Google and The World Brain

Ben Lewis' Google and The World Brain (US, 2012) - The story of the most ambitious project ever conceived on the Internet. In 2002 Google began to scan millions of books in an effort to create a giant global library, containing every book in existence. They had an even greater purpose - to create a higher form of intelligence, something that HG Wells had predicted in his 1937 essay "World Brain". But over half the books Google scanned were in copyright, and authors across the world launched a campaign to stop Google, which climaxed in a New York courtroom in 2011. A film about the dreams, dilemmas and dangers of the Internet. / AW: When Google try to digitize all books ever existed in the world to create the world brain, many people from around the world starts to weigh in the positive and the negative aspect of it. 2013SANF, 2013SUN. RATING: 7

Taboor

Vahid Vakilivar's Taboor (Iran, 2012) - A lone motorcyclist travels the empty streets of Tehran at night. He wears an aluminum suit to guard against the electromagnetic waves that raise his body temperature. Yet he is determined to make his appointments to kill cockroaches and fumigate factories, the night placing many strange encounters along his route. Artfully shot cityscapes expound on the man’s solitude in this atmospheric take on science fiction from the heart of Iran.  / AW: First Iranian Sci-Fi set in apocalyptic Tehran where the sun makes the earth inhabitable during the day. The great visual style can't compensate the dullness of this thinly narrated film. 2012THESic, 2013TRI. RATING: 4

2013 - MAY: FILM NEWS BIT

Alicia Vikander will star opposite Cruise and Armie Hammer in Warner Bros.' big-screen adaptation of the 1960s spy show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E

Robert Redford will direct and star opposite Nick Nolte in the Bill Bryson adaptation A Walk In The Woods. The comedy centres on a veteran writer who in a bid to revitalise his life heads off on the perilous Appalachian Trail with his overweight, recovering alcoholic friend.

Isabelle Huppert, Gabriel Byrne and Jesse Eisenberg have boarded Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s English-language debut Louder Than Bombs. 

Steph Green's Run and Jump (Ireland, 2013) - Star of Saturday Night Live, Will Forte, makes an impressive dramatic debut as an American researcher who must observed an Irish man who survived a stroke but became a 'CHANGE' man and his family. ***

Onur Unlu's Thou Gild'st The Even (Turkey, 2013) - the multiple winner at 2013 Istanbul Film Fest including Best Film and Fipresci Prize is a magic realism film about human misery and its consequences on day to day life. ***

Bernardo Bertolucci will head 2013 Venice Film Festival jury. 

Visual Effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen dies at 92 

James Franco to star in Wim Wenders' Everything Will Be Fine, a 3D film about a writer who accidentally cause the death of a child. 

Ben Affleck will direct Dennis Lehane's Live By Night crime novel for Warner Bros

Andrew Garfield will star in Martin Scorsese's Silence

Nosotros Los Nobles which released through Warner Bros has second biggest domestic opening in Mexico

Iron Man 3 has second biggest domestic opening weekend haul with $175.3 millions trails only by The Avengers.

Italian star Valeria Golino makes a Cannes worthy bow in Un Certain Regard section directing Jasmine Trinca and Carlo Checci in a Dr. Death drama.

Iron Man 3 break records in China with 21.5 million opening.

American Sniper will become Steven Spielberg next film. It stars Bradley Cooper.

Colin Firth and Emma Stone will stars in Woody Allen latest film set in South of France.

Iron Man 3 earn $195 Millions opening weekend from oversea release. It became the third biggest opening weekend of all time.

Kim Mordaunt's The Rocket and Linda Bloodworth Thomason's Bridegroom won Audience Award at 2013 Tribeca Film Fest

Julian Roman Polsler's The Wall won Best Sound Design at 2013 LOLA Award

Markus Imhoff's More Than Honey won Best Documentary at 2013 LOLA Award

Margarethe Von Trotta's Hannah Arendt won Best Film Runner Up and Best Actress Award at 2013 LOLA

Cloud Atlas won five 2013 Lola Award including Best Cinematography, Editing Production Design, Costume Design and Make Up.

Jan Ole Gerster's Oh Boy Won Best Film, Actor, Supporting Actor, Screenplay and Score at 2013 LOLA - German Academy Award

Luc Besson will come out of "Retirement' to direct Scarlett Johansson in Lucy.

