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Best Movies of 2004: Oldboy A very long engagement Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Bad Education 2046 Kill Bill v.2 House of Flying Daggers 3-iron |
"Oldboy"Directed by: Chan-wook ParkShowing: from March, 2005 An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that not only his kidnapper has still plans for him, but that those plans will serve as the even worse finale to 15 years of imprisonment. This film should be watched attentively till the very end. Only at the end you start to understand the real meaning of events. Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival, 2004 ************************************************************ "A very long engagement"Directed by: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France)Showing: Fandango.com From the director and star of "Amelie" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Audrey Tautou) comes a very different love story, "A Very Long Engagement," based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot. The film is set in France near the end of World War I in the deadly trenches of the Somme, in the gilded Parisian halls of power, and in the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl. It tells the story of this young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiance'e, who has disappeared. He is one of five French soldiers believed to have been court-martialed under mysterious circumstances and pushed out of an allied trench into an almost-certain death in no-man's land. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart. After watching this film you'll understand that there is no single arbitrary detail and phrase. All of them will find their (sometimes unexpected) explanation and play their role. Nominated for "Golden globe" award as the best non-English feature. ************************************************************ "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring"Directed by: Kim Ki-Duk (South Korea)Showing: from April, 2005, or DVD Korean director Kim Ki-duk's Buddhism-inspired fable takes place on a placid lake nestled among hills on which floats a small, one-room monastery housing two monks, one old and one young. The action takes place over the course of several years, and is divided into five sections denoted by the seasons of the title. While each section tells a story of its own, the overall plot follows the education of the younger monk, a small boy in the beginning, as he learns lessons over the course of his life from his aging counterpart. Troubled outsiders also visit the monastery seeking guidance, including an ill young woman and a man who murdered his wife. As the title suggests, the film's ultimate theme is cyclical renewal. Just as the seasons pass through phases of birth and death and rebirth, so do the lives of Kim's characters. This is the most beautiful film of Ki-Duk. It received standing ovation on many festivals. The best foreign film of 2004 by the collective opinion of Russian critics. ************************************************************
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