Heneral Luna (2015) - 118 min

Country: Philippines
Director: Jerrold Tarog
Cast: John Arcilla, Mon Confiado, Arron Villaflor, Joem Bascon & Archie Alemania.
It tells the true revolutionary story of General Antonio Luna. The story begins with America taking control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American war. Luna, a true patriotic led the Philippine force to attack American army during that time period.
This film was selected as the Philippine entry for Oscar and a huge success in the box office. John Arcilla was excellent as Luna and he conveys all emotions of Antonio Luna brilliantly. The violent brutality of warfare was fully expressed by the director in a single shot. Implementing serious humor in a story like this can be a dangerous move and don't know how many people like those scenes. The incident that inspires Luna to be a patriotic was presented in a stylish manner through a flashback sequence. From the post credit scene, it's clear that a sequel to this movie is on board. Overall, I was not familiar with the Philippine revolutionary army and this movie helps me to understand something about their ancient history.
Verdict: Good

12 (2007) - 159 min

Country: Russia
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Cast: Sergei Makovetsky, Nikita Mikhalkov, Sergei Garmash, Valentin Gaft & Alexei Petrenko.
An 18 year old boy is accused of murdering his stepfather. Now, it's up to 12 jurors to unanimously decide whether the boy is guilty or not. The result of their first voting is 11 guilty, 1 not guilty.
It's an adaptation of Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men (1957) and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. The actual life of the movie lies in the twelve characters. The stories told by each jury is very important and it can easily influence other jurors' decision. Showing the back story of the kid was a smart move from the director. Also setting a gymnasium as a jury room avoids the claustrophobic feel of the  story. Overall, it's an engaging movie with a killer ending and I enjoyed it.
Verdict: Great

Clash (2016) - 97 min

Country: Egypt
Director: Mohamed Diab
Cast: Nelly Karim, Hany Adel, Mohammed Alaa & Khaled Kamal.
Set in 2013, it follows a one day journey through Cairo after the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi by Egyptian Military. The outcome of this decision led a clash between the Muslim Brotherhood and military supporters all over the Egypt.
What happens when you put some Muslim brotherhood followers and military supporters in a van, the result is Clash movie. Mohamed Diab succeeds in crafting the terrifying side of the biggest revolt happened in the Egyptian history. A dramatic thriller that can easily break your heart while showing a small ray of humanity in each character. The camera's perspective puts us in the van and it will not allow you to leave the van. Ahmed Gabr beautifully handles the camera movements and you can easily feel what's going outside. Overall, it's a powerful movie that you don't want to miss and simply a must watch.
Verdict: Great

Suntan (2016) - 105 min

Country: Greece
Director: Argyris Papadimitropoulos
Cast: Makis Papadimitriou, Elli Tringou, Hara Kotsali & Milou Van Groessen.
Kostis, a middle-aged doctor arrives on the Greek island with a population of 800 people. His lonely lifestyle changes when a group of young tourists came to see him due to a scooter accident. Kostis gets obsessed with a girl in the group and starts to follow her.
Like Dogtooth, this Greek film also leaves a disturbing experience to audiences. The island's scenery and the people sitting naked on the beach offer something for viewers to enjoy. Argyris shows how easy to seduce a lonely guy with a bunch of youth who lives a hedonistic lifestyle. More than a movie, we can easily call this film as a character study of a middle-aged guy while showing his emotional ups and downs. Overall, it's an unpredictable movie about a lonely guy whose desire turns him into a maniac.
Verdict: Good

Berlin Syndrome (2017) - 116 min

Country: Australia
Director: Cate Shortland
Cast: Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt, Matthias Habich & Lucie Aron.
Clare, a photographer from Australia meets a German teacher, Andi while exploring the streets of Berlin. After their physical encounter, Clare finds herself locked in the apartment and the windows were reinforced.
Adapted from Melanie Joosten's 2011 novel of the same name, it tells the story of a woman who constantly search for an opportunity to break free. Teresa Palmer does an excellent job in swinging the normal nature of her character into a sexual material for survival. Like any other sociopath, Riemelt also shows the same mannerism which is not likeable at all. Cate Shortland creates the claustrophobic ambience of being held as a hostage by providing enough moments to satisfy. The music by Bryony Marks works perfectly on each scene. Overall, it's not a sensational movie, but definitely a terrifying story to watch.
Verdict: Good

