MAISON DE HIMIKO (Japan)

I am racking my brain trying to remember my list of good movies to recommend and I am surprised how much this one will not leave my head!

It is a fun movie!! A movie that will leave you feeling happy!

A plain faced girl is visited by a very handsome young man only to find that he bears a message from her father, his lover. Her father, we later learn, is the founder of a controversial retirement home for gays, a quiet resting place and sanctuary for those wishing to cross-dress and look beautiful in their old age.

Of course, the place and the people living there face hard social problems but the film is surprisingly calm, bearing its message quietly, point blank.

I think the film is very cleverly made, sweet and happy.

I hope you will be able to find it…

Sherlock Jr.

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Buster Keaton at his best!!!

The night shift film projectionist in a movie theater dreams of becoming the next Sherlock Holmes.

This short film with no color and no sound is so unbelievably entertaining it outshines every high tec CG movie in the world!! Reel Stupefaction! Every moment the film is running you will be enthralled, amazed or laughing out loud! The story is clever and the acting is magic!

In this film Buster Keaton dishes out his greatest stunts. Stunt after stunt after stunt! Stunts that are so dangerous any one of them could have taken his life!! I tell you, the making of this film can be a film in and of its self.

The greatest comedian’s greatest movie!!

TIME magazine comments on Sherlock Jr.

"American surrealism? Sure. But let's not get fancy about it. It is more significantly, a great example of American minimalism—simple objects and movement manipulated in casually complex ways to generate a steadily rising gale of laughter. The whole thing is only 45 minutes long, not a second of which is wasted. In an age when most comedies are all windup and no punch, this is the most treasurable of virtues."—R.S.

Birdman of Alcatraz

Directed by John Frankenheimer. With Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Thelma Ritter.

This is a beautiful movie! It is about a young man who develops a friendship with birds while spending 45 years in solitary confinement. (Also interesting because one can see how different solitary confinement used to be). It is based on a true story.

The movie is famous, yes. But this is one of the good greats! Worth seeing. Quiet but touching. I would not say it is an especially deep movie but it is just so much better than what Hollywood makes today. No obvious good guy, bad guy with the happy ending. The characters are characters, real and meaningful, and their relationships with each other present a complexity and subtlety U.S. moves seems to have lost.

It is historically beautiful both as a story and as a movie.

Intacto (España, 2001)

Intacto is a wonderful thriller from the Oscar Nominated Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, nominated for a short film titled ‘Esposados’ in 1997. This is his first feature-length film, and a kick ass one at that.

It is a complex and gripping thriller which deals with the notion of luck... who has it, who doesn´t, and what kinds of games you might try out if your really feel "lucky." What is especially interesting about the film is how convincing the argument presented is, namely that the lucky are really sponges which absorb the luck of others (an interesting way of considering how someone´s good fortune is another´s worst possible scenario).

The actors in the film are superb, and entirely convincing in their roles. I would reccomend this to anyone who is interested in suspense and thrills.

Intacto - Trailer

(Vease una critica en Español en: http://canalcine.ozu.es/datos/peliculas/pelicula151101.html)

Basta Un Niente (Italia, 2006)

Directed by Ivan Polidoro, this film is a wonderfully lighthearted, well-articulated comedy about middle age, identity crisis, and figuring a way out of your slump.

It had been a while since I had seen a movie which left me with that warm glowing feeling in my chest that I usually only associate with being completely in love...

All the acting is superb, and the film is funny throughout. I wholly recommend this for anyone of any age who is interested in catching a glimpse of Italy's lighter side.