Japanese Circuit
Posted: November 29, 2009
(L) Newlywed Ryoko Hirosue bids farewell to her husband Hidetoshi Nishijima at the train station then a few days later (R) comes looking for him after his unexplained disappearance
Zero Focus (Zero no Shuten, ゼãƒã®ç„¦ç‚¹)
Director: Isshin Inudou
Screenwriters: Kenji Nakazono, Isshin Inudou
Stars:
Ryoko Hirosue … Sadako
Miki Nakatani … Sachiko
Takashi Kaga … Gisaku
Tae Kimura … Hisako
Tri-genre: crime mystery suspense
Story Situation: riddle
Satisfaction Rating: above average
Maturity Rating: 0+
Plotline: About 1957. One week into Ryoko Hiroshue’s arranged marriage, her husband Hidetoshi Nishijima fails to return from a brief business trip. When his employer calls to inquire about his whereabouts, she decides to follow him to Kanazawa. There she triggers a sequence of murders when she questions two women, Miki Nakatani and Tae Kimura, from her husband’s client company. As events progress, she realizes her husband led a double life and that she is tracking a serial killer from inside the world of prostitution.
Comment: Until his death in 1992, mystery writer Seicho Matsumoto was Japan’s Raymond Chandler, providing a literary wellspring for multitudes of films and television shows. This prestige remake of a 1961 film offers a more faithful version of Matsumoto’s popular novel of the same name. Visualized in the style of a Hitchcock thriller, Zero Focus also includes a protracted Ellory Queen wrap-up explanation upon revelation of the killer that, although commonplace in Japanese cinema, tends not to play well in other markets.
Korean Circuit
Posted: November 29, 2009
Comedic actors Yeh-jin Park (L) and Chang-jung Lim
- Yeh-jin Park … Tae-rang
- Chang-jung Lim … Seung-won
- Yeong-hie Seo … Ji-hye
Fortune Salon (Cheongdam Bosal, ì²ë‹´ë³´ì‚´)
Yeh-jin Park as clairvoyant to the stars
Supermodel gorgeous, 27-year-old virgin and gifted clairvoyant to the stars Yeh-jin Park has the worst luck in men even though she specializes in helping her celebrity clients find love. When she was a child, her equally clairvoyant mother told her she would meet her true Mr. Right before she turns 28: His birthdate will be 11 pm on May 16. One day, while walking down the street in a ritzy section of Seoul, down-on-his-luck ex-race horse jockey turned parttime stable boy Chang-chung Lim spots a 10,000-won bill ($1.45) and unintentionally throws himself in front of Yeh-jin’s car. In the aftermath of the accident, Yeh-jin gets Chang-chung to the hospital and offers him a generous cash settlement. Concurrently, she coincidentally reconnects with handsome old boyfriend Jun-hyeok Lee. Then she learns that scruffy good-for-nothing Chan-chung was born at 11 pm on May 16.
Spanish Circuit
Posted: November 29, 2009
SPAIN
Incognito prison guard Alberto Ammann (L) befriends riot leader Luis Tosar
- Alberto Ammann … Juan Oliver
- Luis Tosar … Malamadre (Best Actor recipient - Goya award)
- Carlos Bardem … Apache
- Marta Etura … Elena (2-time Best Actress nominee - Goya award)
- Daniel Monzon (Best New Director recipient - Goya award)
Celda 211 (Cell 211)
Accidentally knocked unconscious and left in cell 211 at the outbreak of a prison riot, new guard Alberto Ammann must pose as an inmate, develop raport with riot leader Luis Tosar and quell a spreading nationwide Basque separatist riot in order to get back home to his pregnant wife Marta Etura.
Sandra Bullock — Courage at the Top
Sandra Bullock in 'The Blind Side'
Bullock with Ryan Reynolds in 'The Proposal'
At a career stage when most lead actresses fade from the limelight, Sandra Bullock emerged this year with her two personal best box office openers: The Proposal and The Blind Side. Moreover, with her all-time top opener The Blind Side, she did it on her own … as the sole marquee anchor … in a marketplace crowded with new event pictures … by delivering a charismatic Oscar-worthy performance … like nothing she has done before … in a genre different from her usual chick-flick comedies, phone-it-in romances and thrillers buoyed by a popular male co-star. Bullock ought to garner great respect within industry circles for creating this compassionate in-your-face mother character as well as for her bold choice in selecting this project.
Certainly, Bullock knew that if The Blind Side did not work with audiences, studio chiefs might well have regarded it as a decline in her stardom. Instead Bullock signals that her best is yet to come.
Turkish Circuit
Posted: November 4, 2009
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World's Favorite Films 2010
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World Favorite Foreign Language Films 2010
Yip Man 2 (Chinese)
My Name Is Khan (Bollywood)
Nodame Cantabile 2 (Japanese)
Blood Brothers: Secret Reunion (Korean)
L'arnacoeur (French)
Doraemon: Mermaid Adventure (Japanese)
Little Big Soldier (Chinese)
La rafle (French)
Io, loro e Lara (Italian)
Liar Game (Japanese)
Our Rossiya (Russian)
Younger Brother (Japanese)
Housefull (Bollywood)
Harmony (Korean)
Go Lala Go (Chinese)
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2 (Chinese)
Chico Xavier (Portuguese)
Kandahar (Russian)