Thupparivaalan (2017) - 154 min

Thupparivaalan is a crime-thriller film directed by Mysskin.
Starring Vishal, Andrea Jeremiah, Prasanna, Vinay & Anu Emmanuel.
A Tamil version of Sherlock Holmes. Detective Kaniyan Pungundan is looking for an interesting case to solve and he is a weirdo. One day, A little boy approaches him to find out the guy who killed his dog. The case looks interesting for Kaniyan and he decides to investigate it.
Remember every tiny little thing, that's the only way to survive. Mysskin is a director who can easily change the viewing angle of any scene and the introduction scene of Vishal was Mysskin's definition of doing variety things. The action scenes were top notch and the logical explanation was not given by the director. Kaniyan's love interest is his personal business and am not going to interfere in it. The thing I really liked about Myssikn's style of making is unexpected things can happen anytime. Vishal doing a character with peculiar nature is not new, his offbeat mannerism makes it a different one. Prasanna portraits the Tamil version of Dr. Watson's role. The negative role was superbly handled by Vinay and the voice of his character is questionable (his voice or not). Overall, it's a visual treat and Mysskin is back after a long three years.
Verdict: Good

Two Days, One Night (2014) - 95 min

Country: Belgium
Director: Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione, Catherine Salée & Olivier Gourmet.
Sandra works in a factory and she was forced to take some days off due to a nervous breakdown. When she returns to the factory, the company puts forward a proposition for remaining employees of Sandra's redundancy or a 1000 euro bonus for each employee.
It was selected as the Belgium submission for the Oscar foreign category and Cotillard also received the nomination for Best actress. Like any other movie of Dardennes', this film also follows the naturalistic way of story presentation with an unexpected climax. A superb performance by Cotillard as Sandra is the main attraction of the plot and the struggle of a working woman was nicely shown by her. The only defect about the plot is Sandra's background information was missing and we can only judge her through the conversations. Overall, it's an intense movie and a thought provoking one that actually motivates you in one way or another.
Verdict: Good

Rams (2015) - 92 min

Country: Iceland
Director: Grímur Hákonarson
Cast: Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson, Charlotte Bøving & Jon Benonysson.
Brothers, Gummi and Kiddi live in a secluded valley who haven't spoken to each other for a long time. Gummi discovers a lethal disease on Kiddi's sheep, which means it's just a matter of time before authorities slaughtered all the sheep in the valley including his sheeps.
The official Icelandic entry for Best foreign language film at 88th academy awards. The message that conveys through the movie is very simple. Director Grímur Hákonarson beautifully captures the landscape shots by creating a sense of tension towards the final minutes. Sigurjonsson brings the two sides of Gummi, outside he is a guy with an attitude and inside he is a caring person. Overall, it's a small film that shows the bond between two brothers even though their ego, not allows them to break their 40 year silence.
Verdict: Good

The Albanian (2010) - 105 min

Country: Albania
Director: Johannes Naber
Cast: Nik Xhelilaj, Xhejlane Tërbunja, Ivan Shvedoff, Amos Zaharia & Stipe Erceg.
Arben lives in the mountains with his family and sometimes he travels to Greece to make money by doing any kind of works. His normal life changes suddenly when his secret love Etleva gets pregnant and her family demands ten thousand euros for the wedding.
The great aspect of the movie lies in the subject which reflects the struggling side of people who illegally migrates to different countries for work. The risk taken by those people's and the hope of their families was beautifully presented by the director, Johannes Naber. The desperate face of a person who wants to make money was evident in Nik Xhelilaj's play. The straightforward narrative keeps you in the game and the final act of the movie plays out as a thriller which was a keen surprise. Overall, it's a pure survival movie and the things that shown in the movie does not seem to be questioned.
Verdict: Good

First They Killed My Father (2017) - 136 min

Country: Cambodia
Director: Angelina Jolie
Cast: Sreymoch Sareum, Kompheak Phoeung, Socheata Sveng, Dara Heng & Kimhak Mun.
Based on the memoir of the same name by Loung Ung, it tells the real story of Cambodian people during Khmer rouge. Ung was seven years old when the Khmer rouge army took over the city. The outcome was Ung and her family must leave the city which is the only way to survive.
This film was selected as the Cambodian entry for the best foreign language film at 90th Academy Awards. It's a journey of a family from one village to another to survive, while showing the difficulty people face during the army rule. Jolie pictures the whole movie through a child's perspective and the kid was stunning. More than a movie, Jolie shares a strong connection with Cambodia country and she adopted her eldest son from there. The background score by Marco Beltrami were nicely attached to the scenes. Overall, it's a serious movie that needs to be watched in that sense of feeling.
Verdict: Good

