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2001

Monday 22 January


La saison des hommes, Moufida Tlatli, Tunesia, 2, Bad acting in otherwise interesting movie. Women in Tunesia of different generations try to live without their men, who come home only occasionally from work.


Wednesday 24 January


Daughters of the sun, Iran 2, One of the opening films of the festival, very slow, not very interesting, although the subject of the movie - a girl working as a boy - is somewhat controversial in Iran. I hate carpets in movies, as it takes too long to make them.


Thursday 25 January


20.15
Uttara , India, 3, sympathetic movie from India about two wrestlers wrestling for a woman. Nice pictures from every day life in a remote village where telephone is not yet standard (hello, hello) and where you can earn money by reading letters to the illiterate.


Friday 26 January


12.30
La mujer del puerto, Arcada Boytler, Mexico, 4, Old movie from 1933, with very powerfull acting in a somewhat standard story. Timeless. Message: never fuck your own brother


14.00
La perdicion de los Hombres - Ripstein, Mexico, 4. Ripstein manages to surprise us in this sometimes slow movie with great scenes. Beautiful role of the guy who is killed, because he is not good at baseball. His two wives fight for his body (women usually only do after you are dead).


16.15
The Last Resort - Pawlikowski , UK, 4. Interesting movie. A Russian lady trying to find her boyfriend ends up in a refugee camp in the UK. Asylum seekers are probably better off in Moscow.


19.30
Happy Man, Szumowska, Poland, 3. Technically it is a good movie, which however does not add anything to other Polish movies from recent years. A happy man should always tell the truth to his mother, but telling the truth is not according to catholic religion


22.00
Ginger Snapps, Fawcett, US, 5. Great movie, fantastic actors, good music: a must see. The best horror movie with content and humor I have seen thus far.

Saturday 27 January


14.30 Een tijd voor dronken paarden, Ghobadi, Iran, 5 Nice movie which was recorded under exceptional difficult circumstances on the border area between Iraq en Iran. Giving alcohol to the horses to enable them to sustain the cold not always has the desired result.


16.15
A one and a two, Edward Yang, Taiwan, 3 high quality soap drama from Taiwan. Too long however to remain interesting. Small boy taking pictures of mosquitos almost becomes famous for avant garde photographs.


19.30
A code Inconnu, Haneke, Germany, 2, Haneke told before the film that he promised Juliette Binoche to do something with her. And indeed, to do something was the leading motive for the movie which contains few interesting scenes, but without having any clear main theme. Very boring.


22.15
Baba, China, 3, yet unreleased Chinese film about the relation between a father and his son or between old and modern China. Sometimes a bit over the edge, but on the whole an interesting film that will probably not pass the Chinese censorship.


Sunday 28 January


12.00 On appele ca le printemps, Le roux, France, 3 Funny French movie about 3 women trying to take revenge on their partners. It does not become more than slapstick however.


14.00
Domesticas, Mereilles, Brazilie, 5 One of the best Brazilian movies I have seen thusfar. The maids in Brazil sprankle in this movie with some documentary elements. Funny is the failed bus robbery where the robbers finally have to pay for the bus themselves, before being allowed to leave.


16.30
Apres la reconciliation (Nathalie), 1, French rubbish.
16.15 Chunhyang (Fred), Korea, 4, Great traditional Korean story with the singer never becoming irritating when you are used to it after the first 5 minutes.
20.15 La fe del volcan, Poliak, Argentinie, 1. No story and even abusing the Argentinian history for her own artistic pleasure.


22.15
The circle, Panahi, Iran, 4. Good movie about different Iranian women getting into difficlut circumstances. The story line could have been a bit more clear. Message: 3 woman driving in the same car in the frontseat can also in Iran only lead to trouble.


Monday 29 January


9.45
Bangkok Dangerous, Pang, Thailand, 3 Good quality ganster movie from Bangkok. Interesting is the role of the deaf and dump assasinator who falls in love with the pharmacy assistent. A deaf gangster nevers listens to the orders of the police which can be a disadvantage sometimes.


12.00
Planet Alex, Uli Schuppel, Germany, 3 Symphatetic German movie with good accompanying music. Pity that the main actors are too young to be really inspiring and that there is sometimes too much meaning of life and astrology in the film. But not bad for a German movie. When the planets are in richtige position schaffen sie es.


14.30
On the waterfront, no opinion.... a documentary about the London port


22.15
25 Watts, Redella, Uruguay, 4 black and white but rather entertaining film about 3 guys bored in Montevideo. Winner of the Tiger Award.