Nels Bangerter's Let The Fire Burn won Best Documentary Editing Award at 2013 tribeca Film Festival

Dan Krause's The Kill Team won Best Documentary Feature at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Sean Dunne won Best New Documentary Director for Oxyana at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Canadian Emanuel Hoss Desmarais won Best new Narrative Director Prize for Whitewash at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Marius Matzow Guldbrandsen's Before Snowfall won Best Cinematography at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Felix Van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown won Best Screenplay and Best Actress Award at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Kim Mordaunt's The Rocket won Best Narrative Feature and Best actor Award at 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

Jake Gyllenhaal will stars in Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler about a young man who discover the nocturnal world of L.A. freelance crime journalism.

Star Trek Into Darkness is about to go where no Star trek has gone before in domestic box office with $85 to $90 Million Opening Weekend.

2013 star studded Cannes Film Festival In Competition Jury include Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Christophe Waltz, Lynne Ramsay, Daniel Auteuil, Christian Mungiu, Naomi Kawase, Vydia Balan and Ang Lee.

GI Joe 2 storms China with mind boggling 33 million opening weekend which enough to send the film back to the top of International Box office chart this weekend.

Cannes head, Thierry Fremaux says Lars Von Trier was never declare persona non grata forever.

Belgian director Feliv Van Groeningen's Broken Circle Breakdown won Audience Award at 2013 CPH PIX

Ramon Zurcher's The Strange Little Cat won 2013 CPH PIX Best Film.

Ari Folman's The Congress to open 2013 Cannes Directors' Fortnight.

eOne boards David Cronenberg new thriller, Map of The Star, starring Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and John Cusack.

2013 Filmfare Game Changer - Actors list include Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Hrirthik Roshan and Emraan Hashmi.

The post apocalyptic train ride, Snowpierecer, is Bong Joon Ho English debut. It Stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton and Song Kang Ho.

Fedor Bondarchuk's Stalingrad will become the first Russian feature vreleased on IMAX. The epic love story will be released by SONY.

TWC on the verge of US deal for period drama Suite Francaise set to star Michele Williams and Matthias Schoenaerts.

Fists of Legend - a mixed martial arts competition sets in motion this maximalist male melodrama from Korean blockbuster helmer Kang Woo Suk.

Sema Poyraz won Best Actress for Forgive Me and Ercan Kesal won Best Actor for Yozgat Blues at 2013 Istanbul Film Festival.

Onur Unlu's Thou Gild'st The Even won Best Film and Asli Ozge won Best Director for Lifelong at 2013 Istanbul Film Festival.

Lenny Abrahamson's What Richard Did won Best Film and Bruno Dumont's Camille Claudel 1915 won Special Jury Prize at 2013 Istanbul Film Festival.

Miriam Yeung won Best Actress Award at 2013 HKFA for Pang Ho Cheung's Love in The Buff.

Pang Ho Cheung's Vulgaria won Best Supporting Actor and Actress at 2013 HKFA.

Longman Leung;s Cold War won 9 Awards at 2013 HKFA including Best Film, Director and Actor.

Miss Lovely and Beyond All Boundaries top 2013 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

The Avengers and Silver Lining Playbook take top honor at 2013 MTV Award.

Ricardo Darin's box office appeal proves inter continental with Thesis on A Homicide impressive earning in Spain.

Tom Cruise took Oblivion to 61 million opening weekend oversea. The Sci-fi adventure opened top in 48 of 52 territories.

Brian Helgeland's 42 open with 9 million Friday and over performing with 27 million opening weekend.

Jerome Salle's Zulu, a South African set noir thriller, stars Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom will close 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery will direct Robert Redford as true life bank robber based on 2003 New Yorker article.

2013 CPH PIX kicks off with Michael Noer's Northwest, an award winning gangsters movie set in Copenhagen.

James McAvoy getting down and dirty in Irvine Welsh's FILTH film adaptation directed by Jon S. Baird. Check the new RED BAND Trailer on the web.

Brazilian Jose Padilha is in talks for The Brotherhood at Warner Bros. The film is a true story of two cops who murder for the mafia.

Brad Pitt WWII thriller Fury, directed by David Ayer, will hit theatres November 2014 from SONY.

Matt Potterfield's I Used To Be Darker will be released by Strand Releasing in the US.