The Teacher (2016) - 102 min

Country: Slovakia
Director: Jan Hřebejk
Cast: Zuzana Mauréry, Csongor Kassai, Ladislav Hrusovsky & Zuzana Konečná.
Two time periods - First one shows 1983 school year in which a new teacher introduces herself and ask each student about their parents' job. Second story starts in 1984, a secret meeting between the school's headmaster and students' parents. Something horrible happened during that time span and each family must decide what to do next.
While watching some particular movies, you feel like kicking the characters face. Mainly because of two reasons, one due to the awful performance of actor or the immense hate towards the character behavior. This film comes in the second category of character behavior. Like a puzzle box, the story unfolds slowly and keeps you in the script to know what actually happened. Maurery portraits the character of Mrs Drazdechova brilliantly. Overall, the theme maybe old, but how it's being presented matters here most.
Verdict: Good

Spoor (2017) - 128 min

Country: Poland
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Cast: Agnieszka Mandat, Jakub Gierszał, Katarzyna Herman, Andrzej Grabowski, Tomasz Kot & Borys Szyc.
Janina Duszejko lives in a small village in the Sudeten mountains with two dogs which she regards as her daughters. One day, her dogs mysteriously disappear and another weird thing is local hunters start turning up dead one by one. She thinks these two incidents are connected and she needs to solve this murder mystery to find her dogs.
A slow burn murder mystery that changes it genre according to the season. The narrative follows a dark mode style and there's an interesting side to the story, especially a scene where the director gives you important clue. The nature beauty plays a vital role in the movie and cinematographers Jolanta Dylewska & Rafal Paradowski captures some breathtaking visuals. The storytelling method is very slow and in fact sometimes it challenges me to stop watching the movie. Somehow, I maintained my coolness and finished it in one sit. Last 30 minutes completely change the whole equation of the movie and the third act was right on the money. Overall, it's an exciting film for animal lovers and a good mystery for any other fans.
Verdict: Good

Bol (2011) - 165 min

Country:  Pakistan
Director:  Shoaib Mansoor
Cast:  Manzar Sehbai, Atif Aslam, Iman Ali, Mahira Khan & Humaima Malik.
It tells the story of Hakeem Sahab's ideology and his quest to have a son. Hakeem's wife gives birth to fourteen children, including seven daughters and a transgender son Saifi. Hakeem hates his family and the one he hates most is poor Saifi.
It's an inside look into the lives of a family living in Pakistan and showing the incredible fact of how they manages to survive day to day life. More than a story, it's about the family emotions that come to play during the tough times. Full credits go to the director, Shoiab to choose a controversial subject and asking an important question towards the end. The fact of Atif Aslam acting in the movie forces me to see this film in the first place and he performs one of his songs in the movie too. The character of Hakeem was offered to Naseeruddin Shah, unfortunately due to date issues he turns it down. Overall, it's a movie that actually challenges the system by breaking the so called old customs of living style.
Verdict: Great

Infernal Affairs (2002) - 100 min

Country:  Hong Kong
Director:  Andrew Lau &  Alan Mak
Cast:  Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Anthony Wong & Eric Tsang.
A battle between two moles. Detective Yan is a secret undercover cop who works as a mole in the mafia group. Meanwhile, Detective Ming is a member of mafia group who infiltrates the police department.
This film was selected as the Hong Kong entry for Oscar category, unfortunately it was not nominated. But after four years the Hollywood remake of this movie won Oscar for best picture, which is not fair. The screenplay of this movie is very clever and will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was a huge success in Hong Kong and this is the first installment in the Infernal Affairs trilogy. Both Andy and Tony deliver great performances as the two undercover moles. Emotion wise Infernal Affairs is far better than Hollywood remake and it concentrates on plot more than character development. Overall, it's a top-notch crime thriller movie with many tension creating scenes of cat and mouse game.
Verdict: Great

Death Note: The Last Name (2006) - 139 min

Death Note 2: The Last Name (Japanese: Desu Nōto the Last name) is a Japanese manga film directed by Shūsuke Kaneko.
Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Erika Toda, Shunji Fujimura, Takeshi Kaga & Shigeki Hosokawa.
It starts up right where the first part left off. Light joins L to track down Kira and At the same time second Kira appears, Misa Amane. Her intention is to find the first Kira and She loves his justice method.
Fujiwara's performance was more convincing that the first one. Matsuyama is my favorite character due to his unique style of acting. This time characters are more developed and introduce new rules of death note. Like the previous one, this one also concentrates on the battle between Light and L. Overall, it's not that good as the first part, But the unexpected twist and turns makes it interesting.
Verdict: Average

Death Note (2006) - 125 min

Country: Japan
Director: Shūsuke Kaneko
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Matsuyama, Shunji Fujimura, Takeshi Kaga, Asaka Seto, Shigeki Hosokawa & Erika Toda
Light Yagami is a young law student who happens to take a notebook dropped by the God of Death. The book known as Death Note has some basic rules to follow. The owner of the book can kill anyone by writing their name in the book and Light starts to use the power of the book.
The concept of the movie is simple, It's a clash of Good vs Evil. Each character plays a vital role in this movie and the views on morality and justice of each character can be thought provoking. The film was banned in China because it can easily influence students' mind. The performances were good and CGI used in the movie was not that impressive, But I liked it anyway. Overall, it's an engaging fantasy movie and heard many good reviews about the death note manga series.
Verdict: Good

