ANYTHING FOR HER

ANYTHING FOR HER (POUR ELLE)

The Story:
Lisa (Diane Kruger) and Julien (Vincent Lindon) are married and lead a happy, quiet existence with their son, Oscar (Lancelot Roch). One morning the police burst in and arrest Lisa for her boss’s murder, at an underground parking lot: her fingerprints were on the murder weapon (a fire extinguisher) and her boss’s blood was on her jacket. Lisa insists that another woman murdered her boss but the jury weren’t having it and Lisa got twenty years.

Over the next few years Julien battles the legal system to get his wife free, stopping at nothing to reunite his family. Losing the battle, Lisa gives up and attempts suicide. Julien can take no more and is determined to get her out of prison, whatever it takes, at any cost. The literature teacher formulates an elaborate Prison Break style plan to get her out, against all the odds...

Starring:
Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, Lancelot Roch, Olivier Marchal, Hammou Graïa, Liliane Rovère, Olivier Perrier, Moussa Maaskri, Rémi Martin, Thierry Godard

Directed By:
Fred Cavayé

Release:
2008

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MARK OF AN ANGEL

MARK of an ANGLE (L'EMPREINTE DE LANGE) French

The Story:
In a hospital Elsa Valentin (Catherine Frot) gives birth to a daughter, but the baby reportedly dies in a fire. Seven years later she is divorcing her husband Antoine (Antoine Chappey), and they fight over who gets custody over their 12-year-old son Thomas (Arthur Vaughan-Whitehead).

One day, at a children’s birthday party, she notices a little 6-year-old girl Lola (Héloïse Cunin). Immediately, she is convinced that Lola is the daughter she lost during a fire on the maternity ward. Obsessed by this uncontrollable feeling, she manipulatively inches her way into Lola’s life. Claire (Sandrine Bonnaire), Lola’s mother, allows a friendship to develop. Yet, gradually she becomes aware and fearful of Elsa’s unnatural behaviour to the point of insisting that she stop intruding in their lives. Elsa, seemingly crazy, challenges Claire by asking for DNA tests. The rivalry between the two mothers begins. An intense psychological face-off between two women who should never have met…

Starring:
Catherine Frot, Sandrine Bonnaire, Wladimir Yordanoff, Antoine Chappey, Michel Aumont, Sophie Quinton, Michele Moretti, Helois Cunn, Arthur Vaughan Whitehead, Zacharie Chasseriaud

Directed By:
Safy Nebbou

Release:
2008

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THE STRENGTH OF WATER

THE STRENGTH OF WATER

The Story:
Two 10-year-old Maori twins Kimi (Hato Paparoa) and Melody (Melaine Mayall-Nahi) live on a chicken farm with several siblings and hard-working parents Gibby and Joy (Jim Moriarty, Nancy Brunning).

The twins befriend Tai (IsaacBarber), a solitary young man who moves into the neighbouring dilapidated house of his dead grandfather. But when Tai and Melody take refuge from a barking dog, tragedy strikes unexpectedly, the asthmatic Melody dies, and Tai is widely blamed for the incident - especially by the girl’s older brother Gene (Shyane Biddle), whose gang starts a vendetta against the lonely outsider.

Meanwhile, Kimi angrily refuses to accept his sister’s death, so much so that she, or her ghost, sticks around to converse with him, unseen by others. While Kimi’s behaviour becomes increasingly volatile, a solicitous Melody calmly ponders the condition of afterlife, and reminds her brother to keep feeding their favourite hen.

Starring:
Nancy Brunning, Jim Moriarty, Melaine Mayall-Nahi, Hato Paparoa, Isaac Barber, Mick Innes, Pare Paseka

Directed By:
Armagan Ballantyne

Release:
2009

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THE CLASS

The Class (Entre les murs) (FRENCH)

The Story:
Teacher François Marin (François Bégaudeau), and his colleagues are preparing for another school year teaching at a racially mixed inner city high school in Paris. The teachers talk to each other about their prospective students, both the good and the bad. The teachers collectively want to inspire their students, but each teacher is an individual who will do things in his or her own way to achieve the results they desire. They also have differing viewpoints on the students themselves, and how best to praise and discipline them. The administration of the school tries to be as fair as possible, which includes having student representatives sit on the student evaluation committee. Marin's class this year of fourteen and fifteen year olds is no different than previous years, although the names and faces have changed. Marin tries to get through to his students, sometimes with success and sometimes resulting in utter failure. Even Marin has his breaking point, which may result in him doing things he would probably admit to himself are wrong. But after all is said and done, there is next year and another group of students.

Starring:
Francois Begaudeau, Esmeralda Ouertani, Franck Keita, Laura Baquela, Nassim Amrabt, Rachel Regulier

Directed By:
Laurent Cantet

Release:
2008

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SHERLOCK HOLMES

SHERLOCK HOLMES

The Story:
Set in 1891, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and his stalwart partner Watson (Jude Law) on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.