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained was pull from Chinese theatres on first day of released.

James Wan in Universal Pictures choice to helm The Fast and The Furious 7.

Gandu

MUST SEE: Kaushik Mukherji's Gandu (India, 2011) - 2011SEA Best New Director Grand Jury Prize Winner. A high-energy example of a rarefied genre, Bengali thrash-metal rap musical "Gandu" grabs auds by the throat and gradually works its way down. Dystopic/disaffected-youth story eventually segues into sequences of hardcore porn, which will limit exposure for what is, all told, a promising display of talent from helmer Q. Festival play could give some exposure to happily transgressive rhyme-fueled romp. 2011BERp, 2011SEA. RATING: 8.

About Elly

GREAT MOVIES: Asghar Farhadi's About Elly (Iran, 2009) - One of the most remarkable Iranian films to surface in the last few years, About Elly is a small but compelling ensemble piece of surprising depth. It’s one of those rare films that can be read on one level purely as a satisfying drama, but which also has a rich, independent inner life, centred on big questions about right and wrong, social coercion and the lies people tell themselves and each other. It’s also a relative departure for Iranian film in its middle-class setting. Telling the story of a group of young friends from Teheran who take a three-day break at a Caspian beach resort, it shows a modern face of the country which has hitherto been seen only rarely (SCREEN). 2009BERic, 2009SEA, 2010OE, 2010PALM. RATING: 9

Beyond The Hills

MUST SEE: Christian Mungiu's Beyond The Hills (Romania, 2012) - Spare, unadorned and strikingly shot, Cristian Mungiu’s film is an unusual rendering of a Romanian exorcism case and is bound to split both audience and critical opinions, some considering it a major achievement and others blaming it for overlong pretentious sensationalism. But it will certainly not pass unnoticed. It is inspired by a two non-fiction novels written by Tatiana Niculescu Bran, a BBC correspondent who investigated the case of a young woman supposedly possessed by evil spirits in 2005 and who was tortured to death in a Romanian monastery to drive the devil out of her body. Mungiu’s script tackles such major themes as love, faith, freedom of spirit versus rigid religion, ignorance and poverty, providing a fertile background for the inevitable ensuing conflicts. 2012CANic, 2012NYFF, 2012TOR, 2013OE, 2013PALM. RATING: 8

The Place Beyond The Pines

Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond The Pines (US, 2012) - Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son. But when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Bradley Cooper), their violent confrontation spirals into a tense generational feud. The Place Beyond the Pines is a rich dramatic thriller, tracing the intersecting lives of fathers and sons, cops and robbers, heroes and villains. Also starring Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta and Eva Mendes. 2012TOR. RATING: 7.

Trance

MUST SEE: Danny Boyle's Trance (UK, 2013) - “Everyone knows amnesia is bollocks,” snarls one of the thugs in “Trance.” Hypnotism, on the other hand, is fair game in this brash, beyond-belief psychothriller from director Danny Boyle, who seizes on a script co-written by Joe Ahearne and longtime Boyle collaborator John Hodge as a chance to play elaborate mind games with fans of his early work. A trippy variation on the dream-within-a-dream movie, Boyle’s return-to-form crimer constantly challenges what auds think they know, but neglects to establish why they should care. The pic’s flashy style, plus its stark violence and nudity, ought to transfix male genre auds. (VARIETY) / Just what do you do for an encore to the opening night ceremony of the London Olympics? Well, director Danny Boyle - who put James Bond and Mr Bean into the acclaimed opening event entertainment - has opted for a freewheeling London-set psychological heist thriller that twists and turns as it seeks to engage, entertain, confuse and confound its audience with its sheer abundance of style and passion for standing the genre on its head and then twisting it about again for good measure. (SCREEN). 2013HKFF, 2013SXSW. RATING: 8

