Adrien is the older, taciturn farmer who agrees to sell Sandrine his land and herd of goats before retiring to Grenoble. Sandrine allows Adrien stay at the farm for eighteen months, then begins renovations in earnest. Sandrine succeeds where Adrien was sure she would fail; she earns a living in the spring and summer by opening up the farm to tourists and selling goat cheese over the Internet. But the arrival of winter brings a tide change and conflicting emotions: Sandrine faces the harsh isolation of the Rhone-Alps while forming a growing attachment to Adrien. Between their mutual curiosity and misunderstandings, Sandrine and Adrien are forced to live side by side when the only thing they share is their love for mountains and nature.

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger's are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Mads Mikkelsen plays Lucas, a highly-regarded school teacher who has been forced to start over having overcome a tough divorce. Just as things are starting to go his way, his life is shattered. An untruthful remark throws the small community into a collective state of hysteria. The lie is spreading and Lucas is forced to fight a lonely fight for his life and dignity.

A young psychiatric intern unearths secrets about the mental health facility in which he works.

On April 11th, 2002, Irish documentarians Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain were in Venezuela, with the intention of making a movie about the nation's left-leaning (and Castro-inspired) democratic president, Hugo Chavez, whose support comes mostly from the country's impoverished, who make up 80% of the population (versus past leaders who were often supported by the country's big money minority, like the petroleum industry). Although they did accomplish that, the film took a seriously unexpected turn when the filmmakers found themselves in the heart of a coup d'etat, trapped in the president's palace as Chavez's right-wing oligarchic opposition overthrew the leader. Chavez was able to return to power within 48 hours, buoyed by public support, but this film captures those frightening moments and days in which a nation's political future was fought over using both bullets and manipulation of the media. Venezuela's television networks, all owned by oil companies except for the state channel which the coup brought down, reported distorted interpretations of the coup, as proven by this movie's footage, which was then picked up by international news organizations like CNN. This movie also addresses what the White House thought about this coup in the world's fifth largest producer of oil (providing 14% of the United States' petroleum).

Set in a small Edo period Japanese brothel near Tokyo, this is the story of a young samurai, Fusanosuke (Hidetaka Yoshioka), who seeks refuge there in the company of a young prostitute, Oshin (Nagiko Tono), after he accidentally wounded a powerful samurai during an argument whose colleagues are now seeking to kill Fusanosuke in return. Soon falling in love with Oshin, Fusanosuke hopes to be able to cleanse her from the sins of her occupation so that she may be his wife, even as danger lurks all around the brothel.

It's the score of their lives--if they can pull it off. Five thieves at the top of their game, and the crew is assembling for their biggest job yet. Popie's the muscle and brains, Pepsee's the safecracker. Yenicall climbs walls, Zampano is the strategy man, and Chewingum is the master of disguise. But this new score--it's hot. Maybe too hot. But who can resist the Tear of The Sun: a 318-carat diamond, worth 20 million dollars, and locked away in a casino. The vault is impenetrable, the location covered in cops, and everyone knows there's no honor among thieves--especially not the crew Macao Park, Popie's old partner, has forced their team to work with. As they gear up and stroll into the casino with a plan, skills, and a whole lot of nerve, they quickly learn that avoiding the cops may not be their toughest problem. What's Macao Park's real motive? Who will betray them all? And who will walk away with the diamond?

An epic tale, in the Indian desert, of a warrior's search to change his life and to find peace. Lafcadia is the head of a band of warriors employed by a lord who rules from his Red Fort. In the midst of the slaughter of a village, Lafcadia has a mystical encounter with a young girl. He drops his sword and vows never to kill again. Lafcadia attempts to escape with his young son Katiba. The lord orders the warriors to bring back Lafcadia's head. They capture Katiba who dies protecting his father. Lafcadia, a broken man, sets off into the wilderness pursued by the warriors. On his journey he meets Riaz, a young street kid and an old blind woman on a pilgrimage to a Holy River. In the mountains, Lafcadia eventually comes face to face with the warriors, and is forced to confront his past in order to reach his goal.

This is a compilation of three different short films entitled 'Cut,' 'Box' and 'Dumplings' by directors from Japan, Korea and China. Each deals with the theme of human monstrosity.

This documentary is an intimate portrayal of several months at a one-room elementary schoolhouse in a small village (Saint-Etienne Sur Usson) in rural France, where a single teacher, Georges Lopez, gives his small class of thirteen students, ages 3-10, the sort of attention that is dwindling in many other schools in France (and elsehwere), where crowded classrooms are the norm.

The two men embark on parallel, if separate, journeys. Their yearning is a common one—for a better and different life. Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder, that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup, and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam. The cataclysmic conclusion of the monk's tale leaves Dondup with a dilemma—is the grass truly greener on the other side?

Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, "Water" begins when 8-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.