Lebanon (2009) - 90 min

Country: Israel
Director: Samuel Maoz
Cast: Oshri Cohen, Zohar Shtrauss, Michael Moshonov & Itay Tiran.
A story that occurs during the first Lebanon war, June 1982. A single tank that contains Four Israeli soldiers is sent into a small town which is already destroyed by the Israeli Air force. With no battle experience, it shows their struggle of survival.
It is based on director Samuel Maoz's personal experiences of the 1982 Lebanon War. It's a claustrophobic experience for audiences, fully shot from a tank's viewpoint and spending inside the tank for 90 minutes is not that easy. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish four characters due to the setup. The tank is also a character in the movie and through the gun turret we see what's happening outside the world. Bejach's cinematography beautifully captures the scary outcomes of the war, particularly those village massacres sequences. Overall, it's not a typical war movie and only recommended to those who wants to experience something new.
Verdict: Good

Kontroll (2003) - 105 min

Country: Hungary
Director: Nimród Antal
Cast: Sándor Csányi, Zoltán Mucsi, Csaba Pindroch, Sándor Badár & Zsolt Nagy.
Bulcsú works as a ticket inspector in the Budapest metro station and he lives in the tunnel. A series of events starts to happen when a mysterious shadow man starts to push passengers onto the tracks.
It won few awards at the 2004 Cannes Film festival and it was Hungary's submission for the Oscar category. The director creates many plot lines which will intersect at one point and it's up to viewers whether to choose inside or outside story. To make it even more complicated he includes a fairy tale touch to the script. The contemporary soundtrack by Neo helps the tense action sequences to contrast with humorous elements. Taking Budapest subway system as the background, it's a journey that you don't see very often. Overall, it will definitely give you a weird viewing experience and that's the beauty of it.
Verdict: Great

A Touch of Sin (2013) - 135 min

Country: China
Director: Jia Zhangke
Cast: Jiang Wu, Zhao Tao, Wang Baoqiang & Lanshan Luo.
Based on real life incidents, it unfolds four stories with different motivations for violence. First one is about a loner who fights against corruption. The second, third and the fourth respectively follows the motivation that leads to do violence.
It won the best screenplay award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Apart from the theme, the characters from one story reappears in another and watch closely to see it coming. Like the story, the location also shifts from one place to another and the tradition too. Zhangke Jia draws out his characters to make contact with the surroundings and his intentions were crystal clear from the first shot. It also shows some clue that the stories are somehow related to the Chinese Zodiac. Overall, it shows four different situations of violence, whether it's necessary or not that's up to you.
Verdict: Good

Cinema Paradiso (1988) - 125 min

Country: Italy
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Cast: Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano, Antonella Attili, Pupella Maggio & Salvatore Cascio.
After 30 years, Salvatore is planning to go back to his village to attend the funeral of an old friend, Alfredo. His mother informs this bad news and from that moment onwards he starts to reminisce about his life in the village.
It won the 1989 Academy Award for best foreign language movie. The cast, the script and all other tiny aspects of this movie were just perfect. The best moments were given by the child Salvatore and his relationship with Alfredo were magical. The boy actually reminds me of myself and I saw many movies 30-50 times when I was a kid. Those memories are unforgettable to be. The ending emotionally touches my heart and the nostalgia that it gives me, I don't know how to explain it. Overall, it's a classic movie that speaks to those who love movies very much and a true lover of cinema will not miss this one for sure.
Verdict: Brilliant

Masaan (2015) - 109 min

Country: India
Director: Neeraj Ghaywan
Cast: Richa Chadda, Vicky Kaushal, Sanjay Mishra & Shweta Tripathi.
Two stories that were set on the backdrop of the Ganga and its Ghaats. The first story is about Devi, who was arrested during her first sexual liaison with a friend and the police made a deal with her. The second one tells the story of Deepak, a student who loves an upper caste girl.
Both Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi offer you a memorable performance that will stick in your memory for a long time. For the past two years if someone asks me to recommend a Hindi movie, this film is my first priority. It has an engaging tight script with a sound that will take you on a trip through the Ghaats. The characters were well established and I was stunned by Neeraj's brilliant effort to shift the tone of the movie at regular intervals. Cinematographer Avinash beautifully captures the images of Benares. Overall, it's a beautiful movie to watch and highly recommended.
Verdict: Great