Like Someone In Love

Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone In Love (Japan, 2012) - It must have bugged Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami that, with Certified Copy, he had strayed perilously close to making a commercial film. If so, he’s set the record straight and saved his reputation as an abstruse, impenetrable arthouse director with this Japanese-set follow-up, which was greeted with a mix of bafflement and boos at its Cannes competition press screening. / The very title of Abbas Kiarostami's Tokyo-set character waltz "Like Someone in Love" -- named for the jazz standard Ella Fitzgerald croons on the soundtrack -- promises something as woozily romantic as "Certified Copy," his 2010 cat's cradle of lovers' memories. As it turns out, it's the first, not the last, word of the title that's key to this droll, elegant but faintly trying study in emotional artifice. An unofficial twin to "Copy," sharing its playful preoccupation with identities mistaken and assumed, it's a more austere and less intellectual work, certainly less attractive to distribs, though auteur cachet should see it through. 2012CANic, 2012NYFF, 2012TOR. RATING: 7

Monsieur Hire

GREAT MOVIES: Patrice Leconte's Monsieur Hire (France, 1989) - How far would you go for love, true love that is? Would you commit murder, assist a murder or hide a murder? Monsieur Hire asks this question and, in the process, uncovers aspects of character which are probably best left hidden. The title character, M.Hire (Michel Blanc), is a quiet, tidy man who runs a small tailoring business. He bothers no one and, in return, is persecuted by his neighbours for his aloofness -- they bang on his door, throw flour over him and whisper under their breath when he walks by. It's true that he seems indifferent to this abuse but this doesn't explain why he endures it. In fact the reason is simple -- Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire). Every night he returns home, cooks a boiled egg, puts on the same piece of music and stands at his window, staring across the alley and into Alice's apartment. She is a young woman and the attraction seems obvious but, somehow, this is more than simple voyeurism. How far would you go for love, true love that is? Would you commit murder, assist a murder or hide a murder? Monsieur Hire asks this question and, in the process, uncovers aspects of character which are probably best left hidden. The title character, M.Hire (Michel Blanc), is a quiet, tidy man who runs a small tailoring business. He bothers no one and, in return, is persecuted by his neighbours for his aloofness -- they bang on his door, throw flour over him and whisper under their breath when he walks by. It's true that he seems indifferent to this abuse but this doesn't explain why he endures it. In fact the reason is simple -- Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire). Every night he returns home, cooks a boiled egg, puts on the same piece of music and stands at his window, staring across the alley and into Alice's apartment. She is a young woman and the attraction seems obvious but, somehow, this is more than simple voyeurism. 1989CANic, 1989NYFF, 1990CES, EFS, EGM. RATING: 9

On The Road

Walter Salles' On The Road (US, 2011) - After more than five decades of thwarted adaptations, Jack Kerouac’s iconic 1957 Beat generation novel has finally made it to the screen. But while it’s well cast, resplendently shot and buoyed up by a moody, pitch-perfect jazz soundtrack, On The Road fails to “burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles”, to quote one of the more celebrated passages from Kerouac’s book. Walter Salles’ film is designer Kerouac, a slick product that deploys all the tools of the big-budget, award-chasing indie film – some handheld camera, a little desaturated colour, hot young actors – to craft a product that feels oddly flat despite the romantic, creative, freewheeling lifestyle it enshrines. There are moments, to be fair, when it captures something of the bebop spirit of the age; but much of the time it feels more like a Beat generation brochure. 2012CANic, 2012TOR. RATING: 7

Evil Dead (2013)

MUST SEE: Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead (US, 2013) - Produced by Raimi’s Ghost House company at Sony TriStar and filmed in Michigan and New Zealand, Alvarez’s version has the benefit of studio funding, an attractive and professional young cast and gruesome special effects well in advance of those available to the original team.  Like Marcus Nispel’s remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – but unlike recent ham-fisted reduxes of everything from The Amityville Horror and The Hitcher to The Stepfather and A Nightmare on Elm Street -  it’s a solid, effective, even imaginative job mounted with thought and care, delivering enough grand guignol shocks to satisfy a contemporary multiplex crowd on a weekend night, if not to fulfill its poster promise ‘the most terrifying film you will ever see’. RATING: 8

Blue Jasmine

Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine (US, 2013) - Newly dubbed Blue Jasmine, the film stars Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg. Written by Allen, the story chronicles the final stages of an acute crisis and a life of a fashionable New York housewife. RATING: 7