Starring:
Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly

Directed by:
Guy Ritchie

Release:
2009

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THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX) (German)

The Story:
The film begins in 1967. Klaus Rainer Röhl, publisher of the radical magazine Konkret, his wife Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) and his two small daughters spend their summer vacation in blissful nakedness on a nudist beach on the North Sea island of Sylt. On the front page of an illustrated magazine can be seen the picture of the Shah of Iran and his wife Farah Diba. Röhl explains to his daughters—against the protests of Meinhof—that the Shah tortures his opponents and cuts off their heads.

The anti-Shah demonstration of June 2. The Shah and his wife are arriving at the German Opera in Berlin. On the other side of the street—behind a dense police cordon—demonstrators wave banners and chant slogans. Between the police and the visiting Iranian monarch are his supporters—a group of well-trained brawny men in black suits—waving pro-Shah posters.

Suddenly, the Shah supporters cross the police line and begin to viciously beat up the peaceful demonstrators. A woman is bleeding. The police stand by, doing nothing. Finally, they pull out their truncheons and brutally drive apart the demonstrators. One sees the disbelieving, frightened and indignant faces. A shot rings out in a courtyard. The police officer Karl-Heinz Kurras has shot the student Benno Ohnesorg.

Now the events fast forward. In a Berlin apartment, the first bombs are being made. Rudi Dutschke addresses the Berlin congress against the Vietnam War and is shot down on the street. Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) set fire to a Frankfurt department store. They are arrested. Ulrike Meinhof takes part in their liberation. A person is seriously injured (accidentally) and the group submerges into the underground.

Trained by Fatah forces in Jordan in bank robberies and bombings, the arrested RAF members are kept in solitary confinement as a group in the high security wing of Stammheim prison. On television, radio and in secret messages, they follow how the second generation takes over the command and the terror escalates: cold-blooded attacks on prominent representatives of the state and big business, hostage-taking in the German embassy in Stockholm, and finally—in the "German autumn" of 1977—the abduction of Hans Martin Schleyer (Bernd Stegemann), president of the German Employers Association, as well as the hijacking of a Lufthansa plane by a Palestinian commando unit. The object of both actions is to secure the release of the prisoners in Stammheim.

Ulrike Meinhof is already dead by this time, found hanged in her prison cell. Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe are likewise found dead in their cells on the morning of October 18. Previously, a "special forces" operation had overwhelmed the hijackers in Somalia. The film ends with the execution of Schleyer, who is shot in the head.

Starring:
Martina Gedeck, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johanna Wokalek, Nadja Uhl, Jan Josef Liefers

Directed By:
Uli Edel

Release:
2008

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HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE

The Story:
Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts turns out to be quite the exciting year. First off is the arrival of a new teacher at Hogwarts, Horace Slughorn, who is a bit more useful to Harry than he realizes. Next, Harry obtains a Potions book which used to be belong to the very mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Harry finds that the Half-Blood Prince's ancient scribbles are written along the margins of almost every page, giving Harry advice on how to improve greatly on his Potions work, and also teaching him a few helpful (and dangerous) spells along the way.

Amidst this, Harry is starting private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, during which Harry learns the dark secrets of Voldemort's past, hoping that they could use these secrets to find a way to defeat him.

Harry's year gets even more stressful with the suspicious actions of Draco Malfoy, who has been sneaking around the school doing, so Harry assumes, Voldemort's bidding. Harry quickly becomes determined, and slightly obsessed, to find out exactly what Malfoy has been up to and putting and end to it.

Yet, during this time, Harry and his friends go through daily life, busy with school work, Quidditch, (in which Harry has been made captain of the team) and of course, romance. Ron has found a new girlfriend, Lavender Brown, a perky Gryffindor student, and Hermione is not happy about it. Ron and Hermione's friendship takes a toll throughout the school year and Harry, as usual, is stuck in the middle. Harry, meanwhile, is facing a romantic dilemma of his own: he realizes he is falling for his best friend's sister, Ginny Weasley, who is unfortunately dating Harry's classmate, Dean Thomas. Harry's pining for Ginny and Ron's hilarious relationship with Lavender give this story a large dose of reality.

Throughout all the school drama, however, the obvious darkness of Voldemort's impending rise to power is always apparent. The incredible action-packed climax is sure to leave the audience stunned and, inevitably, prove that you shouldn't trust everybody who you think is good and also prove that not everyone can manage to surviv

Starring:
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, David Bradley, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters, David Thewlis, Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn), Helen McCrory (Narcissas Malfoy), Jessie Cave (Lavender Brown), Hero Fiennes Tiffin (young Tom Riddle)

Directed By:
David Yates

Release:
2009

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2012

2012

The Story:
Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments.According to the Mayan calendar, the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) uses his knowledge of the ancient prophecies to ensure that the human race is not completely wiped out.

Starring:
John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson

Directed By:
Roland Emmerich

Release:
2009

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