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The Film: Innocence
The Cast: Zoé Auclair, Laisson Lalieux, Astrid Homme, Lea Bridarolli
The Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
2004, Belgium/France/UK

The Plot: It’s the story a 6 year old Iris, who finds herself getting out of a coffin and getting in to a boarding school. Set within a woodland forest, the school itself is simultaneously an idyll and a prison. Bianca, the oldest student, introduces Iris to this strange world where there are neither men nor adults except the old servants and two teachers. Iris quickly discovers the rules of the school where teaching centers on dance, physical education and biology. Obedience is paramount and one can see that the girls are getting prepared for something…

Innocence is based on a late 19th-century novella with the curious title of “Mine-Haha”, or “The Corporal Education of Young Girls”, by the German writer Frank Wedekind. The director creates a world oscillating between realism and fantasy through astute lighting, …

Title: Happiness
Cast: Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Director: Todd Solondz

Even though I haven’t seen Todd Solondz’s breakthrough feature film, “Welcome to the Dolhouse” I still had some sort of an idea on what to expect from his 1998 effort, called “Happiness” …ironically so. I have been hearing a lot about it, been wanting to watch it, but never really got the chance till about 2 months back…and have been wanting to write this piece ever since!

It’s the kind of film; everyone will have an opinion on. You will either love it (like me), or just abhor it. A lot of people, who I expected, would like the film actually say they hate it. It’s this sort of an extreme reaction to the film that compels me to write about it.

According to me, what is brilliant about this film is that one actually ends up empathizing with …

The Film: Persona

The Director: Ingmar Bergman

The Cast: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann

1966, Sweden

Shakespeare took six words to ask the quintessential human question: “To be or not to be”. Liv Ullman ( as Elizabeth) takes two to answer it “No, don’t!!!”

So began, the now famous review of the film called “Persona”. At the outset, the story is simple enough.

A nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson), has been assigned to care for a famous actress, Elizabeth (Liv Ullman), who suddenly stopped speaking during a performance of “Electra” and has remained silent ever since. When they go to stay in a seaside house so that Elizabeth can recouperate and come back to the real world, the apparently self-confident nurse gradually reveals more and more of herself in the face of Elizabeth’s silence, and is shocked to read a letter the actress has written implying that Alma is an interesting case-study. The two women seem almost …

The Film: Show me love

The Cast: Rebecka Liljeberg, Alexandra Dahlstrom, Erica Carlson, Mathis Rust

The Director: Lukas Moodysson

1998, Sweden

The Plot: It is a story of Elin and Agnes who are a pair of teenage girls trapped in the small town of Amal, an isolated place where nothing ever happens. Elin is teased for being an outsider, but she doesn’t realize that Agnes has a crush on her. After an accidental kiss, the two girls must learn about themselves and their identities.

Now the moment you say “teenage film”, what comes to mind immediately is those Hollywood films about adolescent girls focusing on 2 things: boyfriends and popularity. It’s not surprising or unrealistic, as they are important during “high school”, and form a significant portion of the average teenager’s existence. With hormones raging and bodies changing, they struggle to bolster their self-esteem.

However, American filmmakers are often more interested in presenting lightweight, feel-good romantic …

The Film: A Clockwork Orange

The Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

The Director: Stanley Kubrick

1971, Britain

The plot: It’s a story of Alex and his gang, who roam the streets unchecked and beat, rape or murder their victims, just for pleasure. Alex’s cronies, tired of his leadership, set him up and he is sentenced to 14 years in prison. The government comes up with a method of rehabilitation where they subject the prisoner to inhuman treatment, exposing him to countless images of sex and violence while pumping his body full of drugs that cause waves of nausea, developing a negative Pavlovian response to immoral and illegal activities thereby enabling the criminal to re-enter society and become a productive zombie.

The controversial film’s title alludes to “clockwork”, meaning artificial, mechanical and robotic, and “orange”, from orangutan, to signify a human being. Based on a novel of the same name by Anthony …

The Film: Run Lola Run

The Cast: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu

The Director: Tom Tykwer

1999 (USA) , Germany

“The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes. That’s a fact. Everything else is just theory.” …so begins the film in true German spirit for the love of soccer, only that it is reflective of the next 90 minutes that one sits through as well.

The Game: Lola’s (Franka Potente) boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) will be killed by gangsters as he has misplaced the money he owed them. Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 mark or Manni will rob a superstore. Ready Steady Go!

Simple enough, eh? The film actually requires deeper understanding than most people care to believe. Sure, the visuals are great, and it’s a pleasure to watch this flaming red haired punk chick in a tank top and a tattoo run across town with each muscle flexing on …