Favorite films

  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • Incendies
  • Princess Mononoke
  • The Skin I Live In

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  • Nightalk

    ★★½

  • The Nightmare

    ★★★

  • Marighella

    ★★★

  • R.M.N.

    ★★★

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  • Holy Spider

    Holy Spider

    ★★★★★

    Every person shall meet what they wish to avoid. – Ancient Persian proverb

    On the surface Saeed is a devout Shia Muslim and devoted family man, but when night falls he gets on a motorcycle, looks for sex workers, murders them, and dumps their bodies in fields. A one-man jihad against vice and immorality. In the ensuing media frenzy a lone female journalist from Tehran, Rahimi, vows to track the killer down, alone.

    Holy Spider is based on real events…

  • Snow and the Bear

    Snow and the Bear

    ★★★★★

    A bear, awakened early from hibernation and hungry, stalks the snow-covered forest of a remote and tiny mountain town. At the same time a young nurse, Aslı, arrives in the village to start a new life. There is a man in her way at every turn. Three men figure prominently on the list of the most threatening to her independence. Hasan is the conservative town drunk who hates bears almost as much as he hates women. Samet, a kind mountain…

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  • A Death in the Gunj

    A Death in the Gunj

    ★★★★½

    Femme fatale and a sensitive young man. The story of my life.

    In a resort town in 1970s India a sensitive young man, Shutu, is recovering from a series of traumas. He runs into the wrong family and the wrong woman. Even more unfortunate for him, spirits from the past inhabit people and take care of unfinished business.

    India isn’t all Bollywood. This film dares to think outside the box. I love how it weaves nature, color, song, spirits, eclectic people, and foreign myths into a compelling story. It is based on a true short story by Mukul Sharma.

  • The Whale

    The Whale

    ★★★★½

    “The author is just trying to save us from his own sad story.”

    At 600 pounds Charlie is on death’s door. He is isolated from the outside world, limited in his ability to even navigate the confined space of his apartment, and incapacitated by grief over the death of a loved one. Yet Charlie is not alone. A friend brings food and other support, he reaches out to an estranged daughter and ex-wife, and technology allows him to be a…

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  • In the Mood for Love

    In the Mood for Love

    ★★★★★

    In ancient times if someone had a secret they did not want to reveal, they went to a distant and beautiful place, whispered the secret into a hole, covered it with mud, and left the secret there forever.

    In Hong Kong, 1962, Mo-wan has such a secret. He is falling for the woman next door, Li-zhen. Each of them is married to an absent and cheating spouse, but neither wants to sink to that level. “We won’t be like them,”…

  • Much Loved

    Much Loved

    ★★★★

    To be surrounded and yet be alone. To be loved and yet be invisible. To be cast away even as you are embraced. Welcome to the life of a Moroccan prostitute. From the testimonies of 200 real-life sex workers, Nabil Ayouch defied censorship to provide a fascinating, intimate and luminous glimpse into the Moroccan underworld. The story follows the fictional yet realistic lives of four women caught up in a passive-aggressive world. Bribing the police, projecting beautiful yet fabricated images…