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'.
The Aura (2004)
7.2/10
Director: Fabian Bielinsky
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Dolores Fonzi, Alejandro Awada, Pablo Cedron, Jorge D'Elia, Nahue...
A spell-binding and richly textured heist film centred around an epileptic taxidermist who leads an isolated existence, harbouring fantasies of pullin... Read more
Scared Sacred (2004)
Director: Velcrow Ripper
An award-winning, film festival favourite, this uplifting documentary travels to the world's 'ground zeros', finding hope in the most unlikely of plac... Read more
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
7.6/10
Director: Mamoru Oshii
This highly anticipated sequel sees the return of Batou, the Section 9 cyborg cop who has almost nothing of his human self left - just a part of his b... Read more
Pulse (2001)
6.6/10
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki , Kurume Arisaka, Masatoshi Matsuo
After one of their friends commits suicide, strange things begin happening to a group of young Tokyo residents. One sees visions of his dead friend in... Read more
Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)
7.6/10
Director: Michel Ocelot
An enchanting animated adventure inspired by the folk stories of Senegal and showing how a young boy, the tiny but brave Kirikou, outwits a powerful s... Read more
Ghost in the Shell ( Blu-ray ) (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
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
The Passenger (1975)
7.6/10
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre
Antonioni's suspenseful and haunting adventure is a portrait of a drained journalist, covering a guerrilla war in North Africa who exchanges identitie... Read more
A Fistful of Dynamite ( aka Duck You Sucker ) (1972)
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Romolo Valli, Rod Steiger, James Coburn
James Coburn is top-billed as an Irish soldier of fortune with a penchant for explosives. Rod Steiger plays another mercenary who wants to utilize Cob... Read more
The Great Dictator ( Blu-ray + DVD ) (1940)
8.5/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Chaplin's first talkie stands as one of his greatest achievements. In this touching and often hilarious political spoof on the Third Reich, Chaplin pl... Read more