India Blues

George Markakis' India Blues (Germany, 2013) - "India Blues" is an edgy, bold and passionate love story between two young men who are sometimes afraid to love each other. Through exploring their experiences and the trivial or important moments in their relationship in real time (their first kiss, their first sexual encounter, their awkward silences, their last hug), we are submerged in their universe of love and the feelings that come with it. Like Jean-Luc Godard once said, "a film should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. But not necessarily in that order". In taking full advantage of that challenge, lies the unique element of "India Blues": the feelings the characters experience are not presented to us in sequence, but in the "wrong" order - Pain, Lust, Happiness, Jealousy, Attraction, Peacefulness, Love and Anger, function as eight segments-chapters in the coming together and the tearing apart of two very different people. The intensity of the two characters' feelings, which is highlightened even more by the fact...RATING: 4

Student (2012)

Darezhan Omirbayev's Student (Kazakhstan, 2012) - A roughly faithful adaptation of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment," despite its setting in contempo Almaty, Kazakh filmmaker Darezhan Omirbayev's "Student" unspools a stark, Bressonian tale of a young man who commits an almost random act of murder. With its deadpan perfs, retro visual style and crime-story plot, the pic almost feels like an Aki Kaurismaki movie but without the jokes or rockabilly music, just the despair. "Student" is bound to study abroad at fests, especially given Omirbayev's reputation (after "Killer") as one of Kazakhstan's most accomplished helmers, but distribution will be minimal beyond the CIS and Germany, where so many Russian-speakers reside. 2012CANucr, 2012TOR. RATING: 7

The Host (2013)

Andrew Niccol's The Host (US, 2013) - Based on the hit 2008 novel by Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer, The Host carries some big expectations but turns out, in the hands of writer-director Andrew Niccol, to be a ponderous and at times pretty silly romantic sci-fi adventure. While devoted Meyer fans will certainly want to see it, less committed moviegoers will be harder to woo. The story is set on a near-future Earth that has been colonised by Souls, aliens who have taken over the bodies of most humans and turned the planet into a creepily clean and peaceful place. Saorise Ronan (last seen in Hanna) plays Melanie, a young woman whose body has been occupied by a Soul known as Wanderer but who resists the alien presence. Eventually, Wanderer begins to warm to Melanie and ‘they’ escape to the desert caves where Melanie’s boyfriend Jared (Brit actor Max Irons, from Red Riding Hood) and little brother are part of a small community of surviving humans. Trailing Wanderer/Melanie, however, is Seeker (Diane Kruger, from Farewell, My Queen), an alien determined to wipe out what’s left of the human race. RATING: 3.

Beauty (2011)

Oliver Hermanus' Beauty (South Africa, 2011) - 2011CAN Queer Palm Award Winner. An impressively controlled study of a macho Afrikaaner and the secret he hides from his family, his friends and himself, Skoonheid (which translates as ‘Beauty’) is a slow-paced but effective portrait of a kind of apartheid of the mind. It’s also a dour and uncompromising arthouse product which will play to a wafer-thin audience at home in South Africa - where the director’s debut, Shirley Adams, barely made a dent in the box office. Further festival action looks like the most obvious next step after the film’s Cannes premiere, though resilient audiences in Europe and elsewhere may also be persuaded to take a look. 2011CANucr, 2011TOR, 2012OE, 2012ROTbf. RATING: 6

 

The Sex of The Angels

Xavier Villaverde's The Sex of The Angels (Spain, 2012) - 2012MALic Best Supporting Actor and Best Cinematography Winner. Struggling martial artist and dancer Bruno loves his girlfriend Carla, but when he meets fellow dancer Rai, serious sparks begin to fly, opening the couple up to new possibilities. A new generation navigates sexual fluidity, torn affections, and open relationships in this steamy love triangle. But once Bruno's clandestine encounters with Rai are revealed, a confused and hurt Carla kicks him out. But she simply doesn't want to give up on her love. Eventually she agrees that Bruno can date them both as long as he keeps his life with Rai relatively separate. 2012MALic, 2012SEA. RATING: 6

G.I. Joe: Retalliation

Jon M. Chu's G.I. Joe: Retaliation (US, 2013) - Muscle-bound and lumbering, G.I. Joe: Retaliation goes in a more stripped-down, no-nonsense direction than its predecessor, and the end result is a beefier but not better movie. This sequel to the cartoonish first film, 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, discards much of the original cast for a new set of heroes, most notably an always-game Dwayne Johnson. But between its generic action-thriller plotting and unsophisticated worship of warfare and hardware, Retaliation is a conspicuously uninspired effort that goes through the motions, hoping undiscriminating genre fans won’t mind. RATING: 4

