Distant

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir) is a solitary photographer living comfortably in Istanbul. He finds himself forced to divorce his loneliness when a cousin, Yusuf (Emin Toprak), from his village starts living with him on the pretext of looking for a job. Soon Yusuf's presence starts to irritate Mahmut which will easily resonates with anyone living alone. Every small mistake the cousin makes is magnified in the eyes of Mahmut. A long film that portrays obvious discontentment wherein a short film would have sufficed instead.

Rating: * +

Massai: The Rain Warriors

The Massai are faced with their greatest drought. Their only hope is to find Vitchua, a legendary lion, and return with its mane to pay tribute to the Red God. But when Tilipti, their greatest warrior disappears to the sound of mighty roars, the future looks bleak for the tribe. The burden of this hunting expedition ends up falling on their young, inexperienced and hot headed warriors. So they head out into the vast dry unforgiving Savannah, hoping to turn it green and save their village.

Rating: * * +

Shortbus

The movie opens with a man filming himself playing with his penis in a tub and gets into a "bizarre" yoga pose. The camera then shifts to a sex therapist having sex but apparently she has never had an orgasm. Soon you are introduced to a underground NYC phantasorgasmic carnal nightclub. A film that makes you fall in love with the forward button.

Rating: *

Little Children

The suburban lives of a stay at home dad, a bored housewife, a disgraced cop and a just released sex offender clash in this movie based on Tom Perrotta's book. Like most films that have been transliterated from a novel, something is left by the wayside. But yet the feeling of disconnectedness and hankering for change that pulses through the veins of the book's characters somehow makes it way onto the screen. A good part of that is due to the fine acting by Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and especially Jackie Earle Haley in his role of the pedophile. A film that will resonate with most suburbanites even if they have nothing in common with the characters.

Rating: * * +

Solo Con Tu Pareja

Tomás Tomás (Daniel Giménez Cacho) screws anything that moves and resembles a woman. But even his vast experience has not taught him never to mess around with a nurse who has your HIV test results. So after screwing over the foxy Silvia (Dobrina Liubomirova), Tomás finds himself diagnosed with AIDS. It is at this moment he ends up falling helplessly in love with his neighbor, the beautiful Clarisa (Claudia Ramírez). One of Alfonso Cuarón's earlier films, this one is all about a man slut and the confusion that ensues over his irate love life.

Rating: * +

Train Man

Densha Otoko (Takayuki Yamada) is prototypical nerd in his 20s who has lived his life without even receiving a thank you from a girl let alone go out on a date with one. All this changes when he rescues a pretty girl (Miki Nakatani) from a drunk in the subway. Not knowing how to proceed, he confides in his only friends, the faceless profiles in a chat room. Soon he is out to woo her with the power of the chat room behind him. The film could have had more dimension and depth if more attention was paid to the lives of the characters in the chat room. Sans that it is just a cute and cloyingly sweet chick flick that winds down to its inevitable end.

Rating: * +

Renaissance

The year is 2054 and every body speaks English in Paris. Everything is recorded and no one is ever alone. But not even the ever present camera can show where Ilona Tasuiev, a young promising scientist, has disappeared. Her employers, Avalon, a giant conglomerate that peddles eternal beauty wants her found no matter the cost. Karas, a cynical and jaded captain among Paris's finest finds himself in hot seat. The only clues he has are a trail of dead bodies.

A beautifully etched anime where the artist has done some brilliant work in pure black and white. Thankfully the film was not just eye candy but had excellent voice overs by Daniel Craig and Ian Holm and a cunning plot.

Rating: * * *

The Science of Sleep

Stephane (Gael García Bernal) with his vivid dreams is fooled into moving to Paris by his mother with a promise of a plum creative design job. The job turns out to be mundane and the only interesting bit in his new life is his neighbor, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Soon Stephan's phantasmagoric dreams start to revolve around Stephanie. But when the dreams start to invade his reality, it puts a strain on the relationship with the woman of his dreams. The colorful dreams seem quite cool up front but its magic starts to wear thin even on a k**a imbibed viewer. A romantic comedy that is funny in parts but as a whole is a write off against wasted time.

Rating: * +

Old Joy

Two pals head to the woods for a night of camping and dip in a secluded sprint. Watching the film is akin to eavesdropping on a very private bonding and soul searching occasion for the friends. But the way it hangs together ends up alienating the viewer and concentrating more on the background score by Yo La Tengo.

Rating: * +

Man Push Cart

For a while all that this film shows you is a man pushing his cart around New York city. The daily drudgery of a coffee stall worker in downtown Manhattan is shown through Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi) giving you a feeling that he is alone in a sea of humanity. But no man is an island and slowly, like peeling the layers of an onion his character is revealed. His past is then very artfully exposed by the interactions with his customers and the budding friendships that develop. Rest of the film shows his braves strokes to swim to safety.

One would be tempted to say that Razvi's acting is single dimensional. He looks jaded and numb as his expression never changes for most part. But then watch for that scene which will change your mind.

Rating: * * +

Le Petit Lieutenant

Antoine (Jalil Lespert) is a young rookie lieutenant (French for detective :) ) who chooses a homicide division in Paris as his first posting. His boss is super cop Caroline (Nathalie Baye) who is recovering from alcohol addiction. It does not take long for things to heat up as Antoine is welcomed to his job with a couple of canal drownings. You soon find yourself engrossed in a very involving crime drama that sheds equal light on both the investigation and the investigators. The acting is very subdued but yet powerful and the coupled with a very realistic unhurried pace, the film casually plops itself on the top shelf of crime thrillers.

Rating: * * *

Iron Man

Marvel comic's Iron Man came to life on the screen over weekend. Robert Downey Jr. plays the suave genius Tony Starks, who creates / becomes the Iron Man under some stressful conditions in remote Afghanistan, goes from being a millionaire tomboy selling weapons to a robotic superhero with a conscience. It does sound rather cheesy but it works.

The slick action sequences does help in making it work, but it is the fringe characters like Stark's assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and evil Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) that lace the icing on the cake with cyanide. The heavy metal soundtrack was brilliant. It could have been even better if the birth of the iron superhero was fueled by the opening lines of Black Sabbath's Iron Man. And if the script writer had gone easy on the cloying orey funny lines, this could have been a perfect graphic novel film. But that would be asking for too much...

Rating: * * +