Tuesday 30 January


12.30
Jalla, Jalla, Fares, Zweden, 4, Quite funny Swedish movie, which remains too simple however. The director is still very young and promising. The belly of father Jalla appears to be a mighty weapon.


14.45 lux -
Battu 3, African movies are almost always made for a less educated audience with socialist moralistic messages. This one is no exception but rather pleasant to look at.


17.00
Sonic genetics, several Dutch directors, 1, extended MTV clip, but worth a try (to make it, but not to look at it. Warning: looking for more than 1 hour to these fast changing images leads to premature aging).


19.30
Together, Lukas Moodysson, Sweden, 4, better humour than Jalla, Jalla, but a bit the same type of movie. Similar to Festen or the Idiots. Lesson: never stay in a Swedish commune/sect unless you want free sex with Swedish women....


21.45 CI3 -
Merci pour le chocolat, 3, piano thriller. The story line is too thin and the piano playing irritatingly dominant. I already knew that white chocolat is poison, but in this movie you learn that you should never drive with hot chocolate milk.


Wednesday 31 January


10.30
Devils on the doorstep, Jiang Wen, China, 4, exceptional movie about the Japanese occupation of China. With 166 minutes a bit long, but only at the end - when too many events are taking place - it should (and will) be reduced in length. Although BW, the pictures are strong and there is much humor in the film. Translating from Japanese into Chinese is not always easy.


14.30
Battle Royale, Kinji, Japan, 4, What do Japanese have with violence? Kitano Takeshi as a sr. coordinator school class destroyer on a deserted island is very funny. For the rest these uniformed small Japanese girl students are sometimes remarkable resistent to violence. Still 18 to go.


16.45
Manila, 1, German movies are almost always made for a less educated audience with capitalist non-moralistic messages. I donot even want to know the name of the director. This movie must have been made in Tirol by the great German fall down comedian "Gibtesnicht".


Thursday 1 February


20.15
Solo por hoy, Argentinie, Rotter, 2, Rotter feels at home in Rotterdam, but his movie isn't too good. However it is his first feature and at the time he was still studying. 5 youngsters live in a house where not nuch happens. Why these Argentines all want to Finish schools? Is Helsinki so interesting?


Friday 2 February


12.00
Rotterdam een ongemakkelijk sprookje Schouten, Nl, 3, 2 ladies trying to find interesting places and encounters in Rotterdam. They succeed because Rotterdam is interesting enough to allow for such a movie.


14.15
Memento, Nolan, US, 4, Losing your short term memorie not only happens to those who view 35 movies in one week. This guy was beaten on the head when his wife was murdered. He want revenge, but forgets all the time who he can trust. Like me he writes it down and the rest I forgot...


17.00
Pane e tulipani, Italy, 3. Very light comedy that never succeeds in becoming a real movie. The message that in wartime you can also eat tulipani when the pane is finished, is not worked out well in this film.


19.30
New Rose Hotel, Abel Ferrera, 4, This movie impressed me so much that I went to see it a second time without knowing it. Still it is a beatiful movie with great music. Still noone knows how it ends.


21.30
Strike, Sergei Eisenstein, Russia, 1924, 4. The proletarians are going on strike, but are driven back by the ugly capitalists. At the end the working class is destroyed in this Russian battle royal. I have the feeling that there exists some kind of follow-up, as the movie was clearly made for propaganda reasons and Lenin would not be to happy otherwise with this outcome.


Saturday 3 February


12.00
27 missing kisses, Dzordzadje, Georgia/France, 4. Poetic movie that entertains till the last second. The captain that is firing the cannons symbolises his wives infertility.


14.30
Blackboards, Makhmalbef, Iran, 4. Another movie made on the border between Iraq and Iran deals with teachers going into the mountains to educate children. The blackboards appear to be multi functional (dowry, camouflage, splint) and the very simple people act as if it was real.


17.00
Met grote blijdschap, Lodewijk Crijns, 4. Dutch movie about a brother visiting his brother who has a hidden handicapped son. Better than his earlier movies.


19.30
Suspicious River, Stopkewich, 3. I never understood the black side of female sexuality and also after this movie it is not yet clear. It has something to do with surrendering to adventure so that must be the reason why women try to avoid boring men. The movie is well made however.


22.30
Brother, Kitano Takeshi, 2. Too standard and violent to represent something new in the work of Takeshi.


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