Last night I was one of the lucky guests of Romanian Cinematheque at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square, London. Yesterday’s show was “Philanthropy”, directed by Nae Caranfil and starring Mircea Diaconu and Gheorghe Dinica. The film is a winner of Young European Jury Award at Mons Festival of Love Films 2002 and Public Prize at Paris Film Festival 2002.
The film is a predecessor of Slumdog Millionaire and even better than the Oscar-winning production. Ovidiu, a 35 year old teacher is living with his parents and belongs to Bucharest’s “beggars with a degree” class. His self-published book of fiction is barely earning him the equivalent of a tram ticket but everything will change after he meets the TV spokesmodel Diana.
The film is a nice bitter comedy but stripping off the comedy wrap it is also a sad story. The circumstances will always turn into Ovidiu’s favour. When you expect the truth to be revealed, there is also a comic twist which makes Ovidiu a winner and a hero, and his bruised eye will also contribute to that.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the movie is about a bomb disposal team who tries to deal with personal issues while saving lives and their own. The film focuses on Jeremy Renner as Sergeant First Class William James as he uses uncanny methods in approaching his life and his job.
Daybreakers is a vampire-themed movie released January 6, 2010. Although the obvious release date of the movie is to harness the vampire mania to improve ticket sales, it’s no reason to ignore the movie. After all, the movie features established actors such as Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.
After all the documentaries that have been released in the past nine years showing those indelible footages of the twin towers’ destruction and the moments of agony the world lived on that 9/11, Steven Spielberg is opening a new chapter to witness and record the new World Trade Centre that is to rise again from the ashes of Ground Zero. The production of a series of documentary in six parts to be entitled “Rebuilding Ground Zero” is planned to be completed and released in 2011.
Learning that Tim Burton’s next film is his very own interpretation of Alice in Wonderland does not come as a surprise. How could such a milestone of fantasy literature and film production not inspire one of the most creative and imaginative minds of Hollywood? Burton’s story could be considered half a remake and half a sequel of the original one, since the protagonist here is an 18 year old Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska), who does not remember her past wonder adventures but will re-live the fantastic journey and encounter all of the iconic characters who have populated this amazing tale.
film pushing science fiction to the next level. This movie has immediately had a huge success in the US from his first week after being released and is believed to repeat the same in Europe where it will be distributed in January.
The latest adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes, sees Robert Downey Jr. in the role of the famous detective and Jude Law as his trustworthy assistant Dr. Watson. The plot of the movie directed by Guy Ritchie is not following one of Doyle’s narration but presents an original story with Holmes facing a new enemy, Lord Blackwell (played by Mark Strong) who is planning a satanic conspiracy endangering the entire country.
After last year’s tragic death of actor Heath Ledger, Hollywood is loosing another young talent. Actress Brittany Murphy was declared dead yesterday, Sunday 20th December, after paramedics urgently transported her to Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Murphy’s husband, writer-producer Simon Monjack, and mother Sharon found her in the shower in a state of unconsciousness and immediately called for rescue.
Mel Gibson is due to start his next movie as a director in autumn 2010 and has chosen Leonardo di Caprio to be the main feature. The film, with no title as yet, will be based on a Viking epic, written by William Monahan and produced by Graham King. Other than the official agreements of those involved in the project, not much is known regarding the plot and further details.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a wonderful movie. Really, wonderful is the word for this fantasy tail that nevertheless has so much reality in it. For those who loved Benigni’s Life is Beautiful, we are sure the same feeling will go for Pan’s. Although these might look to be two very different movies, there is in fact endless food for thought that spurs out of both these two great pieces of work. That is because both have skilfully put the viewer in the fading margin that lies between reality and imagination.