Muallaf [The Convert] (2008) - Malaysia

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1263797/

Plot & Summary

In this latest masterpiece of Yasmin Ahmad, Brian, a young teacher and a reserved cold man, teaches at a catholic school where he crossed path with this troubled student, Ana, played by a brilliant Sharifah Alesya, who live with her club waitress sister, Ani played by her real life sister Sharifah Amani. Both of them are in hiding from the chokehold of their treacherous father which perfectly portrayed by the superb Rahim Razali.
On the surface, the story looks heavy, mainly because of the religions references. Ana was seen quoting a lot of Old Testament phrases and Quranic verses. To the people who have never been exposed to comparative religion issues, this may look unacceptable – to see people dwelling into the knowledge of foreign religion. Yasmin Ahmad draws many parallels amongst religions, without saying that every religion is equal. However, beyond the religions issues, Muallaf actually deals with a very light subject, which is forgiveness. The religion stuffs that were weaved into the story merely portrays the way of life of each individual. Almost every main character in this story is wronged, and the film simply tells us their journey to find condonation through compassion and tolerance. Yasmin Ahmad once again proved that the main ingredient in a good movie is a good storytelling. There are stories in everyday life, it just the matter of how we see it.

Rating

6.6/10 48 votes

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Hu die [Butterfly] (2004) - Hong Kong

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440939/

Plot & Summary

Butterfly is a brave try in the contemporary Hong Kong film industry, which has been highly commercialized. In contrast to most of the HK films, this film is definitely catering to viewers with open minds and willing to accept new story-telling styles. The two interesting features of this film are: first, parallel story-telling and second, the integration of political messages into a homosexual love story. In this film, there are two main stories, both happened on Ah-Die (acted by Josie Ho), but at two time segments: she at 30 something, married with a daughter; and she during her teens, in love with her schoolmate. The editing skill enhances the stories a lot, by segmenting each story and mixing them together so that the two stories are developing in a parallel manner. Only towards the ending, the audiences know that how the teen lesbian couple parted 15 years ago; and how, in the present world, the triangle relationship between Ah-Die, Yip (acted by Yuan Tian) and Ah-Die's husband was resolved. It is not easy not to confuse the audiences when telling two stories in this way, but the director had done a good job. Excellent! The second interesting feature of this film is that it was able to blend two sensitive issues (at least sensitive in the Chinese world)in one film: politics and homosexuality. In the story of teen Ah-Die 15 years ago, her girlfriend was actively involved in political activities. Though it was not said directly by the main actors, the film had sent the pro-democratic messages by touching on the Tiananmen incidence took place in 1989 in Beijing. A girl said to the public: 'I am not really interested in politics, but I can't deny that we all live in it...'; an old woman also said during a protest that 'we are all humans and we all need freedom and basic rights...'. Though these all happened about 15 years ago, as described in the film, the political messages of freedom and human rights are still valid in contemporary China. Therefore Butterfly (Wu Die) may not be the greatest art film in 2004 in China, nonetheless, it is the most daring one, which deserves the dedication of audiences' time to appreciate it.

Rating
7.0/10 392 votes


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Fa yeung nin wa [In the Mood for Love] (2000) - Hong Kong

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/

Plot & Summary

Set in Hong Kong, 1962, Chow Mo-Wan is a newspaper editor who moves into a new building with his wife. At approximately the same time, Su Li-zhen, a beautiful secretary and her executive husband also move in to the crowded building. With their spouses often away, Chow and Li-zhen spend most of their time together as friends. They have everything in common from noodle shops to martial arts. Soon, they are shocked to discover that their spouses are having an affair. Hurt and angry, they find comfort in their growing friendship even as they resolve not to be like their unfaithful mates.

Rating
8.1/10 24,393 votes


Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
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John Rabe (2009) - Germany

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124377/

Plot & Summary

John Rabe is, up till a few years ago, a forgotten figure. What happened a few years ago was the late Iris Chang's seminal nonfiction work "The Rape of Nanking", dramatising (some scholars would prefer the word 'exaggerating') the events of late 1937 when the Japanese troops essentially massacred up to 300,000 Chinese citizens – in a matter of weeks. Most of Chang's description – or more likely, what people remember most – focusses on the gleeful methods the Japanese used to dispose of the people at the time, but one thing from her book that struck many was how closely the story of the Nazi businessman John Rabe resembles that of Oskar Schindler. (The book was released within the memory of those who've seen Spielberg's Schindler's List.)

As such, it is inevitable that a movie would be made about John Rabe. Made in four languages (Germans speaking German, Chinese speaking German, Steve Buscemi speaking Mandarin impressively well, Japanese speaking Japanese, all nationalities speaking English to each other), this film seems to have receive funding from everywhere.

Rating

7.4/10 917 votes


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Part 3, Part 4,
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2046 [2004] - China

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212712/

Plot & Summary 

2046 is the latest slice of cinematic pie from the singular vision of Wong Kar Wai, one of those directors who you can look at a shot from any of his movies and know that he's the creator. He's very specific about camera, lighting, set and costume design, using these elements to wrap his very human dramas in very heightened surroundings. His most common subject is love, particularly love that fails.

In 2046, Tony Leung plays a man broken up by failed love. He engages in a series of relationships, often with similarly wounded women. These entanglements have an emotionally cumulative effect, creating a complex portrait of how love makes us sad. (A brilliant line refers to memories as "the trails left behind by tears.")

However it may sound, this is not a depressing picture, but an intellectually engaging one. Admittedly not for everyone, 2046 is drenched in romanticism, but you observe the characters more than you feel their pain. That doesn't mean the film is emotionally cold. The performances are all superb and you may recognize a bit of yourself in their actions.

Rating 

7.5/10 18,874 votes

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Be with Me (2005) - Indonesia

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463903/

Plot & Summary

"Be with me" consists of three stories of love vs. solitude : 1) An aging, lonesome shopkeeper doesn't believe in life any more since his wife died. But he is saved from desperation by reading an autobiographical book and meeting its author, a deaf and dumb lady of his own age. 2) Fatty, a security guard in his fifties, lives for two things: good food and love for a pretty executive living in his block of flats. But, if it is easy to satisfy his first need, winning the heart of the distant belle is a horse of another color. 3) Two teenage schoolgirls get to know each other on the Internet. Soon they fall in love.

Rating

7.2/10 889 votes

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