American Splendor USA, 2003 ☆

A failed cartoonist marries an equally depressing woman and decide to live together in Cleveland, Ohio. His short moments of fame are quickly overcast by the cartoonist's depressing black humor and general disregard towards anyone else. This is supposed to be a comedy, but I barely smiled at certain scenes. More boring than funny.

Gran Torino USA, 2009 ☆☆☆☆



Dies ist Clint Eastwoods letzter Film als Schausspieler. Eine interessante Geschichte von einem alten Mann, der mitte einer asiatischen Nachbarschaft wohnt. Sein Rassismus wird allmählich verschwinden, indem er sich mit seinen Nachbarn gut verständigt. Eine berührende Geschichte mit ausgezeichneten Schausspielern.

The Proposal USA, 2009 ☆☆



Anne Fletchers neueste Komödie ist meiner Meinung nach nicht so lustig. Es will eine schöne Geschäftsfrau, gespielt von Sandra Bullocks, die plötzlich wegen ihres Visums ausgewiesen ist. Um diese peinliche Situation zu vermeiden, entschloss sie ihr Assistent zu heiraten, ohne ihm Bescheid zu geben! Die ganze Lüge wächst immer grösser und grösser, und das Ende wird jeder überraschen. Es gibt nichts Originelles da, reine Unterhaltung.

Whatever Works USA, 2009 ☆☆☆



Der neueste Film von Woody Allen handelt von einem alten Mann, der allein wohnt und keine Liebe sucht. Zufällig trifft er eine schöne und junge Frau, die sein Leben völlig verändert.

A State of Mind UK, 2004 ☆☆☆☆



Eine aussergewöhnliche Geschichte von zwei Mädchen, die sich streng und ständig für die sogennante "Mass Games" vorbereiten in der nordkoreanischen Hauptstadt Pyongyang. Tausende von Kindern machen immer mit. Die Gymnastik Vorbereitung ist streng und hart, und kann Monate dauern. Die Show, die sich am Ende zeigen, ist sehr schön. In einem Land, wo das Individuum gar nicht zählt, sondern die Gruppenarbeit, sind diese massiven Spiele den besten Weg zum totalen Gehorsam. Schrecklich, aber wahr.

Die Mauer, circa 2000



Maggie und ich in Berlin.

I Served the King of England Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále, Czech Republic, 2007 ☆☆☆☆

Three Wise Men Kolme viisasta miestä, Finland, 2008 ☆☆☆

Set in Finland over a long Christmas Eve evening, the movie follows three losers as they get together for a round of carousing at the karaoke bar, which seems to be the only place that’s still open. Each of them has just suffered a great disappointment in their personal life, and each of them has reasons to dislike the others, but since misery loves company, they group together. The Christmas carols that waft across the soundtrack early on, point toward their eventual redemption. The only thing for the audience to do while waiting for it to arrive is to endure a series of poorly improvised speeches about the meaning of life and too many terrible renditions of Finnish pop songs. Soon the group swells, until it resembles a zany Nativity scene, and at that point the Christmas miracle arrives , universal reconciliation is achieved, and the audience is finally free to leave.

The Red Chapel Denmark, 2009 ☆☆☆

Disguised as a theatre troupe, an unscrupulous Danish journalist and two Korean-Danish comedians gain entry into North Korea and stage a provocative performance, revealing - in both funny and tragic ways - the brutal dictatorship's effects on its people.

Les Diaboliques France, 1955 ☆☆☆☆

The Children UK, 2009 ☆☆☆☆

Antichrist Denmark, 2009 ☆☆☆☆☆

Just one I thought I had seen the best of Lars von Trier comes this new movie. He had to go through a depression to come up with this dark story. The nature as a dark force and evil and witchcraft are all mixed together in this story. A couple grieves the accidental death of their son and escape the city and go into their cottage house in an attempt to reconcile themselves. Things go from bad to worse. Von Trier is more flexible with the Dogma doctrine and makes use of digital effects to create beautiful dark scenes. There are also sex and violence scenes so explicit that people actually left the movie theatre. Nevertheless, this is simply put a masterpiece.

Coco Avant Chanel , France, 2009 ☆☆☆

Audrey Tatou portrays Coco Chanel in her early days as fashion designer. Interesting to see how she started singing in bars and living with his rich boyfriend until she started her own hat store, moved to Paris by herself and became completely independent.

Hofesh Shechter: Uprising & In Your Rooms , Modern Dance Company from the UK.

Hofesh Shechter, an Israel-born modern dancer, brought his dance troop to Montréal for three days only. The mix of industrial background music, live band and minimalistic decor is simply amazing. The music has more rhythm then Sascha Waltz, so it makes it easier to follow. It is in any case a very unique dance experience.

Slither , USA, 2009 ☆☆☆

We all know the plot: when an alien ship crashes on Earth and a mutant being starts attacking humans, soon a whole town is infected with the alien virus. However, the film is very entertaining and you won't want to miss a minute of it.

Duplicity , USA, 2009 ☆☆☆☆

When two spies try to get away with industrial secrets in order to run away with millions of dollars and retire once and for all, not everything happens as planned and in between, we get a story that jumps back in time in order to explain how these two talented spies, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, got to know each other and eventually fall in love.

Mixtyp.es

A public and collaborative exhibition took place at the Bibliiothèque de Mont-Royal. My friend Brigitte Schuster invited people to draw letters on a sheet of paper. These were then scanned and put on an online database. The newly created fonts were accessible at the website almost immediately. People could type any word on the computer and the new font would be displayed. More here: http://www.mixtyp.es/documentation

Life is Hot in Cracktown , USA, 2009 ☆☆☆

Shown for the first time at the Fantasia Film Festival this last summer, the story of a group of people (a store clerk, a prostitute, a street gang leader and other characters) are portrayed in this film. When things go from bad to worse and there is no happy ending in sight, the story takes an even more dramatic turn. Suspenseful and violent, this movie is worth watching.

Katyn , Poland, 2007 ☆☆☆☆

Polish director Andrzej Wajda explores the story of a Soviet massacre of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940. The music score is very good, by the way.

District 9 , USA, 2009 ☆☆☆☆☆

Aliens invade Earth and decide to park their mother spaceship above Johannesburg. There are thousands of aliens inside this spaceship. The government decides to create a ghetto called District 9 to accommadate the aliens. The movie carries a strong indirect message on how humans have treated each other and how racism and injustice most of the time prevails. Perhaps the most entertaining summer blockbuster of 2009.