Review: Special Forces***

Remember last year’s The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris and rising Hanna star Saoirse Ronan, where Siberian gulag escapees seem to walk half the planet to reach a safe destination, and defy all of nature’s odds? Well, writer-director Stéphane Rybojad’s new French action drama Special Forces feels much the same, only swapping Siberia for the unforgiving terrain of Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the Taliban in hot pursuit. If ever there was a recruitment advert for the military might of France, it’s this. Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) plays Elsa, a determined journalist after the inside scoop in Afghanistan, who is kidnapped by the Taliban and on course to die at their hands….

Review: Oslo, August 31st***

Danish filmmaker Joachim Trier had the ominous task of bringing his second feature into the Festival arena this year, after 2006’s lauded debut Reprise. Like his first film, Trier seems to be carving out an early filmmaking pattern of producing strikingly realistic character studies, full of passion and human nature analysis. He again turns to one of his two leads of his first film, Anders Danielsen Lie, to help paint a moving picture of one person’s view of modern-day Scandinavian life – Danielsen Lie’s hometown of Oslo, and hence the title. While not a film for the dispirited – though such a mindset may better empathise with Anders’ soul-searching journey – it does have a peculiar…

Review: Miss Bala****

Adopting the frantic, hand-held documentary style of other gritty, foreign kitchen-sink offerings, Mexican writer-director Gerardo Naranjo’s explosive look at the dominant drugs culture in his country through the eyes of a young woman, Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), is a sure-fire festival contender worthy of a look. Laura dreams of being the next Miss Mexico and following a lucrative beauty contest lifestyle that will rescue her and her family from poverty. However, after agreeing to meet her best friend one day at a private party that is besieged by the local organised crime baron and his men, Laura is pressurized into doing the gang’s dirty and violent work to continue the flow of drugs, while masquerading…

Review: Troll Hunter****

There’s nothing more appealing than a horror steeped with folklore that manages to question our sanity. This is precisely what foreign-based fantasies like Norwegian writer-director André Øvredal’s Troll Hunter achieve for the non-Nordic audience out there, desperate for mysteries such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster to have a touch of authenticity about them. Students discover that government officials have been less than honest about recent human disappearances and supposed bear killings, and track down the whereabouts of a mysterious troll hunter who has been tasked with keeping the various troll populations in the scenic Norwegian fjords under control and out of public sight. The anxious film crew are allowed to follow trolljegeren Hans…

Review: In A Better World****

In the film’s production notes, Danish director Susanne Bier of this year’s Oscar and Golden Globe-winning foreign-language film, In A Better World, has some stark words, which with the current unrest in the UK, bring even more poignancy to her new theatrical release: “Are we immune to chaos, or obliviously teetering on the verge of disorder?” The story begins by following Anton (Mikael Persbrandt), a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic Danish town, and his work at an African refugee camp, surrounded by imminent danger. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts and difficult choices between choosing revenge and forgiveness, especially after his bullied 10-year-old…

Review: Beautiful Lies****

After the hit 2006 comedy Priceless, writer/director Pierre Salvadori joins forces again with internationally acclaimed actress Audrey Tautou for another situational romantic comedy, Beautiful Lies (De vrais mensonges), looking at how misinterpretation and unfrequented love can bring a bittersweet but charming dose of humour. Tautou plays 30-year-old Emilie, owner of a hairdressing salon who employs Jean (Sami Bouajila), a handyman who is secretly in love with her. Emilie has problems of her own; apart from her own cynical view of love and relationships, she wants to cheer up her mother, Maddy (Nathalie Baye), who still pines for her four-year-absent husband who lives with another younger woman. Emilie receives a passionate love letter one day, signed…

Review: The Salt Of Life***

The protagonist in writer/director and star Gianni Di Gregorio’s poignant new Italian drama, The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne), may well be in his autumn years and settling down to retirement, but the message is the same for all who catch this touching tale: embrace life and all its opportunities. Gianni (played Di Gregorio himself) is a middle-aged family man who has recently retired. His wife and grown-up daughter seem too busy with their own lives, his mother (Valeria De Franciscis Bendoni) has him at her beck and call, and his randy old lawyer friend, Alfonso (Alfonso Santagata), is either busy chasing skirt – his younger female clients’ – or setting him up…

Review: The Big Picture****

Rugged French actor Romain Duris came to international attention as charismatic professional relationship hacker Alex Lippi in Heartbreaker, opposite Vanessa Paradis last year. The unconventionally handsome actor has found a cheeky charmer niche it seems as lawyer Paul Exben in Eric Lartigau’s adaptation of Douglas Kennedy’s novel The Big Picture, a drama rather than a comedy this time that allows him to tap into a more serious acting side. Paul Exben (Duris) is a success story – partner in one of Paris’s most exclusive law firms with respected Anna (Catherine Deneuve), big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons. But when he finds out that Sarah (Marina Foïs), his wife, is cheating on him…

Review: Cell 211****

Prison dramas are abundant, as are TV series depicting life behind bars that continue to fascinate audiences as they depict a pressure-cooker microcosm of life. So making a drama that stands out internationally is a tall order. But something quite unique about writer/director Daniel Monzón’s adaptation of Cell 211 (Celda 211)is the marriage of sheer viciousness that is never glorified with a very real and touching bromance that blurs our perceptions of good and bad, automatically and subconsciously draw at the start. Cell 211 is the story of a two men on different sides of prison life, a newbie guard called Juan Oliver (Alberto Ammann) and a murderer/lifer called Malamadre (Luis Tosar), who find they…

Review: A Separation****

Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s Nader and Simin, A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin), or A Separation for short, is an illuminating and moving drama from the heart of one of the Middle East’s most guarded nations, Iran. Farhadi gives a truly fascinating and contemporary picture of the tensions brewing at the heart of its society, through a seemingly average occurrence and a genuine mistake. Winner of the 2011 Sydney Film Prize and the Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, including Silver Bears for both Best Actor and Best Actress, A Separation tells the story of a couple, Nader (Peyman Moaadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami), who still love each other but want a divorce,…