Film Festivals 2004
Another great year for documentary fans with the gripping 'Capturing the Friedmans', political offerings 'Control Room', Robert McNamara in 'Fog of War', and the disturbing psyche of 'The Corporation'. For music lovers there was the fascinating 'End of the Century: The Sory of the Ramones', 'The Mayor of Sunset Strip', 'Metallica: Some Kind of Monster' and 'Festival Express'. Hector Babenco broke a long absence from directing with the powerhouse 'Carandiru' while Zhang Yimou's lush 'Hero' made it to New Zealand screens along with 'Motorcycle Diaries', gut-wrenching Korean flick 'Old Boy', heart-tugger 'Osama' and the delightful 'Triplets of Belleville' to name just a few.
My Life Without Me (2003)
7.6/10
Director: Isabel Coixet
Starring: Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, Amanda Plummer, Leonor Watling, Debo...
Ann (Sarah Polley) is 23, has two daughters, a husband (Scott Speedman), a fretting mother (Deborah Harry), lives in Vancouver, and discovers that she... Read more
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
7.7/10
Director: Denys Arcand
Starring: Remy Girard, Stephane Rousseau, Marie-Josee Croze, Dorothee Berryman
Reuniting the characters first introduced in his 1986 "The Decline of the American Empire," director Denys Arcand's Oscar-winning (Best Foreign Langua... Read more
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
7.9/10
Director: Satoshi Kon
In this unofficial animated remake of John Ford's "3 Godfathers" from director Satoshi Kon ("Perfect Blue"), three homeless people - an alcoholic, a t... Read more
Shattered Glass (2003)
7.2/10
Director: Billy Ray
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Melanie Lynskey,...
Gripping true story centres on Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen), a young journalist for The New Republic magazine who quickly wins over colleagues w... Read more
The Triplets of Belleville ( aka Belleville Rendez-vous ) (2003)
7.8/10
Director: Sylvain Chomet
In this offbeat, creative, original animated feature from France, Champion, an orphan who lives with his grandmother Madame Souza, turns his childhood... Read more
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003)
7.1/10
Director: Joan Churchill, Nick Broomfield
Starring: Aileen Wuornos
Returning to the subject of his 1992 documentary, "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer", co-director Nick Broomfield delves into Wuornos' t... Read more
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
7.9/10
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Four musicians from another galaxy are kidnapped by an evil manager to ultimately become the biggest band on Earth. Daft Punk's music meets Leiji Mats... Read more
Hero ( Blu-ray ) (2002)
7.9/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), Zhang Ziyi, Daoming Ch...
Director Zhang Yimou's highly stylized martial arts epic stars Jet Li as a nameless expert swordsman, who tells the ruler of one of ancient China's wa... Read more
Devdas (2002)
7.6/10
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Madhuri Dixit, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai
Set in the early 1900s, this film follows a young man named Devdas (Shahrukh Khan) on his way home to India after having spent the past ten years in L... Read more
Twin Sisters (2002)
7.5/10
Director: Ben Sombogaart
Starring: Thekla Reuten, Nadja Uhl, Ellen Vogel, Gudrun Okras
A.k.a. "De Tweeling". After the deaths of their parents, inseparable twin sisters Anna and Lotte Bamberg are cruelly separated at the age of six. Anna... Read more