The War Within

Hassan (Ayad Akhtar) was leading a normal life in Paris when he is carted off on suspicion of being a terrorist. Frustrated and disillusioned he joins a terrorist cell that sends him to the USA to plan an attack. In the US he seeks harbour with his old friend Sayeed (Firdous Bamji) who welcomes him into his family with open arms. Hassan struggles to keep his dark side from his friend. To complicate matters he finds himself drawn to Sayeed's sister, Duri (Nandana Sen). A film that is appropriate for today's world. If only it's director had chosen to explore some of the dark alleys that he chose to mysteriously ignore.

Rating: * * +
PS: Nandana Sen is an uber babe and she can act too.

Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl

Samehada (Tadanobu Asano) is on the run after stealing 100 million yen from the Yakuza. The strangest band of Yakuza goons are after him, each one quirkier than the other. While on the run he literally smashes into Toshiko (Sie Kohinata) who is also on the run for other reasons. Together they form Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl and the ride begins.

Asano continues to impress and Katsuhito Ishii is indeed a Japanese Wes Anderson. But it is Tatsuya Gashuin (Grandpa in Taste of Tea) who puts a unique stamp on the film with his role of the most bizzare hitman ever.

Rating: * * +

Poison Friends

Andre (Thibault Vinçon) is the resident campus bad boy / genius. But he comes across as an annoying twat who forces his opinion onto others. I couldn't take more than an hour of watching easily impressionable youth succumb to his insistent charms.

Rating: +

The Wayward Cloud

The opening scene shows a spread eagled girl with a watermelon between her legs. A man appears and starts to finger fuck the melon and the girl responds appropriately. And so you are welcomed to yet another strange Ming-liang Tsai film. His muse Hsaio-kang (Kang-sheng Lee) and Shiang-chyi (Shiang-chyi Chen) reprise their roles from What Time Is It There?. Hsaio has stopped selling watches and is now a porn star. Taipei that Shiang returns to is one hit with a drought and watermelons are the answer to everything. The film will now act as a personal reminder to never pick another Ming-liang Tsai film, irrespective of how interesting the synopsis reads.

Rating: * +

Cyclo

A pedicab driver (Le Van Loc) works hard to keep his family afloat. His elder sister (Tran Nu Yên-Khê) carries water to the market and pitches in too, along with their grizzled grandfather who fixes bike tires. But their "idyllic" life takes a turn for the worse when the pedicab is stolen. The brother plunges into the sleazy and cut throat underbelly of Saigon and the sister is turned to prostitution by her lover (Tony Leung).

The film shows you a young Tony Leung playing an intense role filled with inner conflict and bordering on perversion. Anh Hung Tran masterfully keeps you involved with minimal dialog and chilling imagery but at the end of it all you wonder if he could have gone the extra yard and stitched the pieces a tad tighter.

Rating: * *

Diggers

Four friends in a small fishing town, north of NYC find themselves hard pressed to eke out a living by digging for clams in the face of a big corporation that has taken over their local waters. The film is about their personal struggle and the effect it has on their relationships.

Rating: * * +

Election

The Wo Shing triad have held elections to select their chairman for over 100 years. Now it is the turn of Big D (Tony Leung Ka Fai) and Lam (Simon Yam) to fight and bribe their way to the post. And even a democratically held election can be filled with strife and violence. A gritty and slick crime drama that will make you one with your couch.

Rating: * * *

Jindabyne

When does someone really die? When life departs from their body or when the living realize that they are gone? These questions come to mind when watching this film from Ray Lawrence.

Four friends on a weekend fishing trip discover a body of an aboriginal woman floating on the river. They choose to continue with the trip and report the body only after they have had their fun. This sends shock waves through the lives of the involved men especially Stewart (Gabriel Byrne). His wife Claire (Laura Linney) finds it hard to digest what her husband has done. Racial and familial tensions start to run high in this taunt drama which has you hooked but does not reel you in.

Rating: * * +

Syndromes and a Century

Acclaimed director Apichatpong Weerasethakul weaves his memories and reminiscences of growing up around a hospital  where his parents courted each other in this film that is split into two repeated halves parts mirroring each other akin to an easy "spot the differences" puzzles. I sure hope his parents liked the film.

Rating: *

Lost in Beijing

A prostitute makes her way to a hotel. She tells her client waiting inside that it's the usual fee but she is in a hurry as she has a dinner date. The customer hands her 1000 yuan and leaves... "I can't make love in a hurry". And so the film begins and you are lost in "Lost in Beijing".

In the background you have smog filled and congested Beijing with its hustle and bustle. In the foreground you have two couples entangled in a web of sex and deceit with a streak of dark comedy cutting through it. A brilliant follow up to  Dam Street by Yu Li.

Rating: * * * +

The Valet

Businessman Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) finds himself in deep shit when he is caught on candid cam with his supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni). When confronted by his ice maiden wife (Kristin Scott Thomas), who also happens to have a majority stake hold in his business, he blurts that the girl is really with a passer by who happens to be in the picture too. Poor Francois (Gad Elmaleh) who has just been rejected by his girl friend now finds himself magically sleeping next to a supermodel in return for money. A spicy comedy that only the French could come up with and execute with nonchalance.

Rating: * * +

Everything Gone's Green

Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) wakes up and finds that his life has changed. He is dumped by his girlfriend, fired from his job and dear Dad almost wins the lottery. Ironically he is offered a new job at the lottery agency. En route to the interview he meets  the girl (Steph Song) of his dreams, who shows up next to a dead whale. To top it off his folks start growing God's greatest plant in the basement. Welcome to Ryan's life. It is kind of a fun ride...

Rating: * * +

Agnisakshi

Thangam (Srividya) plunges the ashes of her foster brother Unni (Rajit Kapoor) in the Ganga and finds herself awash with memories. Memories of growing up as a child born out of a Sambandham in a Namboodari illam. Thangam is enthralled with Devaki (Shobana), Unni's wife through whose eyes she realizes the suffering of Namboodari women. The community still holding on to the arcane traditions of yester year as the world around it changes. The film is set during the twilight of India's dependence on the British and when the caste system still reared its ugly hood. A film drenched in melancholy that only a Malayali of the ilk of Shyamaprasad could have directed and one only the Kerala pysche would have appreciated.

Rating: * * *

The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai

Sachiko Hanai (Emi Kuroda) is a prostitute and a good one at that. Her life takes an amazing turn when she is shot between the eyes and survives. She becomes a genius overnight, starts having visions and experiences feelings and sensations with a delay. The cloned finger of George W. Bush that is in her possession only complicates matters. A porno comedy from Japan with a perverse and twisted sense of humor.

Rating: * +

Lonely Hearts

Ray Fernandez (Jared Leto) is a conman who sluices windows and lonely women of their life savings. But it is when beautiful Martha (Salma Hayek) enters his life that murder enters equation of the con jobs. This is when New York detective Elmer Robinson (John Travolta) starts to sniff their trail with help from his ample able partner, Charles (James Gandolfini). A chilling crime drama based on the true life of the "Lonely Heart Killers" who walked this Earth in the late 40s.

Rating: * * *

Los Muertos

Vargas (Argentino Vargas) is released from prison. Every detail of his life after release is shown i.e. walking, talking, eating and having sex. Then he sets out to find his daughter. Watch the film if you are interested in seeing an ugly man row a boat gently down a dirty stream.

Rating: +