Citadel (2012)

Ciaran Foy's Citadel (Ireland, 2012) - 2012PIFAN Best Director and Best Actor (Aneurin Barnard) Winner. Irish psychological horror tale Citadel suggests that neophyte writer-director Ciaran Foy is a promising new talent in the genre - even if its distinctly low-budget feel and bleak mood suggest strictly limited commercial potential. Hard core horror fans may well take note but scaring up any kind of mainstream audience may be unlikely.  Set in a wintry urban landscape of decaying tower blocks and dilapidated housing estates, the story begins with young husband Tommy (Aneurin Barnard, from Hunky Dory) watching helplessly as his pregnant wife is attacked by what appears to be a gang of hooded kids. Left to raise his newborn daughter alone, Tommy struggles with agoraphobia and his fear that the gang will return. However, an embittered priest (James Cosmo, from TV’s Game Of Thrones) leads Tommy to the attackers’ lair and gives him a chance to save himself and his daughter. 2012PIFAN, 2012SEA, 2012SXSW. RATING: 6

Together (1912)

Hsu Chao Jen's Together (Taiwan, 2012) - A neighbourhood’s lives and loves intertwine in this almost novelistic first feature by Taiwanese director Rox Hsu. Seen mostly through the eyes of 17-year-old Xiao Yang (the film’s Chinese title means “Dream, 17”), Together’s various story lines cycle through several families who live on the same street in contemporary Taipei. Xiao Yang is a patient observer, but not a neutral one: most of the love letters that charmingly still circulate in this working-class Taipei community pass through his hands, and he’s the catalyst of several of the story’s love affairs. His hard-working parents’ marriage is slowly, almost amicably, unwinding: mother (veteran actress producer Li Lieh) runs a noodle stall and father (1980s Taiwan/Hong Kong cinema and music star Kenny Bee) owns an old-fashioned (non-digital) print shop. Their community includes a cosplay costume vendour, a Japanese-Taiwanese newlywed couple, and Xiao Yang’s sometimes violent, sometimes romantically inclined, classmates. Everyone seems to be in the process of breaking up or finding a new lover. 2013BERf. RATING: 6

National Security

Chung Ji Young's National Security (South Korea, 2012) - Extremely grueling and painful to watch, National Security is a tough sell, but director Chung Ji-young’s unyielding approach to convey the torture experienced by the late Kim Geun-tae is likely to attract attention, which in and of itself should make it a feature on the festival market. The film is based on the memoir written by the famous politician Kim Geun-tae who was once imprisoned by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) for 22 days during the military dictatorship for his role in the pro-democracy movement in the ‘80s.2012BUS. RATING: 7.

Upside Down

Juan Solanas' Upside Down ( US, 2012) - You practically need an advanced degree in physics to fully comprehend the convoluted physical machinations depicted in Upside Down, Juan Solanas’ dizzyingly loopy sci-fi romance. Depicting the Romeo and Juliet-style romance between lovers from twin planets with opposite gravitational pulls, this head-scratcher boasts visual imagination to spare even as its logistical complexities and heavy-handed symbolism ultimately prove off-putting. The lovers -- none so subtly named Adam (Jim Sturgess) and Eden (Kirsten Dunst) -- first meet as children who manage to forge a spiritual connection even if they’re literally upside down from each other. Unfortunately, contact between the inhabitants of the two worlds is strictly forbidden by the dominant one, Up Top, which exploits the resources of its neighbor planet, Down Below. Connecting the two worlds is a massive tower owned by an exploitative megacorporation named -- what else? -- TransWorld. RATING: 5.

Color of The Chameleon

Emil Christov's Color of The Chameleon (Bulgaria, 2012) - In the waning years of Communism in Bulgaria, the sad-eyed cipher Batko Stamenoz (Ruscen Vidinliev) is recruited by the secret police to spy on a subversive student group obsessively deconstructing a forbidden novel called Zincograph. When he's summarily dumped by the state spooks, the lifelong nobody finally gets his big chance to become a somebody, as he uses his well-learned wiles in the way of interrogation and counterespionage to create a genuine subversive threat out of entirely bogus fiction. (And possibly hasten the decline of the regime.) A black, absurdist riff on the dank literary labyrinths of Kafka, Le Carré and Don DeLillo, by way of the cinematic influence of David Lynch and Bernardo Bertolucci, Emil Christov's first movie is about how to succeed in politics without really existing. 2012TOR, 2013PALM, 2012THESic, 2013NDNF. RATING: 7.

