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 Science of Sleep (2006)
7.3/10
Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Emma De Caun...
Director Michel Gondry returned to France to direct his own screenplay, a surreal and entrancing journey into the mind of young idealist Stephane (Gae... Read more
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2006)
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones, Julio Cedillo
Veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones wears the director's hat for the first time with this poetic homage to the Tex-Mex western, written by Guillermo Arriaga... Read more
The Valet ( La Doublure ) (2006)
6.6/10
Director: Francis Veber
Starring: Gad Elmaleh, Daniel Auteuil, Alice Taglioni, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Berry...
Master of the French farce, Francis Veber, combines wacky slapstick with quick-fire dialogue in this tale of marital deception, as the ubiquitous Fran... 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
The White Masai (2005)
Director: Hermine Huntgeburth
Starring: Nina Hoss, Jacky Ido, Katja Flint, Antonio Prester
A truly incredible love story based on Corinne Hofmann's autobiography about her journey to Kenya and her culture-shock romance with a Masai warrior.... Read more
The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)
7.5/10
Director: Ken Loach
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Mary Riordan,...
Ken Loach takes on the Irish-English conflict through a story of two brothers who wind up on differing sides of a philosophical divide after joining i... Read more
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
6.8/10
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, James Fleet, Stephen Fry, Naomie Har...
As with their previous collaboration ('24 Hour Party People'), Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan subvert the medium; making a film about a 'docume... Read more
Wah-Wah (2005)
6.9/10
Director: Richard E Grant
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Nicholas Hoult, Emily Watson, Julie Walters,...
South African-born actor Richard E Grant makes his directorial debut with this semi-autobiographical comedy/drama set against the colonial British wit... 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
Waves (2006)
6.7/10
Director: Li Tao
Follows brief periods in the lives of four Chinese teenagers attending high school in New Zealand, achieving a rare level of intimacy that keeps you f... Read more