A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
Director:
Juan José Campanella
Stars:
Ricardo Darín,
Soledad Villamil,
Pablo Rago
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Director:
Thomas Vinterberg
Stars:
Mads Mikkelsen,
Thomas Bo Larsen,
Annika Wedderkopp
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director:
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Stars:
Ulrich Mühe,
Martina Gedeck,
Sebastian Koch
A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.
Director:
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Stars:
Emilio Echevarría,
Gael García Bernal,
Goya Toledo
When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts.
A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to the Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.Written by
Mylène Chollet
"Incendies" is French for conflagrations (or fires), but the film kept its French title in many countries, including the USA. In many countries, the title translates to "Incendies - The Woman who Sings". See more »
Goofs
In Nawal Marwan's passport the birth date shows 1949 in Latin script whereas, in Arabic, it shows 1953. See more »
Scorched is a good translation of the French title. That's how you'll feel by the end.
This Canadian movie, based on a play by a Lebanese writer, is set mostly in Jordan and is a tale of a twin brother and sister (son and daughter) looking for their roots after the death of their mother. It's quite amazing.
Don't think this is some feel-good flick. What it shows first of all, better than almost any movie I've seen, is the reality of life in wartime in the Mideast (pick your country). The ruthless, bloody, sectarian violence is made intimate in the worst way, or best way cinematically—you hate it, and feel it. This is the huge strength of the movie, giving light to the dilemmas of ordinary people trying to survive, literally, the mayhem.
Equally important is how the daughter's view of her mother changes as she learns more and more about her. The daughter is forced to do this because of a request in her mother's will, but she takes it on, in a more recent Jordan, with utter determination.
The movie is divided into two time periods. The first belongs to the mother in an ongoing series of harrowing flashbacks. The second belongs to the daughter, and eventually the son, as they look for surviving members of the mother's past. The steely force of will of the daughter turns out to be a mere shadow of the strength of her mother, and you droop in admiration and sympathy for all of them.
The huge, dramatic hook of the movie, which you only learn as the characters learn it at the very end of the movie, isn't something I can talk about here. But for outrageousness it puts Shakespeare to shame—and it was for me also a distraction. Your jaw drops and you think, oh how awful (and more)! But a part of my brain was also saying, this is too much, it isn't contributing to the truth and emotional depth of these characters.
It might even undermine them slightly, reminding us this is a stage play, an artifice.
But that's a nagging quibble. This is really a powerful movie, beautifully rendered, and acted with unusual intensity. It's rough (realistically violent) in a few spots, but it's worth it. Wow.
6 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Incendies (2010)
Scorched is a good translation of the French title. That's how you'll feel by the end.
This Canadian movie, based on a play by a Lebanese writer, is set mostly in Jordan and is a tale of a twin brother and sister (son and daughter) looking for their roots after the death of their mother. It's quite amazing.
Don't think this is some feel-good flick. What it shows first of all, better than almost any movie I've seen, is the reality of life in wartime in the Mideast (pick your country). The ruthless, bloody, sectarian violence is made intimate in the worst way, or best way cinematically—you hate it, and feel it. This is the huge strength of the movie, giving light to the dilemmas of ordinary people trying to survive, literally, the mayhem.
Equally important is how the daughter's view of her mother changes as she learns more and more about her. The daughter is forced to do this because of a request in her mother's will, but she takes it on, in a more recent Jordan, with utter determination.
The movie is divided into two time periods. The first belongs to the mother in an ongoing series of harrowing flashbacks. The second belongs to the daughter, and eventually the son, as they look for surviving members of the mother's past. The steely force of will of the daughter turns out to be a mere shadow of the strength of her mother, and you droop in admiration and sympathy for all of them.
The huge, dramatic hook of the movie, which you only learn as the characters learn it at the very end of the movie, isn't something I can talk about here. But for outrageousness it puts Shakespeare to shame—and it was for me also a distraction. Your jaw drops and you think, oh how awful (and more)! But a part of my brain was also saying, this is too much, it isn't contributing to the truth and emotional depth of these characters.
It might even undermine them slightly, reminding us this is a stage play, an artifice.
But that's a nagging quibble. This is really a powerful movie, beautifully rendered, and acted with unusual intensity. It's rough (realistically violent) in a few spots, but it's worth it. Wow.