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 Gold (2006)
7.2/10
Director: Marc Francis, Nick Francis
Multinational coffee companies rule our shopping malls and dominate an industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commod... Read more
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005)
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Yeong-ae Lee, Il-woo Nam, Byeong-ok Kim, Bu-seon Kim, Mi-ran Ra
The final instalment in Chan-wook Park's vengeance trilogy, after 'Sympathy for Mr Vengeance' and 'Old Boy', this follows the story of Guem-ja, impris... Read more
Lonesome Jim (2005)
6.6/10
Director: Steve Buscemi
Starring: Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Mary Kay Place, Seymour Cassel, Kevin Corrigan
Steve Buscemi directs this low-key comedy/drama about Jim (Casey Affleck) a chronically gloomy, aspiring novelist returning home to his parents' home... Read more
Jindabyne (2006)
6.3/10
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, John Howard, Deborra-Lee Furness, Stelios Yiakmis,...
From the director of 'Lantana', this enigmatic psychodrama examines the consequences of the actions of four men who go on a fishing trip and don't all... Read more
The Method (2005)
7.3/10
Director: Marcelo Pineyro
Starring: Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri, Eduard Fernandez, Pablo Echarri, Ernesto Alterio,...
A cutting corporate satire from Spain, based on a famous play by Jordi Galceran, it features seven job applicants who turn up for an interview and fin... Read more
The Waimate Conspiracy (2006)
2.7/10
Director: Stefen Lewis
Starring: David McPhail, Mark Hadlow, Jim Moriarty, Helen Pearse-Otene, Janice Gray
Based on the director's comedic 1999 novel, 'The Waikikimukau Conspiracy', this grass-roots mockumentary focuses on a group of South Island Maori who... Read more
A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006)
7.9/10
Director: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack
An astoundingly sobering and unashamedly apocalyptic documentary about the world's obsession with oil, when it's going to run out, and what will happe... 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
Keane (2005)
7/10
Director: Lodge Kerrigan
Starring: Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Amy Ryan, Tina Holmes, Liza Colon-Zayas
We first meet Keane (Damian Lewis), an unkempt, thirty-something, searching desperately at a New York bus terminal for his six-year-old daughter who w... Read more
Water (2005)
7.8/10
Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, Jon Abrahams, Sarala , Manorama
The long-awaited and controversial third instalment of Deepa Mehta's Elemental Trilogy, the film production was shut down in 2000 by Hindu fundamental... Read more