Lore

Cate Shortland's Lore (Germany, 2012) - Told through the eyes of a Nazi-indoctrinated teenager leading her siblings on a trek to promised safety in the immediate aftermath of World War II, "Lore" offers a fresh, intimate and mostly successful perspective on Germany's traumatic transition from conqueror nation to occupied state. Played in a determinedly understated tone that will appeal to upscale auds and restrict broader commercial appeal, the sophomore feature by Aussie helmer Cate Shortland (2004's "Somersault") holds a marketing trump in the knockout lead perf by newcomer Saskia Rosendahl. World-preemed in the Sydney fest competition, the pic should generate respectable niche biz worldwide. 2012LOCpg, 2012TOR, 2013OE, 2013PALM, 2013ROTsp. RATING: 7.

Camion

MUST SEE: Rafael Ouellet's Camion (Canada, 2012) - 2012KVic Best Director Winner and ecumenical Prize winner. Two adult brothers help their widower father move on after a tragic work-related accident, and in the process find new directions for their own lives, in the poignant, low-key drama “Camion.” Confident helming, spot-on performances, and a closely observed look at a specific Canadian culture lend Quebecois multihypenate Rafael Ouellet’s fourth feature singularity and emotional resonance despite some familiar themes. Expect significant festival mileage for this tender but unsentimental pic, which nabbed director kudos and the ecumenical jury award in Karlovy Vary. French-Canadian rollout through K-Films Amerique begins Aug. 17. 2012KVic, 2012TOR, 2012VAN, 2013JUTRA, 2013PALM.

Voyage In Italy

GREAT MOVIES: Roberto Rossellini's Voyage In Italy (Italy, 1954) - Roberto Rossellini's finest fiction film (1953, 84 min.), and unmistakably one of the great achievements of the art. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders play a long-married British couple grown restless and uncommunicative. On a trip to Italy to dispose of a piece of property, they find their boredom thrown into relief by the Mediterranean landscape--its vitality (Naples) and its desolation (Pompeii). But suddenly, in one of the moments that only Rossellini can film, something lights inside them, and their love is renewed as a bond of the spirit. A crucial work, truthful and mysterious. 2012CANcl, 1000DT, 1001M. RATING: 9

Paisan

GREAT MOVIES: Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (Italy, 1946) - Roberto Rossellini's follow-up to his breakout Rome Open City was the ambitious, enormously moving Paisan (PaisĂ ), which consists of six episodes set during the liberation of Italy at the end of World War II, and taking place across the country, from Sicily to the northern Po Valley. With its documentary-like visuals and its intermingled cast of actors and nonprofessionals, Italians and their American liberators, this look at the struggles of different cultures to communicate and of people to live their everyday lives in extreme circumstances is equal parts charming sentiment and vivid reality. A long-missing treasure of Italian cinema, Paisan is available here for the first time in its full original release version. 1948NBR, 1950AA, 1995NYFF. 1000DT, 1000NY, 1001M. RATING: 9

Casablanca

GREAT MOVIES: Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (US, 1942) - 1944AA Best Film and Best Director Winner. In this Oscar-winning classic, American expat Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) plays host to gamblers, thieves and refugees at his Moroccan nightclub during World War II ... but he never expected Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) - the woman who broke his heart -- to walk through that door. Ilsa hopes that with Rick's help, she and her fugitive husband (Paul Henreid) can escape to America. But the spark that brought the lovers together still burns brightly. 1942HIT, 1943NBR, 1944AA. 100TIME, 1000DT, 1000NY, 1001M, E500, EGM. RATING: 10

I'm So Excited

Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited (Spain, 2013) - Camp, kitsch and deliciously entertaining, cult Spanish director Pedro Almodovar heads back to his wilder comedy roots with I’m So Excited!, a bright, breezy and frothy aircraft-set comedy that is strong on sex and sexuality and light on drama. The film opens in Spain today before international releases through the summer, and has the bold transgressive comedy moves to be a hit with savvy Almodovar-loving audiences. RATING: 7