YOU DON'T KNOW JACK

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK

The Story:
In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian (aka Dr. Death), assisted in more than 130 suicides. After willingly sending a videotape of himself euthanizing a terminally ill man to "60 Minutes," he was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder and spent eight years in prison before getting paroled in 2007. Loosely based on Neal Nicol and Harry Wylie's book "Between the Dying and the Dead: Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Life and the Battle to Legalize Euthanasia"

Dr. Jack Kevorkian (Al Pacino) was a 61-year-old former pathologist. Kevorkian launched his crusade to provide assisted suicide to people who are terminally ill, a procedure that he considered to be a humane and dignified option for for the end of life.
Kevorkian was assisted in his crusade by his friend Neal Nicol (John Goodman) and Kevorkian's older sister Margo Janus (Branda Vacarro), Kevorkian begins offering “death counseling” services to a growing clientele, seemingly grateful for his services. Kevorkian earned the support of Hemlock Society activist Janet Good (Susan Sarandon), but he also attracted the wrath of the county prosecutor’s office.

Starring:
Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Danny Huston, Brenda Vaccaro

Directed By:
Barry Levinson

Release:
2010

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LE HERISSON (THE HEDGEHOG)

LE HERISSON (The HEDGEHOG) (France)

The Story:

Paloma (Garance Le Guillermica) precocious 11-years-old girl from a Parisian bourgeois family that she despises, and an intellectual concierge – Renée Michel – who hides books in a backroom and soothes loneliness by eating tons of chocolate. Paloma is a highly introspective girl who wittily analyses the vanity and mediocrity of the world she comes from, and is strongly determined not to be part of it. Paloma continuously sneaks away and hides in places where she cannot be found.

She casts an outsider look on her world by delivering ultra-critical existentialist observation on her family that, in turn, largely ignore her. That makes her a privileged observer of the vices and weaknesses of her family members who she films with her father's old Hi-8 in order to leave a documented legacy of the reasons why she will commit suicide on her 12th birthday. On the other side, Renée (Josiane Balasko), the concierge of the building where Paloma lives with her family – is a surly widow who makes any effort to match the stereotype of an ordinary concierge while she spends night reading novels in the backroom of her apartment whose door is closed throughout the day. Renée is aware that none of the snobbish tenants of the block would want an eccentric concierge, and that is why she prefers to go unnoticed. What both Paloma and Renée have in common is that they do not want glances to be casted on themselves. In fact, they both perceive that they can keep their space of liberty only by going unseen.

When Mr Kakoru Ozu (Togo Igawa), a sophisticated Japanese widower – moves in one of the apartments following the death of a former tenant, he detects Renée's cultured side and Paloma's wit at once. Through Mr Ozu's mediation, soon Paloma starts to perceive Renée as a potential ally and confidant. Slowly, Renée lets Paloma into her apartment and consents to be filmed for Paloma's documentary. At the same time, Renée starts a delicate love affair with Mr Ozu that literally transforms her. That is how we found out that the hedgehog of the title is Renée herself: “spiky on the outside, but elegant on the inside” as Paloma says to Mr Ozu. That very elegance will be determinant for Paloma's future decisions as her 12th birthday approaches.

Starring:

Josiane Balasko, Garance Le Guillermic, Togo Igawa, Anne Brochet, Ariane Ascaride

Directed By:

Mona Achache

Release:

2010

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VALHALLA RISING

VALHALLA RISING

The Story:
“1000 AD, for years, One Eye (Mads Mikkelsen), a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde (Alexander Morton). Aided by Are (Maarten Steven), a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, they join a band of Christian crusaders on a journey by longboat to reconquer the Holy Land of Jerusalem, but they all get lost along the way - first on the still-as-death, fog-bound waters, and then on the unknown shores that they eventually reach, traveling up-river into the heart of darkness. Each man is searching for something different, but as they are assailed by delirium, disorientation and despair - not to mention unseen natives - the pilgrims find themselves being led through this new kingdom of the blind by a one-eyed killer, towards a destiny that only he can see.

Starring:
Mads Mikkelsen, Alexander Morton, Maarten Stevenson, Gary Lewis, Stewart Porter, Jamie Sives

Directed By:
Nicolas Winding Refn

Release:
2010

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