I Am Love
MA15+
Italy, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian, Russian
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Flavio Parenti
What's it about?
Tilda Swinton's character won't win any mother of the year awards in this beautifully photographed story, but that's not why we've chosen it. Accompanied by an epic soundtrack, it's a real treat from director Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash), in which Tilda gives a flawless performance as a woman transformed by love. Her character Emma left Russia over two decades ago to follow Tancredi Recchi, the man who had proposed to her. As cracks in the family façade appear, she is reawakened to the forces of passion and unconditional love.
[link title="Why You Should Watch: I Am Love" url="node/26245"]
[link title="Dinner and a Movie: I Am Love" url="node/38107"]
[link title="I Am Love Review" url="node/5052"]
Beautiful Lies
M
France, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Language: French
Director: Pierre Salvadori
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila
What's it about?
A sweet French rom-com about the lengths we go to for family. Emilie (Audrey Tautou) receives an anonymous love letter and passes it on to her lonely mother, thinking it could be a way to boost her confidence. But Emilie doesn't yet know that Jean, her shy employee, is the letter's author.
[link title="Beautiful Lies Review" url="node/5539"]
Gloria
MA15+
Chile, 2012
Genre: Drama
Language: Spanish
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Starring: Paulina Garcia, Sergio Hernández, Hugo Moraga
What's it about?Actress Paulina García gives an arresting performance as Gloria, a 58-year-old divorcée whose children have left home and who is determined to defy old age and loneliness by hitting the singles scene and living life to the fullest. When she meets Rodolfo, an ex-naval officer seven years her senior, she starts believing it might lead to something more. This gorgeous Chilean drama offers a convincing and original account of the older dating scene, and though not a comedy, ensures plenty of laughs.
Gloria: Sebastián Lelio interview
Happy-Go-Lucky
M
UK, 2008
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman
What's it about?
This uplifting comedy by Mike Leigh (Mr. Turner) follows the adventures of Poppy, a life-loving, irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher who is thirty years old, single, and infinitely optimistic and accepting. When her bike is stolen, she begins driving lessons with a jaded and angry instructor, Scott. Their diametrically opposed personalities lead to some heated clashes, which will affect their world views.
[link title="Happy-Go-Lucky review: Colourful, carefree and irrepressibly cheerful" url="node/4485"]
Natural Selection
MA15+
USA, 2011
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Robbie Pickering
Starring: Rachael Harris, Jon Gries, Matt O'Leary, John Diehl
What's it about?
This charming indie won numerous prizes at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival, and benefits from a fantastic performance from actress Rachael Harris (The Hangover), as a Christian housewife whose life changes overnight when her husband dies from a stroke. At a sperm bank. Where he'd been secretly donating his sperm for the past 25 years. This revelation smarts given the fact that he had refused to have sex with her once he discovered that she was infertile. She decides to leave her sheltered world and embarks upon on a journey to find his eldest biological son - a mullet-headed, foul-mouthed ex-con with whom she develops an odd but meaningful relationship.
A Common Thread
M
France, 2004
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: French, Armenian
Director: Éléonore Faucher
Starring: Ariane Ascaride, Lola Naymark, Jackie Berroyer
What's it about?
A Common Threads (aka Sequins) is a delicate and understated gem about artistry, friendship and love. It centres on Claire, a young cashier at the local supermarket, who uses her spare time to create intricate embroidery designs. When she falls pregnant, she takes a job as an assistant by Madame Melikian (Ariane Ascaride, The Snows of Kilimanjaro), a master embroiderer who sews delicate ornamentation for top fashion houses like Lacroix. As times passes, and her belly grows rounder, an almost wordless friendship forms between the two women.
Cutie and the Boxer
PG
USA, 2013
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Zachary Heinzerling
Starring: Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara
What's it about?
This Oscar-nominated documentary explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of eccentric New York couple, renowned 'boxing' painter Ushio Shinohara and his illustrator wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own through her "Cutie" illustration work. This is a moving portrait of a couple wrestling with the eternal themes of sacrifice, disappointment and ageing, against a background of creative endeavour.
The Women on the 6th Floor
PG
France, 2010
Genre: Comedy
Language: French, Spanish
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Starring: Natalia Verbeke, Fabrice Luchini, Sandrine Kiberlain
What's it about?
Set Paris, 1962, this feel-good comedy follows a wealthy stockbroker Jean-Louis Jouvert (Fabrice Luchini), who lives a staid bourgeois existence with his perfectly-presented socialite wife. When the family’s maid abandons them, she is replaced by Maria, a young, hardworking Spanish beauty. Through Maria, Jean-Louis’ eyes are opened to a new and enchanting world of music, mayhem, and the joie de vivre of the other Spanish servants on the sixth floor, and before long the balance of the household ruptures into wild, cross-cultural chaos.
[link title="The Women on the 6th Floor Review" url="node/5718"]
Red Satin
M
Tunisia, 2002
Genre: Drama
Language: Arabic
Director: Raja Amari
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Maher Kamoun, Hend El Fahem
What's it about?
Red Satin is the story of a lonely woman who finds an unexpected, unorthodox and exhilarating way to dispel her loneliness. Lilia (played superbly by Hiam Abbass), an attractive widow, lives with her teenage daughter, Salma. She lives a rather sad existence, obsessively cleaning the house, watching TV and eating alone while her daughter is out with friends. One night Lilia goes looking for her daughter at a club and is seduced by the vibrant and sensuous world of belly dancers. Her life is changed irrevocably.
Watch The Movie Show original ★★★★ review
As It Is In Heaven
M
Sweden, 2004
Genre: Drama, Music
Language: Swedish
Director: Kay Pollak
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Lennart Jähkel
What's it about?
A 2005 Foreign Language Oscar nominee, As It Is in Heaven won hearts the world over (particularly in Australia, where it ran for 2 years at Sydney's Hayden Orpheum) with the story of a successful conductor who, after suffering from a massive heart failure on stage, puts his career on hold and goes back to live in his childhood village. There, the small local choir asks him if he can provide professional training, which he does - reluctantly. From that moment nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows, and the conductor makes both friends and enemies, and finds love.
