Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (A Separation) (2011)

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writer:   Asghar Farhadi
Cast:     Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi
Language: Persian

A married coupled is faced with a difficult decision- to improve their life by moving abroad or to stay in Iran looking after a deteriorating parent who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This causes their temporary separation which leads to the hiring of a maid to look after the patient.

The film is captivating from the first scene and the ensemble cast received a much deserved acting award in the Berlin film festival. It also won the best foreign picture award at the academy awards. The story is universal and is not the usual one you would expect from an Iranian film. The film continuously surprised me with its subtlety and the room for interpretation the script is providing for the viewer. It is a masterpiece which deserved all the accolades it got during the awards season.

Rating: 5/5

Pusher (1996)

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers:  Jens Dahl, Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast:      Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbaek, Mads Mikkelsen
Language: Danish

A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.

It is Nicolas Winding Refn's debut feature and even though the plot sounds cliched, the way it is shot and the realistic nature of it makes it unique. While most films involving drug dealing involves with either top level guys or street level guys, this film is about a mid level pusher. The story is set over a week's time and the film really ends well making us wonder what his next step gonna be. It could have been made even more ambiguous by not showing what other characters are up to. That is the only shot in the film which does not involve Frank played by Kim Bodnia.

Didn't realize till late into the film that the skinhead character Tonny is played by the wonderful actor Mads Mikkelsen.

Rating: 4/5

The French Connection (1971)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:   Ernest Tidyman, Robin Moore
Cast:       Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider

A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.

Film is made in documentary style with minimal dialog. Friedkin was influenced by the film 'Z' for this style. It is essentially a police procedural film and the first R rated film to win best picture at the academy awards. The film was adapted and fictionalized from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore with the same name. The real life counterpart of the French guy was later caught in France but not extradited.

Film was made based on a discussion with Howard Hawks whose daughter was living with Friedkin during that time. When asked about how he thought about Friedkin films, Hawks replied they were lousy and asked him to make the best chase of all time. That is how that chase came about.

Rating: 4/5

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers:  Richard LaGravenese, Scott Thorson, Alex Thorleifson
Cast:      Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula

Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.

The film was put forward to many studios who all balked out saying that it was too gay. It also faced delays because of Michael Douglas diagnosed with Stage IV Throat Cancer. Finally it was produced by and released on HBO last week. That makes it ineligible for the academy awards. It is supposed to be Soderbergh's last film before his break from films.

Film works well as a comedy with excellent performances from the two leads. Michael Douglas has been receiving much praise for his portrayal but Matt Damon's character and performance is not any less with it being the point of view character adapted from Scott Thorson's book. I didn't have any idea about the story beforehand apart from the IMDB synopsis.

Here is a link to Soderbergh's excellent talk on the sorry state of Hollywood: http://kottke.org/13/05/steven-soderbergh-the-state-of-cinema

Rating: 4/5

Of Time and the City (2008)

Director:   Terence Davies
Writer:      Terence Davies
Narration: Terence Davies

A filmmaker looks at the history and transformation of his birthplace, Liverpool, England.

It can called either as a documentary or a biography film and is an ode to Liverpool by Terence Davies. It depicts the transformation of the city of Liverpool in the post world war era and is told in sometimes angry and sometimes satirical way. It is put in the overall context of declining English empire and takes us through the phase of "Managed Decline" of Liverpool under Margaret fucking Thatcher and finally to the modern times.

Rating: 4/5

Katalin Varga (2009)

Director: Peter Strickland
Writer:    Peter Strickland
Cast:      Hilda Peter, Norbert Tanko, Laszlo Matray
Language: Hungarian

In the beautiful, otherworldly Carpathian Mountains a woman is traveling with a small boy in a horse and cart, looking to punish those who once abused her.

The film is set in Hungarian speaking part of Romania. Don't ask me why Peter Strickland a British director would do that. Maybe the same reason why he set his second film, Berbarian Sound Studio, in Italy. Or maybe he wanted to set it in modern times and only in this Eastern European wilderness he could fit the lawlessness of the story.

The film's time period is not apparent till the character talks about mobile phone signals. It is an assured debut film completed at a meager 28k pounds. The money mostly came from an inheritance from his uncle. Whilst his second film is a genre bending horror masterpiece with a Lynchian twist, this one is a revenge flick that don't tread the usual path with its ending. Strickland is certainly a director to watch out for.

Rating: 3.5/5

Scarecrow (1973)

Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Writer:    Gary Michael White
Cast:      Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan

Max, an ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by Lion, a homeless ex-sailor, and they partner up as they head east together.

It is a road film with an acting Tour de Force from Hackman and Pacino. There isn't much of a plot but it is still great on the back of the performances. A sequel is being planned but don't know how it will pan out with Hackman now retired.

Rating: 3.5/5