Friday, February 25, 2011

Recommended Films

My wife and I have seen the following films. They have earned our enthusiastic endorsement. If you want to recommend a film, email me. We’ll watch it, and if Claudia and I like it well enough, it will be added to the list of:

Andy and Claudia Hanson’s Recommended Films

12 directed by Nikita Mikhalkov

A loose remake of 12 Angry Men, set in a Russian school. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather who took the teenager to live with him in Moscow during the Chechen War in which teenager lost his parents. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia.

Summer Hours directed by Olivier Assayas

Two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings to ensure their deceased mother's succession.

The Cove directed by Louie Psihoyos

Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.

An Education directed by Lone Scherfig

A coming-of-age story about a teenage girl in 1960s suburban London, and how her life changes with the arrival of a playboy nearly twice her age.

Tuya's Marriage directed by Quan’an Wang

Set in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband.

The Band's Visit directed by Eran Kolirin

A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.

Tea With Mussolini directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Daniele Nannuzzi http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/177619/Tea-With-Mussolini/overview/

Based in part on his autobiography, director Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini is a drama with comic accents about a group of British and American travelers on an indefinite visit to Italy in 1935, when, as one character puts it, "Mussolini was just a man who made the trains run on time."

Last Chance Harvey directed by Joel Hopkins

In London for his daughter's wedding, a rumpled man finds his romantic spirits lifted by a new woman in his life.