Kosmorama 2010 - reviews

The festival is over and here are my thoughts on the movies I saw. All in all it was a great festival, but then again, how bad can it be to watch movies all day long :P

My Name is Khan (India)
An Indian boy with Asperger syndrome moves to USA and meets the love of his life. This is a LONG movie. It contains too many stories and all in all it's not believable or realistic.

The shock doctrine (UK)
An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance. Interesting ideas that keep you thinking throughout the movie and can stir up quite the discussion. Really worth a look.

Sergio (USA)
This is a documentary about the life and work of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and the rescue operation when he was trapped and injured by a bomb explosion at UN headquarters in Baghdad. It's a very personal movie which moves you in a way you wouldn't expect from a documentary.

R (Denmark)
GO SEE! It's a powerful movie from the great nation of Denmark. We follow Rune who is convicted of murder and incarcerated. Life in prison is no joke. Apparently were all the situations based on true stories and the only professional actor in the movie is Rune - the others are former inmates, some even served time in the closed prison used in the movie.

Lebanon (Israel/Germany)
We follow 4 young Israeli soldiers during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. They are sent with a tank to search a hostile town, a simple mission that turns into a nightmare. This movie shows so clearly how there are no winners in war and that no matter which side you are on people have the same emotions.

Francesca (Romania)
Wanting to follow the current trend, Francesca, a young teacher from Bucharest, is eager to emigrate to Italy. The plan is that her boyfriend, Mita, is going to join her in Italy as soon as he closes the small business he runs. Things take an unfortunate turn and priorities change. I found the story to be somewhat boring, but the movie itself is nicely made.

Ander (Spain)
Ander, a farmer well into his forties, lives with his sister Arantxa and his old mother in a remote part of rural Basque country. One day Ander has an accident and breaks his leg. Against his mother's wishes, the family decides to employ a Peruvian immigrant, José, in order to help out with the farm work. When he invites José to Arantxa's wedding this leads to a serious clash with his mother. And then, at a completely unexpected moment, a sexual encounter occurs between the two men. A sweet story but it is slightly too long and the colors faded which is a shame as this is shot in beautiful surroundings.

Eyes Wide Open (Israel)
A married, Orthodox Jewish father of four falls in love with a twenty two year old male student. A wonderful story about love in the most forbidden way.

Leo's Room (Uruguay/Argentina)
Leo, a young man coming to terms with his own sexuality, runs into Caro, a primary school friend he fancied when they were kids, who's now trying to ward off her own personal demons. This casual re-encounter will affect their personal conflicts without either truly grasping the others problem. This was the third gay themed movie of the day, and of the three I found Eyes wide open to be more interesting, but Leo's Room was entertaining and light but still with some thought worthy topics.

Ein Augenblick Freiheit (France/Austria/Turkey)
We follow a group of Iranian refugees that travel to Turkey in the search for a new and better life. It has a good combination humor, sadness and realness to it. It's not the most compelling movie I've seen but it is definitely worth a look.

Blessed (Australia)
This is probably the best movie of the festival. So powerful and so wonderfully made. During the first part we follow 7 lost children with a strong backdrop of contemporary Melbourne. Then the movie changes perspectives and we follow the mothers of these children. This change is quite interesting filmatically and narratively. A well made movie with a strong story!

En ganske snill mann (Norway)
This movie from Norwegian top director Hans Petter Moland was such a surprise. It's hilarious and Stellan Skarsgård does an amazing job as the main character. I have never laughed this hard of a Norwegian movie.

Snøhulemannen (Norway)
Sverre has lived in snow caves the last 30 years. This documentary takes us on a fantastic journey of the Norwegian countryside. A funny, philosophical and poignant film about total freedom.