OM SARA
Language: Swedish
Drama (2005)
Directed by Othman Karim
Starring Linda Zilliacus
Sara is in her early 20s and lives in Malmo, in the south of Sweden. Her father is dead, and Sara has to put her mother into a hospital. Her boyfriend Kalle is a celebrated soccer player and likes the high life fame brings. Sara, however, wants to study and work. Despite clearly different life goals, they marry only to split up later. The job is also in the way of her next big relationship. Failing to get a proper man in her life, Sara decides to have a baby, not necessarily being married. At this stage, she falls for a carpenter working on her old house. Is she getting desperate or love conquers it all?
The film was screened and awarded at Moscow International Film Festival.
MR. NOBODY
Language: English
Fantasy Drama/Canada/Belgium/France (2009)
Directed by Jaco Van Dormael
Starring Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and others
These days American actor Jared Leto is more often seen recording songs, shooting music videos and performing with his alternative-rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, than acting in films. However, he made an exception for Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael to star in this weird tale of a man with a very suggestive name – Nemo Nobody. Nobody leads an ordinary life with his wife, Elise (Polley) and their three children, until one day he wakes up as an old man living in the year 2092. Moreover, he turns out to be both the oldest living human and the only mortal still remaining– since in this future society nobody dies anymore. But what Nobody himself cares about is to know whether he has lived the right life, loved the woman he was meant to love and had the children he was meant to have.
I KILLED MY MOM
Language: French
Biography/Drama Canada (2009)
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Starring Xavier Dolan and others
Teenager Hubert is a gay Montreal teenager who like many of his peers can’t find the same language with his mother. Irritated by her tacky sweaters, unrefined language, and kitsch decorations, he spews out hatred. And yet he can’t help loving her programmed by nature. Confused, Hubert leaves his mother out of his artistic discoveries, sexual relationships, and friendships. The turbulent relationship between mother and son unfolds with a compelling combination of savage fury and melting affection. An hour long film a semi-autobiographical directing debut of 20-year-old actor Xavier Dolan.
THE VANISHING POINT (CE QUE MES YEUX ONT VU)
Language: French
Fantasy Drama/Mystery/France(2007)
Directed by Laurent de Bartillat
Starring Sylvie Testud, Jean-Pierre Marielle, James Thierree and others
Coming out just a year after “The Da Vinci Code,” “The Vanishing Point” offered a European take on the mystery involving a famous artist and hidden messages in his paintings. Made by a French director with French actor, “The Vanishing Point” is a lot more humane and subtle than the “Code,” though there are plenty of logical holes here as well. But if you refrain from analyzing the film much, you may still enjoy it.
A history student, Lucy (Testud) is trying to trace the identity of a female figure pictured from behind on a painting by French artist Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). At the same time she develops an awkward relationship with mute street mime Vincent (Thierree). Soon after, however, Vincent falls into a coma. But just before he does, he shows Lucie a picture of himself as a child in an institution for children with disabilities. Coincidentally (or not?) the photograph provides Lucie with another lead to her Watteau mystery. On the picture she sees a work by another French artist, Gilles-Marie Oppenord, which, she believes, holds a key to Watteau’s life and career.
SILENT LIGHT
Language: Dutch
Drama – Mexico, France, Netherlands, Germany
Directed by Carlos Reygadas
It’s a story about religious Swedish outcasts, Mennonites, who end up in Mexico living in a closed community. Speaking a weird mixture of Russian and German, they also stick out with their white skin and blonde hair. Rejecting most modern comforts, they are still not as pious as it seems on the surface. Lead character Johan, whose married, falls in love with another woman and is tormented with guilt. Director Carlos Reygadas’s powerful drama won the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.
ZHOVTEN
26 Konstyantynivska, 205-5951,
www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua
Om Sara
Aug 5-11 at 3:40pm and 7:20pm
Aug 7,8 at 12:10pm
Mr Nobody
Aug 5-11 at 7:10pm and 9.10pm
I Killed My Mom
Aug 5-11 at 2:05pm and 7:30pm;
The Vanishing Point
Aug 5-11 at 2:15pm and 5:55pm;
Silent Light
Aug 5, 6, 9, 11 at 3.40pm;
Aug 7-8 at 11:55am
