Film Festivals 2006
Another eclectic clutch of fine cinema from around the world. The 30th Telecom International Festival kicked off this year with Ken Loach's 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', exploring tense Anglo-Irish relations in the 1920s; auteur Terrence Malick returned to filmmaking with a different story of colonialism, an eerily dream-like re-telling of the Pocahontas story and the 'conquering' of 'The New World'. Speaking of dreams, the innovative Michel Gondry gave us the enchanting 'The Science of Sleep', Richard Linklater came out with the animated 'A Scanner Darkly' and Korean Joon-ho Bong revisited the monster movie nightmare with fan favourite, 'The Host'. More personal stories included the excellent Canadian coming of age flick 'CRAZY', Tommy Lee Jones's 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'; low-key thriller 'Keane' and a blackly humourous tale of the prodigal son, 'Lonesome Jim'.
Black Sun (2005)
7.5/10
Director: Gary Tarn
Starring: Hugues de Montalembert
While living in New York in 1978, British painter and filmmaker Hugues de Montalembert fell victim to a random mugging, paint remover was thrown in hi... Read more
Brick (2005)
7.4/10
Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Noah Fleiss, Matt O'Leary, Emil...
A fresh take on the hard-boiled noir, this festival hit stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an outsider teen-turned-stoic gumshoe after his ex-girl (Emilie... Read more
CRAZY (2005)
3.7/10
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Starring: Michel Cote, Marc-Andre Grondin, Danielle Proulx, Emile Vallee, Pierre-Luc Brill...
Zac Beaulieu was born on Christmas Day in 1960 and lives with his parents and four brothers in Quebec. He grows up longing for acceptance from his ho... Read more
Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)
7.2/10
Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: etc ..., Dave Chappelle, Mos Def
Innovative comic Dave Chappelle treats a Brooklyn neighbourhood to a free block party with guests like Kanye West, Mos Def and, re-united after seven... Read more
Event 16 (2006)
4.7/10
Director: Derek Pearson
Starring: Peter Rutherford, Jocelyn Christian, Ezra Keddell, Julian White, John Porter
Kiwi writer/director Derek Pearson's debut feature is this engrossing and effects-heavy sci-fi murder mystery set in Wellington in 1893, 2006 and 2038... Read more
Factotum (2005)
6.6/10
Director: Bent Hamer
Starring: Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, Adrienne Shelly, Didier...
The life of celebrated poet, novelist and wild man Charles Bukowski is examined in this darkly humourous, booze-drenched adaptation of his novel. Mat... Read more
Fateless (2006)
7/10
Director: Lajos Koltai
Starring: Marcell Nagy, Aron Dimeny, Andras M Kecskes, Joszef Gyabronka, Daniel Craig
A subtle, yet disturbing and profoundly moving drama about a Hungarian Jewish boy's life-changing experiences in Nazi concentration camps, and his att... Read more
Four Minutes (2006)
6.9/10
Director: Chris Kraus
Starring: Monica Bleibtreu, Hannah Herzsprung
Former pianist Traude Kruger (Monica Bleibtreu) has been driving to the same women's prison at Luckau almost every morning since 1944. She teaches her... Read more
Friends with Money (2006)
5.8/10
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Jason Isaacs...
Jennifer Aniston, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener and Frances McDormand headline this vibrant comedy-drama as four friends who are re-evaluating their l... Read more
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
8/10
Director: Mamoru Oshii
In early 21st century Japan, the search for a criminal computer genius known as 'The Puppet Master' sends a cyborg policewoman on a dangerous search,... Read more